Sermon Tone Analysis

I John 1:5-2:6

 

! Introduction

When I grew up, we had a screen door on our house.

It had two springs on it.

There was a little clip spring on the top of the opening side of the door.

This spring created a tension on the door.

It was just enough tension that we could still open the door, but strong enough that the wind could not open it and that it would keep the screen door shut so that flies and mosquitoes wouldn’t get in.

The other spring was on the hinge side of the door and was a long coil spring.

This spring also created a tension.

It prevented the door from staying opened.

Mom would yell, “don’t slam the door,” but it was too late,  we would run out of the house, push the door opened, and keep running without worrying about closing it and the spring would cause it to slam shut.

The spring would create tension to close the door, pull it back and catch it in the other latch.

That is the function of springs, they keep a positive tension to prevent things from flying off in directions that we don’t want.

There are times when we need springs in our spiritual life.

For example, have you ever felt like this.

You know that it is right to obey God and so you become very serious about obedience.

Since obedience is right, you begin to apply all kinds of rules to your life.

In addition, you wonder about people who do not follow the same rules, because obedience is right.

Soon your life is defined by rules and you are critical of others who do not follow them.

You see, if you push obedience too far, it can become legalism and it can become judgemental and suddenly you realize that this is not what the Christian life is all about.

There needs to be some kind of a spring that creates a tension to pull you back from the danger of legalism and criticism.

On the other hand, perhaps you have felt like this.

You discover that you have been saved by the grace of God.

You are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross and you are free of the guilt and the consequences of sin.

As you rejoice in your freedom in Christ, an opportunity comes up which may not be right, but you don’t worry about it because it isn’t all that serious and besides, you are forgiven by grace, so if it is a little sin, it can always be forgiven.

You see, if you push grace too far, you run into the problem of licence, of living in a way that is disobedient to God.

There needs to be some kind of a spring that creates a tension to pull you back from the danger of licentious living.

The tension which pulls us back from legalism is grace and the tension that pulls us back from licence is the call to obedience.

As we walk the Christian life, we must always keep these two - obedience and grace in tension so that we will walk the kind of Christian life we were intended to live.

This morning, I would like to invite you to look at I John 1:5-2:6, which talks about grace and obedience.

As we do, may we learn what God has to say to us.

Let us read the passage.

In this passage, John works around this issue in two different ways.

In 1:5-10, he seems to make a logical appeal to hear the truth and walk in it.

Then in 2:1-6, the appeal comes much more from the heart.

He is deeply concerned about their life and their relationship to God.

!

I.

An Appeal To Hear Truth

!! A. God Is Light 1:5

            John begins by giving us the basic truth - “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”

We must understand this and understand the depth and power of it.

How can this truth burn itself on our hearts?

When there is a power failure on a dark night, you may light a candle and it will throw enough light so that you can see what you are doing.

It is seen shining brightly by all in the room.

When the power comes back on again, the light from the candle is hardly noticed at all.

The electric lights are so much brighter, but when the morning sun shines into the room, then even the room light which seemed to be so bright the evening before is not even noticed.

When we compare ourselves with each other, it might not be far out to say that some of us shine in our Christian life like candles and some like light bulbs, but both are outshone by God in whom there is no darkness at all.

In holiness, in perfection, in sinlessness, there is no comparison.

God is absolutely holy, absolutely pure.

There is no sin, no wrongdoing, no evil of any kind that can come near to God.

God has no wickedness and no unrighteousness in Himself at all.

He is holy and pure and we need to know and understand the depth and power of that truth.

!! B. If We Claim…

What are the implications for us in relationship to such a holy God?

            John raises three possible claims which people make regarding their relationship to a holy God.

!!! 1.

To Have Fellowship With Him 1:6-7

            I have met people who talk about a relationship with God, but when I look at their lives, I wonder about that relationship.

There are things in their life - for example, immoral words or hatred towards others - which make such a profession sound hollow.

They claim to have fellowship with God, but all the while they are walking in darkness.

This is a complete contradiction and John calls us to account for such an attitude.

He declares unequivocally that if we think or live like this, “we lie and do not live by the truth.”

What is a lie?

There is a movie about a boy whose father always promises that he will be at his son’s game or will play with him, but never shows up.

On his birthday, the boy wishes that for one day his father can’t tell a lie.

The next day, the wish comes true and when the father begins to realize that he isn’t able to lie, he tests what he suspects by taking a blue pen and trying to write “this pen is red.”

The movie is a comedy and the results of trying to say what is not so are quite humorous.

The story illustrates for us what a lie is.

It is saying what just isn’t so.

It is a lie to say that we have fellowship with God when in fact we ourselves are living a life of sin.

So what is the alternative?

As we read on in verse 7, we see the truth that if we walk in obedience, or walk in the light, the same holy, righteous, sinless light that describes who God is, then and only then can we claim to have fellowship with God.

What is interesting about this passage, however, is that it does not say this.

It does not say, “if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God” which is what we would expect it to say.

Instead, it says “if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Now isn’t that interesting?

Why this change from what we expect it to say?

What it tells us is that walking in holiness, the fellowship we have with God, the fellowship we have with one another and the reality of Christ’s purifying work in our lives are very closely related.

It means that if we are sinning by being bitter against a brother or sister, we cannot claim to have fellowship with God.

If we desire another persons property or if we lust after another person and claim to have fellowship with God, we are not telling the truth.

On the other hand, if we forgive one another, honor one another, love one another and so obey God, we have fellowship with one another and, by implication, we also have fellowship with God.

Furthermore, if we walk in holiness, the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.

What this means is that obedience must follow upon salvation so that Jesus can continue to cleanse us from all sin.

His cleansing work extends beyond the moment of salvation into our whole life.

A faithful Christian life involves obedience.

!!! 2. To Be Without Sin 1:8-9

            But what happens if a person is convinced about obedience and is pretty good at it?

Perhaps sometimes we are like those described by John in verse 8 who consider themselves “…to be without sin…” What are they thinking?

If we compare ourselves with others we may consider ourselves to have arrived.

We know that we have never killed anyone, we don’t hate people and we avoid all manner of evil acting and thinking.

Our lives, by the standards of Al Qaida, Hells Angels and even our own neighbours are righteous lives.

So we may think that we are walking in the light.

We agree wholeheartedly with what John has said in verses 5-7.

We would agree that it is a lie to say that a person can claim to have fellowship with God and walk in darkness at the same time.

We, certainly do not do that.

We believe we have fellowship with God and that the fellowship is demonstrated by the fact that we walk in the light.

But if we think like that, John says, we are self deceived.

If we think that we are always obeying and always doing everything right, we are just fooling ourselves.

The reason we deceive ourselves is that if we think that we do not sin, we don’t understand the holiness of God nor the kind of obedience required of us.

Remember, we may be like a light bulb and are much brighter than the person who is like a candle, but God is like the sun and outshines us in holiness so much that we can never measure up.

If that is the case, what hope is there for us?