Sermon Tone Analysis

BACK TO THE BASICS: AN EXPOSITION OF 1 JOHN

We begin our second sermon from this short letter this morning.

Last week we saw that John wrote this letter in order that we may have fellowship with one another and with the Godhead.

The result of that fellowship (commonality) is joy, true, unhindered joy.

This morning we continue our series on Back to the Basics by expositing 1 John.

This is an exposition, meaning my goal is to explain the passage of Scripture and then help us apply it to our lives.

We are dealing with God’s inspired (breathed-out) Word, and His Word is given to us for all that pertains to life and godliness ().

And God’s inspired Word provides us with the secret to maintaining a deep, ever-growing fellowship with God and one another.

Relationships can be complicated, can they not?

You have two people, with two different goals, two different passions, likes and dislikes, and the list could go on.

Even people who are almost identical still have differences.

And sometimes these differences cause division in the relationship.

Think of a parent and child.

The two enjoy a close relationship, until the child asks for candy before dinner.

After the parent says no, the relationship seems to be lost forever (at least from the child’s perspective).

Or, think of a friendship.

These two individuals have grown up together, going to each other’s houses, going on vacations together, and yet when something happens to cause a rift in the relationship, the friendship takes a turn for the worst.

We could even bring up the examples of marriage.

A couple enjoys a deep friendship, sharing life together.

But when an issue comes up that the couple cannot seem to break through, the relationship is hindered.

There are a variety of issues that cause hurdles in our relationships.

A harmful word, broken trust, different values, we could come up with a book I am sure.

However, the Scriptures, seeking to get to the heart of the matter, to move beyond the outward issues of harmful speech, values, and trust and get down to the roots: sin.

Sin is the hurdle that hinders our fellowship, both with each other and with God.

John is a genius.

He takes complex thoughts and makes them understandable.

John chooses to discuss holiness and sin, two incredibly deep and tough topics, and breaks them down into the images of light and darkness.

We can all understand the differences between light and darkness.

Allen Nelson, a pastor from Arkansas put it like this, “Like a pediatrician ‘dumbs down’ his terms for the sake of his young patients’ intellectual limitations, so much more does God speak to His children in the Scriptures.”

[Allen Nelson IV, Before the Throne: Reflections on God’s Holiness (Perryville, AR: Allen S. Nelson IV, 2019), 36-37.]

And to put our topic in John’s language, darkness is the hurdle to fellowship.

I. DEFINING THE TERMS- vs. 5

As John begins to address Fellowship’s Hurdle, he first defines terms that will appear throughout the rest of his letter: light and darkness.

Now, John has just opened his letter by telling us that he wants us to have fellowship with one another and with the Godhead.

He informs us that it required forgiveness and righteousness, brought only by the God-man Jesus Christ.

Now John tells us the hurdle of that fellowship through the image of darkness.

A. God is light

God is light.

That is, God is morally perfect.

All of His motives, His thoughts, and His actions are all morally right.

There is no darkness in Him at all.

When we receive a gift from someone, we may be tempted to think, “Why did she give this to me? What’s her endgame?”

We assume that there is an ulterior motive at work.

This is not the case with God! God is light, there is no darkness in Him at all.

Another word is used in Scripture to describe God in a similar way: holy.

God’s holiness is the characteristic, the essence of God.

Stephen Charnock, a preacher in the 1600s, wrote a series of sermons on the attributes of God.

On God’s holiness, Charnock declares, “Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging to the nature of God, hence he is in Scripture styled often the Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, and [more often] entitled Holy than Almighty, and set forth by this part of his dignity more than by any other.”

[Stephen Charnock, The Works of Stephen Charnock Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2010), 190.]

Brothers and sisters, God is holy, He is light, there is no darkness, no stains of sin in Him in any degree.

B. Sin is darkness

John says that in God is no darkness at all.

The picture is that light is moral perfection.

The counter-truth is that darkness is moral imperfection.

It is sin, to use the biblical term.

If God is light, then sin is darkness.

And remember, John is framing our discussion of fellowship’s hurdle.

As John wants us to experience joy through fellowship with one another and with God, John wants us to see that darkness is the hurdle.

Sin is what keeps us from fellowshipping with each other and with God.

That is the root of all of our problems.

Now, sin comes in multiple forms, but I just want to break it down to three categories: thought, speech, and actions.

We sin in our thoughts primarily, and in fact, according to James, this is the place all sin originates (see ).

We see something we want but do not have, we desire something, we have evil thoughts about someone else, and you get the picture.

Sin also manifests itself in our speech, too.

We say unkind things, untrue statements, and all sorts of words that bring dishonor to the God Who is light.

Finally, our actions are sinful.

We immediately think of the “big sins” like murder, rape, and theft.

But our sinful actions are withholding something someone deserves, not submitting to God’s authority in your life, and a host of other instances.

This is all important matter as John takes us to examining our own lives.

II.

EXAMINING OUR PRACTICE- vss.

6-8

The hurdle to fellowship is sin.

Now we need to examine our practice.

The reason I say practice is because, if we are not careful, we can assume John is referring to absolute perfection.

That is, we can imagine that unless I am perfect I cannot have fellowship with God.

And so many people approach God that way.

“Once I get my life cleaned up, I’ll start going to church.”

This is far from God’s teaching!

God looks at our walk.

This term, walk, is used throughout the Bible to denote a pattern.

It is the difference between taking a step and walking a distance.

So, with that understand, let us examine our practice.

Our goal is to determine our pattern.

We cannot simply view one mistake or progress and then determine that we are walking in darkness or light.

I recommend looking over a week, a month, and even a year to determine your walk.

A. Examine your obedience to Scripture

John says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Practicing the truth, as we will see in future sermons, involves obedience to Scripture.

Just take the 10 Commandments and do an inventory of your life.

Ask yourself, Am I worshipping God alone?

Are there any idols in my life?

Have I been coveting things?

Prayerfully work your way through those commandments, and God’s Spirit will help you identify areas where you are walking in darkness.

B. Examine your fellowship with other Christians

There is another tool that John offers us, though not directly stated, in order to examine ourselves.

It involves fellowship.

In verse 7 John writes, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

If we walk in the light, John says, we will enjoy fellowship with one another.

Fellowship is an evidence of walking in the light.

Now, we have used the term fellowship frequently, but I would like to take a few moments to flesh this out as it applies to the church.