1 John 1:5-6 ESV
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
God is light. And God is truth, righteousness, holiness,
moral purity, uprightness, integrity, and faithfulness. Therefore, light is all
those things, too, i.e. light is truth, righteousness, etc. And darkness is the
opposite of light, so darkness is sin, evil, wickedness, immorality, lying,
cheating, stealing, and being unfaithful, etc. Now since God is totally light, there
is no darkness in him at all. And the reason Jesus died for us was to deliver
us out of the darkness and to bring us into God’s wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9).
Now this word “fellowship” is the Greek word “koinonia,”
which means not only fellowship in the Spirit, but it also means partnership,
participation, contributory help, sharing in, and communion. This is used of Christians
having spiritual fellowship with our Lord, as well as with one another. And it is
used in reference to Christians having a partnership in the gospel of our
salvation, which has to do with our participation in the gospel by living out our
salvation in doing what our Lord commands us to do, by God’s grace.
So, if we say that we have fellowship with God (with Christ),
this isn’t talking just about a daily quiet time where we pray and read the
Scriptures. This means we are partnering with him and we are cooperating with
him and we are participating with him in his work of grace in our lives in
delivering us out of the darkness and bringing us into God’s marvelous light. Yes,
we do nothing in ourselves to earn or deserve our own salvation, but our
salvation is not absent of works. They are just the works God prepared in
advance that we should walk (in conduct) in them (Ephesians 2:10; Titus
2:11-14).
Therefore, if we claim we have fellowship with God (with
Christ), that we are in intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, that he is our
Lord and Savior, and that heaven is our eternal destiny, but we are still
living in deliberate and habitual sin, then we are liars, not truth tellers. For
we can’t continue in deliberate and addictive sin patterns and be in true fellowship
with Christ. For one is opposed to the other and therefore they conflict with
each other.
1 John 1:7 ESV
“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.”
To walk in the light, as God is in the light, we walk (in
conduct, in practice) in truth, righteousness, holiness, moral purity,
uprightness, integrity, and in faithfulness. This is the way we live day in and
day out. It doesn’t mean we are absolutely perfect (see 1 Jn 2:1-2), but that
sin is no longer what we practice. For we have chosen by the grace of God to
put sin to death and to now walk in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to
our Lord, which is what we are living out in our daily lives, in practice, by
the grace of God.
So, if this is how we are living, in practice, by the grace
of God, and in his power and strength, then we have fellowship with one
another, but that is only because we now have genuine fellowship with our Lord.
And this fellowship is only with other Christians who are also walking in the
light and no longer in the darkness, for light has no fellowship with darkness.
For true fellowship involves unity of mind and heart, which is unity with the
mind and heart of Christ (of God), which is the basis for our spiritual
fellowship.
The bottom line here is what Jesus taught, and what Paul and
the other apostles taught, and that is that genuine faith in Jesus Christ is
all about us daily dying with Christ to sin and to self. And it is about us
walking in obedience to our Lord, in practice, in holiness and in
righteousness. Faith without genuine repentance and walks of obedience to the
Lord is not the faith that saves us from our sins. Faith that saves comes from
God, is authored and perfected by Jesus, and is gifted to us by God, and so it
surrenders all to Christ to walk in his ways and no longer in sin.
1 John 1:8-10 ESV
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
There are many people these days who profess faith in Jesus
Christ who are still living in deliberate and habitual sin. Sin still has
mastery over their lives and Jesus Christ, in truth, is not their Lord and
Master, for the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life are
what they worship. They are their idols. Yet, many of these professing
Christians want to put on a show of righteousness so they don’t want others to
know they are living in sin, and so they will sin in secret and then lie to
cover up their sin.
So, if you sin, but then you say that you did not sin, or if
you have gotten back into a particular habitual sin which you do in secret, yet
you claim you are doing well, and that you are not sinning, you are deceiving
yourself, for that is a lie. And people who are addicted to particular sins,
especially but not limited to sexual immorality, they lie as a regular part of
what they say. And they twist the truth or they skirt around the truth, but
that is still lying. But they are skilled at deception and manipulation and
trickery.
But to confess sin is not just to verbally acknowledge one’s
sin. It is to agree with God about our sin, and not just to agree that we
sinned, but to have the same mind as Christ about our sin which then results in
us repenting of (turning from) our sins and following our Lord in obedience.
And we have to read verse 9 here in light of verses 6-7. So, we can’t just give
lip service to confession of sin and call that repentance. Many people sin,
confess, sin, confess as part of their habitual sin patterns but they never truly
repent.
So, if we want to be in genuine relationship and fellowship
with God (with Christ Jesus), we must turn away from (die to) our sin and now
walk in holiness and righteousness and obedience to our Lord and to his
commands (New Covenant), all in the power of God’s Spirit now living within us.
And we must continue in this walk of faith steadfast until the end, which is
when our salvation will be complete, when Jesus returns for his bride. But not
everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the
ones DOING the will of God the Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs
are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Trust
Him with your life today.
Make
Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn
from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He
will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse
your heart, made new within.
Men
betraying: Our trust fraying.
On
our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking
God to give us answers
That
are only found in Him.
God
is sovereign over all things.
Nothing
from His mind escaping.
He
has all things under His command,
And
will work all for good.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Men
deceiving: We’re believing
In
our Lord, and interceding
For
our nation and its people
To
obey their God today.
He
is our hope for our future.
For
our wounds He offers suture.
He
is all we need for this life.
Trust
Him with your life today.
No comments:
Post a Comment