MPC 18th March 2007.March 18 - 1 John 1:1-2:2 - "The Truth about God"
Derek Hanna MPC 18th March 2007.
A few years ago I got a taxi home after I'd dropped my car off at the smash repairers. And when I get in taxi, I like to sit in the front seat to have a chat, because taxi drivers always have interesting things to say one most topics.
And we got to talking about all manner of topics, some of which I knew a bit about, and others which I knew nothing about. We spoke about Pattagonian tooth fish, the latest issues in the marriage of Tom and Nicole (we were ahead of our time), the best form of government, but one of the most interesting discussions we had was about the problems that religion was causing in the world.
Now while my friend had some interesting ideas about how the world should be run (it sounded suspiciously like a dictatorship with him in charge), there were plenty of things he said that I couldn't disagree with.
Because he's right that there are plenty of people who think they have the monopoly on God, what he's like and what he requires of us.
And he could back this up historically. War after war has been started in the name of religion. Time after time people have used whatever version of God they had to justify the killing of people they didn't like.
There are plenty who think they have the monopoly on the truth about God. And it has led to all sorts of disasters. And my friends solution was to get rid of God, get rid of religion, and the problem would sort itself out.
The crux of the problem as he saw it was that you could never be 100% sure about one version of God or another. And so he came to the same conclusion as most of Australia has come to.
You can't be definite about God, you can only have personal opinion, and so one view is as good as any other.
But the end of the discussion ended in this way. I asked him if there was any way you could be certain of what God is like, and what he requires of us. And his answer was this - only if God himself told you.
Can you establish a truth about God? Can you be sure that you've got it right?
Can you ever have any sense of certainty about the God you're dealing with?
Well, John thinks you can know exactly what God is like, and he's not ashamed to say that he has the truth about God. Which sounds arrogant doesn't it? But John knows with certainty because he has seen God, he has heard him, he has touched him.
Have a look. V.1 says he's hear him and seen him and touched him...
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched...
And he goes on to say that the one who was with God has appeared, or become man, and John has seen him.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us...
And he's says he's seen and heard Jesus, v.3:
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard...
John's credentials are clear. He's not guessing, he's reporting. He's an eye-witness. John doesn't want people groping around in the dark, guessing what God is like, or making up their own ideas. He knows what God is like because he's seen and heard and touched and lived with Him - and he wants those he's writing to to know the facts as well.
And in knowing the facts, and in believing these truths, John wants people to have fellowship him, but more importantly with the real God through the real saviour, Jesus Christ. Have a look at the end of v.3:
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
You see the link John is making between having fellowship with God and the truth? John tells you what he has seen and heard so that you might have fellowship with the real God.
Real fellowship requires truth about a real God. And that's what John is reporting. And he's eminently qualified to tell us, because he has lived and walked and eaten and spoken with one who has existed at God's side from eternity, and who is in fact God himself - Jesus Christ. What John wants is for people to listen, to accept and so have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.
And the message that John wants to report from the time that he lived with Jesus is this, v. 5:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Now it's important to understand that John isn't making a statement about the visibility of God here. He's making a statement about the character and goodness of God.
And while he doesn't spell out exactly what it that means, you pick up glimpses throughout the rest of the letter what it means that God is light, and therefore what it means for people to walk in the light.
- In 2:9-10, those who walk in the light love their brother or sister.
- In 2:29 & 3:7 we learn that God is righteous, and his people should be too.
- In 3:16 we see the ultimate demonstration from God in the death of Christ. We see that love is not just words, but self-sacrificial action.
You see, God is not just a good example of love - he is the very definition of love. If you want to see perfect, concrete, self-sacrificial love, then go to God and you'll see it on the cross.
And God is not just a good example of righteousness, God is the perfect example of righteousness.
God is the source and the benchmark for all things that are good and perfect and pure - or as John puts it, God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. When God walks into the room, everything else pales in comparison to his perfection, and he highlights the shortcomings and flaws of everything else. He is the source and the benchmark of goodness.
So John's message is that God is Light, but where are we meant to go from there? Well John lists 3 claims he wants us to look at.
Firstly in v.6-7, he wants to look at the behaviour of those who claim to have fellowship with this God who is light.
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin.
So the first claim is to do with whether or not you have fellowship with God. Now that seems like something that's hard to measure doesn't it. How do I know if you have fellowship with God? Surely that's a personal thing between you and God isn't it?
Well John says absolutely not. There are some who claim to be in fellowship with God, but who's behaviour betrays the fact that they aren't. As John's going to go on to point out, those who hate their brother, those who love the world, those who keep what they have instead of sharing with those in need - these people are the ones who John says lie about their relationship with God and don't live by the truth.
But there are some John says who walk in the light, just as God is in the light. These are the people who are seeking to reflect their God in what they do. They share what they have, because they realise it came from God anyway. They love their brother or sister, even when they receive little in return. They seek to do right, even when it's the hardest and costliest option. These people have fellowship with one another, and they and only they are washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.
It's easy, John says, to spot those who are in fellowship with God. It's not what they claim, it's what they do.
The second claim that John wants us to look at is those who claim to be without sin in verse 8.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
For John, the assessment of the contents and desires of your own heart, reveal where you stand with God, and affect how it is that God sees you.
If on the one hand you claim that you don't Sin, that you've risen above it, or that Sin is inconsequential - then John says you're deceiving yourself. Because while God may be pure light, you certainly aren't.
I could say with absolute certainty that every person in this room today has at one stage or another (and most likely on many occasions) lied. And I could say with certainty that every person in this room has at some stage or another, and probably on a daily basis, been self-centred in the way they have behaved, looking after your own interests before you look after others.
So while God's heart is good and pure and right - your heart, and my heart is full of envy, jealousy, self-centredness. You're not as bad as you can be, but when you stand in the light of God's goodness, you are shown to be what you are. Sinful.
And therefore, those who can't come to terms with this and therefore claim to be without sin, John says they are deceiving themselves, and the truth of God is not in them.
But for those who hear God's assessment of them and confess their sins to him, God deals with them in his loving and caring way. Have a look at verse 9.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
He does not ignore their sin, but forgives them and cleanses their heart through the work of Christ.
Now I've said there are three claims John's dealing with. We've looked at two of them. And here's the third. The third claim that John has here is those who claim never to have sinned. Have a look at verse 10.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
So if we are under the delusion that we have lived a life of perfection, or if we want to play down the seriousness of the way we've behaved in the past - then John says that you're calling God a liar, and God's word has got no place in your life.
That is, you are out of step with God, because God's assessment of you is that your past life doesn't measure up to his standards.
So those are the 3 claims, but I just want to pause here for a second and make sure we're all on board with what John is saying, because it calls for some pretty honest self-assessment.
Firstly, you need to be able to assess whether your actions point to you walking as one of God's people, or point to you walking as your own person. If you were an outsider looking in at your own life and actions (including your motivations), what would your own judgement be? Would you see someone who gets up in the morning determined to live as one of God's people? When you see someone standing alone at Church, do you go and say hello, or do you avoid eye contact and find someone you know? When you hear of someone at Church or elsewhere having a rough time, do you call them, or hope that someone else looks after them? When you consider how much you'll give to the Church or charities or people in need - do you do it begrudgingly, or do you do it knowing that what you have God gave you anyway? Do you gossip when you think you can get away with it, or do you hold your tongue? Are you practising hospitality, or keeping people at a distance?
What would be your assessment of yourself? What would be your judgement? Do you walk in the light or in the darkness? No one else's opinion on this matters - you need to assess yourself. Is your behaviour telling you that you have fellowship with God, or that you are walking in the darkness?
Secondly, we need to be able to assess our own sinfulness. Part of the problem with Sin is that we seem to tolerate it in ourselves, but abhore it in others. So I think I would have no trouble rallying 5-6 people pretty quickly who could spend a few hours talking about my faults. The ways that I'm short tempered with them, the way that I say things that are unGodly and unhelpful, the obvious unGodly motivations I have for doing things. But it's hard to hear these things from other people, and my automatic reaction is to look for excuses as to why I'm like that, and to point out that my accuser isn't perfect either.
But when it comes to God, the problem is that this accuser is perfect. There are no excuses, there is no avoiding it - we need to see ourselves as God sees us. Sinful, unrighteous, selfish, envious, self-centred people.
And the comfort of it is, when you come to the uncomfortable realisations that John is leading you towards, it is then that fellowship with God is possible.
The pre-requisite of real fellowship with God is acknowledging the truth of John's message. God is Light, and the only way we can exist in the light of God is by acknowledging our Sin, and being purified by the blood of Christ.
And it's in what seems to be this dilemma that John speaks of his reason for confidence. Because that's what the point of his letter is he says at the end, 5:13:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
If the message is that God is light, and that we fall short of God's standards and walk in the darkness - how is it then that we can know for sure that we have eternal life?
In this day and age, it sounds arrogant to go around claiming that you are 100% confident of being right with God, and that you're looking forward in a few years to striding confidently through the Pearly Gates. How do you prove something like that? It's not as if I've got a certificate on my wall at home that reads, "This hereby certifies that Derek Hanna and the God of the Universe are on pretty good terms"!
Because as soon as you make a claim like that, people start inspecting your life.
You say you're right with God, but I accidentally pulled out on you the other day at the intersection, and you let fly with a few verbal niceties.
You say you're right with God, but you are such a hypocrite when it comes to being loving towards people.
Society loves to highlight the faults and short-comings of Christians - and there are many, so they don't have to look too hard.
But the confidence John wants his readers to have is based not on their performance, but on Jesus Christ. The real Jesus Christ who lived and died.
So while John wants the Christian's to be walking in the light, and doing everything they can to live out their calling as God's people, his confidence does not rest on that because he knows they are human, and he knows they will fail. That's what he says in verses 1-2 of chapter 2.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John's confidence rests on the very thing that others would claim is a myth - the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the man who John says stands between us and God and provides the defense and payment for the way we behave.
So while others accuse us of being hypocrites, and while our conscience might not always be clear - the confidence we have rests on the one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the reason we can have a clear conscience and he is the reason that we can have fellowship with God. It's not about performance or merit, it's about Christ. He is the sacrifice for your sins, my sins and the sins of the whole world.
Real confidence in fellowship with God, comes from a real historical Jesus. Any other source of confidence is false confidence.
Knowing that you have eternal life (which is what John wants Christians to know) is a simple matter, but a decision that must be made.
There are lots of theories out there about who Jesus was, who he was married to, how many kids he had, how you get to know God, what it is that God wants of us - but none, not one of the people who have come up with these theories has been personally told these things by God. But John has.
Do you want to walk in the light and have fellowship with God? Then confess your Sin to God.
Do you claim to already have fellowship with God? Then make sure you can see it in your life. If there is no love, if there is no consideration, if there is no humility, if there is no tenderness for those in need - then be careful of what you claim. Because these are the actions and motives of those who walk in darkness, not those who walk in the light and have fellowship with God.
But if love and kindness and gentleness and patience and goodness characterise you're life, then take heart for you can be assured of eternal life. It is the little things that give it away - the conversation you have with that person you find difficult, the sacrifice of your time for someone in need, the giving up of what you have so others may benefit - these are the signs of those who have fellowship with God.
Real confidence through a real Christ for real fellowship in a real God.