We have talked about God’s call for us to love as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
It is impossible for us to love this way without our being honest and surrendering to God.
We have also discussed how God has not called us to be doormats, but He has called us in love to hold people accountable so they can become who God has intended them to be. We don’t do this out of our pride, arrogance, hurt, rejection, or woundedness—those are all aspects of “self.” Instead, we do it out of love because we want them to fulfill their God-given purpose!
Today, we begin studying the book of 1 John because it ties in with all of this. 1 John is actually a sermon, not really a letter. You will notice that it is not specifically addressed to anyone. It is not even written to the “church,” but is more intimate, as if he is writing to family. So, as we embark on this journey, keep that in mind as we walk through this book of love written to the family.
1 John 1:1
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life
John makes it clear that first, Jesus is God; He has always existed and always will. Jesus is not merely a prophet, priest, good teacher, or philosopher, but indeed, God—He has always existed! Second, this one who is God came in the flesh. He was not some spirit, ghost, or bit of mythology, but came in human form and was seen, heard, and touched personally by John and the other disciples. Third, he calls Jesus the “word of life.” He refers back to the Gospel he has written (John 1:1,14), stating that everything was created by and through Him and that life came from Him so we too might have life in abundance based on His unfailing love. This life is not simply existence but the power to bring hope and joy, radically changing the world!
John further expands this idea in verse two
1 John 1:2
This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
John is challenging us to live a life full of joy, hope, freedom, and love with exuberance; that is what the word “Life” means here that John is using. Remember, the church at this time was being persecuted by both the Romans and the Jewish leadership. He is urging us to look away from the present worries, fears, and anxiety we are facing and recognize that God knows what we are going through and wants to give us overcoming power. Remember, this is a family love letter; he feels for the family and wants them to see what they are experiencing through the Lord’s eyes.
1 John 1:3
We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
He wants you to know you are never alone. As you are part of a fellowship of believers and this word means a deep fellowship, connecting to one another, loving one another, being part of a real family, you are never alone because you are deeply connected with your brothers and sisters in Christ but are in a very real way in the deep passionate fellowship with the one who loves you the most!
1 John 1: 5-7
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
God is light, so everything to Him shines brightly and is exposed as it truly is. Charles Spurgeon is supposed to have said, “the secret sins we do here on earth are exposed and scandalous in heaven!” Nothing is hidden from God, but that makes His love for us so much more incredible. He sees and knows everything we have done against Him that breaks His heart, and still loves us with a tremendous everlasting love.
As humans, if we know someone has said something against us or even if we think someone has said something against us, we get angry, hurt, resentful, perhaps even vengeful, and begin defending ourselves. God knows and sees all and simply desires to draw us closer to him in the light and the light of His love.
Fellowship with God is broken if we continue to practice sin. We always battle sin, but John is saying that if we know we are in sin and choose sin over our relationship with Him, we may feel connected to God. However, we lie to ourselves and others, and that relationship is not truly there.
Don’t get it wrong, God is not looking for perfection here. John says we have fellowship, us with God and God with us as we live in the light (walk in the light), which is more gracious than “according to the light.” The Holy Spirit gave John the phrase live in or walk in, indicating that we exist in an openness and responsiveness to the light. To live according to the light would have required sinless perfection on our part. The Holy Spirit’s guidance here is that God loves it when we walk with him not out of compulsion or even our own perfection but because we recognize our sinful nature and choose to love him and walk with him, prioritizing him over our sin.
At the same time, he warns us not to allow our true fellowship with God to mislead us into thinking that we are sinless simply because we have this fellowship. Remember, we rely on God every day. We are made righteous and blessed because of Him.
1 John 1:9
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Think with me for a moment about how God can still call himself just if he forgives our sins. A just God requires justice to be served; otherwise, he is not just. This is a legal description: a just God must demand justice to remain just, but the blood of Christ satisfied the justice we deserve, so grace now works through us rather than justice being meted out. That is why those who do not accept Christ’s offering of his blood face the justice of a righteous God—something they choose by rejecting the free gift of Christ!
1 John 1:10
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
John is not beating us up; he is merely reminding us of our daily need for the cleansing power of Christ. On one hand, every sin we have committed or ever will commit has been forgiven already by God because of Christ paying for our sin on the cross. As we are walking in His light then it is natural that we will confess our sin to Him wanting to be free of anything that would hinder our relationship, fellowship and love with him.
You see it is his love that draws us, his light enables to see the truth we are to walk in and the truth we do walk in so we do not deceive ourselves as we do, we are free to live his life, the way he had planned for us to live all along free from guilt, shame, rejection, recognizing daily our need for him and seeing daily his showing up for us, with us and connecting deeply with us on a love level. The fellowship John talks about is a deep satisfying connection full of love joy, peace contentment, hope a complete freedom from fear. That is life and the life we are promised