Sunday
Morning Bible Study
September
9, 2012
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision Is the church loved?
Baptism today
(Picture of baptism at Clemson)
This is a book
about Real Issues
What’s
real? What’s the truth? Questions like:
Who is God? What is He really like?
What is a Christian? What is a Christian really like?
1:5-7 True Light
:5 This is the message which we have heard from
Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
:5 message – aggelia –
message, announcement, thing announced, news
Our word “angel” is based on this family of words. The basic concept of
an “angel” is that of a messenger, usually a messenger of God.
:4 declare – anaggello
(“again” + “message”) – to announce, make known; to report, bring back
tidings, rehearse
We stick the prefix “re” in front of a word to carry the idea of
repeating something, or doing something “again”. The Greeks used the
preposition “ana”.
We stick “re” in front of the word “do”, and you get “redo”, to do the
same thing over again.
We stick “re” in front of the word “gift”, and you get “regift”, to
give the same gift you got from somebody else and give it away as a gift to
someone else.
This word translated “declare” could be translated by us as
“remessage”.
The message came to you, and you turned and gave the same message to
someone else.
When you get a really cool email from someone and you want to share it
with a friend, you click on the “forward” button on your email program. You
simply send a copy on to the next person.
Illustration
I want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails you have
forwarded to me over the past years. I am totally messed up now and have little
chance of recovery.
I no longer open a bathroom door without using a paper
towel, or have the waitress put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying
about the bacteria on the lemon peel.
I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been
driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one’s
nose.
I no longer have any money, but that will change once I
receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for
participating in their special e-mail program.
THANKS TO YOU I have learned that my prayers only get
answered if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within
five minutes.
:5 light – phos – light; metaphor for what is good;
being exposed to the view of all, openly, publicly
:5 darkness – skotia – darkness; lack of light; wickedness
We know all about the metaphors of “light” and “darkness”.
Growing up, we learned to tell the difference between the good guys and the
bad guys because
the bad guys always wore the black hats while the good guys always wore the white hats.
Star Wars gave us more of an education when it came to the “dark side”.
The Bible says that God is light, and there is no darkness in Him.
:5 in Him is no darkness at all
In the Greek, John piles up the negatives so that it comes across something
like this:
(Wuest)
that God as to His nature is light, and darkness in Him does not exist, not
even one particle
There is absolutely no darkness in God.
Lesson
God is good
This is the truth about God.
This is what’s “real” about God.
He is good. There
is nothing evil about God.
Some people
know what it’s like to grow up around authority figures who
are abusive.
I’ve known people who abused by a father on a regular basis, and who grew
up wondering where God was.
And when we as a church would talk about God being our “Father”, they
always withdrew and shuddered at the thought.
God is not like
your dad. God is not like some abusive authority figure.
This doesn’t
mean that God is your magic Genie either.
Some people think that if God is “good”, then that means that He will
always give me everything I ask for.
Illustration
A
secretary, a paralegal, and a partner in a big law firm are walking
through a park on their way to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes
out in a puff of smoke. The Genie says, “I usually only grant three wishes, so
I’ll give each of you just one.” “Me first! Me first!”
says the secretary. “I
want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the
world.” Poof! She’s
gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the paralegal. “I want to be in Hawaii,
relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of exotic
foods, and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “You’re next,” the Genie says to the partner.
The partner says, “I want those two back in the office right after lunch.”
If you think that God being “good” means that He always gives you what you
ask for … you’re a spoiled brat.
If you are a parent, I hope you’ve learned this. A good parent doesn’t give their child
everything they ask for.
Play
“Tantrum”
clip.
To be honest, this was a commercial for birth
control. But it would be a better
commercial for a parenting class.
I
hope that God is good enough to give me what I really need, not what I
think I need at the moment.
For some of us,
the bigger impact of this truth comes when we simply don’t understand what is
going on in our lives.
Sometimes it’s tragedies that strike, where we find ourselves touched by evil
things, and we wonder where God was.
We may not understand for years what happened or why, but the peace comes
from knowing that God is good.
He knows what He’s doing.
I can trust Him.
:6 If we say that we have
fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth.
:6 If we say – epo
– to speak, say
The word is in what’s called the “subjunctive” mood, which speaks of
possibility, something that may or may not actually happen.
:6 fellowship – koinonia – fellowship, association, communion
The idea is having something in common with someone. It’s about having a relationship with
someone.
John started his letter declaring that his desire is for us to have this
“fellowship” with him, and that his “fellowship” was actually centered around God.
(1 Jn 1:3 NKJV) —3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that
you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
So the question comes, how can you tell if a person has this “fellowship”
with God? What does it look like for a
person to have a “relationship” with God.
John is going to tell us what it’s NOT like.
:6 walk – peripateo
(“about” + “walk”) – to walk; to conduct one’s self
The word is in what’s called the “subjunctive” mood, which speaks of
possibility, something that may or may not actually happen.
:6 lie – pseudomai
– to lie, to speak deliberate falsehoods
:6 practice – poieo
– to make; to do; to carry out (Present tense)
:6 truth – aletheia – truth; what is true in any matter
under consideration; in reality, in fact
The root idea
of aletheia
is to be “not covered”. The truth is not
something that’s covered up, but something that is uncovered, something that is
exactly what it seems to be.
Lesson
Light Life
Illustration
If you ever visit Hollywood near Grauman’s
Chinese Theater, you can have your picture taken with some pretty famous
people. You can meet Batman, Spiderman, or the Hulk. Some people have run into Superman, the Cat in the Hat, Spongebob, and the Wolverine.
But they’re not real.
They’re fake.
And most everybody knows it.
The Real Christian
Doesn’t
walk in darkness.
If God is light, and you claim to be walking with God, then your life
should be filled with light, not darkness.
There are people who “say” they are
Christians, who aren’t.
That’s one of the things that John
is going to tackle in his letter – all the things that people “say” that just
aren’t true. Things like …
(1 Jn 4:20 NKJV) If
someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen?
Don’t believe everything you hear
people say. It’s not what you “say” as much as what you “do” that counts.
Jesus said,
(Mt 7:21 NKJV) —21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
What does is look like to “walk in darkness”?
(Eph 5:1–14 NKJV) —1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk
in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you,
as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness,
nor foolish talking,
nor coarse jesting,
which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this
you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one
deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes
upon the sons of disobedience.
We might think that some of these things aren’t that big
of a deal, yet these are the very things that God will one day judge the world
for.
7 Therefore
do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by
them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made
manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is
light. 14 Therefore
He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you
light.”
Darkness hides things.
Darkness covers things up.
Light exposes things.
Light reveals things.
If you struggle with immorality, impurity, greed, or like dirty jokes, does
this mean that you should just quit because you’re not a real Christian?
It might mean that you’re playing games with God and don’t really know Him
like you think you do.
It might mean that you might know God a little, but you’re fooling yourself
by thinking that God doesn’t care if you don’t change.
If God has come into your life and put “light” into your
life, then start acting like it.
Be careful about hiding behind your excuses of why you
can’t change.
There is right and there is wrong.
If we are really walking with God in light, then our lives change from
being dark to being light.
But if we are claiming to be walking with God, yet all that people see in
our lives are dark things, then something’s not right.
:7 But if we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
:7 walk – peripateo (“about” + “walk”) – to walk; to
conduct one’s self
The word is in what’s called the “subjunctive” mood, which speaks of
possibility, something that may or may not actually happen.
:7 fellowship – koinonia – fellowship, association, community,
communion, joint participation
:7 we have fellowship with one
another
John has been talking about having fellowship with him and fellowship with
God.
Lesson
Light Fellowship
This is the relationship we have with each other and God when we live our
lives in the light, out in the open.
Paul wrote,
(Eph 4:14–15 NKJV) —14
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in
all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Paul paints a contrast of being children in an environment
with deceitful plotting, hiding things, covering
things up, versus maturity which comes from speaking truth in love.
When we learn to speak truth to each other, in love, then
we all play a part in the process of growing up.
Sometimes
speaking the truth involves me being honest with others about the struggles
that I am going through.
I no longer hide the fact that I am weak and struggle. I admit that I’m just like everyone else.
It always frustrates me on a TV show when some character does something
stupid, and then tries to cover it up or lie about it. Things would go much better if we learn to
face the consequences of our actions sooner than later.
Sometimes
speaking the truth requires that I will confront you about things I see
happening in your life. If I can learn
to do that in love, then we have half a chance of you listening to me and
responding to the truth.
This is what it means to have “fellowship” by “walking in the light”.
We can help each other bring “light” into dark places.
Things can change when you learn to put “light” into your
life. Things that you didn’t see before
are obvious and you have a chance to change things.
God's Word - a light - spend time in it. Let it shine on you. Ps. 119:105
:7 the blood of Jesus … cleanses
us from all sin
Lesson
Light cleansing
John says that if we are truly living our lives by walking in the light
with God, that the result is God’s amazing cleansing.
How does that
happen?
When you turn
on a light in a dark place, you become aware of what is broken, what needs to
be fixed in that place.
One of the
things that will happen is becoming aware of your own sin.
When you become aware of your own sin and if you bring it before God and
admit it, you will find forgiveness.
(1 Jn 1:9
NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What’s beautiful in this verse is the word “all”.
You can be
cleansed from “all” sin.
You may have thought that there are certain things you
could never be forgiven of.
It might be unfaithfulness to your spouse. It could be an
abortion.
There are certain sins that can have a strangle-hold on
us. Because we give in to these sins
over and over again, we might convince ourselves that God is finished forgiving
us. Not so.
How can God cleanse us from all sin?
He does it with
the blood of Jesus His Son.
The Bible says that blood is symbolic of a being’s
life. The shedding of blood was how sin
was paid for.
(Le 17:11 NKJV) For the
life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that
makes atonement for the soul.’
When
Jesus died on the cross, His blood was shed.
He gave up His life. He did it in
order to “atone” or pay for our sins.
Because
Jesus is the infinite God taking on human flesh, when He laid down His life for
us, He didn’t lay down a single life, but an infinite life.
If you have sin that needs forgiveness, your sin can be
taken care of in God’s eyes if you will admit your sin to Him.
He can and will forgive you.
Illustration
"The Blood of Christ"
One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of the Holy Spirit
in her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and
Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs and
prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a
faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry
teaching young children. It not very long until this faithful young woman had
caught the eye and the heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and
they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began.
You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a
past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue
and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a
meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting
got completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the
things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry, the pastor's son
stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be. He
began to speak and his statement was this: "My fiancé’s past is not what
is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus
to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it
wash away sin or not?"
Beloved, the truth is that the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from ALL sin.
(Ro 8:1 NKJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus…
Have you accepted God’s free gift of forgiveness?