"Walking in the Light" (1 John 2:1-6)

Introduction

The 1^st Letter of John confronts us with following Jesus, not just in theory, but by being genuinely grounded, living out our faith with real integrity – thus constantly walking in the light. I just picked out 6 verses that typify this message. In accepting Jesus, which we acknowledge at the communion table, we have entered into a loving and intimate relationship with God, which requires us to live in the way that God wants us to. That is generally called ‘obedience’ and 'discipleship'. As new creations in Jesus, we have the capacity to live differently to the way we might have previously. Yet, we can still be real, fulfilling the uniqueness we were created with.

Passage

Now this challenge doesn’t come in too heavy a way, for when we happen to fall into sin i.e. make poor decisions and do the wrong thing, we have an “advocate” totally given over to our cause, who has provided for our forgiveness. Yet we should never take this too much for granted, for grace came at great cost. And we should never see this as just our own personal get-out-clause – there is no integrity in that! We should not adopt any sort of ‘entitlement mentality’ that sees our needs as superior to others, such that they can be ignored. We should not miss the second part of verse 2.

The forgiveness Jesus offers is “for the whole world”. This echoes very much the earlier writing in John’s Gospel (3:16): “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life”. We should not stop there! John continues (3:17): “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”. Hmmm … “might be saved through him”. There is a potential for the salvation of all, the sacrifice of the cross is for all – but sadly, not ‘all’ may benefit.

This then, provides great guidance … as to what our calling is, and what we should be doing with our salvation! God through Jesus has done everything he can to save the world, and then given us a ministry to share this blessing with others. The “might” surrounds whether people are given opportunity. And when we think of the “world” being saved, we can think of this in two ways – there is each individual who is currently part of the "world", and then there is the world in its entirety. As people receive the Gospel on an individual basis, and in family groups and across various communities (as we see it in the book of Acts), then the "world", at least in some places, should become more liveable and free – where God’s Kingdom values are honoured.

I say ‘should’, because it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes God’s people fail to take on board God’s (very clear) guidance about Kingdom values. I am constantly disappointed with politicians who claim the name of Jesus, but then support policies that cannot possibly be in line with Jesus’ teaching. But we would surely not just pick on politicians … they are perhaps only typical of a broader problem in society and in the church. Which is – a failure to take the actual lived life of Jesus (on earth) seriously enough! We can become so fixated on Jesus’ gift, that we ignore his teaching. And Jesus’ teaching surrounds how we live in community – the community of faith … and also the local neighbourhood, and how we walk in the light!

The passage (in vs. 3-4) talks in terms of “commandments” and refers to the possibility of hypocrisy – there is strong language used here when our lives (or our actions) don’t add up with our words. If we are not careful, we can be shown up … as being a bit of a contradiction. More happily, verse 5 talks about the reverse – that if we deal well with and follow the basic commandments intrinsic in Jesus’ teaching, then we will come to maturity. The challenge is summed up simply in verse 6, “whoever says [publicly], ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as Jesus walked”. This means that we prove that we belong to Jesus … by responding to life situations the way he did. We have our attitudes and priorities in harmony with our presentation of the good news (and then this ‘good news’ has more chance of making sense).

In verse 5, there is this expression about God’s love reaching perfection in us. If we consciously practice the two-fold command of loving God and loving neighbour, then eventually it becomes second nature, natural, and essentially who we are. That is pretty awesome. But what does this really mean on the ground? How is this seen and experienced in the realities of life? Having God’s love reaching perfection in us, suggests that we are an open channel through which God’s perfect love can reach to others. This is truly ‘walking in the light’ – in the light of God’s love. Love is the highest point of God’s self-disclosure, and this is demonstrated by emulating the life of Jesus.

Application

We all ‘walk’ – i.e. put one leg in front of the other – when we are younger, once we learn to walk, it becomes second nature … something we don’t have to think much about. Sometimes, later in life, walking can become a struggle, and we have to find other ways through which to keep moving. But ‘walking in the light’ means more than just physically walking – there is a context involved – the context of place! ‘Walking in the light’ takes in all the places in which we move (and then, all the people who might also be there). Question: Is there any place we go, where we are exempted from ‘walking in the light’?? No!! [Well, I say 'no', but maybe there are possible exceptions?! Worth thinking about this some more.]

 

There are all the normal movements of life, where we can be able witnesses to the good news: home, work, school, shopping, eating out, playing sport, etc. But when we talk more about life in community, there are a whole lot of other places and groups we should be thinking about. Last week we singled out one – the football and netball club; and we singled out our sports chaplain and his special role there. Now, what if we think about all the other groups and activities happening around town that each of us are involved in, and applied Graeme’s sort of role to these as well.

Let’s list these groups that we are involved in: some of those mentioned were - CFA, U3A, Opportunity Shop, Alpine Advocates, Hawthorn Village, Anglicare, Bright Singers, Car Club, Harrietville Community Forum, Alpine RAR (Rural Australians for Refugees), English teaching, VCC Emergencies Ministry team, Community Resilience Committee, MEMPC (Municipal Emergency Management Plan committee); as well as various other social gatherings and support groups.

We are all community chaplains, so to speak, in these groups. That is our calling … and we can’t escape this. We cannot turn on-and-off our relationship with Jesus … just when we like. This is who we are, and this is our role. At the same time, we need to be real! We don’t pretend to be what we are not, and we don’t go down that hyper-religious or ‘super-spiritual’ route … for humanity can only properly connect relationally through honesty and humility. For all his divinity, Jesus was wholly engaged as a human … in the cut and thrust of community life. Having said this, we should be calling upon the capacities given by the Holy Spirit to be the best helpers, and community-building people, we possibly can be. Is God’s love being perfected in us?!?

Conclusion

As we express ourselves in community, there are many things to keep in mind. Here are just a few:

• We should always treat people … as we would want to be treated ourselves, and as God wants all people to be treated (with love and respect);
• We should challenge any walls (or barriers) that separate people from living harmoniously, justly and safely in community;
• We should creatively engage with the tensions, fears, expectations and hopes of community life (just like Jesus did);
• We should be watching out for needs and opportunities of service, through which to build trust and nurture relationships;
• We should be loving our neighbourhood as a spiritual discipline (just like prayer, bible reading, worship & communion).

I have this strong sense, that as we ‘walk in the light’ around these our neighbourhoods, the potential of the cross and the resurrection … is going to be realised right before our eyes. I think we saw that right here last Sunday.