An Invitation to Light Living (A Look at 1 John 1)
Today, I’m hoping to put some of the beauty of 1 John 1 on display.
This chapter of 1 John brings forth themes of fellowship, light, and life. He begins to teach readers what it truly means to be in fellowship with God and one another. Walk with me as we explore and celebrate a few of the beautiful truths displayed in this chapter.
You might find it nice to have your bible open to 1 John as we go through this. As you trace along the text, we will expand on each little section of goodness.
Jesus is The Word of Life
John opens this chapter of his book (1 John) by describing Jesus as the “word of Life”. Flip the pages of your bible a few chapters earlier, and you’ll see similar language used by in another portion of scripture written by John. Read below:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5 NIV
Jesus is the Word of life. He comes speaking life. He has spoken life from the beginning, when he created the world alongside Father God, and he continued in that life-giving nature through the cross—not wishing death upon us (though our sins deserved it), but instead, choosing to sacrifice himself to conquer death on our behalf.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
Jesus entered the world as a man, not to condemn, but to save. Not to bring us the death our sins deserved, but to gift us the life we don’t deserve. Jesus is the Word of life.
Fellowship with Jesus
After John boldly proclaims what he has witnessed—that Jesus is the Word of life—he explains that he has come to proclaim the truth about Jesus in order that the recipients of his writing would be able to find fellowship with him, just as he has fellowship with God and Jesus.
Fellowship is a word thrown around in Christian circles, that doesn’t often make it’s way to the common speech of the world. It seems worthwhile to dig into this word, that we may gain a deeper understanding of what exactly is meant by the word fellowship.
After all, if this word represents something that believers are welcomed into, and if it’s something that can be enjoyed with God, it feels important to know what exactly this word means.
Growing in deeper knowledge of the truth affects us for good. There is a wonderful reminder in Phillipians 1:9-11 that as our knowledge of God grows, our love and discernment expound. Growing in our understanding of God, and our relationship to him, touches down in our everyday life and impacts the way we think and live.
Now, onto the word fellowship. The ideas behind fellowship are that those who are in fellowship with each other are associated with one another. They experience joint participation in things, and are in community with one another. In verse 3, It’s almost as if John were saying, “I want to proclaim the truth to you that you can come and participate with us in this Christ-filled life. Come, join and participate. We have chosen to live life in association with God, and we want to proclaim the life of Christ to you, that you may too.”
He says that writing this proclamation of Christ is intended to make his joy complete. (Verse 4) All things truly are better when shared, aren’t they?
Fellowship With the God of Light
John had begun his letter stating that he is proclaiming Christ in order to invite readers into fellowship. He takes this a bit further by diving deeper into the truth that he chooses to proclaim:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5 NIV
If readers choose to step into fellowship (or association or joint participation) with God, it’s important that they know this means choosing a life of light. John goes on to say that if a person claims to have fellowship with God, yet continues to walk in darkness, they aren’t really living out the truth being proclaimed at all.
Walking in the light with God, means taking all your shortcomings, sins, failures, and “yuck”, and being honest with it. It means bringing it out into the open, and believers are able to do this because they know the truth about who Jesus is—that he is the Word of life! We can bring our sin to the light safely, because we know the grace that awaits us there.
Do you see how understanding the truth about God and bringing ourselves into the light go hand-in-hand?
As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of the character of God (see Psalm 145:8 for a glimpse), we come to believe that we can truly bring the ugliest sides of ourselves into the light, and find forgiveness.
If we don’t step into the light, we leave our disgusting sin in the dark, growing and multiplying, never allowing it to be purified by Christ. It reminds me of the mold that plagues Minnesota basements—expanding and destroying as it hides in the britches of darkness.
May we accept the invitation to be purified by our loving and generous creator—the one who sent Jesus to speak life over us. This is what it means to be in fellowship with the God of light—to be in a right, and purified, relationship with him. We are living in acceptance of his gracious offering to cleanse us from our sin, as we acknowledge our need for this cleansing.
It All Begins with Jesus
Coming into agreement with the truths that God generously so shares, will provide us with healing we never knew to be possible. It all begins with Jesus.
It begins as the good news about forgiveness and healing, found in Christ, is shared with us (just as John proclaims at the start of this chapter). Then, we may choose to step into the light and accept the purification offered to us on the cross. (We also have the freedom to reject the notion that we require forgiveness and continue to live our lives in the darkness.)
This is the reality that John outlines in verses 8-10:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10
Knowing who God is, in his holy and perfect ways, naturally results in us seeing ourselves as we really are: sinners in desperate need of grace.
But the story doesn’t end with us accepting our own desperation: our holy and perfect God is also merciful, compassionate, and kind… and the best part? He loves us! So very much! He meets us, even in our fallen states, and offers life.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV
As we accept the reality of our sinful nature, we can step into the light and let him restore us. No moldly basement souls here, just cleansed and redeemed souls, in fellowship with God himself. We participate with him and join together with other believers, as we share the message of this good truth with the world. It’s all just so wonderful!
Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed exploring 1 John 1.
**If you have any questions about entering into fellowship with God through faith in Jesus, I’d love to chat with you. You can contact me here.
With love!
Annalisa
