Let There Be Light

1 John 1:5-7

Series: Light & Love

Pastor Joel Sutton - November 10, 2013

Truths:

God is Light. vs. 5

Light and darkness are incompatible. vs. 5-6

Implications:

"Do" your faith. vs. 6b

Walk as Jesus walked. vs. 7; 2:6.

Take Home Idea: You know you're walking in the light when your belief and your behavior are taking you closer to Christ.

Sermon Discussion Guide

• Read 1 John 1.5-2.2
  • John I navigating between two dangerous extremes when it comes to the life of the believer:
    • What are the two extremes and what is wrong with them?
    • Explain in your own words John's position.
    • How would you explain the difference between one who walks in the light, yet still sins and one who walks in darkness?
    • How does John's position strike you - especially in contrast to the two extremes?
  • In John 2.1, John declares that he has written all of this, "so that you will not sin."
    • How do verses 5-10 accomplish his task?
• Apply
  • Summarize in once sentence, in your own words, John's advice for faithful living.
  • What do you find most encouraging about John's theology? How does it make you feel?
  • If we truly lived according to this advice/theology, how might our lives be different?

Discussion Guide - Leaders

• Read 1 John 1.5-2.2
  • John I navigating between two dangerous extremes when it comes to the life of the believer:
    • What are the two extremes and what is wrong with them?
      • On the one hand: To claim to have fellowship with God and yet to walk in darkness. To do this is to lie, perhaps most dangerously, to ourselves.
      • On the other: to claim to be completely without sin. This again is deception and self-deception. Worse, we make God out to be a liar.
    • Explain in your own words John's position.
      • John says that someone who has placed their full faith in Jesus, who has received the Holy Spirit will of course walk in the light. They will also of course sin - but they will confess them, not revel in them.
    • How would you explain the difference between one who walks in the light, yet still sins and one who walks in darkness?
      • Walking is a helpful picture: Heading to the right place and making the occasional wrong turn - which is both recognized and corrected (confessed and repented), is clearly different from heading by design to a completely different destination (walking willfully in darkness).
    • How does John's position strike you - especially in contrast to the two extremes?
      • To me - it smacks of common sense and reality. Of course someone who claims Jesus as Lord and savior should generally act like it. And of course we all still sin, but when we do we confess it and turn from that behavior precisely because Jesus is in fact our Lord and savior and we want to be obedient to our Lord.
  • In John 2.1, John declares that he has written all of this, "so that you will not sin."
    • How do verses 5-10 accomplish his task?
      • They make us face reality and avoid two dangerous extremes of self-deception.
        • #1: John reminds us that if we are truly believers, we will not want to sin - we will want to walk in the light.
        • #2: We are also warned against pretending - or worse actually believing - that we are without sin. We are called to face our sin, knowing that if we confess it, we will be cleansed from unrighteousness.

• Apply
  • Summarize in once sentence, in your own words, John's advice for faithful living.
    • Strive always for obedience, but when you fall short, don't worry, just confess and know that God is faithful to forgive.
  • What do you find most encouraging about John's theology? How does it make you feel?
  • If we truly lived according to this advice/theology, how might our lives be different?