4/14 Sermon - How do we walk in God’s light? Repent!

1 John 1:5-25

He is risen! He is risen indeed, Hallelujah! On Easter morning, the angel said, “Do not fear. He is risen.” Last Sunday, we read how Jesus said, “Peace be with you. I am risen.” Easter gives our lives so much joy and light. How have we done? Have we walked in the light? 

I don’t like the dentist. For a number of reasons. The teeth scraping! And there’s the giant light above our eyes! It hurts! They do it to clearly see all the plague they want to remove from your teeth. The light hurts!

John writes that “God is light, in him there is no darkness at all.” God is a light that exposes sin. What does God see when he shines down on us? Is our walk with God blameless and perfect? Or does he see sin in our lives? Should God see sin? Do I sin? Do you sin? There are two lies about sin we tell ourselves.

First lie, let’s look at the text. “If we claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live in the truth.” When John was alive, people did not take sin seriously. They said something like this, “As long as you go to church, “say” you’re a Chrisitan, have a few outward things you do, the rest doesn’t matter. God’s Word isn’t a big deal.” But John says if our lives don’t show it, we don’t have fellowship with God.

What does this mean for us? If we claim to be Christians, if we claim to be children of God, but we don’t take sin seriously in our life and don’t take God’s seriously in our life, we are liars. If our lives don’t match up with God’s Word, if our lives don’t follow God’s Word, how can we have fellowship with God? This is terrifying, right? God takes sin seriously. So, we should to.  

Look at the verb that John uses. “WALK in the darkness.” That’s an important verb. If I am walking on a path, that means I am following that path. I’m set in my way. When John talks about walking in darkness, he doesn’t mean just messing up once, or stumbling in our walk of faith. This happens to us every day because we’re sinners. What John means when he says, “Walk in darkness” is a Christian that doesn’t care what God’s Word says, who dismisses God’s command, who doesn’t have time for God, who stubbornly, resolutely continues in sin.

I can do that! We need to take God’s Word seriously, follow it, and not sin. Then we will have fellowship with God. I can do that!

Second lie. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” When John was alive, some people claimed to be without sin! They said, “We have done a great job. We’re pretty good! God told us to keep his law. We’ve kept God’s law. You know what… we’re without sin.”

What does this mean for us? If we think we’re doing a good job, if we think we’re pretty good Christians, if we think there is not much sin in our lives, we are liars. We deceive ourselves. This truth is… insulting.  

Think about it this way: Who causes the problems in your life? We think that it’s other people. If my wife/husband would just be a little more understanding. If my children behaved a little better. If my boss was a little more generous. If my friends were a little nicer. My problems would be gone. But that’s not true. God’s Word tells us, God the light shines on us, and says, “You are the problem.” Our problems come from our own weaknesses, sinfulness much more than we’re willing to admit. God shines on us and wants us to confess our sin.

God is light. Harsh! God is a light that exposes sin and burns us. But light doesn’t have to hurt, right? A gentle light in the morning helps us make breakfast. A warm light helps us read. The light of the sun relaxes and calms us. A light at night guides our steps. Light doesn’t have to burn! God’s light doesn’t just burn. God’s light also comforts, warms, calms. God’s light is forgiveness.

How can we walk in this light? That’s what we’ll talk about for the rest of our sermon. The answer is pretty simple. That’s what we do, as Christians, we walk in the light. How? One word: repent. We repent, every day. John tells us in this reading how to walk in the light, how to repent.

Repent and walk in the light. That means that we are honest about sin. As Christians, we don’t fall into the “trap” of those John spoke against, we don’t deny our sin. We confess our sins. Every day, I mess up. I cause problems. I am selfish, impatient, angry, bitter, anxious, and that’s my fault. We sin. We don’t point to others and tear them down. We point at ourselves and confess sin.

Repent and walk in the light. That means we are confident of our forgiveness. We listen to what God’s Word says. John writes, “If we walk in the walk, the blood of Jesus his son purifies us from all sin.” And later, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” To walk in God’s light means to be forgiven. We say, “Yes, I messed up. Yes, I’m a sinner, but I know that sin is forgiven, purified, covered by the blood Jesus shed on the cross.” God’s forgiveness is light the sun. It just shines. We don’t need to achieve it, earn it, and work for it. We stand in the light of God’s Son/Sun, and we are forgiven as surely as the sin shines every single day. We are forgiven.  

Repent and walk in the light. It means we follow God’s path. My children, I write this to you so that you do not sin. God’s light shines and gives forgiveness. But it also shows us a path before us. It’s like this center aisle. It’s a path that we walk. God gives us commands in his Word, he gives direction. He wants us to walk in his path. When we do, he promises to bless our life. We walk in the light and follow God’s path. We listen to his Word.

Repent and walk in the light. This is a “walk.” If I want to go for a run, I find a sidewalk or a trail, and I follow that. I follow a path. As Christians, we daily walk in the path of God’s Word. Of course we sin. Of course we mess up. We’re sinners! While we live in this world, we won’t stop sinning. Just because we sin doesn’t mean we walk in darkness. I’m not trying to frighten your conscience. When we walk in God’s light, it means that we have a life of constant repentance. Look at my theme. That’s how I answer my question. How do we walk in the light? Repent. When we walk in the light, it means that every day we confess our sin, stand in forgiveness, and follow God’s Word.

I like to have worship connections. That’s why we start every service with confession and absolution. With confessing sin and receiving forgiveness. There is no more important truth to focus on that repentance: confessing sin and receiving forgiveness. It’s exactly what God wants us to do in 1 John.

What does it look like when someone walks in darkness? It’s simple. The ignore God’s Word. They don’t read it. They don’t listen to what God’s says. They don’t care about God. They don’t want to live their faith. They don’t want to share their faith. Maybe the most important part is this: they don’t want to confess their sin. This does not describe you, but there is a warning for us: Let’s not downplay sin, dismiss forgiveness, or ignore what God’s Word says.

Do you walk in the light? If you are here, listening to God’s Word, if you want to know more, if you have joy at the word forgiveness, if you want to share God’s Word, if you want to help your neighbor, you walk in the light. Most important are these two truths: Who is a sinner? I am. You are. Who is forgiven. I am. You are. God’s light of forgiveness, of Jesus, shines on you, not because of our worthiness, but because of God’s grace.

How do we walk in the light? That’s the theme of this sermon, my main question. One word: Repent. Someone told me this: The gospel is for people who are trying. Repeat. It’s all about repentance. We trying to follow God’s Word, but we sin. The more we learn about God, the more we see our own sin. We try and fail, again and again. When we try, when we fail, we have forgiveness. We have the gospel. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. Then try again, always walking in the light of God’s forgiveness.  That’s what repentance is. That’s what it means to walk in God’s light. Amen.