Turn On the Light

1 John 1:5-7

June 27, 1999

Rev. Charles Mims

1 John 1:5 (KJV)

⁵This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:6 (KJV)

⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1 John 1:7 (KJV)

⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Are you afraid of the dark? Many children are afraid of the dark, and require some sort of light to be on throughout the night. Even some adults retain this phobia throughout their lives. Once when I was a teenager we took a trip to Marianna Caverns in Marianna, FL. These series of natural caverns in Northwest Florida are preserved in the Marianna Caverns State Park, and are a popular place for school field trips, and church youth groups. For a fee the park rangers will take you on a guided tour of the safest of these caverns. Many of them are unexplored, and unsafe to enter, but some of them have been outfitted with lighting and serve as a tourist attraction. Now as you can imagine, when you are that far underground that without the lighting, the darkness is total. One of the things that happens on a tour is that they take you deep into the cave then shut out the lights. It’s so dark you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. Before they do this, they always ask if anyone is afraid of the dark. Seldom amongst a group of teenagers will you find one who will say in front of his or her friends that they are afraid. So, out the lights go. Invariably at least one in the group immediately becomes petrified at the total lack of light, and begins to scream for them to turn the lights back on.

Are you afraid of the dark? I read about an interview with Stephen King, best selling author of many tales of horror. In the interview he talked about his daily writing routine. He said that he only writes in the morning. When he was asked whether he ever wrote at night, he replied, "Are you kidding? Not with the stuff I write." Apparently, even Stephen King knows the power of the darkness.

Perhaps we should anticipate losing the fear of darkness. Maybe even view it as a stepping stone on the way to adulthood. Perhaps we should revel in our new freedom from fear. Yet we must not become so complacent in our confidence that we forget the danger that lies in darkness. It is like a fear of lightning. Many children are afraid of lightning, or more correctly afraid of the thunder that the lightning produces. As we grow older we "outgrow" that childhood fear as we realize that the thunder is caused by the friction heat of the lightning, but we would be wise to continue to fear the awesome destructive power of that bolt of lightning.

We should remember that darkness represents all that is evil. Things look different to us in the darkness. More accidents occur at dusk than at any other time of the day, and it is believed that this is because our eyes are adjusting to the encroaching darkness and it changes our perception of the things around us.

If you were walking alone in a strange place at dark you would likely be listening for any sound that is the slightest bit "off", or for any strange shadows cast in your direction. We are continuously looking for the thing that goes bump in the night, yet we’ve forgotten that Satan uses the cover of darkness to deceive us.

Darkness is that place were evil is given a chance to flourish. Crimes occur more frequently in the darkness because the criminals want the safety of darkness. Darkness from a Biblical perspective is the enemy of light, and as we are about to discuss, God is light.

When our littlest daughter Sami wakes up in the middle of the night, and has had a bad dream, or is afraid, she begs us to turn on her light. Well, John is encouraging us today to "Turn On the Light."

GOD IS LIGHT

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin' I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you got!" Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.

Perhaps here we should define what light is? The scripture that we just read says that God is light, and darkness is not in Him. We could extend that to say that light, then, is the absence of darkness. You could open up a dictionary and get a technical definition of light, you could ask a scientist and discover how quickly light moves, or you could even perform some simple rudimentary experiments to illustrate what light is.

Here is a dictionary definition of light found at

http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?db=*&term=light

light \Light\ (l[imac]t), n. [OE. light, liht, AS. le['o]ht; akin to OS. lioht, D. & G. licht, OHG. lioht, Goth. liuha[thorn], Icel. lj[=o]s, L. lux light, lucere to shine, Gr. leyko`s white, Skr. ruc to shine. [root]122. Cf. Lucid, Lunar, Luminous, Lynx.] 1. That agent, force, or action in nature by the operation of which upon the organs of sight, objects are rendered visible or luminous.

2. That which furnishes, or is a source of, light, as the sun, a star, a candle, a lighthouse, etc.

Both of these definitions fit well with what we are talking about this morning. God is light. He is the source by which all things are made visible. Light exposes sin that darkness successfully covers. When we enter into a relationship with God, he reveals, or exposes our true nature to us.

Another way of looking at light is by comparing it to darkness, which is the complete abscense of light. Light and darkness are opposites. In the Scriptures, light refers to truth, purity and holiness. Darkness refers to error, ignorance, sin and evil. So when John declares to us that God is light; in him there is no darkness at all, he is simply saying that God is the epitome of truth, purity and holiness and that in Him there is no error, sin and evil. This is the nature of God. This tells us something of who God is.

STUMBLING IN THE DARKNESS (V. 6)

Have you ever been lying in bed at night, perhaps already sound asleep when all of a sudden you hear a strange noise? I remember one night at about 1 am we hear the terrifying sound of glass breaking. There is no mistaking that sound in the middle of the night. When this sort of thing takes place you have two choices if you choose to investigate. You can turn on the light or you can stumble around in the darkness. Well, let me tell you, it’s not wise to stumble around the house in the dark when you have two small children! You can hurt yourself stumbling over something, and it can be avoided by turning on the light.

It seems that many times as Christians we make that same choice. We have access to the light, but we choose to wander around life in the dark. All around us are people who claim to be God’s children, but are walking in the darkness. John was talking to Christians in verse six. He is telling us first that the world is watching our actions, and if we are not living the same life we are talking, they will notice. Also, though, he is warning us that walking in the darkness will harm our relationship with God.

You might be thinking that you aren’t walking in the darkness. You may be thinking that your relationship is just perfect with the father. There are some ways in which you and I begin to stumble around without realizing it. One such way is when we neglect to assemble together for worship. We all know that when you do something once, it gets easier the next time, and the next, until it becomes a habit. Church attendance is the same way. It’s terribly easy to fall out of the habit of attending, and when we neglect to attend worship, we are beginning to stumble in darkness. We also neglect the study of the scriptures. It is through God’s Holy Word that we find the illumination to cope with life’s daily struggles. God’s Word will shed light on our troubles and illuminate the proper way for us. Why then, do so many Christians place Bible Study so low on their list of priorities? It’s because they are walking in the darkness rather than the light.

Another way we allow ourselves to wander in the darkness is by never stopping to give ourselves a self-evaluation. We absolutely must try to look at ourselves as the world sees us. Or more importantly, we should attempt to see our lives as God would see them. We are encouraged in the Scriptures to examine ourselves, to evaluate just how we are doing. If we really want to live in the light, regular self-evaluation is essential. How am I doing? Am I more loving? Am I easier to live with? Am I spending more time with God? Are my priorities in proper order? If we don’t ask these questions, we will never know the truth.

Another mark of stumbling around in the darkness is when we blame everyone else for our troubles. Looking at our nation today as we come up on another anniversary of our independence it seems we have an epidemic of darkness. No one is willing to take responsibility for their actions any longer. It is always someone else’s fault. Criminals blame society, society blames their childhood, the parents blame the economy, and the list goes on and on and on. We will never walk in the light until we realize that when we sin it is OUR fault and accept the responsibility for our own lives.

WALKING IN THE LIGHT

Walking in the light is a key element in our relationship with the Lord. It’s not necessary for us to stumble around in the dark, just as it is unnecessary for us to walk around our home after dark with the lights off. There are many benefits to walking in the light. The closer relationship with our Lord being but the first.

Our God is a holy God, and he detests the sin in our lives. When we are walking in the darkness we are severing the relationship with God. There is more to a relationship than that first initial meeting. Many times we have gotten the idea that acceptance of the promise of salvation is the be all and end all of our walk with the Lord. But instead we should view that as the beginning of a long and profitable journey. Just like our earthly relationships are harmed by our actions, so it is with our heavenly relationship with the father. When we actively strive to walk in the light, we are walking closer with God, and the fellowship is much sweeter.

Walking in the light brings us into a closer communion with God, and makes his presence in our lives that much more enjoyable. If you are friends with someone, and have wronged them it strains your relationship with them to the point that being with them is uncomfortable. When we are walking in the darkness we are straining our relationship with God, and being with Him is uncomfortable for us. Possibly (probably) because His spirit brings a realization (ILLUMINATION??) of our sins, that we would rather not be confronted with. Therefore, it stands to reason that if we are truly walking in the light, then we would enjoy the presence of God. This close communion also satisfies a deep need in humanity. Human nature demands that we have a god. Even if we try to deny it, the simple truth remains that if we aren’t worshipping the one true God, we turn to other gods of our own choosing and construction. Even if that god becomes our own self. When we walk in the light, God’s presence is felt, and we know He is there. When we are walking in the darkness we don’t feel His presence as keenly.

Walking in the light finally will bring us closer into fellowship with each other. Here John is talking about our fellowship with other Christians. We are brothers and sisters in Christ because of our relationship to Him. Fellowship, however, requires more than relationship. Fellowship requires honesty, openness, approachability, an uncritical spirit, and vulnerability. Walking in the light will produce those characteristics in our lives. Walking in the light will deliver us from the things that block fellowship with one another and make us people others will want to spend time with. Walking in the light will meet the need that every Christian has to have meaningful relationships with other believers.

Conclusion

What a wonderful way to enjoy our life more abundantly. If we will simply choose to turn on the light, we won’t waste so many precious minutes stumbling around, bumping our toes, skinning our knees, and tripping over our own mistakes. Why should we sit here in the darkness when the light of the world is within our reach? I challenge you this morning to turn on the light, and let it shine.

Email: csmims@n-jcenter.com