The Risen Jesus Sheds His Light!

3rd Sunday of Easter, 4/18/21 1 John 1:1-2:2 The Risen Jesus Sheds His Light! I. On our joyful fellowship II. On our Christian living Getting out of bed in the middle of the night without any light available can be a risky endeavor. Things that are so evident during daylight hours or when the lights in the room are on are so hidden in the darkness of night. Even though you may have walked those few steps away from your bed countless times, the trip in total darkness is fraught with unseen obstacles: the hard corner of the bed, the door jamb you thought was located several inches to the left, the pair of shoes you thought you had put away in your closet, the extension cord connected to your phone charger. And if you’ve ever hit one or tripped over one, you know it’s not only embarrassing, but it can also be dangerous, resulting in open wounds or broken bones. Trying to walk about in the darkness is an endeavor that fills people with a good measure of fear. So does living in darkness. What do I mean by that? Well, we’ve experienced enough of it recently. We want to know the truth about what’s happening in our world, but receiving reliable information is difficult if not impossible. There are so many competing “truths” out there about things such as disease and vaccinations and when and where you’re safe, about what’s best for our country, about the best way to maintain peace and order. For every opinion about what should be done about things, there’s an opposite opinion. What should we think? What should we do? In many ways, it’s like walking around in darkness. The Christians to whom the Apostle John wrote these words of our text faced the same thing, only in a much more critical way. They didn’t know what to think and believe about their spiritual lives. They heard so many competing messages claiming to be the truth that they lived in confusion and even fear, like making their way through a room of spiritual darkness. In these words, John pointed them to the One who was the only solution to their predicament—their risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The risen Jesus shed his light on their lives. And he does the same for us today. The risen Jesus sheds his light! Join me in being enlightened by that light for our lives. Part I. The movie Home Alone, which debuted in late 1990, has become somewhat of a classic Christmas movie. The main character, Kevin, is a young boy whom his family members accuse of being the source of one problem after another. It doesn’t take long before Kevin wishes that he were living without his family, all alone. Due to a mix-up, he gets his wish. And at first, he enjoys his time alone. But by the end of the movie, he yearns for his family to be with him once again. Most people want to live with the company of others. There are few exceptions. Very few. We need other people around us to share life with, to receive their support and encouragement. That’s the way our God created us. Even more so, our God created us to share life with him. But you’d have a hard time convincing some people of that. Recent polls here in America indicate that the number of atheists is rising. Not only do they feel no need for a relationship with God, but they also deny that God even exists. Far more people think they do have a relationship with God, whomever that might be for them. And they base their relationship on who they are and what they’re able to do. In other words, they think they inherently have a relationship with God, or they think they’re worthy of having that relationship because of the good things they do or the evil things they avoid. Those opinions about having a relationship with God are nothing new. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, was the first to think this way and literally billions upon billions of people have thought that way ever since. In each case, these people were duped by the Father of Lies, Satan himself. John begins our sermon text by asserting that he had heard, seen and even held onto the risen Lord Jesus. He had the blessed opportunity to do what we dream of doing—using our human senses to have a relationship with Jesus. But John didn’t write these words to make us envious; he wrote them to make us certain. Certain of what? Listen again to his words, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” He states that his goal of sharing the truth with them about Jesus is so that they have fellowship on two levels. The highest level is fellowship with God. The only way we have a relationship with the only true God is by faith in Jesus. Jesus is the One who sacrificed his life to buy us back from Satan’s kingdom and bring us into God’s kingdom. In that kingdom we live in daily forgiveness for our sins and have the guarantee of eternal life with God. You talk about having a relationship! Our fellowship with God boggles the mind! And with that fellowship with God comes fellowship with one another. That fellowship is based on the truth of God’s word—everything Jesus told us in his word. In this letter John speaks at length about how that fellowship with each other is ruined by those who hold to and proclaim false teaching. What a blessed relationship we have with each other as we hold to and proclaim a unity of faith! As John writes, that fellowship with God and each other fills us with joy. And we’re certain of it because Jesus is risen from the dead. The risen Jesus sheds his light on our joyful fellowship. Think about it. Although God created us to live with each other, our relationships in life can be tenuous at times. In fact, we’re often convinced that they’re broken. Someone said or did something and now the joyful relationship we once enjoyed is no longer. And we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to mend it so that we feel that joy again. Now, imagine if that were the case with your fellowship with God. We would spend every minute on this earth in doubt and fear and, ultimately, despair. Is God OK with me or not? But the death and resurrection of Jesus are the solid foundation of our fellowship with God. Jesus did everything needed in order to bring us into that fellowship. It cost him dearly, but he was willing to pay the price because he loves us more than we can imagine. By faith in Jesus you have an eternal relationship with your God. And, on the basis of that fellowship, we have fellowship with one another. More than one member of our church as told me that he or she has a closer relationship with our members than with his or her family. What a blessed fellowship! What joy that gives us amidst life’s troubles and tragedies! And it’s all because the risen Jesus sheds his light. He sheds it on our joyful fellowship. Part II. I’m sure you’ve heard about people who live in denial. They have a serious issue in their lives that is causing them harm or harm to their loved ones, but they refuse to recognize it. They live in denial. John speaks to us this morning about a far worse type of denial. It’s far worse, because it has the potential of separating us from our God. He writes, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” To summarize, John states that you can’t claim to be a Christian but live like a non-Christian. You can’t claim to be innocent of sin. If you do, you’re telling God that he’s a liar because he states that all have sinned. That’s living in darkness. I’m going to assume you don’t want to stumble through life like that. So, how can we make sure we don’t fall into that spiritual trap of darkness? Live in the light of the risen Savior! John says it like this, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” There you have it! Our spiritual reality is that we have sinned, every day, more often than we imagine. So, confess it! And when we do, we live in the assurance of the forgiveness that our Savior won for us and that our God graciously extends to us. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, for the sins of the whole world! God’s daily will is for us to confess our sins and live in the assurance of our forgiveness through Jesus. That’s living in spiritual light! The risen Jesus sheds his light on our Christian living. People of God, bask in the saving light of the risen Jesus! Let that light expose the darkness and, when it does, confess it and receive the assurance that Jesus has forgiven that sin too, as he does with all sins, every sin. Amen.