Walking in the Light

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The New Testament lesson this morning is a reading from the first letter of John,

John 1:5–10

chapter 1, verses 5-10, and chapter 2, verses 1 and 2.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you,

that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness,

we lie and do not practice the truth.

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 cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,

and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful,

and just to forgive us our sins,

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned,

we make him a liar,

and his word is not in us.

My little children,

I am writing these things to you,

so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin,

we have an advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous.

He is the propitiation for our sins,

and not only for ours only,

but for the sins of the whole world.

This is the word of the Lord.

You can take your seats.

So, I just want to introduce our guest preacher today.

His name is John Kong.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of our church,

we started in 2006,

and part of the heart of this church

has been to engage the college students

just two blocks down the street

from where we worship.

And so, when this church was started,

they came with two founding pastors

and what's called an RUF minister,

a Reformed University Fellowship minister,

basically a campus minister

to help us reach the students at Cal.

And so, that happened all the way in 2006.

Since then, that original founding RUF minister

has gone and planted his own church in Oakland,

and they're good friends with us.

And now we are at our third RUF minister here at Cal,

and Christ Church is happy to be supporting this ministry,

very excited about what God is doing in this ministry.

Amy and myself have been able to visit

and serve this ministry a few times,

and we just always love spending time with the students

and hearing the stories of what God's up to

at this super formative time in the life of students.

So, I'm going to invite John Kong up,

and he's going to deliver the word today.

And we're so thankful to have you, John.

Thanks, Pat.

Well, good morning, everyone.

It is such a privilege to be here

and have an opportunity to worship with you all

and share God's word with you all this morning.

As Andrew mentioned,

I'm the campus minister for RUF Berkeley,

so I bring greetings to you from RUF Berkeley.

I really appreciate all the prayers

and support from this church.

And if you would love to learn more

about what God is doing in Berkeley

through the ministry of RUF,

I'd love to chat with you afterwards.

So please come find me after worship and say hi.

But as you just heard,

Carrie read our passage.

We're looking at this morning.

It's 1 John 1, verses 5,

1 John 1:5

through chapter 2, verse 2.

It's a very familiar,

it's a pretty familiar passage to,

I think, most of us,

especially maybe in verse 9

that you just heard read.

It's often quoted

when we're talking about forgiveness of sins,

assuring us of God's forgiveness.

There's a lot going on in this passage,

but the main thing that John wants to tell us

in this passage

is how as Christians,

you and I are to walk in the light.

And I think that is a timely

and important reminder for us.

Andrew prayed this during our time of confession,

but we don't have to look too far

to see how broken and how dark our world is.

You turn on the news,

pull up whatever news app on your phone,

and you will get inundated with news

about the brokenness of our world,

from natural disasters,

to shootings,

to wars that are going on across the globe.

In fact, actually,

you and I don't have to turn on the news.

We just have to walk around our city of Berkeley.

I just have to walk around the campus of Berkeley.

And you come pretty quickly face-to-face

with the homeless problem,

the drug crisis that can ravage our city.

Those are just some of the things

that make this world dark.

They don't even include the darkness

that is within our own hearts.

All of us sitting here this morning

have dark secrets

that we don't want anyone else knowing.

All of us struggle to walk in the light.

But John wants to assure you that,

yes, even though you and I are sinners,

because of Jesus,

our sins have been forgiven.

And because of Jesus,

we can have fellowship with God

and we can walk in the light.

That is the gospel.

That is the good news

that should bring us tremendous comfort and joy.

And so we're going to look at that

through this passage this morning.

But before we dive in,

would you pray with me one more time?

Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

you tell us that your word

is a lamp to our feet

and a light to our path.

And so give us humble and teachable hearts

as we receive your truth today.

And may your word

not only encourage and edify us,

but also give us the strength

to do what you've commanded.

It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

I want to imagine you at a grocery store

buying groceries for the week.

And let's say you have a dietary restriction.

Maybe you can't eat gluten.

You're vegan.

Maybe you don't like,

you can't eat dairy.

And so if you're at a grocery store

and you're buying groceries,

you probably are spending

a good amount of time

looking at ingredients.

Looking to see if the food you are by

is safe for you to eat.

I mean, obviously companies know this.

And so a lot of the marketing

that companies will do,

the branding,

the packaging that they will put on their food

is they will put in big bold letters

a statement about this food.

For example, that this food is gluten-free.

This food is dairy-free.

This food is vegan-friendly.

So you will know right from the outset

that this food is safe for you to buy and eat.

They put that in big bold letters.

It's a message for their consumer.

What John is doing in this passage,

he's doing something kind of similar,

which is he is putting in big bold letters

a message about God, right?

John is putting in big bold letters

a statement about God.

And that statement is that God is light,

that he is darkness-free.

That's the main message that John wants to share.

If you go back with me, look at verse five,

the first verse of our passage.

John says this.

This is the message we have heard from him

and proclaim to you.

This is the message.

In the first four verses of this letter,

we didn't read that this morning,

but John is preparing you for this message.

It's kind of like an intro.

Because in those first four verses,

John has been saying that he's heard

and he saw and he's touched Jesus.

He's had fellowship with them.

He's gotten to know him.

He's been with Christ.

And he wants to tell you something

that he has learned from that time he spent with Jesus.

And then in verse five,

the first verse of our passage today,

he finally comes out and says it.

And he says,

God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

This is the message.

This is the news that John wants to share with us.

In the first four verses again,

John has kind of said as an introduction

that you and I can have fellowship with God.

And now in verse five,

he says that God is light,

which means that for us to have fellowship with God,

you and I have to walk in the light.

But therein lies our problem.

We are not in the light.

We are unfortunately in darkness.

Light and darkness can't coexist.

And so what do we do?

How do we react to this message?

For some of you, maybe you hear that

and you think, okay,

I need to work really hard

to cleanse myself of the darkness inside me.

But then you realize,

try as hard as you might,

you can't do it.

And you despair.

And others of you,

maybe you hear that

and you think,

okay, well then what's the point?

I'm just going to live my life how I want

because there is no hope for me

to get rid of this darkness inside myself.

There's no point in trying.

And John wants to dispel

both those notions in his message today.

He wants to tell us

that because Christ confronted the darkness for you,

you and I can walk in the light.

Right?

That because Christ confronted the darkness

for you and for me,

you and I can walk in the light.

And we want to look at this

through three points this morning.

And the first is God is light.

Second is that we need light.

And third is Christ brings light.

Right?

God is light.

We need light.

And Christ brings light.

And so first, God is light.

When you think about the concept of light,

when that word gets used,

what images go through your mind?

Maybe for some of you,

you think of like a warm, sunny day at the beach.

You're enjoying the sun rays, the sunshine.

And so light has the idea of warmth

and beauty and life.

For others of you,

maybe you like backpacking.

Like Melissa just said,

she came back from vacation.

She was in nature.

And you think of light as like,

it's nighttime, it's dark,

and light is like a flashlight,

lighting your way back to where you're staying.

And so light then has the idea of safety,

of security.

Or maybe continue on with that camping thing.

Maybe you think of light as like

roasting marshmallows by a fire,

making s'mores with your family and friends.

And so light there has the idea of friendship

and love and family.

Those are all concepts

that can be associated with light.

And they all convey something different.

But they also all have one common thread

that runs through them.

And that common thread is that light is good.

And so that's what John wants to tell us.

The first thing that John wants to tell us,

he wants to proclaim,

he wants to emphasize to his hearers,

is that God is good.

If someone comes to you,

maybe you have a friend or a neighbor

who's not a Christian,

they say, hey, you believe in God,

can you tell me what God is like?

I don't know what adjective

comes to your mind first

when you're describing God.

My guess is for most of us,

if we were to describe God,

we'd describe him as powerful,

as holy,

as righteous,

as just,

as wise.

And yes,

God is all those things.

It is important

that he is all those things.

But how far down the list of adjectives

would it take

before you came

to describe God

as good?

It's not that difficult,

I think,

for people who

believe that there is a God

to also accept

that that God

has to be

holy

and powerful

and wise even.

But when it comes

to God being good,

that is harder

for us sometimes

to believe,

isn't it?

When you look

around and see

some of the injustices

that go on

in this world,

I'm sure some of you

have asked the question,

where is God?

Does he care?

When you hear

that a friend of yours

or a family member

has been diagnosed

with a debilitating illness,

or worse yet,

when you hear

that that friend

or family member

has passed away

all too early,

do you question

the goodness

of God?

Scripture reminds us

in a lot of places

that God is good.

1 Chronicles 16,

give thanks to the Lord

for he is good,

his mercy endures forever.

Psalm 34,

taste and see

that the Lord is good.

In James chapter 1,

James 1 · chapter mention

James says,

every good gift

comes from above,

coming down

from the Father

of lights.

Right there,

again,

God is associated

with being light

and with good.

And so similarly,

John wants to remind

his hearers,

he wants to remind you

that God is good.

He wants to reassure you

that even though

this world

is often dark,

that your Heavenly Father

is not.

He is light,

he is good,

right?

That's the message

John saw with Jesus.

That's what Christ reveals

when he comes to this earth

and that's what John

wants to proclaim

for you and I

to hear.

So the first thing

for it,

the first thing it means

for God to be light

is that God is good.

But this light imagery

also has another aspect

to it,

doesn't it?

Maybe instead of imagining

a campfire

roasting marshmallows,

you imagine light

as like wildfires

burning through acres

and acres of land

and so light there

has the idea

of being maybe even

dangerous and destructive.

Maybe instead of

like a flashlight

lighting your way

back to the campground,

you imagine light

or you think of light

as like a police light

shining behind you

when they've pulled you

over on the side

of the road

and so light there

has the idea

of embarrassment

and shame.

Perhaps instead of

like a sunny day

at the beach,

you picture light

as like one of those

heat waves

that we've been having

and so instead of

warm sunshine,

you imagine light

with the feeling

of uncomfortableness,

maybe even of pain.

When John says

that God is light,

he adds a phrase

that in him

is no darkness at all.

Light gets rid

of darkness,

the two are opposite

of one another,

God is a good God.

His goodness

is better than

anything you or I

can ever dream of.

But that also means

that darkness

cannot have fellowship

with the light.

Now that's good

in one sense.

We want a God

who can get rid

of darkness.

We want a God

who is righteous

and just

and makes things fair.

Right?

If you're driving

down on the highway

and you see someone

driving past you

way too fast,

weaving in and out

of traffic,

you want the police

officer to pull

that person over

so that the streets

are safe to drive again.

If you are in school

and you get an email

from your professor

saying there's been

a lot of you

in this class

who have been caught

cheating,

you don't want

your professor

to let them off the hook.

You want him

to be fair.

We want a God

who won't put up

with sin.

We want a God

who won't be affected

by the darkness

and instead

will remove it.

We want all those things

until we are the ones

speeding down

the interstate,

until we are the ones

who are caught cheating.

We want the light

until we realize

that we ourselves

are not in the light.

We're actually

in darkness

and that's the problem

we have.

I don't know

if you noticed

in our passage today

but starting in verse 6

there is a lot

of if statements.

John has proclaimed

this message,

God is light

and then he works out

the implications

of that for us

in these conditional

if statements

and in verse 6

he says,

if we say

we have fellowship

with him

while we walk

in darkness

we lie

and do not practice

the truth.

So John first says

you and I

can't live in both worlds.

You can't live in darkness

and have fellowship

with the light.

John doesn't beat

around the bush.

He says if you say that

he calls you a liar.

Now some of you

might think,

okay well then

perhaps I'm not

actually walking

in darkness.

I'm not perfect

but I'm not walking

in darkness.

There's plenty of people

out there who are

doing worse things

than me.

They're really walking

in darkness.

I'm not.

But John is dismissing

that notion.

In God

there is no darkness

at all.

Not even a smidge.

Unless you are living

a perfect life.

Unless there is no

iota of sin in you

then you are not

walking in the light.

You do not have

fellowship with God

and if you say you do

then you lie.

Well then some of you

might say fine.

It's impossible.

I'm going to be honest.

Say I can't live perfectly.

I'm just going to live

how I want to live.

And John anticipates

that too.

Look at verse 7

with me.

Verse 7

John says

but if we walk

in the light

as he is in the light.

Do you notice

John doesn't make a case?

He doesn't even try

to make a case

about whether or not

you can walk

in the light.

He just assumes

that it's possible.

John knows

that our default reaction

as people who sin

as people who are not perfect

is to hide from the light.

John knows this

because he heard it

from Jesus.

In the gospel of John

John chapter 3

John 3:19–21

verses 19 through 21

this is right after

the famous

John 3 16 passage.

Right?

God so loved the world

he gave his only son.

Right after that passage

this is what Jesus says.

Listen to what

he says.

The light has come

into the world

and people love

the darkness

rather than the light

because their works

were evil.

For everyone

who does wicked things

hates the light

and does not come

to the light

lest his works

should be exposed.

but whoever does

what is true

comes to the light

so that it may be

clearly seen

that his works

have been carried out

in God.

We hide from the light

because we fear

the light will expose

our darkness.

We fear being fully known.

We fear all of our deepest

and darkest secrets

being shined

under a spotlight

because we fear

being rejected.

We fear being canceled.

We fear the guilt

and the shame

that it would bring

on us.

And yet we are also

somehow drawn

to the light.

We want to be able

to walk in the light

to not walk in darkness.

And John says

that we can.

And that leads me

to my second point.

We need light.

More specifically

we need to walk

in the light.

Right?

If God is light

and we want fellowship

with the light

then we have to walk

in it.

And the question

is how.

And John highlights

here at least three things

that we should see

happen

when we walk

in the light.

And the first

is confession.

Walking in the light

means living

a life

of confession.

We see that starting

in verse 8

and 9.

In verse 8

it starts another

conditional statement

similar to verse 6.

He says,

If we say

we have no sin

we deceive ourselves.

If verse 6

wasn't clear enough,

if John had not

convinced you yet

that you were

walking in darkness

he makes it

crystal clear here.

You have sinned.

Now for those of you

sitting here this morning

who are Christians

you know this.

You believe this.

You confess this.

But I want to talk

to perhaps

any non-Christians

in the room

here this morning

for a second.

If you're not

a Christian here today

maybe you're here

because you're curious

about the claims

of Christianity.

Maybe a friend

has invited you

and you've come

this morning

to check it out

and you've been

listening to me

harp on sin

for the last 10 minutes

and you're regretting

your decision

to spend Sunday morning

here.

Let me first say

we are so glad

you're here.

I'm so glad

you're here.

It really does mean

a lot to us

that you're willing

to spend part

of your Sunday morning

here with us.

We don't take it

for granted.

But I also want

to speak with you

honestly for a second.

To tell you

what our world

and what our culture

will not tell you.

Because if you

maintain the belief

that you have no sin

then you are self-deceived.

You are in darkness.

Our world is all

about being authentic.

Right?

Being true to ourself.

True to our heart.

Being true to who you are.

Well unfortunately

if you claim

you have no sin

that is the most

unauthentic act

you could commit

against yourself.

This is why

John says in verse 9

if we confess

our sins.

Again,

John is not

questioning whether

or not you have sinned.

He's just questioning

whether or not

you have confessed it.

Verse 9

is probably

one of the most

comforting verses

not just in the book

of 1 John

but in the whole Bible.

John wants to assure you

that when you confess

your sins to God

he forgives you.

He cleanses you

from all unrighteousness.

Right?

This builds off

of what John says

in verse 7

that the blood of Jesus

cleanses you

from sin.

I think confession

is a scary concept

for us

because we often

are not sure

what happens to us

after we confess

our sins.

And if any of you

have been pulled over

by a police officer

before

and you're sitting there

on the side of the road

and the police lights

are shining

in your rear view mirror

the cop comes up

you pull down

your window

and the cop asks

do you know why

I've pulled you over?

Maybe some of you

are like me.

Maybe some of you

are like me

and when that happens

you say

I'm so sorry officer

I know why

you pulled me over

I was speeding

I was going too fast

I promise I will

never ever do that again.

What am I doing?

I'm confessing.

I'm confessing

my transgression

and the question is

why?

Why am I doing that?

And it's because

I'm hoping

that the police officer

will let me off

with a warning.

And sometimes

it does work

you get lucky

you get let off

with a warning

but sometimes

a few weeks later

in the mail

you get

a big

fat

fine.

Well John here

is saying that

when you confess

your sin

you do not have

to worry

about whether

or not

you'll be forgiven.

Jesus has paid

the penalty for you

his blood

has already

cleansed your sin.

It's like

if you got pulled over

for a speeding ticket

and the cop

did not let you off

with a warning

but actually

gave you

a ticket

but instead

a few weeks later

instead of getting

a large fine

in the mail

you get a letter

saying that

that fine

has been paid

in full.

Friends,

God did not

shed his son's blood

to withhold

that from you.

Come to Jesus

confess your sins

and be assured

that his blood

washes over your sin

again

and again

and again

and again.

So walking

in the light

for us

first means

living a life

of confession

but the second

thing we should see

we see

is having fellowship

with one another.

This goes back

to verse 7

John says

if we walk

in the light

we have fellowship

with one another.

When God calls us

out of darkness

and into light

he doesn't just

call you out

individually

he calls you

into the light

with one another.

Because if you

can imagine

if you are walking

in the light

by yourself

surrounded by darkness

that can be lonely

that can be a scary place.

But John here

is saying

that you are not alone

that walking

in the light

means having people

around you

walking with you

being there with you

helping you

when you falter.

And that

should make sense

especially if our life

is already

characterized

by one

of confession.

Because when you

and I do life

together

we unfortunately

sin against one another

because we're sinners.

But when we

confess our sins

to God

we should also

confess our sins

to one another.

God has given us

each other

to bear one another's

burdens

to assure one another

of God's promise

of forgiveness

he has for us.

Don't bear the weight

of your sin

by yourself

but live a life

of confessing

and forgiving

one another

as God forgave you.

The third thing

that walking

in the light

means

is living a life

that dies

to sin

and lives

to righteousness.

And I get this

from chapter 2

verse 1

John says

I am writing

these things to you

so that you

may not sin.

John lays out

the purpose

of this section

he has been saying

all these things

so that we

might live a life

walking in the light

which means

leaving the darkness.

John

and more importantly

God

wants us to walk

in righteousness

because sin is destructive

it dishonors God

and it hurts us.

Now you might be thinking

alright

I know that

one God is light

and because he is light

two I need to walk

in the light

by confessing my sins

by having fellowship

with one another

by living righteously

but man

that is

that is so hard

that is so difficult

where am I going to find

the strength

where am I going to find

the motivation

where am I going to find

the endurance

to live like this

that leads me to my last point

Christ

brings

light.

John anticipates

that question

of where you are going

to find that motivation

to walk in the light

and he answers that

also in verse 1

of chapter 2

after he said

he wants them not to sin

he says

but if anyone does sin

we have an advocate

with the Father

Jesus Christ

the righteous

and so one way

Christ brings us

into the light

is by being

our advocate

when we think

of the word advocate

we think of someone

who is on our side

someone who supports us

who expresses our thoughts

and our feelings

and our dreams

to others

advocate has all those connotations

but here the word advocate

also has a legal connotation

kind of like a lawyer

John is saying

in one sense

Christ

is like our legal representation

I don't know how many of you

might have followed this news

but around two years ago

around this time

one of the biggest news items

was when

the actor

Johnny Depp

and the actress

Amber Heard

were in like a defamation trial

lawsuit against one another

I don't know if you guys

remember this

or how many of you

followed this

it was all over social media

at the time

but if you did not follow

that trial

one of the things

that came out

was that

one of Johnny Depp's lawyers

her name was

Camille Vasquez

she became super famous

and she became super famous

because of the way

she advocated

for Johnny Depp

she was calm

cool and collected

she asked tough questions

on the other side

she made sure

that Johnny's name

and reputation

were not dragged

through the mud

now just as a disclaimer

I'm not trying to make a stance

one way or another

on what ended up

in that trial

both celebrities

have a lot of issues

both of them

seem to be walking

in darkness

given a lot of the testimony

I don't

I didn't know

all the details

of the cases myself

but

the point

of bringing up

this illustration

is because

public consensus

was that Camille

did a much better job

defending Johnny Depp

than the other side

and at the end

of the trial

Camille did such a good job

she did such a good job

that she actually

got promoted

to being partner

of her firm

but she did such a good job

because instead of

making Johnny Depp

pay like

I think 20 million dollars

in damages

the judge ruled

that Johnny

only had to pay

like 1 million dollars

she reduced that fine

by like almost

19 million dollars

but that means

that Johnny Depp

still had to pay

a 1 million dollar fine

so can you imagine

if after the ruling

Camille then went up

to the judge

and said

your honor

instead of Johnny Depp

having to pay the fine

I will pay the fine

for him

right

no lawyer

in their right mind

would ever do that

not even the best lawyers

in the world

would ever do that

but that's what

Jesus did for us

Jesus is not only

the best lawyer

the best advocate

we could ever ask for

but he also went above

and beyond

and paid our penalty

for us

and that's what is meant

by that word

propitiation there

in verse 2

of chapter 2

right

Jesus brings us

into the light

first by being our advocate

but secondly

by being the propitiation

for our sins

and propitiation

that's a big

nice vocab word

what it means

is to appease anger

and in this case

it means to appease

God's anger

imagine if you

parked your car

here around Berkeley

and you left

your wallet

in your car

and you walk

back to your car

and there's been

a smash and grab

and your wallet

is stolen

the first thing

you might feel

is you might be distraught

right

how could this thing

happen to me

but pretty closely

the next emotion

you might feel

is anger

right

you'd be angry

that someone

would do this

to you

and even if

the perpetrator

was caught

even if the perpetrator

fixed your car

replaced all

of the contents

in your wallet

you

could still be angry

right

what would it take

for your anger

to go away

would the perpetrator

need to spend

some time in jail

for what they did

would the perpetrator

maybe need to pay

for the counseling

you now need

because now you're

traumatized

and are afraid

to drive in Berkeley

whatever the case

may be

something would need

to be done

in order for your

anger

to be removed

well that's what

Jesus does for us

when we sin against God

when we walk

in the darkness

we not only have

the guilt of that sin

but we also bring about

God's righteous anger

because of it

and so when Christ

died on the cross

for your sins

his blood not only

washed away the guilt

but he also removed

God's wrath

for you

it's no coincidence

that when Jesus

died on the cross

the whole land

was covered in darkness

Jesus Christ

the light of the world

he brought his light

into the world

and he faced

the ultimate

darkness of death

for you and me

the darkness

that you and I

should have faced

so that you might

be brought into the light

so that you

could walk

in the light

right that's

the gospel

that is good news

you and I can be free

to confess our sins

to one another

because we know

Jesus has paid the penalty

and removed God's wrath

for us

you and I

can strive to live

a life that dies

to sin

and lives to righteousness

because Jesus Christ

the righteous one

has already closed us

with his righteousness

you and I

can have confidence

knowing that we are

already walking

in the light

because he has brought

his light

in exchange

for our darkness

do you remember

in the very beginning

I said

that God is good

right

well one reason

that he is good

is because God

sought out a solution

for you

to get you

out of walking

in darkness

and into his

glorious light

right

the goodness of God

was manifested

in Jesus

when he became

the propitiation

for your sins

when he rose

and ascended

into heaven

and is even now

your advocate

before the Father

my friends

be assured

of that goodness

find joy

in that goodness

and walk

in that goodness

amen

let's pray

dear heavenly Father

thank you

for being a good

good Father

for sending your Son

to face the darkness

so that we can walk

in your light

Jesus thank you

for not only appeasing

God's wrath

towards our sin

but for continually

advocating for us

even now

in heaven

Holy Spirit

apply these truths

to our lives

so that we might

walk in them

it's in Christ's name

we pray

amen

thank you

God

Him

grenade

thank you

forising