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Good morning. I am Terri Kochi.
I'm a member of the Women Reading Women in North Berkeley community groups.
Today's scripture reading is from 1 John 1, verse 5 through chapter 2, verse 2, as printed in the liturgy.
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 for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Thank you for that scripture reading, Terry.
Good morning, Christ Church.
My name is Andrew.
If you're new here, I'm one of the pastors here.
Our lead pastor is on sabbatical, so you might be seeing me a little bit more.
Yeah, that's just how it is.
That's the way it goes.
Will you join me in prayer as we come into God's word?
Lord, we come before you wanting to acknowledge that you are a God.
God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is your love toward us.
As far as the east is from the west, so far have you removed our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so you, Lord, show compassion to us.
Lord, would you make us a people that say wow to those truths?
Help me to preach this morning in a way that does not just convey that I believe these things are true,
but help me to preach in a way that conveys that I believe these things are beautiful.
And I pray that you'd convince my friends, my brothers and sisters here,
those exploring who Jesus is and what you're about,
would you convince them as well that this is not just true, but it's beautiful.
This is good news for the world.
And would you do so, Lord, to the glory of your name we pray.
Amen.
So we are now in a series in the New Testament letter of 1 John.
We're calling the series Life, Light, and Love.
And last week we began it talking about the God who is life.
John opens up by stating what his intentions are.
Eternal life has appeared to these apostles in the flesh, in history,
and they cannot help but proclaim what they saw and what they heard
and what they touched and what they beheld, Jesus Christ.
The eternal life itself come into the world to bring us back into fellowship
with the triune God for our joy.
But today we move on from 1 John's intentions to the actual content of this letter,
to the actual message that Jesus gave his apostles to share.
Today we move on to the first thing we absolutely have to know about God
in order to come into this completeness of joy and fellowship that he wants for us.
Now I have a question for you.
If you were to summarize the main message of Jesus,
like what he came to reveal to us about God,
the central truth that he wanted us to know about God,
in a three-word sentence, God is fill in the blank,
what would you say?
God is love.
I heard a lot of love right there.
Love, all right?
I imagine many of us, even those of us who aren't Christians,
might say love.
God is love.
Everybody knows that one, right?
Everybody loves that one, that saying that God is love.
It's one of the most famous passages in the Bible.
It's one of the most famous descriptions of who God is.
It's popular at weddings.
Even people who aren't Christians,
this is what they know that Christians believe, that God is love.
And you know this famous saying, God is love,
it actually does come later here in this letter, 1 John.
It comes later in chapter 4, but the thing is,
we're not there yet.
It doesn't come, again, until chapter 4.
And the interesting thing about our passage today,
still very much in the beginning of 1 John,
is that the message, the main point,
that 1 John wants to transmit from Jesus,
the starting point truth from which the whole rest
of this letter flows,
in order that people might have this fellowship and joy
that's appeared to us,
is not that God is love.
Actually, as it says here in verse 5,
this is the message we have heard from him
and proclaimed to you,
that God is light.
And in him is no darkness at all.
Now why in the world does this letter start with,
God is light?
Why is that so important?
What does that even mean, that God is light,
and in him there is no darkness at all?
Well, I think that what 1 John is meaning to say
is that we have to start with the reality
that in this world there is light,
and there is darkness.
There is truth, and there is falsehood.
There is good, and there is evil.
And that God is light means that he is completely opposed
to darkness and falsehood and evil.
And I want to try to unpack that for us this morning,
because it's so important.
It's so important.
Because unless we are convinced
that God is first and foremost light,
we will actually never really experience
his abundant life and the fellowship and joy
that he intends for us.
Unless we're convinced that God is light,
we won't know him truly as he is,
as the God who is love.
So will you look with me at verses 5 through 7?
Let's think about this for a second, all right?
Verses 5 through 7.
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.
Now one trick I want to teach you
for interpreting the Bible,
one trick that I think can help us
better understand the significance
of many of these verses
is to try to imagine the opposite
of what these verses are saying.
Like try to imagine the alternative
to what 1 John is saying here.
So try to imagine with me,
what if God wasn't light?
And what if in him,
he like allowed within himself darkness,
or even a lot of darkness?
What if he was still cool with fellowshipping
with those who walked in darkness
outside of the light?
What if God was cool with all those
who did not practice the truth?
Imagine that.
What would that mean for us?
Even if we still held on to our favorite passage,
God is love.
It wouldn't be so compelling anymore, would it?
Well, I think it'd mean that his love
was a compromised love
if we didn't also recognize that God is light.
Like sure, God is love,
but it's a love that just tolerates
and coexists and commingles
with darkness and falsehood, right?
And I wonder if that's how a lot of us
understand God and his love
when we say God is love.
We understand the love of God
through the lens of this cultural moment
that we're in where we just have
this simplistic and selective acceptance
and tolerance,
where we so often just say certain things
are just okay.
Hey, that unhealthy thing in your life,
that bad habit, that selfishness,
that greed, that gluttony.
Hey, it's okay.
We all do it.
We're all human,
and therefore it's not so bad.
It's not that offensive to God.
It doesn't really grieve him
in any significant way.
God's ultimately just about accepting
all of us anyway, right?
Just as we are.
That's what God's about, right?
Making us feel better about ourselves
no matter how much of a mess we're in.
Let's just hold hands,
sing kumbaya,
and worship the God of low
or maybe no standards at all, right?
It is something to cry about.
But my question is,
is this really the kind of God
we actually want?
Is this really the kind of God
that we believe the world needs?
Do we really want a God
who can have fellowship with darkness?
Do we want a God whose love
does not absolutely abhor and hate
the darkness in and around and within us?
Do we want a God who doesn't burn
with wrathful passion
against all that is wicked
in this world,
even what is wicked within us?
You know, recently,
one of our youth mentors
shared a question with me
that he got from one of our youth.
And I don't know who this youth was,
but I think the question
really illustrates
why we need a God who is light
and in whom there is no darkness.
The student asked the mentor,
wouldn't it be better
if God just got rid of Putin?
Wouldn't it be better for the world?
And I won't get into all the complexities
of answering this question.
I'll leave that to the mentors.
But I do want to highlight
the impulse behind that question, right?
Like, God, this is evil.
This is evil stuff.
And wouldn't the world be better
if you got rid of evil?
You know, for so many of us,
privileged, educated,
professional, western types of people
who can afford, you know,
not to believe in God
or who've never been wronged so badly
that we've cried out to God
for justice,
it can be easy for us to think of God
as a divine, cosmic teddy bear,
you know, just gushing
with the kind of generic,
sentimental love
that the Beatles
so naively sang about, right?
All you need is love
and flower power.
But is permissiveness
and tolerance
and low-bar acceptance
really the same thing as love?
Is that really the same thing as love?
Is that really such a high expression of love?
See, I don't think so.
And I want to read to you
a quote from this Croatian theologian
who once had trouble
believing in the wrath of God
because he wanted to be all about
God is love.
This Croatian theologian,
his name is Miroslav Volf,
he said,
I used to think
that wrath was unworthy of God.
Isn't God love?
Shouldn't divine love
be beyond wrath?
God is love.
And God loves every person
and every creature.
That's exactly why God is wrathful
against some of them.
My last resistance
to the idea of God's wrath
was a casualty of the war
in the former Yugoslavia,
the region from which I come.
According to some estimates,
200,000 people were killed,
over 3 million were displaced.
My villages and cities were destroyed,
my people shelled day in and day out,
some of them brutalized beyond imagination.
And I could not imagine God
not being angry.
Or think of Rwanda
in the last decade of the past century,
where 800,000 people
were hacked to death in 100 days.
How did God react to the carnage?
By doting on the perpetrators
in a grandparently fashion,
by refusing to condemn the bloodbath,
but instead affirming
the perpetrators' basic goodness,
wasn't God fiercely angry with them?
Though I used to complain
about the indecency
of the idea of God's wrath,
I came to think
that I would have to rebel
against a God
who wasn't wrathful
at the sight of the world's evil.
God isn't wrathful
in spite of being love.
God is wrathful
because God is love.
See, Wolf understands
that we need a God
who is light,
in whom there is no darkness at all.
And this is the God revealed to us
in 1 John.
Not some generic,
ambiguous,
anything-goes,
feel-good God
constructed from our fickle,
finite, fallible imaginations.
He's the God of Israel.
The triune God revealed to us
in the person of Jesus Christ
in history.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
And yes,
he wants our joy,
but definitely not
on our own sin-stained terms.
While the God of 1 John,
he genuinely wants
the joy of the world,
while he wants to unite
all people with each other
into his life
of eternal triune fellowship,
he's not a God
without standards.
And that's an amazing thing
about him,
that he can unite
all peoples
and still maintain
the highest of standards.
See, this God of life,
Jesus himself,
full of grace
and what truth.
He intends for us
to live out our eternal lives
in a certain way,
in a specific way.
He wants us to live
in his light
and in his presence.
In his presence,
there are some things,
many things,
that are simply black and white.
There are things
that are of God
and there are other things
that are not of God.
There are things
that God celebrates
and there are things
that he condemns.
There are things God loves
and things God also hates
because God is light.
He isn't some
all-permissive father, no.
And honestly,
he hates the darkness
in his children.
He hates it,
just as I hate it
when my own daughters
lie to me
or hit each other
or disrespect my wife,
their mother.
God won't abide
with the darkness
in his children.
He will neither
compromise his character
nor allow his children
to self-destruct
in their own darkness.
So as the God
who is light,
he calls out
all the liars.
And honestly,
if this sounds like
a wake-up call,
well, it should.
It should.
Verse six,
if we claim
to have fellowship
with God but walk,
that is,
if we live in a sustained
and unbothered lifestyle
outside of God's light,
God doesn't care
what you claim.
He could care less
if you call yourself
a Christian.
He isn't even that interested
in what you might believe
in your head.
Even the demons believe
the right things
in their heads.
Truth is not something
merely believed,
it's something lived
and practiced
and walked in.
If we claim
to have fellowship
with God
but don't walk
in his light,
then we are lying
to ourselves
and are far
from the only truth
that can really
give us life.
Now understand
that this is a pretty hard
word and even
an exclusive word.
And maybe this is
what some of us
despise about Christianity
or religion in general,
these rigid
and restrictive standards,
right,
that only seem
to divide
and alienate
and condemn
in the name of some
supposedly divine authority.
The God of light,
Moses' God,
the God revealed
in Jesus Christ,
a God who is Lord
over our whole lives,
Lord over all truth
and knowledge
and morality
and justice.
maybe you're not sure
if you're ready
to bow before
such a God.
But can I ask,
what is your better
alternative?
What is your alternative
light?
A God whose light
isn't so bright?
Maybe
no God
at all?
If you are here today
and feeling uncomfortable
with this God
who is light,
then one,
I've done my job
and two,
hey,
I'm right there with you.
I'm right there with you
because in my many moments
of darkened thinking
and living,
if I'm honest,
I very often prefer
other lights,
right?
I prefer other lights too,
lights that flatter me
and shine on just
the right spots,
maybe my eyebrows
and not my love handles,
you know?
I prefer muted lights
that don't expose
the dark areas
in my life,
lights I can conveniently
turn off
or dim
when they don't serve
my agenda.
I prefer gentle lights
that leave me,
that just leave me be
and don't purge me
toward becoming
the man I'm supposed
to be.
Ultimately,
I often don't want
God to be light
because God as light
is terrifying.
It's terrifying
and I don't know
if I could handle
the God of light.
I mean,
think about it,
God as light,
a light brighter
than the sun,
the very light
that inspired
and created
the sun.
As the Apostle Paul
says in his letter
to Timothy,
the Lord Jesus Christ
is the blessed
and only sovereign,
the King of kings
and Lord of lords
who alone
has immortality
and dwells
in unapproachable light.
This is the God
whom our Old Testament saints
could not come before.
The God who,
they had to take off
their sandals before,
they could not see him
or they would die.
This is that kind of light.
How could anyone bear
to stand in the presence
of the God
who is light?
God as light,
as the Holy Lord of all,
this can be
an incredibly
unsettling truth.
I totally get it.
But what I need
to preach to myself
and what I'm here
to preach
to all of us today
is that as scary
as this may sound,
whether we like it or not,
God is light.
And that's actually
good news.
It's actually good news
for all of us.
I mean,
consider the alternative.
What if something else
was light?
What if someone else
was Lord
instead of God?
You know,
the enlightenment,
right,
the enlightenment
suggested the lights
of what,
science and reason
could save humanity.
If you just put
the gods of science
and reason
into the hands
of humans,
they could save themselves.
And sure,
I will admit,
they have shed
some helpful light
on this world,
helping us to discern
what is real
and good and true.
But while much
of the world
still worships
these two impersonal gods,
honestly,
science and reason
have yet
to permanently
save and unite us all.
And arguably,
these two secular gods,
science and reason,
have even contributed
their own evils
to this world
in the hands
of evil people.
Nuclear weapons,
chemical warfare,
think of the countless
logical justifications
made by various
genocidal supremacist regimes,
right?
Or maybe you're beyond that.
You know you shouldn't
have faith
in science and reason
in the hands
of sinful people.
Maybe you're
more of a post-enlightenment
kind of person.
You know enough
not to trust people
or institutions
in their use
of science and reason.
You're trying to chart
your own path.
You're trying to be
your own light, right?
Like the words
of Nietzsche's
fictional character
Zarathustra,
you have your way,
I have my way.
As for the right way,
the correct way,
and the only way,
it does not exist.
Or as we like to say today,
you do you, man.
You do you.
Follow your own
inner light,
make your own meaning,
discover whatever it is
that makes you happy.
But let's be real.
We all make
for terrible lords.
We all make
for terrible lights
of our own lives.
You do you
is not only a terrible
way to live
because it's selfish
and individualistic,
but it's an impossible
and self-destructively
crushing way to live.
Like who the heck
am I
to make my own meaning?
How could I
bear the burden
of finding out
what makes me happy?
And what if my search
turns up empty?
What hope then
is left?
Maybe that empty search
and that hopelessness
describes some of us
here today.
And if so,
I really feel for you.
I do.
And I believe that you
are trying your hardest
and we so respect
your search
for life-giving light
and truth here,
your quest to live
a life of love
and truth.
But may I suggest
that unless we come
to terms with this message
that God is light,
we'll never live
the joyous lives
of love
that we were made for.
I understand
how God is light
and the implications
here can seem
pretty terrifying.
Like if you're walking
in darkness
and therefore not
in God's light,
you cannot have fellowship
with God.
That's what it says here.
And maybe some of us here
live with that kind of fear
like am I walking
in the light
or am I walking
in the darkness
or am I walking
in the light
enough, right?
And how can I know?
I mean, I'm not perfect
but I try.
And maybe in this tightrope
of trying to walk
in God's light
where you find yourself
continually falling,
you are tempted
to either avoid
the sin and darkness
in your life.
Just put it out
of your mind
or you tell yourself
that your sin
is actually not that bad,
not that offensive
to God.
This is how my little girls
deal with their
many, many sins.
My youngest girl,
Leah, she's two.
When she knows
she's done something wrong,
she chooses
the route of avoidance.
She turns her head
away in shame.
She won't apologize.
She won't say sorry.
I can lock her
in her room for days.
She will not say sorry.
I have.
She stubbornly refuses
to acknowledge
the wrong she's done.
And I can see the shame
and the guilt on her face,
the fear of what might happen
if she faces the truth
that what she's done
is wrong.
She doesn't want
to face it.
But then my oldest,
Cammie, she's the opposite.
She'll push her sister over,
she'll slap our dog,
she'll blatantly disobey us
and then when called out
for it,
she'll just ham it up,
you know, smile, giggle
and say,
sorry, right?
Like it's a game.
Like we're just looking
for a magic word
to absolve her
of this behavior
that she is not
totally convinced
is really bad
in the first place.
But what I try to teach
and communicate
to my girls
is that yes,
their sin
is wicked.
They're really bad.
I tell them that every day.
You're so bad.
Because sin,
it paves a path
of self-destruction
and harm
to others
and this whole world.
Even what we might consider
the smallest offense,
the smallest sin,
the smallest act
of selfishness
and malice,
of just lack of concern
for someone else
is the very seed
of every atrocity
ever committed
in the world.
People don't go
into markets
in Buffalo
and just shoot
people up
just like that.
That doesn't happen
just like that.
That seed of sin
is within
each and every one of us
and it's up to us
whether or not
we want to feed it
or whether or not
we want to walk
in the light.
But you know what?
1 John says that
even so,
even though
the seed of sin
is within all of us,
what I pray
my girls learn
is that even though
our sin is far worse
than we could ever imagine,
there is nothing
to be gained
by hiding
or minimizing
our sin.
But there is everything
to be gained
by admitting our sin
and receiving
the full forgiveness
and mercy
of God in Christ.
Yeah, that's right.
I want my girls
to know
that they are
awful little sinners.
I want them to know
how heinous
their sins are,
how much they deserve
the consequences
of bringing more
and more darkness
into this world.
But I also want them
to know
that God is light.
God is light,
which also means
that no darkness
is too dark
for His light
to expose
and to expel
from their lives.
listen to verses
8-10.
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.
And this is God's word
to us this morning,
that the answer
to our guilt
and shame
is not to say
that we have no sin.
As it says in verse 8,
that's only to deceive ourselves
and to walk further away
from the truth.
Even worse,
as it says in verse 10,
to say we have not sinned
is to neglect God's word,
is to call God
a liar.
No, the best response
to the God
who is light
is not to diminish
the brilliance
of His light
and to lower
His holy standard
that requires perfection.
And nor should our response
be to downplay
our darkness,
to downplay our sin.
No, the best response
is to tell the truth,
to admit our sin
all of it.
Proverbs chapter 23,
chapter 28, verse 13,
whoever conceals
his transgressions
will not prosper,
but he who confesses
and forsakes them
will obtain mercy.
Even when we confess them
before the holy God
of light
who hates sin
with all His being
and He wants to put it
to death.
Look at verse 7.
Walking in the light,
it doesn't exactly mean
that we don't have any sin.
In fact,
it's presupposed here
that we have sin
that needs to be cleansed.
See, walking in the light
is about direction,
not perfection.
And the proper direction,
it begins with confession.
Now wait.
How could we confess
our darkness
before the God
who is light
with any expectation
of a good outcome for us?
Well, it's because here,
verse 9,
if we confess our sins,
He is faithful
and just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
And no,
this is not some
blanket forgiveness
like, oh God,
He's just gonna forgive me
no matter what.
That's His job.
That's His duty.
That's just what He does.
We just say sorry
and He forgives.
No, it is God's prerogative
to forgive.
He doesn't have
to be merciful.
But the God of light
does absolutely
have to be faithful
and just.
And that's why verse 9
is one of my all-time
favorite verses.
If we confess our sins,
look,
it doesn't say
He is merciful
and gracious
to forgive us our sins.
It says He is faithful
and just
to forgive our sins.
What?
How does that make sense?
How is it just
for the God
who is light
to forgive my sin?
Well, look down with me
at the last two verses
of our text.
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 for ours only,
but also for the sins
of the whole world.
Two words to learn today.
Advocate
and propitiation.
Advocate
and propitiation.
Burn them
into your memory,
teach them to your kids,
share them with your coworkers.
Advocate
and propitiation.
The good news
of the gospel
is that though God
is light
and we are participants
in darkness,
we have an advocate.
We have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ,
the righteous,
who, like a lawyer,
stands in the court of heaven.
Jesus Christ stands
before the Father
for us.
And while the devil
indicts us
for breaking the law
again and again
and again,
our advocate,
Jesus,
the righteous one
who fulfilled the law
for us,
says,
yes, Father,
Andrew,
He did it again.
But I would remind you
that there has already been
a propitiation,
that is,
a satisfaction,
an atonement
for his sins.
And as evidence
for the court,
Jesus rolls up
his sleeves
and shows forth
his nail-pierced hands
and he pleads our case
saying,
Father,
I would remind you
that Andrew's sins
and the sins
of his brothers
and sisters
and the family of God
all throughout the world
for all time,
they've been put to death.
They've been nailed
to a cross.
And that the wrath
due them
and their sins,
it's already been exhausted
upon me.
When I,
the light of the world,
endured the darkness
of Good Friday's cross
in their place,
there is blood
for their cleansing,
mine.
I've already shed it.
The blood of Jesus
poured out
for the forgiveness
of sins.
So Jesus says,
so Father,
forgive these children
who have repented
of their sins
and come to be united
with us.
You must.
He says,
you must,
Father,
because you have
to be faithful
and you have
to be just.
There is no
double punishment.
It's once and for all.
Justice has been satisfied.
We did it, Father.
We did it.
We've written
and fulfilled
the greatest story
ever told.
The victory of God
as both just
and the justifier.
And that's the gospel.
That God is just
and the justifier.
Victory of light
over darkness
without compromise.
God is light.
He remains light.
And somehow
we are forgiven
because of what
Jesus Christ,
our advocate,
has done.
The propitiation
for our sins.
And this is the gospel.
This is the gospel.
The good news
that we don't need
to hide our darkness
from the light.
but that the God
who is light,
he does us one better.
And he draws us
into his unapproachable light,
once unapproachable
yet now approachable
through the cleansing,
propitiating blood
of our righteous advocate,
Jesus.
What kind of people
do you think that forms
who believe this truth?
How free
do you imagine
that they would be
knowing that
the God who sees all,
the God who is light,
and who knows
every darkness
in each and every one of us
is still able
to forgive us
without at all
compromising
his justice.
forgiveness.
There's nothing else
like this.
This is the beautiful truth
of the gospel,
that he is faithful
and just
to forgive us
our sins
because he was merciful
and gracious
to pour out
the blood of Christ
for us
and satisfy the wrath
of God
in our place.
This is the gospel.
Will you pray with me?
Lord, would you bring us,
would you bring the world
this kind of liberty
this freedom
to be real
about
who we are
before you?
We are wretched
sinners.
We have done things
that we ought
not to have done
and we have not done
the things
that we ought
to have done.
We have not loved
our neighbors
as ourselves.
We have not
given you
all the glory,
honor,
and praise
that is due to you.
And still,
we have the gall
to think
that we're not
that bad.
Lord, forgive us.
Convict us
of sin
by your spirit.
And as you
convict us
of sin,
would you
enliven us
with the beautiful
truth
that you still
love us
in Christ,
our advocate,
our propitiation.
Thank you
for this gift,
we pray in the name
of Jesus.
Amen.