Walking in the Light

Mark Dunagan
01/16/11 - Sunday Morning

Walking in the Light

I'm a people person. My deepest desire for the church is that it would glorify God by like mindedly loving and teaching truth, and that it would function as God intended, like a warm, productive, ever-growing family. What could be a more important question than, “What must I do to have fellowship with God?”, “What must I do to maintain such fellowship”, “How do I maintain fellowship with other believers?”, and “how do I treat those who say they are in fellowship, but are not?”

The Basis of Fellowship with God and Others

• “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father” (1 John 1:3).
• “If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7).

It is clear from these passages and others, that the basis of fellowship with God is “walking in the light” or as the same writer says in other places, “whoever keeps His word” (2:5), “walking in the truth” (2 John 4) and “abiding in the doctrine of Christ” (2 John 9). Obviously, ongoing obedience to God’s truth or doctrine is the basis for fellowship, not only with God but with others as well (1 John 1:7). This is why John is writing to these people (1:3), He is proclaiming and reminding them of God’s truth so that they will have fellowship with John. Observe that John says in 1:7 that walking in the light brings fellowship with other Christians and in 2 John 9-11, departing from the doctrine of Christ, severs fellowship with God and other Christians. On a very practical level, clearly, fellowship with God and fellowship with other Christians is inherently bound together. Other passages equally present “truth” as the basis or foundation of fellowship among God’s people:

• Unity among Christians (fellowship) is based on believing the message of the apostles: John 17:20-21
• One is called into fellowship with God by the truth or the gospel: 1 Corinthians 1:9
• A departure from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1), when fellowship is severed is equally described as a departure from sound doctrine and the truth (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
• Those who depart from the doctrine are to be avoided: Romans 16:17-18
• Those who rebel against the teaching of the apostles are to be withdrawn from: 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14

The Truth is a Perfect Basis

Anytime we remind people that the truth, that is, God’s word is the basis of unity and fellowship, some will offer one argument after another in the attempt to say that this cannot work. Some will say that we cannot understand the Bible alike, or that insisting on doctrinal agreement only leads to unending division, or that the Bible lacks clarity on so many controversial subjects. To say that the Bible is an unworthy, unworkable, or unreliable basis on which to build unity and fellowship with God and others, is to say our Lord is a poor communicator, at best.

In contrast, I believe what God, our Law-giver, says about His communication:

• The word of God is accessible and doable. It is not too hard: Deut. 30:11
• It is “perfect” and able to inform even the simple: Psalm 19:7
• It can detect even hidden sins: Psalm 19:11-12
• It can give wisdom unlike anything else: Psalm 119:97-105
• It can keep young men from sin: Psalm 119:9
• It is understandable to all who read: Ephesians 3:4
• To makes a person equipped for every good work: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• It can deal with wrong motivation and all issues of the heart: Hebrews 4:12-13

How Much Truth?

Another objection that often surfaces about now in such a discussion is the question of “how much truth?” That is, “How much truth must one obey” in order to have fellowship with God? Or, “In how much darkness can a person walk before they lose their fellowship with God and His people?” John does not leave us in the dark, he does answer this question:

“God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship...” (1:7). The statement “as He is in the light” is the kind of statement we have already seen often in the New Testament. For example, we are to love as God loves (Matthew 5:48; John 13:34-35), and be holy “as God is holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Therefore, we cannot accept any position on fellowship that argues that a person can continue to have fellowship with God even though they may be walking in sin or error. Not only do the above passages argue otherwise, (that the “light” in which we are to walk is the type of light that God walks in, containing “no darkness”), other passages make the same point. When obedience is explained, it is described as “obeying all that God has commanded” (Deut. 5:33 “all the way”). Put another way, the Bible never describes obedience by using the principle of percentages. We are told to love God with “all” our heart – not 75%. When Jesus described the wise man as the man who hears and obeys His teaching, we have always rightly assumed that Jesus means “all His teaching” and not merely part of it (Matthew 7:21ff). Finally, professed believers in the New Testament did lose or were in the danger of losing their fellowship with God because of a particular sin or error (1 Corinthians 5:1ff; Galatians 5:3; 1 John 4:3). Right here, someone will probably say, “Yet, we don’t obey perfectly”. That’s right. Again, God's clarification:

The Second Aspect of Fellowship: Forgiveness

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8); “if we say that we have no sinned, we make Him a liar” (1:10).

Note that John does not see a problem between “walking in the lightas He is in the light” and the fact that we all sin from time to time. First of all, John is not excusing sin. Rather, John is saying that part of the process of walking in the light must include repentance and confession. Yes, we certainly do sin and fail to consistently live up to God’s righteous standard. Yet there is no worry here for good hearts. Perfection is not required, all that is required is honesty and humility. When we fall – and we will, we need to be humble, quick to check ourselves, own up, and by restitution, make it right with God and others, if necessary. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). What a blessing that as long as we are humble and honest, maintaining our fellowship with God and His people will not ever be a problem. Nevertheless, if we refuse to own up, change, repent or confess, then that is when problems are sure to arise. Those attitudes will sever our fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2; John 9), and those same attitudes will cause problems when it comes to fellowship among Christians.

Someone might now say, “I can see all this applying to knowledgeable and mature Christians, but what about new Christians?” Good question. Even people who have been taught very well prior to baptism still will not be knowledgeable about everything that God expects of them. I still remember the specific times in my Christian life that I was made aware of a requirement of God that I had not previously considered or heard about.

The Third Aspect: Ongoing Spiritual Growth

• The word “walk” in 1 John would indicate that this is an ongoing way of living, a continual commitment to living in the light.
• New Christians need to be taught: Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:42
• God’s expectations of new believers are reasonable, He knows that they have not yet heard about all the “issues” and they need time to comprehend the “meat” of His word: Hebrew 5:12-14
• Apollos knew some truth, but needed more truth: Acts 18:26

• We cannot “forever” stay in the babe category, God does expect us to reach a point where we have matured: Hebrews 5:12
• One real test of whether or not we are walking in the light is what we do with the new information or meat that we are given? For example, what if Apollos had rejected the information given him by Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:26)? The answer seems clear, he would have become a hindrance instead of a help. Fellowship would have become impossible.

Right here someone might say, “But what if vital information on Bible doctrines does not get to the new Christian?” This question does not worry me, for it is much like the question, “What if the gospel does not get to a person?” I never find God being unable to get His message to an honest heart, no matter where they are (Acts 8:26). In addition, I have never seen this situation with anyone that I knew. In my own life, truth loving people and Biblically accurate material providentially came into my life when it came to various doctrines or controversial issues. I have never lacked for help. Seeing that God does not have favorites and wants all to be saved, I believe that I can accurately assume that I am not an exception in this area, and that this happens to everyone else as well. This is one important reason why God wanted us in congregations. Not only does the word of God help me see things I need to correct, but my brethren are very useful in this area as well. When I run across someone in error, I typically find that one of two things is true: Either at the present they are hearing the truth on that matter for the first time, and thus are being given the opportunity to make corrections or, as someone attempts to give them the truth, they offer quick arguments in response, revealing that they have known about the truthful position on this for some time but have opted for an alternative that is often less demanding. Let us set our hearts to be committed to walk in the light and to accept every bit of God’s truth that we encounter in His word, and look for opportunities to lovingly share His truth with both non-Christians, and those precious souls in error that we love so much.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net