Prayer: Father, we choose to follow You all the days of our life. We find great assurance as we’re reminded that we will not be engulfed by the surrounding evil but instead Your light will guide us to eternal blessing. Help us to walk by faith and not by sight holding onto Your promises as we continue to build a solid foundation through Your Holy Word. It is in the Name of Jesus that we pray to You today.[1] Amen.
Main Scripture:
But if we Walk in the light (1 John 7a).
Associated Scriptures:
God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life (Ps 56:10-13).
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever (Revelation 22:3-5).
Correlative Quotes:
But if we walk in the light - In all holiness. As God is (a deeper word than walk, and more worthy of God) in the light, then we may truly say, we have fellowship one with another - We who have seen, and you who have not seen, do alike enjoy that fellowship with God. The imitation of God being the only sure proof of our having fellowship with him. And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son - With the grace purchased thereby. Cleanses us from all sin - Both original and actual, taking away all the guilt and all the power[2]. – John Wesley
Ver. 7. We have fellowship one, &c.] That is, God and we; inasmuch as we are made partakers of the divine nature, and are pure as God is pure, 1 John 3:3, in quality though not in an equality. We have fellowship with God: 1. In his holiness. 2. In his happiness. And the blood of Jesus] That whereas God’s pure eye can soon find many a foul flaw in the best of us (our righteousness being mixed, as light and darkness, dimness at least, in a painted glass, dyed with some obscure and dim color, it is transparent and giveth good, but not clear and pure light), lo, here is a ready remedy, a sweet support, "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." And God beholding us in the face of his Son, sees nothing amiss in us; no more than David did in lame Mephibosheth, when he beheld in him the features of his friend Jonathan.[3] – John Trapp
Compare Eph 5:8, 11-14. "We walk"; "God is (essentially in His very nature as 'the light,' 1 John 1:5) in the light." Walking in the light, the element in which God Himself is, constitutes the test of fellowship with Him. Christ, like us, walked in the light (1Jo 2:6). Alford notices, Walking in the light as He is in the light, is no mere imitation of God, but an identity in the essential element of our daily walk with the essential element of God's eternal being. We have fellowship one with another—and of course with God (to be understood from 1John 1:6). Without having fellowship with God there can be no true and Christian fellowship one with another (compare 1John 1:3). And—as the result of "walking in the light, as He is in the light," the blood of Jesus … cleanses us from all sin—daily contracted through the sinful weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan and the world. He is speaking not of justification through His blood once for all, but of the present sanctification ("cleanses" is present tense) which the believer, walking in the light and having fellowship with God and the saints, enjoys as His privilege. Compare John 13:10, Greek, "He that has been bathed, need not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Compare 1Jo 1:9, "cleanse us from all unrighteousness," a further step besides "forgiving us our sins." Christ's blood is the cleansing mean, whereby gradually, being already justified and in fellowship with God, we become clean from all sin which would mar our fellowship with God. Faith applies the cleansing, purifying blood. Some oldest manuscripts omit "Christ"; others retain it.[4]
Study:
Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?[5] – Maurice Freehill
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." Every privileged relationship of life carries with it a correspondent responsibility of opportunity. Yet our Christian privilege is such as to minister an abounding grace of power for the discharge of every Christian duty. As no warrior wars at his own charges, neither does the Christian walk in reliance upon his own resources. He is but putting the Abiding Life into practice. He is bringing to expression the secret resources of a redeemed soul. He is demonstrating what it means to be brought out of darkness into His marvelous light. He is qualified for being and doing what is incumbent upon all believers. "For," says Paul, "ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.[6] – Norman B. Harrison, D.D.
There was a seven-acre woods, very similar to the “Hundred Acre Wood” of Winnie the Pooh fame, next to our childhood home. The woods were dense with large Oaks, Maples, and Elm trees forming a canopy protecting various bushes, some with thorns others without. As children, my younger brother and I would occasionally wander into the woods at night walking on well-worn paths from daytime explorations. We always took flashlights at night although in our minds we sometimes hoped we would get lost; we didn’t. The lights, in this case, became our guide. They allowed us to see the safest path and to stay on course until the end of the journey.
God’s light works in much the same way. His light or truth gives us direction on life’s dark path (Psalm 119:105) similar to the way that the flashlights directed us on our nighttime hikes. Our exploratory journeys needed continual light. To fully appreciate the direction God is giving to us, His spiritual light must be on continually. To experience the ongoing light of God, we must have a lifestyle of obedience to Him. It is the habit of continual repentance for sin followed by the forgiveness of God that keeps us in the light and on the right trail.
Lives that count for Jesus walk in His light. Walking by its very nature assumes action. We serve a God who is both loving and at the same time expectant. He expects His children to take action. He expects us to follow His commands and walk in a way that makes a difference in the world.
Walking in the light includes the following:
Summary Statement:
So, with GOD in CHRIST, the more the LORD has our confidence, the more we shall find grace to unfold to Him, what we feel by reason of sin …as our sins and transgressions are all against GOD, the more sensibly we shall feel our love to him, the more we shall feel hurt at offending him.[8] – Robert Hawker
We are His Lights. To be His lights, we must be living in the light of God’s truth. To be illumined by the truth of God, we must be in fellowship with Him.
God is Holy (1 Peter 1:16), He is omnipotent (Colossians 1:16), and omnipresent (1 Kings 8:27). Therefore, God’s light is pure, it is powerful, and it is pervasive. Since the light is holy it justifies us at salvation and continually cleanses us through continual repentance and forgiveness.
Secondly light is all powerful (omniscient). The power of the Holy Spirit that created all things from nothing is in us working to keep us headed in the right direction.
Finally, God’s light is everywhere at once. (omnipresent). Darkness and light cannot exist in the same place. Light takes over a room when it is shining in the darkness. The light has the desire to fill us with its presence. Every sin must be cleansed so that we might be in fellowship with Him. The cleansing power of God is continually transforming those who walk in the light into the image of Jesus.
The light is life. Psalms 36:9 explains this phenomenon when it says, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. To be the light, we must first accept the light and then we must walk continually in the light. Walking in the light means that we walk according to God’s word, the Bible.
When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.[9] – John H. Sammis
Lesson within the Lesson:
How can we compare turning on a light in a room to turning on the light of God in our lives?
What does “walking in the light” mean to you?
How do we maintain a working relationship with the light?
What are the expressions of the light in our lives and what is the benefit to us and others?
[1] A Daily Prayer, Walking in the Light, Word Press, copy at will, Public Domain, adailyprayer.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/walking-in-the-light/.
[2] John Wesley, John Wesley’s Notes of the Bible, Public Domain, Publication date 1755, jacobjuncker.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/wesley-explanatory-notes-on-the-bible.pdf#page=564&zoom=100,0,308, P. 485.
[3] John Trapp, John Trapp Complete Commentary, Public Domain, © 1647, Printed by A. M. for John Bellamy at the sign of the Three Golden Lions, Cornbill, pp. 466-467.
[4] Jamieson, Robert, D. D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David, "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible," Public Domain 1871, Public Domain, Copy Freely, P. 3068.
[5] Maurice Freehill, Public Domain, quotegarden.com/light.html.
[6] Dr. Norman B. Harrison, Life, Love, and Light, baptistbiblebelievers.com/.
[7] Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
[8] Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s New Testament Commentary, Volume 9, 1805, Public Domain, Printed by W. Nicholson, Warner Street, London, P. 690.
[9] – John H. Sammis, Trust and Obey, Public Domain, 1887, hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/582
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