Worship & Prayer
LIFE, LIGHT & LOVE
was asked incredulously. “They found the body,” the student replied. In spite of his
irreverence and scepticism, the student was dead right.
We have just celebrated the most important festival in the Christian year, because the
existence of the Christian Church depends on the resurrection of Jesus, who gives us life in
all its fullness. The apostle John, in his first letter, proclaims that Jesus, the Word of life,
was with God from the beginning. Jesus was revealed to him and many other disciples and
friends, who saw, heard and touched him, the one who is eternal life.
The three words I have chosen to bring out the meaning of the dirst letter of the apostle
John are life, light and love.
By the time John’s first letter was written, the early Christians had been scattered far and
wide across the empire and the church had survived severe persecution. John, by then an
old man, wrote from Ephesus, to encourage believers to stand up for Christ, because their
commitment was declining as they began to conform to worldly standards. False teachers
were accelerating the church’s downward slide away from the faith, so John was trying to
get the believers back on track, by showing them the difference between being alive in
Jesus and being dead in their sins; between light and darkness, truth and false teaching .
LIFE
John assured them that they possessed eternal life and could enjoy all the benefits of
being God’s children. A member of our lent group commented that Lent does not finish at
Easter, because the resurrection means that we all have Christ’s gift of eternal life. Death
has been conquered and Jesus reigns for all eternity. Everlasting life begins here and now.
Dr. Frank Morrison was a rationalistic lawyer who believed that the resurrection was
nothing but a fairy-tale happy ending which spoiled the matchless story of Jesus. He set
out to write a book that would dispel the myth. However, the sheer weight of evidence
brought him to a different conclusion, for a study of the facts convinced him that Jesus
actually did rise from the dead. The outcome was a different book from the one he had
planned, entitled “Who moved the stone?” The first chapter is the book that refused to be
written, arguing the case for the resurrection instead of against it.
In spite of all the security precautions taken by the Jews and Romans to make sure Jesus
was dead and remained in the tomb, the evidence is that the Roman seal, the mighty
stone covering the entrance, was removed and the soldiers that were there to guard the
tomb had vanished . Had Jesus just fainted, recovered, got up and walked away? After a
flogging, dragging his cross uphill to Golgotha until he was too weak to carry it, then
enduring hanging on the cross for hours, he would hardly be able to roll away a very
heavy stone, overpower the guards and run away. Blood and water flowing from his side,
which the soldiers noticed as they pierced him instead of breaking his legs, was proof that
he was, indeed, already dead. Surely the disciples couldn’t have overpowered the guard,
taken the body and hidden it. To disprove this rumour, the Jewish authorities only needed
to produce Jesus’s body, but they did not do so. Leaders of world religions have shrines at
their tombs, where they lie decayed with nothing remaining except their dust and their
man-made philosophies. Jesus is unique, being the only one whose followers claim is alive
today, the world’s only Saviour from sin, God’s only Son.
Belief in resurrection of the body was established in Judaism well before the time of Jesus.
The Sadducees did not believe in it, but joined forces as enemies of Jesus with the
Pharisees, who did. One of the best known O.T. references to it is Job’s declaration “I
know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand upon the earth at the last day. And
after my body has decayed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” G.F.Handel set these
wonderful words to music in his great work the Messiah, which is still sung by choirs
especially to celebrate the great Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter.
The story of doubting Thomas, who could not believe without tangible proof, is a
powerful challenge to us as Christians to decide where we stand. Do we need physical
proof of Jesus’s resurrection, or are we able to kneel in wonder at the feet of the master
and worship in the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” as Jesus reassures us with
those beautiful words which have been described as the ninth beatitude, “Blessed are
they who have not seen, yet have believed.” The continuing existence of the Christian
church over two thousand centuries bears witness that millions have not seen, but have
believed in the resurrection of our Lord, and still do today.
Song I serve a risen Saviour
Light... In this chapter John uses the words witness, testimony, word, truth and message
when describing how the apostles are passing on what Jesus the Son received from the
Father. In his gospel, he does declare that Jesus is the light of the world, the way, the truth
and the life. Yes, Jesus is the one who guides us on our Christian way. Just as no living
plant can grow without the light upon which physical life and growth depends, spiritual
life and growth are impossible apart from God, the true light. The expression “God is
light” is a statement of the absolute nature of God, meaning not that God is a light, or the
light, but simply and absolutely GOD IS LIGHT, in his very nature. The expression isn’t a
metaphor. Light is immaterial, diffusive, pure and glorious; all life depends on it.
Physically, it represents glory; intellectually, truth; morally, holiness. As immaterial, it
corresponds to God as spirit; as diffusive, to God as love, which spreads out in all
directions; as the condition of life, to God as life; as pure and illuminating, to God as
holiness and truth. For “In him is no darkness at all,” read “No, not even one speck of
darkness.” Hebrews 1.3 asserts that God’s son shines out with God’s glory or brightness.
Every word and deed of Christ’s earthly life reflected this pure light of God. Saint
Augustine observed that confession of sin is a sign that truth, which itself is light, has
begun to illuminate our sin-darkened lives. We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot fool
God. Confession of sin is necessary for maintaining fellowship with God, which is often a
struggle for us, but God is faithful and true to his promise to forgive and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Sometimes we cheat ourselves by refusing to accept his
forgiveness, and often the hardest thing to do is to forgive ourselves.
LOVE Why did Jesus die? There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin; ...Oh
dearly, dearly has he loved and we must love him too; And trust in his redeeming love..
John aimed to encourage believers to grow in genuine love for God and one another. In
Romans Paul says that God commends his love towards us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. I knew a lady who would never take Holy Communion because
she said she was not good enough. I suspect the seats in our churches would be even
emptier than they often are if they were occupied only by the good enough. But, praise
the Lord, Christ died for all. No one is outside the reach of his love. All the sinner has to do
is confess his sin and accept Christ as Saviour. If you confess with your lips the Lord Jesus,
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved, says Paul
in Romans. He also tells us that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.
To conclude this chapter, John draws the absolute contrast between light and darkness,
love and hate and Christ and the world. Jesus said that no man can serve two masters.
Lutheran scholar Johann Bengel warns, “Where love is not, there hatred is, for the heart
cannot remain a void.” Living in love is living in the light, since the gospel both illuminates
our minds and warms our hearts to love. “He who hates his brother is both a stumbling
block to himself and also causes others to stumble.” Perhaps John had in mind Jesus’s
words just before he raised Lazarus. “During the day people walk safely ... but at night
there is danger of stumbling, because they have no light.” Living in the darkness of sin
blinds people to the truth and love of Christ. It is a contradiction in terms, a lie, if we say
that we have fellowship in him, and walk in darkness, for living in fellowship with God
results in joyful relationships with other Christians. Lives of holiness and love back up any
claims we may make to have fellowship with God. Verse 14 says that believers can enjoy
power and victory over Satan because they have come to know in their own experience
“him that is from the beginning, Christ, the eternal word of life.”
The words of the hymn sum it up so well....
Life and light and joy are found.....