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Christian Network

 
Turn On the Light
1 John 1:5-7
 
 
1 John 1:5 (KJV)
5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that 
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 
1 John 1:6 (KJV)
6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and 
do not the truth: 
1 John 1:7 (KJV)
7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Are you afraid of the dark? Many children are afraid of the dark, and require 
some sort of light to be on throughout the night. Even some adults retain this 
phobia throughout their lives. Once when I was a teenager we took a trip to 
Marianna Caverns in Marianna, FL. These series of natural caverns in Northwest 
Florida are preserved in the Marianna Caverns State Park, and are a popular 
place for school field trips, and church youth groups. For a fee the park 
rangers will take you on a guided tour of the safest of these caverns. Many of 
them are unexplored, and unsafe to enter, but some of them have been outfitted 
with lighting and serve as a tourist attraction. Now as you can imagine, when 
you are that far underground that without the lighting, the darkness is total. 
One of the things that happens on a tour is that they take you deep into the 
cave then shut out the lights. It’s so dark you literally cannot see your hand 
in front of your face. Before they do this, they always ask if anyone is afraid 
of the dark. Seldom amongst a group of teenagers will you find one who will say 
in front of his or her friends that they are afraid. So, out the lights go. 
Invariably at least one in the group immediately becomes petrified at the total 
lack of light, and begins to scream for them to turn the lights back on.
Are you afraid of the dark? I read about an interview with Stephen King, best 
selling author of many tales of horror. In the interview he talked about his 
daily writing routine. He said that he only writes in the morning. When he was 
asked whether he ever wrote at night, he replied, "Are you kidding? Not with the 
stuff I write." Apparently, even Stephen King knows the power of the darkness.
Perhaps we should anticipate losing the fear of darkness. Maybe even view it as 
a stepping stone on the way to adulthood. Perhaps we should revel in our new 
freedom from fear. Yet we must not become so complacent in our confidence that 
we forget the danger that lies in darkness. It is like a fear of lightning. Many 
children are afraid of lightning, or more correctly afraid of the thunder that 
the lightning produces. As we grow older we "outgrow" that childhood fear as we 
realize that the thunder is caused by the friction heat of the lightning, but we 
would be wise to continue to fear the awesome destructive power of that bolt of 
lightning. 
We should remember that darkness represents all that is evil. Things look 
different to us in the darkness. More accidents occur at dusk than at any other 
time of the day, and it is believed that this is because our eyes are adjusting 
to the encroaching darkness and it changes our perception of the things around 
us. 
If you were walking alone in a strange place at dark you would likely be 
listening for any sound that is the slightest bit "off", or for any strange 
shadows cast in your direction. We are continuously looking for the thing that 
goes bump in the night, yet we’ve forgotten that Satan uses the cover of 
darkness to deceive us. 
Darkness is that place were evil is given a chance to flourish. Crimes occur 
more frequently in the darkness because the criminals want the safety of 
darkness. Darkness from a Biblical perspective is the enemy of light, and as we 
are about to discuss, God is light.
When our littlest daughter Sami wakes up in the middle of the night, and has had 
a bad dream, or is afraid, she begs us to turn on her light. Well, John is 
encouraging us today to "Turn On the Light." 
GOD IS LIGHT
Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in 
the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man 
to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. 
"Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a-courtin' I never carried one of them things. 
I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you 
got!" Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when 
they feel the heat.
Perhaps here we should define what light is? The scripture that we just read 
says that God is light, and darkness is not in Him. We could extend that to say 
that light, then, is the absence of darkness. You could open up a dictionary and 
get a technical definition of light, you could ask a scientist and discover how 
quickly light moves, or you could even perform some simple rudimentary 
experiments to illustrate what light is.
Here is a dictionary definition of light found at
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?db=*&term=light
  light \Light\ (l[imac]t), n. [OE. light, liht, AS. le['o]ht; akin to OS. 
  lioht, D. & G. licht, OHG. lioht, Goth. liuha[thorn], Icel. lj[=o]s, L. lux 
  light, lucere to shine, Gr. leyko`s white, Skr. ruc to shine. [root]122. Cf. 
  Lucid, Lunar, Luminous, Lynx.] 1. That agent, force, or action in nature by 
  the operation of which upon the organs of sight, objects are rendered visible 
  or luminous.
  2. That which furnishes, or is a source of, light, as the sun, a star, a 
  candle, a lighthouse, etc.
Both of these definitions fit well with what we are talking about this morning. 
God is light. He is the source by which all things are made visible. Light 
exposes sin that darkness successfully covers. When we enter into a relationship 
with God, he reveals, or exposes our true nature to us. 
Another way of looking at light is by comparing it to darkness, which is the 
complete abscense of light. Light and darkness are opposites. In the Scriptures, 
light refers to truth, purity and holiness. Darkness refers to error, ignorance, 
sin and evil. So when John declares to us that God is light; in him there is no 
darkness at all, he is simply saying that God is the epitome of truth, purity 
and holiness and that in Him there is no error, sin and evil. This is the nature 
of God. This tells us something of who God is. 
STUMBLING IN THE DARKNESS (V. 6)
Have you ever been lying in bed at night, perhaps already sound asleep when all 
of a sudden you hear a strange noise? I remember one night at about 1 am we hear 
the terrifying sound of glass breaking. There is no mistaking that sound in the 
middle of the night. When this sort of thing takes place you have two choices if 
you choose to investigate. You can turn on the light or you can stumble around 
in the darkness. Well, let me tell you, it’s not wise to stumble around the 
house in the dark when you have two small children! You can hurt yourself 
stumbling over something, and it can be avoided by turning on the light.
 
It seems that many times as Christians we make that same choice. We have access 
to the light, but we choose to wander around life in the dark. All around us are 
people who claim to be God’s children, but are walking in the darkness. John was 
talking to Christians in verse six. He is telling us first that the world is 
watching our actions, and if we are not living the same life we are talking, 
they will notice. Also, though, he is warning us that walking in the darkness 
will harm our relationship with God.
You might be thinking that you aren’t walking in the darkness. You may be 
thinking that your relationship is just perfect with the father. There are some 
ways in which you and I begin to stumble around without realizing it. One such 
way is when we neglect to assemble together for worship. We all know that when 
you do something once, it gets easier the next time, and the next, until it 
becomes a habit. Church attendance is the same way. It’s terribly easy to fall 
out of the habit of attending, and when we neglect to attend worship, we are 
beginning to stumble in darkness. We also neglect the study of the scriptures. 
It is through God’s Holy Word that we find the illumination to cope with life’s 
daily struggles. God’s Word will shed light on our troubles and illuminate the 
proper way for us. Why then, do so many Christians place Bible Study so low on 
their list of priorities? It’s because they are walking in the darkness rather 
than the light. 
Another way we allow ourselves to wander in the darkness is by never stopping to 
give ourselves a self-evaluation. We absolutely must try to look at ourselves as 
the world sees us. Or more importantly, we should attempt to see our lives as 
God would see them. We are encouraged in the Scriptures to examine ourselves, to 
evaluate just how we are doing. If we really want to live in the light, regular 
self-evaluation is essential. How am I doing? Am I more loving? Am I easier to 
live with? Am I spending more time with God? Are my priorities in proper order? 
If we don’t ask these questions, we will never know the truth. 
 
Another mark of stumbling around in the darkness is when we blame everyone else 
for our troubles. Looking at our nation today as we come up on another 
anniversary of our independence it seems we have an epidemic of darkness. No one 
is willing to take responsibility for their actions any longer. It is always 
someone else’s fault. Criminals blame society, society blames their childhood, 
the parents blame the economy, and the list goes on and on and on. We will never 
walk in the light until we realize that when we sin it is OUR fault and accept 
the responsibility for our own lives.
WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Walking in the light is a key element in our relationship with the Lord. It’s 
not necessary for us to stumble around in the dark, just as it is unnecessary 
for us to walk around our home after dark with the lights off. There are many 
benefits to walking in the light. The closer relationship with our Lord being 
but the first.
Our God is a holy God, and he detests the sin in our lives. When we are walking 
in the darkness we are severing the relationship with God. There is more to a 
relationship than that first initial meeting. Many times we have gotten the idea 
that acceptance of the promise of salvation is the be all and end all of our 
walk with the Lord. But instead we should view that as the beginning of a long 
and profitable journey. Just like our earthly relationships are harmed by our 
actions, so it is with our heavenly relationship with the father. When we 
actively strive to walk in the light, we are walking closer with God, and the 
fellowship is much sweeter. 
Walking in the light brings us into a closer communion with God, and makes his 
presence in our lives that much more enjoyable. If you are friends with someone, 
and have wronged them it strains your relationship with them to the point that 
being with them is uncomfortable. When we are walking in the darkness we are 
straining our relationship with God, and being with Him is uncomfortable for us. 
Possibly (probably) because His spirit brings a realization (ILLUMINATION??) of 
our sins, that we would rather not be confronted with. Therefore, it stands to 
reason that if we are truly walking in the light, then we would enjoy the 
presence of God. This close communion also satisfies a deep need in humanity. 
Human nature demands that we have a god. Even if we try to deny it, the simple 
truth remains that if we aren’t worshipping the one true God, we turn to other 
gods of our own choosing and construction. Even if that god becomes our own 
self. When we walk in the light, God’s presence is felt, and we know He is 
there. When we are walking in the darkness we don’t feel His presence as keenly. 

Walking in the light finally will bring us closer into fellowship with each 
other. Here John is talking about our fellowship with other Christians. We are 
brothers and sisters in Christ because of our relationship to Him. Fellowship, 
however, requires more than relationship. Fellowship requires honesty, openness, 
approachability, an uncritical spirit, and vulnerability. Walking in the light 
will produce those characteristics in our lives. Walking in the light will 
deliver us from the things that block fellowship with one another and make us 
people others will want to spend time with. Walking in the light will meet the 
need that every Christian has to have meaningful relationships with other 
believers. 
Conclusion
What a wonderful way to enjoy our life more abundantly. If we will simply choose 
to turn on the light, we won’t waste so many precious minutes stumbling around, 
bumping our toes, skinning our knees, and tripping over our own mistakes. Why 
should we sit here in the darkness when the light of the world is within our 
reach? I challenge you this morning to turn on the light, and let it shine.

 Email: csmims@n-jcenter.com 
©South Peninsula Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, FL 1999