They Walk Among Us Game' title='They Walk Among Us Game' />Daily paper. Local, state, and wire news and commentary. Photo galleries, business and obituaries. A CAFE. Located behind the centerfield bleachers, the walkin Caf pronounced At Caf serves as a gathering spot for fans during the game who want to follow. Let Us Walk in the Light of God. 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 live according to 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, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Last week we saw from verses 3 and 4 that John makes the message of Christ call it theology, or doctrine the basis of all significant Christian fellowship. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you may have fellowship with us. In order to create and nurture deep Christian fellowship you have to talk about who you think Christ is and what he taught. Thats what John begins to do in verses 51. Lets try to see the overall structure of this paragraph first, and then go back and unpack its meaning. Three Parts of Johns Argument. They Walk Among Us Game' title='They Walk Among Us Game' />I see three parts to Johns argument in these six verses. First, verse 5 gives the message of Christ that John has heard. Second, verses 6 and 7 describe some practical implications for life that come from this message. Third, verses 81. So verse 5 is the theological foundation. Verses 67 are the practical application. They Walk Among Us Game' title='They Walk Among Us Game' />And verses 81. Verse 5 The FoundationThis is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Verses 67 The ApplicationTherefore if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. Thats the negative implication from the foundational fact that God is light. 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. Thats the positive implication from the foundational fact in verse 5 that God is light. Verses 81. 0 The Clarification. It could be that the wonderful promise of verse 7 would play right into the hands of people who have a perfectionistic view of the Christian life. John had said, The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Someone might say, See even the apostle teaches that all sin is totally left behind when you become a Christian. So John clarifies. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. In other words the claim of sinlessness is simply self deception. Instead of denying our sinfulness, we should confess that it is real and ugly. Verse 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then to drive home the clarification John repeats the point of verse 8, only with stronger words. Verse 1. 0 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. In other words the claim of sinlessness is not only self deception it is also blasphemy. The sentence, I am without sin, amounts to the sentence, God is a liar. These are extraordinarily strong words. If this were not an apostle talking, I can imagine someone today saying, Do you have to use such inflammatory words when you warn people about error John evidently felt that so much was at stake the language, You make God a liar, should not be softened into something like, You displease your heavenly Father. Im not sure the Scriptures should be adjusted to our emotionally fragile age. I think we need to get toughened up a bit. Thats the overall structure of the paragraph Foundation God is light verse 5. Application Walk in the Light verses 67. They Walk Among Us Game' title='They Walk Among Us Game' />Clarification Dont claim to be without sin verses 81. Now lets go back and unpack some of its meaning. WolfAmong.jpg' alt='They Walk Among Us Game' title='They Walk Among Us Game' />Foundation God Is Light. First of all, verse 5 God is light and in him is no darkness at all. What does John mean that God is light Truth. One answer would be that God is truth This comes from verse 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. He might have said, When we walk in darkness, we do not live according to the light. But he puts truth in the place of light. So it seems that truth is virtually the same as light. See also 1 John 5 2. In other words, God is light means that God is the source and measure of all that is true. Another way to put it would be that nothing is truly understood until it is understood in the light of God. This is why the Old Testament says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge Proverbs 1 7. You dont even get to first base in true knowledge if you leave God out of account. Which is why secular education is such a mirage of hope in the contemporary wasteland of our culture. God is light. That is, God is truth. He is the source of all that is true and whatever is true is true because it conforms to him. Truth Full of Joy and Hope. But John chose the word light not truth in verse 5. And I think he chose the word light because it carries a positive connotation that the word truth may not always carry. For some readers the word truth may leave open the possibility that the truth of God is a dark truth a foreboding truth, a truth that is not inviting. So John chooses the word light because it promises that the truth of God is a truth full of joy and hope. You can see this if you reflect for a moment on the value of light. Dpc2100 Firmware Update. What is the main value of light Negatively, it helps you avoid danger. Positively, it helps you reach what you are after. When you walk in the darkness, you may stumble over a log, or step on a rattlesnake, or fall off a cliff, or hit your head on a low hanging branch. Darkness is full of threat. It frustrates your ability to attain your goal. But light changes all that. It exposes dangers and frees you from their lurking power. It opens the way to your goal. It is full of hope and promises the glad attainment of your goal. No Hidden Agenda, No Small Print. The first picture of God that John wants to put before us is this picture of God as light. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. It means that if you draw near to God, you do not find a dark and foreboding truth. You find freedom and hope and joy. In God the stumbling logs and rattlesnakes and cliffs and low hanging branches are all exposed and we are made safe from them. Our goal of ultimate and eternal joy is secured in God because there is no darkness in God. That is, there are no lurking shadows in God. There is no hidden agenda, no small print. He is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Coming to God is not like buying an IBM Personal Computer. When you see the ad in the Tribune that a computer store is having a sale on the IBM PC for under 2,0. It may sound like stumbling blocks are being removed and the way is opening to new goals of word processing to be achieved. It may sound like light has dawned. But when you go to the store and check it out, you discover there is some darkness in it that price doesnt include any monitor theres nothing but darkness until you have a screen with your computer God is not like that. He is light and in him is no darkness at all. There is no small print qualifying the brightness of his glory. No missing boards or monitors or operating systems.