Lord’s Supper Meditation—Aug 20, 2023
1 John 1:5-7
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us through his life, teaching, ministry, death, and resurrection that God is absolute moral perfection. There is no evil in him. There are no character flaws or ethical faults. God is light and in him is no darkness whatsoever.
So then, if we claim to have a relationship with God but keep on walking in darkness, that is, in waywardness and transgression, then we are lying and not practicing the truth.
The Christian Way is into the light. We are to enter the light and keep on walking and living in it. We are to behave uprightly, morally, lovingly, and obediently as the Holy Spirit leads and enables us. We are in the light, just as God is in the light. This is how we have fellowship with one another in the apostolic community, per Jesus himself (“heard from him”).
The second result of walking in the light is that the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. Cleansing (or purifying) refers to more than just forgiveness but that God erases the stain of sin (Stott). The present tense shows that it is a continuous process (Stott). But what sin needs to be cleansed if we walk in the light? Cleansing indicates sanctification distinct from justification (Alford). As people living in God’s light, we have forgiveness of sins (justification: eternal salvation) and ongoing cleansing from sins (sanctification: growing mature and ridding our lives of sin now). We also have fellowship with one another in the Christian community.
As we eat and drink of the Lord’s Supper today, remembering Christ’s blood and body that was given at Calvary for us and the whole world, let us bask in the light of God and His Son. Let us also resolve to continue walking in the light.