1 John 1:5–7 (NKJV) — 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.
As members of a family, Christian’s desire to be with other members of the
Christian family. Walking in the Light of Jesus brings the family of God
together. The Christian walk is not one of isolation. We are brought together
through our faith in Christ. Christians not only worship together they come
together working to fulfill the calling of God found in the Great Commission.
Hebrews 10:24 reminds us we are to “consider one another in order to stir
up love and good works.” We do this by being together as the family of God.
We are reminded in Hebrews 10:25 to come together “not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Sunday morning worship is a great place and time to come together to
fellowship together and worship God. We live in a time where we need to
encourage, “exhorting” one another in the Christian faith. What a
fantastically great way to begin the week!
A little exhortation and encouragement. If we have lived in and
fellowshipped with the dark side of life during the week, we may not want to
go to church and fellowship with others. Darkness runs from the light. John
3:18–20 18, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the
light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
The church is not a place of condemnation! It is a place of love and
acceptance, not of sin but of people. Jesus came into a world of sin to share
His love, “for God so loved the world.” Sin and darkness feel condemnation
because of their walk in darkness. The light of Jesus exposes the sin, and
God forgives those who truly come to Him in repentance.
There is no greater place to find the love of God than in the church. I look
forward to seeing our church family come together this morning. Maybe you
can come and join us in celebrating new life found in Jesus.