What Is Real Love? A Guide to 1 JohnSample

1 John 1:5-10, 1 John 2:1-2

5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 John 1:5-10 NLT

1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 1 John 2:1-2 NLT

Pray: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to die for me. Give me the courage to live for you. I want my life to be shaped and fueled by your love so that I can do for others what you’ve done for me. Free me from the darkness that has me trapped. Bring me into the light. In your name, amen.

Let’s take a closer look at what John wants us to know.

Starting in verse 5: This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 1 John 1:5 NLT

John is passing on what he learned from Jesus, the man who is God and is one with God: “God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”

What does that mean? It means God is perfectly good. He is totally loving and completely true. There is no deception, manipulation, or selfishness in Him. How does John know? Because he spent three years with Jesus. He saw God up close and face-to-face. John is not some random dude writing on Reddit about a celebrity he’s never met. He’s a guy who knew Jesus better than most of us know our best friends. He went where Jesus went, did what Jesus did, and heard what Jesus said. He was there when Jesus turned water into wine, set a man possessed by demons free, brought a young girl back from the dead, and was crucified on a Roman cross. And John was there when Jesus came to His disciples after rising from the dead. That’s why John can boldly say that God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. Because He’s seen the light up close.

This is really good news for us. It means that the God of everything is worth worshiping. He’s not a distant landlord or an oppressive tyrant. He is a loving Father who became one of us so we could become one with Him.

Then, in verse 6, John takes the gloves off and starts throwing punches.

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 1 John 1:6 NLT

Here’s what John is saying, “If you tell people you’re a part of God’s family, but in reality you just keep on doing whatever the heck you want, you’re a liar and a fake.”

While these words may sound really harsh at first, when we take a closer look, we begin to see that John is simply describing the way the world really works.

Think about it like this: If you are standing in your bedroom, late at night, with all the lights turned off, then you are in the dark. Telling people the lights are on doesn’t actually change the fact that the lights are off. No matter how loudly or passionately you say it! Until you actually turn the lights on, you’ll be in the dark.

The same is true when it comes to following Jesus. If all you do is tell people you’re in a relationship with God without ever committing yourself to Him, then you’re not telling the truth. And you’re the one who loses out in the end.

God wants so much more for us than empty words and fake relationships. He wants us to know Him and truly live for Him. Because that’s the kind of life we were designed to live.

This does not mean we will always be perfect. God knows better than we do that we’ll get it wrong, we’ll fall short, and our attempts to follow Him will often look like a baby learning how to walk. Lots of stumbling, fumbling, and falling. But, like the loving Father that He is, God will be right there to help us get back on our feet and cheer us on as we try again. In fact, in verse 7, John tells us:

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 NLT

When you’re in the family of God, you will have help. You’ve got other Christians to help you get back on track when you lose your way, and the grace and mercy of Jesus to forgive you and sustain you. Not just from some sins. But from all sin.

For some of you, you need to lean in. Because you’ve been beating yourself down because of the sexual lines you’ve crossed. Or maybe you’re trapped in a prison of shame because of what you’ve said and done and you don’t think anyone, let alone God, could ever really love you. Others of you feel so lost and hopeless that you don’t even think it’s worth it to keep on living, and that thought feels way too scary and big to talk to anyone about.

No matter what it is, the blood of Jesus will cleanse you of it all. So come out of the shadows and into the light.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 1 John 1:8 NLT

Some of us may be tempted to think these words don’t apply to us because our sin is less visible than someone else’s. All of us have been infected by sin, a disease of selfishness that causes us to disobey God and hurt others. None of us are immune. So, instead of wasting time pretending we’ve got it all together and looking like a bunch of fools in the process, let’s just save ourselves the trouble by admitting that we’re flawed. Being flawed doesn’t mean you aren’t loved.

So, what do we do? That’s what John tells us next:

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 John 1:9-10 NLT

Don’t miss this. The act of confession isn’t just something we do to clear away our guilt. It brings healing to our bodies and our souls. Sin is like a cancer that has infected us. Jesus is a surgeon who wants to remove it. When we confess our sins to Him, we are saying, “Here I am, Jesus. I need surgery. I’m getting on the operating table so you can make me whole.”

So, two questions: 1. What is confession? 2. How do we do it?

Confession means agreeing with God about what we’ve done. The word “confess” comes from the latin con, which means “with” and fess which means to “say/tell”. Confession is speaking in agreement with God. We agree with God about the ugliness of our sin, and we agree with God about the beauty of His grace.

We practice confession by telling the truth about what we’ve done. We choose to get brutally honest with God, ourselves, and others. We tell God in prayer that we’ve sinned and we ask Him to forgive us. And we tell other people in community where we’ve fallen short so we can experience healing.

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 1 John 2:1-2 NLT

John doesn't want us to be trapped in a cycle of sin. He wants us to be freed from the disease of selfishness so we can live in the light. But, he also knows that until Jesus returns to make all things new, this war will keep on raging inside of us. Until that day, we can have confidence knowing that Jesus, the truly righteous one, offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice to take the consequences of sin that we deserved upon Himself so that we could be rescued from the power of sin, our relationship with God could be repaired, and we could be restored to our rightful place as children of God.

Application: Take a few minutes right now to confess your sins to God. Be honest with God about what’s on the inside. Ask Him to forgive you, to heal you, and to make you whole. Don’t stop there though. Confess your sins to someone you trust will be able to receive it. It could be a close friend, a wise family member, or even your pastor. Whoever it is, don’t sugarcoat it or try to make yourself look better. Be brutally honest about what you’ve done. It may sound scary, but it’s absolutely worth it.