Holiness - Episode 25
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Welcome to Jen’s New Song. My name is Jennifer Holmes and I’m so glad you’re here. Whether you’re listening on your favourite podcast app, watching on IGTV or YouTube, or reading a transcript, I hope that you will find something to encourage you in our few minutes together. Most of my writing is on the intersection of faith and mental health and I am passionate about helping people see that the Bible has the answers and help for all aspects of our life, including this one. The Bible holds all the answers, but often we find the application through others. Whether its a new insight in a sermon, encouragement from a friend, opened eyes through a book, being challenged in sanctification through relationships in our lives, or through a counsellor helping us think biblically, we are meant to do life with others. With the body of Christ.
That’s what this season of the podcast is all about - how to do life well together in the body of Christ. The Bible often uses the phrase, “one another” to describe how we live in relationship. I call it one anothering, and my computer has finally stopped trying to auto-correct that, even though it still leaves the red line underneath.
This week as I was looking through my list of verses with the words one another, right at the bottom was a verse that jumped out at me. It’s I John 1:7 But 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.
I think it jumped out at me because I have just written a paper for school following the theme of light all the way from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation. It was such a fascinating study, but I’ll spare you the long academic paper here. But some of the concepts I’ve been studying these past two weeks really helped me understand this verse in a deeper way.
When God created light in Genesis 1, there was light, but still no sun moon and stars. And at the end of Revelation, the same thing occurs again - light without the sun. That’s because we know that in Heaven, Jesus is the light. That seed, or idea, is planted in Genesis and blossoms all throughout the Old Testament. In Isaiah and other books, we are told that the Messiah is coming to bring light, not only to Israel but also to the Gentiles. Then in John, Jesus is called the Light of the Word and the theme of light is a big one throughout the whole book.
Jesus knew He wasn’t going to be here in human form for long, so he told his disciples, and all believers, that we are now the light of the world. The reason we could ever hope to offer any light to the world is because we now have that light living inside of us. What a concept - when we received Christ, the Holy Spirit came and dwelled in our hearts and now we are commanded to shine. We are to live as Children of Light, living pure and holy lives so that we draw others to Christ. We are a city on a hill, shining that others might now where to go when they are lost and in despair.
If you study how we are to shine as lights in the world, and I highly encourage you to, you’ll find many ways that we are told to do that. Most of them list a specific set of sins to avoid. But here in this passage, we are challenged to holiness. Listen to the direct and strong language of the verses surrounding verse 7.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5 This 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.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But 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.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We simply cannot live unholy lives and say that we have fellowship with the light. God is not asking us to be sin free here, thankfully! After He says we need to walk in the light, He reminds us that we still have sin and it’s dangerous to say otherwise. When we realize our own sin, then we have the ability to confess it and our faithful and just God will forgive it every time.
But we don’t look at our sin to celebrate it, or to sweep it under the rug, or to hide it, no, we confess our sin to be cleansed and holy.
When I was doing my study of the light, I found a passage in Luke 11 where Jesus teaches us that we cannot be lights if there is any evil in us. I also found a passage in Exodus where the priests were commanded to only use pure olive oil in the lamp in the Tabernacle. The purity of the light that represents God has always been important to Him. Whether it was the Tabernacle, or believers today, our holiness affects our light.
So what does this have to do with one anothering? In I John 1:7, our text verse for this week, it tells us that if we walk in the light, we will have fellowship with one another. This is one thing that binds us together - our holiness. Not because we’re so much better than the rest of the world. I think it’s the opposite. We’ve seen who we truly are and because we’ve been rescued from that, we want to serve our God to the best of our ability. Together!
The world often tells us that we must be more accepting of sin in order to get along, and this has also crept into Christianity. But we know that following Christ often means the opposite of what the world is telling us. When we are constantly checking our own hearts, looking at the beam in our own eye, being grieved over our own hearts, and repenting of our own sins, that is what brings true fellowship. It’s hard to be angry at someone who is humble, holy, and full of light. And when we are humble, holy, full of light, and a people who fellowship together and love one another well, that is when we shine for God and become a family that others want to join.
Let’s examine our own hearts and see how we can love one another well by becoming more holy and Christ-like today.
Thank you for joining me today. I’m really excited about this series and hope you are too. If you’d like to hear from me more and get almost daily encouragement, I hope you’ll join me on Instagram or Facebook. Just search Jens New Song. You can find transcripts of these episodes on my website if you prefer to read the rest of the season. My website is jensnewsong.com I also have a free mini course available on there on the life of Elijah and what it teaches us about our mental health.
If you enjoyed todays episode and you’re excited about this series, would you forward this to a friend? It might be a great way to build community in your own church! And if you’re really excited, would you go leave a rating and review in iTunes? That’s how other people find the podcast. Or subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss the next episode. Thanks everyone. Go love someone today!