“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, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7)
I believe that there is significance attached to the order in which John mentions these elements. Most of us live as if this verse read: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin, and we have fellowship with one another.” At least that’s the way we would prefer it to be. Get cleansed privately so we can have squeaky-clean fellowship. But this is about messy, dirty fellowship. This is about going through the whole process of sinning, having our sin revealed and getting cleansed, together.
First off, walking signifies living. It’s about what we do as we pass through life. This is not a one-time experience, nor is it even a frequent occurrence like a once-a-week meeting. It is a state of being – a way of life. The verb tenses in the original Greek indicate this. This could have been translated: “If we are walking in the light, we will be having fellowship with each other and getting cleansed from our sin at the same time.” Which really means that all these things are happening at once, all the time.
Fellowship comes out of not only sharing the light, but sharing our vulnerability as well, and the fellowship is as much about discovering that we are all sinners as it is about discovering we are all forgiven. The fellowship begins at the point of being revealed. There is a pain associated with the process of being revealed, but the pain is lessened by discovering that we are not alone. We are letting our guard down… losing our masks… coming apart, as it were, but doing it together. We are a walking support group.
And getting cleansed, too. That’s the best part.
That’s what I mean by the order being important. We’d love to get the cleansing part over with away from everyone else and then have fellowship – all of us having arrived at the same place where sin is but a past memory. But it doesn’t work that way. Sin is a constant reality, as is our forgiveness and cleansing. We walk together. The light reveals us all together. We get cleansed together.
This is perhaps one of the hardest things about what has become our traditional church environment, it has largely become a place where we put our best foot forward – our most sin-free self (we’re all supposed to be clean) – when, in fact, church should be more like a support group of sinners.
Because we are all like this and all struggling, it doesn’t take much to start. Just one person stepping into the light. Others will follow. It’s human nature, and the way God made us. If you are in a “fellowship” that refuses to open up, that is a group that is choosing to walk in darkness, and going nowhere.
John Fischer The Catch 
i appreciate todays lesson. The lesson caused me to reflect on James instruction: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous personh has grat power and wonderful results.” i have tested this scripture a few times and have experienced success. Honesty with those I could trust and theiir prayers and the awesome power of God I was able to overcome my struggles.
Sometimes I am not only a messy person but I can create a mess. I only hope that grace can be received as it is given. I thought I had overcome some deep wounds that got opened last weekend and I completely blew it. So what now? Sure, I apologized but that doesn’t mean all is well even though it was accepted. The worst part is my reaction was legit but my overreaction lost the point. I really just don’t belong around Christians, traditional Christians anyway. I just can’t be that anymore. I can’t play the way they play. There are not bad people but I do not fit in.
What’s the difference between a christian and a traditional christian? You’re either a believer in Christ or not! There are tares, and there is wheat….. they look similar, but the Lord says He will take care of the dividing in the end.
There is difference in that traditional or conservative Christianity still believe that evolution is a bad word and that homosexuality is a choice.
I choose to take the Bible seriously, but not be enslaved by literalism.
I am a believer with an insistence upon morality (what is good and loving) not moralism (salvation by code, not by Christ).
And I believe the bible was written by men.
I do not believe there are tares and wheat between Christians, only opinions.
Most Christians don’t ask do you believe, they are really asking, do you believe like me?
What I have done as a square peg is tried too fit into a round hole. In our little town of 6,000 the choices are round holes.
I’m not faulting others I just don’t belong in their club.
And on top of all that I had a really bad weekend.
hey John Fisher, maybe you could feel a sense of pastoral leadership and step in here to clear up the confusion listed in Tim’s above comments. I just hope you will come from a “traditional/conservative christianity” perspective,,,,, as if there is any other! He will probably hear you over me. Ralph Gaily
I have no commitment to “Traditional/conservative Christianity.” I have a commitment to Jesus and the Bible, and it seems like Tim does too. Actually I think Tim makes a number of good points. The real question about his situation is: Why isn’t he welcomed by this group of Christians?
I am accepted at arms length. Our daughter is president and founder of out schools Gay Straight alliance student club. And we are hosts of a home bible study group that welcomes all. Yeah, that means gay people. And we don’t tell them they need to become straight.
Does that help?
Explains a lot. But should call for dialogue and understanding, not straight-arming.
I suspect that this attitude is not so much about wanting to look your best, it is about lack of trust and the fear that comes from it. Revealing one’s own sins to other people makes you vulnerable and weak, and we all know that there are many people who pick on these weaknesses just because they can. A church should be a place where such considerations should play no rule, but a church is still made up of people, and we have all met people who called themselves Christians, and who have still turned out to be untrustworthy.
And my frustration is I was the jerk. It’s not that I revealed some sin as in, confess your sins to one another, I just sinned.
John said, “This is about going through the whole process of sinning, having our sin revealed and getting cleansed, together.”
I would just rather deal with someone else’s sin.
I must not be very clear.
While looking at the spec in someones eye I took the log in my eye and hit them over the head with it.
When I heard what a man said it stirred anger deep within of which I then vomited all over him.
I’m just coming hear to confess my sin and somehow it is getting messy. 😉
This is however less of a mess than I created Sunday.
Markus said, “Revealing one’s own sins to other people makes you vulnerable and weak”
And that’s true if you do it on purpose or not.
How about a , Hey, it be fine, we all screw up.
It always gets messy when you reveal your sin. You made me laugh… hitting someone with the log that was in your eye. Actually Jesus said that once you have the log removed from your eye then you will see clearly so you can help someone else with the speck in their eye. That’s because you become a different person after having a log removed from your head and you see no problem with the other’s sin which compared to yours is such a tiny thing. No problem. If God can forgive you, surely he can forgive them.