FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2021
(Part 11)
OUR MISSION – 4
December 28, 2020
Today’s reading: 1 John 1:5-2:2
Our theme verse of Acts 13:47 says, “I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.”
A light to the world
As the people of God, as the disciples of Jesus and as instruments of the Holy Spirit, we are to be light to the world. This comes from our relationship with God. “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” (v.1:5b). Jesus is the light of the world, and he tells us that we are to be light to the world. This has profound meaning for us and how we live our lives.
First, we are to avoid darkness. “If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.” (v.1:6). We are not to engage in sin, whether in the open under the darkness in the world, or in secret under the darkness of our own hidden ways. We are to strive to be pure in thought, word and deed..
Second, we recognize that we are sinners, even as we seek to avoid sin. “If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (v.1:8). We cannot gloss over the things that are not right in our spiritual lives. These need to come out into the light. We cannot pretend to be fully right with God when some things are just not so. If we were fully right with God, then we would be perfectly holy. But we are not.
Third, we are able to recognize our sin as we learn the truth of God’s word. We have clear guidance from God through His word in the holy scriptures. It is not about our opinion or the opinion of the world, but about God’s objective truths of faith. “If we say, ‘We have not sinned,’ we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (v.1:10). So we must know His word, His commands. And we are to be cautious of false teachers that abound in our Church today.
Fourth, accepting that we are sinners now provide us the remedy. We can turn to God. “If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.” (v.1:9). Not confessing our sin keeps us in our sin. But confessing sin and asking for forgiveness removes our sin. We have God’s assurance of forgiveness. We are restored to a right relationship with Him.
Fifth, we are called to be in fellowship with other Christians, so that we can support each other and call each other out to righteousness. “But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (v.1:7). This is why we are in MFC. God calls us not just to individual holiness but to collective communal holiness, to be part of the body of Christ in the world. As Christ is holy, that body is to be holy as well. On our own, without the help of our brethren in Christ, we would be hard put to remain out of darkness.
An instrument of salvation
So we are to be in the light; we are to be light. It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin. Jesus is the Savior. Without the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we would remain in our sin. So this is the good news we proclaim as light to the world. We are to be instruments of God’s salvation. God wants us to “not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.” (v.2:1).
To the ends of the earth
This salvation is for all. God does not want anyone to be lost. Thus we look not only to ourselves, to our families, to our community, but to everyone else. “He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” (v.2:2). So we look to bringing the gospel of salvation in Jesus to the whole world, to the grassroots at the peripheries, to the very ends of the earth.
