Taylor, Jerry

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LeavenVolume 18Issue 1 The School of the Prophets Article 81-1-2010Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10Jerry TaylorAbilene Christian UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leavenThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven byan authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Kevin.Miller3@pepperdine.edu.Recommended CitationTaylor, Jerry (2010) "Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10," Leaven: Vol. 18: Iss. 1, Article 8.Available at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol18/iss1/8Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10JERRY TAYLORWhen we say, "I am in fellowship with God," we are making a very bold claim. The claim ofbeing in fellowship with God implies that we are living in harmony with God's divine nature.According to I John 4.8 God's nature is summed up in one word: love. John says, "God is love."Therefore, one who claims to be in fellowship with God simultaneously makes the claim of walkingin harmony with God's loving nature. If one walks in harmony with God's nature he or she will by secondnature join God in his redemptive work of love in the world. God's love is uniquely observable in the worldand so are the people who embody God's divine quality of love.God's love walks underneath bridges and down wintry streets in major cities seeking to wrap theblanket of warm concern around the homeless that are outside freezing due to a lack of affordable housing.God's love aggressively seeks to provide top quality health care for all those who have fallen throughthe economic cracks of neglect in America's affluent society.God's love seeks to straighten the twisted face of unfair labor practices that cheat illegal immigrantsout of their hard earned wages and make them suffer injustice in silence by threatening to repott them toimmigration if they complain about injustice in the workplace.God's love marches beyond the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan in order to restore wholeness to thosewounded in war as "collateral damage."God's love penetrates the dividing wall ofrace and culture that has turned the church of God into aclubhouse that offers membership only to those who look like us, dress like us, think like us, believe like usand vote like us.People who embody God's love are active in the world with God. God's love empowers his people toignore the social stigmas that society places upon social outcasts.God's love inspires his people to courageously reach out their hands to comfort people suffering fromAIDS.God's love motivates his people to openly wash the tired feet of the poor by encouraging electedofficials to use tax dollars to provide adequate public transportation for those who have no other means oftransportation.1 John 1.5 states that God's nature is light. He says, "This then is the message which we have heard ofhim, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." People who are in fellowshipwith God radiate a special kind of light into a dark world.Without the light of God the world becomes a war zone where the murderous spirit of Cain inspirespeople to treat one another with malice, resentment and violence.In such a dark world one nation seeks the destruction of its rival nation.In such a world one race sets itself up as "the exterminator" of other racial groups that refuse to bepolitically dominated.1Taylor: Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2010THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS LEAVEN 33In a world absent of God's light, gang members murder their own brothers like Cain killed his ownbrother Abel.A world without God's light becomes a dangerous place. With the great amount of hateful activityaround us we sometimes fear for our own safety. We increase security measures to make sure we protectourselves from those who live in darkness.No matter what Homeland Security does to protect us, God's light is the only thing that can give us atrue sense of security in the face of evil as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.The Psalmist (Ps 27.1) celebrates the security that comes as a result of marching in God's light. ThePsalmist says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?" It is only in the absence ofGod's light that fear becomes the frightening monster that makes us cry out in the darkness. Without God'slight we have nothing to give the world but our own inner darkness.It is inner darkness that gives birth to blighted neighborhoods.It is inner darkness that gives inspiration to every hate group in America.It was the inner darkness of nineteen misguided hijackers that caused them to fly airplanes intoManhattan skyscrapers.It was the inner darkness that caused Timothy McVeigh and others to ignite the Oklahoma City bombing.It was the inner darkness of two men in Jasper, Texas, that made them pull Mr. Byrd to his death behindtheir pickup truck.While we read this issue of Leaven, someone's inner darkness is organizing sleeper cells all over thiscountry. These small groups are preparing a domestic nightmare designed to awaken Americans from theircomfortable beds of false security.Someone's inner darkness is producing militia groups that speak passionately about overthrowing thefederal government of the United States of America.As recently as December 29,2008, a very disturbing article appeared in The Wall Street Journal with thetitle, "As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S."Russian academic Igor Panarin is a former KGB analyst and the dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry'sacademy for future diplomats. He appears in the Russian media as an expert on United States-Russianrelations. He is also credited with accurately predicting the collapse of the former Soviet Union almost to thedate.Professor Panarin says that mass immigration, the collapse of the American dollar and an economic andmoral crisis will trigger a civil war and the eventual collapse and breakup of the United States around theend of June 2010.He predicts that when the going gets tough, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federalgovernment and effectively secede from the union. He says that once the United States splits along ethniclines, foreign powers will move in to divide the spoils.Recent rhetoric from the Texas Tea Party and from Governor Rick Perry has suggested that Texas secedefrom the Union. Would that lend minor credibility to the professor's prediction?However, I believe that the only way the professor's prediction will come true is if Americans refuse tomarch in the light. Such a thing is probable in any nation that fails to rededicate itself to a common visionof a racially and politically united country. I agree with a statement made by the late Curtis Mayfield, "Thepeace we keep will be the peace we reap."!The storm clouds are gathering on a global scale. The clash of civil izations seems inevitable. Variousnations are aligning themselves around racial, religious and cultural commonalities. These are days whenreal human unity is essential to the survival of humankind.In order to replace the cruelty and hatred in this world with genuine peace, it is going to take the positiveI. Curtis Mayfield. from the song "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue." New World Order, CD, 1996.2Leaven, Vol. 18 [2010], Iss. 1, Art. 8http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol18/iss1/834 LEAVEN First Quarter 2010impact of the divine life of Christ, one that is uncontaminated by the spirit ofhate.John says in 1 John 1.1, "This we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seenit and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared tous."Today the church of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the eternal life of Christ.For this reason the church must refuse to endorse the ugliness of violence.For this reason the church must refuse to condone the senseless slaughter of human beings carried out bythe state, no matter how justified such actions may seem.For this reason the church must resist being manipulated by the political powers of the kingdoms of thisworld.The minute the church joins alliances with Caesar is the minute that it loses its own soul.John says, "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship withus. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (I John 1.3).John says we want you to be in fellowship with us because we are in fellowship with the Father andwith his Son, Jesus Christ. The church stands in the world as the reconciling agent, restoring the brokenrelationship between God and humankind.As the church we seek to impact a divided world riveted by conflict. We do this by inviting people into anon-manipulative fellowship of reconciliation.John says that his desire is for people not only to have fellowship with the apostolic community, but alsoto have fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.Today many churches are only interested in getting people into their fellowship. Churches must gofurther than their concern for institutional survival if they are going to get people into fellowship with theFather and with his Son, Jesus Christ.In many instances the church has been unable to impact the world because it often gets bogged down indenominational competition. It has been split into warring factions fighting over doctrinal controversies.Sometimes the church claims to have fellowship with God but the truth is that fellowship in many ofour churches is often based upon race, culture, political aftiliation and class. John says it is impossible forChristians to claim to have fellowship with God while simultaneously remaining loyal to the racial andcultural values of a fallen world.John says it this way, "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and donot live by the truth" (I John 1.6).Any church that tolerates the negative emotions associated with racial bigotry and political divisionwithin its fellowship while claiming to be in fellowship with God is guilty of perpetrating a religious fraud.John says, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confessour sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If weclaim we have not sinned we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives" (1 John\.8-10).God's light is not designed to destroy us. God's light helps us to see clearly the unproductive racialbaggage that our flawed culture conditioned us to carry in our hearts. God's light enables us to publicly andprivately denounce the destructive lines in the racial script that others have written for us to act out.We praise God for being the light unto our multiracial feet and the lamp unto our multicultural pathway.God's light changes our racial paradigms through which we see others in the world. He has translated usfrom the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light wherein, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, "we nolonger regard anyone from a worldly point of view."In this country Christians have lived too long with the internal virus of racial ambition and cultural pride.The virus of racial separation based on hatred and fear has infected the eyes of the church for too long. Thechurch still maintains the record of practicing the most segregated hour in America on Sunday mornings.3Taylor: Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2010THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS LEAVEN 35This is evidence that many Christians still regard one another from a worldly point of view.The church's inner vision is so blurred that it sees racial and cultural homogeneity as a biblical doctrine.America is waiting upon the church for spiritual light that can show people how to walk with those whoare racially and culturally different. America is watching our assemblies to see if the rhetoric of our gospelhas any true merit when it comes to bringing racial and religious unity among people on this planet.Can the church provide the model for healthy human interaction among different racial and religiousgroups? Can we exemplify what true human community looks like? In order for the church to help Americasee what racial and religious harmony looks like, it must first seek healing for its own eye disease. Beforewe can address the speck of sawdust in the eye of the un-churched we must address the house beam hangingout of the church's eye.Jesus says in Matthew 6.22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your wholebody will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the lightwithin you is darkness, how great is that darkness."For too long America has looked to the church for light on the subject of race, only to find out that whenit comes to the issue of race, the body of Christ is full of great darkness. In regards to race, darkness in thechurch is sometimes greater than the darkness that exists in the world.Today the church must allow Jesus to perform spiritual eye surgery, enabling us to see people of differentraces and cultures as our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Jesus is empowered to perform laser surgery onthe eyes of the church, removing the cataract of racial bigotry and cultural division. His light is powerfullypenetrating.We celebrate the wonderful change that is taking place within us as a result of the surgery Jesus hasperformed on us. The inner darkness within us has been exposed to God's sanctifying light. Redeemedsinners in the body of Christ now fit the description that Paul gives in Ephesians 5.8, "For you weresometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of Iight." Our status has changed.We are people of light.Now that Christians have been set free from the slavery of inner darkness, we are free to walk in thelight of racial harmony. John says, "If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with oneanother, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (I John 1.7).Therefore let us walk together, children, in the marvelous light. Through the liberating power of the HolySpirit, let us become freedom fighters that expose the principalities of darkness within ourselves and in theworld.Let us start a new sit-in movement.• Let us sit in the living room of people who are racially, religiously and culturally different from us.• Let us sit in the dining rooms of people who have a different worldview from ours and share ameal with them.• Let us sit in the worship assemblies of others who might have a different theological outlook onthings.• Let us engage in a new wave of protest marches.• Let us march in the light in order to break down the dividing walls of spiritual and psychologicalsegregation that remained intact after the physical legal structure of segregation was dismantled.• Let us march in the light so that our social gatherings will be more than the gathering of raciallydiverse bodies sitting next to each other without their souls ever touching one another.• Let us march in the light as he is in the light so our fellowship in church will go beyond race,culture and politics.4Leaven, Vol. 18 [2010], Iss. 1, Art. 8http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol18/iss1/836 LEAVEN First Quarter 2010• Let us march in the light so that the church can have the moral authority to influence the nationaway from the murderous spirit of Cain that might express itself in the form of violent civil unrest,unrest that some say is inevitable.• Let's keep marching in the light despite how numb and tired our feet may become.• Keep marching in the light despite the darkness that surrounds us.• March on in the light of love even when we are persecuted by hate.• March on in the light of love when we are opposed by every wicked power in the world.JERRY TAYLOR TEACHES BIBLE AND CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY'S COLLEGE OFBIBL1CAL STUDIES. HE SERVESAS A MEMBER OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF LtAVEN AND IS THE GUEST EDITORFOR THIS ISSUE.5Taylor: Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2010

Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10

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Marching in the Light: 1 John 1.1-10

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