1 John 1:6: If We Say We Have Fellowship

1 John 1:6
[6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (ESV)

One of the worst kinds of people we can meet are people who are phonies. They talk one way, but act another. I remember as a little kid there was an older man who would come around every now and again. He seemed to be very nice. And every time he saw me he promised me he would bring me ice cream. He came by many more times. No ice cream. Forty years later I am still waiting for the ice cream. He probably now has some lame excuse that he cannot give me ice cream because he is no longer living.

Ok, I wandered into silliness for a moment, but you get my point. We do not like phonies. In fact, the Apostle John is dealing with the very issue of phoniness in this verse today. In 1 John 1:5 he told us that God is light. Now, in verse 6 he tells us that if we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness we are liars. Phonies!

The false teachers that had infiltrated the church claimed to have "special knowledge" about God. They were "enlightened." John says, "No, you are just phonies." These heretics were not loving one another. Their actions were a result of their heretical view of the body. They believed that only the Spirit was important, the body was evil. Therefore, they could sin all they wanted in their bodies, only the spirit mattered.

John lets these false teachers know that they were walking in darkness. And it mattered. We cannot excuse our actions in the body and claim to walk in God's light. Isn't it shocking how these heretics thought and lived? But I ask you today, "Have you talked one way and lived another?" This false teaching seems to creep into the church and into our lives still today.

Ask the Lord to show you the ways in which you are still living in darkness. Ask him to shine his light upon you, exposing your darkness. Confess your sin, and walk in the light today!

Now, I have a strange craving for ice cream . . .

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