Light Test: PROOF OF LIFE - Part 2

May 15, 2011

Today's worship set list included the following items:

The Time Has Come, Hillsong United
Praise Is The Offering, Gateway Worship
With Everything, Hillsong

The band also covered two item numbers:

Lifegiver, Hyper Static Union
In The Light, Charlie Peacock and DC Talk

We also continued the series, PROOF OF LIFE based on the Letters of John with a message of 1 John 1:5 - 1 John 2:2. Here are the extended notes.


Light Test
PROOF OF LIFE – Part 2
May 15, 2011 • Chris Goins

John Ortberg has written an excellent book titled The Life You've Always Wanted. Ortberg begins that book with these words. See if you can relate.

“I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed now so much with particular things I have done as with aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

“Some of this disappointment is trivial. I wouldn't have minded getting a more muscular physique. I can't do basic home repairs. So far I haven't shown much financial wizardry.

“Some of this disappointment is neurotic. Sometimes I am too concerned about what others think of me, even people I don't know.

“Some of this disappointment…is…the sour fruit of self-absorption.

“But some of this disappointment in myself runs deeper. When I look in on my children as they sleep at night, I think of the kind of father I want to be. I want to create moments of magic, I want them to remember laughing until the tears flow, I want to read to them and make the books come alive so they love to read, I want to have slow sweet talks with them as they're getting ready to close their eyes, I want to sing them awake in the morning. I want to chase fireflies with them, teach them to play tennis, have food fights, and hold them and pray for them in a way that makes them feel cherished…”

But Ortberg goes on to admit that at the end of the day, he doesn't end up doing the things he wanted to do.

[I'm disappointed.]

Ortberg continues.

"And it's not just my life as a father. I am disappointed also for my life as a husband, friend, neighbor, and human being in general. I think of the day I was born, when I carried the gift of promise, the gift given to all babies. I think of that little baby and what might have been: the ways I might have developed mind and body and spirit, the thoughts I might have had, the joy I might have created.

The next line carries the real "stinger."

"I am disappointed that I still love God so little and sin so much. I always had the idea as a child that adults were pretty much the people they wanted to be. Yet the truth is, I am embarrassingly sinful. I am capable of dismaying amounts of jealousy if someone succeeds more visibly than I do. I am disappointed at my ability to be small and petty. I cannot pray for very long without my mind drifting into a fantasy of angry revenge over some past slight I thought I had long since forgiven or some grandiose fantasy of achievement. I can convince people that I'm busy and productive and yet waste large amounts of time watching television…"

"These are just some of the disappointments. I have other ones, darker ones, that I'm not ready to commit to paper…

"Where does my disappointment come from? …my failure to be the person God had in mind when he created me." — John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, pages 11-13.


“The glory of God is man fully alive.” — Saint Irenaeus


QUESTION: What does that kind of life look like?


1 John 1:1-2 (NLT), We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.


life – zoe: a) the absolute fullness of life, b) life in the absolute sense, life as a principle, life as God has it, c) life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous.


1 John 1:3-4, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.


NOTES: John believes that it’s actually possible for people to experience ZOE LIFE… He believes it’s possible for us to experience…

• …a life that gets lived out in the context of a deep, authentic, life-giving relationship with God and with other people.

• …a life filled with supernatural, defiant, unstoppable joy even in the face of adversity.

• …a life so full and overflowing that you can’t possibly keep it to yourself… You’ve got to share it with someone else…


1 John 1:5-10 (NIV), This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 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.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-2 (NIV), My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.


Four Realities:

1. Our biggest problems: darkness, denial and self-deception.

“One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that most people tend to think of sin, especially their own, as not much more than a parking infraction… But according to the Bible, sin is a lot more than just the violation of some impersonal, arbitrary, heavenly traffic regulation. It’s the breaking of a relationship, and even more, it is a rejection of God Himself – a repudiation of God’s rule, God’s care, God’s authority, and God’s right… It is the rebellion of the creature against His Creator.” — Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? Pages 47-48

“Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from [God].” — Tim Keller, The Reason for God, page 162


NOTES: Most of us think of SIN as primarily “breaking rules” or “doing bad things.” But the very FIRST of the Ten Commandments is to “…have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7)

According to the Bible, the primary way to DEFINE SIN is not just in terms of doing BAD things, but making GOOD things into ULTIMATE THINGS.

Tim Keller writes, [sin is] “…seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…” — Tim Keller, The Reason for God, page 162


Three False Claims (lies we believe):

“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (v. 6).

The Lie: Sin is no big deal… I sin… So what?

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (v. 8).

The Lie: Sin isn’t really something I struggle with… I’m beyond that…

“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and His word is not in us” (v. 10).

The Lie: We’re all basically decent and good… Sin isn’t really an issue…


Why Darkness Is So Dangerous:

• It wrecks our relationship with God.

"The essence of sin is not primarily the violation of laws, but it is a wrecked relationship with God." — Barbara Brown Taylor


• It sabotages our relationships with people (1 John 2:8-11).

“Sin turns us in on ourselves. Sin makes us shrink our lives to the narrow confines of our little self-defined world. Sin causes us to shrink our focus, motivation, and concern to the size of our own wants, needs, and feelings. Sin causes all of us to be way too self-aware and self-important. Sin causes us to be offended most by offenses against us and to be concerned most for what concerns us. Sin causes us to dream selfish dreams and to plan self-oriented plans. Because of sin, we really do love us, and we have a wonderful plan for our lives.

What all this means is that sin is essentially antisocial. We don’t really have time to love our spouse [friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, employer, employee, etc.], in the purest sense of what that means, because we are too busy loving ourselves. What we actually want is for our spouse to love us as much as we love ourselves, and if our spouse is willing to do that, we will have a wonderful relationship. So we try to co-opt our spouse into a willing submission to the plans and purposes of our claustrophobic kingdom of one.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 47

“I have said this and will continue to return to it throughout this book: the big battles in marriage are not the ones you fight with your spouse. No, the big battles are the ones being fought in your heart. All of the horizontal skirmishes between a husband wife are the result of this deeper battle. Remember, there is still sin remaining in your heart, and the DNA of sin is selfishness. Since sin in its fundamental form is selfish, then sin is essentially antisocial. This means that you and I must recognize there is something that still lurks inside us that is destructive to marriage.” — Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?, page 127


• Sin robs us of the defiant joy God intended.


2. Our great need: a life-changing understanding of God’s character.

“In these verses, John presents two crucial doctrinal tests to determine who is genuine: an accurate belief in the nature of God, and a genuine belief in the certainty of sin.” — John MacArthur, Commentary on 1, 2 and 3 John, page 22-260.


• God is light (1:5)!

- God is absolute truth (no fine print or hidden agendas).

- He is blazing holiness (without sin, darkness or imperfections).

• God is love (4:8)!


3. God’s ultimate solution: Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:7 (ESV), 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 cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:9 (NIV), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:1-2 (NIV), My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.


4. Our daily, life-long decision: walk in the light.

1 John 1:7 (ESV), 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 cleanses us from all sin.