1 John 2:28-2:10

1 John 2:28-3:10

Introduction:             Good morning! Since Willi is gone,  Aaron has decided to let the intern preach. Don’t worry, this is not my first time preaching, and it is also not the first time Aaron has translated for me. Please do be forgiving if any mistakes happen, though.

Main idea: God wants us to live righteous lives in hope of Christ’s return.

          This idea is broken into two parts: one that focuses on waiting for Christ, and the other in living righteously. It builds on what he has previously talked about, in remaining firm in their belief in Christ despite the temptations of the world and the teachings of false prophets.

 As we get to chapter 2 verse 28, John commands his readers to abide in Christ, which is connected to His return.

            I. God wants us to abide in Christ in hope of His return(2:28-3:3)

            John addresses his readers in a very personal way, calling them his children. He cares for them deeply and wants them to pay attention to what he is about to say, so he reminds them of their relationship here.  

            The simple command here, is to abide in Christ. What does that mean? Well, it means what it says, to stay.  Stay in one place, not moving away or out. Our position as believers is in Christ, and we should not seek to leave that. We should stay in obedience to Christ regardless of what happens in our lives. It is a very simple command in word, but it is very difficult to practice perfectly. We will talk about that more as we get to the later verses.

            John is encouraging his readers to not go away to the false teachers who are denying Christ. There are many people who were once part of the community there who walked away and have denied Christ. John wants his readers to keep in their place in loving and serving Christ and to not be tempted to walk away as well.

            Today, we should seek to abide in Christ in the same way by always holding on to the basic truths about Him. First, we know and believe that He is both fully God and fully man. Second, we know that He is without sin (we will see this in a later verse). Third, we know that He came to Earth in the flesh, died a real death, and rose again. These are the truths that our faith is built on.

            These are the parts of the command that go on in the mind, but how do we do it practically? The next verses tell us two ways how we can abide.

                        A. By looking forward to His return (2:28-29) 

            First, we should always look forward to Christ’s return. This is actually a fourth basic truth about Christ, that He will return to the earth one day. John treats this return like it will definitely happen, and so should we. This serves as a motivating factor as we live our lives every day, because at any time, night or day, regardless of where we are or what we are doing, Christ could come back. Later on in Revelation, John states:

            “Behold, I [Jesus] am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)

            The main idea of “looking forward to” Christ’s return here is living our lives in a way that will not bring us shame if He were to come back right now. When He does come back, all believers will be judged for what they have done for Him, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:9:

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

This has two outcomes: if we live our lives in a way that pleases Him, we will be confident when we stand before Him when we are judged. If we live in a way that does not please Him, we will be ashamed when He appears and we realize that what we have done was not right. If we are to please Christ at His return, we should act like Him, and He is righteous.

Christ is righteous, but what does “righteous” mean? The word here used in the Bible refers to upholding a legal standard. In Christ’s case, it means He is the perfect example of  keeping of God’s standard of action, to the point of sinlessness. When we live our lives righteously in accordance with God’s rules written out in the Bible, we show that we are part of God’s family.

            When I say, “live righteously,” I mean not just a single, God-honoring action that is done, but a constant pattern of behavior that defines your life. This is important, as the word that John uses can refer to both, either a single action, or a lifelong pattern. He is going to use both senses of this word, and sometimes it is hard to tell which is which. What he is saying here is that it takes more than doing a single right thing to evidence that you are a child of God. You can tell who a child of God is by their continued pattern of life, shown over and over every day. God’s child will make the consistent choice to follow Christ’s example in how they live on the earth, by following God’s commands, by growing in prayer and study of His word, sharing the truth of Christ with unbelievers, and running away from sin.

            So, as we see the truths of Christ’s righteousness and His return, we should be motivated to follow God’s commands as written in the Bible. We should not want to be put to shame when He returns because we have lived a sin-filled life. We want to live like Christ, living a lifelong pattern of God-honoring behavior. And as we look to God our Father, we can remember that what we do for Him is not out of duty, but out of a response to His love.

            This is the second part of abiding in Christ, by remembering how things work while we are still here on earth.

                        B. By purifying ourselves as God’s children (3:1-3)

            John draws his readers’ attention back to God the Father, being amazed that God has poured out His love on us, specifically that He calls us His children. This is a wonderful truth, because those who are in Christ really are God’s children. When a believer places his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, he is adopted into God’s family at that moment and receives all the blessings and privileges there. He basically receives a new identity. After salvation, we are known by God’s name and not our old identity of sin.

            “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

            This identity has some other results: we are now the enemies of the world. The “world” refers to generally to the unsaved majority of the world’s population, but it also refers to the culture and the spiritual forces at work behind it. These all tell us to walk away from Christ and to be like them. As children of God, we stand out as different to the world because of our belief, along with our actions. Our pattern of life is our best way of drawing them to Christ. As Jesus Himself says:

            “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

The world, particularly Satan’s influence over it, is threatened by this testimony. So, he seeks to destroy us, yes, by death sometimes, but also through the pressures of our unsaved friends and coworkers. If he can get us to act like an unbeliever, then we will not get in his way. The world, controlled by Satan, constantly seeks to draw us away from Christ through offering us pleasure, money, fame, or power. Many are tempted by these things and throw their belief away. But John is calling us to persevere through these temptations and sufferings, and to hold onto Christ.

The world hates us because it does not know God, our Father. This lack of knowing God is not an information issue, as Romans 1 tells us that everyone knows that God exists. Despite this, many have rebelled against that truth and have gone into idolatry or atheism. The Roman world in which John’s readers lived was filled with idolatry, with thousands of gods for every possible thing in the world. Because we identify ourselves with the one true God, those who do not want to be bothered by God will see us as representatives of Him and reject us too.

            This is why John tells his readers earlier in chapter two to not be friends with the world, especially because it will soon pass away when Christ comes back. We must hold on to Christ tighter than you would hold onto something to save your life.

In 2018, an American was about to have his first time hang gliding, or so he thought. He had just watched his wife begin her flight a few seconds ago and was preparing to run off with his instructor. Unfortunately, as his flight started and the glider began to hang, he realized that his instructor had not strapped his safety harness to anything. Quickly, as gravity began pulling him down, he held on tightly to the frame of the glider and his instructor’s leg. For three long minutes and 4000 feet of travel, he held on for his life. He gripped so hard that he tore his bicep muscles. Thankfully, both he and his instructor landed safely.

https://www.tampabay.com/florida/2018/11/27/florida-man-clings-to-hang-glider-4k-feet-above-swiss-mountains-after-pilot-forgets-to-strap-him-in/?outputType=amp

We must hold on to Christ much longer than three minutes, and the struggle is tougher than gravity. We need to keep our course for the rest of our lives, or until Christ returns. The Christian life is not a temporary thing; it is our life! It is who we are. Even though we do not know all of the details, we hold on because we love Christ and hope in Him. We know that when He returns, we will be like Him, removed from the presence of sin and blessed with a new, glorified body.

While we remain on earth, we still struggle with sin. But, the true believer, the one who looks forward to Christ’s return, will purify himself and remove sin from himself as he walks with God. This is what we call sanctification, in its active meaning. As the Christian lives his life on earth and seeks to separate himself from the world, he will notice thoughts, actions, and motives that do not please Christ. He will remove those things from himself as he seeks to grow to be like Christ. The standard of this purification is God’s Word and the commands that are inside. This way of living is one of the clear identifying marks of a Christian, that he moves away from sin and the world and moves towards Christ. Evaluate your own life and the things you do, say, think, and want. Are they in line with what God has said? Do you know what God has said about them? This is something that we should be doing every day, as we seek to imitate Christ. Our goal is perfection, even though that is not achievable until we go to heaven.

            So, to recap, we abide in Christ by looking forward to His return and maintaining our identity as God’s children while we live in the world. But the command behind both of these is to remove sin from our lives and to live righteously. We have covered what righteousness is; it is living your life in following God’s rules, in imitation of Christ. But what is sin? We know that we are supposed to remove it, but what are we looking for? Well, the second half of this passage covers it in detail. In it, we see that

II. God wants us to act righteously and not sinfully (3:4-10)

            Two things are emphasized in these seven verses: that God’s children do not sin and the devil’s do. Again, John uses the word “practice” in the first few verses. In the general case, this is now referring to any single sinful action. Later, he also refers to the general action of sinning. Is he saying that a real Christian does not sin? No, because Christians do sin at times. If a Christian had to live perfectly without sin to go to heaven, then only God would be there. Still though, we should strive to not sin, because when we do, we are showing that we are not living up to Christ’s example. Every time we sin, we do the devil’s will and not God’s. We show that we do not know God as well as we think we do, and we are not seeing Him for who He really is. Every time we sin, we should be grieved deeply because we are offending our heavenly Father.

                        A. God’s children do not sin  (3:4-6)

            I hope it is clear that sin is a very bad thing. The world will tell us that what the Bible calls sin is merely just a cultural issue, a sickness, or a natural desire that a person works out. But we know as God’s children that what he calls evil is evil. So, as His children, we should not sin.

                                    1. Because sin is lawlessness (3:4)

            First, we should not sin because sin is lawlessness. Sin can be described in many ways, such as rebellion or missing the mark, but lawlessness is a step further. Lawlessness refers to much the same as sin, but it adds the attitude behind the sin: a desire to be free from God’s rules. From its structure, someone who is lawless is without law, that is, God’s law. Those who commit sin, the rebellious side, also live by their own desire to control their own life. Every time we sin, we say to God: “I want to live by my rules, not yours.” Every time we sin, we associate ourselves with the world and with the devil. In fact, the Antichrist, the Devil’s chief agent in the last days, whom John tells his readers is coming soon and many are imitating, is called the “man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2. This man will eventually demand that others worship him instead of God. While we do not tell others to worship us, we worship ourselves in our hearts when we sin. We set ourselves up as our own god, who has total control over what we want to do when we want to do it. And when we stay down this path of rebellion, we convince ourselves that it is good, that God has no business telling us what to do. We forget that we are created by God and that He does have the right to tell us what to do.

                                    2. Because Christ died to take away our sins (3:5)

            Furthermore, we know that we as children of God have been redeemed by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. John mentions that fact and says that one of the purposes for Christ’s life and death on the cross was to take our sins away. When He died in our place, He totally removed the penalty for the rebellion which we committed against God. Because He was the sinless, perfect, sacrifice, He was able to satisfy God’s judgment on the sins of all mankind. But when we sin as believers, we say “No, that’s not enough for me.” We forget the terrible sacrifice that Jesus literally died for our sins in the worst way possible, all so that we could be free from God’s wrath. We ignore that his righteousness has been given to our account before God. Shouldn’t this grieve us? Shouldn’t we hold on to the death and resurrection of Christ? Can His sacrifice move us so little?

3. Because whoever abides in Christ does not sin (3:6)

            As I have said before, when we sin, we show that we do not know Christ like we say we do. We show that we have not experienced the relationship that He dearly wants with us, because we turn away to other things in the world. Every time we sin, we betray Him. That is why John says that whoever abides in Christ, staying near to Him and holding on to Him desperately, does not sin.

            Thankfully, when we do sin, there is grace. God is forgiving, and Christ is gracious when we fall. John knows the reality of our everyday struggle with sin, and  stresses this in chapter 1:

            “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

            So, when we do sin, we should immediately go to Christ in prayer and confess our unfaithfulness to Him, asking for forgiveness, and commit to living our lives righteously for Him. This should be an everyday process, which will take a lot of effort. When you actually think about it and evaluate your behavior, you will notice more and more areas in which you sin. This is a continued process of that purifying process we saw earlier in the chapter. As you look deeper and deeper into your life, you will find more and more ways you can grow. This is encouraging, as we seek to purge ourselves from sinful thoughts, actions, and motives.

                        B. God’s children are not like the devil’s children (3:7-10)

            This process of following Christ is now directly contrasted with what is the unbeliever’s normal pattern of life. John now shows the conflict between God’s children (Christians) and the devil’s children (unbelievers). First, he warns us to not be deceived, as the devil and the world will try to trick us that right is wrong and wrong is right. He wants us to act like unbelievers, so he will try to make us believe what they believe. So, we must be wise in what we listen to. There are many today who say that being a Christian is nothing more than being a good person. There are others who deny God’s word, saying it is corrupted and not worth listening to. These are lies that should not be entertained.

            The basic truth of the issue is that God’s children practice righteousness, while the devil’s practice sin. Christians follow Christ’s example of righteousness and seek to purify themselves by acting according to God’s Word.

            On the other hand, those who practice sinfulness are “of the devil,” because Satan is the first created being to rebel against God. Even since before the Fall, he has been plotting to overthrow God’s rule over the universe, because he thinks he is better. He came to the Garden of Eden and tempted man into sin, plunging this world into sin under his control.

            This is another reason why Christ came to earth and died on the cross: to defeat the devil. This is spiritual warfare: God and Christ on one side, and the devil on the other. Christ came to earth to destroy sin, the work of the devil. And this was accomplished on the cross, when he fulfilled God’s judgment on sin and opened the door to eternal life for those who believe. On that day, Satan’s power was defeated, although not completely. He still has control over the natural forces of this world, along with it cultures and kingdoms. Now, he seeks to rebel against God by attacking His people, us. The devil’s number one enemy on the earth are those who are called by Christ’s name.

            This is why it is so terrible for a Christian to sin, because he is acting like one of the devil’s children. When we rebel against God’s rule, we side with Satan. Thankfully, as I have said before, there is grace. We know we cannot lose our position in heaven because of our sin, as this verse reminds us. It says that our relation to God remains in us and with us and prevents us from sinning. This is the other person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. He lives inside each and every believer, protecting him until the day of Christ’s return, and acting as his conscience. He also prevents us from sinning by helping us to know and understand God’s word and minister to others.

            C. Who is God’s child? (3:10)

            How then can we tell who is who? In short, how you act shows what family you are a part of. If you live your life righteously, you claim to others that you are a child of God. If you live your life sinfully, you claim to others that you are a child of the devil. John is asking us to evaluate our own behavior and the behavior of those who are teaching us to see if their behavior lines up with which family they say we are really a part of. If they say they are a believer, are they living like one, or are they living like a child of the devil? If you say you are a believer, are you acting like one?

            As we evaluate those who are teaching us things about God, we should be looking for a consistent pattern of righteous behavior, in following God’s commandments, abiding in Christ, looking towards His return, and removing sinful and worldly things from their lives. This evidences that they are really born again. Secondly, do they love those whom they call brother and sister in Christ? Are they generous to those who have needs in their church, or are they selfish? Do they build others up with their words, or do they tear them down? Do they tell the truth, even when it may not benefit them, or are they often telling lies? How they treat others speaks more to their spiritual life than how they treat themselves.

            Now turn this test on yourself. Do you lie? Do you use your words wrongly? Are you abiding in Christ? Are you making righteous choices? If your heart is pricked at these questions, see if you are really living a life of righteousness. Ask God for forgiveness and commit to living for Him.

            If you are looking at your life right now and you see that you do not believe in Christ, the offer of salvation is always open. Christ offers us freedom from the chains of sin and true joy in Him. All you must do is believe who He is, admit that you are indeed a sinner, and commit to living a righteous life for Him. If you do not know what to do, me or Aaron would be happy to talk to you about it.

            As we conclude our service today, think about what John has said in his letter. Live in anticipation of Christ’s return, continually purifying your life as you hope in Him. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ, building them up and encouraging them. Avoid sin! Run away from temptation, remove influences that move you towards it, and get rid of worldly influences that tell you to walk away from Christ. Commit to living a life of righteousness, in imitation of Christ.