Living in the Hope of His return (2)

INTRO

If you have your Bible this morning you can turn to 1 John 2 and we will start at verse 28. If you are wondering why this verse, well this is where we left off before Christmas in our study of 1 John. If you were not with us during the first part of 1 John I want to remind/refresh you of some things that we covered to get you into the mindset of 1 John and understanding his letter.

John the apostle wrote this letter to churches, possibly the churches that are mentioned in Revelation. He wrote it because of love, but also because there was a rising heresy or false teaching that was creeping into the church called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was the belief that 1) everything material was bad and that only spiritual things were good. This lead to either being complacent about sin in the church, or people being unable to witness in the world because they thought that they should not be in the world. Also Gnosticism believed 2)they had a greater revelation than others. Because they looked inside themselves, to the inner light, they had a greater knowledge and understanding than anyone else. And it was all self revealed.

There was a lot more that we covered that I can’t go into great depths but we also talked about,

Walking in the light, not in the dark,(Example of dark and light)

Jesus being fully God and fully man, he is our advocate, meaning he stands in place of us so we can be righteous,

Living in fellowship with others, repentance, walking in love toward one another

Who we are in Christ: Little children, young, old, we have so much in Christ!

Knowing when you meet an antichrists or the anti christ and how to defeat the anichrist’s by living in the Spirit that we have been anointed with.

So, that’s it. But with all that said why don’t we pray and get into God’s word today to see what he wants to say today.

Pray.

WORD OF GOD

Why don’t we read this together, the body of Christ reading the word of God. 1, 2, 3…

English Standard Version Chapter 2

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

Last we talked about Jesus’ second advent or his second coming. And we discussed what we should be doing during the time he is gone until the time he comes again. Which is, be faithful with this life that he has given us in christ. Here John is discussing the same thing where he is pointing us to our living hope, our future inheritance, of Christ coming again.

Now, John has not written the book of Revelation yet, however there was still an understanding in the church at this time that when Jesus comes back he will restore everything. There will be resurrected bodies. We will live with the fullness of his kingdom and the fullness of His rule and reign. There was also an understanding that when Jesus returns there will be judgment, and those who do not know Him will be fleeing for the hills and cry out for the rocks to fall on them rather than to encounter the glory of God. Because when God shows up in his fullness, it is powerful. I promise you, it doesn’t matter if you are introverted, dutch, or just stoic, on that day you will be responding to the Glory of God. That’s why I encourage you to be responsive now rather than wait for that day.

But here John tells us that we can have confidence when Christ returns. Confidence when Jesus comes riding back on his white horse with a sword at his side, fire in his eyes, and a tatoo on his thigh that says king of kings and Lord of lords. You and I will not shrink back but stand in confidence. That is incredible. But how does John say that will happen?

Abide in Him. I know I have given this definition before because John uses this a ton in 1 John and we are going to turn to John 15 here in a minute to remind ourselves of what Jesus calls us to do as his disciples. But here is another definition in case you forgot or didn’t catch it the first time.

To abide is a verb which means: to take up permanent address, or to make a settled home.

John wants this for the church, not just then but also for us now. Let me play this out for a moment.

Darkness and light, chair, and taking up a permanent address there. We don’t just pray a prayer and then live like hell until heaven comes. We come to know Jesus, then we become like him. This isn’t morality christianity, this is the goal, to become like christ, to be christian. But that only happens if we spend time with him. Talk to him. Listen to him.

So is this what your life looks like? Or is there a distorted view of God that is keeping you from abiding. Let’s look at John 15 now to see why this was so important for John to tell other believers even almost 40 years after first hearing it.

English Standard Version Chapter 15

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with sharing this text today. But John understood this so deeply. And anytime he saw a vine and vinedresser I’m sure it came to mind that he could fellowship with Jesus wherever he was. So let’s look at the benefit of abiding in him today and I want you to write these down not just because they are important but I want you to take a inventory today and see if abiding is happening in your life today.

Benefits of abiding

1.Bear fruit (fruit of the Spirit, Christlikeness)

2. His Word abides in you.

3.Prayers are answered and realized.

4. The Father is glorified.

5. Receive the Father’s love.

6. Your joy will be full.

Each of these could be a message in themselves but this is what happens when we abide in Christ. And of course, since 7 is a biblical number, the 7th thing that I didn’t list is that you will have confidence when he splits the sky and you see him returning. I pray that for myself and for all of you.

Let’s turn back to 1 john and look at this final verse of chapter 2.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

I know I have mentioned this for the past three messages but words are so important. and the word righteous and righteousness are so important here. And the reason they are important is because both of the definitions will be a direct attack on Gnosticim. Remember this false teaching was changing who Jesus was, making him a spiritual being but not an actual man that walked on this earth. And they also believed that all physical is bad so either they will be self deprecating and constantly in a place of shame and guilt. Or, they will not take responsibility for their actions because that is not them, their inner self is who they truly are. So they live in constant sinfulness and victim mindset.

John has seen how dangerous both of those views are on people because it has caused people that he knows and love to depart from the fellowship that we are called to be part of. They left to be in their own spiritual world that is higher than everyone else. But that is not what Jesus has called us to. So let’s look at these definitions of righteous and righteousness today.

Righteous definition: upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God

Jesus was and is righteous. He lived a perfect life before God where we know that he was fully God and fully man. Hebrews 2 tells us that Jesus learned (human) obedience through suffering. Yet we are also told in Colossians 1 that the fullness of diety dwelled in Him bodily. Fully God and Fully man. Lived a perfect life. Died a brutal death.

See this is impossible to have if you have only a spiritual idea of Jesus like the Gnostics were believing. If he was only a spirit, or just a spiritual being, than he wouldn’t be able to keep the commands of God. He wouldn’t be able to die a brutal death that brought the fullness of God’s wrath on him so that it did not have fall upon us.

I know this is old hat to some of you, but it should never be old to us, this is good news of great joy. If Jesus was not righteous we should all pack up and go home. But because he is righteous and he lived a perfect life and lived a life that you and I could never live, John tells us that if we know that, we are to practices righteousness. What does that mean?

Well lets look at the definition of this

Righteousness Definition:  state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God

So this is not just practicing doing what is right, although that is good, this goes back to abiding. You are practicing, believing, trusting what God has called you over what anyone else says. If you have been born of God than you are born of God! But what we do then is just continue to wallow in what we were. But Romans 6 tells you that we are dead to sin, alive in Christ! Colossians 1 tells me that you have been made pure, holy, and above reproach. Why? Because he is righteous! His righteousness was given to us and we can walk in confidence of what he calls us all the way until his return.

Unfortunately what we do is practice what we have learned from sin rather than from Christ. We say well I’m just going to be this way, I’m not even sure if God loves me, maybe I’ll try going to church that could help. Well it was nice but that pastor is too crazy for me. And you know the music wasn’t my style. And now I have to go back to work tomorrow and I have to work with Adam again, oh man if he starts talking he doesn’t stop. Well maybe I’ll try reading my Bible more but every time I do I just don’t feel it so I don’t think I’ll do that, I’ll just grab a tub of ice cream and watch my favortie show again because that always makes me feel good. Does anyone relate to that? But what if you practiced righteousness. You don’t need to feel God’s love, it’s possible to, but his loves is sure and proven because he sent his perfect son to die a hellish death so that you can live and abide in him. And when you do that you are born again, with new moties, new mindset and new desires. But now you need to practice with those because they are new. So you are practicing righteousness and you believe God calls you clean. You believe that his love will never be taken away from you no matter what is going on. You go to church and the pastor is still crazy and that’s okay because you are not there for yourself, you are their to serve. You know that you are rooted and grounded in love and want to stir other brothers and sister to love and good works. And you know that adam at works is a handful so you start praying for him, and getting into the word isn’t about how your feel it is because you know it is abiding in him.

Abide, my brothers and sisters so that you can be in Him now and have confidence when he returns.