What do we do while we wait?

How is everyone? we doing okay?

How many of us like waiting? We are an instant society. It’s my money and I need it now.

What is the most impatient thing you have ever seen, either by you or someone else? For me, it was me. Amazon has spoiled me.

-Place the order. Start looking out the window.

car drives by, is that for me? no. Just the power bill? great.

two whole days for shipping, and it’s free. That’s pretty fast for shipping.

How do we react when you order something off of another site? Say like etsy,

they make hand made stuff.

groomsman gift, handmade knives, each engraved with name. took 10 days to get it.

i felt like a 4th century peasant. so impatient. what do we do while we wait?

Thats where I want our heads to be tonight. What do we do while we wait?

Context

We are starting where we ended last week.

Why? It ties in to this next section.

Remember John is trying to show that Christ is who he said he was, and does what he says he is going to do.

We talked about the anti-christ .

Word time, Gift card time.

We are in 1 john 2:28-3:10

If you have a bible great. If not bring one

throw a hand up.

you can keep it.

this is my weekly pitch to bring bible

Pray with me

So let’s get in to it read with me

1 John 2:28-3:4

English Standard Version Chapter 2

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.

so we see right off the bat that Christ is coming back, so if you’re writing things down, write that down. Christ is coming back

Christ is coming back

v. 28 -What does shrink in shame mean?

Christ is going to come back, and when that happens all of us are going to be judged

We are all going to give an account.

Every action on this earth with be judged and taken in to account.

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people, or really why do bad people get away with bad things? Think about it, most of us have had some sort of issue where we were powerless and we get the short end of the deal.

- In 1994 OJ Simpson, anyone heard that name? OJ Simpson in the summer of 1994 brutally murdered his ex-wife and her boyfriend. This was major news, because OJ was a beloved football player and 80’s movie star. The 80’s and early 90’s was OJ central. He could do no wrong. Until he did.

During the court case, the prosecution had so much evidence that this trial seemed un-losable. They had fingerprints, they had blood samples, they had DNA, they had motive, and witnesses and a timeline which placed him at the crime scene when the crime took place.

But on October 3rd, 1995 a jury found OJ not guilty. Dude got to go home that day. It was so obvious that he was guilty, there was so much evidence, but the jury acquitted him, he got to walk free and the families had no real recourse of action. There was not much they could do. OJ literally got away with murder.

Everyone is sitting at home and wondering how does this even work. There was no real justice handed down.

As christians though, we have hope that when Christ comes back, we will see true justice play out. People will have to answer for what they have done.

Let’s flip it though, while we have hope that justice will be done, we have to remember that we too will give an account.

This is what is going on here in verse 28, John is saying we must cling to Christ

Abide in Christ so that when he comes will be confident that we have ran the race well. That we would hear the words “well done my good and faithful servant.”

We are going to account for every single word or thought we have.

Normally i would close with a thought like this.

But this is how John starts this passage out. Christ is coming back, get ready.

John is not done with the thought though, John gives a glimpse of what it is going to be like Christ returns, what are we going to see?

Read verses 2:29-3:3

English Standard Version Chapter 2

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

3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Salvation is the Lord’s doing and the Lord’s doing alone. We are only able to come to Christ, because he made a way for us on the cross. v. 3:1 “See the father’s love for us”

We shall see him as he is.

We will get to see Christ as he truly is, in all his glory.

When Christ returns we shall see his glorified state. It will be actually awesome.

In order to really understand this, we need to understand some of the different facets of how salvation works in us, and through us. So I used the term Glorified state, which might seem strange, so I want you to listen in, or this will make no sense.

it’s gift card time, but this is going to be the hardest one yet. I don’t have a word, but three word, and a concept. Y’all have done well but this is going to challenge you. I’m expecting y’all to rise to the occasion.

Justification | Sanctification | Glorification

Just- Moment sins are forgiven, started on the cross, ends with conversion and submission to Christ as Lord. “Just as if I never sinned.”

Sanct- life long process of being made more like Christ

Glory- in the life to come, becoming as God intended.

This is what we as christians are looking towards. — the resurrection of the dead and the glorification of ourselves and creation

When Christ returns, the dead will be raised and we will see Christ as he is, as God in His full glory.

We will become as God intended us to become. All things will be made new.

John is saying, those who abide in Christ, will be made fully holy when He returns

This is all well and good, but what now? That day is not now, what do we do now?

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - Tolkien

We are all given a set amount of time on this earth, we are all pretty young, most of us do not question our mortality at this age. But I think it is a healthy thing now and again to give it some thought.

We are all going to die on day, most likely, unless we are lucky enough to actually live to see Christ’s return. But we cannot bank on that. Remember last week when I talked about the theologian who, when asked about what he wanted to be remembered for said, “Preach the gospel, die; and be forgotten.”

So what do we do in this life?

Pursue Christlikeness

Read verses 3:4-6

English Standard Version Chapter 3

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

When we first think about this we seem churchy. This seems more like just a catch phrase than an actual way to carry out your lives.

So does this phrase have practical applications? Absolutely.

How do we pursue Christlikeness?

First, you must know Christ. Super simple. Remember a few mins ago, we learned those three word. This deals with the first one.

Justification- This begins with the cross and Christ dying for us, but it also includes submitting to the Lordship of Christ. For that to be done, we have to know who Christ is and what he has done for us on the cross. Namely, that God stepped off the Throne and in to time in the person and work of Christ, as the word became flesh; Living the life we could never lived and dying the death we should have died. Submission to Christ means exchanging your wants in desires for the Lord’s better wants and desires for your life, and the life to come.

So if we know who Christ is, is that all that it means to pursue Christlikeness? No, thats just the start.

Just like when you know what a basketball is, doesn’t mean you suddenly know everything about the game, and you can play the game well.

This part of pursuing Christ deals with the second term we talked about earlier.

Sanctification- This is the life long process by which we are made holy. The word directly translates from “to be made holy.”

This is the part that Christians find themselves in. Justification is quick, instant. Sanctification takes an entire life time.

This is where we can really look at what it means to pursue Christ. This means a few things.

It means keeping the commands of Christ. This means loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

We have to deepen our understanding of Christ. Which means studying the word, praying, asking the Lord to make us more Christ like.

This process also involves Discipleship. We have talked about discipleship before, which means to be a student of Christ.

This is where the bulk of my job as student pastor comes in. The biggest thing I am responsible is not preaching on Wednesday night, the biggest thing is helping create an environment where there are multiple levels of discipleship going. Everything we do together, my goal is for it to point you towards Christ. Your Sunday School classes on sunday morning and small groups on Sunday night are there so you can be around your peers and study the word together. I want friendships to spring out of those small groups, because those are going to be christ centered friendships.

Ultimately I want this place to be like family, I do not want you to come here just because you feel obligated. I want you to come here and to whenever else we meet because it feels like you’re coming home

My whole goal in this job is to help you become more Christ-like through discipleship and the study of God’s word.

If you aren’t involved in small group, you’re missing out, ask one of your friends who go to small group if it’s worth it.

So sanctification- the life long process of being made holy. Remember, it is a process not an instant thing.

So what about sin? When we read this passage, it may scare us, because if you just gloss over the passage, you may think, well once you’re saved, you’re never sinning again. Sounds like we are really walking a knife edge there, let me read this passage again so we can get a good look at what is going on here.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

So what about sin? What happens if we sin?

If we read this passage in a vacuum, by itself without knowing what has gone on in the rest of the book we might come to some wrong conclusions about what is being meant. This is why I try to give us a good bit of context here. Without that we would think all kinds of things about this passage that aren’t as they seem.

This whole time John has been making distinctions between who is in Christ and who is not in Christ. This is no different than before, he is trying to give a bunch of different ways to make those distinctions.

So first off, practicing sin is practicing lawlessness.

Where have we seen the word lawlessness before? We read it last week when talking about the anti-christ. “The man of lawlessness”

So if practicing sin is practicing lawlessness, does that mean we are going to not ever sin again? No.

The key word in that phrase is “practice.”

Look at verse 6

English Standard Version Chapter 3

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

This isn’t talking about single sins, but that we are living under sin. The Gospel, the good news, is right here in front of us.

Christ came to take away the curse of sin, He came to take our sins away. Christ is our propitiation.

So what John is telling us here in this passage is. The willful rebellion against God, rejection of God is lawlessness. The person who is in Christ, cannot reject Christ, because they are a new person, a new creation.

Let’s keep going.

read 7-10

English Standard Version Chapter 3

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Christ makes us Holy

This is simple. We aren’t the ones who make us holy. We can’t make ourselves holy, we can only live our lives in pursuit of the only one who is Holy.

John is making the distinctions very clear. If you are in Christ, you’re going to practice righteousness. You are going to produce true fruit. Your faith will be made known by your fruit.

Those who practice in sinning are those who are of the devil.

This sounds harsh, but there is no middle ground in these distinctions. There will be no middle ground in judgment day as well. You are either with God, or you are against Him.

So why did Christ come?

v.8

English Standard Version Chapter 3

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.

The devil is the one who has been against God since the beginning. From the outset, he was the first to rebel against God.

The Devil introduced sin to mankind. He did not make Adam and eve sin, but he introduced the thought of rebelling against God.

So this is another picture of the Gospel here. Christ came to redeem the world from the Fall. to destory the works of the devil.

What John is saying here is that Christ has burst in to our world, to take back territory which belong to the devil. Christ appeared to make right what no one could make right.

Christ came to make us Holy.

So why does this matter?

Why talk about this? John seems to be getting very repetitive in his letter. Like we get it. We should be able to tell who is in Christ or not.

So why?

This should first make us examine our own lives.

it is easy to look at someone and say, “devil child right there. I can call that from way out.”

it is another thing entirely to look at yourself and say, “Am I really pursuing holiness, am I really pursuing Christ, or am I just going through the motions? Am I just doing this because my family does this?”

Think about it. I’m not saying you can lose your salvation. I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again. The bible does not teach you can actually lose your salvation if you’ve genuinely had it to begin with. The Bible does make it clear that it is possible to think you are saved but you were never truly saved to begin with. You can’t lose it, but you can sure enough have never had it.

So examine your hearts. If you know you’re following Christ, ask the Lord to help deepen your walk with Christ.

Remember Sanctification is the life long process of being made holy, of being made like Christ.

This also matters, because we should be looking forward to the return of Christ. He is coming back, and when he does we will see the full glory of God.

This should give us some urgency as believers to share the Gospel. To share the good news that Christ has come to save us from the reign of sin, the reign of death in this world.

One of our goals in discipleship is to not only be discipled but to disciple someone else. You will get to a point in your walk with the Lord that you will be able to help someone else on their way to becoming more Christ like.

So why else does this matter?

Christ is coming, and for the believer, that is going to be a glorious day.

For the non believer, that day will not be glorious, you will shrink in shame before the wrath of God.

the Good News is though, that Christ came to save you from your own sin, and the coming wrath of God. So that on that day you may see Christ as he is, in all His glory.

Pray with me