Look Like Christ

Introduction

Good morning, Lafayette Baptist Family. Emily and I are so delighted to be with you again and have the chance to worship with you and share God’s word with you. I consider this a special treat to be with you today. Thank you for having us again. Our passage today is 1 John 2:3-6, 1 John 2:3-6, if you will go ahead and please turn there in your bibles. 1 John 2:3-6. As you know, today is a special day, it is Father’s Day and much like Mother’s Day this can be either a very happy day or a very sad day for you. Father’s are such an important thing in our lives, to have one is a great and wonderful thing, to lose one is very sad and hard, to never have one is a tragedy. I want to tell you all here today, that even if you have or had a very good father or never had one at all, that your Heavenly Father loves you very much and nurtures and watches out for you in ways that are so big that you will never know. God says to His people that he will be father to us, that we will be like sons and daughters to Him. With that in mind, I want to take a quick second to thank all of the fathers in this room, thank you fathers.

Being a father, or I would say rather a dad, is a noble pursuit. One that is of critical importance not just to your family, not just to your sons and daughters, but to the sons and daughters of children’s sons and daughters for generations to come. This is a sacred duty and privilege.

While in today’s society we have many things wrong, there is one surprising statistic I learned from the PEW research center. That is, “Dads are much more involved in child care than they were 50 years ago. In 2016, fathers reported spending an average of eight hours a week on child care – about triple the time they provided in 1965. And fathers put in about 10 hours a week on household chores in 2016, up from four hours in 1965. By comparison, mothers spent an average of about 14 hours a week on child care and 18 hours a week on housework in 2016.”[1]This means that father’s today are on average much more involved in the home part of their work-life balance. Children are growing up and are spending much more time with their dad’s. This is a very good thing. Let’s keep that up and try to do even better. I will challenge you even further, try to put aside the bad and unhealthy habits you may have and replace them with good ones like playing catch with your children or playing tea party, or reading to your children, but especially teaching them who God is and how and why we love Him so much, even if your children are no longer in your home with you, we still have this duty to them, to lead them and council them to the Lord.

Fathers are to emulate and base themselves around God in the family unit. That means they act and follow God (Christ) as best they can. Granted, no earthly father will ever be perfect. All humans are flawed, all the way back to Adam and Eve, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to do our best. Father’s are to do their best to look like Christ as a sacred privilege and honor. This brings us to our main point today, and today’s sermon title, Look Like Christ.

The Scripture

If you will all please rise for the reading of today’s scripture which is 1stJohn 2:3-6. When I am reading it out loud to us if you will all please follow along in your own bibles. When I am done reading, I will say “This is the Word of the Lord” and then would you all please respond “Thanks be to God.” Before we get into today’s text first, let’s pray. Oh great and merciful God. We thank you for this opportunity to come together in worship of you. You and You alone are worthy of worship, adoration, and our unwavering commitment. Father, attune our hearts, ears, and minds to receive the message that you are about to share with us today. Make this an act of worship to You. Your word is truth, we thank you for this truth and ask that you refine us with it father. Father, we are helplessly lost without you. I am helpfully lost without you. Direct our paths, keep and make us holy as you are holy. Make everything about our lives an act of worship to you. It’s in these things we ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that we pray. Amen 1st John 2:3-6, 1st John 2:3-6. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.[2] This is the word of the Lord (thanks be to God). Thank you, you may be seated.

Context

So today we are picking back up in our sermon series together in the letter of 1st John, specifically we are picking up right where brother Josh finished week before last. His sermon was entitled,” We need an advocate because of our sin” and this is of course 100% true. As Josh stated to you last week, everyone sins, we see this over and over again many examples but especially and explicitly stated in Romans 3. Josh also addressed a very important subject in his sermon, and one that is crucial for all believers to understand. That is, the word propitiation. He defined propitiation as, “propitiation is the “atoning sacrifice” that Jesus accomplished on the cross. This is where Jesus took the wrath of God on himself as our substitute. He was able to do this as the spotless lamb because he had lived the perfect life, the life without sin.”[3] On this term rests all of Christendom, all of ourselves, all of this church, not to mention today’s sermon. Christ paid the price for us all to be restored to innocence with God. There is no other way to do this but through faith in Jesus Christ. But this isn’t just an idle faith, this is a faith that will motivate us into action which we will talk about some today.

Also, I want to remind you of the purpose for this letter from John to the Church. Specifically, he was correcting the false teachings of gnostic Gospel, which in themselves did not uphold Christ’s divinity or even his ability to save others, but rather put more worth on self; a dangerous misinformation that many believe today, in fact I bet everyone in this room knows someone who believes this themselves. Paul reminds us, as a spiritual father (which is so appropriate on today of all days, father’s day) would, through this letter not to fall into this trap and yes, it is a trap, one that will lead to destruction and Chaos in your life. Another thing I want you notice is something that we noticed in the pattern of the text last time we were together. That is, “The flow of thought is a simple back-and-forth between positive and negative assessments of persons’ spiritual condition based on their obedience (vv. 3, 5–6) or disobedience (v. 4). Verses 5b–6 restate a positive assessment as a summary of the section.”[4]So, once again positive statement, negative statement, so on and so forth. When you are doing your own bible reading, keep an eye out for patterns like this, observing this can really help you understand what the writer is trying to communicate better.

With that in mind, let’s seek the truth. Let’s dive deep into this week’s text together. Get ready, this one is going to be a little front heavy.

Message

Here is our first point, His Commandments Kept

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Here the apostle John is showing us how to test ourselves, helping us figure out if we are true of false. If teaching another is true for false. If ideas (fake gospel) are true and false and how to measure them. John says here, here it is, get ready, we know that we have come to know Him (Christ) IF…… we keep his commandments. Wow, simplest answer yet hardest to keep, right? Am I right? To us today this probably seems like a no brainer, we have lots of access to the Holy Scriptures, to commentaries, to very good teachers throughout 2000 years of the Church that the early church did not have. In fact, they didn’t even have a bible like we do. They did have various religious texts/scrolls that would become pieces of our bible today, but they were in means bound together in one book. With all of this access we have today, why then is it still so hard to perfectly follow Christ? In attempt to answer this question I think we need to understand what John is saying here. He is saying, keep His commandments, so What are these commandments then? To answer this I want to turn your attention to several examples that Christ says the most important commandments are. The first is Mark 10:30-31 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” A second is asked of Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” A third scripture is asked of Jesus in Luke 10. 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

It’s clear here, we are to Love God and Love People. All other things will fall into line if you do this. These are the chiefest of the commandments. How then do we love God? There are many ways and it takes many forms. For a start, it comes from Considering Him in all things that you do and acting thusly. By turning to Him as a first resort instead of a last resort when things get bad. By being willing to do anything for Him when you are convinced it is what He wants for you and your life. By seeking what He wants for your when you are unsure. By giving Him a worship that is true and complete. If you aren’t giving Him this, then do. What does it mean to love people? Sometimes to me this can seem like the easier or the harder one. Look around you my brothers and sisters. Everyone in this room is a person you are called to love sacrificially. Know this too, no one here is without suffering. Everyone in here either is going through a major life event, just came out of one, or is about to enter one themselves. We all need love and support through this, sacrificially as Christ did for us. We couldn’t redeem ourselves to God on our own, we needed his propitiation, his atoning sacrifice to be redeemed to the father. So, what does this look like? God didn’t design you to walk the Christian life alone. He put other Saints around you for a reason.. So, here are a few examples and questions to ask yourselves. When was the last time I visited a brother or sister in the hospital? When was the last time I individually asked someone what I could pray for them about and then pray for? Have I vocally shared Christ with a nonbeliever? Do I even know what is going on in other people’s lives? Did I say that I was going to do something and then not do it? Do I consider how my actions affect others around me? Did I speak life or death into an important situation for someone? When was the last time I called to encourage someone who I know is lonely? These are just a few examples of so many. Christ calls us to do these things and more for each other. I implore you if you are not do these things, do it. If you are doing these things, continue do it and honestly ask yourself if it is healthy to do more.

Verse 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him

Here it is right here. If you don’t Love God and Love people and say that you know Christ, then you are wrong, the truth is not in you. We already know and addressed a few weeks ago that in God is only truth and no darkness at all, that true and false cannot be together in the same thing. If we claim to know Christ, to be a Christian but we don’t display this kind of Love for God and for people, then something is wrong. Now, we all do have backsliding times in our lives, where our devotion is misplaced. But rather, am I always loving myself more than I love God or others?

Have you dwelled in some secret (or not secret) sin for so long that you have quenched The Spirit inside of you? My brethren, repent and believe! Christ can and will and wants to heal you, He wants you to know Him more and more He delights in seeing His sons and daughters return to Him, He even gave a whole parable (the prodigal son) on this. So, John is saying here to his audience and to us to watch out for these things.

Secondly, His love proved

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

I want to point out a few things here about the frequent use of the word “His or Him” here, and perhaps your bible makes this very easy to understand. So, if your bible has the “H” is “His” or “Him” capitalized, this means it is Jesus. In fact, all through out your bible if you see a capitol “H” is probably pointing out either The Father, The Son, Or the Holy Spirit, some part of or all of the Holy Trinity (God). In my main point, “His” is in fact in regards to God, especially the Person Jesus Christ. Another thing I want to point out is the section “Love of God,” which can be tricky in wording by itself. According to the Theologian Stott about this particular wording, “The “love of God” could be understood in various ways. It seems most likely in this context that John is referring to the love believers have for God.[5]” We understand this to be our personal love God is perfected when we keep His commandments. Mind you, not just simply keeping His commandments begrudgingly, but with a heart of love so deep that you can’t help but do it.

So this section John is saying that whoever keeps the commandments of Christ/God in this person (ie, me you) shows a perfect and good love of/to God and by doing this we know that we (us) are in Him (Jesus Christ). This proves that you are saved and are among the flock of God. How then do we keep His commands you may ask? I would direct you back to what we touched on earlier. You Love God and You Love People. Don’t justthink it, Don’t just say it, don’t just mean it, don’t just do it. Rather, think, say, mean, and do it! Do all of these things! Make this a faith in God that motivates you in every part of your being in action because of your love for HIM. By these things we prove that we are in Christ.

Then, another point for you is. His walk followed

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked

Let me say that again, 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Whoever says that they are with or in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which Christ walked. To find out how Christ walked, we just need to go back a few verses, look at verse one. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Jesus was righteous. Now let’s get this straight, He wasn’t self-righteous, He was God righteous. He was and is perfect, He is God, He is perfection, He is Just, He doesn’t make mistakes, He doesn’t act with malice or false concern, He acted with self-sacrificial love to God (His Father) and to the world. That means He died for you, so that you can be righteous before God just as He is. If anyone truly abides in Christ, he will live as Christ lived. This is a descriptive way of saying that true believers will obey Christ, for this is what it means to be a disciple: to follow the ways, imitate the behavior, and adhere to the teachings of a specific master (Jesus Christ the Righteous). Thus, a claim to be a disciple of Christ while not seeking to follow his ways is patently false.”[6]As that great hymn puts it, we are to continually be saying to ourselves about Jesus that we want, “Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus is my Plea. Daily walking close to thee, let it be, dear Lord let it be.” We should want to walk so close in footsteps that we can’t see our own, like a little child walking in the sand and stepping in their Mommy or Daddy’s footsteps and finding delight in it. In this same way (and even greater) this is the closeness we are to aspire to follow Christ and be like He is.

Conclusion

My friends this is the way we are to live our lives. I don’t want to pretend that there was ever a perfect Christian, ever a perfect dad, ever a perfect mom, brother, sister, cousin, coworker or what have you. What I am saying is that if we are of Christ, if we profess Him as Lord, then we should try our best to do, act, and think as He did and does. Look at yourself. Ask yourselves Do I look like Christ? If so (or I think so), do I keep His commandments? Do I continually prove my love to Him? What will and does it look like to follow Him? I can tell you this young believer and mature believer, it looks like spending time with Him. One of the most important things you can do is continually keep learning about Him by reading your bible and praying to Him earnestly to show you what it means to look like Him and put away things that make it difficult to look like Him. I am of course talking about your sin, weather it be known or obvious or in secret. Christ knows it already, there is no hiding it from Him. He still loves you in spite of it and wants to help you turn from it. In fact, He sent us a helper, The Holy Spirit to enable us to do so. Christ said that the worst sin is to quinch to Holy Spirit, don’t take me wrong we all do it sometimes, but that doesn’t mean it’s good, it means you have within you what it takes to overcome any darkness that rests or hides within you. Ask Him in prayer to help you and He is faithful and just to forgive your sins, just as we said a few weeks ago.

Perhaps for others in this room, a better question may be, “What does it look like to even look like to even take Him in as my Lord?” To you, I say that it looks very different than you probably imagine. All around you, is a world that tells you that Christ is wrong, that God is wrong. Psalms tells us that the wisdom of God seems foolish to men. Why would you put off what seems fun and pleasurable to you? Because, God is real, His judgement is real, and like it or not it’s coming for everyone. He tells us to put off the wrong and walk in the right. He tells us to no longer walk in the darkness but walk in the light. He is light. His walk is the only one worth following, He is the only one worth, worthy of us trying to look and act like. The only one worth emulating

Most of us are all impressionable and we don’t even know it. We try to act like others, perhaps actors that we really like, or social media influencers that covers topics we think are cool or buy something because our favorite athlete was seen using it or advertising it or even wearing something because it “seems like like a good style” when we saw someone else do it. We may want something that Jones’s have because we saw that they have it, and MAN I really want one too. Don’t fall into this trap, they have nothing to offer you but disappointment and lies, even the people that world has come to admire most has been found with fault. Not Christ. Even the one who executed Him said he found no fault in Him. Yet he (Pilot) did, because man’s evil wants to prevail, but it cannot. In this world changing event, the biggest in history, Christ’s death, man’s evil still did not prevail, Satan’s evil still did not prevail, Sin did not prevail. Christ died on the cross that you and the world might be restored to a pure and perfect fellowship with God. Because of this, because of God’s great love for you who wants you to be a child, you are called, believe in the Lord Jesus, Confess Him and you will be forgiven.

If you are already among his flock, still seek His forgiveness, which he will give to you, if you confess and repent from your sin. My dear brothers and sisters, this is the greatest news that has ever been shared, more impactful than a million victory days, more joyous than illness free clearing from your doctor. With that, I want to conclude today. I love you all. Let’s pray.

Father, help us to put into action these things. Help us to look like you. Help us to follow you. Give us some small understanding of your greatness and your goodness. Help us put on a look similar to Yours. Reform us to follow more rightly your just and good commandments. Make us show one another our love for you and each other. Mold us into children that delight to walk in your pathways. Thank you, father, for Jesus whom we don’t deserve but you give us anyways. Thank you for the Helper, your Holy Spirit pushes us to look like Him. Motivate us to do this not just ourselves, but to go share your good news to the world. It’s in these things I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy name that I pray, Amen.

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/12/fathers-day-facts/#:~:text=The%20share%20of%20fathers%20who,at%20home%20with%20their%20kids. [2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2016, p. 1 Jn 2:2–6. [3]Josh Underwood Sermon [4] Van Neste, Ray. “1 John.” Hebrews–Revelation, edited by Iain M. Duguid et al., vol. XII, Crossway, 2018, p. 427. [5] Van Neste, Ray. “1 John.” Hebrews–Revelation, edited by Iain M. Duguid et al., vol. XII, Crossway, 2018, p. 428. [6] Van Neste, Ray. “1 John.” Hebrews–Revelation, edited by Iain M. Duguid et al., vol. XII, Crossway, 2018, p. 428.