Let Others See Jesus in You 1 John 2:3-11 012614M
The science of genetics is an interesting and growing field. Through our genes, we inherit characteristics from our parents and grandparents, including physical characteristics, medical conditions, and even personality traits. It's hard to separate what we inherit through our DNA and what we learn and acquire through our upbringing and environment, but genetics plays a big role. Now consider this: we were given new life in Christ and born again through the washing with water through the Word--something we call "baptism." We became part of God's family; we're his children through faith in Jesus, sons and daughters of the living God, with Jesus, the Son of God, as our brother. And by this rebirth we also inherited some of the characteristics of our heavenly Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. Since he lives in us by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus, we might say he is revealed in us. That's the Apostle John's point today:
Let Others See Jesus in You
1. Your obedience shows you know him.
2. Your life is illumined by his love.
3. Your love reflects his light.
1. Jesus' epiphany is how he showed himself forth to the world to be the Son of God, our Savior. He revealed himself so people could know him and believe in him. But there is also a personal "epiphany" when he reveals himself to each person and they come to believe in him individually. He does this through the gospel in Word and sacrament. That's how he came to live in you by his Holy Spirit. Since he is in you through this personal epiphany, let others see Jesus in you: Your obedience shows you know him.
That's what John says: 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.What are his commands? You'd have to include the Ten Commandments. In fact, Jesus said that sinful anger is tantamount to murder and sexual lust is the same thing as adultery. He warned about putting your trust in riches and worldly wealth rather than in God. There were also his commands like, "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you shall find," and "God and make disciples of all nations," and "Trust in God, trust also in me," and "Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and come, follow me." You'd also have to include commands like "Take and eat, this bread is my body; take and drink, this cup is my blood." When commands pertain to trusting and loving God, we usually group them under the first three of the Ten Commandments, and when they pertain to loving other people, they pertain to what we call the second table of the law. In any case, doing what Jesus says shows you know him, you trust in his love and forgiveness, and you want to do God's will and comply with his law.
To say you know and believe n Jesus and to NOT comply, that is, to humbly obey God in every aspect of life, is hypocrisy: 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. If you believe in Jesus and claim to have life and forgiveness in him, you're going to show it by imitating him. And HE was obedient. From little on we're told he grew in favor with God and people, and he was obedient to his parents. He even obeyed the governing authorities when they arrested him and put him on trial, even though he had authority over those authorities! Jesus spoke of his own obedience when he spoke words remarkably close to those John writes here: If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love (Jn 15:10). In fact, Jesus was obedient to the point of death, "even death on a cross."
So how are you doing in walking as Jesus did, in obeying God as he did in his life? How are you doing with the Ten Commandments every day, or even Jesus' gospel commands to trust him and follow him and to go and tell about him? The truth is, if someone just observed us from a distance, or listened to us and how we talk on a daily basis, sometimes it would be hard to tell we know Jesus. If our salvation were dependant on how well we obey, how well we follow, how solidly we trust, how often we come to him and his Word, we'd be in trouble eternally. God knew that. That's why he sent Jesus to obey perfectly, to trust perfectly, to think, speak and act perfectly for us. That's why Jesus obeyed all the way to the cross and the tomb. He took away our sins! That's WHY we can trust him and follow him.
2. And that's how you can let others see Jesus in you. Your life is illumined by his love. Light doesn't come to our darkened souls by keeping God's law and obeying God's commands. The law reveals the darkness in our hearts and lives. No, the light comes from Jesus and his life lived and given in our place: 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
What is the "old" command? Well, it's God's law, isn't it? To "do" what God commands and "don't do" what God forbids in his holy law. In short, it's what John was talking about when he said "obey." But then he says he's writing a new command after all. What is that "new" command? Certainly he's recalling what Jesus said when, on the night he was betrayed, and he got down and washed the disciples' feet, he said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn 13:34-35).
What was so "new" about this new command? Rather than viewing the law as an endless list of requirements and demands as the Pharisees did, Jesus summarized the entire law in one principle: love. Paul said, "Love is the fulfillment of the law," and he was right. It's like when we have Day Away and we have rules for the kids to follow. We don't have 101 rules about chewing gum, fighting, taking part in the activities and the like. We have about three rules like "walk, don't run, use inside voices only, and always respect others." It's a lot easier to remember and a lot more fun to follow. Of course, the kids sometimes have to think, "Am I being respectful or disrespectful by doing what I'm doing now?," but it's good for them to evaluate their actions. So it is with Jesus' "new" command, "love." If it's loving toward God and others, think it, say it and do it; if it's not, don't. We can look at it this way because Jesus was perfect for us. He kept this command in our place; his love led him to die for our lovelessness. That's how his light now shines in us, and what leads us simply to love.
Isn't it great to know you're light in the Lord? His true light is shining in your heart and life by his forgiveness. Though you haven't always obeyed and you haven't always loved God and others, God loved you in Jesus and because of his life and cross, forgave you. He empowers you to live for him, and to imitate him, following the simple command, to love. Christianity isn't endless laws, rules and regulations by which God judges and condemns us; it's about God's love in Christ. John says in this very epistle, This is love : not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn 4:10). That's what leads us simply to "love," and to evaluate everything we think say and do by asking, "Am I reflecting Jesus' light and love or not?"
3. To not love shows we don't really know Jesus. Let others see Jesus in you when Your love reflects his light. There's no room for hatred, unforgiveness and bitterness here: 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
Have you known someone actually blinded by hatred toward someone? They're so filled with bitterness and anger that they don't even behave rationally. Sometimes that can happen in a marriage that ends in divorce, where the children get in the middle and neither parent does what's best for them, only what gets back at the ex. Do YOU have hatred or animosity toward anyone in your life? Has someone wronged you and hurt you so deeply that it makes you suspicious of others in anticipation you'll only be hurt by them? Has a lack of forgiveness on your part blinded you to the way God has forgiven you--completely, no questions asked, no conditions? There's your key. See how complete, how unconditional, how freely God has forgiven you in Christ. The same body that hung on the cross with your sins also hung on the cross with the sins of the person who wronged you. God has forgiven you and that person. Won't you? Why hold someone to a sin God has taken away? Then your love can reflect the light of his forgiveness!
And then you'll be imitating the God who gave you rebirth through his Holy Spirit. Then you can let others see Jesus in you. Your obedience will show you know him; your life is illumined by his love, and your love will reflect his light. And the Lord's Epiphany will continue in us and in others until he is revealed to all when he comes again at the end of time. Amen.
1 John 2:3-11
Let Others See Jesus in You
1. Your obedience shows you know him.
2. Your life is illumined by his love.
3. Your love reflects his light.
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love (Jn 15:10).
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn 13:34-35).
This is love : not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn 4:10).
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.