"How many of you will have turned your nose up to people because they are miscreants, they are street people, they are disgustingly dirty, or they have no teeth. How many of you are superficial?"
[This message is part of a series through the book of 1 John, entitled "Salvific Assurance Through Testimony," preached by Pastor Senter].
We have discussed most recently the anointing of the Holy Spirit and His instruction to your soul. We discussed the promise of eternal life and that this promise was provided upon acceptance of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the God man. In this post, we go back to abiding; that little Greek word “menw,” meaning to remain, to live, or to exist. We look again at this unique word and the eternal implications it can have for us.
Please look at I John 2:28. In our last post, we discussed studying the Word of God and believing in Jesus Christ, and disregarding pseudo leadership. We talked of following the Bible and Christ and not men. We specifically talked of the leading of the Holy Spirit in the discernment of these very things. Now let us consider that leadership, the leadership we should exhibit in our lives. What should we look like to the world, and most importantly, how will we look to God? We will look at our response to His majesty, the King. How should we react to this knowledge, the “chrisma” given to us by God?
Today is a get-right-with-the-Lord day. When we read through this scripture, you know the question you will be asked already. There is no way to hide the subject of this scripture. This message, ladies and gentlemen, will have to include in it some chastisement. Praise God there is always encouragement, even in chastisement, in scripture. We can look at Proverbs 3:12 , “Whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” However, even today there is a reprieve in the 29th verse where we find those who practice righteousness are born of Him. We find proof, living proof of our salvation – Jesus Christ’s righteousness coming out of us. However, first the chastisement.
You know that even today we still do it. Everyone strives to be associated with success in some way. If you cannot be successful, you find someone who is, and try to associate with them. We want to be around greatness. If royalty, some special celebrity, or a very successful person arrives in town, many of us would find a way to see them or attend their function. All people have the tendency to flock to greatness. Not only that, but we naturally want to impress. We desire to impress others because we know in doing so we can gain favor with them. Even if it is not something that is monetarily rewarding, our innermost being wants to look good to others. When our supervisor is in the room, most of the time we want to do a good job. We seek approval. Not only do we like to be near success, we want to impress it. The reason we do better when the boss is in the room is that we want to impress.
This can go much farther. So much so that normally we try to prepare to do our best. We actually take steps before hand to be at our best. There is an old saying that I try hard to live by: “Poor planning produces poor performance,” or the five “P’s.” Yes, there is a Navy way of saying that, but I will not submit that to writing. Man knows the better prepared he is to handle a task; the better he will perform that task. The more effort one puts into the work that he is going to do, the better the outcome normally results. Knowing this, seeing this in action, understanding this construct, and in fact living it in our business lives, why do we fail in our eternal life?
This question then begs on all pastors, preachers, teachers of the Word, evangelists of all sorts, missionaries, and everyone who ministers for the Lord. Why, if in business and our professional life, we demand so much of ourselves just to survive in this temporary existence, why are we not as demanding upon ourselves in our pursuits for eternal life? If we will and do this, look our best, make special plans, and adjust our schedules for mere successful men, why then are we not properly preparing for our King? While considering this we will look at “Trust the righteousness of Christ to abide in Him,” and consider “Though we know the King is coming, we do not live in Him.“
I. Prepare to meet Christ (verse 28)
Here we find the phrase “little children” again. This is a direct appeal to look at the “now” in that loving, pastorly John fashion. Now that you have been informed of these false teachers, now that you know what the difference is between knowing mentially and knowing in your heart, now remain.
Remember “menw” or “remain, abide, live, or exist in”? Remember when we talked about that, and the importance of it? When we look throughout 1 John, we find this word used 24 times. Outside of “love” and “knowing”, it is the third most frequently used word. I mentioned to you the last time together that this was a very important word to John. Ladies and gentlemen, living in Christ is probably one of the most vital things with which John is concerned. Some statistics will help you understand. The word translated “remain” is used over 118 times in the New Testament, and 24 times here by John. That is fully 20% of its usage. John uses it mostly in chapter 3 and 4 into 5, but the usage begins in chapter 2. Therefore, 20% of the usage is concentrated in 95 verses, which comprise the last four chapters. This word is associated with God 14 times, and “Him” (meaning God the Father, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit) another 24 times. This means that every use of the word remain has a reference to God attached to it in some way, whether directly or through a pronoun. All instances are either encouragements to remain, examples of remaining, or direct imperatival commands to remain in God. Remaining is a very vital part of a Christian life. Moreover, where a believer is concerned, remaining in Jesus Christ in persecutions and trials, as well as just a normal testimonial life with Him at the center, is a vital part of our assurance of salvation. That abiding life at the center of your spiritual life is what produces the fruits of the Spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians. We cannot know man’s heart, but His fruits do belie him, do they not?
Remaining in Christ Jesus is a vital issue with regard to any assurance you may have concerning your salvation. Sure, you might fall away, but what is the overall testimony in your life? Do you testify Christ in all facets of your life, or is there somewhere you do not let Him Live, remain where you go, a place where you know He would never exist with you?
What then do we consider with respect to this abiding? How do we look at these verses with this in mind?
A. Confidently
Have you ever thought you were completely ready to handle something, then come to find out you were about as lost as you could be concerning the issue? I think this happens when we lose someone most of all, especially when they have been ill for some time. We can go with some assurance that we are prepared, but the loss still hits us hard. I did this with my grandmother. You do not want to appear too foolish, so when you begin feeling those depressive emotions associated with the loss; you often push them away and attempt to ignore them. The question here, as John addresses us again as “teknia” or little children, is, “How prepared are you?” Let me set the stage.
Hypothetically: you walk out of here, you get in the car, and when you pull out of the parking lot one of these double-bottom 26 wheel trucks hits you broadside. Suddenly, you are catapulted to the heavenly feet of the Savior. Once you gain your senses, and who knows how long that will take, what will happen in the interim, or any such thing, what will you feel? Now, if you cannot imagine yourself in this position, what do you think a friend of mine thought when it happened to him? He was on a family vacation at a Christian camp with his nine children. He finished witnessing to a man standing next to him on the sidelines, then went in and promptly suffered a massive heart attack that resulted in his instantaneous death. I can tell you, from the testimonies of his last day, and that of his life, that he was confident in going before the Lord. The last word in this verse is “coming.” This is the return of Christ Jesus. We find references to this same word in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 and at the Great White Throne judgment. There are commentators on both sides of this issue – is it the coming at the beginning of the tribulation for all believers, or is it the coming at the end of all days when there will be a Great White Throne judgment? I believe it is instructive for both, and scripture is given for instruction, doctrine, and salvation. Therefore, both are warranted for consideration.
When we look at this scripture here, we find this little word “when.” Sometimes it is the littlest of words that can get us to consider where we stand. Although there are some questions concerning the manuscript evidence associated with this word (there are also manuscripts with the word “hotan” literally meaning “when”). The Greek word represented by “when” is “ean” and it means “when” or “if”, and contains a sense of expectation. There is no possibility that He will not appear. The event is inevitable. This is in an aorist, passive, and in the subjunctive mood therefore we could translate it “when he shall appear.” He is going to show up some time in your life or death. The event and this confrontation is inevitable. Jesus Christ will appear to you; either here on this earth, or in paradise where your spirit will go to be with Him. You should therefore know with every certainty that you will be faced with reconciling yourself before the Lord Jesus Christ at some point in time, and you have no idea when that will be. He sets your time of birth, and He sets your time of death. We should note also that John moves to describing things now in the first person plural, “we.” Instead of the beginning which to some may appear to be a chastisement, this now becomes personal to all believers, even the author.
Now, knowing this certainty, understanding that there is a specific time which will result in your appearance before a great, glorious, perfectly-sinless, and all-powerful God of all things, are you confident? Have you done everything you could, exercised every avenue set before you for witnessing, served in every capacity in which the church could use you, given Jesus Christ your all? Have you given yourself over to Him and His church completely?
There is another way to go before the Lord. This way, this fashion is less desirable.
B. Denigrated
In considering this verse, my first thoughts were to attempt to make the adjective that represents the word we have translated as “ashamed” as a positive word, then describe what it is not. Once I considered what was actually represented in scripture, and studied the word a little more, I think the best thing for us all to do is face what this actually says. I chose the word, “denigrated” to head this section deliberately. This is an aorist, passive, subjunctive as well. This shame eminates from oneself when faced with the pure godliness and absolute test that sets before them. In studying Greek idioms, (phrases that have broader meanings outside of their literal reading, such as referring to someone as having a “sweet tooth”), scholars have found this phrase represents a deep-seated disgust with ones self. This phrase has the strongest connotation that the individual is sincerely aware of their iniquity, their sin, and their personal wretchedness to a point they are deeply ashamed. However, their shame is only felt internally, they personally know it but they do not normally display this feeling. Therefore, it literally means “to feel shame or disgrace because of having done something wrong or something beneath one’s dignity or social status – to be ashamed, to feel disgraced.”
When analyzing this, the sense is that one has put themselves into this situation. This is not something that has “just happened”, something that was a split-second decision and you made the wrong choice. This is a completely humiliating action, something you knew full well you should not have been doing. This, coupled with the Individual standing before you Whom you know is perfectly sinless, brings about this shame. I can see young people falling prey to this all over the country.
This is probably especially true of women who have had abortions, yet have fallen into a great depression over their choice to murder a child rather than keep and love the innocent result of their situation. Whether being sexually assaulted, or consensually engaging someone, women are suffering all over this country from depression that results from abortion. This is equally shameful for many men who fall into unnatural relationships with other men. They know it is wrong and inappropriate, but they pursue it further for personal satisfaction, or a pride that precludes them from admitting their wrongdoing. Societies throughout our nation have now developed to support this abhorrent behavior. Teens are increasingly giving themselves over to their fleshly desires during spring break. Some are attempting to take legal action against disgusting individuals who videotape their extroverted behaviors. The fact is, these young people did not think anyone would catch them, and, now that they have been revealed to their parents, they are disgraced, and a disgrace to their families in the process. Ladies and gentlemen, there are other equally heinous things people do such as child abuse, spousal abuse, viewing pornography on the Internet, participating in adulterous affairs, and any number of fleshly abominations.
We should, though, address the more common forms of shame that we as Christians can experience on our day of reckoning with the Savior. How many of you will be chastised by our Lord when you see Him for not witnessing to that guy in the store, that lady on the corner, or that young person hanging out on the street corner. How many of you will have turned your nose up to people because they are miscreants, they are street people, they are disgustingly dirty, or they have no teeth. How many of you are superficial? Here’s the clincher, how many of you think when you pass up those opportunities that, “Oh, at least I didn’t murder anyone.” Ladies and gentlemen, character assassination is named that way because it kills. If you think you have to shoot, stab, hang, poison, or in some way kill the body to kill someone, you are sorely mistaken.
Abiding in Christ means to love all of these people, all those who have sinned, all those who sin daily, all those in the world–no matter who they are. I am sure Jesus Christ, with the “fabulous” dental plan they had in those days, never faced a toothless individual, or one with great gaps in their mouth. I am sure every individual He faced was clean, smelled of the latest soap fragrances, and had well kept clothes. We have to understand, seeing things in our own eyes, in our own time, and in our own sphere of influence places us at a great disadvantage. Abiding in Christ means, you love them all.
Are you abiding in Him? Will you have confidence in your behavior, and therefore be confident you have served Him, given God your heart, mind, and soul? On the other hand, will you cower at the sight of Christ? Will you sink to your knees and beg for His mercy because you have not lived in Him, you have not given Him your heart, mind, and soul? Will you be ashamed, or will you be able to say, I have done my best continually.
Abiding, living, remaining, or staying in Him–we do so for a reason.
II. Christ is righteousness (verse 29).
My son builds buildings, houses, decks, and lots of other work. My uncle, Clifford, lays brick and block. A good friend of mine, Jon Peery, also builds houses, owns a large company and builds, in fact, many houses. All of these guys have something in common. How straight, how sturdy, how true, and how plumb their final product turns out is the test of their professionalism. Each one knows, and my uncle Cliff especially, that the foundation must be straight and true, it must be right, correct, and level. His walls must be plumb. My son, putting in posts, knows they must be set and held plumb to make a straight deck. The teams of builders that work for Peery Construction depend upon a good foundation. This is the next verse we have. Righteousness can produce righteousness, but only the right kind has lasting effect. This righteousness can only come from a foundation of perfect righteousness.
The first step is to get this righteousness.
A. Knowing Him.
Here is that expectant word “ean” again. It is used in more of a rhetorical sense here, “since you know Christ’s righteousness.” This has that expectant tone to it again. You will know His righteousness. The question is, when will you know it. You will experience the righteousness of Christ either in this life, or in the next, but as stated before, you will know it. How will you come to terms with it? Will you come to terms with it in a positive fashion, humbling yourself before Him, seeking His righteousness, and accepting it to change your life here on earth? On the other hand, will you learn of His perfection, His absolute power, and His perfect righteousness when it is pressed upon you in the form of judgment? Which one will it be? John is talking to the believer, though.
In this instance, John is using the same expectant word as he used before. Here the reference is to those believers. John is telling us the first condition for our righteous position before God. The first condition here is knowing. The knowing is the “oida” knowing, that spiritual knowing, the knowing in your soul, that knowing you have which has changed your life. John is saying that if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, if you have seen His face and submitted to Him you will not be ashamed. Look with me to Romans 10:5-11.
What is that last word in verse 11 – “ashamed”? That is our word that we find in verse 1 John 2:28. Faith, ladies and gentlemen, faith is the cause of this confession. This opening of your mouth to submit to a perfectly just God that you have sinned. Faith that this just and perfectly righteous Being will give you His righteousness. Faith that in doing so you will have eternal life as we found in verse 25. Faith, that Jesus came to earth, ministered to us, suffered horrible persecution, underwent physical torture, and submitted to the authority of man to kill His body. Faith, that on the third day He arose and ministered again for another 40 days as it says in the scriptures. Faith, that He then ascended to the right hand of God. Having this faith in Christ Jesus, confessing Him with your mouth, seeking that which is perfectly righteous to cover the sins in your life– this is the requirement of scripture. This is where scripture calls us into faith, and in this faith, we receive His righteousness. This righteousness is what is in you, what is in our soul, what abides in you.
Do you have this righteousness, do you have this abiding faith, and do you know the righteousness of Christ Jesus in your heart?
There is something that happens to us when we receive this righteousness that we cannot harbor as sinners.
B. Born of Him.
Those whom you see practicing righteousness must be of Christ. The word we see translated here “doeth” does not do the actual use in this sentence justice. This phrase is constructed in such a way that the “doing” is the adjective. This is a present active participle that indicates a continuing practice – a habit; something that marks the individual’s normal activity in life. Everyone that is doing, or practicing. The next problem we find is the following word for righteousness. It does not stand alone either, but is connected to the doing. Further, both of these words are connected to the end of the phrase that reads, “is born of him.” The actual action, the activity that brought about or brings about the doing and the righteousness is the birth one experiences in Him. One might read over this and quickly ascertain that this is something that we do which marks us as believers who are born again in Christ Jesus. This is true; however, there is more to the sentence than that. In this case, it is the actual outward knowing that is involved.
Let us read the whole phrase again, “ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” The “knowing” here is the “ginosko” or the experiential, learning, or instructional knowledge. “Knowing” is the dominant verb. The phrase is pointing to you to analyze what you know. The reason we know, therefore, that others are righteous is because we experience the righteousness that they have from our Savior. The word for “doeth” is probably better rendered “practiced,” or “performed.” The reason you experience their righteousness is because they are born of Him.
We should now read the whole verse over to see the full description of what John is attempting to say. Here we get the clear argument against “Gnosticism” or the belief that knowledge brings you to salvation. John is saying, “If ye know (oida, in your heart, in your soul knowledge) that he is righteous, ye know (ginosko – in your mind, through experience, through learning) that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” John, therefore, has chosen these words specifically to speak against these separatists, to speak specifically of the salvation of our Savior, to speak specifically to the hearts of those in the church such that they KNOW the one true abiding God.
The statement almost has a common-sensical flavor to it. You experience Christ’s righteousness in Christians because they are Christians. Those who have been born of Jesus Christ in faith practice or do this righteousness. Heibert makes the point that the grammar here indicates a life-long effort. Those who have practiced this righteousness for extended periods of time, a lifetime of righteousness gives others knowledge that those who practice it are born in Him, Christ Jesus. The differentiation is that some people do good things all the time, but those things are done as part of a cultural upbringing, or an instructed moral code of some sort. This is exemplified in many oriental cultures where maintaining honor, and family honor, is held in the highest regard. The overall characteristic of a life without God is still godlessness, even if there is a smattering of moral aptitudes. The point in the verse is, that true righteousness permeates the life of the individual at all levels. This becomes a life, an abiding, that stick-to-it-iv-ness, or consistent behavior that may be marred occasionally by sin, but the predominant feature is God’s righteousness.
This predominance for and practicing of righteousness comes only one way, through a rebirth in the Spirit in Him, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
The question is, are you practicing true righteousness, Christlike righteousness? This question of righteousness is connected to the admonishment such that we must not feel confident, we cannot be sure, there is no way we can be confident that people will know we have Christ without His righteousness being evident in our lives. Can you say you are displaying Christ’s righteousness? Are you sure you are as confident in His righteousness as you should be?
Consider then what we have studied and reviewed in scripture in our post today.
First we opened with a discussion on how we are going to prepare to meet Christ Jesus. The question was, will you meet Him confidently, or will you be a disgrace to Him and the name “Christian”? Will you be marked as one of His, or will you be a pretender, a fake, one who claims Christianity, but does nothing to purport Christ in your life. You do not read your Bible, you only come to church occasionally, you do not prefer to be with other Christians, you do not listen to Christian music–your life is not changing for Him every day. Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you, your testimony is everything they (the people of the world) see, not everything you want them to see. Further, we continue to forget that Jesus sees all of us, and everything of us.
Next, we looked at the righteousness of Christ. We found that you had to know Him; you have Him in your heart and in you because of an abiding faith in Him and His righteousness. The righteousness that is practiced, regularly seen and regularly displayed in your life, throughout your life is the righteousness that marks whether or not you are one of His.
The question is, “Can we mark you?” As Philippians 1:21-23 states, are you anxious for the day Christ might return, or do you look at it with great trepidation and fear? Are you one of the ones practicing righteousness, do you have confidence to go before God, or are you a shame-filled individual who is unsure of your stance before Him? You do not have to be perfect–far from it–but you have to be continually seeking to practice righteousness and the things of Christ in your life. This means you are continually looking in your life to submit to Him, for Him, and in Him. Are you abiding in Him or is this just a ruse? Only you know the real answer, but we see you and your righteousness, or lack thereof. The scripture says we can know who practices it and who does not. We know too.
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