1 John 3 - The Best Part of Heaven!

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1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Part of knowing God is becoming part of His family. Just as a husband and wife start a family and have kids as a product of their love for each other, so the Father has chosen us through the Son and given us the Holy Spirit, as a downpayment of our future inheritance. (Ephesians 4:13). If you wonder why the world often does not connect with Christians, it is because they does not know the Father or the Son. 

Though we are children of God now, we will experience more of what that means when Jesus returns. John tells us that we will be, "Like him for we shall see him as he is!" 

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Today, when we look in a good mirror, the image is clear. But in the ancient world, mirrors were made out of polished metal, and the image was always unclear and somewhat distorted. We see Jesus now only in a dim, unclear way, but one day we will see Him with perfect clarity. - Guzik

As Christians, we grow and develop to be more Christ-like. As we do the things Jesus would do if he were us, we are being transformed into his likeness day by day. But we will not be complete until Jesus returns. Some people are excited about what heaven will look like the "streets paved with gold, but probably the most amazing aspect of heaven will be seeing Jesus "face to face". 

Revelation describes it like this, 

He was dressed in a long robe with a golden [breastplate]; His head and His hair were white as snow-white wool, His eyes blazed like fire, and His feet shone as the finest bronze glows in the furnace. His voice had the sound of a great waterfall, and I saw that in His right hand He held seven stars. A sharp two-edged sword came out of His mouth, and His face was ablaze like the sun at its height. (J.B. Phillips translation) This isn’t the same Jesus who walked this earth, looking like a normal man. - Guzik

4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him

Though we are all sinners, Jesus came to take away our sins. Though we will all struggle living with our sinful nature, the point of Jesus' setting us free is not to return to sin, but to live a new life. If we are walking with Jesus and in living in Him, we will not continue our old life of sin. This was the life that was dominated by the sinful nature, and when we walked in the ways of the world. 

If one's life is not at all changed by knowing him, John says they have neither seen God or know Him. 

7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

When a Christian is leading a life of sin, we know the devil is influencing it. The devil has been a sinner from the beginning, when he rebelled against God's command to worship him. Satan did not to worship God, but wanted to be worshipped. At the heart of sin is not worshipping God but worshipping ourselves or something else. 

When Jesus died on the cross, he defeated the power of sin, death, and the power of the devil. When a believer is born-again by believing in Jesus, we are a new creation and have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are a new Creation in Christ! 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of the reasons we cannot keep sinning as a child of God is that the Holy Spirit lives in us. A Christian can sin, but the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin. He will create such a sorrow in you which will lead you back to Christ. When he says, "children of the devil", I don't think he is meaning all of those people are "demon-possessed". But they are certainly "demon-influenced". 

Love One Another

11The beautiful message you’ve heard right from the start is that we should walk in self-sacrificing love toward one another. 12We should not be like Cain, who yielded to the Evil One and brutally murdered his own brother, Abel.  And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s righteous.

13So don’t be shocked, beloved brothers and sisters, if you experience the world’s hatred. 14Yet we can be assured that we have been translated from spiritual death into spiritual life because we love the family of believers. A loveless life remains spiritually dead. 15Everyone who keeps hating a fellow believer is a murderer,  and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

At the heart of being a child of God is loving others in the family of God. We call this the body of Christ. This makes all Christians brothers and sisters in Christ. This why when I see another Christian at church or out in public I will often say, "How are you doing brother/sister?" 

As a Christian we shouldn't be surprised when people in the world don't like us, especially if we are living out our faith in public. Some Christians prefer not to be in the world, but the bottom line is Jesus has called us to be the salt and light of the world. 

16This is how we have discovered love’s reality: Jesus sacrificed his life for us.  Because of this great love, we should be willing to lay down our lives for one another. 17If anyone sees a fellow believer in need and has the means to help him, yet shows no pity and closes his heart against him, how is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? 18Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. 19We know that the truth lives within us  because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure  our hearts in his presence. 

Many people spend their whole life looking for true love. While there are many loving relationships we can have with family and friends on earth, ultimate love is found in Jesus. True love is a choice. True love is not a feeling. True love is rooted in selfless sacrifice. All those are found when Jesus willingly sacrificed his life for us on the cross!

So what does it mean therefore to love? Jesus has set an example for us to follow. As Jesus laid down his life for us, we are called to lay our lives down for each other. When we walk past a fellow brother or sister in Christ in need and walk on by, we have to ask ourselves is God's love living in us. Love is more of a verb than a noun. It is rooted in action! 

20Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything there is to know about us.  21My delightfully loved friends, when our hearts don’t condemn us, we have a bold freedom to speak face-to-face with God. 22And whatever we ask of him we receive,  because we keep his commands. And by our beautiful intentions  we continue to do what brings pleasure to him.

When we sin we usually feel guilty. We are often all too aware of our failures. There is a difference between being convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit, and feeling condemned. Romans 8:1 tells us, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" 

Conviction is from the Holy Spirit, condemnation is from our enemy! When we are living in a spirit of condemnation we are not confident before the Lord. We don't exercise the power and the authority we have in Christ. We also have more boldness in prayer and exercise freedom in approaching and beseeching God's favor. 

23So these are his commands: that we continually place our trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we keep loving one another, just as he has commanded us. 24For all who obey his commands find their lives joined in union with him, and he lives and flourishes in them. We know and have proof that he constantly lives and flourishes in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John summarizes the dual focus of every Christian. Keep our focus and trust on Jesus and love one another as Jesus has loved us.  As we live in obedience we are securely living in a constant union with Jesus. When we abide in Christ, we bear fruit, fruit that will last. 

The key agent agent in this is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reminds us we are in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. This is all evidence we are abiding in Christ and walking in the light. We do not become Christians by our works, but when we are born-again the Spirit of Christ lives in and through us. 

Would you say you are walking in obedience to God's commands? How do you stay connected to Jesus on a regular basis? Do you see the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and condemnation of the enemy?