We shall be like Jesus
1 John 3v2-3
27th May 2022
1 John 3v2-3
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been
made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Perhaps sometimes non-Christians ask you what heaven is like, and perhaps you struggle to give them what you or they think is a satisfactory answer. With our current understanding we can't really grasp what heaven is like. We know there will be no sin in heaven. There will be no pain. There will be no weeping. We will live in the immediate presence of Jesus Christ our Lord. But I don't know what our homes will be like, or what the food will be like, or what we'll do, or a thousand other things. But I can say this: imagine the best way of living you possibly can. Heaven is better than that.
And here's another thing we know, because John tells us, and it's extraordinary: "we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
John has told us that "Now we are children of God". As we said last time, that's not only true in the legal sense. It's also true in the sense that the Holy Spirit has begun to make us like Jesus.
2 Corinthians 13v18
We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is
the Spirit.
Dear Christian brother or sister, you are being made more and more like Jesus, more and more glorious. You may not feel very glorious, but gradually this work we call sanctification is happening, by the power and at the instigation of the Holy Spirit. We have to co-operate with Him, but it is happening. We can speed it up and we can slow it down, but He continues to do it, day by day. The old RSV used to say we are "being transformed from one degree of glory into another".
You are becoming more Christlike and, one day, you will be like Jesus. You may sometimes get depressed that you're not more like Jesus than you are, that this process is taking so very long. When you say or do the wrong thing, you can feel disappointed and discouraged. You can wonder why you're still behaving the way you are after all these years. We all mess up sometimes, but the process of sanctification will continue. You are becoming like Jesus.
You are already like Jesus in the sense that you are immortal. Jesus said, "He who lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11v26). And one day you will be sinless as Jesus is sinless. That's hard to imagine, and some may find it hard to believe, but It's the truth.
And we shall see him as he is. Now, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13v12, "we see through a glass darkly" (AV) but one day, you will look Jesus in the face, you will see Him exactly as He is. One day you'll stand in His presence, without fear and filled with joy.
And John says, "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he [Jesus] is pure". Is this your hope? I hope that you hope for more than a good night's sleep tonight, and enough food to eat tomorrow, and to earn a living, and buy a nice house, and live in comfort. I hope that your hope is primarily about eternity, and not on this life. As Paul says:
Colossians 3v1-2
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
The basis of our hope is not that our lives on earth and our earthly death will be as comfortable and easy as possible. Our hope is based on an eternity with Christ in heaven. That's far more important. I hope you're living your life not merely to get through the day but to invest in the things of God, so that you will inherit treasure in heaven, which you'll enjoy for all eternity.
And if your hope really is more about heaven than about earth, if your hope is that you will see Jesus as He is and you will be like Him, then of course you will purify yourself. You will co-operate with the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification. You will repent of your sins, and read your Bible, and pray, and break bread with your fellow-Christians, and meet with them, and worship together, and support your church.
If, as every Christian does, you admire and worship Jesus, you will long to be like Him. And the promise of this passage is that you truly will be like Jesus. As we modify our lifestyles, our actions, our priorities, and our thought lives, because we love and admire Jesus, we will become more pure. We work together with the Holy Spirit. Of course the power to change us is His, but we do get to make choices, and those choices make a difference. We can choose to live more holy and pure lives.
If you desire to live in heaven with Jesus then, of course, you will purify yourself. Working together with the Holy Spirit, you will prepare yourself for an eternity with Jesus.