Am I a Christian? - The Test of Imitation
1 John 2v5b-6
20th March 2020
Are you a Christian? Or are you still dead in your sins? Are you genuinely born again, adopted as a child of God, forgiven, confident of eternity in heaven? As we saw last time, in Chapter 2, verses 5-11 John presents us with three tests as to whether we are truly Christians. The first test is the test of obedience, which we looked at last time. The second is the test of imitation:
1 John 2:5b-6
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus
did.
Do you life your life the way Jesus lived His life?
This seems an impossible standard, and it is. Jesus was sinless and we're not. But we're called to amend our ways so that live more-or-less like Jesus. We won't live as well as Jesus's example, but we should live nothing like the way the world lives, and radically different from the way we used to live before we knew Him. However imperfectly, our own lives should demonstrate His grace, His goodness, His patience, His love for others - and particularly his love for outsiders. Jesus loved people on the margins. He loved lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors, and so must we. We must love those whom others don't love, because Jesus loves them.
Christians are called "Christians" because we're at least a little bit like Jesus. Our response to every difficult situation, every ethical dilemma, should be to ask ourselves the old question, “What would Jesus do?”
May I ask, is there anybody you haven't forgiven the way Christ forgives? Is there anybody you'd rather not reach out to? Are there people to whom you don't wish to be generous? Then you're not walking as Jesus did.
We can say, can't we? that Jesus would love, Jesus would forgive, Jesus would help, Jesus would welcome, Jesus would serve, everybody. So should we.
We haven't got to endorse everybody's lifestyles. We haven't got to pretend that their sin isn't sin. But we must love them and include them, as Jesus would. How else will they find Jesus, and turn their lives around?