One film I’ve enjoyed is Back to the Future. If only you could go back in time. Then you’d know when and where lightening would strike. You’d know who is going to get shot by terrorists in the future. You could warn them. If you came from the future, you’d know the future. And if you knew the future, you’d make the most of the present.
That’s just a film. It’s fiction. But think about it. Wouldn’t it be great to know the future. You could buy a lottery ticket, certain of winning. You could invest your money, certain of your choice. You could buy a house, knowing next year’s neighbours. You’d make all the right decisions now. You know where the story’s going.
If you’ve been with us in this little letter of 1 John, you’ll know John wants Christians to be certain of where they stand with God. Certain that we have eternal life.
Today’s passage adds a new side to that. We can be certain about the future. We can live today, knowing what will happen in the future.
We can know the future. We can be sure of it. And we can live today in the light of it.
Our reading has two paragraphs. I’m going to draw one certainty about the future from each.
Jesus will come back. We will be judged
The first certainty is that Jesus will come back. We will be judged. Jesus will come back. We will be judged.
Let me read verse 28 to us again: “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”
We’ll come back to his instruction that we should abide in Jesus. The rest of the verse starts and finishes with a reference to Jesus coming back. When he appears. At his coming. Jesus himself taught that his ascension, when he returned to heaven, was not on a one-way ticket. After his disciples watched him go, Luke records in Acts chapter 1 how angels appeared. They said: “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
Now Jesus taught, that when he comes back, it will be to judge. To judge each person who is alive at the time. To judge each person who has died. Jesus’ followers taught exactly the same thing.
And that is the language that John is using in this verse. Jesus will appear. Jesus will come. And where will we be found? Trying to hide in shame. Or able to stand confidently before him.
Verse 29 adds to this. It reminds us that Jesus is righteous. Other English versions use the word just. Jesus will come, and he will come with perfect justice. We will be judged.
And the question is where will we be?
One option is shame. Ashamed to see him. Shrinking from him. Trying to hide. Hoping he won’t notice us.
We recently enjoyed a BBC Drama series called Death in Paradise. It was a light-hearted thing, set on a fictitious Caribbean island. Somehow, a British detective, found himself seconded to work with the local police force on this island, and so we got a series of murder mysteries, with the lead character being a Brit abroad.
Great fun. There as one scene where he was moaning about the local police commissioner. He never does any work He just enjoys the local food and lives it up a bit. But the rest of his team are trying to motion to him that the commissioner is right behind him. He heard every word. That’s not the awkward bit. The awkward bit is that once he’s realised this, the two of them are in the same room.
Which of us hasn’t been there? Speaking our mind about someone else. Saying things we’d never say if they were there. And suddenly we realise they’ve heard everything. That deep sense of shame. You just wish you could melt away and vanish. Make yourself invisible. But you can’t.
That will be the experience of many people when Jesus comes back. Suddenly realising that the Jesus we’ve ignored. Pushed away. Spoken of poorly. Not given the attention he deserves. Is standing there in the same room as us. And we’d give anything to melt away and become invisible. But we can’t.
There’s an alternative. That is what John calls confidence. Or boldness. Head held high, knowing that this is a day we’ve longed for all our lives. Knowing we’re ready to meet him. And that we have nothing to fear. Nothing to hide.
The future is sure. Jesus will come back. We will be judged.
Which means we can live now, knowing what will happen. But how do we live? How do we live now if we want the day of judgement to be a day of confidence, not a moment of shame?
That’s back to the beginning of the verse.
Instinctively, we might think that we need to do the equivalent of revision. Chalk up some really good deeds. Acts of kindness that means Jesus would be pleased to meet us. Try and get rid of some of our bad habits. Make sure there’s nothing for him to put his finger on. Nothing to apologise for.
But that’s not what John says. “And now, little children, abide in him.”
The key to being ready for Jesus to come back as our judge is to know him. To trust him. To follow him. And – the important bit – to keep on doing so.
Jesus is just. None of us stand a chance if what we have to do is pull up our socks a bit. But Jesus died so that people like us can be forgiven. If we trust him, every single thing we’ve ever done wrong was paid in full when he died on the cross. So we can face that judgment with complete confidence. There is nothing we’ve done wrong – big or small – that has not been taken away once and for all.
If you were here last week, you’ll remember that these Christians were being offered a spin-off of Christianity. Mark 2. A much easier to swallow version. Far less offensive to our culture. And they were being tempted to turn from the real Jesus to the plastic one.
What we need to do is abide in him. Remain in him. Keep trusting him. And we’re ready. We can have complete confidence.
There’s the first certainty about the future. Jesus will come back. We will be judged.
Jesus will come back. We will see him and be like him
There’s a second fact about the future. But first, John wants to hold our attention in the present for a moment.
Verse 1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
Just stop. For one moment. And enjoy how much God loves you. If you are a follower of Jesus, he has chosen to call you his child.
One of the most loving things that someone can do is to adopt a child. There are many reasons why a child may need adopting into a family. But it’s a very costly move on the part of the new parents. It will cost them dearly in time. In money. In emotional investment.
And it’s not an investment that necessarily gives you anything back. Some adopted children grow up to recognise the extraordinary love they’ve been given. A new start in life. A home. Someone to call mum or dad. A status. Some don’t. Some throw it all back, most ungratefully.
Recognised or not, to be adopted into a family is the most extraordinary privilege. And it shows the most extravagant love of the person doing the adopting.
Of course, how privileged you are depends on the family you are adopted into. You take on the family name? Celebrities adopt. Royalties adopt. Those children take on that status. Some families have great wealth. Adopted into that family, and that becomes yours.
So what if God were to adopt us. Not because he had to. Not because we’ve earned it. But because he just chose to. Nothing good in us to make him love us. To make us likely candidates for adoption. Because he just did.
That would be the most amazing love at work. It cost God dear – it cost him the death of his son.
Some children of God recognise the love they’ve been given. A God they can call Father. The creator the universe taking a particular interest in them and in their life. Others throw it all back most ungratefully.
How privileged you are depends on the family you are adopted into. You take on the family name. There is no privilege greater than being a child of God. Some families have great wealth. The God who made everything owns the lot – it’s all his. Adopted into his family, and that becomes yours.
So just stop. For one moment. And consider just how vast God’s love is that he’s chosen to call you one of his children. …
Here’s the second certainty about the future: Jesus will come back. We will see him and be like him. Jesus will come back. We will see him and be like him.
You thought being one of God’s children was good? It is. But it’s nothing compared to the privilege we will get when Jesus comes back.
Jesus is God’s Son. Not by adoption. He just is. He has every right to be. And he looks the part. John says he’s totally pure. He’s never thought one wrong thought. He’s never said one word that is not true. He’s never done a single thing that is less than perfect and honouring to God.
When Jesus comes back, we won’t just be God’s children. We’ll look the part too. It will be so glorious to be visibly God’s children that we don’t even know the half of it. We don’t know the tiniest part of it yet. It’s out of this world. John says that what we will be has not yet been revealed. But it’s sure.
And the reason we can be so sure is that we will see him as he is.
Can you remember chapter 1? We are at a disadvantage. We’ve never seen Jesus. But the 11 disciples did, and they recorded their eye-witness testimony so that we can be there in their shoes.
Here’s the other side of this. We didn’t see Jesus, but they did. We didn’t see Jesus, but one day we will. Yes, really. We’ll see him as he is. We’ll be able to talk to him, touch him, hear his voice, see what he looks like. And when that happens, we’ll take on a striking resemblance to him. All our character flaws will be ironed out. We, too, will never do or say anything unkind or untrue.
I don’t know who you would most like to meet. Do you have a sporting or a musical hero? An actor? Someone from history who has influenced you? Me, I’d love to meet Stan Laurel. I won’t get the chance in this life, because he died in 1965, 4 days after a heart attack. Apparently, a few minutes before he died, he said to his nurse that he would mind going skiing right now. She looked surprised, and said she didn’t realise he was a skier. To which he replied that he isn’t, but he’d rather do that than this. He died a few minutes later.
I don’t know what Stanley and I would talk about if we met. I do know I’d be very excited at the thought of such a meeting. Who would you like to meet?
If we trust Jesus, we are one of God’s children. If we are one of God’s children, then one day we get to meet Jesus. And if the thought of that doesn’t make your heart skip a bit. If you don’t feel a bit of excitement at the thought of meeting him, then it’s time to ask if you’re really one of God’s children.
What love God has shown us! What privilege we have! And what a future we have to look forward to! Jesus will come back. We will see him and be like him.
Knowing all of that is like knowing that lightening will strike the clock tower at precisely 10.04 pm, releasing 1.21 gigawatts of power. You know the future. But what does it mean for now?
Verse 3: Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Jesus is pure. When we see him we will be like him. That is our hope. So we purify ourselves now.
Every time we meet a thought that is impure, we find ways to stop thinking like that. We work on the bad habits that creep in. We seek to grow in our love for others. In our patience. In our kindness. We stop making excuses for ourselves. And with God’s help we make every effort to grow more and more like our Lord Jesus.
Jesus will come back. We will see him and be like him.
Conclusion
The future is certain. Jesus is coming back. Everyone will meet him as their judge. All God’s children will see Jesus, and will become fully perfect, like him.
Are you ready for that future? Is the way you live today shaped by what’s going to happen?
Make sure you know Jesus. The real Jesus. Make sure you stick with him. You’d want to be confident when the judgement comes, not shrinking in shame. Wouldn’t you?
Grow to be more like Jesus. If you know him, one day you will be like him. Gloriously so. So it may as well start now.