Jesus Showed Because Jesus Is

What Did Jesus Do?

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
1 John 3:7

Putting a gorilla into a tuxedo might dress him up a bit, but it in no way alters the fact that he is an ape. The gorilla’s behavior, his “lifestyle” will go on just as before when he wasn’t all decked out in Armani. In the same way, just because someone sits in a pew Sunday after Sunday does not necessarily or of itself mean that person is a believer. How pewsitters live, their lifestyle, the other 167 hours of the week, says a lot more about what family they belong to, than the mere act of their attending worship. The life of a child of God is, or should be, evidently different from the life of a child of the devil. Jesus showed the way to the Father because Jesus is the way to the Father and, therefore, because of Jesus, who our father is, well, it shows.

While there should be a resemblance between God and the members of his family, appearances can be deceiving. So John, who was much concerned that his “little children,” the members of God’s Church whom he so loved, were being led astray, sent them a warning, “let no one deceive you” (1 John 3:7a). Even more, John wanted the Church to know the how and why of living as children of God.

First of all, there is a particular practice, or principle that should distinguish whose family we belong to, God’s or the devil’s. We might call it the righteousness principle. The righteousness principle is based on the fact that there is only one who was truly righteous—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God’s children, adopted in and through the Son, who is righteous, live according to the righteousness principle, which is to say that they practice righteousness in their own lives. The children of God seek to live like Jesus, who not only showed the way to the Father, but is the way to the Father (John 16.6). In sharp and utter contrast, the children of the devil practice sin. It is impossible for a child of God to make a practice of sin (1 John 3:9). This is not to say that is impossible for any of us who believe to sin, we all stumble and fall short (Romans 3:23). But there is a difference between stumbling, being convicted, and repenting when one stumbles, and making a practice of sin, and doing so without any remorse. Only a child of the devil practices sin, and the practice of sin is also evidence that one has no love for one’s brother (1 John 3:10).

Besides there being a principle that directs what believers practice, there is also a power at work in the children of God—the power of the risen Lord to destroy the works of the devil in all who are born again in Jesus. The reason for the Son’s appearing, and for his rising from the grave, is to disarm the devil and destroy all his works in us (1 John 3:8b). the children of God are those who are able to practice righteousness because Jesus has broken the power of sin and death (the works of the devil) in them. To claim to be a believer, a child of God, while continuing to practice sin is to deny the power and the victory of Christ. Rather, the presence of Christ shows in the lives of believers because the Lord is alive in them—Jesus shows because Jesus is. As God’s children, practice righteousness, and show love for one another, that’s what Jesus did to prove he is the Son of God.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4