10:30 am, Sun, April 14, 2024

(1 Jn 3:1-7; Lk 24:36b-48) JGWhite / FBCA

My parents almost came up to visit today. They have not been up here to Amherst for a while. But my schedule is not that free today, so they will travel another time. You have not seen them that often, so you don’t know yet if you think I resemble either or both of them. There are some similarities. Now, with my sister and brother, I don’t see a lot of resemblance. Others, others do. Others see how I am like them.

We could take today’s reading from 1 John today personally, and say we shall be like the Son of God: be children of God, be loved.

There are frequent exceptions, but generally we think of parents looking fondly upon their child or children, often thinking the best of them. Seeing the good in them; knowing the good in them, because they know them best.

1 John 3 starts with a verse that I learned to sing when I was a kid; sing in the KJV, for what it’s worth.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us

That we should be called the [children] of God

“And that is what we are.” (1 J 3:1) We have this concept we are taught, that Jesus is the Son of God. We hear it from scripture all thru the NT. And we get brought into the divine family – where we belong.

Our status is a gift, grace, of God. Like human families, there need not be a physical resemblance. But ways of talking, ways of moving and acting, shared values and attitudes show up. And like an old couple who have been together for many years, there seems to be a real resemblance. We truly belong to Christ, and Him to us.

We shall be like Christ: and what this is is not yet revealed. Today, here in Churchland, it is still the season of Easter. Again, we celebrate Jesus revealing Himself, risen from

the dead, to His disciples. Dramatic, when you think about it.

One of you was remembering, the other day, a scene in one of the delightful dessert theatres here, several years ago. The Johnson boys had a part in it, when they were younger. I guess one of them played a character who died, in the play. And, to very dramatic effect, somehow his brother appeared, as if the dead man was coming back to life! Well, most everyone knew the two brothers – and they aren’t even twins, or the same age – but that moment was very effective, apparently.

Today’s Bible scene from Luke chapter 24 is another truly dramatic moment for some of those who knew Jesus best. A couple of followers who had left town, returned unexpectedly, after dark, saying they had just met Jesus, alive! Somehow, they were prevented from recognizing Him at first, but when they sat down to eat, voila, it was the Master. They immediately get up and go back to the others.

Now, just after they explain all this to the group of disciples, Jesus appears to them all. (What Tammy read a few minutes ago.) “Peace be with you,” He says. They are totally spooked, think they are seeing a ghost or somesuch. Then, as He had done earlier, Jesus eats with the disciples, and opens their minds to understand their Jewish scriptures in terms of what has just happened with Himself: He’s been a suffering, dying Messiah who then arises from death.

That was close to two thousand years ago. Now, we remain in this waiting time, with this promise that the living Christ will return in a profound way. The fixing of the world will get completed.

This was expected all those years ago in this text we call First John. Written just decades after the risen Jesus walked the earth for a few weeks. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

We shall be like Christ. This is the promise of salvation. Even though there are some mysteries here, some unexplained stuff, we know we shall be like the Eternal One, with whom we are already connected. Our status is ongoing, yet to be completed, unfinished.

You know there is more than one idea among Christians about what people are like in the afterlife. What will we be like at completion? I’d don’t need to go over all the images. Some of our ideas are quite biblical and orthodox, some are a bit far-fetches and have a lot of guesswork, some are science fiction and fantasy. The author of this little book simply says what we will be has not yet been revealed. We shall be like Jesus, in His completeness.

This likely sounds like perfection, which is just what it should sound like. A third thing I draw out today about Christ is: We shall be like Jesus: purifying ourselves. Some of the stuff 1st John says here, is said over and over in these few pages: No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. We read talk like this back in the first chapter. These things repeat in this New Testament Book.

John keeps circling back to his themes in this letter, which is more like a poetic sermon than the other NT letters. His words go to extremes, John exaggerates. He repeats himself, rewords things over and over. He deals in stark contrasts: dark and light, being sinful and being right, love and hate. These are all parts of his method, John’s writing style.

So we are reading a message about our growth towards perfection, our ongoing purification. We keep heading in the direction of doing right and loving well and being guided by God from within. We know it is a process, a journey, growth.

Just a few days ago the town honoured Deanne Fitzpatrick for being inducted into the Order of Canada, back in the fall. When she talked at the reception next door, she talked about good advice she’d received from so many people in her life. She mentioned ‘being good,’ which is what people like our mothers would tell us. ‘Be good!’ We do learn from one another to be good. I think Deanne is on to something. Something author Dallas Willard often mentioned: life is about figuring out how to live a good life. How truly to be good?

It comes from our walk with God. Our life in Christ. The blessings of salvation. And we aid one another on this journey of being disciples of Jesus. That’s perhaps a big part of loving one another. We decide to be for people, not against them. And that effects what we do with and to others, what we say to and about them, what we want for them and from them. We want more and more of the best for them.

A few times in my life I have met a person whose persona, whose personality, impressed me, the moment I met them. Once, it was the President of the Baptist Convention, Margaret Munro. She was a retired professor and dean of nursing, and leader at First Baptist Charlottetown. So, in the year she was our Atlantic Baptist President, I met her at a conference. She was one of those people you knew was paying attention to you; every second she was listening to you. She had that presence. You were the centre of her attention; she was listening, truly listening. I still remember that chance meeting with her. She has become one of those people who inspire me to stive at meeting people well. I think this stands out to me because Christ still has far to go in training me. I, who don’t look people in the eye much when I speak.

That was one way that woman was like Jesus. We shall be like Jesus. We are growing up, as children of God and siblings of Christ. We find people in our lives that the Spirit uses to train us, develop us, purify us. That becomes our role in our neighbourhood, for others.

When we know we belong and are loved, we are like Christ, and in Christ, as the NT puts it. When we are becoming a Christian – a little Christ – what we shall be is yet to be seen. When we follow the way of Jesus, we are a student in the school of life always, being perfected.