What if Jesus returned today? Would you be confident or cowering in shame? In our culture obsessed with youth and hiding from death, we've lost the urgent reality that every person will one day meet Jesus face to face. Discover how to move from fear to confident boldness about eternity by understanding your true identity as God's beloved child.
This powerful message challenges you to stop living distracted by temporary labels (career, success, failure, social media status) and start living with the unshakeable confidence that comes from knowing who you really are in Christ. Learn practical ways to live each day as if Jesus could return at any moment.
Big idea: Every person will meet Jesus—either at His return or at death. John shows how to face that day confident and unashamed: abide in Christ, live out our identity as God’s beloved children, and let future hope purify present behavior.
1 John 2:28–3:3 (NIV)
God’s Children and Sin
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Four Key Observations
Application:
BBCC Verse of the Week: And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 1 John 2:28 (NIV)
[T]hose who are truly sorrowful for their sins, and yet trust that these are forgiven them for the sake of Christ; and that their remaining infirmities are covered by his passion and death; and who also earnestly desire to have their faith more and more strengthened, and their lives more holy; but hypocrites, and such as turn not to God with sincere hearts, eat and drink judgment to themselves. 1 Cor. 10:19-22; 11:26-32, Ps. 50:14-16; Isa. 1:11-17
– Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 81
SECOND APPLICATION OF THE TESTS (2:28–4:6) John now reverts to his cycle of tests, expanding and enforcing them: the moral test of obedience or righteousness (2:28–3:10), the social test of love (3:11–18) and, after a digression about the relation between our assurance and our condemning heart (3:19–24), the doctrinal test of truth concerning Christ (4:1–6). It is now, in the second exposition of the three tests, that for the first time the believer is described as having been ‘born’ of God (2:29). Previously he has been delineated as one who knows God (2:3–4, 13, 14), is in Christ (2:5–6) and in the light (2:9–10), and remains in the Father and in the Son (2:24, 27–28). But now there comes to the fore that birth from God which alone makes it possible for us to know God and remain in him. Such a spiritual ‘birth’ is due to a divine ‘begetting’, which is the imparting of the life of God. And it has manifest consequences in the life of the Christian, for he who has been born of God does not continue to sin (3:9), but practices righteousness (2:29), loves his brothers and sisters in God’s family (3:10, 14; cf. 4:7) and believes that Jesus is the Christ (5:1; cf. 4:1–6). - John Stott
THE FIRST WORDS of verse 28 (“And now, dear children”; cf. 2:12, 18) introduce a new section that builds on the earlier exhortation (2:27, “remain in him”) and expands the thought in a new direction. John now uses the hope of Christ’s coming as a fresh impetus for faithfulness. Two phrases are used to describe the second coming of Christ. (1) The first is “when he appears,” a reference to Christ’s “appearing.” This expression occurs elsewhere for Christ’s first coming in the Incarnation (1:2; cf. 3:5, 8). The verb actually means “to reveal”; in a sense John is thinking of the coming of Christ as a time when our Lord will be unveiled visibly before the entire world. (2) The other expression is the Greek term parousia, which was originally used for the arrival of a ruler or celebrity, accompanied by great interest and celebration. Christ, John affirms, is going to arrive, and his appearing will at once dramatically set right the present circumstances and identify those who have been allied with him. Christ’s appearance will produce two reactions. Some people will experience confidence, while others will experience shame. Literally, the latter group will “shrink from him,” while the former will enjoy confidence and assurance, even poise. The Greek term here is a favorite in the New Testament to describe the candor and ease with which Christians may approach God in prayer (Heb. 4:16; 1 John 3:21; 5:14). In 1 John 4:17 this will even be our disposition on the day of judgment.” Gary Burge
With 2:29 John draws an inference from the assumption that all his readers would agree with, namely, that God is righteous. In fact, God’s character and ways define what it is to be righteous. No one can bring some standard against which they evaluate God; God himself defines righteousness. John assumes his readers agree with this and states it as a general condition as he has previously done (see 1:6 – 10). From this assumption he infers that everyone who has been born of God lives righteously, as God defines righteous living. Karen Jobes
These verses teach us the reality of the return of Jesus to this earth and the importance of our watchfulness for his return. The second coming of Jesus is our incentive to practice righteousness, to live rightly. Think of how practical this doctrine of the second coming of Christ is to our daily behavior. If I know Jesus’ coming is imminent, how should I transact my business today? If I know his coming could occur at any moment, what kind of husband and father should I be? How will I conduct myself in my leisure time, at the ball game, at the office, in church, and a hundred other places if any moment the trumpet may sound announcing his appearing? It is impossible to stuff your sins in a dusty attic somewhere in a desperate attempt to hide them from the all-seeing eyes of Jesus at his second coming. The Biblical promise of the return of Christ is one of the best motives for holy living. - David L. Allen
For next week – Read 1 John 3:1-18 Pastor Samuel Sutter // sam@BBCCOnline.org
