Letters: In His Steps

James Watson

Letters • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Intro: I have an older brother. Which means for much of my life I have been the annoying younger brother.

Older brothers or any other person we think of as a role model will fall way short because they are still human and still plagued by the same problem that each of us has…sin.

We need a better role model.

Did you know that Jesus was an older brother? Earthly brothers.

But he has other brothers and sisters as well....us.

John 1:12–13 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

In , Paul tells us that that those have put their faith

Jesus is someone that we can and should model our love after. He is someone whose steps we should follow.

So what does it look like to be like Jesus?

Turn in your Bible’s to

1 John 2:1–11 ESV

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

If we want to follow Jesus, it doesn’t happen by accident. We need to be intentional. As we go through this life, you need to:

Big Idea: Watch your step.

One of the good things about having an older sibling is that you get to watch that older sibling acts and how your parents respond. They get in trouble for doing the wrong thing, you just do the right thing and get showered with praise.

Now as a parent, I realize that my second child gets away with way more stuff than my firstborn. Because we’re just exhausted.

But when it comes to Jesus, He was the perfect embodiment of what it meant to live up to God’s standards.

1. Keep a Check on your Sin.

1 John 2:1 ESV

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

John does’t want any misunderstanding here: sin is bad. But the beauty of the cross is that even though we will sin, when we do, we have an advocate in Jesus. Someone who mediates our case before God. He actually doesn’t declare us innocent. He actually declares us guilty but then says, I took the punishment so that they didn’t have to.

How many of you older siblings ever willingly took the punishment for a younger sibling. I’m not talking about when you go blamed. I’m saying that your little brother or sister broke something and you took the blame? Not many. Or how about even though they got caught and as your parents were about to punish them and like Katniss Everdeen, you jump in and volunteer as tribute? Probably less likely.

I don’t think there is anyone who understands the consequences of sin more than Jesus? Knowing that we were guilty, He literally jumped in a voluntarily paid the punishment for our sins. That’s what propitiation means. He took God’s wrath so that we wouldn’t have to.

That’s what it means that God loves us. And this should motivate us to keep a check on our sin.

In our sin....we truly should watch our step knowing that it was our sin that nailed him to the cross.

That’s what propitiation means.

2. Test your relationship with God

1 John 2:3–5 ESV

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But what are Jesus’ commandments?

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

Jesus was the perfect embodiment of these commands.

vs. 7-11 outline this a little more. Sin is very closely tied to our relationships. First our relationship with God. And second our relationship with others.

3. Walk like Jesus

1 John 2:6 ESV

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

So how did Jesus walk?

For many of us the idea of living up to Jesus’ standard seems crazy? None of us will ever measure up. But when we fail we still have an advocate who took care of our mess ups.

But Jesus has left us an example of what it means to follow Him.

Jesus has so many demands on Him. Heal this person. Preach here. Come here. Have mercy on me Jesus? He had Pharisees to rebuke. Sinners to call to repentance. He had a pretty busy schedule. But he always made time for prayer.

He never sinned. He hated sin. He was tempted, yet without sin. If we want to keep a check on our sin, we should follow Jesus.

Jesus was humble. As God in the flesh, king over all creation, he could have demanded His rights, but never did? To follow Jesus is to care more about eternity than this world.

He was a servant; even to the point of washing His disciples feet. he could have demanded to be served, but he didn’t.

Jesus showed compassion on others. Whether they were sick or extremely sinful, Jesus had a profound sense of compassion.

Reflection: Do you really want to be more like Jesus?

Do you find excuses to repeatedly miss time with God whether person or on Sunday morning?

Do you intentionally enter situations where you know you’ll be tempted to sin?

Do you hold grudges against people and dismiss others complaints against you as petty and judgmental?

Do you constantly keep your faith to yourself so as not to offend others?

Do you love your neighbor enough to share your faith as well as your help?

Do you fight for your rights at the expense of others?

Do you demand to be served because you’ve earned it?

Do you judge others by their actions but yourself by you’re intentions.

THEN YOU ARE NOT BECOMING MORE LIKE JESUS!!!

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