Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Thursday, 11 July 2024 10:29

As He Is, So Also Are We In This World
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

As we near the end of 1 John with only one chapter left to go, we come across one of my favorite statements in this letter, “as He is, so also are we in this world,” (1 John 4:17, NASB). There are several issues in this letter that John repeats often in typical John fashion, such as the subject of putting away sin and walking in His righteousness. He also discusses the subject of walking in His love, as well as confessing His Son. All of these are descriptive of the character of the God who created us and sent His Son in love to redeem us. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are born again and begin to grow in the nature and character of God as we show forth that godly character to a lost and sinful world.
Where I pastor, we began this past Sunday what will be many months in 1 Corinthians. If you are familiar with the Bible, you know that Corinth was a very dysfunctional church. They were suffering from many issues, and Paul wrote to deal with those issues. If you were to sum up all their problems, it would best be described in this way, “As the Lord had planted His Church in the city of Corinth, the city of Corinth had planted its godless culture into the Church.” They were a reflection of the culture around them, rather than reflecting God who had saved them.

There are many who lead the Church in great error today. They are convinced that the more the Church looks like the world the greater the impact will be. Nothing could be further from the truth. The impact the church is called to have in the world is directly proportional to its difference from the world, not the similarities. The reason that it is the difference that impacts the world, rather than the similarities, is because God is all-together different from us. God is holy, and this world hates holiness and God (John 15:18-19). So for the Church to impact the world, it must look like God and not the world. Which brings me to this thought, where should you go to church? If the church you attend is changing with the culture around it, it is time for you to go. If the church you attend is striving to look more like the God who sent His Son to save it, go as often as you possibly can.

Hopefully I have created a problem in your mind. How can a sinful and worldly people look like the Holy God? In 1 John 2, John’s word of instruction was for us to “abide” or “remain” in God. And how were we to do that? By putting away sin in our life, pursuing righteousness, loving others like He loves, and confessing Christ. But in 1 John 4, John puts the emphasis on God abiding in us. But how? How are we to abide in God, and how does God abide in His people? By His Holy Spirit (1 John 3:24, 4:13). John does not say a great deal about the Holy Spirit, but what he does say is of incredible importance.

In our day, the Holy Spirit is either not talked about, or He is relegated to the mystical producer of odd powers. But John manages to steer us through the mystical fog that some have created around the third person of the Trinity. The primary function of the Holy Spirit is to produce the character of God in the children of God. He is the very reason that we can know that we abide in God and that He abides in us (1 John 4:13). He produces love in us (1 John 4:12). He produces the faithful confession of Christ in us (1 John 4:15). He produces obedience to His commands in us (1 John 3:24). So it is through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives that enables us to pursue this wonderful reality… “as He is, so also are we in this world,” (1 John 4:17, NASB).