Last summer I preached a series on these last lines from 1 John 4:17. Here is the verse in its entirety.

By this is love perfected in us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:17 (ESV)

We looked at the first part of this, “as Jesus is,” and noted our need to learn all we can about Him. Practically speaking that means we need to be people to study to learn all we can about Jesus for how can we be like Him if we don’t know anything about Him.

“So also are we,” is the second challenge in this short little ending. This is the transformation that needs to take place in all of us as we become more like Jesus. We take what we learn about Jesus and incorporate it into our lives. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean we show up on at church on Sundays and do all the right things. It is about becoming like Him in every aspect of our being.

Finally we see a location in which we are to be like Jesus. We have often taken “in this world” and rendered it to mean in our own little family of friends or even our church community. But this world is a big place and for far too long we have failed to live out our faith in the everyday world in which we find ourselves. We need to stop compartmentalizing our spiritual lives. This verse instructs us to live out our faith out in the world.

As we enter 2008 I want the end of this verse to be our motto. We need to be committed to these three aspects of the life of a follower of Jesus. Please join us as we strive to be like Jesus in this world.

© 2006-2008 Zanesville United Brethren Church