Text:\u00a0 1 John 2: 1-6<\/p>\n
Do you know Jesus?\u00a0 What do you mean Pastor? \u00a0<\/em>I ask you again.\u00a0 Do you know Jesus?\u00a0 Lots of people claim to know him.\u00a0 Well what do you mean? Pastor.\u00a0\u00a0 I come to his church.\u00a0 I listen to his Word.\u00a0 I partake of his Supper.<\/em><\/p>\n But friend, do you know him?\u00a0 Do we really know him as the Lord and Savior of our life?\u00a0 Or is Jesus kind of like that sister or brother who lives nearby but we hardly ever see.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth thinking about.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth looking at our hearts and lives and asking ourselves.\u00a0 Do I know him?\u00a0 This Word of God points us in that direction.<\/p>\n You see:<\/p>\n To Know Jesus, to really know Him \u00a0is\u2026<\/strong> Before we talk about where he stands, let\u2019s think about ourselves.\u00a0 Where do we stand on our own?\u00a0 John begins here by saying:\u00a0 I write this to you so that you will not sin.<\/span> Much of God\u2019s word trains us how to live a righteous life.\u00a0 It shows us the way to go and warns us against the way not to go.\u00a0\u00a0 I write this to you so that you will not sin.<\/span><\/p>\n But of course, we know how we come here today.\u00a0 The usher would look at us funny if we came here carrying a white plastic bag full of trash.\u00a0 With a bag containing moldy bread, spoiled food and stuff we have no use for.\u00a0 Yet in a way, that\u2019s how each of us comes before the Lord.\u00a0 Except our bag contains something far worse.\u00a0 The impatience, the anger, the lack of love, the selfishness, the lust \u00a0that we have allowed to be part of our lives.\u00a0 So where do we stand on our own?\u00a0 The tax collector said it well:\u00a0 God have mercy on me, a sinner.<\/span><\/p>\n But what a friend we have in Jesus\u00a0 And don\u2019t get the wrong idea.\u00a0 Years ago, I heard a man say that Jesus gave me a second chance.\u00a0 A second chance to do what?\u00a0 Get it right this time?\u00a0 Make myself worthy of God.\u00a0 My problem is that he could give me hundreds of chances and I still would not get it right.<\/p>\n To know Jesus, to really know him is to know where he stands.\u00a0 He stands with us, sinners. Listen:\u00a0 But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense\u2014Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. <\/span>What does that mean?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean that Jesus says, I know he\u2019s sinned but think of his other good qualities<\/em>. It means that Jesus can speak in our defense because he lived a perfect life in our place.\u00a0 His righteous life counts for you and me. So marvel at where he stands.\u00a0 He stands with us and more.<\/p>\n 2 <\/sup>He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world<\/span>. There is something here the church today is reluctant to talk about. The wrath of God.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s buried in that expression, atoning sacrifice. The righteous anger of God against the evil of mankind.\u00a0 Every now and then we see it break out.\u00a0 In a flood that destroyed the ancient world.\u00a0 In an Assyrian army that swept away the northern kingdom of Israel after years of warning.\u00a0 In a final day of judgment to come.\u00a0 And we are warned about it in the letter to the Hebrews:\u00a0 It is a dreadful thing \u00a0to fall into the hands of the living God.\u00a0 (10:31)<\/span> So to know Jesus, to really know him is to marvel at where he stands.\u00a0 It is to marvel at where he stood for us.\u00a0 2 <\/sup>He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins<\/span>,\u00a0 He is One who took away God\u2019s wrath.\u00a0 He is the One who suffered it in our place.<\/p>\n I have a Jewish friend who just observed Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.\u00a0 Many observe that day, by fasting, prayer and seeking to make things right with people they have wronged.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what God commanded his Old Testament people to do.\u00a0 On that day, the High Priest was to enter the most sacred place in the temple to atone for the sins of the people.\u00a0 There he would bring the blood of a goat sacrificed for sin and sprinkle that blood on the atonement cover of the ark.<\/p>\n Yet this we know.\u00a0 This the Bible teaches.\u00a0 The lifeblood of some animal could never take away any one\u2019s guilt or punishment.\u00a0 Those things were shadows of what our God would one day do for us all. He gave his Son to stand under his judgment and suffer what we deserve that we could be free.\u00a0 Free from guilt, free from fear, free from the curse of death.\u00a0 He gave his Son that we could be called children of God.\u00a0 To know Jesus, to really know Him is to marvel at that.\u00a0 To marvel at where he stands.\u00a0 He stands with us, this One who stood in our place.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been reading a book about Dietrich Bonheoffer.\u00a0 He was a Lutheran pastor who lived in Nazi Germany.\u00a0 He was one of the few who spoke out against the treatment of the Jews.\u00a0 His life is quite a story and so too his death at the hands of the Nazis.<\/p>\n Bonheoffer saw something in the church of his day, which troubled him. He called it cheap grace.\u00a0 A kind of grace that doesn\u2019t ask anything, produce any kind of change in a person\u2019s life.\u00a0 But of course, that\u2019s not the person who knows Jesus.\u00a0 You see, when Jesus becomes the Savior of our lives, we also look to Jesus as the Lord of our lives.\u00a0 So to know Jesus, to really know him, is to walk where Jesus leads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Once in a while I have this sad conversation. A church member is living in some kind of sin.\u00a0 He or she has made choices that God\u2019s Word clearly says are wrong.\u00a0 Maybe someone has left their spouse and family and moved in with someone else.\u00a0 Maybe someone stops gathering with his brothers and sisters in Christ to hear God\u2019s Word and receive the sacrament of Christ\u2019s body and blood.\u00a0 The pastor points out his concern.\u00a0 He then hears their excuses for what is clearly wrong.\u00a0 And then you might hear something like this. But I still consider myself a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 apostle speaks to that in no uncertain terms.\u00a0 4 <\/sup>The man who says, \u201cI know him,\u201d but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him<\/span>.\u00a0 For what did Jesus say?\u00a0 If you love me, you will obey my commands.<\/span><\/p>\n We see that in our Old testament lesson with Joseph.\u00a0 When tempted, he refused to dishonor God by breaking the 6th<\/sup> commandment.\u00a0 You shall not commit adultery.<\/em> For to love the Lord, to know Him, to really know him is to obey his commands. It\u2019s to walk where he lead us.<\/strong><\/p>\n Well one command that Jesus spoke loud and clear is this.\u00a0 That we love another.\u00a0 John spends much of this letter talking about that one command.\u00a0 In fact, Jesus said, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love another.<\/span><\/p>\n What does that mean for us?\u00a0 It means much more than a kind greeting on a Sunday morning.\u00a0 It means that we find ways to serve one another.\u00a0 Here I think of a 90 something year old lady who still takes care of the candles and paraments and offers a ride to church. She knows that to love one another means to serve one another.<\/p>\n It also means we take an interest in one another.\u00a0 We have a loving concern for one another, the same kind of loving concern our Lord has for us.\u00a0 Who have you called this week?\u00a0 Who have you visited?\u00a0 Do you know what your brothers and sisters are dealing with in their life?\u00a0 How then can you pray for them?\u00a0 How then, can you help them?\u00a0 Think about John\u2019s words from chapter 3.\u00a0 16 <\/sup>This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. <\/span>17 <\/sup>If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? <\/span>18 <\/sup>Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth<\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s the love that Jesus calls for.\u00a0 That the way Jesus would have us walk.\u00a0 And what are we told:\u00a0 5 <\/sup>\u2026 if anyone obeys his word, God\u2019s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet sometimes that love is lacking,\u00a0isn’t\u00a0it?\u00a0 Too often. \u00a0We get careless.\u00a0 We walk around with wrong attitudes. We let each other down.\u00a0\u00a0 We sin.\u00a0 So maybe you wonder.\u00a0 Do I know Jesus?\u00a0 Do I really know him?\u00a0 These words are for you.\u00a0 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense\u2014Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. <\/span>2 <\/sup>He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world<\/span>.\u00a0 (1,2)\u00a0 How blessed we are know him.\u00a0 Now let us live like we do.\u00a0 \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 1 John 2: 1-6 Do you know Jesus?\u00a0 What do you mean Pastor? \u00a0I ask you again.\u00a0 Do you know Jesus?\u00a0 Lots of people claim to know him.\u00a0 Well what do you mean? Pastor.\u00a0\u00a0 I come to his church.\u00a0 I listen to his Word.\u00a0 I partake of his Supper. But friend, do you know him?\u00a0 Do we really know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI. \u00a0To marvel at where He stands
\nII. To walk where he leads<\/p>\n