April 18, 2021 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Zoom Worship Recording, Sermon & Sermon Video Link

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https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/VlCSPqCh37r2LRezqwRFGU0-nRV0GIjbjTYhWdCa7D8jljCGN6xGUMkdg3oNY1PQ.G7T0MLnIga_9WBWO

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3^rd Easter                                                                                 04/18/21—Highland—Meute

“What We Will Be”

Psalm 4; I John 3: 1-7; Luke 24: 36b-48

Pearl: Being like Christ.

Function: To provide “Christ-likeness” as the ideal to which his followers aspire.

Children like to imagine and talk about what they want to be when they grow up.

1. It is a favorite question that adults like to ask children to get them thinking about the future. It is often asked in fun but behind it is actually a serious process that is beginning. It is never too early to begin to think about and to imagine the future.
2. The other day on the school bus one of the children asked that question out loud of the other students. I think it was seriously asked by the questioner.
   1.  Another student playfully said, “I want to be a fireman.” A classic desire of children. Then other kids joined in the fun and started saying various superheroes that they would like to become.
   1. Some of the more usual occupations were also listed like teacher, singer, doctor, but nothing really stuck out to me in my memory. I don’t think they took the question seriously.
   1. Since I drive the students to a Christian school I told them I was surprised none of them said they wanted to be a pastor.
3. The question of “what we will be” is actually an ongoing question for the follower of Christ.
   1. The power of the imagination is needed, as informed by the teachings of our Lord Jesus.
   1. The writer of I John suggested that we don’t fully know “what we will be” as it has not yet “been revealed.”
   1. We will not in this lifetime fully know what we will become. The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13 that we “see only in a mirror dimly…eventually we will fully know.” So there is this aspect of not knowing everything.
      1. Be skeptical of those who seem to know all that the future holds.
      1. We can only imagine what we will be as we mature more and more.
4. It is exciting and a true wonder to imagine what our identity will be in Christ, in God?

What we will be has not yet been revealed…how exciting!

In the “school of Christ” we are a “work in process.”

1. I like that notion of the “school of Christ.” I get it from Andrew Murray’s classic book: With Christ in the School of Prayer.
   1. The idea that we are students always learning and always in school is accurate and helpful.
   1. If anything it keeps us humble and humility is what we need concerning the things of God and the way of Christ.
2. But as followers of Christ there is the idea that we constantly grow in our relationship with Christ and as followers of Christ.
   1. The notion of “Christian perfection” is really about always growing. None will become perfect but by saying “perfection” it keeps us always and ever striving, never reaching but always trying.
      1. When we read in I John that “no one who abides in [Christ] sins” it is not meant to bring on a crisis of faith.
      1. Of course, those who claim to be followers of Christ do sin.
         1. The point is that we do not condone sin. We have a healthy desire to be good and to be in the Way of Jesus and to do the right thing.
            1. We call out unrighteous structures and systems and seek to reform them.
         1. In the first chapter it said those who say they have no sin are lying. So followers of Christ are always on a journey to become more like Christ.
   1. That is actually the answer given by the writer who asked the question, “What will we be?” The answer is that we will be like Christ.
      1. The very title “Christian” comes from the notion that Christ followers are “Little Christs.”
3. Being perfect is not about being without sin. It is about realizing that we are on a journey to become more like Christ, who is the epitome of perfection!

We do not know what we will be but we know that when Christ is revealed, we will be like him.

So the question is “What is Christ like?” After all, if we are to be like him we should constantly reflect on who he is and what he is about. What do we know from the witness of scripture?

1. He did not prop himself up but lifted others into better versions of themselves.
2. He did not approve of putting on the appearance of godliness but demanded true godliness.
   1. Following the law of God was not about the letter of the law but about following the spirit of the law.
3. He forgave freely, operating out of an abundance of grace.
4. He was full of compassion.
5. He sought a living, robust relationship with God as evidenced by his way of prayer and getting away to be alone with God, his heavenly parent.
6. He genuinely enjoyed being with people. He entered into friendships so fully with others that he was criticized for being a “friend of sinners.”
   1. Jesus did not countenance sin but he urged people to “go and sin no more.” But he kept no walls between his holy self and profane others.
7. Jesus, our Lord, had a soft spot in his heart for children but would never hurt them.
8. Jesus prayed for others, often healing them in the process. The point is that he prayed for others and so we do the same.
9. Jesus made it his business to learn what was written in the scriptures and to weigh them and synthesize them.
10.  Jesus met people where they were. He did not talk over them. He taught using everyday examples like “if you have faith as big as a tiny mustard seed you can tell this mountain to move and it will.”
11.  Jesus listened as much or more than he talked. As noted from his sham of a trial before Pontius Pilate.
12.  Jesus confronted the “powers” and they eventually put him to death. He spoke of a different kingdom and by doing so directly challenged the absolute sovereignty of Rome. He also challenged the “powers” within the faith—the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. He overturned tables in the temple because the poor were being robbed and the rich got richer off of their backs.
13.  And finally Jesus looked forward to a Day when all will be made right, all of the broken pieces of the world fixed.
    1. Feel free to write in the Chat what you think Christ is like.

Imagine what you can be in Christ! Imagine what the church can be for Christ! Imagine…

The story is told of two elderly men, roommates in a nursing home. One had recently gone blind and was living in quiet despair. He felt that life held little for him. He wanted only to die.

His roommate could see just fine, but he had trouble getting around. He rarely left his bed, which was next to the window of their room.

Neither one could remember how it happened, but one day the man who could see began describing to his roommate what was going on in the world outside their window. He told him of the mail carrier making his rounds; of neighbors walking their dogs; of the teenage boy and girl who passed the window every day after school — who first held hands, then embraced, then had an argument, then reconciled once again.

As the days went on, the blind man came to live for these updates from the outside world. His friend seemed to take such joy in it and had a real gift for describing what everything looked like.

Then one day his friend — who was much sicker than he had imagined — died. A new patient was wheeled in.

The blind man asked his new roommate if he would let him know what was happening outside the window.

“I’d be glad to,” said the roommate, “but I don’t know how I could do that. There’s nothing outside our window but a solid brick wall.”

The blind man was bewildered for a moment. He felt betrayed by his former friend. Had he been playing him for a fool? But then he realized, in a flash, what a precious gift his friend had given. He had spun, out of nothing but the stuff of his imagination, an entire world. He had dreamt up the mail carrier, and the neighbors, and the pair of teenage lovers — and he’d made those characters as real as if they’d lived outside that window, every day.

In that moment of revelation, the man realized there are things worse than having no sight. It is far worse to have no imagination, no inner vision.

Imagine what you can be in Christ Jesus! Dream it up in your mind’s eye and then live it!

You are growing up in Christ Jesus. What are you now and what will you be as Christ followers?

You will be like him…no more, no less!