1 John 2:1-11

man, i don’t know about you, but i’m lovin’ going through 1 john!  i have read this letter pretty much my whole life, but this is the first time i have ever preached through it and i am seeing things that i have never seen before.  i hope that’s true for you.

the thing that stood out to me in this passage was how john writes an old command (love god…love others), but then tells how jesus has come along and re-shaped the command into a new one…a love that is defined by the life of jesus and a command for his followers to imitate that love.

jesus showed us how to love by the way he lived his life…how to serve others, to give unselfishly, to preach the gospel, to teach the principles of kingdom living, to forgive, to heal, to have compassion, to be moved to action.

in his death we see that love means to sacrifice, to have a purpose, to pay the price, to stay the course, to run into difficulty and not away from it, to obey god no matter what.

whoever claims to live in him must walk as jesus did.  yep.  that’s what he said.

so here’s a couple of questions for you to think about:

• do you consciously try to live like jesus?
• is that a realistic a realistic standard?
• what would happen if you really made this a priority?
• would life get better or would it mess up your life plans?
• would jesus live like you?
• is that a fair question?

what do you think?