Practicing Righteousness: Part 1 - 1st John Lesson 14

1 John 2:29-3:10

 I trust you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Last Sunday I took a break from our study of 1 John to focus on a Thanksgiving challenge. We saw from Romans 8:1-4 that we can be thankful because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is true because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. The law of God says that the soul that sins shall die. The wages of sin is death. No flesh is justified by the law of God because the law of God condemns us as sinners.

 But what the law could not do, because of the weakness of our flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. By doing this God satisfied the righteous demands of the law of sin and death. God condemned His righteous Son to death for our sins. When we repent and trust Christ and receive the gift of salvation, we do not fear condemnation. We fear no condemnation because we have been made righteous through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We stand before God clothed in the righteousness of the perfect Son of God.

 Our goal and objective in life, then, becomes clear. Because we are transformed through the work of grace, we live a new life. We have a new law, or operative principle working within us. We are set free from the law of sin and death because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ is now working in us. The Holy Spirit is our Companion, Teacher, and Guide. His indwelling presence convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment. He guides us into all the truth. He opens our eyes to the truth of God’s word. He is God’s indwelling presence confirming the work of justification and conducting the inevitable work of sanctification. We who are born of God will give evidence of this spiritual birth by the way we live. Spiritual birth will result in a new way of life. Positional, imputed righteousness will manifest itself in a practical righteousness.

 This is the theme of the next section of 1 John. Turn to 1 John 2:29. Those who decided on the chapter divisions in the Bible decided this verse goes with chapter 2, but I believe it goes with the first 10 verses of chapter 3. The theme of this next section of 1 John is the practice of righteousness. Verse 29 introduces us to this new theme.

John has emphasized repeatedly the importance of some kind of evidence other than the claims of our lips. He is not impressed by what we say, and we should not be either. John wants us to see the evidence. It doesn’t matter what we say about fellowship with God if we walk in darkness. It doesn’t matter what we say about our sin, if we do not confess and forsake it. It does not matter what we say we have come to know Jesus if we do not keep His commandments. Our words do not prove the reality of a transformed life. A transformed life must prove the reality of our words.

 John is writing all this so that we who believe in the name of the Son of God may know we have eternal life. (1 John 5:13) He has given us a series of tests. We have seen the fellowship test. If we have fellowship with Him we will walk in the Light as He is in the Light. We have seen the sin test. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, or have no sin at all, we make Him a liar and His truth is not in us. We have seen the obedience test. By this we know we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. We have seen the love test. The one who says he walks in the Light, but hates his brother, still walks in darkness. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light. We saw the love of the world test. If we love the world, or the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in us.

 You see just how black and white John is. He teaches this way in order that there is no room for deception in the hearts and minds of his readers. We are blessed to have such a clear proclamation of truth. In a world that hates absolutes, John is as absolute as they come. We need his perspective.

 In Chapter 2:24-28 we saw the importance of abiding in Jesus Christ and abiding in His truth. We looked at this in light of the teaching of Jesus from John 15. Jesus made clear the truth that if we abide in Him, and He abides in us, we bear much fruit, and in this is God glorified. John taught us in these verses that abiding in the truth is synonymous with abiding in Christ. The promise He has made to us is eternal life and this promise is made certain as we abide in Christ. Because we abide in Him, when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

 As we come to verse 29 we are introduced to the next theme of John’s letter, that of practicing righteousness. Let’s read through verse 3:10 and I want you to notice the emphasis on the practice of righteousness. The word “practice” is used 7 times in these 11 verses.

In John’s mind the practice of righteousness would logically follow instructions about abiding in Christ because abiding in Christ results in a fruitful life and the most important fruit produced in the life of one who abides in Christ is the fruit of righteousness. Some may argue and say that love is the most important fruit and I would not disagree, but righteousness must define our love. So, righteousness is the dominant fruit which will be evident in the life of one who abides in Christ.

 This morning I want to focus on the most important aspect of this section. This is the truth John states emphatically. His emphasis is stressed through the repetition of this point. What is the point John makes in these verses? It is the fact that our spiritual parentage will determine our practices. Our spiritual parentage will determine how we live. Those who are born of God will practice righteousness. Those who practice sin are of the devil. John also emphasizes the converse of this. Our practices reveal our spiritual parentage.

 Look at how many times and how many ways John stresses this in these 11 verses. He says in verse 29, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.” Our practices reveal our parentage. John makes the point again in verses 1-3 by telling us that as the children of God, and this we become by spiritual birth, we purify ourselves just as He is pure.

 In verse 4-6 John clearly distinguishes between those who practice sin and those who abide in Him. Verse 6 says, “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” Verse 7 states this again, “…the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” Verse 8 continues, “the one who practices sin is of the devil.” Verse 9 states with even more dogmatic clarity, “Now one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Verse 10 continues, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God…”

 If we are born of God we will practice righteousness. If we are not born of God, we are not going to practice righteousness. If we are not practicing righteousness, we are not born of God. If we practice sin, we are of the devil. Our spiritual parentage will determine our practice. Our practices reveal the truth concerning our spiritual parentage.

 At least once a day I hear these words from my wife, “That sounds just like something your dad would have said…” or “ you look just like your dad when you did that.” Many of you knew my dad. You know I am a lot like him. I’m built exactly like he was built. Many of my mannerisms are just like his were. I have had the knuckles replaced on the middle finger of both hands, the left hand first due to severe arthritis. My dad had severe arthritis in the middle fingers of both hands, the left one being worse than the right. I did not get just his physical traits. Unfortunately I inherited some other tendencies that I would rather have not gotten. There were some things about my dad that I wish I had gotten. If you were ever in his shop or garage you know they were both cleaner than many people’s kitchens. I did not get that trait, much to my wife’s chagrin. 

 I am not the only example of this. When I look at Caleb I see a lot of Craig. Katy is her mom Kathy basically replicated. When I see Nubbin’s children, I see way too much of Nubbin. When I look at my own children I see some of me and some of Donna. In my grandchildren I see their parents. Braden is a miniature Darren. Liam is a miniature Dustin. Jenna is Kara in tiny form.

 You know the point I am making with this. Our traits are determined to a large degree by our parentage. A lot of our practices are the direct result of our genetic code. John’s point in this section of Scripture is that this principle is operative in the spiritual realm. Those who are born of God will show themselves to be born of God by the practices of their lifestyles. Those who are of the devil will show this reality by the practices of sin. The children of God and the children of the devil will be obvious.

 We need to understand some of the key words in this section. Let’s begin by looking at the word “practice.” As I said, it is used 7 times in 11 verses. The Greek word is “poieo.” (poy-e-ow) This word describes a course of action or conduct. We use the word “practice” in essentially two ways. We use the word “practice” to describe something we do if we want to improve a skill. Caleb obviously spent a lot of time practicing the piano. This doesn’t capture the essence of the meaning of this word as John uses it here. The meaning is better captured by looking at another aspect of Caleb’s life. 

He practices law. He has chosen this profession as a course of action or conduct.

 Those who have been born of God, because He is righteous, will also be practicing righteousness. We choose righteousness as our course of conduct.

 Are we talking about perfection? We are not. We are talking about direction. The righteous course of conduct of the child of God will not be without sin completely. We will still sin. The question is not one of perfection but direction. Those who are born of God will walk in righteousness as a habit, as a lifestyle, as a course of action or conduct.

 The other key word is “righteousness.” The Greek term here is “dikaiosune.” (dik-eye-ow-soon-ay) In both the OT and NT, righteousness is conformity to all that God commands. Those who are called righteous are those who have conditioned their lives by the standard which is not theirs but God’s. These are the people who are related to God, and who, as a result of this relationship, walk with God. This is the person who is justified by faith and shows his faith by his works.

 One Greek scholar writes of the word “righteousness,” “In 1 John 2:29, the term righteousness designates the moral perfection of God in general as the type and ideal of all goodness in man. Since God is inherently righteous, those who are begotten of Him must also be righteous.”

 Verse 29 tells us that the one who practices righteousness is “born of Him.” The word could also be translated “begotten.” This word describes the work of God by which we are regenerated, sanctified, quickened anew, and given the gift of spiritual life. We are born of God and are the children of God. Because our spiritual Father is righteous, we will bear the likeness of our Father.

 If we are born of God we will bear the marks of this spiritual birth. If we do not bear the marks of spiritual birth, we are not born of God. Jesus said this in this way, “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16-20)

 There is another important emphasis in this section we must point out. It is the number of times John emphasizes “everyone” and “no one.” Jesus said, “Every good tree bears good fruit.” If every good tree bears good fruit, then is it possible to have a fruitless tree that is a good tree? He said clearly that the bad tree produces bad fruit. John must have been paying attention to Jesus.

John says in verse 29, “everyone who practices righteousness is born of God.” So is it possible to have someone who does not practice righteousness still be born of God? Not if every good tree bears good fruit. John said in verse 3, “everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself as He is pure.” The same is true of those who practice sin. Verse 4 says, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness…” When verse 8 says, “the one who practices sin is of the devil” John is saying that everyone who practices sin is of the devil. Verse 9 says again, “No one who is born of God practices sin.” Verse 10 says, “Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God.” 

I think John’s emphasis makes it clear. Our spiritual parentage will determine our practice. It will do so for everyone. Every one of my biological children bear the marks of their parents. Without exception you can look at my daughters and tell from their physical features and personality traits that I am their father and Donna is their mother. They bear the marks of their physical parentage. 

In the same way, John tells us, we will bear the marks of our spiritual parent. If we are a true child of God, our lives will show this with the practice of righteousness. If we are of our father the devil, our lives will show this with the practice of sin and lawlessness.

 One of the most popular things for people to do these days is a DNA test. You can submit a sample of something with your DNA and have it tested and it will show you a great deal about your ancestry. I haven’t done one yet. I’m not quite sure I want to know the results of my DNA test.

 When we come back to this passage again next week we are going to do a spiritual DNA test. We will unpack these verses and what we will see is going reveal the truth about our spiritual parentage. While we may not be interested in knowing the truth about our scientific DNA, we certainly must know the truth about our spiritual DNA.

 Sometimes these popular DNA tests are full of surprises. People don’t always turn out to be who they think they are. My hope is that as we look at the spiritual DNA test we confirm the truth. In fact, your genetic DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. I thought I could impress you with some old high school facts that stuck in this old brain. Your spiritual DNA stands for Do Not Argue. It is what it is. And it is good to know the results of this test while there is still time to remedy the problem, if there is a problem.