What does it mean to thrive? The dictionary definition is to grow vigorously. What does it mean to thrive as a Christian? Thriving as a Christian means growing vigorously in a life of abundance, grace, and purpose, reflecting God's love and pursuing His will. It involves actively growing spiritually, mentally, physically, and in relationships, while contributing to the world through unique talents and gifts. Thriving means trusting God's plan, accepting His grace, and finding joy in His provision. What is the ultimate objective of thriving, of growing vigorously? Our lives would be transformed into the very image of Jesus.
The Apostle John wrote at least three letters to his church, seeking to help the members thrive and become like Jesus. In his first letter, John repeatedly used one word to describe the image of Jesus they were to seek. That word was righteous. To be righteous was John’s simple moral image. John described the righteous or righteousness as one who lived in the light of Christ. It was a life separated from the darkness of evil. It was an image centered upon the truth of Jesus, separated from the antichrist's lies. John described that image as one born from above, not an image one could acquire through one’s efforts. That birth from above came about through the love of God.
John wrote, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). John reminded his readers, and now us, that all things good come from God, and the best thing God could do for us was to make us His children. What does John mean by being called children of God? One commentator put it this way. In antiquity, the mother was considered the one who gave birth to a child. It was, however, the father who gave life to a child. In antiquity, the father decided whether a newborn would live or be abandoned. The mother gave birth, but the father gave life. John’s words, “we should be called children of God,” follow that ancient context in that God had chosen to be the giver of life to us and call us His children. We live because God is the giver of life, calling us his children. We see this thought in John’s gospel, “12 But to all who did receive him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
How often have we thought about that point? Our existence, as God’s children, is only through the will of God. What is it that moves God to be our life givers? John said it is simply the love of God. We will have more to say and think about God’s love next week. But for today, we see that John was making clear that the foundation of our thriving, the foundation of our life, is not our own doing; it is God’s.
This is such a simple truth, yet many people miss it. Too many people I meet believe that being a “good person” is the key to thriving and is the key to heaven. I once counseled a woman, a casual Roman Catholic, who was concerned about death. This woman said, “I just hope I have done enough good things to get into heaven.” I said, “Oh, I can answer that question for you.” She said, “You can?” I said, “Certainly. You have not done enough good things to get into heaven. No one can. Eternal life is not something we can earn. Eternal life is a gift from God that we must accept.” After that exchange, we had a good conversation about accepting the love of God to become His children, and in that, we have eternal life.
What, then, does God require of His children? John shared with us these thoughts, “7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he [Jesus] is righteous” (1 John 3:7). What God requires of His children is to be right, practice righteousness, in the same manner that Jesus did. To thrive and grow vigorously, we must live our given life in the pattern of righteousness of Jesus. What then is that pattern of right behavior?
John gave us some key things to consider. First, John said, “8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin” (1 John 3:8-9a). We must first reject sin just as Jesus rejected sin. I thought, “John, could you have started with something a little easier than not sinning? Could you have started with something like being kind or compassionate? Why must you start with the fact that we must not sin?” John could not start anywhere else because John needed to make clear we were called out of the world, out of the darkness, into the light, from the impurities of sin, and into the holiness of God. Therefore, sin cannot be part of our lives.
How do we reject sin as Jesus did? In what way did Jesus show us how to reject sin? It was in this way. Jesus lived, spoke, and acted in ways that glorified God. This is how Jesus rejected sin. Jesus' approach in every setting of every day was to do what glorified God.
Some people wear wristbands with the initials, “WWJD,” meaning “What Would Jesus Do.” They do so as a means of guiding their thinking about a decision. This is not a bad approach to life. But if you like wearing wristbands, I think there is a better one to wear, “DWGG,” meaning “Do What Glorifies God.” I believe this is a better thought because every time Jesus spoke or acted, he did so to glorify God. If we make our decisions consciously by doing and saying what glorifies God, then we have necessarily rejected sin. To reject sin, we should learn to pause momentarily and say to ourselves “DWGG,” “Do What Glorifies God,” or more simply “GG,” “Glorify God,” and then act or speak accordingly. To glorify God is to reject sin, practicing righteousness just like Jesus did.
Secondly, John said, “11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:11-13). John referred back to the book of Genesis and the first human murder in which Cain killed his brother Abel. “Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right [reject sin], will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right [reject sin], sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’ 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:2b-8). Abel had glorified God, and Cain had not. God spoke to Cain and said, “All is forgiven. Just practice righteousness, do what is right.” Cain would not reject sin. Cain would not glorify God. When the chance came, Cain, representing worldliness, killed his brother, Abel, who represented righteousness. In his letter to his church, John said, first reject sin, practice righteousness, and then love one another, love other believers in Christ.
My experience has been that most Christians do not understand that the call here is to love other believers specifically. Far too many Christians believe these words mean we should love everyone. John’s point is that the foundation of God’s children is their love for each other.
We might ask, “Is it bad to love everyone?” The answer, of course, is “No,” it is not. But what tends to happen when we approach life with a “love everyone” approach is that we don’t love anyone. Too often, the “love everyone” approach leads Christians to be critical of other Christians while being kind to those they do not know. One pastor said the “love everyone” approach results in the condition that “The Christian army is the only army that shoots and buries its wounded.” It is a tough statement, but I have witnessed greater grace given to people of the world than to brothers and sisters in Christ. That is not what John says we should do as God’s children.
While struggling with imperfections, the church, brothers and sisters of Christ, and children of God should be unique in their compassion and support for those of the church who are hurting or struggling. The church should be seen as a place of healing and forgiveness, even when its members fall short. Jesus said to his disciples, “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Our love, Jesus said, and John reiterates in his letter, must be poured out onto our brothers and sisters of the church. It should be unmistakable to the world that we love each other. This is right. Doing so glorifies God. When we love each other, we all thrive in Christ. We cannot neglect our outreach, but outreach to the world should be founded upon a loving right relationship with each other.
John pressed this point further, saying, “16 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 and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18). Righteousness, acting as Jesus, requires us to be generous with each other. We must be generous with our time, talents, treasure, and tears towards each other first and foremost. We must reject sin, practice righteousness by doing what glorifies God, and then love each other generously.
Finally, I want to address one more point about doing what is right. John said, “1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3). We need to test the spirit. What does John mean? Very simply, we must test whether what we receive from others about Jesus is true by the truth of the Scriptures. You cannot and should not accept the authority of anyone, including me, as preaching the truth. What is shared with us must be valid according to the Scripture. Why Scripture? Because Scripture tells us, “15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-17a). We must understand that some would like to lead us astray. It has been that way since Adam and Eve with the deceiver. We must test what is said to us against what God’s Word tells us.
What does it mean to thrive? Thriving as a Christian means growing vigorously in a life of abundance, grace, and purpose, reflecting God's love and pursuing His will. What is the ultimate objective of thriving, of growing vigorously? Our lives would be transformed into the very image of Jesus. We will become people who reject sin and do whatever glorifies God. We will become people who love brothers and sisters of Christ, displaying to the world the joy of the Lord and what it means to be a Christian. We will be discerning. We will know what is true and misleading because we will check everything against Scripture. This is the life that God desires for us. In such a life, we do not exist, but we thrive. Amen and Amen.