Are You Acting Like God's Kids?

September 13, 2009

Morning Worship

Text: 1 John 2:28-3:10

Subject: The Children of God

Title: Are You Acting Like God’s Kids?

You’ve seen it before. It has become part of our cultural experience. You are walking through Wal-Mart and one aisle over from the green beans you hear a blood curdling scream from the three year old from Hades.

“I want …..”!

“Now Susie don’t make a scene.”

“Whaaaaaaaa”

“Come on Momma’s little angel. Stop crying and we’ll talk about it.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaa … You’re not the boss of me!”

“OK. What kind of candy do you want? Just this one time OK?”

Wow, that wasn’t so bad was it? It didn’t last as long as I thought it would. At least that’s what you thought until in the check out line little Susie and her demon spirit of “I Want” and her mother with the spirit of “whatever you say” fall in right behind you and Suzie is grabbing every item in the checkout lane. “I want, I want, I want…” everything from the National Enquirer to AAA batteries.

Don’t look at me like that. We’ve all been there and we all know what we want to do with Susie. Unfortunately there seem to be laws against such things. The real problem is that Mom doesn’t have the necessary parenting skills to handle the situation properly. Even though she wants Suzie to be the perfect little girl, she’s not sure how it will ever happen.

The Christian world is full of children like that. Many think that they can get whatever they need or want from God by crying, screaming or making demands, without any consideration for what God is asking from them. I want you to understand what I am saying. God has given us many great and precious promises – things that He desires that we have. He has given us His word on it. Now some are good children and are obedient and receive those promises. Others pay no regard to God’s word and make demands for things that aren’t promised and then throw a fit when they don’t get it.

Today I want to look at what it means to be a child of God and what is required of you in order to receive His promises.

1 John 2:28-3:10

Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the spirit is saying to the church.

Are you a child of God?

I. The Confidence of God’s Children (28-29) Look at 2:28, And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. The first thing to notice in this verse is that John reminds us that we are God’s children. Then John says that as children of God, when Jesus appears we can be confident and unashamed. That is talking about when Jesus comes at the rapture of the church. It is then that the dead in Christ will rise and we who are left will be caught up with them in the air… So as children of God we have the assurance that we will be with Him. Sounds good right? But there is a little contingency clause in there that we tend to overlook. And now, dear children, continue in him,… You can only be confident in your relationship with God by continuing in Christ. The word that is translated “continue” means “to stay in a given place, a given state, a given relationship or a given expectancy.” In John 8:31-32, 31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, (NKJV says , “if you abide in My word”) you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Verse 29, If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. The word translated “know” does not refer to knowledge but to perception. “If you perceive he is righteous…” … everyone who does what is right… What is right in God’s eyes? Is it keeping the commandments? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything? Those are the things that keep you from being righteous. Everyone who does what is right refers to obtaining the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. If you then do what is righteous – that means being made righteous – then you are born of God and have become children of God. It is up to you to continue in Him and show yourself to be His children by your faith and your works. Ephesians 2:10, For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.