Born Ones Of God

(1 John 3:1 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Behold - Not translated in the NIV. It is the Greek word (idete, eido, i'-do), which means, "look at."

This word means, “behold you.” The writer wants everyone to take notice. Another way to put it is “Behold, all of you.” The young people used to say, “Yo!”

What is it that John wants us to see? What is it that John wants us to behold?

He wants us to behold or to see “what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us…”

The kind of love that John is talking about is a strange kind of love, an unusual kind of love, a kind of love to which we are not accustomed.

There is “fair-weather” love – When the storms come the love and the lover goes.

There is selfish love or love driven by selfish motives – As long as they are getting what they want they are around, but when the well dries up, they’re gone.

As long as you are 36-24-36 and a brick house he stays but if the foundation begins to shift, watch out!

The word “manner” speaks of something foreign. The first part of verse one could also be translated, “Behold, what foreign kind of love…”

It is an out of this world love. (i.e., other worldly)

It is not of this life or from this place. (i.e., unearthly)

John is in essence saying, You may have known the love of a mother, the love of the child and the love of a husband or wife but the love of God is on a different plane altogether!

God’s love is a:

Great love – Ephesians 2:4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”

Giving love – “For God so loved the world that He gave…”

Sacrificial love – “He gave His only, one of a kind, unique Son…”

Pursuing love - Hosea 11:4, “I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.”

On Time love - Romans 5:6-7 – “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”

Demonstrating love – Romans 5:8 – “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

An Enduring Love - Rom 8:35-39 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the love of God.

I’ve can remember the feeling I had as a boy when watching TV shows like Leave it to Beaver. I wanted a Dad who, like Ward Cleaver would talk with his boys and teach them things and warn them of danger and spend time with them. All I could do is look and dream.

If John would have penned the words, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has…” and stopped there all we would be able to do is look and dream. We would only be able to imagine His love from a distance, like the child who watches all the other children get ice cream from the ice cream truck.

But thankfully, John continues…

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us…

A minister one day sat in the vestry of his church to meet anyone who needed help with some difficult passages of Scripture. Only one came. "What are you having trouble with?" asked the minister. The man answered, "My problem is with the ninth chapter of Romans, where it says, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,'"

"Yes," said the minister, "that is a hard verse to understand; but which part of the verse is difficult for you?" The latter part, of course," said the man. "I cannot understand why God should hate Esau."

The minister replied, "That verse has given people trouble, but my difficulty has always been with the first part of the verse. I never could understand how God could love that wily, deceitful, supplanting scoundrel Jacob."

If we stopped to think about it, every one of us could say the same thing about ourselves. “How could God love a sinner like me?”