INTRO.- How great is the love.
ILL.- An old man and woman were married for many years even though they hated each other. When they had a confrontation, screams and yelling could be heard deep into the night. A constant statement was heard by the neighbors who feared the man the most. He said, "When I die I will dig my way up and out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!"
They believed he practiced black magic and was responsible for missing cats and dogs, and strange sounds at all hours. He was feared and enjoyed the respect of others.
He died suddenly under strange circumstances and the funeral had a closed casket. After the burial, the wife went straight to the local bar and began to party as if there was no tomorrow.
The enjoyment of her actions were becoming extreme while her neighbors approached in a group to ask these questions: Are you not afraid,concerned or worried that this man who practiced black magic and stated when he died he would dig his way up and out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life?
The wife put down her drink and said, "Let the jerk dig. I had him buried upside down."
Remember that song? What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. What the worlds need now, is God's sweet love.
ILL.- Max Lucado relates this story. When Catherine Lawes' husband, Lewis, became the warden on Sing Sing prison in 1921, she was a young mother of three daughters. Everybody warned her never to step foot inside the walls. But she didn't listen to them. When the first prison basketball game was held, in she went, three girls in tow, and took a seat in the bleachers with the inmates.
When she heard that one convicted murderer was blind, she taught him Braille so he could read. Upon learning of inmates who were hearing impaired, she studied sign language so they could communicate. For sixteen years Catherine Lawes softened the hard hearts of the men of Sing Sing.
The prisoners knew something was wrong when Lewis Lawes didn't report to work. Quickly the word spread that Catherine had been killed in a car accident. The following day as the acting warden took his early morning walk, he noticed a large gathering at the main gate. Every prisoner pressed against the fence. Eyes awash with tears. Faces solemn. No one spoke or moved.
The warden made a remarkable decision. “All right, men, you can go. Just be sure to check in tonight.” These were America's hardest criminals. But the warden unlocked the gate for them, and they walked without escort or guard to the home of Catherine Lawes to pay their last respects. And each one returned.
Real love changes people. That's genuine love. That's true love.
PROP.- In our text, John speaks of the greatness of God’s love for us.
1- How great - we shall be called children
2- How great - we shall see Him as He is
3- How great - we shall be like Him
I. HOW GREAT - WE SHALL BE CALLED CHILDREN
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
ILL.- Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his boots? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn't want to go on. When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost blew up when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked and sure enough, they were.
It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet. He then announced, "These aren't my boots."
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream,"Why didn't you say so?" like she wanted to.
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear them."
She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, "Now, where are your mittens?"
Children will be children. Yes, we will. What? Are we not still children? Are we not children of His? And do we not do silly things at times? YES!
But thank God, praise God, that we are His children! I’d rather be His than a child of the devil!
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Has His love been lavished on you? If you don’t think you have then perhaps you need to sit down and take inventory of every good and perfect gift God has given you. And of course, the greatest gift or blessing is that of Jesus. Without Him there would be nothing! And certainly no promise of eternal life.
Do you realize that God didn’t have to save us? He owes us nothing even though He created us. We owe Him greatly, but He owes us nothing. And God didn’t have to bless us materially either. His blessings are not related to our good looks, intelligence or anything else that we might consider good about ourselves! HIS GIFTS ARE A DIRECT RESULT OF WHO HE IS!
How great is His love! How great is His love that we should be His children and called His children. That has a nice ring to it. CHILDREN OF GOD! I’m a child of God! There is no better parentage! You may or may not like your ancestry, but the best is from above!
And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
The world doesn’t take kindly to Christian people, haven’t you noticed?
ILL.- We read all the time in the news where the government or late night TV comedians orHollywood, etc. are constantly opposing Christ, Christians, and Christianity. They don’t want “In God we Trust” on our money. They don’t want the nativity scene displayed anywhere, even in our front yards. They don’t want to hear the name of Jesus used in prayers. They don’t want to see any kind of Christian signs or scripture displayed at ball games or anywhere else. YOU NAME IT, AND THE WORLD OPPOSES CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY.
But praise God, how great is His love that we should be called the children of God!
II. HOW GREAT - WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS
2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. How great is God’s love in that we shall see Him as He is some day.
ILL. - One day at a busy airport, the passengers on a commercial airliner are seated waiting for the pilot to show up so they can get under way.
The pilot and copilot finally appear in the rear of the plane and begin walking up to the cockpit through the center aisle. Both appear to be blind; the pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle. The copilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with sunglasses.
At first, the passengers do not react thinking that it must be some sort of practical joke. After a few minutes though, the engines start revving, and the airplane begins moving down the runway.
The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness. They start whispering among themselves and look desperately to the stewardesses for reassurance.
Yet, the plane starts accelerating rapidly, and people begin panicking. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, the voices are becoming more and more hysterical.
When the plane has less than twenty feet of runway left, there is a sudden change in the pitch of the shouts as everyone screams at once. At the very last moment, the plane lifts off and is airborne. Up in the cockpit, the copilot breathes a sigh of relief and tells the pilot: "You know, one of these days the passengers aren't going to scream, and we aren't going to know when to take off!"
There are probably several applications to this cute story: no one wants to fly with a blind pilot, And no one wants to go through life in blindness and yet, we all do in several ways: We are often blind to the right way in life. DID YOU EVER MAKE A BAD DECISION OR WRONG DECISION? Who hasn’t? We all wish we could go back and make some changes.
We are often blind to God’s will in life, because we either fail to read His Word and go by it or else we just stubbornly choose our own way in life. WE’RE ALL GUILTY. We don’t always live by the BOOK!
We are often blind to seeing God. It’s true that we cannot see God literally but we can see Him through the eyes of faith.
Gen. 5:21-24 “21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
Heb. 11:5 “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.”
I have often been fascinated by this character Enoch who walked with God. How did he do that? What did he do in this walk? I assume he walked and talked with God. God was his constant companion and friend. Could this be? And could this be for us as well? Is a closer walk with God possible? Can we allow God to be our constant companion?
I don’t know why not. And it can only happen through faith. We can only see God today through faith. The human eye is limited but our faith is only limited by us.
I want to see God, don’t you? I want to see Him through the eyes of faith. I want to walk with Him by faith. I want to talk to Him in faith and I do. When I talk to Him I fully trust and believe He is there, listening to my every word. How great to know Him and walk with Him!
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
When the Lord appears some day we should see Him as He really is! WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE WHEN MY SAVIOR I SHALL SEE!
And how great is His love that enables this to happen!
III. HOW GREAT - WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
How great to know that some day we shall be like Him.
ILL.- But I always wanted to be like Leonard Franklin Slye! Who’s that? Roy Rogers. And when I was a youngster I always wanted to be like Roy Rogers. He was the king of the cowboys! He was handsome, could sing beautifully (or so I thought), could shoot and ride better than any other cowboy, etc. HE WAS THE BEST OF THE BEST!
As you know, Rogers and Evans were also well known as advocates for adoption and as founders and operators of children's charities. They adopted several children. Both were outspoken Christians. WHY CAN’T I BE LIKE ROY ROGERS?? I can.
I Corinthians 11:1 “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ. Follow me in the ways that I follow.”
He could have said, “I don’t do everything Christ wants me to do but I do in some ways and in those ways, you can follow me.”
So I can be like Roy Rogers in the ways he followed Christ:godliness, decency, faithfulness, etc. And this sounds pretty good but there is something better. There is someone better!
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
We have the promise that some day we will be like Him. How?
Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Some day we’ll have a glorious body like His: no aches, no pains, no diseases, no aging, etc. No band aids in heaven! No pills, no chemo, no blood pressure medication, etc. you name it.
But there is something better than can happen right now. WE CAN BE LIKE HIM SOMEWHAT IN THIS LIFE!
3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
We can imitate the purity of Jesus. How pure? Perfectly pure. Three scriptures speak of Christ’s purity.
II 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.”
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
I Peter 2:21-22 “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
We should truly follow in His steps in regard to holiness and purity. How can we do this? Have the right model and keep working at it. Practice makes perfect. Practice will definitely make us more holy with God’s help. Look to Christ. Ask for His help and the help of His Spirit and keep walking the walk as best you can! God will do a good work in you! How great is His love that we can be like Him!!
CONCLUSION---------------
How great is the love of God! Great enough to create us, protect us, provide for us, sustain us, AND SAVE US!
John 3:16 Say it. Memorize it. Believe it. Live by it.
