TEXT: 1st John 3:1-10
TITLE: Children of God
SERIES: Letters from John
TOPIC: becoming a child of God
OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, Feb 13, 2011
PROP.: The 9th message in this series; John is declaring that as God’s children
INTRODUCTION: Good morning!
Our text this morning is found in 1st John 3:1-10. Please open your Bible and prepare to follow along this morning.
Let’s read our text this morning:
1st John 3:1-10
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Let’s stop right there for a moment. Wow. An entire sermon could be preached on this single verse. The reason I want to stop at this point is because often times we talk about the difficulty of following Christ. And that is true. It’s difficult to follow Jesus. But let’s not overlook the fantastic blessing of following Jesus Christ.
And John reminds us of that blessing right here in verse 1. If you are following Jesus Christ…you are called a child of God!
What a blessing! What does that mean?
1. It means that God takes ownership of you!
You belong to God! You are His!
Isaiah 43:1
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
It’s as if God has told Satan - “Hands off! That one belongs to me!” That’s a great blessing!
2. It means that God is going to take care of you!
His blessings - As a child of God, you now are entitled to everything that the father has.
His discipline - parents, you discipline your kids so that they become people who aren’t annoying. You want them to be the very best that they can be in this life. And God disciplines you to make you the best you that you can be!
3. It means you get God’s grace!
The rest of the world gets God’s law. “This is how you’ve failed.”
LAVISH! ABUNDANT! This describes the blessings of being called a child of God.
1 How 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.
So now that we have it cleared up and there is NO doubt that those who have decided to follow Jesus are indeed Children of God,
T.S.: So in the remainder of our time this morning, I want to examine some character traits of God’s children! Because it should be evident that you are a child of God.
I. God’s children look more like their dad all the time (vs. 2)
Have you ever noticed that the older you get, the more you like your parents?
I mean fellas, your eyebrows are so bushy, that they are starting to look like caterpillars. And you have more hair in your ears than you thought humanly possible. (I think I know what this guy needs for Christmas this year…)
And not only are you starting to look like your parents…you are starting to ACT like your parents! You are starting to use phrases that you heard your dad use. “I’ll give you something to cry about.” “Because I said so!”
And ladies, has your husband ever said, “You are exactly like your mom?” Now usually, that’s not a compliment is it? But the older we become, the more like our parents we seem to be.
John says the same thing is true in regards to our Spiritual life. That the longer we’ve been children of God…the more we begin to act like our heavenly Father. And let me say that it IS a compliment to behave more like your heavenly father.
Verse 2:
2 Dear 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,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
A couple of things about looking more like God…
“That’s fine and dandy…
A. But I’m not where I want to be
“I’ve been a Christian for a long time, but I’ve got a long way to go before I act like totally like Jesus.“
That’s ok! That’s natural. Listen to what John says. In our text, John says: “what we will become has not yet been made known.”
Being Christ-like is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight or instantly. There’s a problem when you have the attitude that says: “I’m ok with where I am at. I‘m good enough.” Because you have no desire to grow or to change.
But if you are not pleased with where you are at in regards to your Spiritual growth, that’s good!
ILLUSTRATION: You’ve heard the old song: He's still working on me
To make me what I need to be
It took him just a week to make the moon and stars
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient He must be
'Cause He's still workin' on me
So if you’re not where you want to be; hang in there! God’s not finished writing your story. “What you WILL be has not yet been made known.” But give it some time.
He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ. - Philippians 1:6
And I have to tell you a second thing about being more like God…
B. There will come a day when you get it EXACTLY right!
When will that be? I don’t know. No one knows! It will happen when Jesus comes! John says in the second half of verse 2:
But we know that when he appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
So when Jesus comes again, and He appears, you and I are going to be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
CHANGED HOW?
And in our text today, John says we are going to become LIKE HIM.
LIKE HIM -- What is God like? Sinless. Holy. Perfect. This is how we shall be. What a day! No longer will there be a battle between flesh and spirit. No longer will there be failures and imperfections! When Christ appears…you will be made holy and pure and perfect!
If you’re like me, you are tired and frustrated with your failings and imperfections; and so we say: COME LORD JESUS…COME.
2nd trait of God’s children:
II. God’s children are choosing not to sin against their God (vs. 3-9)
When you are faced with temptation; you have two decisions to make: Do what’s right. Do what’s wrong. And so a battle ensues. For some, the battle lasts for just a few seconds…and then they decide to do what’s wrong and the battle is over.
For others, the battle lasts for hours or days. They go back and forth. They are standing firm, but the temptation still remains.
Listen to what John says about God’s children and sin:
3 Everyone who has this hope in him (what hope? The Hope of seeing Christ come again!). Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8 He 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, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Now there’s some language that may have you panicked and bothered when you read it or heard it read this morning. I’m referring to verse 6. I want to read it again this morning:
vs. 6 - “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”
Raise your hand if you’re a Christian. Now raise your hand if you’re a sinner. So what’s going on? Are we all going to Hell? I mean John said that those who live in him, do NOT sin. So since we are sinners, we must not live in Him…right? That’s not what John is saying.
What John is saying is this: As a Christian, you are called to follow Christ. You aren’t going to do that perfectly but the question remains: Are you trying to succeed or are you trying to fail? And John is saying that if you are truly are a child of God…if you love God like He’s your father, you are going to try to follow Him.
Because, if
(A. You want to live with God; You have to obey His rules! )
ILLUSTRATION: When you become a follower of Jesus Christ, God becomes your father. And because he’s your father, there are some rules you are expected to obey! I mean, my earthly father had rules that he expected me to obey. He never said this, but he didn’t have to…it was clearly understood: “As long as you live under my roof, you will obey my rules.” And that’s how it is with God. As long as you are a child of God; you are expected to follow His rules! In fact, this is the message that we learned back in 1st John 2:3 “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.”
Did I obey every one of my father’s commands perfectly? Let me answer that one for you. NO! I was disciplined. There were consequences. But at the end of the day, I was still the son of Daniel Nichols. And the more mature I became, the more desire I had to do what he asked me to do. Because this pleased him.
And when you are a child of God, the more mature you become, the greater your desire to obey Him because you know that this will please Him.
And when you WILLINGLY move out from under God’s roof; when you willingly walk away from God, you are no longer a child of God.
But children of God, have a desire to do what’s right! Children of God, are choosing not to sin against their father because they love Him.
Third and final character trait of being a child of God…
III. God’s children are busy Doing the works of their God. (vs. 10)
It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? God has LAVISHLY unleashed His love on us. He has poured out His love into our empty hearts to the point where OUR hearts are overflowing with His love.
So you have this heart that is filled with love. And now that love is a part of your life, you can use that love to do two things:
John writes in verse 10:
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
The two things you can do with that heart that is filled with love is: in fact, it’s what is expected by all those who are God’s children!
1. Do what is right!
It’s not always easy to do what’s right. But I want to share something that I read a while back that really applied to me and maybe it will apply to you as well. The writer of this book said, “I grew up in the church. My idea of Christianity and following Jesus was pretty simple: Just don’t do the stuff that God hates. In other words - try not to cuss. Try not to drink too much. Don’t have sex outside of marriage. Go to church every Sunday. My view of God was rather narrow. But things started to change for me when my faith became my own and I came to know God through His word. And I became amazed at how God described Himself. And suddenly, it sunk in. God. Is. Love. And I got this high view of God. And that changed the way I prayed. It changed the way I sang to him. It changed the way that I lived everyday life. And my hope for you is to have a changed view of God. Because a huge view of God changes everything. You start to realize, “Wait, that’s the God who sent his son to die for me?” That’s crazy! And shouldn’t my response to God be to show Him this amazing crazy love that would cause me to do ANYTHING for him?”
And so “doing what is right” no longer becomes a burden. It becomes a passion.
Get a right view of God. Get a different outlook on doing what is right.
Second thing to do with this heart of love:
2. Love your brother!
Notice John says love your BROTHER! This is a command for church people to love church people. What a command. On the surface, this seems as though it should be a no-brainer. If there is to be a place where love is demonstrated - it should be among Christians. But here’s the thing - it’s not!
The most generous, self-sacrificing, humble, forgiving and loving people I know are Christians.
But I’ve also met some Christians who weren’t! Christians CAN be the among the most petty, self serving, judgmental, unforgiving, people I know.
In fact, I want to show you what it looks like to God when Christians are fighting with each other…
ILLUSTRATION: Watch this video - video of two kids arguing.
There’s a lot of truth to this video. This is what a lot of church fights look like: You don’t know what they’re fighting about. You can’t understand them. And what ends up happening is someone ends up leaving because of hurt feelings.
And John says that those who do not love their brother or sister in Christ are not of God. “Well that’s all fine and well, but obviously John never had to deal with the person I’m dealing with! If he only knew…”
Have you forgotten Diotrophes? In 3rd John, we are told that Diotrophes who was a part of the church that John was writing to, LOVES TO BE FIRST! Let me just tell you I don’t personally know Diotrophes, but I’ve known people who must be related to him…and NOTHING good comes from a desire to be first! And yet, John says…LOVE YOUR BROTHER. We are going to talk more about this next week.
But here’s what John is getting at: God’s children are busy concerning themselves with those things that are important to God! Doing His will!
And Jesus summarized it by saying in
Luke 10:27
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
CONCLUSION: God’s children Look more like their Father all the time. So I have one question - “Are you a child of God?” You see, a lot of people want the LAVISH BENEFITS of being called a Child of God without living up to the expectations of being a Child of God.
This week - look for opportunities to show the love of God. Look for areas of your life where you can choose to do what’s right!
We come now to our time of decision. Let’s stand and sing and if you have a decision you need to make -- don’t wait. Come forward and we will be happy to pray with you and talk with you.
