1 JOHN 3: 1-3 [LIFE, LIGHT & LOVE SERIES]
GOD'S PRIVILEGED CHILDREN
[Romans 8:14-18]
One of the great blessings about being a pastor is the opportunity to rejoice with the parents when a NEW BABY IS BORN. I enjoy visiting the mother and her baby on the day of birth. What a joy it is to look into the face of a newborn baby with the dew of heaven still on its brow, and to think of the wondrous possibilities existing in that new life.
Perchance the greatest experience I have as a pastor is to pray the sinners prayer with some one and see the resultant change that often occurs as they raise their head. What joy it is to look into the face of one just born again with the touch of the Spirit fresh in their life and to think of the wondrous possibilities now existing in that new life.
John used the phrase "born of Him" in 2:29 indicating the wonderful relationship which Christians enjoy as children of God. Through His one unique "Son" the Father longs for others to become His children. When one receives God's unique Son as Lord and Savior they are born into a new spiritual world where God the Creator becomes their Father. He does this because of His great love which He demonstrated for all mankind on the cross. This transformation is just the beginning of what God does for us. Since God has shown us such great love we should respond with love for Him (CIM). As we do, our Father transforms us into the children He would have us be. Are you the Christian God would have you be?
[Our text today celebrates the children of God. A small child [in the cartoon series Theophilus] gazed up into the eyes of his father and asked, “Dad, WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?” To this question the father replied, “A Christian is a person who loves and obeys God. He loves his friends and neighbors and even his enemies. He prays often, is kind, gentle, holy, and more interested in going to heaven than in earthly riches. That, son, is a Christian!” The boy looked reflective for a moment, then asked, “Have I ever seen one?”
The father in the cartoon gave a reasonably good answer to his son, didn’t he? He emphasized the love of God, and our love for others-even for our enemies and afflictors. He also emphasized communication with the Father, seeking first the kingdom of heaven, and displaying the fruit of the Spirit in one’s life. It was not a bad answer. But imagine the father’s shock when the son asked if he had ever actually seen such a person! Is it possible, as the cartoon suggests, that we sometimes talk a good talk, but walk a poor walk? We might be able to tell others what a Christian is-may even profess to be one-but have we ever shown them?
If someone were to come up to you and ask for a description of a Christian, would you need to TELL them....or could you SHOW them?]
I. WHAT WE ARE, 3:1.
II. WHAT WE WILL BE, 3:2.
III. WHAT WE SHOULD BE, 3:3.
I. WHAT WE ARE, 3:1.
John here turns His letter from the world to God. Though the world's glory may be glamorous and enticing, it is also shallow and fleeting. The fickleness of worldly acclaim is too well known to require further comment. What the world gives today, it takes away tomorrow. God though gives something permanent, something authentic, something life changing, something eternal and we gazed upon in verse 1. It is the Love of God. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Those that have been born of God, meaning those that practice righteousness (v 29), are now “called children of God.” Righteousness begins by faith and ends in love. That is the reason we are told to behold-see what great love the Father has bestowed upon us. Behold (idou) means to sense and see with awakened understanding. It calls one to stop and ponder this amazing truth. What we are to sense, see and marvel at is the great love God has given us.
Love is agape denoting divine or the highest form of love. Our Father has given us an out-of-this-world love. The whole wonderful plan of salvation begins with God. While we were His enemies, God loved us and sent His Son to die for us (Rom. 5:8)! His love is so great that by the new birth experience we are now related to the One who is the Divine Creator of the Universe, and can call him Father.
We are the children of God! We receive from Christ a new nature, a godly nature, and thus are called children of God. We do not expect the world to understand this thrilling relationship, because it does not even understand God. This love and resulting sonship is foreign to the world. Only a person who knows God through Christ can appreciate what it means to be called a child of God. How great, how wonderful, how glorious is our gift of sonship!
Unfortunately we have become so accustomed to expecting God's love that we no longer stand in awe before it. In fact, we actually take it for granted. We even think of it as something God owes us. But the wise men and women of old and those today who truly experience it's fullness, stand in awe of it. It astounds them. May we once again meditate- contemplate upon the love of God for us until it astounds us once again and we stand in awe of it. [There is no better time to do so than during this Christmas Season.]
Have you ever made a decision about whether or not someone loves you by the DAISY PETAL TEST? I can recall such an experience during my grade school years. A girl I had a crush on sat down near me and I watched her pull the petals off a flower saying "He loves me, He loves me not." I also remember "the look" when she pulled the last petal off as she said "He loves me not."
This experience reminds me of a little girl who came running into the house one morning, sobbing. "Why, dear, what's wrong?" her mother asked. Throwing herself into her mother's arms, she cried, "God doesn't love me anymore." "Certainly He does," the mother said reassuringly. "No, He doesn't," the child sobbed. "I know He doesn't because I tried Him with daisy petals."
There's a much better and more reliable way to know if God loves us! It's in considering all He does for us. And if there is still any doubt, think of what He did to save us! The Bible says that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
We can be confident of God's unfailing love because He has proven it beyond all question on the cross. We have been reborn into the family of God and as His children are recipients of our Father’s love. This amazing love has made us children of the King!
A movie was made (Eddie Murphy) about an AFRICAN PRINCE coming to America to find his bride. He wanted to go where he was not known so he could win her with his love and character and not by the power, prestige, and position of his kingdom. Though the girl nor any one else realize it, when she married the prince she became a princess.
You too are betrothed to the King of Heaven and though those of earth do not acknowledge Him, He will come one day and take you to His eternal kingdom.
That brings us to our second point:
II. WHAT WE WILL BE (2).
The emphasis in verse 2 is on what the children of God will be in the future. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.”
The reference here is, of course, to the time of Christ's coming for His church. Having spoken of our present dignity as children of God, John now speaks of our future destiny. [This coming was mentioned in 1 John 2:28 as an incentive for holy living and now it is repeated.]
Our privileged opportunities in this world are understandable and within the reach of all who will lay hold of them by abiding in Christ, but the reluctant glories in the world to come are still veiled. For the blessings there are connected with the responsibilities here. The fact that God expects future development as is seen in verse one is seen again in verse two where the beloved are addressed as children of God.
Child implies that future development is to be expected. A child has such potential. We look at them with hope and expectation but do not know how they will turn out. Some who seem to have so much potential and opportunity throw away their lives. Others you don’t think will amount to much accomplish great things. So it is with the children of God. Many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.
Thus it has not yet appeared, has never been revealed at any time or on any occasion, what we shall be. What (interrogative pronoun) suggests something inexplicable and beyond our present comprehension. The appearance of Christ brings about changes or results in God's children. The result of Christ's appearing is that we will be like Him. This future fact of being changed into Christ's likeness is presently known. Know means perceptive knowledge that brings one to the point or place of understanding and then conviction. The fact that we know now because of the promise of the Word and the Holy Spirit supporting our confidence in the truth of our future state.
In her book God by Moonlight, Amy Carmichael describes an atlas MOTH EMERGING from its cocoon in the mountain forests west of Dohnavur, India. She writes, "It hangs from a twig, like a small brown bag . . . and however often we see it we are never prepared for the miracle that emerges . . . It has wings of crimson and pink, and blended green of various soft tones, shading off into terra-cotta, brown, old-gold.
“Each wing has a window made of a clear substance like a delicate flake of talc, and on the edge of each is a pattern of wavy lines or dots, or some other dainty device. From wing-tip to wing-tip, nine, sometimes ten, inches of beauty, one of God's lovely wonders--that is what comes out of the brown paper bag.”
Who would think that such exquisite beauty could come from a drab dull cocoon? But a much greater miracle awaits the child of God! Encased by these bodies of humiliation, we look for that day when "the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:52).
For now, we live in the "brown bag" of these earthly bodies, but not forever. One day, perhaps soon, we shall be made perfect and complete. Yes, we shall see our Savior face to face, and wonder of wonders, we shall be like Him!
God's love for us does not stop with the new birth. He continues ministering to us and transforming us into His image until the revelation of Jesus Christ causes the full, culminating revelation of who we are in Him. Those Christ purchased by His cross will be perfected at His coming.
Several centuries ago, the Emperor of Japan commissioned a Japanese artist to PAINT AN EXOTIC BIRD. Months passed, then years. Finally, the Emperor went to the artist's studio to ask for an explanation. The artist set a blank canvas on the easel and in an hour he completed the painting of a bird that would become a masterpiece. The Emperor asked why there had been such a long delay. The artist then went from cabinet to cabinet; he produced arm loads of drawings of feathers, tendons, wings, feet claws, eyes beaks of birds. These he placed one before the Emperor.
The Holy Spirit operates in the life of the believer, so that we may be conformed to the image of God's Son (Romans 8:29). This is not done in the moment of our new birth. That moment is the declaration of His divine purpose for us. It is just the beginning of the long work (Phil. 1:6). The whole process is a detailed and painstaking progress "until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19).
Then the day shall came when the Emperor of emperors will come for us, and the completed work will flash forth in a moment. “It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
III. WHAT WE SHOULD BE (3).
The Apostle does not stop here. He has told us what we are, what we will be and now in 1 John 3:3 he tells us what we should be. Verse 3 teaches us that if we hope in our transformation at the return of Christ we should keep on purifying our lives. “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Therefore everyone who has this hope purifies, or frees oneself from contamination. Purify (hagnos) is cleanliness of heart, soul and spirit; of thought, word, and action.
Purifies himself means that we must totally surrender to God so that by His grace we may separate ourselves from all that defiles. Purifies is in the present tense which denotes a continuous process.
Our goal for purity is to be pure just as Christ is pure. We are not to judge our purity or lives by other people, but by Christ, who is the standard or goal toward which we are to move. God's desire is that we be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).
The Holy Spirit inspired hope of seeing the Lord Jesus arouses the determination to be pure like Him. Then the grace of God touches the will of the Christian to motive him to action. Thus the saint, in dependency on the Holy Spirit, puts sin out of his life and keeps it out.
As you read the Gospels carefully and thoughtfully, prayerfully and contemplatively, the you will develop a profound appreciation for the character, integrity, wisdom, and strength of Jesus. When I didn’t know as much about Jesus as I know now, I wasn’t as impressed with Him as I am today. And this is amazing because in every other case, the better you know people, the more disillusioned you become as you begin to see their cracks and flaws. [Courson, Jon. Jon Courson's Application Com. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 1623]
Not so with Jesus. The longer you walk with Him and the more you learn about Him, the more you will be impressed by Him, and the more you will long to see Him. Even though now we only see Him through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:12), I like what I see! The more and more clearly I see and understand Jesus, the more and more I want to be like Him. What about you?
All this work of transformation is because of the Father's love. Because the Father loved us and sent His Son to die for us, we are children of God. Because God loves us and lives with in us, He wants us to live with Him one day. Salvation, from start to finish, is an expression of the love of God. We are saved by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 2:11-15), but the provision for our salvation was originated in the love of God. And since we have experienced the love of the Father, we have no desire to live in sin.
An unbeliever who sins is a creature sinning against his Creator. A Christian who sins is a child sinning against his Father. The unbeliever sins against law; the believer sins against love.
A group of teenagers were enjoying a party, and someone suggested that they go to a certain hang-out for a good time. "I'd rather you took me home," a young lady said to her date. "My parents don't approve of that place or that kind of activity."
"Afraid your father will hurt you?" one of the girls asked sarcastically.
"No," the girl replied, "I'm not afraid my father will hurt me, but I am afraid I might hurt him."
She understood the principle that a true child of God, who has experienced the love of God, has no desire to sin against that love.
CONCLUSION
Christ Jesus is everything the children of God should wants to be. Do yo have this hope of being like Jesus. Is it a powerful inspiration/motivation in your life?
While preparing to climb the 19, 686 ft Peruvian Mountain Misty I asked scientific-medical people what I could do to avoid high-altitude sickness?"
The only answer I could find was that "High-altitude sickness usually will occur above 8,000 ft. Symptoms often begin on arrival but may be delayed. Rest often during the 1st few days as you acclimate. Mild medications such as aspirin & sleeping pills may help."
I asked the question b/c I wanted to be prepared for my trip up the mountain. There is a spiritual parallel. We who believe in Christ are also going to a "higher altitude" someday. Paul said that we will "meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:17). We too need to prepare beforehand.
The science folk didn't tell me much of anything I could do to prevent high-altitude sickness. All you can do is go to the higher altitude for a while & acclimate, or become accustom to it by living in it. John told us in today's Scripture reading what we can do to prepare for our "high-altitude" journey when Christ returns. We are to walk with Christ in faith & obedience, keeping our minds pure & our hearts right this will help acclimate us to the altitude of heaven. Then we will be confident & unashamed when we stand in His presence.
One day the trumpet will sound and we will ascend. The time to get ready is now. Are you? Go to the higher altitude and acclimatize slowing. Go to Christ and become pure like Him - that will prepare you and make the ascent - to the glories of Heaven!
Is hope of being like Christ Jesus a powerful inspiration/ motivation in your life? If it is you will be purifying yourself as the Holy Spirit transforms you into the image of Christ.
[The story is told that the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was sauntering through Berlin's famous Tiergarden one day, mentally probing the questions of origin and destiny that had been constantly perplexing him: Who am I? Where am I going?
A park-keeper, closely observing the shabbily dressed philosopher as he walked slowly with head bowed, suspected that Schopenhauer was a tramp. So he walked up to the philosopher and demanded, "Who are you? Where are you going?" With a pained expression, Schopenhauer replied, "I don't know. I wish somebody could tell me."
Are you ever. perplexed by those same questions? Who am I? Where am I going? What a comfort it is to have God’s authoritative answers in the Bible. Who are we? John calls his readers "children of God" (v.2). We become Jesus as our Savior from sin (John 1:12). And where are we going? John 14:1-6 tells us that one day He will receive us into our eternal home [body?] He is preparing for us. When you know Jesus, you know who you are and where you are going.]
