There was a time when I worked with the youth of this church. My favorite line was, "Don’t worry about what you cannot do; do what you can." These were words intended to empower the youth to live productively.
This morning, God’s Word has some truths that will empower us to live productively, also. Most of us are not serving God and living productively because we are controlled by our fears and our needs. The fear of failure, the fear of the unknown and the fear of disapproval by others stifle our lives much more than that of limited time, limited energy and limited physical resources.
We are also controlled to some degree by our need to be loved, to be accepted and to be adequate. Most of us will look to almost anywhere and anyone to have these needs met, even to the wrong places and people. Some young people join gangs to be accepted. Some adults leave their marriage partner in search of someone to meet their need for love or significance.
Let me suggest that lives controlled by unhealthy fears, and needs that are met by the wrong ways or people, will never experience God’s intended joy for life. Jesus disciple, John, the author of this letter wrote in 1 John 1:4, "We write this to make our joy complete." So let’s listen to what he has to say.
The text for this morning is 1 John 3:1-3, and as we study this text, we will discover truths that empower living.
If you were here six months ago, or whenever we began our study in 1 John, you would know that John wrote this letter to warn Christians against the lies that crept into the church during his lifetime. John goes into some detail about the lies and the false teachers, but he spends most of his time setting us straight with the truths from God.
This morning, he gives us three truths that empowers us to live out our God-given potential. These truths help us face our fears and find our needs met in God alone. Let’s look together.
First, John tells us that the children of God are greatly loved. We see this in verse 1a.
John wrote in his record of Jesus’ life, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God’s great love is offered to everybody, but only those who believe will benefit from His great love.
If I write Clifford a check for a thousand dollars, and he doesn’t cash the check because he doesn’t believe I’m that generous, he will not benefit from my generosity. Likewise, if you do not believe what God has done for you out of His love, you will not benefit now or in eternity from God’s love.
John 1:12-13 read, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
I was talking with a neighbor whose car was hit from behind this week. He got out and made sure the driver who hit him was okay, and he calmed her down. That’s love and that’s kindness.
But in order to compare with the great love God has for us, my neighbor would have to pay for the damage of both cars out of his own pocket, adopt the driver at fault into his own family and give that driver full family privilege. That’s how great God’s love is.
Paul speaking of the Christian in Romans 8:17, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...."
God’s love would have been great to have simply forgiven us through Jesus’ death on the cross, but his love didn’t stop there. He gave us the right to be His children and heirs with Christ. We who believe have all the privileges of God’s family member.
Steve Brown tells of his friend whose husband walked out of the marriage for another woman. The wife vowed that if she ever married again, she would marry the ugliest man in town. This way no one would tempt him away. Two years later, she did just that. He was ugly on ugly, but he would sometimes sit around and just smile, because he couldn’t believe that she would marry him.
Each of us ought to sometimes sit around and just smile, because of the great love God lavished on us, changing ugly sinners into children of God. Experiencing such love from God helps us overcome the temptation of meeting love needs inappropriately and to overcome the fear of rejection. The love of God empowers us to live with fulfillment and to live boldly.
Second, John not only tells us that the children of God are greatly loved, but that the children of God are singly approved. We see this in verse 1b and 2a.
John 1:10-11 read, "He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." If those who saw Jesus Christ didn’t know or receive Him as the Son of God, how can we expect nonbelievers to know and receive us as children of God? Nonbelievers will not likely agree with God’s values or instructions, but that’s expected.
Having worked with Christian college students and Christian young adults for a number of years, I’ve heard their complaints and frustrations about friends who simply don’t understand them or share their values. Their friends cheat on exams and get ahead; their friends drink at parties and are popular; their friends end up in the bedroom at the end of a date and brag as if they won the Gold Medal.
The Christians who work to be faithful to God’s standards and instructions are feeling peer pressure and are wondering if honesty, self-control and purity make sense anymore. Their desire for approval by their friends drives some of that feeling. The solution to empowered living is to be singly approved by God.
Os Guinness pointed out that a truly mature person has an audience of one, and that One is God. In other words, mature people seek no one else’s approval but God’s approval. Mature people know in the end, God’s judgment stands; all others are mere opinions. Not only that, God’s approval is motivated by His love for us; while the approval of others are motivated by our support of them.
Susan has been training Esther to know what is expected. Sometimes, when Esther recognizes that she has done something wrong, she will correct her action and then come up to us and ask, "Are you happy?" Susan would then say, "You don’t do that to make us happy; you do that because it’s right or because God wants you to do that." We are trying to train Esther to seek God’s approval, not people’s approval.
When I worked in industry, I knew my manager’s evaluation of me influenced my salary and employment status. But my manager learned very soon also that God was my ultimate boss. That’s why he allowed me to choose working from home or coming into the company to analyze my experiment data, even before a policy for telecommuting existed.
As a pastor, I’ve had to remind myself that I’m ultimately a servant of God, not a servant of church members. I get some criticism and a lot of approval from you all, but unless I look for my approval ultimately from God, I would not be leading this church, but I would be led by my need for approval. Only the person who has an audience of one, and that One being God, can experience empowered living.
Third, John not only tells us that the children of God are greatly loved and singly approved but the children of God are gradually perfected. We see this in verses 2b and 3.
John is saying that perfection like Jesus Christ is the Christian’s goal but not the achievable reality this side of Heaven. Furthermore, we do not seek to be perfect in order to be loved by God. Rather we seek to be perfect because God already loves us. God’s love not only changes a sinner into a child of God, but God’s love also changes a sinner into the likeness of Christ.
Paul writes in Roman’s 8:29, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son...."
In other words, if you think I’m a godly guy now, you’ll be blown away when we see me in Heaven. I’ll be just like Jesus, without sin. Right now, I struggle with selfishness, pride and rebelliousness, but I hide them pretty well. But in Heaven, the temptation to sin won’t be a temptation at all.
Eugene asked a great question last week. He asked, "Don’t we have free will in Heaven? If we do, what guarantee is there that another fall like that of Adam and Eve won’t occur? What will keep us from ignoring God and living life our own way again?"
I believe those of us who end up in Heaven will have freedom to choose, but we’ll choose obedience to God and not disobedience. The difference between us and Adam and Eve is that Adam and Eve didn’t know the impact of sin or rebellion against God, and we do. They exchanged paradise for a lie. We’ve seen the lie and the curse that followed, the selfishness of mankind, sickness of body, the earthquakes and tornadoes, the physical death and separation from God.
Let me illustrate. A person who has tried my wife’s cooking might be tempted to try my cooking. But a person who’s tried my cooking and then tries my wife’s cooking will never return to my bland cooking. Take that illustration and multiply the experience a million times, and you will have the person who saw the horrible impact of sin on his life and the lives of others, and then sees the perfection of Christ. He will never return to sin again.
Listen, to know the truth that a child of God will be perfected and gradually so, frees us from perfectionism now. The truth also frees us to confidently participate in the process of gradual perfection. This means we can be honest, and we can persevere.
If I’ve ever walked with you through hard times, you would know I don’t expect you to be godly or poised in your reactions. When you lose something or someone you really love, you can vent, cry and grieve in my presence. You won’t be judged as being unspiritual.
When you feel like leaving your wife or husband, I will listen patiently as you express your disappointment and frustration. You don’t have to be a perfect Christian in front of me, and I don’t have to be a perfect Christian in front of you. I still remember walking into a prayer meeting, and Connie and Bill asking where Susan was. I had to tell them she’s not coming because we’re not talking to each other at this time. God’s Word tells us perfection is impossible this side of Heaven.
Now, after we’ve gotten out the negative emotions and initial reactions, we need to begin to work toward obedience to God’s instruction for whatever area of life we are struggling in. And we need to help each other live according to God’s Word, the Bible. Christians have in our hearts the hope of becoming like Christ in our dealing with life’s hurts and imperfections. John writes, "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies (continuous present tense) himself, just as he [Christ] is pure."
Although perfection is a goal to be achieved on the other side of Heaven, we are involved in bringing this hope into reality. Working according to this truth empowers us to live out our God-given potential. We don’t bottle up our real emotions, but our emotions do not direct our lives; the hope of becoming like Christ directs our lives.
A tombstone with an epitaph reads, "Pause, stranger, when you pass me by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be. So prepare for death and follow me."
And someone hand-wrote under the epitaph, "To follow you I am not content, until I know which way you went."
Jesus Christ said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me." When you come to God through Jesus Christ, you will have power for living and peace for dying, because you will be greatly loved, singly approved and gradually but certainly perfected by God.
