Living the Life With the Greatest Gift
Scripture Reference: 1 John 3:1 – 9
Introduction
Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience.
I had cut back on nonessential obligations -- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he’d been memorizing songs for his school’s "Winter Pageant." I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d be working the night of the production.
Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.
During the final dress rehearsal as I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas", I didn’t expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment -- songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.
So, when my son’s class rose to sing, "Christmas Love", I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.
Those in the front row -- center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.
As the class would sing, "C is for Christmas", a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy", and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love".
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her -- a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".
The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".
Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.
A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood -- the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.
For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
CHRIST WAS LOVE.
Transition
That’s what you are going to find in this text this morning…what true love is. You are going to find in God’s word…1 John 3, what the real reason for the season is…You will find what the true motivation for living is…You will find not just one motivation but several to get your life in a forward motion towards the goal of living to please God.
Over the last several weeks we have been ministering on the subject: Living the Life…that is, living the life that God intended for you to live. John has been giving us a study in contrasts…love vs. hate…truth vs. lie…light vs. darkness…obedience vs. disobedience…the world vs. the Word.
But make no mistake, John has made it very clear that one the ways to define yourself as a Christian and recognize other believers is by the life you live God’s way and not yours. In the first two chapters the emphasis was on fellowship, but here in chapter three John focuses on sonship.
I thought the words of Dr. J. Vernon McGee one of America’s best-loved Bible teachers would serve as a good transition into the text:
“It is one thing to testify that we know Christ and are in Him; it is quite another to have a life that reveals that He is our righteousness. It is wonderful to know positionally that we are in Christ and that we are accepted in the Beloved, but it is altogether different to have a life down here that is corresponding with that.
Listen, John is telling his readers that one of the ways that we recognize other believers is by their lives not by their lips.”
In these early verses of chapter three, God gives us His action to help mold and shape our reaction towards Him and towards each other. God gives us His motivation to help define and confine our motivation towards Him and towards each other.
If you don’t know how to live, God shows you how. If you don’t know why to live, God gives you a reason why. If you don’t have the strength to live, God provides you with the resources for living down here. God gave a life --- Christ --- so that you can have a life for Him.
Look at that first, verse can you capture the motivations for living the life God intended for you to live rather than the life you want to live?
I. God the Father Loves Us (1 John 3:1 – 3)
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. 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, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
1 John 3
1What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it--we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
God’s love for us is unique. First John 3:1 may be translated, “Behold, what peculiar, out-of-this-world kind of love the Father has bestowed on us.” While we were His enemies God loved us and sent His Son to die for us!
Many translators add a phrase to 1 John 3:1: “That we should be called the sons of God, and we are.” “Sons of God” is not simply a high-sounding name that we bear; it is a reality! We are God’s children!
We do not expect the world to understand this thrilling relationship, because it does not even understand God. Only a person who knows God through Christ can fully appreciate what it means to be called a child of God.
First John 3:1 tells us what we are and 1 John 3:2 tells us what we shall be. The reference here, of course, is to the time of Christ’s coming for His church. This was mentioned in 1 John 2:28 as an incentive for holy living, and now it is repeated.
God’s love for us does not stop with the new birth. It continues throughout our lives and takes us right up to the return of Jesus Christ!
I can’t move on till I hit verse two just a little bit more. (expound verse 2)
But the apostle does not stop here! He has told us what we are and what we shall be. Now, in 1 John 3:3, he tells us what we should be. In view of the return of Jesus Christ, we should keep our lives clean.
2But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him--and in seeing him, become like him. 3All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
All this is to remind us 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, 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.
This reminds us of the meaning of the phrase so often repeated in the Bible: “the fear of the Lord.” This phrase does not suggest that God’s children live in an atmosphere of terror, “for God hath not given us the spirit of fear” (2 Tim. 1:7). Rather, it indicates that God’s children hold their Father in reverence and will not deliberately disobey Him or try His patience.
A group of teenagers were enjoying a party, and someone suggested that they go to a certain restaurant for a good time.
“I’d rather you took me home,” Jan said to her date. “My parents don’t approve of that place.”
“Afraid your father will hurt you?” one of the girls asked sarcastically.
“No,” Jan 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.
That’s the nuts and bolts of the holiday season, God’s love for us. To the unsaved a virtual reality, but the born again, a real reality.
II. God the Son Died for Us (1 John 3:4–8)
John turns here from the future appearing of Jesus (1 John 3:2) to His past appearing (1 John 3:5, where the word “manifest,” KJV, means “appear”). John gives two reasons why Jesus came and died: 1. to take away our sins (1 John 3:4–6), and 2. to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:7–8). For a child of God to sin indicates that he does not understand or appreciate what Jesus did for him on the cross.
4All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. 5Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. 6No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backwards.
The emphasis here is not on sins (plural), but on sin (singular): “Whosoever practices sin.” Sins are the fruit, but sin is the root.
That God is love does not mean He has no rules and regulations for His family. “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3).
Sin is basically a matter of the will. For us to assert our will against God’s will is rebellion, and rebellion is the root of sin. It is not simply that sin reveals itself in lawless behavior, but that the very essence of sin is lawlessness. No matter what his outward action may be, a sinner’s inward attitude is one of rebellion.
Little Judy was riding in the car with her father. She decided to stand up in the front seat. Her father commanded her to sit down and put on the seat belt, but she declined. He told her a second time, and again she refused.
“If you don’t sit down immediately, I’ll pull over to the side of the road and spank you!” Dad finally said, and at this the little girl obeyed. But in a few minutes she said quietly, “Daddy, I’m still standing up inside.”
Lawlessness! Rebellion! Even though there was constraint from the outside, there was still rebellion on the inside; and this attitude is the essence of sin.
But after a person has become a child of God, born again by faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot practice lawlessness! For one thing, Jesus Christ was without sin, and to abide in Him means to be identified with the One who is sinless.
And even more than that, Jesus Christ died to take away our sins! If we know the person of Christ, and if we have shared in the blessing of His death, we cannot deliberately disobey God.
The whole work of the Cross is denied when a professed Christian practices deliberate sin. This is one reason why Paul calls such people “enemies of the Cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18–19).
A person who deliberately and habitually sins is proving that he does not know Christ and therefore cannot be abiding in Him.
There is more in the death of Christ on the cross than simply our salvation from judgment, as wonderful as that is. Through His death, Christ broke the power of the sin principle in our lives.
The theme of Romans 6–8 is this identification with Christ in His death and resurrection. Christ not only died for me, but I died with Christ! Now I can yield myself to Him and sin will not have dominion over me.
A Sunday School teacher was explaining the Christian’s two natures—the old and the new—to a class of teenagers.
“Our old nature came from Adam,” he explained, “and our new nature comes from Christ, who is called ‘the Last Adam.’ ” He had the class read 1 Corinthians 15:45: “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The Last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (NASB).
“This means there are two ‘Adams’ living in me,” said one of the teenagers.
“That’s right,” the teacher replied. “And what is the practical value of this truth?”
The class was silent for a moment, and then a student spoke up.
“This idea of the ‘two Adams’ really helps me in fighting temptation,” he said. “When temptation comes knocking at my door, if I send the first Adam to answer, I’ll sin. But if I send the Last Adam, I’ll get victory.”
Conclusion
Satan is not eternal, as is God, for he is a created being. He was not created sinful. His present nature is a result of his past rebellion.
Satan is not like God: he is not all-powerful, all knowing, or everywhere present.
Satan is a rebel, but Christ is the obedient Son of God. Christ was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).
Christ is God but was willing to become a servant. Satan was a servant and wanted to become God. From the beginning of his career, Satan has been a sinner, and Christ came to destroy the works of the devil.
Christians may rest in the truth that Satan is a defeated enemy. He may still win a few battles here and there, but he has already lost the war!
Sentence has been pronounced on him, but it will be awhile before the punishment is meted out. A person who knows Christ, and who has been delivered from the bondage of sin through Christ’s death on the cross, has no desire to obey Satan and live like a rebel.
The story is told that when a great big piece of marble was brought to him, Michelangelo walked around it, looking at it and them said, “My, isn’t it beautiful!” One of his helpers who was standing there said, “Well, all I see is a great big piece of marble --- that’s all.”
Michelangelo exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot, You don’t see what I see. I see a statue of David there.” You can’t see it because it is in own my mind and I am going to translate it into this piece of marble.
Isn’t that like God…but I shall be like Him, not Him, but like Him…that’s why I live.
