The importance of holiness
It is always wonderful when a baby is born. It’s great when the proud parents bring their baby out on its first adventure into this wide world. And you know without a shadow of doubt that one of the first comments that will be made about the child is ’oh she’s the spitting image of her mother’. The child’s physical appearance, colour of hair and eyes, the shape of the mouth or the nose are all inherited from their parents. And very often we can see that family likeness straightaway.
Rather less wonderful when one gets older is that strange experience when you suddenly hear your parents voice coming out of your own mouth. All of a sudden you find yourself saying things that your parents said, or doing things your parents did, or even walking the way your parents did. And however hard we try not to be our parents, there are characteristics in our personality, which have been indelibly etched upon our lives. So often we can see for ourselves that family likeness.
And in our reading from John’s letter this morning, we find that John is talking about something very much like that. John is talking about a family likeness but on a much grander scale. Because John is talking about the family likeness, the family characteristics of the children of God.
1 We are (part of God’s) family
Now first of all we do need to start by being absolutely clear about our family relationship with God. For we are family. We are part of God’s family John is absolutely clear about this. He says we are called the children of God v1. There is no mucking about with this statement. And more to the point John says that we are God’s children now. I think this is very important. For many people their relationship with God is one in which they are working towards a relationship with him. Many people are living their lives in expectation that they will be in a relationship with God when they are good enough, or perhaps when they die. But John is clear. For Christian believers, we are God’s children now. In fact, John says that it is not clear what we are going to be. But we are God’s children now. We are part of God’s family now.
And the reason we are part of God’s family now is because of the love that the Father has given us. It is not because of anything that we have done, but it is because of God’s love. Last week, Richard helped us to understand the nature of God’s love. And it is in the marvellous nature of God’s love that he has called us his children.
We talked earlier about children being born. Part of God’s enormous love to us is to enable us to be reborn. John talks about being born of God v9. This idea of being born again is something that we are familiar with. I’m sure you can remember Jesus conversation with Nicodemus, when Jesus talked about the need to be born again spiritually John 3. The love of God is so great that he gave his son Jesus Christ to enable us to be born again. The love of God is so great that he gave his son Jesus Christ to enable us to be his children. And John makes a clear in verses 5 and 8. And so it is that if we accept the saving work of Jesus Christ, we become God’s children, we become part of God’s family. So if you have accepted the saving work of Jesus Christ for yourself, John makes it absolutely clear that you can say with full assurance that you are a child of God. You can say with absolute assurance that you are part of God’s family. So we can say that as Christian believers we are part of God’s family.
2 We do have the family likeness
Secondly we need to understand that as Christian believers who are God’s children, we do have a family likeness. So, how is it that we can see the family likeness? Is it the size of our noses, or the colour of our eyes? Of course not. The family likeness that John refers to is purity. V3. He says ‘Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure’. Another word for this is holiness. That’s why Richard has entitled this sermon in the series ‘ the importance of holiness’. This is tricky isn’t it? Holy is not a word I would use to describe myself, and to some extent I’d be uncomfortable about it. St Augustine – Lord, make me holy – but not yet! It all sounds a bit otherworldly, and indeed slightly impossible. So what is it that John is trying to get through to us here?
Well, holiness is a word that describes the essential character of a person. At one level, it is otherworldly, because it is different. It is about being set apart. If you look at the Thesaurus, you get synonyms like godliness, righteousness and grace. So what John is saying is that if we are God’s children, then it has to make a difference in the quality of our living. Now most of us will believe that we live good lives. We don’t beat our wives or our husbands more than is necessary, we give money to charity and we are nice to neighbours. But lots of people live good lives. What John is saying is that if we are God’s children then the quality of our lives and our living is meant to be at an entirely different level. If God is our father, then we are meant to inherit the family likeness. It is a life of holiness.
John talks about Gods seed being in us. I love growing vegetables. And when I plant a parsnip seed, even though it may take a long time to germinate, a parsnip grows. When we are God’s children, even though it may take a long time, we inherit the family likeness of God. Yes we may already be good people. But God’s intention is that as his children we develop the family likeness and become like him. Gods intention is that we should develop the family likeness and live likes that reflect his character. We become holy. This is a process. It is a process of growth into the family likeness.
What are components of this process of growing into the family likeness?
First of all, we continue in him. V28. In other words we stick with it. We stick with God. Other versions of the Bible use the word ‘Abide’. This seems to be much more about keeping close to, staying with, dwelling with God. Family relationships are developed when we stick with each other, and spiritual family relationships and spiritual family likeness is our developed when we stick with God. When we committed to him. When we study his word regularly. When we pray regularly. When we are close to God.
The second thing is that we make positive decisions about our actions. In other words we choose to live in the way that we know our father wants. As children, we want to please our parents. And we do things that we know our parents will like. As a child of God, we should want to please God our father. We need to make positive decisions about our actions. And so yes, we will make mistakes. But we will not deliberately do so. This I think is the point of the v6. Yes we know we will make mistakes, we will sin but we do not continue deliberately to do so. We choose to be holy.
Thirdly, we are not distracted from God. V7. ‘Do not let anyone lead you astray’. You will remember that at the time that this letter was written, the Christian church was under pressure from a number of the heretical beliefs. In particular, there was the pressure from the Gnostics. One of the strands of Gnosticism taught that it didn’t really matter how you lived your life. They taught that God was unknowable or accessible only through arcane ritual. And there are similar philosophies around now that would distract us from the truths of the Christian faith. And it is easy to be distracted by them. We are not to be deceived.
So we do have the family likeness. And God’s intention is that as his children we develop the family likeness and become like him.
3 We have the family resources
One of the good things about family relationships is the way that often family members will muck in together when things get difficult or when something needs to be done. And even now, although my parents are not as young as they were, I know that they will do everything they can to help me in my life. As families we have the resources of the family to fall back on and to support us.
And as we think about developing the family likeness as children of God we need to know that we don’t do it on our own. And that’s a great relief and encouragement, because on the face of it, it’s a pretty tall order. So it is important to know that we have the resources of our father to support us. Sometimes people have the idea that God is a bit like a heavenly headmaster – forever seeing how he can catch us out. But the opposite is true. God’s desire is that we should be holy, and he puts all his resources at our disposal to help us in that.
In fact, God put his very nature at our disposal. V9 RSV seed in NIV. In Ch 2:27, we are told that we have an anointing from God. This is a phrase used to talk about the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on us. As God’s children, his Holy Spirit is poured out on us and lives in us. And God’s Holy Spirit guides us and directs us. And even more importantly, God’s Holy Spirit gives us the power to live in God’s way. God’s Holy Spirit empowers us.
Indeed, the whole thrust of much of the New Testament shows the immensity of the resources God is making available for us. When you have a moment, just read the first chapter of Ephesians. Eph. 1:7 talks of ‘the riches of His grace which he has lavished on us’. 1:18 talks of ‘the riches of his glorious inheritance’. I could go on. But I’ll leave the rest of that to you to read.
God’s desire is that we should be holy, and he puts all his resources at our disposal to help us in that. We have the resources to be what we ought to be. And in his grace, God gives us the resources we need, when we need them.
We are God’s children. We have the family likeness. God’s desire is that we should be like him, that we should develop that family likeness of holiness. So let us rejoice in our family relationship, as God’s children.
Let us develop the family likeness as we grow into holiness. And let us depend on the empowering of the family resources available to us in the Holy Spirit to achieve it.
