Provoking Thoughts From 1 John (9 Of 16)

If you have, you were probably, like most people, surprised when you actually saw that person. Why? Because that person probably did not look at all like you had thought from the way he/she sounded.

I want to ask you another question. Have you ever read your Bible and tried to imagine what the character you were reading about looked like? For example:

• What do you think the apostle Paul looked like?

• What do you imagine Peter looked like?

• What do you think Samson looked like?

• And yes, what do you think Delilah might have looked like?

I would venture to say we could all develop mental pictures of what these characters looked, but would be quite shocked to see what they really looked like.

All of them probably looked different than we might have imagined.

Today we would like to focus in on the apostle John. The Bible gives no clues as to what he might have looked like. We do not know...

• If he was tall, short, fat or skinny.

• The color of his eyes, nor the color of his hair.

Yet there are some things about him that we do know. For instance...

When he wrote 1, 2, and 3 John, to those Christians, he was quite elderly.

• He was a godly man

• He was concerned about his fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord

• He was concerned about our Lord’s church

• He wanted the Christians of that day to come to know God in all His greatness

His concern for those Christians is obvious in our text.

I. HE WANTED THEM TO DISCOVER SOMETHING

WHAT DID HE WANT THEM TO DISCOVER? He wanted them to discover GOD’S LOVE.

Look at 1 John 3:1. We read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

One of the tragedies in so many lives is that they live them out and never discover the great love God has for us! Look at the word, “bestowed.” This is translated from the Greek, “didomi,” which means: “Commit, deliver, give, grant.”

God HAS NOT COME to DELIVER HIS WRATH.

HE CAME TO DELIVER HIS LOVE TO US! Some would have you believe God is mean and enjoys watching mankind suffer. They believe the more we suffer, the more He is delighted.

Illus: They seem to believe God is like the cruel boys who find pleasure in holding a worm over a fire and watching him squirm.

These people who believe this about God do not know the God of this Bible. They remind us of a man who lives a reckless life and bad things happen to him as a result, but he wants to blame all his bad circumstances upon others.

The Bible tells us clearly what God is to be blamed for. He has BESTOWED SUCH LOVE on us, notice the honor that is “bestowed” upon us, “...that we should be called the sons of God...”

In this world many honors are bestowed. It would indeed be an honor to be...

• The CEO of a large corporation

• An Ambassador to a foreign country

• A member of the royal family of Britain

But the greatest honor possible to be bestowed upon anyone would be the honor of being called A CHILD OF GOD!

And the only reason we can be called THE CHILDREN OF GOD is BECAUSE OF GOD’S LOVE!

Something that most Christians have not DISCOVERED yet is the great love God has BESTOWED UPON THEM TO MAKE THEM THE CHILDREN OF GOD!

The apostle Paul was one of God’s choice servants, and it was primarily because he had discovered this truth. Look what he says in Eph. 3:14-21. We read, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

WHAT KIND OF LOVE DID GOD BESTOW UPON US?