Which Father Are You Following? Series

Series: 1 John

Week: 12

Passage: 1 John 3:7-10

Title: Which Father are you Following?

Focus: Christian Living

STORY: When I was in high school my parent’s and I got into the worst fight recorded in history. There was yelling and screaming for almost an hour straight. After the dust settled it was agreed that I could go to a friend’s house and spend the night to cool off a little bit. Upon arrival I called my parents to let them know I had arrived safely and would see them tomorrow. When I got home after school the next day I say down with my Dad and talked to him about what had happened. My dad tried to explain that he was giving me time to relax and then proceeded to discuss the concepts of grace and love (mostly God’s love).

My dad stressed the importance of me choosing not to live in darkness but live in the light (Christ). I looked at my dad right in the eyes and told him “I want to do what is right so bad… I just don’t know how to do it.”

INTRODUCTION: If we believe in Jesus Christ, we must understand that we are sealed in our salvation (it cannot be taken away). The saving grace of Christ means that there are no works involved (thief on the cross). 1 John 3:7-10 is a dangerous theological text. We need to pray for clarity and correct theology in our unpacking of the passage, as this is often misunderstood.

I believe that w all want to be in fellowship with God, regardless of whether or not they will admit it. There is no other hope or direction in a life lived without Jesus. If life is going to have purpose or meaning then we will do it in fellowship with God. That will get us through. John invites the entire congregation into fellowship God through the concept of works and pointing people back to the faith. Why?

There are those in our midst, the anti-Christ’s, who are doing things to keep us out of the fellowship with God. The anti-Christ’s wanted to lead the people astray because it points people away from God. There are people out there who are trying to lead us astray. SOMEONE wants to lead you astray. If we want to live in the light, which I believe we do, we must admit at times we don’t know how to do it and look to the Word for help.

SCRIPTURE: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he (issue for debate) is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” 1 John 3:7-10

PRAYER

TITLE: Which Father are you Following? (1 John 3:7-10)

Point #1: Children of God should act like their Heavenly Father (1 John 3:7)

• Explanation: There are no people who have simply glided into holiness (a relationship with Christ). As John stated, the antichrists were constantly pushing people away from a relationship with God. However, God whispers those to him in various situations and circumstances and gives us a chance to respond. Christians are intentional about becoming children of God. We desire fellowship with God and thus ask for his relationship through the blood on the cross. It’s never automatic.

• Illustration: Earthly Fathers and Heavenly Fathers - Sometimes our earthly father (or fathers depending on the family you come from) can give us a bad perception of our heavenly father. With earthly perceptions we often act toward God the way we act/have acted to our earthly fathers. We MUST separate our earthly relationships with our eternal ones. We must think differently about the relationship we can have with our heavenly father.

• Application: This is powerful motivation for a Christians “works”. If we can acknowledge our heavenly father then we are going to want to respond to our heavenly father and do as he does. Your spiritual father wants him to act like him and do as he does because he is righteous. We act like him for two reasons:

o ONE: We are righteous - There is a part of us who have been born of God (verse 9) that cannot sin. God has regenerated and transformed a part of us that is born of God and cannot sin.