Today’s text is from 1 John 3:1-3 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
I want to try to draw out several points from this short text. First: Who God permits Himself to be called by all obedient followers of Christ. Second: What God has made all those who obediently follow Christ. And third: How then ought the follower of Christ to live?
Most of John’s original readers came from pagan backgrounds. Romans worshiped dozens of gods and goddesses. The Greeks among them had their own pantheon of deities. Their gods were typically capricious. Impulsive. Jealous. Easily angered. Often vindictive and vengeful.
But the Biblical writers pointed their readers – and that includes us in the 21st century – to the One True God, the God of Genesis one, creator of heaven and earth and all that is seen and unseen.
And completely unlike the capricious, often vindictive, and impulsive gods and goddesses of their cultures, the True God is merciful, compassionate, patient. He is known by His love for all His creation – incomprehensible love, when we realize how utterly rebellious and deceitful and evil are all of our natures without Christ. Here is what John tells his readers when he gets to the fourth chapter of this letter (1 John 4:16-17): “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment.”
Let’s pause a moment to make some application. No one in this room worships Greek or Roman gods. But the paganism of the first century is really not too dissimilar to the paganism of so much of modern men and women. Even here in America so many of us follow a multiplicity of gods – although we don’t call them, or even think of them, as deities.
For example, there is the god of ‘self.’ These people live as if they themselves are their own gods. They are the ones who think they can live as they please, do whatever is right in their own eyes, without fear of a Judge who will call them into account for all they’ve done and said and thought. Frank Sinatra popularized this god in his signature song, “I did it My Way.” You might remember these words of his song: “For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows . . . and did it my way. Yes, it was my way.”
Then there is the god of money. People who cling to this god do whatever it takes to ensure their god remains enthroned. They willingly compromise their integrity to keep their god on its throne. They lie, cheat, steal, even murder. You can see their stories played out every day on the daily news and most movies and television shows.
Then there is the god of science. Even when science makes no sense, even when science becomes little more than a mouthpiece for a political agenda, these worshipers faithfully follow their God. How else can we explain the obeisance men and women pay to ‘science’ that tells them they can change their gender? Or that a baby in the womb is not truly a human being, but is only a clump of disorganized cells? Or that a cloth mask can stop a virus from infecting the wearer? Or that you and I derive from some amoeba in a primordial slimy soup?
Then there is the god called ‘tolerance.’ I recently received a note on social media from a Jewess whom I knew in High School. She told me that, according to her ‘swami’, many roads lead to heaven. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “Swami’ – that’s the title of a Hindu religious teacher. And so, the god called tolerance demands that no religion has the right to call itself the only and uniquely true faith.
Yes, John’s readers come from pagan backgrounds. And many of today’s readers share a similar erroneous understanding of the one and only True God. And because of our sin nature, because we have created God in our own image – it has become easy for us to let the culture define Him as either non-existent, or distant, or even capricious, or vengeful. And no one should be surprised that even in churched homes, children grow up into adults who live with the false and very dangerous idea that God really is NOT who so many people and pastors and scholars think of Him.
God our Creator loves us. Loves us. I will say it again for emphasis – He loves us. All of us, regardless of our love for Him, our creeds, our race, our backgrounds, our sins. He loves us.
That’s why He sent Jesus, so we can be different from what we are and from what we were. And that is the first point: God has permitted ALL who have received Jesus as their Lord – God has made Himself their Father.
But more than even THAT, all those who obediently follow Jesus, He invites us to call Him ‘Abba,’ the intimate familial name children call their beloved Father. The Lord Jesus used that term while He agonized in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: Mark 14:35-36a “And [Jesus] went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father!”
And the Holy Spirit also invites US to call our Father, ‘Abba:’ (Galatians 4:6) “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” He tells us the same thing through Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome (see Romans 8:15).
God has made Himself to all genuine Christians not only our Father, but our DAD! And what is our DAD like toward us who are His children? Don’t listen to the culture’s description. Listen to His very words of promise to us:
Psalm 103:8ff “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
Here is Romans 8:35, 37-39: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you see how different is our heavenly Father from so many human fathers – even the fathers some of us knew in our homes as children? Our godless culture – and in too many cases, our parental upbringing and early church experiences – have convinced us God is an angry Being who scours the earth, looking for someone to slay with a bold of lightning.
But John is telling his readers – including me and you – that such an idea of God is NOT faithful to the God of the Bible. Such a picture of God is a false narrative, a lying narrative borne in hell by Satan and his demons designed to trip us up, to seduce us to turn away from the One who, out of the depths of His love for us, sent His own Son to die in our place.
Does our heavenly Father – our DAD – demand of us holiness? Of course, He does. We see that throughout scripture, including verse three of today’s text which tells us: “Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
God's Ten Commandments are just that – commandments. They are not suggestions. But because of His love, He made a way for His justice against sin to be fully met and paid for by the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus.
Which brings us now to point number two: Not only has God has made Himself our Father, our Dad, but He has adopted us to Himself as His CHILDREN. Let me reiterate for emphasis: God has made us His children.
Think what that means! You are really, truly, and legally, a son or daughter of the Creator of the universe. I know what I am saying now seems redundant to what I have already said. I mean, if God is our Father, then by default we are His children. But I am redundant to emphasize the point.
Here is what John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel: (John 1:11-12): He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Listen, if we are children of the almighty Creator of the universe, then why on earth are we fearful of what can happen to us in life? Do you remember when as a child something or someone frightened you and you hid behind your father’s or mother’s leg? And those of you who have had children of your own, do you not remember your own son or daughter rushing to you when something frightened them?
I need to be reminded of this almost every day: NOTHING can happen to God's child unless God permits it. And if He permits it, He does so out of love for us – even if and when it doesn’t seem like love.
Here is what He tells us through Isaiah: (Isaiah 52:12-13) “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies and of the son of man who is made like grass, That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, [even]as he makes ready to destroy?”
Now then, although I have memorized this text, and so many other like it, I only can hope one day those promises will truly move from my brain to my heart, soul, and spirit.
Yes! We are children of God! Run to Him when something frightens you!
And, oh, by the way, God is not yet done transforming us into the likeness of His own Son, Jesus. Here is how John wrote it in today’s text: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
St Paul wrote this to encourage the Christians at Philippi: (Philippians 1:6) “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
And to the Christians at Rome: (Romans 8:28-29a) “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”
So, if you ever get to wondering if you are EVER going to become a better Christian, a more obedient child of God, more faithful, more fruitful – the answer is an unequivocal ‘YES” – to those who want to be more obedient, faithful, and fruitful. As it’s been said, “Be patient with me. God's not finished with me yet.”
And, oh, by the way, we can also say this to ourselves, “Richard [or fill in your own name] – Be patient with yourself. God is not finished with you yet.”
Which brings us now to our third point: Since God is our Father – our Dad – and we are His beloved children – point number three: How then ought we to live?
Grateful? Oh, yes, grateful. If we are not waking up
every morning, thanking him for keeping us safe and well during the night, why
not? If we’re not thanking him for a warm bed and a comfortable place to
live each morning, why not? If we are not thanking him at each meal in
the dining room, publicly, thanking him bowing our heads for the food and the
health to eat it, why not?
Surely, we are not ashamed of the gospel. Is it not, as St. Paul wrote to the
Christians at Roman (Romans 1:16), “The power of God unto salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”
So, how then ought we to live? Grateful, yes. But John also tells us in today’s text: “everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
And there is yet MORE. Here is what he says in the second chapter of his letter: (1 John 2:1-6) “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the [atonement] for our sins . . . [and] By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
How ought we to walk? In righteousness. In humility. In faithfulness to His commandments. There is no need to enumerate all the things God calls sin. The scriptures give dozens of lists, beginning with the Ten Commandments and culminating with the Lord’s warning to the various churches in Revelation chapters two and three.
The genuine Christian does not need anyone to reiterate what the Holy Spirit has inspired the Biblical writers to write down for us. But what the genuine Christian DOES need is a humble heart, a sincere heart, a heart devoted to truth, so that he or she WANTS TO OBEY God's commandments.
Isn’t that what Jesus said to His disciples? (John 14:15) “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.”
Let me conclude today’s message with this review: Almighty God is our Father. He
invites those who are His children through their faithful obedience to Jesus –
He invites them to call Him, ‘abba’ – Dad.
Not only is He our Father, but we are really, truly, legally, and eternally His son or daughter. And we must also remember that He is slowly conforming us into the image of Jesus. And finally, for today’s message, knowing what we do about our relationship with the Father AND HIS relationship with us – we ought to walk in a manner (Colossians 1:10) “worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
For all these reasons, and more besides, we can and should pray: Oh, Holy Spirit – please, we beg You – increase our love and our obedience for God whom we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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