Children of God
1 John 3:1-7
April 19, 2015[1]
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should
be called children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1a).
You have heard me tell our
children, over and over: “we are
Children of God.” I was especially
pleased when Pat Carney related to me a conversation she overheard between the
Carneys’ youngest son, Caleb, and a friend who was just beginning to attend
Confirmation Classes at his church. Caleb
was describing his own experience. The friend wasn't too sure about what he was getting into. Jacob told him, "It wasn’t too bad. You know Jesus, right?" "Yes." “Then—all you have to remember is:
you are a child of God, Jesus died for your sins, and Jesus loves you. Remember these things and you've got it made." I was so proud! If Caleb can remember those lessons throughout his spiritual journey, we will
have done our job!
This past week, Pat offered
those on the Cunningham United Methodist Youth Facebook page another reminder that
we are children of God—but this one added a bit of challenge. She shared a post by Christian rock singer
Toby Mac. This post contains a quotation
from Max Lucado which says, “To call yourself a child of God is one thing. To be called a child of God by those who
watch your life is another thing altogether.”[2]
I also was interested in some
of the comments that were posted on Toby Mac’s original Facebook post. Comments such as one made by a woman named
Emily, who wrote, “I thought that we're children of
God no matter what humans say....” and a similar one written by a woman named Kelly,
who asks “Aren't we all a child of God?? I don't think I agree with this
phrase. I am a child of the Most High King and anyone reading this is as well
Jesus loves you!!!” From those comments,
and the responses to those comments, I was amazed that such a seemingly
innocent phrase could create such confusion.
·
Some
people find in these words a statement of God’s universal love for all
people—“no matter what.”
·
Others
find a condition attached to these words, and believe that a person can only
claim these words if they have received salvation through faith in Jesus
Christ.
·
Others
will take this thought a step further to suggest (quoting Galatians 4 and
Ephesians 1) that we become “children of God” through adoption into God’s
family when we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
·
And
yet others will use this phrase with the added condition that if we have become
a child of God, we will live differently.
If you are going to be part of the family, then you need to live like
the family.
· And then there are still others who use
this phrase with less of focus on how we become a child of God than on the way
God treats His children. It’s not about
us; it’s about God.
A simple phrase
used in different ways by different people, each containing an element of truth
but no single phrase offers the entire picture.
So I did what I
often do when I see confusion over words.
I hit the books. To my surprise,
I found that even the writers of the different books of the Bible had different
things in mind when they used this phrase in different contexts.
Some of the
confusion is created because of the difficulties inherent in translating
Biblical Greek into English. We find
several different Greek words used for concepts often translated into English into
the figure of speech we read as “children of God.” To sort through all of these different nuances
is a much larger task than the time you will give me this morning.
But let me offer
a few comments.
1.
For
those who interpret “children of God” as a universal statement, I agree that
all of us are created as God’s children, and that God loves all of
us—universally. Since all of us are
sinners, none of us can claim that God loves some of us more than others. All of us are loved by God, no matter what. We proclaim, “For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). That means all of us. We all are loved without condition.
2.
We
all were created with free will, with the ability to choose our own way. Some have chosen to follow Christ. The Gospel of John affirms, “to all who
received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of
God.” (John 1:12). But there is
another consequence of being created with free will. Free will also gives us the capacity to
sin—we have egos, we make choices.
Sadly, we can misuse the freedom God gives us to go our own way. We can see this point illustrated in Jesus’
parable of the Prodigal Son (see Luke 15:11-25). The younger son demands his inheritance from
his father—what amounts to a declaration that as far as that son is concerned,
the father is as good as dead. Was the
younger son still a child of his father?
Yes. Did the father force him to
stay, against his will, with the family?
No. And yet, did the father
continue to love his son, continue to watch for his wandering son to return,
and welcome him with open arms, a robe, a ring and a party to celebrate his
return. Absolutely! God, our Heavenly Father, is continually
watching, waiting and hoping for us to return home! And when we do, God celebrates!
3.
But
that is not the end of our Christian journey; that is only the beginning. Our spiritual rebirth, being “born from
above” (John 3:3) marks the starting
point in a covenant relationship. God
loves us. God’s part of the covenant was
sealed with a cross, proclaimed by an empty tomb, and continues to be present
in our lives through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But there is a covenant on our part too—to let
God transform us so that we can live the way God wants us to live. That is the point that Max Lucado was
addressing in his book. He is not saying
that we should live to earn the praise of others, nor is he saying that somehow
we need to earn our way into God’s favor.
But he is saying that when we enter into this new life in Jesus Christ,
we will live differently as children of God.
When we respond to the invitation to “repent and believe in the good
news.” (Mark 1:4; 15), we will seek
to live differently, to lead holy lives.
Max Lucado puts it this way:
Holiness seeks to be like God. You want
to make a difference in your world? Live a holy life: Be faithful to your
spouse. Be the one at the office who refuses to cheat. Be the neighbor who acts
neighborly. Be the employee who does the work and doesn’t complain. Pay your
bills. Do your part and enjoy life. Don’t speak one message and live another.[3]
Children of God
want to become like their Heavenly Father.
It is in that context that Lucado says “To call yourself a child of God is one thing. To be called a child of God by those who
watch your life is another thing altogether.”
Let me put that in different words.
Children of God want to live like God.
We aren’t perfect. We have not
yet arrived at that point that we always get it right. But we try.
We continually offer our lives to God’s changing, transforming love
which helps us become the people God wants us to be. We are on the journey, being led by,
supported by and transformed by our Risen Christ, whose name we bear.
There is another very important sense in
which the Bible speaks about children of God—and about the compassion that God
has for God’s children. In Psalm 103, we read these words: “As a father shows compassion to his
children, so the Lord shows compassion to the faithful.” (Psalm
103:13). What a lovely expression of
the compassion that God shows towards those living in covenant with Him.
This past week, a member of our congregation
told me of a way in which she had recently experienced a powerful demonstration
of God’s love and compassion in her life.
I would like to close our sermon time this morning by asking Irene, a Child
of God, to tell the story she shared with me this week about how she experienced God’s
great faithfulness and compassion in her life this past week.
First, I have to say for those of
you who don’t know who I am, I’m not anybody
special. I’m not even a very good
Christian. So we need to start by understanding
that. I don’t know why God helped me. I really don’t.
But last August, I lost my friend of
forty years, and I was devastated. I
have an old house, a hundred years or more old.
It is not in very good condition.
I have seven acres. I don’t know
how to run the lawn mower. And
throughout this whole time, members of this church came and clipped my hedges
and did my taxes and helped me in so many ways.
The first time I understood that I
wasn’t quite alone yet, I was sitting at the kitchen table, and I cried and I
cried and I said, “I cannot do this! I
cannot do it.” Well, I had to finally go
out to the mailbox to collect my mail. I
opened up the mailbox and there was God, sitting in my mailbox. There was a card in there--sometimes it was a
letter--to say, “It’s OK. You’re going
to be all right. We’re counting on
you.” I thought that was marvelous—I
couldn’t believe it.
Time went on. People helped me all the way. And then—Allie had been cremated. I had her box up sitting next to her library,
her books. I didn’t know what I was going
to do with it—I wasn’t going to do anything with it. Except we had agreed that whoever survived would scatter the ashes out in the yard, because we loved that place so much, and we took care of it together, which I can’t do anymore. Since she died, I had to hire somebody to
do the lawn because my neighbors would not let me ride the lawnmower;
they wouldn’t show me how to do it. I’m
eighty-eight. They said “for heavens’
sake, what do you think?” So I hired somebody
to come, and this young man has been a blessing to me.
So one day, he had come and had cut the
lawn. The whole place was stunning, and my gardens were alive with
flowers, and it was kind of breezy. It was gorgeous out there. I knew
God was there, because I heard him. He said, “Irene, it’s time.” And I
thought, “No, no. Maybe not today.” But
I had work to do and I went outside and I did my things, and God kept saying to
me, “Let it go. It’s time.” Well, He had been talking to me all this time
and He’d been telling me all these things and bringing me help everywhere. So I thought maybe He knows, maybe He’s
right. Maybe He knows.
So I went inside and I got the box and I
took Allie’s ashes outside, and I opened up the box and the wind came and blew
her ashes all over –all over our precious land and all over the garden and the
trees that we had planted. I thought
to myself, “He was right! It was
time.” And I felt—I laughed—I laughed
out loud, I felt so happy. I felt like I
had been let out of prison, because all the sorrow, all that heartache was
gone. Wiped away.
What I want everyone to understand, what
I learned, is that you don’t earn God’s grace.
Nothing you do--God’s grace is free.
It came to me free, somebody who isn’t much account in this world. But it came to me free. I want people to remember that when it’s
the worst day of your life, when the loneliness hits you, when you feel lost,
and there is no help anywhere, always remember that God is standing here. Right here.
Right here. Every step of the way
that you have to go through life.
Thank
you!
“See
what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God;
and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1a). God loves us—no matter what. God will not force us; God will let us go our
own way. When we do leave the family,
however, God will keep watching for us to return home and God will welcome us
when we do. God seeks to transform us so
that we become like Him. And God showers
us with compassion and love, urging us to leave old ways that harm us, to
receive the gift of abundant life, and to become part of God’s work to change
the world. God
comforts and consoles His Children. All
of this is packed into the phrase, “I am a child of God.”
Living
as part of God’s family today doesn’t mean that we understand everything.
It doesn’t mean that we are perfect.
It means that we accept the grace God gives us, helping us to trust even
when we can’t understand, helping to change us where we need to be transformed,
and allowing God’s love and grace to become part of our lives, in good times
and in bad. It's a gift! May each of us receive the gift God offers
to us today!
[1]
Preached at Cunningham United Methodist Church in Palmyra, Virginia on the
Third Sunday of Easter.
[2]
Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God Through the Storm (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 148.
[3]
Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God Through the Storm (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 166.
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