Love the Brothers (1 John 3:11-18)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. It is our Give Series. We are excited every time, every year around this time and every time around this year. That's what I almost said.
Go to 1 John chapter 3. We've been working through 1 John and usually we would pause and focus just on Give Series stuff and go somewhere else, but John went there anyway, so we're going to just keep going through John because he's going to talk about what we would have paused to talk about. Our Give Series is around Christmas. We want to celebrate Christmas and we want to respond a little bit to how our culture celebrates Christmas because our culture, Christmas is a Christian holiday and culturally we have a lot of Christian background, a lot of Christian history. And so you have this idea of generosity and sacrifice and love and kindness and peace that all comes in with Christmas.
We have this idea of worship that Jesus would come and that he would humble himself to come redeem sinners, this idea of hope, this idea of light in darkness, that all kind of comes in. And then what happens is culturally we try to pull out the Jesus part. We want to keep peace. We want to keep joy. We want to keep life. We're cool with all of that.
But then we also want to infuse consumerism. And so it's like you bought a filet mignon and you cooked it perfectly and then you pour strawberry syrup on top of it. They just don't go together. It doesn't work right. Certainly Christmas is a time for celebration. Certainly it's a time for feasting.
Certainly it's a time for giving. But we've, we've amped it up so much with consumerism because our whole culture runs off of us buying things we don't need. Buying shoes before other shoes wear out. Buying shoes for this type of occasion. Buying shoes to be this type of person. Buying this shirt that makes us this type of person.
Buying things that help us have an identity. Buying more things than we need and replacing the things that aren't bad with new things. That's our, that's our whole system. It's what it's built off of. And you're a good American. If you go spend money, the news comes out and says, Hey, y'all hadn't been consuming like you're supposed to.
And you go, well, I got to do my duty. I said, I was thankful yesterday and now I got to go get some new stuff. It's just, that's, that's the system that we have culturally. And then we have as Christians, we're supposed to approach this differently. We're supposed to see this differently. And so at our gift series, we try to just push back on consumerism and amp up generosity.
We want some of our money to just walk out the door and to go towards things that don't benefit us. That's why I love the song that was just sung on that little video. It's from citizens. It's called, why don't you marry Christmas? It says, I see the writing on the wall. We've been through all of this before longer lists and grander gifts, brighter lights, entitled kids.
Well, if you love it so much, why don't you marry Christmas? The happy feelings that we had, are they just boxed up in the past? Buying more we can't afford. That's American. The pressure's high, but what's it for? Well, if you love it so much, why don't you marry Christmas?
So our hope in our gift series is to push back on some of this just consumer driven stuff and say, Hey, let's remember what this is actually about. And then let's respond as Christians with generosity. Let's give some money away at this time of year. We bring in money and we give money out for a Lottie moon. It's a Christmas offering, which goes towards the international mission board and towards international missions. It goes directly towards sending missionaries overseas.
And then as a church, we also come together to do our gift project, which is where we've helped church plants in Tennessee and downtown Columbia. We've helped people who had had some flood damage to their home. We came together and raised money for that. We were able to raise some money for some children's gifts and a party that we were able to throw in, in Columbia as well. We raised money for a women's shelter. We've raised money for overseas missions in Honduras and in Egypt.
So I get the distinct privilege of announcing our gift project today. Later. First John chapter three, we're going to pick up in verse 11. I'm going to pray and we're going to walk through as John presses on this idea. And then we'll get to talk through how we're going to be able to practice it together. So let's pray.
God, we ask for joy and delight. As we read your word, we pray that you would help us to see Christ clearly. You might change our hearts. Help us to be loving people in Jesus name. Amen. So John in this section is going to give us one big picture and then one practice.
So he's going to give us one big picture, something for us to see, and he's going to give us something to do the way that this ought to show up in our lives. So he says this in verse 11, for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. This most likely the beginning of these talking about is the beginning of the proclamation of the gospel, the beginning of Christ's work that we would have love for one another in the church. But it's connected to the call in the old Testament to be loving and gracious to the people of Israel and to the people around you.
We should love one another. Verse 12, we should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not be surprised brothers that the world hates you. So he says this kind of big picture, we shouldn't be like Cain who murdered his brother.
And it's like, okay, sound advice. But he's, he's painting up on one side, the epitome of worldly approach to others. That's why he says, don't be surprised when the world hates you. He's saying, this is kind of the epitome of non-Christian approach. And then he says, and here's the epitome of a Christian approach that he keeps going. Verse 14, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.
Whoever does not love abides in death that the brothers, there is the church that there is supposed to be a distinct, special love for Christians in the church. Now, Christians are told by Christ to love our enemies, to love our neighbors, and to love the church. So you're, you're told if you're a Christian, that's everybody. They fit in one of those categories. He expands neighbor to whoever's around you. Enemies are all the people that dislike you.
And then you're Christian brothers and sisters. So we're supposed to love everybody, but the, the, the Bible presses on this idea that the church should have distinct, special, greater love, protection, care, defense for those who belong to Jesus. Those are the brothers. And this idea that we are all children of God is not a biblical idea. The biblical idea is that we are all made by God and that all humans are made in his image and therefore have value, dignity. But to be a child of God is a blood bought gift from Jesus to those who believe.
That's what John says in chapter one of his, uh, the gospel of John, that for those who believe, he gave him the right to be called children of God. That's what he says at the beginning of chapter three. And this is that he says that we, how great is it? How good is God to us that we get to be called children? And so we are, but it's through the work of Christ that we're children of God. And so there's this family of God that we're meant to show love to one another.
So he keeps going. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. That's a bold claim. We're going to look at that in a second.
By this, we know love that he, that's Christ, laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. One big picture. Cain on one hand, Christ on the other. That our approach is going to be more like Cain's or more like Christ's. That's what he's getting at.
That you're going to look like a disciple of Cain or a disciple of Christ. He says, we know that if we hate, we're murderers. Did we know that? That your heart posture matters. That just painting a smile on your face while you loathe someone is still a problem for you because God sees your heart. That he actually cares about your heart, not your actions.
This isn't just about your morality. Can you act out the right things? It's like, no, he cares about who you are. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with Cain, so far, you know that he murdered his brother. Well, I'm going to tell you that story a little bit. That's from Genesis chapter three.
Adam and Eve have sons, Cain the oldest, then Abel or Abel. My uncle Abel fusses at me because it's spelled Abel and it's probably pronounced Abel or Abel. So I'm going to call him Abel just for the sake of my uncle. Then sorry. So Cain and Abel, they both at some point come to the Lord to give him a sacrifice.
Abel brings sheep from his flock. It says he brings the first. And then it says in some time, Cain brings some fruit. God has regard for Abel and not for Cain. Cain immediately, it says his face has fallen. He's frustrated by this, that God was pleased by Abel's sacrifice, but not by his.
It seems as if Abel was genuinely worshiping the Lord, was delighting in the Lord, brought the first of what he had. And that Cain thought, okay, well, this may be a good thing for me to do. And somehow it'll garner some favor because as soon as it doesn't work, his heart does not tender towards the Lord to say, what's wrong? What did I do? Like to respond well, he hardens himself towards the Lord, which seems as if it was, he came in it self-interested and when it didn't work, he was frustrated. Then it says he talks to his brother, takes him out in the field and murders him.
That's crazy. But it's the epitome, the physical manifestation of Cain's idea of how the world works, which is you exist for his good. Everything's about me. Therefore, everyone else is expendable. If they benefit me, if they help me, if they bring joy to my life, they get to stay. What's her name?
Marie Kondo. He does that with people. Does this inspire joy? No, in the trash. That's what he does. Christ is the opposite of that.
When you look at a manger, when you look at a nativity scene, that's Christ coming and saying, I'm not here to be served, but to serve. I'm here for everyone else. Therefore, I'm expendable. I'm here to sacrifice so that they might be satisfied. I'm here to suffer for them. Whereas Cain says, you need to sacrifice so that I might be satisfied.
You need to suffer for me. That's his big picture, that we're going to have one of those postures. I'm going to show you a few ways that kind of shows up. If you ever had a friend who knew a guy, maybe you're this person, you know a guy, you have a guy, you have a guy that gets you tickets to things. You have a guy that gets you out of tickets for things. You have a guy that, that can help you fix a car.
You have a guy that can, like, I, oh, I know this person to help us get a deal on this. I know, I know a shoe guy. I know a person who can help, like, and that's, you ever been around that person and you've, I've thought, that must be nice. He's got like a bullpen of perks. Oh, you're going to Disney World? Let me make some phone calls.
Who do you, do you know Mickey? What, who do you do it? But the reality of that is I've got these people around me and I appreciate the fact that they enhance my life. I'm going to make a phone call. They're going to make my life better. I don't know what they do on their end, but be honest with you, I don't care.
Just want this thing. Have you ever been the guy that someone knew? You ever been the only person who owned a truck and a group of friends? I have. When we first planted this church, we were part-time movers. It's just a thing.
And you have to work on your heart in those moments because you're getting a phone call and it's, hey, I'd love for you to sacrifice for me. And there's part of us that really wants to be in the Cain position and really dislikes being in the Christ position. I'd really like for you to sacrifice for me. That would be excellent. And I'd really like to not have to sacrifice for you. Honestly, if you make me suffer and sacrifice too much for you, I don't want to be your friend anymore.
Now, if you sacrifice and suffer for me, that's actually how I define a good friend. I don't want to be a good friend. I want to have good friends. So he writes and says, Christians, do we look like Christ or should we be called Cainians? He didn't say that because it's dumb, but that's what he's getting at. Do we look like disciples of Cain?
People exist for my benefit. All right. I'm going to, I'm going to say a thing that may not garner me some friends. Let me get a drink of water first. Let's talk about wedding vows.
All right. I'm not a huge fan personally of people who write, people of when people write their own wedding vows and I'll explain why. Vows are promises, promises that you make so that you'll keep them when you don't want to keep them anymore. That's the point of a promise. When people write their own vows, they often don't write promises. They write poems about how much they like the other person.
And that's fine. Those are great. Some of them are very beautiful. I've listened to some and thought that's beautiful. It's just not a vow saying, I love how much you love my friends. I love how much you love my dog.
I love how much you love me is nice, but it's not a promise. If anything, it puts pressure on them. I'm going to need you to keep loving my friends, my dog and me. I want my, my wife to think I'm attractive. I want her to think I'm fun to be around, but at our wedding, I want her to promise to stay with me when I'm unattractive and no fun to be around. That's what I want.
I want her to look a lot more like Christ who sacrifices for the sake of love. Then I appreciate what benefits I get. Now we certainly should appreciate that. That's a part of relationships. I get that. But what I'm saying is there's this idea that this is the good stuff and this isn't, but this is where Christ went and it's where he invites us to go because it's actually the good stuff.
There's actually joy here. There's actually freedom here. There's actually delight here and Christ is there. So in the sacrifice, we get more Christ because we need more Christ in suffering. We get more Christ because we need more Christ in generosity. We get more Christ because we need more Christ and he's actually what is good.
That's what he's saying. That's the big picture. Then he says this, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. That ought to be what this looks like. Jesus refers to it at one point as a city on a hill, that it ought to be beautiful to behold, that it ought to be warming and welcoming and joyful, that people ought to come and be around the church for a while and go, oh my goodness, I have to have that. That's one of the reasons why we invite people who are not believers to join community groups.
If you're not a believer, we want you to join a community group. And yes, this is a terrible, terrible trick because if you join a community group and you stick around one for a while and you see what real Christians look like in life and you begin to see how they love each other and how they love you, we're convinced that you'll see how Jesus loves you and you'll begin to love Jesus. And we want Jesus for you because he's wonderful. But that's what it's supposed to be like. It's supposed to be this beautiful thing that draws you in, that we're to love one another. There's supposed to be grace and sacrifice and generosity flowing out all across the board all the time where everybody shows up thinking, I'm here for your good.
And when you do that, you're free and there's delight and there's joy and there's love and it makes everything better. I've said this all the time and I'm convinced of it. If you want to be miserable, think everything's about you. Show up right now and ask, how much do I like this? How much do I appreciate this? How much do I wish things were like that?
And you'll just be miserable. If you show up thinking, I'm here to serve, guess what? You'll have a lot of opportunity for it and you'll be free and there'll be a lot of joy. We're supposed to be marked by this. John was marked by this. The night before Jesus, the night Jesus was betrayed, the night before he dies, he gets his disciples together and he says, the world's going to know that you belong to me by the way you love one another.
And he says, no man has a greater love than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends. And the next day, the disciple John, at a very young age, stands at the foot of the cross, watching his friend die. Not understanding fully why this had to happen, not understanding fully what was going on, but knowing that a man that had magnificent power and strengths, that he understood to be God in the flesh, was willingly laying down his life and dying and that he was intentionally doing this. John sees him rise from the grave. And John says, that's us forever. That's what we were born out of.
That's who we are. That's the blood that pumps through our veins is sacrifice and suffering and generosity for the good of others and the glory of Christ. That's what John calls us to. So he gives us this big picture and he says, we're either going to be in this posture, our heart's going to be bent towards wanting from others, taking from others, towards exalting self, or our heart's going to be bent towards sacrifice and selflessness. So he gives us a test.
But verse 17, if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? This just got real tangible. Takes this big picture that we ought to be selfless, that we ought to love one another, that we ought to be laying down our lives for others. And then you say, okay, yeah, I'll lay down my life for others. And he says, okay, hand over your stuff. And it's like, I thought you said life, not stuff.
It makes it real tangible, real fast. He says, we ought to look like Christ. And you're like, yes, we ought to look like Christ. Hallelujah. Hand me your wallet. What?
For, for, no. What? This is a trick. He says, no, this is an indication of where your heart is. Do you have stuff and see someone who needs that stuff? Do you keep that stuff?
That's the thing about stuff. It's the thing about money. It's the thing about tangible items. If you have it, I don't have it. If you eat the last cookie, I don't eat the last cookie. Because you ate it.
I wanted that cookie. That's how that works. If I, if you need $200 and I have $200 and I give you $200, that $200 does not pay my electrical bill. Or let me go to that concert I've been saving up for. Let me go eat at Ruth's Chris. Or Cracker Barrel eight times.
Or Taco Bell 150 times. I think I covered all of, all of us here now. Made it really, made you really feel it. That's the reality of if we have the things and we give away the things, we sacrifice. We don't have it anymore. We, we suffer because it was taken out of us.
Have you noticed that? That's one of the things they teach you in sales is a hand of the person, the item that you're selling because when they touch it, it becomes theirs. I sold swimming pools. If by the end of the night I had you hugging the item I had handed you, I was selling you a swimming pool. If I handed you stuff and you just put it in your lap, oh buddy, there was a pool in your backyard because it became yours. You ever seen somebody hurt some of your stuff and you felt it?
Invite kids over to your house. You'll see what I'm talking about. You'll watch them start doing something and you'll feel it in your body while they do a thing to a wall. It's like, and if they're your kids, you can respond appropriately. If they're not your kids, you have to look at their parents. Like, are you going to hit them?
But you can feel it. That's why he takes that here. He says, do we love people? Let me ask you a question. Do you give stuff away? Does all your money go to you?
You ever see somebody needing the thing and you just gave them the thing? Do you have a spot in your closet where your favorite coat used to be? Do you have fewer shoes because somebody else has more shoes? Do you not do a thing every month so that someone else can have something like electricity every month? He says, that's how you know if you love. If we can see that someone needs something and we have that something and we can talk ourselves out of giving them that something, he says something really scary.
He says, if you can close the door on your heart like that, I'm not sure Christ is inside there. So he says, let's paraphrase. Yet closes his heart against him. How does God's love abide in him? This idea that the love of God is flowing out from your heart and if you close the doors, it bursts the doors back open. But if you can close the doors and they stay closed, he just says, the love of God's like the Kool-Aid man.
It's coming through. And so if you can just turn that off and keep it off, I don't know if you know Jesus. I don't know if you've been overwhelmed by the love that he has for you because that's what overwhelms us. It's what pours through us. This love that doesn't end. This love that captures us.
This love that saves us. This love that redeems us. This love that flows. And so he says, when you see someone needs, you just think, this is my moment. This is the type of person I am because this is what Christ came to do for me and I get to do it for you. That's what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount.
He says, we're supposed to give to the ungrateful. We're supposed to give to our enemies. This idea that we're just supposed to give. They don't deserve it. Yes. Absolutely.
Isn't that why you became a Christian? Didn't you run headlong to Christ because you didn't deserve it? Isn't that what overwhelmed your soul? He says this, little children, let us not love in word or in talk, but in deed and in truth. Don't just tell people you love them. Don't just show up and sing about it.
Let's do it. My wife and I got to go to stay in a little mountain cabin thing for just a couple of days. It was Airbnb. We had a good time because our children weren't there. I love my kids, but this was nice. And we got to stay there for a couple of days and we were riding down to go try to find some food in the evening.
We rode over and we saw, it was beautiful. It's like nestled in the mountains. It was glowing. It looked like something out of like Disney World magic. Like it seemed almost fake. The city just glowing and we were heading down towards it and it was like, this is, look at this.
And when we got closer, it was a paper mill. It was a lot closer than we thought. It glistened beautifully, but you got close and it was like smoke and pipes and all the things that were little twinkling lights were just so that I guess people wouldn't like run into them or whatever. And it smelled like a paper mill. We're supposed to be a city on a hill that gets more and more beautiful and sweet and delightful the closer you get. Not that seems neat on the outside and the further you get in, the faker it becomes.
That's why he says, let's not love and word and talk. Let's not seem good. Let's not have and have nothing. Let's actually have the good stuff. Let's love and deed and truth.
You actually don't have to talk about it at all. Jesus says, it's better if you don't. Let's just do this stuff. Let's just look like we belong to the king of the universe who gave up everything so that we could belong to him. Let's look like people who were purchased by blood so money doesn't mean anything.
If you've been purchased by the blood of God, green things with Uncle Sam on them just doesn't matter as much. If we can rest in Christ and delight in Christ then the world's goods are just the world's goods. We're going to spend a couple of weeks just looking at this and talking about this and we want this to be who we are and how we practice all the time but we're going to pick one thing to do together right now. So we said John says is there some brothers who have a need? That's a good thing for Christians to jump in on and you may actually know of that. You may have that in your group.
You may have that around you where you say this is a Christian brother that have a need. It's Christmas time. I'm going to help but the reality is that should happen in January and February and March. It should be a hey these people around me they have needs. I have this stuff. Let's go.
And just constantly joyously looking like Christians but we're coming together for gift series to practically apply this in one specific way. So we just said do we know some Christians around us that have a need and anything that fits those categories a brother with a need works. We heard Raz Bradley brought this to our attention because he's on the board at Bethel Christian Camp and he said this is a little weird he said because I'm on the board there and we just said no it's not because all the things we've ever done have been with people that we've known that we knew about that's how this works and this one specifically is who's around who's a brother that you see and need do you see the need so Bethel Christian Camp is a camp in Gaston it's named Bethel and it's a Christian camp they do a lot of during the summer they do a lot of stuff with underserved children most of the children that come are on some form of a scholarship they have a couple of weeks during the summer where all the kids are on scholarship they run a really tight budget so that they can be very generous their director retired program director retired and they're hiring a new one and this new program director this is him and his wife Jason and Christine Arrington they're taking a pay cut moving from Virginia they're moving out of a nicer home into a smaller home they're taking a bigger budget making it a smaller budget so that they can be a part of what's happening and to join and serve and we found out that they were things are tight but they're trying to renovate this home a little bit Bethel is and so we just said hey if it serves them well as they serve y'all well and serve these kids well we want to help renovate that home we want to help make that a little nicer these are their four children and they're moving down with them in the background you can kind of see the home where I think they're coming from and then this is the one they're moving into and so we're going to go in as they try to renovate some of that and we're going to just help because they need some of the world's goods and we have some of the world's goods and we're the type of people because we belong to Christ who give things up so that other people can have them because Jesus gave stuff up so that we can have him and that's just how we act so we're going to practice this specifically together now we asked Jarl who's kind of head of things over there to send us some information what he sent us was a four minute video that explains a little bit of the heart behind Bethel and introduces us to the Arringtons and tells us a little bit about what they're going to do so we're going to watch that it's four minutes then I'm going to come up and say a few more things and that's it that's our gift project this year so we'll watch this hello Mill City my name is Jarl Hill some of you might know me as the director at Bethel Christian Camp some of you might know me as Isaac's dad and some of you might know me as Scott and Kit's son but most important of all is that I'm a child of God I'm a follower of Jesus Christ you see I think that who we think we are who we really believe that we are is vitally important it forms everything that we do we all know the story of how our great great great grandparents Adam and Eve were created by God and given a beautiful kingdom in which to live but that they decided to snub God because they thought they knew better and that's
Adopted for Glory (1 John 2:28-3:10)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. So we care about knowing more of Christ. And one of the things, one of the language you use is spiritual formation, that we would grow to be more like Christ. We have, when you walk out that door over there, a bookcase.
It's called our Spiritual Formation Bookcase. All right, we just made this and it's got some resources in it. It's got a link to our virtual bookstore, which has some recommended reading on it. It's got some stuff for care and counseling. It's got some stuff for Roadmap, which is our kind of guide to home family discipleship. Just wanted to highlight one of the resources we have over there.
This is 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask and Answer About Christianity. This is on the side where there's family discipleship. If you have teenagers, it's a really good resource. All right, if you have teenagers, as parents, both of you can read this together. It's helpful. We have some display copies that are over there, but you also can go online and purchase this.
But just wanted to point that out over there for you all to check that out. We'll continually rotate books over there because we want to be people that know more of Christ. And one of the ways that we pursue Him is through word and prayer and then looking at godly authors who have written things that we think are really helpful for our souls. We're going to be in 1 John today, chapter 2, verse 28, all the way through chapter 3, verse 10. So you can go ahead and turn there in your Bibles.
It's on page 592 in your Blue Bibles. You can also follow along on the screen with us. So I want to jump to the end of this passage because I want it to frame up where we are going today. So starting off in verse 10 of chapter 3, it says, 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. So it's another week in 1 John, another heavy passage that is a lot to work through.
And he comes out swinging here, differentiating that there are two categorical different groups of people. There are the children of God and the children of the devil. Now, if that's true, if the Bible speaks truthfully and authoritatively, and we as a church, we believe that. If this is true, then understanding where you land in that is one of the most important things you could ever possibly want to understand. It is incredibly important for us to understand this passage and what he is getting at. Like much of 1 John, he is really showing some identifying markers of what it means to be a Christian, and specifically today, what it means to be a child of God.
It's one of the main reasons we exist as a church, is to understand this, to understand what it means to be a child of God and all the benefits that come with that. We believe that being a child of God, being in the family of God, is better than everything else. So we want to know what this looks like. We want to see the unbelievable love and grace and mercy and joy and attainable peace that comes with being a child of God, pitted against what he shows here is belonging to the devil, which is a road that is lined with a lot of self-inflicting pain on a collision course with destruction. So, like much of 1 John, the text is heavy.
And in the midst of this, I don't want us to miss, as we self-reflect, as we look at some of the observations that he's going to make about these two different groups of people, as we look at this, I don't want us to just see what it is saying as a set of observations without missing that in the middle of all of this is an invitation. And it is an invitation into being in the family of God. And that invitation is sweet and it is good and it really is better than everything else. We believe that wholeheartedly. So I don't want us to miss that as we walk through this.
So let me pray as we prepare for this and then we will walk through this together. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. Even when it is hard to absorb, it is true and it is good. Lord, I pray that we would put down defenses that we have against this. I pray that we would be present.
You would speak to us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we would respond. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, so let's start off in verse 28.
It says, And now, dear children, continue in him so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. All right, so we've seen this over and over again in 1 John. He has this dear children, this dear friends kind of language. Remember, he is writing this letter to different churches. And John, being an apostle, has been a father to many of these Christians. A father in the faith.
And it's a term of affection. He says, dear children. He charges them, continue in him. This is continue in the faith. So that when he returns, he may stand confident and unashamed.
So the language there, and some of the language we're going to see today, is forward looking. This is when he returns. We take a step back from this. This is when Jesus comes. This is the second coming. When he comes to make all things new.
When he Judges heavens and the earth. When he Judges everything. And he establishes his kingdom. When all of this happens. When judgment day comes. He says, I'm writing you to stand firm in this.
So that you might stand firm in the confidence that Jesus provides. When I was in high school. No, I've mentioned this a few times. When I was in high school, I was a late bloomer. Did not hit my growth spurt until junior, senior year. So I was five foot tall coming into high school.
A hundred pounds. But, was feisty. Like, I didn't take anything off anybody. No matter how. You could outweigh me by a hundred pounds. And eight or nine inches.
I wasn't going to take anything off anyone. So that, I had a mighty mouse kind of heart. No way shows up today in any form or fashion. But, I had this position. But I also had a brain.
And I knew that if I ever got into something that was real. That being a hundred pounds less than somebody. Was not sufficient. For any type of defense. So I knew.
The people I rolled with. Was of great importance. And they were bigger. One of them. His dad owned a karate studio. So he knew karate.
Like, we'd spar with him. Throw punches at him. And he'd just deflect everything. That was huge. I knew that if we ever got into anything. I had guys that would back me up.
I could stand confident. That this is the picture that we're giving here. That when Christ is for us. We stand confident and unashamed. Confident. Because Jesus destroyed the power of death of the resurrection.
Unashamed. Because Jesus, when he went to the cross. He bore our sin and our shame. So on judgment day. We can point back to the work of Christ. And say, that's what my sin was paid for.
This eternal life that I'm entering into. Was conquered at the resurrection. I stand confident because Christ has my back. That's what he's saying. Stand confident. When that day comes.
This is where you stand. In the confidence that Christ offers. And then he continues in verse 29. He says, If you know that he is righteous. And that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. Since we're going to start to see as we work through this passage.
This differentiating. What the people of God look like. What the family of God looks like. Versus what sons and daughters of disobedience. Sons and daughters of the evil one look like. Now.
When you do a first reading of this. There's some tension. Within us. Because we bang the anthem of the Bible. That says that you are saved by grace through faith. It's not of your works.
If you've been in this church long enough. You've heard that over and over again. That we don't earn the favor of God through our good works. It is by faith. It's by grace. Like we will beat that drum.
Because the Bible beats that drum. And when you come upon a passage like this. It's like, wait a second. What? You've got to read it slowly. You've got to read it carefully.
Because what he is saying here. Is that everyone who does what is right. Has been born of him. Meaning. That faith. Proceeds action.
That being born of him. Proceeds. Doing. What is right. We can't miss. That order.
But that's what distinguishes being a child of God. You were born into the family of. God. Through faith in Jesus. And then what follows. Is right.
Action. Now. He's going to keep doing this. All right. We're shifting in chapter three now. He's going to keep doing this.
But he. For one verse. He needs to just pause and celebrate this good news. We saw this a little bit in chapter two. Chet spent a whole week on this. Where he's just.
Celebrating. The gospel. He does it right here in. Verse one of chapter three. He says. See what great love the father has.
Lavished on us. That we should be called. Children of God. God. And that is what we are. He's got exclamation points there for a reason.
I mean. He is. He can't. He can't help himself. This. This is what it means to be a child of God.
Now. This is what we're sitting in. Is the doctrine of adoption. Okay. The. The.
The. The first John teaches that the gospel of John teaches that we see in Ephesians to this idea that we are born into. Sin. That we are once sons and daughters of disobedience. Sort of Ephesians to the language of Ephesians to. But what happens is God and his rich mercy and his grace.
He rescues us and brings us into the family of God. By his love. By his grace. By his mercy. That we can choose to rebel against him. We can choose what is not good for us in this world.
But by his love he rescues us and brings us into the family of God. Scott Hill has been teaching in Sunday school. The book Gentle and Lowly. He's almost done with it. So many good quotes come from that book.
It's a brilliant work. That helps us understand the character of Jesus. I love what Dana Ortlund says. He says. That God is rich in mercy. Means that your regions of deepest shame and regret are not hotels.
Through which divine mercy passes. But homes in which divine mercy abides. You catch that? Like the areas of your life that you have so much regret over. The areas of our sinful nature. That grieve us the most.
Understanding the mercy of God. Is that it's not a hotel stay. And it has come in for a night or two or three. That it is a home that he abides in. He sets up shop in. And his mercy goes nowhere.
It is with us. He goes on to say. It means that the things about you that make you cringe the most. Make him hug the hardest. How good is that? The things that we don't want to look at.
The things that we are ashamed of. The things that make us cringe the most. Make God hug the hardest. He comes in and just hugs us. And says. I see it all.
And I still redeemed you. And I'm with you. And I'm for you. And he goes on to say. It means our haunting shame is not a problem for him. But the very thing he loves most to work with.
It means our sins do not cause his love to take a hit. Our sins cause his love to surge for all the more. All the sin. All the shame. All the brokenness. All the hurt.
His love surges forward all the more. And John just has to stop and celebrate that. That we are as children of God. Who he loves us because he loves us. Because he loves us. Because of his rich love and mercy.
Don't miss that. And then he continues with this difficult teaching. Picking up in the rest of verse 1. He says. The reason the world does not know us. Is that it did not know him.
Dear friends. Now we are the children of God. And what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears. We shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is.
All have this hope in him. Purify themselves. Just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact sin is lawlessness. And this is where I get into the nitty gritty.
Of what it means to be the children of God. And what he is going on to say. Is children of the devil. Two groups. Two distinguishing markers. And two end results.
That is the picture he is drawing. He is forward looking in this. When he says. We shall be like him. That we shall see him as he is. That is forward looking.
That is new heavens. New earth. That is the future resurrection. That we will be like him. We don't have categories of thought. What this is like.
But one day when all things are made new. We have a body that has no more sin. No more hurt. No more pain. That is a distant memory. And the picture there is purity.
Pure. Perfected. In. Cells. He says. That is what awaits us.
In the meantime. As we are preparing. For the glory that awaits us. He says. We purify ourselves. That we.
This is the language of repentance. That we are. Believing the gospel. We are preparing for that. That awaits us. Last weekend.
My wife and I got some really. Really good news. My brother-in-law called. And he said. Listen. Our family.
We get points to Disney World every year. They are Disney resorts. We had a plan. A vacation scheduled. December 12th. The 19th.
None of us can go. You want it? And I said. Absolutely. Yes. We have been saving for three years.
To go to Disney World. So we just. We have a trip. That was planned two years out. And we just. We moved it up.
So. Something you need to know. Actually. A couple of things you need to know. First. This is a surprise to my children.
Okay. So don't go run and tell them. That. Are you excited about Disney World? Because my wife. Will murder you.
Okay. The reason why. She will murder you. Is the second thing you need to know. My wife is a Disney. Believer.
She. Believes. In the magic. Of Disney. She grew up going there. Multiple times.
She's seen all the movies. Like. She. Believes. In the magic. She's all in on Disney.
And. I. Am not. I. I love. There's certain Pixar movies.
That are. I think are top notch. Up. It's like one of my. It's my top ten. Of all.
Movies. I got. I. There's certain things I love about Disney. The Marvel movies. They did a good job with that.
But. I really don't like the company. I just personally don't like the company. They bought ESPN. And they ruined ESPN. And I've always been upset about that.
Like. They just do things. Like. I just. I'm not. I'm not a fan of the company.
I don't believe in the magic. So. Right now. We're getting ready for Disney World. Last night. My wife brings a bag.
And she's like. Look. And she's got t-shirts made. Right. She's got t-shirts. Like.
It's. You know. I'm wearing t-shirts. The kids are wearing t-shirts. We're all wearing t-shirts. We're.
We're watching Disney movies. We are gearing up for the magic of Disney World. We're in this. Period. Like. I came home.
Last weekend. And. She's on a FaceTime call with her sister and her mom. And they. They. They know that I've got problems with Disney.
And they had a statement prepared. They were like. You will not ruin this for your children. You will. Believe in the magic. Like.
This will be your Disney healing experience. Because. I just like. Okay. Like. Listen.
I can put on. I'm not going to. I'm not going to ruin this for my kids. Like. I'm not going to go. And say.
Oh. You see. Winnie the Pooh. You see. I was wearing red. Commie.
Like. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not doing that. Like. I'm going to do what all dads do at Disney World.
And I'm just going to. You know. Put on a smile. And work through it all. And. You know.
Complain about the price of parking and food. Like. I'll do what every dad does. Like. I just chill out. Like.
But. There's a different. There's a difference in approach there. She's all in. She's all in. I'm like.
Yeah. This will be good. Good memories. Two of my children will not remember this. In the future. But.
It'll be good. Memories. Like. I'm. I'm. I'm for.
This. But. I'm not all in. There's a difference there. Listen. As Christians.
We are in. The period. Of preparation. Like. We are preparing. For an endless.
Amount of joy. We're. Preparing for. An eternity. With God. That is beautiful.
That is good. That is joyous. We believe them. But if you don't believe that. You're like. Eh.
You're not bought in. When he tells. When he says. Purify themselves. You're like. No.
I don't. No. Sin. Repent. No. You can even say.
That you're a Christian. But you just kind of go through the motions. Like. I'm going to do a dizzy world. It's like. Yeah.
Put on a face. Look nice on Sunday. In a group. But I actually. Like. Believe this.
Wholeheartedly. In a way that. If that's what awaits me. I'm in. And what. And I.
And I. I get a taste of that now. Through. Leading into the gospel. And believing that. Through repentance.
I get a piece of that now. I'm in. There's a difference. In approach. Between the children of God. And the children.
Of disobedience. That's hugely important. For us to understand. As we read these next few verses. He says in verse. Five.
But you know. That he appeared. So that. He might take away. Our sins. And in him.
Is no sin. No one who lives in him. Keeps on sinning. No one. Who continues to sin. Has either seen him.
Or known him. Catch that first part. He says. If you are a child of God. You. You know.
That he appears. They might take away. Your sins. Like you. Know this. Like you.
Believe this. Wholeheartedly. What that means is. Is that you. Understand that. And you have faith.
Like you. You understand. The cost. That it took. Like that. The literal picture there.
Is you understood the cost. Of what it means to follow Jesus. It cost the blood of God. It cost our murdered savior. On a cross. And if you get that.
If you believe that. If you understand. That cost. You will. Act. Accordingly.
Like that. That's. If you. Gave me. If one of you. Gave me.
An Aston Martin. Vanquish S. Which. Christmas list. You guys. If one of you.
Gave that to me. I understand. The cost. That's one of the most beautiful. Vehicles. That has been made.
In the last 20 years. Like I. Get that. Right. We bring that home. We have one parking spot.
In our garage. That my wife can drive. The swagger wagon into. I'm like. Listen. That's got to go.
The Aston Martin. Is on the inside now. Like when I go. To Walmart. I'm parking. In the back of the parking lot.
Not near anybody. You know what. I'm not going to Walmart. At all in that. Like I. Understand.
The cost. Of that. Gift. I act. Accordingly. When you've been.
Gifted. Jesus. In faith in him. By his. You get. You understand.
The cost. And it changes. The way you approach life. You take sin. Seriously. So he says.
Okay. But he says. No one who lives in him. Keeps on sinning. No one. Continues to sin.
And we touched on this a little bit. In week one. Thank you. Go in a weird direction. At that. If you want to just.
Post up in that. And take it. Out of context. Some people will say like that. Okay. Well that just means that one day you arrive.
At a state of sinlessness. At a state of Christian perfection. And it's just like. No. First off. The rest of the Bible.
Second off. No. Look at it. Read it. It says. Keeps on sinning.
Continues to sin. It's talking about a hard approach. That continues to go after this. I mean goodness. It's not like. John forgot the first two chapters.
In 1a. He says. If we say. We have no sin. We deceive ourselves. In 1.
In 1a. He says. If we say we have not sinned. We make him a liar. In 2a. He says.
I'm writing you these things. That you may not sin. But if anyone does sin. We have an advocate. With the father. Like he.
He understands. That we're broken. That we're sinful. But there's a difference. In your approach. In your trajectory.
In life. It is one that understands. The cost of sin. And does not continue. As. As.
As. As Paul says in Romans 6. 1. Should we continue in sin. That grace may abound. By no means.
Absolutely not. We. We get this. We understand the cost. And because of that. The approach of life.
The trajectory of life. Is one that repents of sin. Does not continue. And does not keep on. Sinning. So.
Goes to this. Then it gets into. Verse 7. Dear children. Not let anyone. Lead you astray.
Which we've talked about. In 1st John. That there are. Must have been people. In the. Just from the context.
You can look at. There are people. In the churches. At these times. That are stirring up. False teaching.
But it looks like here. As well. They're stirring up. Really wrong. Practice. There's some type of.
Stirring up. There's some kind of. Some lawlessness. Some sinfulness. That's just. Making its way.
Through the church. And he is saying. Don't let anyone. Lead you. Astray. The one who does.
What is right. Is righteous. Just as he is righteous. One who is not. 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.
Appeal. Was destroyed. The devil's work. 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. He. He understands. What's happening. In these churches. And he just addresses it.
In some very black. And white. Length. He says. If you have been born of God. Okay.
That is. New birth. In Christ. That is. The seed of faith. The seed language.
The seed of faith. The Holy Spirit. Seals you. When. That. Happens.
Belief. Proceeds. Change. And the change. That comes out of that. Is one.
That takes. Sin. Seriously. It's the recognition. That. That if you're.
Dealing. And sin. You're dealing. And. I mean. The language.
Destroy the devil's work. Because if you get that. If you came. That's what. Jesus came to do. Is destroy the work.
Of the enemy. Why would we engage. In the things. Of the enemy. Why would we. Go back to that.
When he. Regenerates you. You actually. Change. Change. There's this deep.
Recognition. That has to happen. Here. The one. Who does. What is wrong.
Is of the devil. And it's this. And it's not. It's not. It's not. It's simple.
Just sins. And makes mistakes. But it's a. Pattern of. Not. Repenting of sin.
But one. That goes hard. After the things. Of this world. Is when you are. Sinning.
You're engaging. In this work. You're engaging. In the work. Of. The enemy.
He's been doing this. Since the beginning. In the garden. And if you do this. You're going back to. Or you're joining in.
With. His team. Now. That's difficult to receive. On multiple levels. First off.
It. It's. It seems intense. That you would ever. That anyone would ever be called. A child of Satan.
Like that just. I'm just going to be honest. Like that. That's a hard thing. To even read. That's a hard thing.
To receive. You probably have. Super negative connotations. Of self-righteous people. In the past. Who've thrown out.
Child of the devil. And child of Satan. That's just hard. To read. And absorb. And it's also hard.
To absorb this. Because we have. Habitual sin. We have habits. Of sin. In our life.
We all. Are messy. Sinners. In need of grace. We have habitual sin. And when you.
Read something. As blunt. As this. I mean. It sends you. To this Christian.
Existential crisis. That's like. Do I even believe this? Like. Am I even a child of God? Do I.
Do I. Get this? It's hard to receive. But. We need to receive. And understand.
What he is saying. And we need to see. The warning in it. When it. This. There should.
Be. Self-reflection. As we. Approach this. That if our lifestyle. He used language earlier.
Of lawlessness. And that's really. A. A spirit. Of lawlessness. That just.
Lack of restraint. From. The work of Christ. In your life. That there's this. Lawlessness.
There's this. Pattern of. Pursuing sin. Like. We. You need to.
Evaluate. Whether you believe. The gospel. Or not. And there's all kinds of examples. We've seen in first John.
We're going to continue to see in first John. For the one who. Claims to follow Christ. But is. Cold hearted. Towards.
Others. For the one who claims. To follow Christ. But there are. Hidden. Patterns.
Of. Sin. That we're not bringing. To the light. We saw that in first John one. For those.
Who claim to follow Christ. But look at teachings in the Bible. And say nope. I don't agree with that. Nope. Nope.
Nope. For those who follow Christ. As we're going to see. And we see in verse 10. And we're going to see. Throughout the rest of first John.
Have a lifestyle. Of not loving their brothers and sisters. Which there's all kinds of stuff. Bound up in that. There are those. That say.
Yeah. I'm a. I'm a. I'm a Christian. But I'm.
I don't like the church. I love Jesus. But not the church. And it's like. Yeah. I don't think you love Jesus.
Because if you understood. The gift of the church. How much he cares about the church. You wouldn't speak about the church. Like that. That's.
For those who are cold hearted. Towards Christians. That's those. Very practically. We're going to see. In the very next.
Passage. That close their wallets. Towards Christians. In need. If you. Have.
This. Lifestyle. Of pursuing sin. Of closing your heart. To those in need. You really should assess.
Where you are. Who you belong to. And the trajectory of your life. And where it's going. That reality. Should weigh upon us.
First John is very. Blunt here. If you. Have this. Pattern. Then you.
May very well be a child. Of the devil. You don't belong to him. And that. Listen. Difficult.
Observations. To absorb. Difficult. Teachings. To absorb. At times.
It's like. The sinful part of me. Is like. I'd rather just not. Touch certain passages. And go elsewhere.
There's a reason why we preach. Through books of the Bible. So we don't avoid the hard stuff. But don't miss. The. In the.
Difficulty. Of those observations. Is an invitation. Like it's not. Not just saying those things. And I got.
Bye. Like no. He is. Extending. An invitation. That invitation.
Is faith in Jesus. And entering into the family. Of God. Like God is. If you are here this morning. It's not by accident.
That God loves you. Deeply. He loves you so much. That he sent. Jesus. His son.
To be. Crucified. For you. So that you would experience. The endless joy of Christ. For eternity.
He loves you. Immensely. And wants you. Don't miss that. There's an invitation. Into.
The family. Of God. And it is good. Don't pass it up. Verse 10. We'll close it out.
He says. 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.
Two groups. The children of God. Children of the devil. And the invitation is there. One of my professors. In seminary.
He had. They had three children. The old fashioned way. And they adopted. Six. Other kids.
They had nine kids. All together. So they had tons of time. On their hands. They. Those adoptions.
Were not. Sometimes you hear adoption stories. Like this. Those are group adoptions. Basically like four or five kids. At once.
These were all. Individual adoption stories. And. He told one story in particular. He. Someone connected him.
To a family. In Virginia. And. So he. Went to. Virginia.
There's. They're getting all the paperwork. Together. Together. And this. You know.
A lot of times. Generalizing. This is not. All situations. But a lot of these.
These situations. There's drugs involved. Or there's immense poverty. There's lots of reasons. That are in this. This is not one of them.
The dad was an FBI agent. This was a. Middle class family. They. There's no drugs. Problems involved.
They just didn't want their son. He's five years old. They didn't want him. I can't. Wrap my mind around it. They didn't want him.
So he. They do the paperwork. They get everything together. And he goes and visits. The child and the family. At his home.
And he sees. The boy. And he's. You know. He's five. But he didn't look five.
Which that's years of neglect. And not nourishment. They go up to his bedroom. He's still sleeping in a crib. At five years old. I mean just.
Immense neglect. And this family. Signs over. Writes their kids. And. They head on back to Kentucky.
And he said. The ride home. Was one of. It was. It was. Wow.
Because. They try to prepare you for. That when. When you're. A lot of these situations. Like.
Listen. These kids. Have attachments. Even bad parents. They're still parents. So they prepare you for.
Listen. Like. You know. This may take months. Years. There may be.
All kinds of things. You'd be ready for. That they might not just jump into. Your family. Like. It's just going to take.
Some time. This kid was not that. When that kid got in the car. He's like. Deuces. And just.
Left. Because he just started. Asking questions. He said. Hey. Alright.
So I'm a Stinson boy now. Right. His name is Stinson. Dr. Stinson. Yeah.
I'm a Stinson boy. Right. Okay. What are we like? What is Stinson boys like? He was like.
He's driving. He's like. What in the world? It's not his first adoption. He's like. Well.
We love baseball. He said. Baseball. I love baseball. I'm all. I'm all in on baseball.
I'm all in on baseball. I'm a Stinson boy now. And he did this. The ride back home. He's just investigating. What it means to be a Stinson boy.
And this kid. Is all in on that. Here's the deal. God. The father. The father.
Comes to us. In a neglected state. What we're born into. Isn't good. What we pursue outside of Christ. Isn't good.
He's. The enemy's not a good father. There's nothing good about that life. And he. He rescues us. And brings us into the family of God.
And we get to. Look at that. And say. Deuces. Come to the family of God. And say.
I want that. I'm in. I'm a Christian now. What does that mean? Tell me. What does it mean to be a Christian?
What. What. What is it? We. What do we do? We.
You got a book. A book about you. A book about. I'm in. I'm reading that. There.
We. Bear fruit. You talking about apples. Bananas. Spiritual fruit. Don't know what that is.
But I'm all in on that. Repenting of sin. Tell me what it is. We sing songs. We got our own albums. Let's do this.
Like we. Jump into. The family of God. And say. This. Is.
Is. Better. I want him. I don't want what I was. Saved from. I want the family that I was brought into.
God the father looks at us. And says. I. Want you. When you come into my. Family.
You will experience the endless. Joy. Of Christ. From the moment of rebirth. Into eternity. The invitation is there.
My hope is that we have the honesty. To reflect in our own hearts. And we accept the invitation. Matt's going to come up. And we're going to prepare for. The Lord's Supper.
And take communion together. This is a. A meal. For the family. Of God. And what that means for us.
As Christians. Is that we're real. We're real. Honest. About our brokenness. And our sin.
We don't shy away from that. We don't feel shame. Because that's been. Paid for at the cross. But we come to this meal.
As a meal of remembrance. That on the night. That Jesus was betrayed. He took bread. And he broke it. And he said.
This is my body. That was broken for you. That he took. The cup. That was the. Cup of the new covenant.
He said. This is my blood. That was shed for you. That as often as you eat. And drink this. You proclaim my death.
Until I return. So this is a meal of tension. We look back. To what Jesus has done. But we also look forward.
Until he returns. So take a moment.