Introduction There is a transition in John s love letter. Remember the letter s theme: fellowship with God and with each other. In chapter 2:3-29 John gives a series of tests; proofs that one really knows God. The test of obedience; do you keep God s commandments (vv.3-6); the test of love; do you really love the brethren (vv.7-11); the test of spiritual growth (vv.12-14); the test of refusing to love this world (vv.15-17); the test of truth; guarding against antichrists and false teachers (vv.18-23); these of allowing the gospel to dwell in you (vv.24-27) and the test of abiding in Christ (vv. 28-29). Now the proofs focus on whether we love the Lord. Do you really love the Lord? Have you experienced His life giving love (3:1-3)? Have you turned from sin and sin s enslavement (vv. 4-9)? Have you been marked by love (3:10-17)? Do you have a clean heart (vv.18-24)? Have you tested the spirits of false teachers (4:1-6)? Do you really love each other (4:7-21)? In this passage John speaks of what we are (v.1) and what we shall be (v.2) and what we should be (v.3). The night I got saved a counselor opened the passage to me and told me to read it out loud. I didn t really know God or walk in the light (prior to my conversion and transformation by the Holy Spirit). The idea that God loved me seemed foreign, strange, absurd. Either God wasn t holy and pure (how could He be if He loved me?) or He didn t really know everything (how could He if He knew the truth about me?). I heard the gospel that night (March 3 1973). I believed Jesus could raise my dead spirit and give me life (John 11). I accepted the invitation to trust Christ and the challenge to transform me. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). I was truly born again. From that moment I never doubted God s love. The Privilege Of God s Love (v.1) 1 John 3:1 (NKJV)1Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. There are religious traditions that keep you guessing on whether you really are saved! John is overcome with joy and emotion as he writes; Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. The Greeks used several words to describe facets of love. 1. eros (erao) sexual passion 2. storgeo family devotion 3. phleo friendship 4. agapao loving-kindness 1
The fourth word is the one John uses exclusively to describe the divine love or God s love. The word speaks of compassion, regard, kindness. This is the kind of love that motivated God to send His Son to this world to suffer and die for sin; but it is also the the kind of love that people experience when they become a part of God s forever family. It was Augustine who first suggested that God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. But he also wrote; What does love look like? It has hands to help. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. Here we are told what we are members of God s family; children of God. In verse 2 John will give us a hint at what we will become reflections of God and the rest of the chapter tells us that as we grow we experience victory over sin (vv.4-9); love for others (10-18) and confidence before God (vv.19-24). We are children of God now! God s love for us is special, one of a kind, not capable of duplication. Verse 1 can be translated; Behold (look) what peculiar, out of this world kind of love the Father has bestowed on us! This kind of love is not from around here (alien or foreign). God s love begins when we are enemies (Rom.5:8). What sort of love is this? The original construction of this verse means; of what country? The disciples use this term in Matthew 8:27 when, amazed by the power of Jesus in stilling the storm on the sea of Galilee exclaim; what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him. Jesus is different from any so called human being we have ever encountered and so it is with God s love. God s love is out of this world. God s love is extravagant. Many translators add to the phrase called children of God and we are!. Child of God is not simply some religious term to describe a theological certainty but a supernatural reality for all who are born of the Spirit. It is not possible for people in the world to grasp this concept; let alone comprehend the love of God. Only a person who is truly born again can begin to appreciate the full impact and import of the words child of God. We don t pick our parents; or our children (unless you adopt!). Yet God chooses us! God loves us! He takes the initiative to save us, adopt us, and then lavish his love on us in the most undeserving manner. When we examine our sin and rebellion in light of God s love it is supposed to blow your mind. You have to wonder why he would bother with creatures such as us. He changes us from rebels and gives us the name children of God and then status ( now we are the children of God v. 2). This is not wishful thinking on my part these are not metaphysical meditations from a wanna be guru this is spiritual reality. The choice is made by the Father motivated by love. Adoption is a legal action by which a person takes into his family a child who is not his own, who has no rights within the family, in order to give that child all the privileges of his own children. In Roman law, as in ours, an adopted child was entitled to all the rights and privileges of a natural born child. 2
Someone said that God did not adopt you because you had straight teeth, a good mind and the hope that you might amount to something! Pity and compassion and love united with grace motivates God. Way back in the OT it was the same principle that caused God to love Israel; The Lord did not set his affection on you or choose you because you were more numerous than other people...but because the Lord loved you (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). God s love is limitless, powerful, personal and directed towards you! I suppose that s why human beings have such a tough time accepting it. So many people grow up in relationships with parents, siblings, spouses where approval and love must be earned! And because you aren t good enough, or earn enough, or learn enough, you are rejected. For the Christian we do not earn God s love rather we accept God s love. We cannot persuade God to love us He loves us. How does this miracle happen and what does it mean? In brief it can happen only to those who are born from on high it is a privilege reserved only for those who have received (that is believed in) Christ (John 1:12). It becomes a reality the moment we are born again spiritually regenerated (see John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). We are chosen by God and adopted by God and accepted by God (see Ephesians 1:5). We are recipients of God s extravagant and lavish love. We are heirs and co-heirs with Christ (Rom.8:17). We are expected to live in and up to our new identity in Christ (Eph. 5:8). We are disciplined if we go astray (Heb. 12:5-11). We are to hold fast to our new and privileged relationship remaining loyal to the Lord. The Hope And Mystery Of God s Love (v.2) 2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Since God has chosen to make us children He has also choses to take us to Heaven! John uses a term of endearment (Beloved). Our relationship and fellowship is in the present tense we are not children when Jesus comes for us but now! And what does our future hold? Not everything has been revealed. But what has been revealed and will be revealed is Christ. There is something waiting for us. And there is someone waiting for us. We are children of God. But we are something more! We are born into God s family. We experience God s kindness and blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. But just like the cheesy late night commercial announcers; but wait there is more! In the future we shall share in Christ s glory! We see it dimly now but in the future we will be given resurrection bodies. 3
Our resurrection will include body and soul. This notion seemed absurd to the people in John s day (the Greeks thought this was impossible). Paul writes about the resurrection of the body in 1 Corinthians 15. Our resurrected bodies will be eternal, immortal, recognizable. What else will we have? Will we retain our personality identity individuality? Yes but all this will be perfected through Christ s work! The Bible doesn t tell us everything we want to know about our resurrected bodies but we know our bodies will be perfect and appropriate to where we are free from sickness and disease. Our resurrected bodies will be different we will not have the same limitations and encumbrances. We are currently limited in our bodies subject to decay and disease and disturbance. Our spiritual body will never be weak, get sick or die. We can say that the glorified body of the believer will be like the glorified body of Christ. Not flesh and bones but yet a real body. Incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:42); glorious (1Cor. 15:43); powerful (I Cor. 15:43); spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44); heavenly (1 Cor. 15:47-49). The world for the most part seems to be completely ignorant of this hope. In the future Jesus will be revealed to his people in His glory and we shall be like Him in what way will we be like Him? Glorified. The Scriptures are strangely silent about the resurrection body of the unbeliever. There is a resurrection of the godly and the wicked. Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some (lit.those who do not awake at this time) to shame and everlasting contempt. John hints that as we look to Jesus and look for Jesus we shall see Him as He is. The Greek word translated see involves more than just a visual experience it seems to include the ideas of perception, recognition even appreciation! In order for people to truly know each other to see each other as they really are they have to share similar experiences. Therefore in order to see Jesus as he really is, Christians must experience the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. This was Paul s aspiration (see Philippians 3:7-14); it was also John s... (Life Application Commentary; p.63). In one of the old Star Wars episodes Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker; It is your destiny to rule with me. It is our destiny to rule with Christ in eternity. Think about this: God s love and commitment does not end at the new birth but continues until Jesus shows up! He will come again. Jesus will appear. All true believers will see Him and become like Him. Paul writes in Philippians 3:20-21; For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may conform to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself. God has an unfailing eternal purpose for you. He is committed to making you like Jesus. God does not give up, and has unlimited resources. Imagine God saying; I can create the Universe 4
but when it comes to making you like Jesus -I give up! You are a basket case! When God makes up His mind to do something He will do it. For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom HE predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (See Rom.8:29-30). Will you sin in heaven? Will you get there only to get kicked out? In Paul s epistles he concentrates on the fact that we will be with Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:8; Phil.1:23; Col. 3:4). This is most exciting. In eternity we will be with Jesus and like Jesus. For a fuller revelation we must be content to wait. The Incentive Love Provides: Purity (v.3) 3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Think about what John has told us. We have the conviction that we are God s children. Couple that with the fact that Jesus is coming and all our future expectations are centered on Him. This should lead to a practical holiness and a certain hope! If Jesus is Lord and Heaven is our future home we must make sure we are on the right road! The coming of Jesus produces hope. Hope in the Bible is not simply a word that expresses wishful thinking. We sometimes use the term hope in the sense I hope I get a great present for Christmas or I hope the Broncos win in the playoffs. Hope in the Bible is a fixed certainty. Something beyond doubt. Jesus will return. The promise of Jesus return should motivate us to pure lives. Warren Wiersbe writes; An unbeliever who sins is a creature sinning against his Creator. A Christian who sins is a child sinning against his father. The unbeliever sins against the Law; the believer sins against love. John s reason for writing about the return of Jesus is only in part theological but mostly practical. We should be pure. We should be pure because we are in Christ. The Christian hope includes three things already mentioned: 1. His appearing 2. Our seeing Him 3. Being like Him John Stott: The Christian who fixes his hope (his confident expectation) upon Christ s return, will purify himself, not ceremonially but morally. Purity (hagneia) is primarily freedom from stain. Moral stain This is a holy character forged on the anvil of temptation. John has already told us that Jesus is righteous, so we should be righteous in order not to be ashamed. The process of purification began the moment you confessed your sin, repented of sin and received Christ. Purification begins with the blood of Jesus removing guilt and sin and the stain of sin; and then we walk in purity. 2 Corinthians 7:1; Therefore, having these promises, 5
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people s sins; keep yourself pure. James 4:8; Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Yes there is a part for you to play. Purify your hearts. A fashion store in Arlington Texas ran a contest to find the dirtiest child in town. The award was $25.00. There were only two rules; (10 the dirt had to have naturally accumulated not artificially applied by the parents or outsiders; (2) Parents had to admit their child was dirty. How interesting! How did we come by our sin? We are naturally not artificially impure. In order to clean up we have to admit we need to clean up! In South America there is a curious little spider which has its home under the water. It forms a bubble about itself in which, like a diving bell, it sinks to the bottom of the pond or river. It remains there for hours, living below the water yet breathing the air from above. When it returns to the surface the spider is perfectly dry! Not the slightest moisture penetrates the bubble. It is in the water yet separate from it because it remains in the capsule. And so we are in the world but not of it. Conclusion The Bible teaches that God loves you and has a plan for you and a future set aside for you. A little four year old girl sat hugging her small child. She looked up at her mom and said; Mama, I love them, I love them, and love them, but my dolls never love me back. Won t you love God back? Later John will write; we love Him because He first loves us (I John 4:19). His love for us make our love possible. You might ask; how can I love God? There was a man who was seriously ill who asked that question. In his heart he felt little or no love for God. He talked with a friend who said, When I leave here I expect see my little baby girl. I will look into her sweet blue eyes, I will listen to her goo and ga and make baby noises. And as tired as I am, that little baby will give me strength to just want to be with her. I love my baby more than I love my own life. But she loves me little. If my heart were breaking, it would not disturb her rest. If my body were racked with agony and pain, she would not interrupt her play. If I were dead, she would forget me in a few days. Not to mention she has never given me one red cent. She has been a constant source of expense. I am not rich but there is not enough money in the world to buy my child. Does she love? Or do I love her? Should I withhold my love until I know she will love me back? Should I wait for her to do something deserving of my love? Of course not! You understand the illustration. God s love is not dependent on your love! But when you are born again and experience God s love it is going to be difficult for you to hide your love for him! 6