1 John 3:1-12

This morning we’re coming back to our look at fellowship. We’ve been seeing that fellowship is much more than coming together for services or classes or social events. Fellowship is being a community of those of have life in Jesus Christ. Fellowship is when we’re possessed by God and experience life in Jesus together.

Please turn with me to 1 John 3 - starting at verse 1. As you’re turning let me share a story with you.

There was an old Arab man who had been living in a suburb of New York City - across the river in New Jersey - been living there for more than 40 years. This elderly Arab man loved to plant potatoes in his garden. But, he was alone - old - weak. So it had become difficult for him to dig and plant the potatoes.

This man’s son was away at a university in Paris. So this elderly Arab father sent his son an e-mail. “Beloved son. I am very sad because I cannot plant potatoes in my garden. I am sure, if only you were here, you would help me and dig up my garden for me. I love you. Your father.”

The following day, this old Arab father receives a response from his son by e-mail. “Beloved father. Please don't touch the garden. It's there that I have hidden “the THING..” I love you, too. Ahmed”

That afternoon at 4:00 the US Army, the Marines, the FBI, the CIA, and the local police all arrive at the house of the old man - take the whole garden apart - dig it all up - search every inch. But, can't find anything. Disappointed, they leave the house.

The next day the old Arab father receives another e-mail from his son. “Beloved father. I hope the garden is dug up by now and you can plant your potatoes. That's all I could do for you from here. I love you. Ahmed.”

Today our focus is on children and fathers - especially that we are children of our Heavenly Father - and what that means for our fellowship together.

If you’re at 1 John 3:1 - would you read this verse out loud with me together. Verse 1: 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.

Looking at this verse from an intellectual - religious - point of view - its easy to say that God is our loving Father. Does that seem reasonable?

We know that God knows everything there is to know about us - and still loves us. Jesus was born in Bethlehem - lived here - died on the cross - is resurrected - for us. When we come to give our lives to God - trust in Jesus as the Savior - we become God’s kids. We are the family of God. Yes! We are the family of God. We know this.

Its easy to say that God is our loving Father. But, trusting that He is - is very hard.

Dr. James Dobson, in his book “Love Must Be Tough” shares about his friend Paul Powers. Let me read a little of what Dr. Dobson shares about Paul.

Both his mother and father were alcoholics who produced or adopted twelve children despite their inability to care for them. When Paul was seven years old, his mother came home from a party in a drunken stupor and collapsed before she reached the front door. The children found her the next morning lying in the snow. She contracted pneumonia and grew gravely ill. Two weeks later when Paul came home from school, his mother called him to her bedside and reached out to take his hand, but died before she could convey her thoughts. Seeing that she was gone, the child ran sobbing to his drunken father who pushed him away and began beating him with his fists. The man screamed, “Shut up! Boys don’t cry like babies!” Paul’s nose and two ribs were broken, and his teeth were knocked out. Even today, he bears a two-inch scar on the inside of his lower lip from the beating his father gave him that day. Paul didn’t cry again until he was twenty-two years old.

That was typical of Paul’s developmental years. Especially after the death of his mother, he and his siblings were subjected to cruel and vicious beatings on a regular basis. The father’s abuse was reported to local authorities on numerous occasions, and each time a social worker visited the home. As soon as she had left, Paul and several of his brothers were taken to the basement, stripped, and beaten until they could not get up from the floor.

It is not surprising that Paul and everyone of his eleven siblings have spent time in prison. At twelve years of age, Paul committed his first murder in a robbery attempt. He shot a female carnival worker who refused to give him her money. The judge asked Paul’s father what he wanted done with the boy and he said, “Send him to hell!” (1)

In America - every year - there are over a million reported cases of physical child abuse - the vast majority of which take place in the home. There are other forms of abuse - verbal - psychological.

100 years ago - the principal cause of fatherlessness in America was the death of a father. Today the principle cause of being without a father is either divorce or abandonment. Its been said that, “Death puts an end to fathers. Abandonment puts an end to fatherhood.” (2) Abandonment is an ongoing wound for a child.

John writes - when we say, “We’re children of the loving Heavenly Father” - our society doesn’t understand that. There’s a quality and dimension of fatherhood - a relationship between father and child - that the world doesn’t understand. “Father” and “loving” is an oxymoron. Father means fear -rejection - abuse.

Knowing that God is our Heavenly Father is one thing. But because of where we’ve come from - where we live our lives - there’s a struggle to believe and trust that He is our loving Father. You don’t have to raise your hands. But, how many of you struggle with this?

John gives us something to cling to in our struggle. John writes, “Such we are.” We are His beloved children. Share that with the person next to you. “Such we are.” Even when we struggle we still are God’s children.

Beginning in verse 2, John shares three remarkable truths about who we are as one of God’s kids.

Verse 2: 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.

There was an artist who was painting a picture that he felt would be his masterpiece. He was working away at this picture - painting in the background color - when a friend came by to visit. The artist stepped back and said, “Wow! Look at this. This is my masterpiece. What do you think of it?”

The friend took a good long look at it and said, “Well, it doesn’t really look like much. Just a mass of color.”

The artist said, “Oh, I forgot. You’re seeing it as it is. But, I see it as it will be!”

That’s how God sees us. He sees us as we are - and what we’re yet to become.

Remarkable Truth #1: We’re people in progress. And, that’s okay. Share that with the person next to you. “We’re people in progress. And, that’s okay.”

John writes, “We will be like Him.” - Jesus. There’s a certainty here. Little by little we are becoming like Him. We’re going to be like Jesus - God’s Son. We’re not there yet. But, when Jesus returns - when we see Jesus - face to face - we’re going to see clearly what it is that we’re becoming.

John writes, “We will see Him.” - which means that little by little we’re coming to understand more about Jesus. We see more and more of who He is - His character - His nature - His essence. There’s a certainty here. We will come to an understanding of who Jesus is and who we are in Him.

John writes, “The one who has this hope - that we will be like Him - that we will see Him - the one who has this hope purifies himself according to the model of purity we see in Jesus.”

Someone said, “We’re all nuts, but the difference is, we Christians are screwed onto the right bolt.” We all stumble in sin. We dirty ourselves with sin. We’re impure.

John’s point is not that somehow we’re suppose to purify ourselves by our own efforts. His point is to get more tightly screwed onto the bolt. He’s talking about what we do with the impurity of sin in our lives. What gets us more screwed onto Jesus - focused on being more like Him.

1 John 1:9 says what? “If we confess our sins - when we agree that we need purifying - He - Jesus - is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us - to purify us - from unrighteousness.”

That’s the process of purification - of becoming like Jesus - of understanding who He is and who we’re becoming.

A mother of three unruly preschoolers was asked whether she would have children if she had it to do all over again. “Sure,” she said, “just not the same three.”

When we mess up God doesn’t abandon us - doesn’t reject us - doesn’t beat us up - verbally or physically - just because we make mistakes. He knows that we fall short - we sin - we struggle. That’s what kids do. But in those times when we fall short He gives us the freedom to turn to Him - to let go of the sin and move forward.

He makes that possible in Jesus. Because we have that hope we can begin to live that way now. To trust God and allow Him to make us into the incredible people He’s created us to be.

John’s second remarkable truth begins in verse 4: The incredible life of God’s children.

Verse 4: Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He - Jesus - appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

Years ago, General Carlos Romulo - for many years the Philippine Ambassador to the United States - General Romulo made this “to the point” observation, “We have harnessed the atom, but we will never make war obsolete until we find a force to bridle the passions of men.” (3)

Lawlessness describes the core of humanity’s failure. Humankind living apart from obedience to the law of God - sin. The answer to the self-destructive passions of lawless humankind is Jesus. Jesus came to take away sin. Putting that as John describes it here - Jesus came to take away lawlessness.

Then this great reality - in Him there’s no sin. So - as John writes - follow this - if we “abide in Jesus” - if we’re in Jesus - as one of God’s kids - that great reality is opened up to us as a possibility for our own lives. A totally new life where sin - disobedience - lawlessness - is not the characteristic of our relationship with God.

Look at John’s application of this truth - verse 7: Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous - if Jesus is living right with God - and He is - and we’re connected up with God through Jesus - then we’re living right with God - the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

It is so easy to be deceived - to loose sight of the life we have as God’s children. Lies we’re told. Lies about ourselves that we’ve heard so often that we repeat them to ourselves over and over again without even questioning them.

“You’re not worth it.”
“You’re not good enough.”
“You deserve this.”
“You can’t get beyond your past.”
“You’re stuck living like you do.”
“You’ll never amount to anything.”
“You’re a failure.”
“There’s no hope for you.”

Those lies - and many others equally discouraging, defeating, destructive - those lies come from Satan - who’s sole purpose is to destroy the works of God - to deceive us about ourselves as God’s kids - to destroy you.

Follow this. But Jesus has done what? Destroyed the work of Satan. When we’re in Jesus those are only lies - not truth.

John writes, “Don’t be deceived.” Don’t be so focused on the lies of Satan that we drown out the voice of God speaking His truth to us.

We can go on - truth after truth - God in His word saying, “Can you hear Me now?” God describing the incredible life that we have as His children.

John’s third incredible truth comes in verse 9: God’s children are freed to live differently.

Verse 9: No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed - God’s seed - abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

God’s children do not persist in sinning - continuously doing what they know to be sin. When we’re born again - God places His life in us - we have a new nature at work within us.

Mrs. Smith was so happy. “I’ve cured my husband of biting his nails.” She was asked, “After all these years? How did you do this?” Mrs. Smith replied, “I hide his teeth.”

Our Father won’t put up with our sins - the things that keep us in bondage - depression - heartache - that keep us from experiencing life as we were meant to experience it - that keep us from open fellowship with Him and each other.

Because God loves us - when we sin - God won’t leave us alone. He keeps after us - convicting us - pointing out sin - showing us what must be surrendered - cut out of our lives. So that how we live our lives changes. With God as our Father - we don’t have to keep on living the same way - stuck in the same place - following after the same failed patterns of our lives.

Verse 10: By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

Genesis chapter four begins with one of the most familiar accounts in the Bible - Cain and Abel. Anyone ever heard this before? Cain brings the offering which was what? Not acceptable to God. Abel brings the offering which was what? Acceptable to God. Cain becomes angry - rejects God’s council and murders his brother.

There’s an internal struggle in Cain that touches each one of us. A struggle to trust ourselves or to trust God. Often - wounded by those around us and our own attempts to protect and project ourselves we resist the love of God. It seems easier - or safer - less painful - to try and cover our sins than allow God to deal with our hearts. The result is always disaster.

But, God offers us something so much different. When we learn that we can trust Him. That He lovingly works in us. We gain the freedom to live differently. Not in fear. But, in love. Even to love each other - to sacrifice for each other - to encourage and uplift and champion - to rejoice in God’s blessing of our brother or sister in Jesus.

Do you ever watch children on a playground? What kind of things are they doing? Making meals out of dirt. Making mounds - construction projects in sand. Digging holes - excavating for the sheer pleasure of it. Swinging high - sliding fast - dangling off of things - pushing the envelope as watching parents stress out.

Playgrounds are the practice fields for life. Somehow as we get older we loose sight of the fun. We add worry to our lives - unnecessary responsibility - stress.

If we could learn that we really are beloved of God - that He cares for us deeply - that He is the perfect loving Father - casting our cares on Him we could have so much fun together. Playing in His playground. Being His children.

__________________________
1. Dr. James Dobson, Love Must Be Tough, Word Books, Waco, Texas
2. David Blankenhorn, Fatherless in America, Basic Books, New York, New York
3. Quoted by Ray Stedman in his sermon, “The Greatest Revolution”