Focus: Live out your identity as a child of God.
Function: To encourage the people to claim their identity as a child of God by living as an authentic follower of Christ.
Text: I John 3:1-24
There is a story about Alexander the Great, a Greek conqueror who fearlessly fought many armies in the ancient world and who by his conquests put together an enormous empire.
Friend and foe alike feared Alexander the Great, but his soldiers loved him and were willing to die for him.
One day, a young soldier, inexperienced in battle, panicked at the ferocity of a battle. He fled his battalion and sought refuge and shelter from the warring parties. His commander, however, discovered him, arrested him, and led the soldier to the emperor himself.
The young lad was on trial for cowardice. He expected a death sentence from Alexander the Great. As he interviewed and debriefed the panicked soldier, Alexander the Great asked him: “What is your name?” The soldier said: “My name is Alexander.” It was then that the emperor rose from his judgment seat and said: “Change your name! Or change your conduct!”
This afternoon, I wish to encourage all of us to claim our identity as children of God by living authentically as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are children of God. That’s our identity. So, let’s live as children of God.
As we continue our study of John’s pastoral letter to the churches in Asia, we begin by making some observations from the text. First of all, we note the theme of the passage. That theme comes to expression in vs. 1-3, where John delights in the love of God: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!…Dear friends, now we are 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.”
Clearly, here the apostle John sets the theme of this passage. John wants to talk about our identity as followers of Jesus. And he makes clear in no uncertain terms that whoever claims to be a follower of Jesus must consider himself or herself a child of God. That’s who you are!
Secondly, we should note a keyword in the passage: the word “appearing.” Already in chapter 2:28 that word “appearing” pops up. And there we learn that John is referring to Christ’s final coming at the end of time: “And now, dear children, continue in (Christ), so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” John continues that forward look about Christ’s final coming when he says (3:2b) “…we know that when (Christ) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Thus we see that John helps us focus our eyes of faith on the future.
But John also focuses our eyes of faith on the past, using that same word “appearing.” For example, in vs. 5 John says: “…you know that (Christ) appeared so that he might take away our sins.” And in vs. 8 John says: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” As John, then, is speaking to us, he connects us with the past and the future. Why? In doing so, John brings the mighty works of Jesus into the present. Christ’s work in the past and Christ’s work in the future empowers us in the present moment. We live authentic Christian lives as we embrace the past and the future as children of God.
Thirdly, in observing the theme and the keywords in the passage, we must also note the tests that confront all the children of God. There is the moral test found in 2:28-3:10. Authentic children of God live in obedience, renounce the life of sin, and seek to do what is right in the eyes of God. Righteousness must be our concern.
Then there is the social test found in 3:11-18. Christians must love each other, demonstrate hospitality, respect, and mutual care. Christian love is what sets the children of God apart from all others. Love must be the nerve center fuelling and nourishing all our relationships.
John also mentions the test of belief. In verses 19ff, John reminds us of the need to be committed to the truth—especially as that truth is anchored and embodied by Jesus Christ. We must speak the truth about Christ. Unlike the false teachers in the church, John upholds the uniqueness of Jesus as being both fully human and fully divine. The tests before us in the passage, then, are moral, social and doctrinal in nature; they concern righteousness, deep mutual love for each other, and doctrinal clarity about the truth centered in Jesus Christ. Taking note and applying these observations in the text will help us to live out our identity as children of God.
CHILDREN OF GOD
What would you like to be? Some may say: I want to be a teacher, a lawyer, a bricklayer, or a bus driver, perhaps. Others may say, I want to be a Mom or Dad someday, or I want to become the president of the U.S. perhaps. All of these are legitimate goals or desires to pursue. But none of these goals come close to the one mentioned by the apostle John: to be a child of God.
All of us have a particular identity, but the identity of being a child of God is a wondrous, overriding identity to have. Let’s explore that identity of being a child of God.
From the passage we learn that a Christian’s identity as a child of God depends entirely upon the love of God. It does not depend on my efforts, but on God’s grace expressed in his mysterious and holy love. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”
Our identity as a child of God originates with God the Father himself. In fact, it is God who regenerates us, who works within us the seed or principle of life that is life indeed. God works rebirth in us so that we find new life flowing from within us. That new life comes from God’s Spirit.
The apostle Paul teaches this same truth when he writes to the church in Ephesus: “…because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Our identity as children of God, then, depends entirely upon God’s love and mercy, worked in us through God’s Holy Spirit.
As John ponders God’s love, he also makes us realize that being a child of God involves a process of growing. Just as newborn infants and children need a period of growing up in order to arrive at adulthood and wisdom and ageless maturity, so we too need to see ourselves as “always being under construction, or in training. In other words, children of God today have not yet “arrived” at what God intends them and us to be.
Listen to John: (vs.3) “Dear friends, now we are 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.”
Figuring out who we are is a life-long process, and it’s not just confined to adolescents and young adults. Throughout the stages of life, we struggle with our self-perception and identity. For some, that struggle is painful and filled with confusion.
But here is the good news: believers in Christ Jesus are children of God. And although we do not fully know what that means in terms of the future when Christ comes again, it does mean that already today we may draw upon the power of hope. Listen to John: (vs. 5) “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”
Our identity as children of God fuels our conduct and our self-awareness. We shall be like Christ; therefore, already today, we shall live like Christ. As children of God, then, we may live hope-filled lives. And also, we may approach God with boldness and without shame.
In prayer, for example: (3:21) “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (5:14) “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” We may have hope-filled confidence in prayer.
As children of God, we may also welcome Christ at his final coming with confidence. John says (2:28) “And now, dear children, continue in (Christ), so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” That confidence extends all the way to the great Day of Judgment. Note (4:17) “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment.”
Embrace your identity in Christ. Because of God’s work in Christ Jesus, and because of God’s love for you and me, we are children of God. What more could we desire?
Touched by God’s Spirit and born into new life, a new creation, we now receive daily training, daily nurture, daily discipline to conform to the nature of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus. And thus we may live hope-filled life. God’s children! “And that is what we are! says John. Well, then, let’s live out our identity by being authentically Christian.
OUR CALLING
When Alexander the Great said to this soldier: “Change your name! Or change your conduct!” Alexander made an important point. The soldier must learn to master and renounce his fear. Courage must take the place of cowardice; commitment to Alexander and his empire must override a narrow commitment to self and family.
The same is true for us. We can no longer live a life that is governed, dominated, and fueled by sin and the powers of darkness. We must renounce such a life. In vs. 4-7 John describes the nature of sin; and in vs. 8-10 John points to the origin of sin—the devil himself.
As children of God, we must renounce the life of sin because, John says (vs. 5) that (Christ) “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.” What’s more, “The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (vs.8b). Shall we then continue to commit ourselves to doing the devil’s work? No, we shall renounce the life of sin. And we shall live in love and in truth. For these are the tests that set us apart as followers of Christ Jesus.
How great is the love of God the Father that we should be called children of God. And that’s what we are! So, live out your identity as a child of God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!