If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 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! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 2:29-3:1)
I must admit that I really love books. I love to read interesting books on all sorts of subjects. My favorite is non-fiction. I know many people love fiction but I just wait for the movie. In my library are several thousand books that I have purchased over the years. Sometimes people see how many books I have in my office and ask whether I have read all those books. I reply that some I have read more than once!
Many of the books that I have purchased have been initially bought because of their title alone. An interesting title can attract a lot of attention. One book I purchased was entitled "Damned Through The Church." I could not pass that one up. Another book was entitled "The Death Of The Church." I wanted to make sure it wasn’t about mine! Still another book was entitled "Understanding How Others Misunderstand You." Not understanding why anyone would not like as wonderful a guy as I am, I thought I needed that book. But, alas, I am still misunderstood, and I still don’t understand why.
The truth is that all of us are misunderstood at times. We are all unique individuals and people often do not know what is going on inside our heads and hearts. Sometimes they misunderstand us because they do not know us. Other times they misunderstand us because their own perspective on things is so unlike ours. But no one group is more misunderstood than Christians.
Just turn on the television and tune in to any talk show. What you will hear there is generally a mischaracterization of Christians and Christianity. Christians are portrayed as narrow-minded and unloving. Christianity is trivialized and marginalized. Generally a caricature of Christianity is presented as the real thing. But this really should not surprise us. We should not expect people who do not know God to understand people who do.
It reminds me of "Nick At Night." I’m not talking about the television show. I am talking about the Jewish leader Nicodemus who visited Jesus at night and whose story is recorded in John chapter 3. Jesus told Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born again. Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant. How could a person be born a second time? It seemed like a foolish statement. Of course, Jesus was talking about a spiritual rebirth. And this spiritual rebirth would be a radical transformation of the one reborn. This experience of being born again would forever alter the very nature of the person. In fact, it would make him or her into a child of God.
What does it mean to be a child of God? John gives us a partial answer to that question in our text today. And as we look at what he says, we will gain an understanding of why we are misunderstood by those who do not know God as well as what it means to be a child of God.
What does it mean to be children of God? Well, the first thing that we see from our text is a key point. To be children of God means that we are like Him. When we are born again, a new nature is implanted in us. It is God’s nature. God’s character is implanted within our lives and becomes the dynamic around which our lives are built.
Look at what John says in verse 29: "If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him." In other words, the righteous nature of God shows forth in our lives in right behavior. This is evidence that we have truly been born again.
Something must be said here, however, lest we misunderstand the nature of true Christianity. John is not saying that doing right makes one a Christian. He is not trying to say that it is possible to earn one’s salvation. It is important for us to understand both the cause and the effect of salvation. The cause of salvation is not right living. Right living is the effect of salvation. You do not do right to earn salvation — you do right because you are saved. Salvation cannot be earned. It is the free gift of God to those who believe in Christ and put their trust in His finished work on the Cross. And as a result of believing, we receive a new life empowered by the Holy Spirit. This new life in the Spirit enables us to do right. We do right because we are reflecting the nature and character of God Himself.
This is a very important point. This is God’s goal for every Christian. The apostle Paul makes this clear in the book of Romans. In Romans 8:28-29 we read: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son."
The purpose God has for every Christian is summed up in this passage. The purpose for every Christian is to be conformed to the image or likeness of Christ. And how are we conformed? Well certainly we cannot interpret this to mean that we will look like Christ physically. We cannot interpret this to mean that we will have the same miraculous powers that Jesus had and displayed while He was on earth. To be conformed to the image of Christ means that we are conformed to His character. The nature of God is implanted within us and that nature becomes the defining principle in our lives.
This is how the Christian lives his or her life. We live by complete and total dependence upon the life of Jesus Christ within us. Being born again we have received the Spirit of God to indwell us. Christ lives His life in us and through us and we live by a daily surrender to that life. All that we need is resident within in the life of Christ. As we draw upon that life, we will experience a newness and power beyond any we have ever experienced. And that is our goal. Our goal is to be like Him.
John now moves on to another characteristic of being a child of God. In fact, this is really exciting. To be a child of God means that we are loved by Him. Listen to what John says in 1 John 3:1: "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!"
John is overwhelmed by the degree of love that the Father has shown. He marvels at how great that love really is. He says that it is lavished on us. And when you think of it, there is every reason to be amazed.
You see, God lavished this love on us when we did not deserve it. In fact, we have never deserved it. We were sinners from birth and have for the most part been in rebellion against God. But it was while we were still in our sin that God set His love upon us. The Bible teaches us that it was while we were God’s enemies that He loved us. This is utterly amazing. We might be able to conceive of loving people who used to be our enemies, but we can’t conceive of loving people who are still our avowed enemies. It is not in our human nature. This is precisely why we need a new nature, why we need God’s nature. God’s nature is not like ours. God can love even His enemies. That is truly amazing.
And this is why John is so amazed at the kind of love that is bestowed upon us, a love that would enable us to be called children of God. To be a child of God means that we are loved by Him. We are loved by Him with a love that is deeper than any we could ever experience on the human level. That love sent Jesus Christ to die on the Cross for our sins. That love caused Jesus to choose to lay down His life for our sake.
Have you ever spent much time contemplating just how much God loves you? Now, I am not asking you if you feel loved. I am asking whether you have looked at the evidence for God’s love and spent time thinking about the implications of the evidence of the love of God. There is a vast difference. Far too often we operate on the level of feeling. But feelings are extremely fickle. Feelings are no indication of reality. A person may feel invincible but he is not. A person may feel like he can fly but he can’t. A person may feel like he is stupid and he may be right! Feelings are not always true and are often not true reflections of reality. Feelings are feelings and reality is the way it is. There is plenty of evidence that feelings lead millions of people astray.
If you will spend time looking at the evidence of how much you are loved by God, it will revolutionize the way you think and feel. The greatest evidence, of course, of how much He loves us is found in His death on the Cross. Indeed, this is the symbol of Christianity. And when you think of it, it is an interesting symbol. While the resurrection of Christ proved that He was and is who He said He was, the symbol of Christianity is not the empty tomb. Rather, the symbol of Christianity is a tool of execution! While the Cross has become a beautiful item of jewelry for many, it was a place of execution. It is much like wearing a little golden electric chair or hangman’s gallows or guillotine around one’s neck. Who would choose such a thing as a symbol of renewed and abundant life? It is a strange symbol, but it was not chosen by accident.
The symbol of the Cross is a symbol of God’s love. It is a symbol of the sacrifice He was willing to make on our behalf. It is a symbol of Christ giving His life for us so that we could be forgiven and cleansed from our sin. It is a symbol of the depth of God’s sacrificial love. You should not be able to look at a cross without realizing just how much God loves you.
When you spend time thinking about the evidence of God’s love, you will be as overwhelmed as was the apostle John. Being a child of God means that we are loved by Him.
John finally turns his attention to a less exciting but very real effect of being a child of God. Being a child of God means that we are misunderstood by others. We are misunderstood by those who do not know God. Listen to what he says in 1 John 3:1: "The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."
This is really how we began this message — talking about how the world does not really understand people who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And here we find the reason why. It is because they do not know Him. And because people do not know Him they also do not know us. This is why we are so misunderstood. And this is why we should not expect that people who do not know Christ will understand and sympathize with Christians or Christianity. In fact, we are told that they will persecute true believers. And we are seeing evidence of that persecution in our world today, even in our own society.
But the good news is that no matter how much we are misunderstood or even persecuted, none of that can change how much God loves us. We are His children. We are loved by Him. And we are destined to be like Him.
Now the challenge for us as believers, as children of God, is to live like the children of God we are. John says, "And that is what we are!" You are a child of God – live like one!
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