How Great Is The Love …

1 John 2:28-3:10
Key verse 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! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Today’s passage tells us who we are, what we will be and how we should live and grow—all based on God’s great love. 

Part I.  “That We Should Be Called Children of God” (2:28-3:2).

Look at verse 28. “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”  

What are we? We are children—dear chidren—precious and loved children.  

When we see children around the Bible Center, they look so cute. Even though they make lots of mistakes, they are still lovely. After all, we know that they need time to grow up. And we expect them to grow up, even though as parents they will never stop being our children. But what if they did not grow up? What if they only got bigger, but failed to  mature in terms of their behavior. My youngest was potty trained at two-and-a-half, but what if he was never potty trained? What if, although he has no disability, I had to keep changing his diaper for the rest of his life? I think I would be pretty unhappy about that, and he would be pretty ashamed!     

We are children of God, but that doesn’t mean that we should remain childish. We need to grow up. But how can we grow up? The Apostle John exhorts us to “continue in him.” The phase “in him” has to do with the love relationship with Jesus Christ. In the previous passage, the Apsotle John said “remain in him.” But here, he says “continue in him.” What’s the difference between remain and continue?  Well, to remain  means to remain, but to continue indicates progress. To continue in him means to continue to remain in his love through thick and thin, through good times and bad times through times of temptation and trail and through times of ease. For it is in the context of this love relationship that we grow up. 

Look at verse 29. “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right is born of God.” 

If you want a mature love relationship with another person, you need to learn their likes and dislikes. And, you need to do what they like, and not do what they don’t like. My wife Miriam doesn’t like it if anyone turns on the bedroom light after she has gone to bed. At first, I didn’t understand this and didn’t take it seriously, and she showed me a lot of grace. But after a while, it was clear that she really hates this. She hates it so much that if I were to continue to do it, it wouldn’t matter how many times I brought her flowers, they will never smell good to her. So, I have to either go to bed when she goes to bed, or learn to navigate our bedroom in the dark.   

If this is true in human relationships, how much more in a relationship with Jesus? Jesus is righteous. He is right one hundred percent of the time. It is not him that needs to change, but us that needs to change. If we are really his children, we need to do what is right. 

Here we learn that spiritual growth does not come through gaining some special knowledge of God. It does not come from reading this book or that book or through listeing to this famous pastor or that famous pastor. It doesn’t come through spiritual gifts or signs or miricles. Spiritual growth comes through obeying God’s word. Practical obediece to God’s word is the positive way to do what is right. Jesus gave us the perfect example. He set the standard for a righteous life by obeying his Father in heaven. Jesus didn’t just obey once or twice. He obeyed every time and without fail. Finally, Jesus even obeyed to the point of death—to suffer and die for the sins of the world. 

 

Look at verse 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!”  

Here the Apostle John expresses the greatness of the Father’s love; that he called us childen of God!” In what respect is this great love? It is great because, for one thing, we did not deserve it. We did not deserve to be called children of God. We were born into sin and lived as slaves to sin. We were outside of God’s love—enemies of God and objects of his wrath. But the Father showed us his great and abundant love by sending his One and Only Son to redeem us from our sin. He did this, so that he might once again call us his children.

It is amazing that we are called children of God. But, when we make a mistake and sin, we could end up doubting this. We might think, I’m I really a child of God? How come I still sin. Apostle John understood this. So he added another statement to reassure us: “And, that is what we are!” We are children of God … and, that is what we are!” It is not by our merrit, but because of his great love.

Look at verse 1 again.  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. 

The world does not know us. Children of God do not get the “star treatment.” We are not escorted to the front of the line. Kim Kardashian never did anything, but she never needs a reservation.  I would think that the children of God should be more important, but no – the world does not know us.  Yet we have a far greater privilege—not recognition by the world, but recognition by God.  God’s love is described here as “lavish”—it’s almost excessive.  It is too much—more than we could expect.  Like the prodigal son, we should take a servants place, but instead the father puts the signet ring on our finger.  He welcomes us as his children, and we can cry out to him, “Abba, Father.”

Verse 1 tells us what we are—children of God.  But verse 2 tells us what we will become—and it turns out to be even greater.  Look at verse 2.  “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Right now, we are children of God, but we will become something greater—we will become like him.  This is mysterious, because Apostle John says that what we will be has not been made known. I believe that to be like him is so unimaginable great and so far surpasses what we are right now, that we cannot fully comprehend what we will be. But we can be confident of one thing, “when we see him, we will be like him.” Of course the Apostle John is talking about the resurrection, when we each will receive a glorious resurrection body. 

Our bodies now are perishable, dishonorable, and weak. But our resurrection bodies will be imperishable, strong, and glorious. Most importantly, we will be like him!  Now, when we think of this, we can put our hope in the resurrection. We are children of God and one day we will be like him! This is the great love of God for sinners.   

Part II. No One Who Lives In Him Keeps On Sinning (3:3-10)

So far, we learned of the Great love the Father lavished on us. But how are we to love him in return? The Father loved us by calling us children of God. So, we are to love him in return by living as God’s children. What does it mean to live as a child of God? 

First, to live as a child of God means to purify ourselves as he is pure. Look at verse 3: “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” Remember, that this hope is the hope of resurrection. Also, remember that Apostle John characterized the hope of resurrection as the hope to be like him. The goal of a child of God is to be like Christ. And, our hope is that when he appears and we see him, we will be like him. 

It makes sense, that everyone who has this hope will purify himself just as he is pure.” If you hope to become a doctor, you will study medicine. Or if you want to become a lawyer, you will study law. We must prepare ourselves according to what we want to become. If we prepare ourselves well for what we want to be in this life, how much more ought to we prepare ourselves for eternity?

How then can we purify ourselves? Look at verses 4-6. ⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶ No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” The way to purify ourselves is to repent of our sins. Sin is lawlessness, but Jesus came to take away our sins. And, Jesus was without sin. If we do not repent our sins, we cannot say that we know Jesus—we cannot say that we know his love, because his love was to take away our sins, even though he was without sin. Think about it; he was without sin, but he took away our sins. When does an innocent person every take the blame for what someone else did? Never! Instead, they will make sure that a guilty person is condemned and pays the full penalty for their crime. But Jesus did the opposite. We broke the law, but he took the punishment.             

Look at verse 7. “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.”

A person who wants to lead you astray might say, it is not those who do right that are righteous, but it is those with secret knowledge of God that are righteous. Does this make sense?  Can we just redefine words like this?  Isn’t it those that study that are “studious?”  And, isn’t it those with anxiety that are “anxious?”  It makes sense that those who do what is right are righteous, not some other definition.  

And yet this kind of idea remains popular even today.  It says that, somehow, we can be wicked and still go to heaven.  Millions of people believe this.  They say, “Once saved, always saved!  I confessed Jesus when I was 11.  So now I can be as bad as I want to be!”  Or they can sound more theological: “Romans 1:17 describes a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.  Since my efforts don’t save me, I can be as bad as I want to be!”  We know this is ridiculous.  But what if we change it and say, “Since my efforts don’t save me, I can be a little bit bad.  I can compromise and enjoy a fun life a little bit.”  Now we are more tempted.  But we should not be led astray. He who does what is right is righteous. 

 

The battle line is drawn.  Verse 8 says, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”  The devil is the dealer in sin. If we do what is sinful, we do the work of the devil. But if we work to destroy the devil’s work, we do the work of the Son of God. We either fight with the devil or we fight against him. There is no middle ground. 

 

Look at verse 9. “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Verse 9 does not say a “few people.”  Instead, these verses say “everyone” and “no one”.  I wonder if we know what these words mean.  Of course we know what the word everyone means – and yet many people actually think that it means “everyone else.”  

So let’s think about what these words mean.  I’m looking for a show of hands. For those of you that are Christians, “Who has the hope to be like Jesus in his heavenly kingdom?”  Hands?  Don’t be shy.  Now for those whose hands are up, these are the people who are making a public confession that they have a hope in the future kingdom of God.  Verse 3 calls you “Everyone who has this hope.”  Keep your hands up.  Now, verse 3 says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”  So I want you to put your hands down if you think that you don’t need to purify yourself.  You see that no hands went down.  That is what “everyone means.”  It is non-optional. You can put your hands down now. 

Now I will teach you what no one means.  Verse 9 says “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”  Please, raise your hand if you are born of God. Now put your hands down if you think you can go on sinning. No hands went down. You see, that is what no one means. So, with your hands you have acknowledged that these verses are talking about you and you accepted that you must do what they say.  

When we first read these verses, we are probably all challenged, and a little confused.  Is John saying that true Christians never sin?  If so, then am I a Christian?  But we should remember that only two chapters earlier, John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1Jn 1:8)  So then what is he saying? We should note the verbs.  In verse 3, he says that “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

He does not say that we are pure and blameless but that we purify ourselves.  This suggests a process, like sanctification.  It also makes sense, because, since Jesus is pure, and since we will one day be like him, then we should get ready for that day by becoming like him even now.  We do not stay like we are and then suddenly become like Jesus.  Such people will be ashamed when he appears.  Rather, we prepare ourselves by purifying ourselves.  So also note the verbs in verse 9: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”. These verbs also do not suggest that Christians are perfect, but that they have a righteous lifestyle.  They might sin, but they cannot go on sinning. 

The reason they cannot go on sinning is because God’s seed remains in them. When the living word of God penetrates our heart, so that God’s word remains in us, we can overcome our sin. So we need to study the words of God on a continual basis. 

Though this passage, I made a decision to resume my spiritual growth in Christian. When came to UBF, I noticed that the people here kind of overused the word continually. They prayed, “Help me to eat daily bread continually”, “Help me to visit the campus continually”, “Help my sheep to grow up continually”, Help me to pray continually” God’s grace was fresh in my heart, and I struggled to grow up. But after after a while and little by little I started to become complacent. I did what is right less and less and started to fall back into some of my old sins. But when I thought about God’s love to make me a child of God and to give me hope to be like Jesus, I was inspired to struggle newly, to restore daily bread and prayer, faithfully visiting the campus and writing weekly testimony. And, through this, I may have the word of God.  

Through this passage, we learned who we are; that we are chidren of God, and what we will be; that we will be like him. And, it is all thank to the Father’s great love. We also learned how we can grow up and how we should live in light of his great love; that we should continue in him, do what is right and not continue to sin. When we realize the greatness of God’s love to make us who we are and give us the hope of what we will be, we lose the desire to go on sinning and gain the desire to do what is right. 

One word: And that is what we are!   

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