Our Sermons

Bible Passage: 1 John 3:1,2
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  April 25, 2021

If you’re in the same general age bracket as I am, you undoubtedly remember playing with G.I. Joe’s. The army action figures were extremely popular when I was growing up. Not only did you have them as toys, they even had their own TV show. I can hear the theme song in my head right now. And at the end of every episode, there would be kind of like a public service announcement endorsed by the National Children’s Safety Council, some good common sense advice for the kids watching. Do you remember how every single one of those announcements ended? It would end with the kids in the video saying, “And now we know,” and then the G.I Joe character would reply, “and knowing is half the battle.” 

That’s what the Apostle John is trying to get across to his audience with this letter. He is trying to get them to understand, to know who they are, to know whom God has made them to be. And that’s what we’re going to see today as we look at the first two verses of chapter three. Easter Overcomes! And because of Easter, Children of God Overcome Ignorance.

Listen again: “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!” The Gnostics who were plaguing this group of Christians were sewing seeds of doubt. They were trying to get these Christians to doubt God’s love, to doubt the certainty of their faith, to doubt the certainty of their salvation, to doubt the apostles, to doubt the certainty of God’s Word. In short, they were trying to get them to doubt who they were and how their heavenly Father felt about them. Realizing this, John wants to help his readers to move away from doubt, to move away from ignorance and instead give them confidence by rejoicing in what they know. Three different times in these verses John uses a word for “know” or “knowledge.” And what does John want them to know? He wants them to know the Father’s love. “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!”

This is not just an encouragement to glance at the love of the Father. No, this is an urgent command. This is an imperative. See! Look at the love the Father is showing you! And how does he show that love? He calls us his children. And that’s not just what he calls us, that is actually what we are! Just think about that! Children of God! Amazing!

But that’s not how it always was. When we first entered the world, it was as God’s enemies. Foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved were the adjectives used to describe us then. But God changed those adjectives when he brought us to faith. Our other readings today have used the imagery of sheep and a shepherd. That picture is certainly a comforting one! Our last hymn is a favorite one, especially with children as we remind ourselves that even the oldest of us is still a little lamb of our Good Shepherd. But here in 1 John 3, John takes that relationship from the realm of man and animal and he raises it to the level of family, of the Father protecting children. That’s the kind of love John urges us to see today! We are God’s children! He made us so when he adopted us into his family through the waters of Baptism. What a great destroyer of fear and doubt to be called children of God. This term isn’t meant to belittle us or make us feel like infants. Instead, John’s point is to make us feel loved, protected, and secure. 

He continues: “The world does not know us, because it did not know him.” To the naked eye, we don’t look any differently than anyone else. You can’t see our status as heavenly royalty in this life. In fact, to the world we look weak and ignorant. We look foolish. We don’t get any respect from the world. And the devil would love to use that treatment as a reason for us to doubt God’s love. But the world’s ignorance is no reason for us to doubt. Just because the world can’t see us for who we really are doesn’t change the facts. And if you remember, most of the world didn’t recognize Jesus for who he really is. Easter Overcomes that ignorance. Easter is the reason we can be called, “Children of God.”

In 2007, the Washington Post arranged a social experiment. They arranged for Joshua Bell, arguably one of the greatest musicians in the world, to play his violin on a sidewalk in Washington D.C. Over the course of 45 minutes, over 1,000 people walked by this maestro without even pausing to listen. What people would pay hundreds, if not thousands to listen to, people had it for free and almost everyone failed to appreciate it. They were ignorant of what they had in front of them. 

This is true of Jesus. When he came, most didn’t recognize him because he wasn’t what they were looking for. They were looking for political and military might. Jesus came in humility. They were looking for royalty and all of its trappings. Jesus ate with sinners and touched lepers. They were looking for someone to restore the nation, not someone to die on a cross. They had God’s own Son standing in their midst, living perfectly for them, offering them mansions in heaven, and they rejected him and killed him. The world did not know him. But by God’s grace, we do. 

“Dear friends, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, and we will see him as he really is.” Once we were enemies, now we are friends, we are children of God. And what John says is really even stronger than friends. The Greek says, ἀγαπητοί, which means “loved ones” or “beloved.” That is our status before God. That is what we know. And we are beloved because we are children of God. Because we are wearing Christ’s righteousness, we have everlasting life in us already. But we don’t know fully what heaven is going to be like. We don’t know how our heavenly bodies are going to differ from our earthly bodies. But what we do know is that it will be wonderful. How do we know this? John tells us, “We know that when [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him…” Imagine that! Jesus loves us so much that he kept his body even after his resurrection and ascension so that he would remain our human brother forever! Jesus will use his power to transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. This is what we know! This is what God promises! Why would we ever think we needed more information? Why would we ever listen to the doubts that Satan tries to cast our way?

Can you picture yourself enjoying heaven right now? Can you picture yourself forever free from all sadness, grief, sickness, or pain? Looking into God’s eyes and seeing your Savior face-to-face? Serving God perfectly, with no more sin ever getting in the way? And can you picture yourself as a perfect child of God, standing before your perfect Father in his perfect heaven, experiencing nothing but joy, gladness, happiness, and peace that will never end?

Maybe you can’t picture all that because right now is filled with so much that is confusing, jumbled up, and messy. Maybe you can’t because right now is clouded by turmoil, pain, fears, doubts, questions, and worries. It seems like everything you see and experience is about as far away from a perfect life, in a perfect heaven as you can possibly imagine.

In a sinful world, it is easy for children of God to feel like that, and even feel like they aren’t children of God at all. “Dear friends, we are children of God now.” Our status before God doesn’t depend on how we are feeling or how things are going in life right now—good or bad. Instead, our status before God depends solely on what God has declared us to be. “Dear friends, we are children of God now.” Thanks to the saving work of Jesus, we are children of God right now. We already experience so many of the blessings that come along with being his children—the strength and desire to say “No” to sin, the peace of sins forgiven, the joy of our salvation, and the certain hope of eternal life.

All these blessings, and so many more, are already ours right now, even in the midst of turmoil, pain, fears, doubts, questions, and worries that cloud this sinful life. God’s blessings will continue to be ours right up until the day our perfect heavenly Father takes us to join him as his perfect children in his perfect heaven. 

The battle for our salvation has been completely won by Jesus. Because of his Easter victory, we are children of God who overcome ignorance. We know who we are, we know where we’re going. That’s not just half the battle, that’s the complete victory that is ours through Jesus. Amen.