WEEKLY SERMON
“Don't Lose the Wonder of Christ's Love”
1 John 3:1-2
- Pastor Thomas Kneser
Fellow children in God’s kingdom,
Remember the TV show of several years ago called, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?” Host Robin Leach would take viewers through the homes of the wealthy, or to resorts that catered to every wish of those who could afford to stay there. Have you ever experienced anything like that personally, gone into an ornate or lavish place that simply took your breath away? Perhaps it was like those places seen on the TV show, a mansion owned by some big entertainer or wealthy family, like the Vanderbilt mansion or the Hearst mansion, where there is literally room after room after room that just oozes luxury in its furnishings and appointments. Or maybe it was one of the great medieval cathedrals or castles of Europe. It’s plain to see that those who built them spared no expense, and we are amazed at the results.
Did God ever take your breath away? Do you think of him as being lavish, sparing no expense on your behalf? Do you ever think of God that way? Well, that’s exactly what the apostle John tells us here in his first epistle. Or are we so used to hearing about that love that we don’t see it in all its richness and detail anymore, that it has lost its wonder and appeal? And even if we do recognize it, how do we respond to it? With dull indifference? With half-hearted gratitude? Or do we strive to do everything in our power to honor and thank him? That’s what Christian stewardship is all about. And that lavish love is the basis for our emphasis over the next few weeks. It’s our synod’s theme for the next four years - Christ’s Love - Our Calling. We will focus on who we are because of God’s lavish love, and how we then respond, not just with our money, but with our whole lives. My encouragement to you today is this:
DON’T LOSE THE WONDER OF CHRIST’S LOVE
Because of that love we really are children of God. Because of that love we really know him as our Father. Because of that love we know we have a real home in heaven. And it’s a love that we will demonstrate to the world.
I.
Our identity is important to us, isn’t it? In our information age there has been a lot of emphasis on protecting our identity, the information that we give out to others, especially when it comes to our finances. Having that identifying information stolen from us can be very costly. We feel violated when someone goes around pretending to be us and empties our bank accounts. We also occasionally hear sad stories about people who have lost their identities. They wake up in a strange place, not knowing who they are or how they got there. They have lost all their roots, their connections, their relationships. Having an understanding of your identity, of who you are in life, is something important to us.
Look at how John describes our identity here, 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! As we go through this life, as we interact with the people around us, there may be many times when we don’t feel all that special, when we feel left out and alone. It happens when we focus on how much more others seem to have compared to us, or with the attention others are getting while we are left on the sidelines. It happens when people forget our names or details of our lives. It may especially happen when the unbelieving world attacks what we stand for and believe. What you are as a Christian isn’t always so obvious to others. And that’s what we gauge our identity on, what others think of us – our accomplishments, our looks, our possessions. From a worldly viewpoint we let those things define who we are.
But John here reminds us of who we really are - CHILDREN OF GOD. There is a special connection we have with God and a special relationship of love and endearment that we can depend on. He knows my name and your name. He accepts you as family, despite what the world thinks of you or even what you may think of yourself. You are the object of his lavish love.
Now, that’s not the relationship we had when we first came into this world. The Bible tells us that we were objects of God’s wrath, that we are not at all worthy of his love and attention. That’s because we are born in an adversarial relationship with God. We have a sinful nature that hates God, that rebels at the idea that there is a higher being to whom we are answerable, one who gives us laws and rules by which we are to live. We were born as sinners and we will remain sinners during our whole lives here on earth. As such we disobey those laws of God. We don’t live the perfect lives of love toward him and toward our fellow human beings that he calls for. We are rebels and our only cause is to indulge our sinful nature, to satisfy our selfish desires. We don’t deserve to be called God’s children, don’t deserve his love, don’t deserve to have a place in his family and in his heavenly home.
But in his love God formulated the greatest relief effort in history. He set about the task of rescuing mankind from its sinful self-destruction. And the plan he devised involved sending, not an army of search and rescue workers armed with lots of sophisticated equipment, but an army of one. He sent his one and only son, the second person of the triune God taking on human flesh and blood, coming into his world to accomplish the salvation of all mankind. He did it by living a life of perfect obedience as our substitute. He did it by then offering his holy precious blood on the altar of the cross, paying the ransom price so that we could be set free from the curse of our sins. He did it by triumphantly rising from the grave, thereby showing that he has complete mastery over sin, death, Satan and hell. Jesus did everything that was necessary to fulfill his father’s plan of love. Now, because of God’s great love for us in Christ, we have an identity, a feeling of hope and security. We see that we are worth something to him, that we are valuable in God’s sight, have a place in his heart.
You know that you are a child of God because that conviction has been worked in your heart through the gospel. With that good news God has worked it out so that you have heard about Jesus as your Savior. You were brought into contact with that gospel by someone – parents, friend, spouse, whomever. When you were baptized in the name of the Triune God, you were placed into the family of God! You became one of his dearly loved children, bearing his name and connected with his identity. So if that is what God calls us, that is what we really are. You are an object of God’s lavish love. Don’t every lose sight of that wonderful news. You are a child of the almighty, loving God!
II.
Knowing God is more than just an intellectual exercise. It is recognizing him and seeing him on the basis of what he has done for us. It is being familiar with his ways, knowing his heart, understanding how he sees you and works in your life. It is being close to him and enjoying time with him. That is why He uses the picture of the father/child relationship. Hopefully you have or had a warm, loving relationship with your earthly father, that he is someone who cared for you, protected and provided for you, displayed love for you. So when we call God our Father, that blows away any feelings that he is distant and hidden. We look at his creation and see its beauty, marvel at its complexity, enjoy its bounty. But especially when we look at his Son, the one who came to rescue us according to his Father’s plan, then we see just how much our Father loves us.
Have doubts about that? Then look at all the promises he directs toward us, his children. That includes the promise to give us everything we need when we keep him and his kingdom first in our hearts and lives. It includes the promise of strength and guidance as we deal with the challenges of life. There’s the promise to use even the reverses in life to move us forward in our journey to our eternal home. Yes, at times our father may allow sin and evil and the curse on this world to touch us. But he uses that to discipline us, to keep us on track in our lives as his children, uses that to refine our faith so we are always focused on his love and his will in our lives. He doesn’t want us to stray or to take him for granted.
And like a good father, our God invites to come to him with troubles, with our hurts and our desires, to call on him in prayer. Then he showers us with blessings in answer to those prayers. He is our “papa” or “daddy” the one who loves his children dearly and lavishes us with his love. When we work at maintaining this relationship we see over and over again that he truly does have our best interests at heart. The world doesn’t understand that love. On the one hand, the best it can come up with on its own is a god who has to be appeased with sacrifices and offerings, a cold, heartless judge who’s ready to crush you like a bug if you don’t conform. Or it totally disregards his existence.
III.
Such an attitude will affect their outlook on the future as well. For you and me, for those of us who know and cherish our relationship as God’s children, the wonder of Christ’s love also means that we know our real home, where we are going when this life comes to an end, 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.
I want to imagine in your mind’s eye the last baby you saw. Now think of what that infant will look like when they become adults. That’s hard to do, isn’t it? We can’t know it until they actually grow up. Oh, we might have an idea that they will look like their parents, but even that isn’t always a good indicator. The same holds true when it comes to our future, what we will be like when we get to heaven. Right now, we only see a mortal body that is ravaged by sin and its effects. But thankfully that will all change.
It will be different because Jesus is coming back to take us home to be with him in heaven. On that last day we will see him as he is, John says here. Jesus will reveal himself to the whole world in all his splendor and majesty and power, far different from his first appearance here on earth. On that day, every eye will see him and will have to acknowledge him as Lord, some reluctantly, others, like us, with joy and gladness in our hearts. On that day we will be lavished with more of God’s love for us, even greater blessings than those we experience here on earth. We will have transformed bodies, able to last forever. We can’t hardly imagine that right now because we so used to sin and its effect. We will be reunited with saints and angels, all our fellow believers who have died in the Lord, including our family members. And best of all, we will be gathered around the throne of our Savior and our Father in joy and happiness forever. We will be home, our eternal home in heaven. As we go through this life, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, don’t ever lose sight of our final destination, another wonder based on Christ’s love for us.
IV.
That is love that should permeate our lives day in and day out. The fact that Jesus came and rescued us so that we could be the children of God, that’s what our lives to reflect every moment we live here on earth. Our calling in response to Christ’s love is to honor and thank him with every ounce of our being. Sharing that love with the world, that’s what we are to be about as dearly loved children. We are to mimic that love of our Father and our brother in how we treat those around us. Using our time to live as his children, that’s going to be our focus over the next few weeks, so be sure to join us as we explore in depth what our calling as God’s children is all about.
So, fellow children of God, relish that lavish love. Don’t ever begin to lose the wonder of it, the richness of it, the generosity of our Father. Be here in his house regularly to be reminded of that love. Like an earthly father, He wants you to hear him say and see from his word and from the life of his son, how much he loves you. It’s a love he wants everyone to see and experience. And as we do so, let us as believers live to please our “Dad” and praise him for that lavish love. AMEN.