Being a Cheerful Child of God

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(ESV)
3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Goal: For the hearer to understand that knowing the real joy of being God’s Child
Summary: Because we are God’s children and because our cross will soon turn into a crown we will be cheerful no matter what our circumstances in life.
Good Morning Sons & Daughters of St. Paul’s … May the Grace and Peace of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with You All … Let Us Pray
Today is All Saints' Day, which typically falls on the first Sunday of November. It is a day when we commemorate those we have lost as well as the Christians who have lived before us and have testified to their Christian faith. In the Middle Ages the Church celebrated both All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. All Saints' Day was the day when the Church remembered the Christian martyrs, i.e. those who had died because of their faith, whereas All Souls' Day was the day when the Church commemorated and prayed for the dead. The idea was to help the dead go through purification in purgatory and enter into heaven by praying for them. The Reformation, and its Chief reformer Luther, rejected the existence of purgatory as a place of punishment or purification. Consequently, All Souls' Day was abolished in the Lutheran Church.
The Church kept All Saint’s Day to commemorate those who died for the sake of their faith. It is common in many Lutheran Communities throughout the world for people visit the cemetery on All Saints' Day and to light a candle on the grave of loved ones. Just a bit of Church History for you all. Now, I preached on our Gospel text about 6 weeks ago, so I have chosen our Epistle reading for the basis of our message today. Feel free to follow along.
“One day the reformer Martin Luther was feeling rather down. The Pope was after him. His colleagues were bickering among themselves. He felt the heavy pressure that came with being a professor, pastor, and father. And he was in excruciating pain from kidney stones. As he moped around the house muttering underneath his breath, his wife Katherine announced in a solemn voice, “God is dead.” Luther looked at his wife with puzzlement and replied, “God is not dead!” Katherine went on to say, “It sure seems like God is dead by the way you are acting.” Luther thanked his wife and etched a Latin word on his desk: vivit. Vivit means, “He lives.” Whenever things weren’t going well and Luther was tempted to complain about them, he looked at that one simple word and was invigorated. Because Jesus was alive Luther had every reason to be upbeat.”
I know I talked extensively about Luther last Sunday, but this illustration seemed a fitting way to begin this sermon for the Apostle John tells us what Katherine told Luther: “Cheer up, Christian!” John urges us to cheer up no matter what our circumstances or our prospects because we are God’s children, and because we will soon exchange our cross for a crown of salvation that is only possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I love the implied tone that John is writing with. In the opening verse of our text the Apostle John sounds like a child who has just received a surprise package in the mail ... like that awesome smile box we have today. He is hardly able to contain his excitement as he exclaims: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” () Do we get that excited when contemplating God’s love? Do we sing the Gloria In Excelsis with gusto, or polite indifference after hearing that our sins have been forgiven? Are we excited? Or are we just going through the motions? Do we really even put any thought into the forgiveness that the Pastor gives in place of Our Father? We Should … We should be busting at the seems like John seemed to be when writing this section of scripture.
Just how great is God’s love? Well, what would you do with a pet dog that had become rabid and attacked your family? Would you keep it? Would you let it have free reign of your house, eat at your table, and sleep in your bed? No! Wouldn’t you have that dog put down? You certainly wouldn’t send away one of your children, so you could keep the dog! Yet that’s what God did. He sent his Son away to die on the cross so that he could adopt us sinful rebellious people and welcome us into his home! It’s no wonder John exclaimed: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” ()
If God has adopted us into his family, we should expect to receive good things from him right? I mean if we were adopted into the family of a billionaire, we would expect to drive a fancy car and wear nice clothes. Should we expect anything less from God? Why then doesn’t anyone here live the charmed life of the rich and famous? Could it be that we’re not God’s children? No … Our
baptism and the faith God created or strengthened assures us that we are his children.
So why isn’t life sweeter for us who are members of God’s family? One reason is because the world does not know that we are God’s children. John said, “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (). Just think of how the world treated Jesus; they laughed at his claims, beat him, and eventually murdered him. If that’s the way Jesus was treated, so we shouldn’t expect to be treated any better by the world. Indeed that was the case with Peter and John … They had been thrown in prison because they were believers (, ).
While we can understand that we’ll be persecuted and mocked by unbelievers, we may wonder why God doesn’t at least protect us from cuts, bruises, and diseases if we are his children? The Bible makes it clear that God uses those things to purify our faith and make it stronger. You see we are like rough diamonds. Before we can shine with brilliance we need to be expertly cut and polished. That’s what God is doing with the trials he allows into our life. I will continue to emphasize this point throughout my ministry here as God has used horrific times in my life to be able to use those experiences to minister to others. We must always remember that … “We wouldn’t know triumph without first knowing trial.” Oh, don’t worry … God will never cut us so deeply that we lose our faith – at least not so that it would be God’s fault if should that happen. He paid dearly to make us his child and he promises that the cross you now carry will soon be exchanged for a crown!
My Beloved, I’m not kidding when I say that God is preparing us for a brilliant future and that we will receive a crown. John said in our text, “2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (). John wants us to be certain that God has something better in store for us than life in this world. Exactly what that is will be revealed when Christ reappears. What a wonderful day that will be when we get to see Jesus with our own eyes and see him as he really is in all of his glory. That will be some sight.
Consider how John described Jesus in the book of Revelation, Chapter 11 … “11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in[b]blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” ().
While we probably won’t look exactly like Jesus did in this vision, we do know that come Judgment Day we will shine like Jesus and that we will rule with him over those who persecute and mock us for our faith in the here and now. While we look forward to finding out exactly what’s all in store for us, John goes on to tell us that we are to start being like Jesus right now. John wrote: “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (). John is not
suggesting that we need to become pure to earn our salvation. We talked about works-righteousness last week and that is not what is being suggested here. He is simply reminding us that Salvation comes from having hope in Jesus who has accomplished our salvation and granted free and full forgiveness ().
Still, those who have faith in Jesus will attempt to rid their lives of all that is impure. This means that we stop making excuses for our pet sins. Nor can we promise to give up certain sins when it’s convenient for us. My Beloved, we will and must attempt to do those things right now!
· We will be patient with one another, now.
· We will be forgiving, today.
· We will stop feeding our lusts, immediately.
· We will make the study of God’s Word a priority, without delay.
· We will strive to be like Jesus now because we are God’s children.
Of course, we know that we’ll never truly become like Jesus here on this earth … not until He comes back to take us home to heaven that is. So, I understand that it can be downright frustrating to fall back into the same re-occurring sins. But when we get down about that … we only need to pause and remember that we are God’s children through faith, and not through works. Jesus forgives us for our failed attempts to be pure as He IS pure. And since we are God’s children, we also can be certain that someday soon we will exchange OUR cross, whether that’s our earthly persecution, our earthly sicknesses, or our earthly bad choices or relationships for a crown … His Crown! So, cheer up, Christians! Our God lives and reigns. And because of Jesus … So, do we! Amen?
Let Us Pray … Father we thank you for the opportunity of redemption that you have offered Your Children through Your Son Jesus Christ. Help us to be faithful in our adoption into this magnificent Grace. Give us the strength to be more like Jesus and less like the sinful world that surrounds us. We ask these things in your Son’s Sweet and Precious Name … AMEN
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