Growing up in God’s household | In light of love | 1 John 2:28 - 3:3 | Ep.9

Welcome to Preaching from Bryanson Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you are not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

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.

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, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Well, good morning, everyone.

It really is such a joy to be worshiping with you this morning, and it's such a joy to be journeying on in our series in through John's letters.

Now, when we were children, most of us, we looked at our parents' lives, their hidden habits, their their strange, their strange quirks, um their weird discipline, and we made this silent, solemn vow of resistance.

When we were little children, we swore that one day when we grew up, we would be different than our parents.

We thought their rules were designed purely to ruin our lives.

And so we saw when we grew up, we would be the cool parents, the relaxed parents, the ones that let our kids stay up until midnight, the ones that let them eat pizza for breakfast.

Right?

Those are the sorts of parents that we said we would grow up being.

But the reality of life doesn't always work out that way, does it?

I remember being a teenager, and when you're a teenager, you you think to yourself that you are a completely unique specimen.

You you dress differently, you listen to different music, you look at your parents' quirks.

They say bad posture, or that way your mom looks at her phone, sort of at arm's length, and squints to try and read it, or the ungodly grunt your dad makes when he sits down on the couch, and you think to yourself, man, we are just a complete different species.

We are from different planets.

Now I remember growing up and watching my parents, they were here in the first service, they're not here now, so I can really lean into this.

I remember looking at the things they did and the things they said and thinking to myself, that is the single most embarrassing behavior on planet Earth.

And I saw to myself this vow of resistance.

I would never ever do that.

I was gonna be my own man.

Fast forward to today.

You're at your late 30s, your early 40s, and you realize that genetic history proves it has a 100% success rate.

Because suddenly you find yourself lecturing your own children with the very same phrases your parents used on you.

Phrases you absolutely hated.

You catch yourself saying things like, because I told you so, that's why.

Or do you think that money grows on trees?

Or if your friend jumps off the bridge, will you go and jump off the bridge too?

Right?

Those are the things that we we end up finding ourselves saying.

Now, this, you also might look into the mirror sometimes and you might catch yourself mid-sigh and think, oh, I wish it wasn't so.

You hoped to escape that family nose or that hairline or perhaps even that family temper.

This realization hit its peak for me a few weeks ago.

My girls were rushing out of the house one morning, they were late for school, and when I walked past the bedrooms, every single light switch had been left on.

And I suddenly found myself roaring, girls, I told you to switch the lights off before you go to school.

And I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the bathroom window, and I thought to myself, with horror, the metamorphosis is complete.

I have become my parents.

You spend the first half of your life fighting it, and you spend the second half of your life realizing that it was completely inevitable.

Children inevitably end up resembling their parents no matter if they like it or not, whether they like it or not.

And we laugh about it because we know it's true.

Because we are their children, we end up resembling our parents.

I mean, don't you find that we we replicate the physical traits, the character traits of the household that we grew up in?

But here's the thing, as the years go by, something else happens.

Amid all my weird habits and my weird quirks, I began noticing things in my life that I'm incredibly proud to have inherited.

I look at how I react when someone's hurting, and I realize that I have my mom's ability to know how my actions impact those around me.

I have her knack for making people feel loved and welcomed at my dinner table.

I look at my work ethic or my genuine desire to help others, and I think that's my dad.

He taught me the meaning of being hardworking.

He taught me the meaning of being servant-hearted.

I look in the mirror, I see my mom's eyes or my dad's smile, and it fills me with a sense of warmth and gratitude deep in my soul.

I'm actually glad I look like them.

I love carrying their character.

You see, family traits inevitably rise to the surface.

We end up resembling the household that we grew up in.

Because we are part of that household, because we are children in that family, we end up living like that family.

Now I'm fully aware that there are some of you who are sitting here this morning who grew up in a very difficult household.

And so there might be things you wouldn't want to or things that you shouldn't emulate.

Family language is not positive.

Family imagery is not positive for everyone.

But in the text that we'll look at today, that the Apostle John opens for us, we see a very a picture of a very different kind of a household, a very different kind of family.

It's a family that we should delight to be children of, a family that we should desire to belong to.

It's a family that we should want to emulate.

In fact, in the verses for today, as well as the verses for next week, this whole chunk, John repeatedly uses family language.

He uses family imagery.

In the text for today, he tells these original readers twice that they are children of God.

And so here's the beautiful thing that we'll see as we dive into this text today.

Just as we end up being like and acting like the family, the earthly family that we grew up in, when we are part of the household of God, his beautiful family traits inevitably should surface in us.

Because a Christian is someone who demonstrates or displays in their life the family traits, the character traits of being a child of God.

Be a Christian means that you are adopted into a new family.

You are born into a new family, you are adopted by a perfect heavenly father who pours his love and his nature into your soul, and that changes you from the inside out.

And so as we get into this text today, we'll see that the Apostle John, as we've noticed in the letter so far, he doesn't build up his logic in these verses in a very linear way.

He sort of circles around his logic this morning.

But the main point I believe he would have us understand from the text is this because we are children of God, we live like children of God.

And how is that?

With future certainty and present resolve.

Because we are children of God, we live like children of God with future certainty and with present resolve.

Now we're gonna step through this text very simply today.

There's just three points for us this morning.

We'll see because we are children of God that we look forward, we look inward, and we look upward.

We look forward, we look inward, and we look upward.

We look forward with confidence to Christ's return.

Because we are children of God, it shapes the way we see the future.

We look forward to the future with certainty.

We'll see, secondly, that because we are children of God, we look inward with resolve to be conformed to Christ's character.

Because we are as children, we are resolved in the here and now to be like Jesus.

And then lastly, we'll see that we look upward with awe, that we are in fact called God's children.

This reality that we are as children should cause us to worship.

So this morning we're gonna dive right in.

You might want to keep your Bibles open, your the text on your smartphone, or follow along on the Bible app.

Let's look firstly at that point.

We look forward with confidence to Christ's return.

In the previous passage we went through last week, you may remember that that John repeatedly spoke about Jesus Christ's coming, and he used this phrase, the last hour.

You might remember from Buddy's sermon that in John's theology, the last hour is not a hidden timeline for us to anxiously decode, but rather the last hour is simply the present age that we are living in.

It's the entire period of history from when Jesus first came to when he will come again.

And John continues with focusing on this last hour, but he introduces a very specific word for it.

And you may not know it, but this original text was written in the Greek language.

And so when John speaks about Jesus Christ's coming, he introduces us to this word.

It's the Greek word parousia.

Parousia.

Now, in the ancient world, a parocia wasn't a brief visit or a passing glimpse, it was the grand arrival of a king, resulting in his permanent abiding presence.

John is literally and physically here speaking about the future return of Jesus Christ when he will come to judge the world and establish his eternal kingdom.

There's a reality that this text therefore affirms for us this morning.

Jesus Christ is coming back.

Might be today, it might be in a month from now, in a year from now, or in a hundred years from now.

No one knows exactly when, but his future coming is as certain as his past ascension into heaven.

God has promised it, and so it is sure.

That means history is not wandering aimlessly, it is moving towards a definitive endpoint, a glorious climax.

It is rushing towards the second coming of Jesus Christ.

However, how people react to that future certainty will vary.

John tells us here that there's really two options for how people will react when Jesus Christ comes again.

Either they will shrink back from him in shame or they will stand before him with confidence.

The word John uses here for confidence, it literally means boldness of speech.

Picture the unreserved freedom of a little child speaking to a loving father.

That's what John wants us to picture here.

Picture a household where the child's waiting for a father to come home from work, the door suddenly flies open, and a child with confidence doesn't run and hide behind the couch or cower away from the father.

The child confidently runs to the father, embraces him.

A child that has that kind of boldness and freedom just tells the father excitedly about their day, all their adventures on the jungle gym.

Why?

Because they know who they are.

They are a child of the house who's loved by the father.

But what about a guest?

Maybe it's a child who's visiting for a play date.

They might be shy, they might be a bit awkward, they might want to hide away because they are not a child of that house.

Now, dad's in the room, I hope you make children who visit your house feel comfortable, but there's just a different way we relate with our own children, isn't there?

How is it that we have that same unreserved boldness, that confidence of a child relating to a loving father?

How do we have that in thinking about Jesus Christ's ultimate return when we will one day meet him face to face?

John says, Because we are God's children, we live like we are God's children.

And he says, little children, abide in him.

Abide in him.

The Greek word for abide is this word menor, and it literally means to lodge, reside, or make your permanent home.

The theme of abiding is a prominent theme in John's writings, and in this text, he he mixes it with this family language and family imagery.

It's a constant theme in his writing.

John is saying to us in these verses that our confidence at Jesus Christ's sudden arrival is directly linked to how we abide in him now.

You see, confidence at Christ's arrival is not something that you will be able to manufacture on the day that he arrives.

Confidence is not a feeling that you can conjure up the moments that the skies part.

Confidence is like a relational muscle memory.

It is built up day by day, month by month, as you live under your father's roof, as you abide with him.

Picture that same child in the house from earlier, maybe it's even your own house.

The child doesn't run with confidence to the father simply because five minutes earlier the child sort of gave themselves a motivational speech, a pep talk saying, you know, dad's coming home, I must be confident, you know, I must love him.

He is safe, he is safe.

No, rather, the child runs to the father because of a history of abiding with the father.

It comes naturally to him.

He knows the father's voice.

He's eaten at the father's table.

He's spent countless hours in the father's presence.

And because of that daily history of residing in the father's love, the father's sudden appearing is not a disruption.

It's a delight.

Tragically, many of us as Christians, we live in a sense outside of the house.

We sometimes treat God like He's a distant landlord who we only approach when we're in trouble.

Sometimes we view God as a terrifying auditor or an inspector who we have to clean up for on Sundays.

Sometimes we keep God at arm's length, try to hide our problems away from him.

In a way, operating like spiritual orphans.

And when he does, how will you respond to his coming?

Will you shrink back in shame or will you stand before him with confidence?

If we don't live with Jesus Christ now, his sudden arrival one day will be an incredible disruption to our lives.

And so John says, Little children, abide in him.

Make your home in him.

Drag your failures into his presence through daily confession.

Rest in his grace.

Know his word.

Know God's other children, the spiritual family that you grow up in.

Walk in step with the Spirit and whisper your prayers to God through the daily rush of life in Johannesburg.

When we spend our days making our home in God, it anchors our soul in future certainty.

See, it means that we do not have to fear God's coming.

Because the very same King who's coming on the clouds is the same King that we have been living with in our lounge day by day, year by year.

Because we all are already at home in him, we can have unshakable boldness and certainty on that last day that we will be like him for all eternity.

And so because we are children of God, we live like children of God.

And it's the first point.

John says we we look forward with confidence to Jesus Christ's return.

Second thing we'll see is this we look inward with resolve to conform to Christ's character.

We look inward with resolve to conform to Christ's character.

He says this in verse 29.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

And a little further down in verse 2, beloved, we are God's children now.

And what 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.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Do you see how John connects our looking forward with our looking inward?

Because our future is certain as Christians, that doesn't mean that we become complacent and lazy.

But rather we become so concerned with doing everything we can now in God's strength to live up to who we are and to live up to what we shall be.

That is our concern as Christians.

If our future is so deeply wrapped up in Jesus Christ, it is so centered on Jesus Christ, well then naturally we will want to be as much like Him as we can in the here and now, right?

Love the way that the theologian David Jackman said it.

He said this if heaven is our ultimate destination, we must be traveling the road that leads there.

If heaven is our ultimate destination, we must be traveling the road that leads there.

If we're looking forward to this ultimate destination, we will naturally be resolved to look inward and be changed as we live and walk on this road to get there.

In fact, John says in this text that when we are conformed to be the resolved to be conformed to Christ's character, it is evidence, it is proof that we are in fact children of God.

He says, Everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Everyone who practices righteousness, in other words, everyone who's who's fighting to be like Jesus Christ has been born of him.

But what does that mean to be born of him?

We know that this life we are called to live, like Jesus Christ, this life of righteousness, it will be impossible for us to live it unless John says, as John says in verse 29, you have been born of him.

But what does that mean?

To be born of him.

The Bible uses different languages for it.

It speaks about being a new creation, it speaks about having new life, it speaks about being born again.

When you put your trust, your faith in Jesus Christ, there is a supernatural, a spiritual regeneration that takes place.

You receive a new nature, you inherit God's spiritual DNA in a sense.

And as a result, those who are who are born again, we don't live unintentional lives, but rather we are concerned with how we live now.

We live differently now because of where we are going then.

And John says to us, it's not perfect.

We'll only be like Jesus, fully like him when he appears.

But in these verses, in linking our holiness, in other words, how we want to be like Jesus, in linking our holiness to our hope, John is seeking to stir a motivation for us to live differently in the present.

This future certainty kicks off a spark of present resolve to practice righteousness and to pursue purity.

But what does that look like in your life here in Jobig on a Tuesday morning or on a Thursday afternoon?

How do you practice righteousness?

How do you purify yourself without falling into that heavy trap of religious legalism?

Must remember that righteousness is a daily practice, it is not flawless perfection.

And so here's just one tangible suggestion for how we do this, and it's this change your definition of success.

Change your definition of success.

We know that because we are children of God, we are resolved to be more like Jesus, but we must ask ourselves.

The questions, the question, how do we approach God when we inevitably fail?

Someone who's not a child of the house views God functionally.

They view God as a distant sovereign or an unreachable creator.

And they say to themselves things like, I must do everything in my power to keep his approval.

Friends, it is not enough to simply know that God is sovereign.

It is not enough to simply know that God is creator.

We read in the New Testament that even the demons knew that God was sovereign, but it didn't give them confidence.

It just filled them with trembling.

We must remember that that that sort of confidence that we that we seek comes because we are children of God.

Because we already have his unshakable promise that we are his children.

We have this unshakable identity as his child.

It means that our entire definition of success is different.

Success for us is no longer pretending we are perfect, but it is rushing to this Father the moment that we fail.

It is rushing to Father God the moment that we fail.

Practicing righteousness, when you practice righteousness and you sin, confession is not your last resort.

It is the first place you go.

You don't try to hide your shame under a couch, try to hide away from your father God, who already sees and knows everything anyway.

You bring it to Him with confidence and you rest in His grace in Jesus Christ, which is the ultimate source of our confidence.

Because we are children of the house, it changes our definition of success.

We no longer do these things to earn our place in the house, but because we are already part of it, we are already children of God.

Because we are children of God, we live like children of God.

And it's our second point.

We look inward with a resolve to be conformed to the character and the person of Jesus Christ.

But then lastly, we look upward with awe that we are called God's children.

Take a look with me at chapter 3, verse 1.

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 the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

This is the exact moment where John pulls our attention from looking forward and looking inward, and he leads the church in worship.

He leads us to look upward together.

Notice that word, the first word of that verse, see.

This is an exclamation command in the original language.

John is saying, Stop what you are doing, halt your thoughts, stand in awe of this father's great love.

And then he uses the most fascinating word to describe God's love when he says, see what kind of love the Father has given us.

And it's this it's this Greek word here, potapos.

It's difficult to say.

It literally means of what country or of what planet.

It was a word used to describe shock or surprise when encountering something that was completely foreign, something that you've never seen before.

And here's the thing that really got me about this word as I was preparing for today.

This is the exact same word the disciples used when they were on that Sea of Galilee in the little boat, and the wind and the waves rose, the storms rose, they thought they were gonna die.

Jesus Christ stood up and he rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was silent.

And they fell back in the boat trembling, and they said, What kind of man is this?

What foreign category of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?

And so in this text, John is standing back with that same sense of wonder, and he is stunned, and he's he's almost shouting to us, look at the father's love.

It is completely foreign.

You have never seen or known or experienced anything like it.

It is from a different country in a sense, it is of a different category from anything you have experienced on planet Earth.

Because it is a love in which the Father takes all the initiative to make us his children.

It is a love that gives freely, extravagantly, lavishly to people who are so utterly undeserving of it.

And when we truly contemplate our own sin, our own brokenness, our own rebellion against the backdrop of God's unapproachable light, his complete holiness, well then I believe we find ourselves at this place of wonder where John is here.

Why would such a God even bother with people like us?

And yet John affirms that he does.

Because see what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called his children.

Then he almost interrupts his sentence to affirm it, and so we are.

Now, perhaps it is just because this love is so unconditional, perhaps it is just because this love is so limitless that it is difficult for us to understand it.

It's why it seems a little bit foreign to us.

Many of us in this auditorium have never experienced a love, even close to this love being described here.

From childhood, we learned that love, approval was something that we had to earn.

We learned to get by by doing what was expected of us.

You might remember when you were a child, rushing to your parents to take them an exam result you were so proud of, you got 75%, only to be met with a cold stare in the words, why wasn't it better?

Why wasn't it 85% or 90%?

And that performance mentality plays out in so many different ways in our lives.

When that is the earthly way that you were raised, well, it leaves you constantly feeling like you're never good enough, it leaves you feeling like you haven't achieved enough, it leaves you feeling totally uninsecure, unsecure that you are truly loved.

And sadly, so many of us bring that wounded orphan mindset to the house of God.

We look upward and we picture God standing there with his arms folded, tapping his foot, demanding to know why our spiritual performance wasn't better this week.

But in this text, John completely shatters that lie.

And he says, Children, you are God's children now.

Not when you get your act together, not when you put to death that hidden sin in your life.

You are God's children now.

You are God's children now.

And so, friends, we look upward in worship, in awe, that that is the reality, that we are called children of God.

And the ultimate destination of children in this family is mind-blowing.

John says, What has appeared, what will be has not yet appeared.

But when we see Jesus face to face, we will be like him.

In that moment, that sight will transform us completely, it'll transform us forever, and we shall be like him for all eternity.

And so this morning, as the worship team comes up, some things I pray that you remember from our text today.

As though we, because we are children of God, we live like children of God.

And we look forward, we look inward, and we look upward.

We look forward with hope to the return of Jesus Christ, with confidence, eagerly awaiting the day we will see him face to face.

And we look inward with resolve to be changed on the road to get there, to be more like Jesus right here, right now.

And then lastly, we look upward in worship that we are called God's children.

And so, how do we respond to a word like this to us this morning?

We don't simply close our Bibles, sort of look at our watches, check our phones, close our notebooks.

A text like that is this filled with surprising love and wonder and worship.

Well, it demands a response from us of wonder and of worship.

And so that's why this morning we've intentionally flipped our service structure around, leaving time at the back end to spend an unrushed, unhurried time of worship for the rest of our service.

And so, BBC, would you stand with me?

And this morning we are gonna sing as the secure beloved children of God, and we're gonna sing of that magnificent, amazing love that has made us his own.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from BBC.

If you have questions about what you've heard or would like to find out more about the Christian faith, we'd love to hear from you.

You can visit our website or reach out using the contact details below.

God bless you.