Children of God
Notes
Transcript
Turn to your Neighbor
Turn to your Neighbor
Good Morning
Good Morning
It is so good to be back. I have missed my church family. I want to thank Rustan for covering the two Sundays while we were on vacation. I want to thank Bryan Elliot for covering last week. Thank you Board and Church for the rest.
21 Kids Going to Camp
21 Kids Going to Camp
Grab a Yard Sign
Grab a Yard Sign
Sign up for Epic Boom
Sign up for Epic Boom
Tell Everyone about Freedom Fest July 15th
Tell Everyone about Freedom Fest July 15th
I you have you Bibles turn with me to 1 John chapter 2 we are going to pick up at verse 28.
28 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.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Jesus promised to come back. Ever since his ascension, believers have been watching for his return.
John specifically targets this watching.
Are you living in confidence.
Will you be Shrinking and looking for excuses.
When we Abide in the father we tend to look at like the father.
What I have found in my life is that children do a lot of mirroring. when you see a kid acting out it usually is a reflection of the parent or the parenting.
If you are a kind, caring, and compassionate person. Your kids will most likely be kind and caring.
If you are a selfish person most likely your children will be selfish.
We tend to reflect where we hang out.
Righteousness takes practice.
When we practice righteousness we find that we have confidence in who we are born in.
1 John 3:1a (ESV)
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;
1 John 3:1 (NASB95)
1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God;
The Greek adjective used here is potapēn comes from the word meaning from what region.
It is only used 7 times in the New Testament and it is alway used implying a sense of wonder, astonishment, awe, or amazement.
1, 2, 3 John (1) Be Confident and Ready for His Coming (2:28–3:3)
Stott captures this original sense when he writes, “The Father’s love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that [John] wonders from what country it may come.” God’s love is foreign to humankind in that we cannot understand the magnitude of such love. It astonishes, amazes, and creates wonder within those who properly reflect upon it.
1 John 3:1b (ESV)
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
You are a child of God and he lavishes you with blessings. Not because you are lovable, or deserving.
He lavishes inspite of your lack of loveliness, He as set his mind on making you into the best possible version of yourself.
1 John 3:1c (ESV)
The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
We get all bent out of shape when the world acts like the world. News flash the world looks like the world because it doesn’t know him.
The world doesn’t know us because it doesn’t know him. The way we change the world is by being the best possible version of ourselves and living a life that is attractive to those who have not tasted what we have tasted.
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.
Get your eyes back on Him. Place your Hope back in Him.
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
John Starts out this whole section by outline What a child of God is and What a child of God looks like. Now he is going to make a distinction between the lies that the Gnostics were teaching and the Truth of what it is to live in Christ.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
The word used for lawlessness here means to to practices detachment from God’s Moral Standard.
They are shooting arrows at a target and missing by a mile.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
This is not saying that you are sinless if you are abiding in him. Christ lived a sinless life therefore there is no sin in him. Those who abide in Him will not live a life marked by sin.
That guy goes to church. Again Righteousness is a practice. So is Sinfulness.
What pool are you swimming in?
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus showed up to destroy the work of the devil in your life.
9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
If you are born again you need to take an inventory of the seed that is growing in your life.
10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
This week I was called to the scene of the death of a young boy to provide comfort for the family. As I walked up the detective was explaining to the family the next steps and how he was going to perform the investigation. He told them that he was a fact finder and that he was going to find answers.
As you sit here this morning let’s go back to the first verse of today’s message.
28 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 your walk with God were under investigation today. What would the facts be? What practices would the investigator find. Righteous Practices or Sinful Practices?
Are you confident or are you Shrinking?
Let’s live lives that where righteousness is our practice.