What Kind of Love Is This?

Our text this morning in 1 John 2:28-3:3 will have us getting straight to the point here. It begins with Jesus returning. And all of humanity now standing before Jesus.

As we enter into this text John would have us asking a serious question. What will it be like for you on that day? The Scriptures proclaim that every single person will one day stand before God. .

In just a moment we will see two different responses to the coming of Christ. What will it be like for you on that day? And how are you measuring this?

For those which John was writing to they weren’t exactly confident in how they’d fare. A group of teachers were unsettling them. Claiming that their access to Christ—or to the Father was blocked because they didn’t have the right knowledge or they hadn’t done what was required. They hadn’t signed onto their program and so because of this…well, it wouldn’t go well for them.

That’s unsettling. Can you imagine that even today? You aren’t entirely sure of spiritual things…you kinda know a little what the Bible teaches but you really aren’t sure exactly. Some guy with a seminary degree, lots of books on their shelves, in a position of authority…able to use all these Bible verses…run circles around you…well, such a one doesn’t make things real simple…leaves you kind of dizzy…but at the end of the day they’ve concluded, “you aren’t going to make it. But good news. I’ve written this book here…read it…and you’ll be sure to make it.”

Or maybe it’s not some grand theologian or leader. Maybe it’s a lady who has to be church her whole life, knows Bible verses, has a great list of rights and wrongs…even respected by others…very disciplined, lives by this set of rules…knocks it out of the park. You aren’t going to make it honey…your quiet time is awful, your attendance is pitiful, the way you dress…let’s not even go there…Spend some time with me, I’ll tell you how to live like a Christian so that God might be pleased with you.

How will John help them? I’ll be blunt, there is so much teaching out there these days. And I worry about our intake of this stuff. So many things that are like…if you don’t do these things…well, I’m not sure if you’re saved…if you are it might be by the hair of your chinny chin chin.

But there is some truth there. We can’t throw this question out because of the propensity for evil people to use this as manipulation. It’s a legit question, we’ll be standing before God someday…how will it be for us?

This is how John answers that question...

1 John 2:28–3:3 ESV

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.

John tells us that some will have confidence and that some will shrink in shame.

The word translated here “confident” originally meant a freedom of speech and expression. Later, it came to include boldness. It was used of the disciples referring to their boldness in preaching the gospel. A verse that is very similar to this would be Hebrews 4:16 where we are encouraged to, “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” One group is confident before God.

Others, however, will “shrink away in shame”. That word is actually only one word in the original. It has the idea of cowering away in embarrassment. It is used in the OT to refer to an embarrassment of being naked before someone. It means to be ashamed.

Both groups will be totally laid bare before God. One will relish in the fact of being truly known by God. The other will shrink away in shame. I ask you, will you be ashamed on that day? Or will you be confident before the Lord?

John tells us rather simply the answer. If you abide in Christ. Are you connected to Jesus? Are you in union with Christ. That’s it…he says…abide in Christ and this is what will happen…you’ll have confidence, boldness. You won’t be disappointed…you won’t shrink in shame.

I want to give you a picture here.

Imagine a river. And this little girl is caught out in the middle. She’d been playing but slowly drifted toward a current and now she’s in trouble. She can’t stand up…somehow she needs to get to safety.

Thankfully her dad is close by. He grabs ahold of her and says… “Honey grab hold of daddy’s neck and don’t let go. And we’ll make it to the shore.”

To the father the rapids are as nothing. He is able to pull her out of danger and place her safely on the shore.

“Abide in him”.

That means to hang onto him. But there’s something kind of funny about that. I can picture this with my own kids when they were little doing things like this…hang onto daddy as tight as you can. And they are doing it…I mean just holding on, scared, white-knuckle gripping...

But do you think that’s the only safety they had? Do you think daddy wasn’t holding onto the little girl? She wasn’t going anywhere....

Now of course we could say things like “she could have jumped out of his hands...” Well, sure. But that’s ridiculous. And that’s so far from John’s point here. He is encouraging these disciples.

In verse 29 he shifts gears a little bit. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” That is playing off the word abide a little differently…it’s kind of like planting something. Or being born of something.

You plant an apple seed you get an apple tree. That’s the point. Jesus is righteous—those who are born of Him well…they are going to be righteous.

And then this language of being “born of him” causes John to get a little ecstatic about something. For some reason so few of our English translations really get at what is happening here.

The word for “See” is more like “Behold...” I like what Eugene Peterson does in The Message…he’s like…would you look at it…would you just look at that thing…Marvel at this…that’s what he’s saying.

And the “what kind of love” is a word that might be translated what other-worldly love is this? What is this stuff? I have no category for this…this love is like nothing else...

“Just look at this other worldly—mind-blowing what kind of love is this…that has been given to us from the Father…what is this? That we should be called children of God.

Now, I’m not going to have any kind of illustration here…because it’s “other-worldly” the text is saying…good luck trying. Good luck trying to explain this.

But maybe it will help here. Let’s go back to that little girl. Take out the daddy language. Maybe it would help us to make it not even a little girl at this point.

I’m struggling here with how to do this…I need to paint this guy as someone that you would have absolutely no pity for. Do I make it Hitler? A guy who cold-heartedly murdered your only Son? And is now out in the deeps because of his own ignorance....or maybe I say something like in the process of murdering your son he ends up getting himself in peril.

And then we need to say that this Father goes out there and rescues the murderer. The guy who doesn’t deserve it.

But that’s not even it. I mean I think we could say that almost anyone if someone is in distress is going to help…maybe even your biggest enemy.

This isn’t just rescue. John says, “that we should be called children of God.” I mean the picture here isn’t just that he keeps the scoundrel from dying…it’s that he actually makes him a child.

The language here is of naming. It goes back to a naming ceremony. Where you are identifying with them…bringing them into your family..saying, “This is my child. This is the one who will inherit my everything. This is the one who will share my identity…have my name…extend my honor and legacy.”

What kind of love is this?

It doesn’t make sense...

Which is why he says what he does at the end of verse 1. You don’t know what this is until you’ve experienced it....doesn’t make a lick of sense....you don’t know Jesus…can’t see Jesus…so you aren’t able to understand this transformation that takes place.

We’re that scoundrel in the sea. And God rescued us. But not only rescued us and put us back on the shore…he made us his children. And John wants his audience to know that this isn’t something they attain in the future…this isn’t something where it’s like—be good, do these things, jump through these hoops, and then maybe you’ll be considered His child.

No. We are God’s children now…

But the story doesn’t end there. What we will be has not yet appeared. He just mentioned “appeared” a couple verses ago. There it was a reference to the second coming of Christ. What does he mean here? Something similar…he is connecting us to Jesus.

We will be transformed to be like Jesus. When we see Him we shall be like Him. That, friends, is the key to Christian transformation. It’s the key to holiness…when we watch him…when we see him…we become like Him.

Example of Michael Jordan....Michael Jordan’s father....

Those who abide in Christ will be like Christ. They’ll make it to the shore. But there’s one more verse here…verse 3 that the one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. What does that mean?

What does it mean to hope like this? Well, as I’ve said before it means that when truth and beauty merge to give us the happy confidence that Jesus gets the last word. It means that you have this expectation of the future than when this moment comes and you are standing before Jesus—you won’t shrink in shame…but you’ll be bold.

But not because of what you’ve done…because of what He has done. “I’m with Him....”

That’s what he means here by “who thus hopes”....but the question then is how does this relate to purity? How does this “purify us”?

There is a story in Les Miserables early on about Jean Valjean. Valjean has served 19 years of hard time…and he’s finally released. But he isn’t a changed man. He’s still a brute…nobody could beat him in a fistfight. His will was iron and unbreakable.

After getting out of prison nobody would give him a room. But this kind bishop had mercy upon him…he put him up in one of his most comfortable rooms. Valjean…being the scoundrel he was…got up after the bishop and the bishop’s sister fell asleep…and he rummaged through all their stuff…he took all their precious family silver and crept off into darkness.

Thankfully, though, three policemen found Valjean…and with all the silver. They caught him and drug him back to the house of the bishop. With this latest theft he was sure to be in chains for the rest of his life. And stealing from a bishop.

But the bishop responded in a way that no one, especially Jean Valjean, expected.

📷“So here you are!” he cried to Valjean.  “I’m delighted to see you.  Had you forgotten that I gave you the candlesticks as well?  They’re silver like the rest, and worth a good 200 francs.  Did you forget to take them?” Jean Valjean’s eyes had widened.  He was now staring at the old man with an expression no words can convey

Valjean is no thief, the bishop assured the authorities.  “This silver was my gift to him.”

Even when the guards left the bishop still gave the candlesticks to his guest…and he said “Do not forget, do not ever forget that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man.” And he did…it changed him. That is what grace does. It’s what Philip Yancey called “a naked encounter with forgiveness”. And this is what melted Valjean’s heart.

That is how hope purifies us.

Oh, sure you could never have a heart change and then trample upon grace. That’d be like being one who doesn’t abide. It’d be like one who “the reason why the world doesn’t know us”. But if any of us are transformed it’s because of this grace.

We are accepted not because we’ve done something good to merit it. We are accepted because that is what God has done in Christ. Oh, what other worldly love is this…that we should be called children of God.

And this is what we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper. It’s a family meal…a meal for God’s children to be reminded of our unity with God and our unity with one another. It’s a means of abiding…of holding onto his neck through the turbulent waters. And it’s a means of hoping. Of saying…this is what gets the last word over my life.

But it is a family meal. Are you part of the family? Are you trusting in Christ? I’m not asking if you’re a good person…if you do good stuff…if you go to church…are you trusting in Christ. Where his identity is your identity. That is the only means…that is how we can be called “children of God”. It is through Jesus.

Do you know him?