Children of God
John opens this third chapter with a line of thinking that always
evokes amazement in me. How incredible
is it that we are children of God! It
shouldn’t have happened that way, but it did.
God has every right to turn away, but He doesn’t. He has every right to condemn me where I
stand and let me fall into the worldliness that my flesh craves, but He refuses
to abandon me.
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to fathom the depth of the
love of God. I can say all the right
things. I can say that God voluntarily
risks rejection by all to find the freely received love of the few. I can say that God knew that human freewill
would lead to sin but He created us knowing that He could save us anyway. I can say all these things and even
understand them on some level. But to
truly fathom the depth of God’s love?
No. I don’t think I can
understand what it means to be a child of God as God understands it. I don’t think I can fathom what He knows
regarding the forgiveness of my sins. I
can simply accept it, receive it, and try to live a life based upon it.
How blessed we are to be children of God. We don’t deserve it. We cannot understand it fully. Yet here we are in it.
Sin
As I read through 1 John 3:4-10 I couldn’t help but feel that lump
rising in my throat. It felt like the
noose was closing in tighter and tighter.
After all, how does “whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the Devil”
not apply to me – or any of us? What
about “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning?” Ouch.
Or what about “He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God?” Yeah, when I look into my life it isn’t
really all that pretty there, either.
How can a person read any of those questions and not feel condemned?
In truth, it is actually that rising feeling of condemnation that
is evidence of hope. It is a good thing
that guilt and fear come when reading through these verses. Let me explain that here, because this is a
very important piece of theology.
In this passage, John only uses the word “sin” in the plural in
one single place: the first clause in 1 John 3:5. This makes sense, because the cross dealt
with the need for atonement for each act of sin. All the other times that John uses the word “sin”
he uses it in the singular. I those
cases, John isn’t speaking to the multitude of sins in our life but to the
state of sin. If you will, John is
speaking about the human condition of original sin everywhere else in this
passage. So when John says:
- “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the Devil,” John is really saying, “Whoever makes a practice of remaining in original sin is of the Devil.”
- “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,” John is really saying, “No one born of God makes a practice of remaining in original sin.”
- “He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God,” John is really saying, “He cannot remain in the state of original sin because he has been born of God.
That is incredibly powerful.
For you see, we all sin. Until
Christ returns and we are remade, the corruption of sin will taint us all. But we do not need to remain in the state of
original sin. We can live in a state of
repentance from our original sin. This
means that while we do sin, we can come before God and confess our humanity. We can bow humbly before Him and submit to
the reality that He and He only can take away our sin. Just because I sin doesn’t mean that I live
in the state of original sin. Jesus
Christ changed that on the cross. The
fact that I feel, know, and confess my sin when confronted with it is actually evidence that I’m
living in a state of repentance rather than a state of original sin.
This leads me back to a saying that I am becoming more and more
confident in. God doesn’t require
perfection; He asks for repentance instead. God knows we will not be perfect. He knows we will have sin in our life. If perfection – a sin-free life – was attainable,
then Christ came for nothing. No. We will all have sin in our lives. But we don’t need to live in the state of
original sin. Turn to God. Humbly come before your Maker. Throw yourself at His feet and turn from the
original sin into which you were born.
Love of the World
John ends this third chapter with a discussion of love. How interesting that immediately after speaking
about sin and rebellion John talks about living in love? Of course, this is the natural
conclusion. Why can we be called the
children of God? Because God loves
us. Why can we move beyond living in the
state of original sin? Because God loves
us. As God sent His Son because He loved
us, so we should love one another whether they deserve it or not.
But we can go further than that.
Jesus did not merely make an appearance, do some miracles, and say as if
at some evening performance declare, “God loves you, your sins are forgiven, I’ll
be here all night, try the veal!”
No. Jesus came, taught, lived,
discipled, and died. Jesus gave His life
pursuing ours. Go. Do likewise. You want to be like God? Go, give up your life in the pursuit of finding
others. Instead of pursuing the desires
of your flesh, pursue the desires of God – namely, the world that does not yet
know Him.
Believe in Him. Abide in
Him. Receive His Spirit. If you have the Spirit, what need do you have
of the world? Go in love, serve the
Lord. Whatever you do, do it for the
sake of reaching people in the name of God so that they might be children of
God.
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