"Meet the Parent(s): the Christian's Family Resemblance"

Mother's Day 1 Jn.3:1-10 May 12, 2002

Intro: Like Mother, like daughter

"She's just like her mother." "He's a chip off the old block." Have you heard those expressions before? Maybe you've used them yourself, saying someone's just like their parent. Maybe you've even been the subject of the saying: people note a feature in you that bears a marked resemblance to your mother or father. As family pictures are taken across the country this Mother's Day weekend, some spanning several generations, often observers will look at the resulting photo and note similar facial features that got passed down from parent to child to grandchild. It's just part of the blessing or bane of human reproduction, that we pass on many of our characteristics to our offspring.

             Last weekend, our family was in Edmonton to celebrate Emily's graduation from college. Following the ceremony we enjoyed supper out with the families of a couple of our daughter's close friends. It's always interesting to meet the relatives of people you've known for some time, because you start to see certain patterns that run (or even gallop) in the family: hair colour, ears and noses, whether they're tall or short, slim or stocky; even attitudes and interests may get passed on. And though they were very distinct from us as a family, as we talked an interesting thing happened: though we come from thousands of miles apart, as we talked about church life and shared concern over the Christian experience of young people nowadays, a common kinship emerged -- a brotherhood in the Lord. There were marked differences between the families that showed genetic patterns, yes; but God's work in our lives was also producing a sense of being one family in Christ, as surely as if we'd been one of those portraits of mothers, grandmothers, and so on to five generations.

             1John 3 invites us to "meet the parent" of Christians and points out several ways in which those who've become God's children through faith in Christ resemble the One who gave them spiritual birth. It's more than just a matter of spotting new actions, a different way of "doing" on the outside. Behaviour comes from BEing; God's nature born within us develops a new attitude toward life, and these attitudes or outlook then result in new living.

A) New Being: Divine Seed within God's Children

John the Elder refers to our divine pedigree when he writes in verses 1,2, and 10, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! ...Now we are children of God...This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are..." John gets excited and repeats the amazing truth that, having turned from evil, confessed our sin, and trusted in Jesus, we ARE God's children. We have been "born of God", we have "God's seed" remaining in us (verse 9) -- God's own nature begotten within us. Flesh gives birth to flesh, Jesus said, but what's born of the Spirit is spirit.(John 3:6) We are not all automatically God's children just by human birth: Jesus actually called some of the Pharisees children of the devil.(Jn.8:44) He said they were caught in deception and murderous thoughts because their own spiritual father (Satan) had been murdering from the beginning, and lies were his native language. So there is a definite spiritual parentage one way or the other: when we turn to the Lord and commit ourselves to Him, the Holy Spirit engenders a new divine nature within us.

             From this "seed" or new BEING develops a new ATTITUDE or outlook that results in new LIVING. In this passage John focuses on three distinguishing features: not shape of noses or ears or bushiness of eyebrows, but doing what is pure, right, and loving.

B) Hope in Christ produces Purity

As Christians, we're not just new inside - our whole outlook changes. Jesus' death, resurrection, and promise of return affect our whole worldview. We're not random accidents of molecules colliding, but divinely ordained beings in the image of God put here for a purpose, redeemed by Christ's sacrifice in history, looking forward to His coming again and eternal fellowship with Him. For us, no matter what happens, life has hope and meaning. Verses 2-3 say, "We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." Our new outlook - the hope and expectancy of Christ's return - motivates us to be pure in action. We want Him to find us pure and spotless, unblemished, a bride dressed in white of which the groom can be proud when He comes for her.

             It's in looking to Jesus that we are kept pure: beholding Him as He is empowers us to become like Him. Romans 8(29) tells us God has predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. In 2Cor.3 Paul talks of being transformed into Christ's likeness with ever-increasing glory. This change has already begun for us in this life with the Holy Spirit's help, yet there's something wonderful about the moment when Christ will appear and all our residual "fleshness" will be taken over by God's glory. In the meantime, coming to know Jesus better motivates us to "clean up our act"; His radiance tends to gradually keep showing up the imperfections we have yet to work on through God's grace. Having this hope in Him, we purify ourselves, just as He is pure. James 4(8) says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you.Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

             The world is only too willing to rob us of our purity. It will expose things to us that steal away purity almost without thinking; the tempter is eager to bring things that will trip us up right to our doorstep - literally. When we were travelling through Regina last week, the motel we stayed at brought a free newspaper to the doors of its patrons. Leafing through the news in the van later that morning, I stumbled upon the movie page and was aghast at the crudity of the ads. The pictures were raunchy beyond what would be appropriate to describe. (And this wasn't some explicitly underground periodical but the city newspaper!) I immediately felt my "purity index" had dropped just because a glance at the ads had induced dirty thoughts within me. And if a mere black and white ad can do that, what must the movies themselves be like? Purity - not gold or petroleum or Nortel stock - is one of the greatly undervalued commodities of our age.

             By contrast, when we were driving through the prairies we were impressed by the expanse of the big sky. When we passed south of Lake Superior, all we could see on one side was endless water stretching to the horizon. Purity is like that: only Jesus is in view, as far as you can see. God's Kingdom, His will for your life, dominates your horizons. Life isn't cluttered with distractions or degrading temptations that are pulling you away from the Lord. Mothers- fathers- in parenting our children, let's keep holding up to them the value and worth of purity, not getting dragged down by sin's short-term pleasures. Let's focus instead on the long-term payoff of staying devoted to Jesus and His Lordship in our lives, even when it means saying "no" to what the world offers. Is your home a "smoke-free environment" when it comes to purity of thought-life? Or is there something seeping in through the ports - mail, tubes, remotes? Would it pass an angelic "whiff" test? Maybe it's time for some "spring cleaning" in a spiritual sense!

C) Righteous Is as Righteous Does

A second feature John points out in the family likeness is righteousness. Like purity, righteousness is a major theme in the Bible if not in the media. Verse 7 says, "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous." Again, our new being in Christ ("He is righteous") works itself out in transformed attitude and actions (doing "what is right"). If purity involves letting God dominate our field of view, righteousness has more the idea of wanting what God wants, conforming our will to His will, step by step.

             The surrounding verses offer a contrast to righteousness by describing the opposite, a person who habitually continues to sin. Verses 4, 6: "Everyone who sins breaks the law...sin is lawlessness [New Living translation describes this as being "opposed to God's law"]...No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him."

             God's commands reflect God's will for our lives, limits beyond which our fellowship with a holy God begins to break. For he cannot tolerate sin, it's like something that would trigger an allergic reaction to us, or Kryptonite to Superman. While through Christ's blood we can experience grace and forgiveness, that's not something to be presumed upon or viewed as a licence to sin. The New Testament emphasizes that if we love God, we will obey His commands.(eg Jn.15:10; 1Jn.5:3) So the opposite of righteousness is lawlessness, willfully opposing God's directions for our lives, instead of going along with what pleases Him.

             Our 7000-km trip was the first one we'd made as a family with cruise control. It's a wonderful thing - especially when you have a foot that tends to be heavy like mine. Our governing authorities post signs with speed limits that are designed to protect us and others from our impatience and carelessness when casually piloting crumplable steel boxes weighing thousands of pounds hurtling through space at over 100 feet per second. Cruise control freed me from the headache of having to watch that I didn't keep speeding up. Pushing the button involved a conscious choice to keep within a reasonable range of the posted limits.

             A couple of times on freeway 69 this side of Flint, we watched a series of cars and trucks weave dangerously in and out of traffic much faster than they should have been going. The second time, though, just after we were passed, we rounded a curve and there was a police car! That old habitual twinge of conscience and fear gave way to relief as I realized I was right on target speedwise thanks to the gadget. We felt a thrill of justice being done as the state trooper zoomed by us and pulled over one of the offenders. Doing what was right brought the reward of peace, a load off the mind; breaking the law brought conviction, and a load off the wallet.

             Our Heavenly Manufacturer designed us with built-in "cruise control" - the Holy Spirit. Remember the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22f) includes (last one in the list) "self-control". God has given a Counselor to live inside us and show us what's right; Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide us "into all truth" (Jn.16:13). Our mothers have probably aided in our development of conscience over the years, but there comes a point at which children need to become self-regulating; if believers, their point of reference switches from "momma always said" to what God says in His Word.

             It is good to observe the road signs, but Christians can't always take their guidelines from the world. As society becomes increasingly secular and forgets its Christian heritage this will become more and more obvious. The ruling of a BC court that Sharpe's child pornography has "some artistic value" is a disturbing case in point. Christian mothers and fathers both have a major role in teaching children what's right and wrong as God sees it, not as a fallen worldview twists it.

D) Love-lavished, Other-oriented

"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are," says John in verse 10: "Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." Loving one another was not only a major command of Jesus, it's a dominant theme in John's letters. So love is an expected behavioural outworking of our new being along with purity and righteousness. Without love, striving to be pure and righteous makes us judgmental and proud like the Pharisees. John writes in chapter 4(7f), "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." Love is at the very core of God's nature - the nature He engenders in us when we are saved. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!" John exclaims in verse 1. So our attitude is bathed in God's lavish love. No matter how great our quirks, our imperfections, our past faults and failures, God loves us. He knows me infinitely well, even the number of hairs on my head, my unspoken thoughts, my most hideous sins, yet still God loves me and sent His Son to die for me, to bring me close.

             Being assured of such vast love for oneself frees a person to love others, to break out of selfishness and become other-oriented. In verse 5, why does John say Jesus appeared? "That He might take away our sins." Not to establish a great earthly kingdom with political power and great honours from other rulers; not to sit on a smooth marble throne, but to die on a rough wooden cross. "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," the Baptist announced.(Jn.1:29) Jesus put off His heavenly robes and donned the overalls of a spiritual garbage collector, because that's the only way the junk could be taken away and we could be put right with God. Suppose we compare the corporate myth of Sam Walton visiting a local Wal-Mart franchise, taking off his suit jacket, and cleaning the washroom -- not just as a lesson to the manager but out of consideration and thoughtfulness for the customer. Jesus' brand of love asks not, "What's in it for me?" but "How can I serve you?" Love puts the other person first, we're thinking of them not ourselves, we put ourselves at their disposal in an attitude of service.

             In verses 16-17 of this chapter John defines what he means by "love": "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." Love rolls up its sleeves and pitches in wherever needed in a person's life, Gandhi-like lowering itself even to clean the latrines of the Untouchables. Love gives without counting the cost, because in love the other person counts. Period.

             Earlier I spoke of "meeting the parents" of our daughter's friends. We celebrated by going out to a meal at a restaurant after the graduation ceremony. One of the most endearing qualities of these folks took me by surprise when, while I was looking at our family's bill, another parent told the waitress to give them our bill. They insisted on paying for our meal, claiming that since we were visitors in Alberta they, the hosts, would pay. Love does things like that, cheerfully undertaking the other person's debt with no thought of repayment.

             In many cases, we owe an incredible debt to our mothers. They have loved us deeply and made sacrifices to get us going in life. (Not everything in this list may apply, but thank God for the investments your mother has made in you.) Chuck Swindoll writes: "The following is a list of 'I owe you's' which apply to mothers all over the country, all of which are long overdue. Stop after each one and consider the priceless value of the one who made your life possible - your mother.

Dear Mom: As I walk through my museum of memories, I owe you - for your time, day and night. I owe you - for your example, consistent and dependable. I owe you - for your support, stimulating and challenging. I owe you - for your humour, sparky and quick. I owe you - for your counsel, wise and quiet. I owe you - for your humility, genuine and gracious. I owe you - for your hospitality, smiling and warm. I owe you - for your insight, keen and honest. I owe you - for your flexibility, patient and joyful. I owe you - for your sacrifices, numerous and quickly forgotten. I owe you - for your faith, solid and sure. I owe you - for your hope, ceaseless and indestructible. I owe you - for your love, devoted and deep."

             Praise God for mothers; praise God for making us His children, begetting us by faith, transforming our being to be like Jesus, with attitudes and actions that are pure, right, and loving. Little by little, others are starting to recognize a heavenly resemblance in us! Let's pray.