Tag Archives: Children of God

Holy Hope – Sermon on 1 John 3:1-3 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

1 John 3:1-3

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

At some point every child learns that plants come from seeds. I can’t tell you exactly when I learned it, but I must have been very young. When I was four years old, my friends and I had epic watermelon seed fights at Blue Dog Lake near Waubay, SD. We’d take a big ol’ bite and spit the seeds at each other like tiny black bullets. A grandpa who was there warned me, “Don’t swallow one of those seeds or a watermelon plant will grow out of your stomach!” Of course that isn’t actually possible, but I did know those seeds could grow into watermelons. So that warning terrified me, and I made sure I spit out every single seed.

But just imagine for a moment that you never learned that plants came from seeds. If you saw those tiny black seeds, you would simply think they were annoying little inconveniences that come with enjoying the sweet fruit. You wouldn’t guess that inside that little shell is everything needed for a sprawling vine that will produce two to four melons, each weighing fifteen pounds that are bursting with hundreds of more seeds. The potential is hidden.

This touches on the picture of what it is to be a child of God right now. Now, please know that this is not a perfect analogy. It fits with this text, but don’t use it with other texts like Jesus’ parable of the Sower and the Seed. Fair?

Dear saints, see what the kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God—and we are. The world glances at you and sees nothing special. Sometimes, we look in the mirror and wonder the same thing: “Am I really God’s child?” But don’t let the world fool you. The world did not recognize the eternal Son of God when He came, so it should come as no surprise that it does not recognize us either (1 Jn. 3:1). That’s why the apostle John presses his point. “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 Jn. 3:2). The living DNA of Jesus’ divine sonship is alive inside of you. It’s growing. It’s maturing. It’s advancing—even when no one else can see it.

But there is more still to come. “What we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when Jesus appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2). One day Jesus will appear in glory, and suddenly the full-grown plant will be plain for everyone to see. No more hidden potential. Fully ripened. Glorified. Pure. Perfect. Recognizable as the Father’s own.

Even now, before Christ returns, this hope is doing something powerful in you. Listen to v. 3 again, “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” The words translated ‘purifies’ and ‘pure’ both have the root word ‘holy,’ so ‘pure’ is a good translation. That means this hope is active and purifies you right now. It purifies you as Jesus Himself is pure. This hope works like sunlight and steady rain on that buried seed. It draws outward and upward from the life of Christ. It cleanses your thoughts, words, and choices. It makes you holy today because you know what you will be on the day of Christ’s return.

When temptation rises and anger spills out, this hope remembers, “I am a child of Jesus, the Pure One. I don’t need to live like the world lives.” When guilt tries to bury you, this hope declares, “My sins are already washed away in the blood of the Lamb.” When the world mocks your faith or you begin to doubt your own identity, this hope lifts your eyes to Christ, “The world didn’t know Him, so it doesn’t know me. But He knows me. And one day everyone will see what He has been growing all along.”

That brings me to each of you confirmands. Today, you stood before us to say, “Yes, this holy hope is mine.” The seed planted in your Baptism is still growing, and this hope will keep purifying you until Jesus appears.

Wes, you were made God’s child on December 9th, 2012, right over there when God used my hands to Baptize you. Whenever fears or doubts creep in, keep hearing the promise that nothing is impossible for your God (Lk. 1:37).

Graeham, you were made God’s child on August 4th, 2013, at your home in Fargo when your grandpa, Pr. Steve Papillon, Baptized you. Keep confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus died and rose for you (Ro. 10:9).

Taavi, you were made God’s child on January 19th, 2014, when I placed those waters on your head from that font. Remain strong and courageous. Do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Josh. 1:9).

Sutton, you were made God’s child on November 23rd, 2014, when I Baptized you right here. All of your life, cast every anxiety and care on your God who cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7).

Alex, you were made God’s child on March 3rd, 2015, when I had the joy of Baptizing you. Always call on your God who answers and is always by your side (Is. 58:9).

Syneva, you were made God’s child on June 28th, 2015, at Trinity Free Lutheran Church in Grand Forks when Pr. Dan Antal Baptized you. Continue to be adorned by the gentle, quiet spirit God has given you (1 Pet. 3:3-4).

You Confirmands and all you saints, when the world fails to recognize you and when you even fail to recognize yourself, remember the seed. The Father planted it. Christ is tending it. And the Holy Spirit is causing it to grow. This holy hope purifies you today, tomorrow, and every day until Jesus returns. Live in it. Abide in it. Let it shape your thoughts, your words, your choices, and your love for others.

Dear saints, you are God’s children now. And there is even more to come. Hold fast to this holy hope. Let it purify you as Jesus is pure. The day is coming when we will see Him as He is. On that great day, we will be like Him. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

The Word & Children of God – Sermon on John 1:6-13 for Midweek Advent 2

John 1:6-13

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

These verses make the Advent and Christmas seasons feel like the coming of Spring. And I know we just had our first major snowstorm. We’re currently in meteorological Winter, but astronomical Winter is still eleven days away. Daylight keeps getting shorter. I get it. But even though the coldest days of winter are, probably, still ahead of us, this text fills our sanctuary with a hint of Spring. Can you smell it?

Jesus, the Eternal Word, was there at the beginning of creation with God and as God. All things were created through Christ. In Jesus was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. That Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus, the true Light has arrived, not as a conqueror from a far, distant country, but to rescue you from the darkness of death. The winter of sin is passing. Jesus, the Word made flesh, has come. And the Life that Christ brings is budding all around you even now. Dear saints, because Jesus has come, you now live in the never-ending Spring of the new creation (2 Co. 5:7).

John the Baptizer came as a herald to point to Christ, the Light. John was there calling everyone into Jesus’ Light. But then, when the Light burst through the darkness to shine on everyone, many sank further into the shadows (Jn. 1:10-11). And sadly, this is still too often the case. The Light can be rejected. In Jn. 3:19-20, we learn why it is rejected, “Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Light reveals the things hidden in darkness. That’s why, when Jesus came as Light, it seemed to many as though judgment had come. But Jesus was not sent into the world to judge the world. No. He came in order that the world would be saved through Him (Jn. 3:17). Jesus came to give Light to the world, to take away sin, and to give eternal life. But His coming felt like judgment because His presence exposes the darkness and filthiness of sinners. In the Light of Christ, there is no hiding. So, the Light is a threat to the will and the way of every sinner. That’s why sinners hate and reject the Light. Even though the darkness cannot overcome the Light (Jn. 1:5), people can love and choose the darkness instead of receiving the Light (Jn. 1:11).

But to all who did receive the Light, to all who believed in His Name, He gave the right and the authority to become children of God (Jn. 1:12). That’s you, dear saints. You, believer. You are rightfully children of God through faith in Christ. And this idea of being God’s child here in Jn. 1 is so rich and unique. But first, we need to recognize what that phrase ‘children of God’ doesn’t mean – at least not in these verses.

The Bible does talk about all humanity being children of God by virtue of our creation. Because Adam was created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), he is called the son of God – lowercase ‘s’ (Lk. 3:38). Since your first ancestor is God’s son, you also are a child of God. Malachi 2:10 says that since God created us, He is everyone’s Father. In Act. 17:28-29, Paul says that all people are God’s offspring. So, yes, we are God’s children by virtue of creation. The Bible does teach that. But we have a severe problem if that’s the only kind of childhood we have because our sin has totally and completely alienated us from God. It isn’t a stretch to say that we divorced ourselves from Him by our sin. So, being God’s child by virtue of creation is not the childhood John has in mind here.

Better than the childhood that comes by virtue of your creation is the fact that the eternal Son of God took on flesh and became one of you. So, Moses in our Old Testament reading (Dt. 18:15-19) could rightly prophesy that God would raise up a prophet like him “from among you, from your brothers.” By virtue of Jesus’ incarnation, He has become your Brother. Since Jesus is your brother, you share a Father with Him, which means that you are a child of God. And this is amazing news that we will be pondering for all eternity. But even as wonderful as that is, it still isn’t the kind of childhood that John talks about here.

Dear saints, here John says that you are a child of God by virtue of a birth. None of us here can say that we chose to be born. You didn’t cause your birth or make it happen. In the same way, it isn’t your will, or the will of any other human, that causes you to be born of God. James 1:18 says this plainly, “Of [God’s] own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (also 1 Pet. 1:23).

So, John is not talking here about a physical birth. It wasn’t anything that nature can accomplish. It’s a miraculous birth that God Himself brings about by the means that He has established. And Jesus teaches about this birth in Jn. 3 when He sheds His Light as He talks with Nicodemus at night. It is a birth that comes from above (Jn. 3:3). It is a birth of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). It is your birth that God has given you through your Baptism. That kind of birth from and of God is solid and sure. God Himself caused it. It’s His action, His working, His doing (Jn. 15:16, 19) that has made you His child.

The Light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world, and because of what Jesus has done by His death and resurrection, you are born as God’s own child.

Dear saints, again, can you smell it? The winter of sin and death is passing away. The never-ending Spring of the new creation has dawned in Christ. As His Light shines on you now, receive it again. Let it expose and scatter the shadows in and around you. Always cling to the sonship that you have been given. You are God’s child. And in the Spring of Light that He has brought, you will bloom forever in His unending grace and mercy. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.