God's kids sin less and love more

John chapter 3. So as I teach this chapter I want to follow pretty much exactly the outline that we had in our study guide and so I'll just read through those that God's children are immensely loved, God's children practice sinning less, God's children practice loving more, and God's children can have confidence before him. That's the four parts that we're going to follow through and I'm going to pick up reading the last two verses from the previous chapter to give us like I like to say that wet edge to get into this chapter. So John 2 28 starts,

And then into John chapter 3

So father we ask for your guidance this morning on each one of our minds as we again approach this chapter approach your scriptures and Lord even if we've studied them diligently you show us something new and so we invite that work of your spirit in Jesus name amen. So from the scriptures that you investigated in the first day of your study guide we gathered a lot of information about what kind of love the Father has given to us or lavished on us. We learned that God loved us while we were yet sinners when we were his enemies that God loved us with a mind toward adoption that we would no longer be as the illustration was in Galatians slaves but now sons and that means heirs that God provided his own son to be the propitiation of our sins to assume our debt that it was a love that demonstrates grace because we know what we deserve because of sinning against a holy God and yet we were given what we didn't deserve. A love that is inseparable and I love that scripture that we went through. I'll admit to you that I was a Kool-Aid mom in the 90s I made Kool-Aid like none other the little red packet the cup of sugar you dump it and you mix it up like we did now they'll haul you off to jail for making Kool-Aid practically against every food code that we have now but I did it but here's the thing once you take those elements and you put it with water you have formed a mixture that is inseparable you can no longer get the Kool-Aid and the sugar and I think about what I think of this passage that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor anything in all creation can separate us from the love of God and we learn that it's a love that surpasses knowledge that some things are too wonderful for us to dissect and digest and the love of God once it is accepted and embraced by us has consequences we think of consequences always in a negative term but the consequences of God's love being embraced by us is that as his children we sin less we love more and we have confidence before him so let's go through those topics and starting in verse 3 through 10 we talk about God's children practicing sin less everyone who hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure and this is our thesis statement here for bearing the family resemblance if we put our hope in him we will be moving toward a purity that resembles him now what I want to do because I sort of like to group some like words together as I'm gonna read verse 4 followed by the first part of verse 8 and then verse 5 followed by the second part of verse 8 so if you can jump around a little bit with me you'll see why I'm doing this

and what is God's plan about sin in verse 5 he says

so Jesus came he was made manifest he appeared so that his work would destroy sin would destroy the works of the devil would ultimately destroy the devil himself that was his plan and since this is all those elements are to be destroyed now verse 6 tells us

now these are some hard verses to pull apart and to digest but what I want us to do is settle on verse 9 and unpack verse 9 to help us with this whole segment here verse 9 says

so let's slow down and unpack that verse because on first read it seems contrary to what we observe in regular life especially the no one born of God makes a practice of sinning or I should say he cannot keep sinning so first thing I want to do is let's focus on the concept of how we become the children of God okay because this chapter has already mentioned it twice when we opened up in the first verses see what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God that is what we are we are now God's children so how does a child become part of a family in life in the life that we live how does this happen well there's two ways there is procreation and there's adoption and maybe even in this room someone represents both sides of that possibility so it's either biological or it is legal and in the first day of our study guide we went to Galatians 4 where it talked about adoption and gave us the picture of adoption but these words here born of don't agree with the picture of adoption do they we might use words to describe adoption like became accepted included grafted but we would not introduce our adopted daughter with the phrase born of but yet John used it two times in this verse five times in this gospel and it's an element that's only given to us by this writer so we better slow down and take a look at it because we're in the good stuff right here in this Bible study so he started this idea in his gospel John 1 12 and 13 he said

John certainly was listening through those years as Jesus was teaching and when he wrote his gospel he was carrying forward the things that he heard Jesus say I think particularly on the night when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus telling him you must be born again so what are the implications for us of being born of God we are his children you guys we are born of God what does that mean to me what does that mean to my life today well it tells me that this is not merely a legal transition transaction with God we have the adoption picture but it's not merely the legal thing and it's not merely an intellectual decision on my part like choosing what team to become a part of we want to look again in the middle of verse 9 here it says God's seed abides in him God's seed abides in him now since we're all mature grown women we can handle the Greek word that is the word seed it is the word sperma s-p-e-r-m-a now that gives us something new to think about in terms of God's seed abides in us. It is the very seed of God that is combining with the natural seed that we were born with from Mother Eve from the beginning, our sinful nature, our flesh. And so now we have the seed of God that has combined and caused us to become children of God. Caused us to become born again. We know in nature that it causes we need a seed from a mother and a seed from a father for a child to be born. And so God's seed abides in us and he gives us that ability to be born again. Otherwise we couldn't be. So it's not just an intellectual decision, I think I'll be a Christian. No, no, no, no. You have to be born again. You must have the seed from Eve and you must have the seed of God for us to be born into the kingdom. Interesting, isn't it? Isn't that a neat new way to think through it? So what are the implications of being born of God? In terms of family resemblance, we know that in procreation of humans, as these two seeds come together, there is this DNA that has passed on to us and we either have very large ears or we have very stubby fingers or we have, you know, very thick hair or very thick waist or, you know, it's blessings and curses come down through that DNA, right? In our recreation, it's also literally the seed of God in the form of the Holy Spirit that's imparted to us. God's seed comes to reside in us and now we have the capacity to bear the family resemblance, the imprint of God in our lives and to look like God in ways that we weren't able to before. So again, verse 9 says, God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God. So what does that mean? We obviously know that, yes, we can keep on sinning once we're born of God. Even John said in the first chapter, verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Okay, I want to offer, because I don't pretend to know how to teach exactly what this means, I just want to offer you three ideas on this. The first idea is that with God's seed abiding in us, when we do sin, or as John calls it, practice sinning, we now generate a friction or an abrasion against the seed of God that has been placed in us because it's obviously completely out of agreement with God's character. It is the reason for which he sent Jesus to destroy. So when we do sin, we generate friction. This makes us miserable. A Christian who practices sin is a miserable Christian and it's why we feel or see other emotionally miserable Christians, which sometimes leads to physically sick Christians, and I'm not saying that every physical ailment is due to the fact that you have rubbed against the nature of God. All I'm saying is that you do that long enough and it pours through. We can't divide ourselves up. It has often has an effect on us. Second idea is that when this friction happens, we cannot keep sinning. The friction causes guilt, sadness, depression, because we're running contrary to the seed of God within us, and it will drive us to take action of some kind. We can't just keep on sinning. We will do something about it. We will either bury our conflict deeper through denial and run farther away from God, like we studied about Jonah, who kept going further and further and down and down, or we will step into the light, confess our sins, restore our relationship with God. The third idea I have about this passage is that since part of our spiritual DNA comes from our Mother Eve and part comes from the seed of God, we should anticipate that there's a great possibility which seed will get the upper hand once in a while in our lives, and so we should come to the Lord and just declare our complete inability to practice righteousness in our own strength. And rather than gritting our teeth, try not to, and all that sort of thing, we should trust in the fact that the same seed that God placed within us for rebirth is the same seed he intends to grow, because seeds are supposed to grow, right? That is the point of them. They don't just sit dormant. So that same seed is what is supposed to grow within us and provide for us the ability to say no to the sin that we once embraced. So this sanctification process is accomplished by yielding to the Lord and encouraging. As we yield to the Lord, that that growth will happen in us. All right, we got to move on to God's children practice loving more, and verse 10 and 11 is a great segue to this.

So to love God and love people are the greatest commandments, and these verses inform us how to both detect false Christians and remind us of our own conduct and what it should be. We can detect false Christians because it says whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. It is evident that they are not children of God, and it informs us of what our own conduct should be. It gives us a picture, and I think of Jesus's words in Matthew. It's 22, 37, I think it was in our study guide. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And you know that all sounds great and cozy, but as God's children when we actually start doing that, we run into a little bit of trouble, because verse 13 tells us,

This has been the reality in this world since Genesis chapter 4, that the world would hate those that bear the resemblance of the Father. And now let's pick up verse 12 that I skipped over, because John is saying exactly that.

His own deeds, he wanted them to be shadowed in the darkness, but his brothers were in the light. And this is the consequence for us of bearing the family resemblance. Jesus suffered this consequence, we will too. It is persecution, and it helps us make sense of the world around us, so that we're not without understanding about this. We shouldn't, like I think Peter said, you know, don't think it unusual that these things are happening to you. So this helps us make sense about the things that we see in the world. Darkness comes naturally to us. It's what came first. And that bit in your study guide about Cain being the firstborn, I wasn't trying to point out that all firstborns are murderers, and all secondborns walk in righteousness. That wasn't the point. If you remember from our study in Genesis, the fact that God gave us a rhythm to see this over and over again through what he revealed to us, that that which comes first is of the natural, and that which comes next is of the supernatural. And the natural and the supernatural are always at war with one another until God sets all things right. So, but it also helps us to know that we're walking in the light. Let's read verse 14.

So by contrast, rather than hating and persecuting, the seed of God within us grows up toward love. And this is why we are able to do it. And now as we prepare to read verse 16, John will will define love for us. Because if I went around the room and asked everyone for a short definition of love, it would be very different. So John defines it as we go into verse 16.

This was on my coffee mug that I got at retreat. It was the Gospel of John version of that statement. But the King James says it well too. I just love the wording. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. So John's definition of love is a sacrificial giving for the benefit of another person. That is the type of love that we are talking about. And then he goes on to say, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. And we probably won't be called to physically die for someone, maybe. But there are other significant ways that we can show love. For example, he goes right to it in verse 17.

Now this letter is written to believers and he's talking about other Christians in this passage. But that verse I quoted from Matthew, there's plenty of substance that we have in the word that says we are also to love our neighbor, which is those outside. But this book is talking about believers. So we'll just contain our conversation to that right here. I've always deeply appreciated people who love on my kids. Nothing blesses a mama as much as when other people care about your kids. Like, doesn't that just warm your heart? You know, when we moved here, of course we were just plopped down in Eastern Oregon. We had no grandparents, no family, no nothing. And over the years, there were lots of people in our church body that would particularly love on my kids and do special things for them. One couple even took them to like Disney on Ice or Sesame Street on Ice or something. And it just blessed me so much. One gal, when I think my oldest was about 13, and I think I was pregnant, and my oldest was interested in crafting. And I am completely crafting challenged. Even not pregnant, I am crafting challenged. But that particular year, I had another layer on top of it. Well, this gal brought her over to do Christmas crafts all afternoon. Like, I'll love her forever. For loving on my kid that way. And we have a friend who lives in Israel, Jeremy. Some of you know him. And we had lunch with him yesterday. And while we were having lunch with him, you know, he only comes to America about once a year for a very few days. And he has a lot of family to visit. And we were having lunch with him. And he said, yeah, I have appointment with Tim at five o'clock. I'm like, you connect with my boy. Like, I love you, right? You guys know that feeling. How does God feel when we love on his kids? And I don't wanna impart our emotions onto God. But maybe it gives us a way to think about it that's different. We love it when people love our kids. How does God feel when we love his kids? So I see it's a great way to bless the heart of God. We see a clear definition of love and a clear command to love in the same sacrificial way. And that may draw us into situations now where we are called upon to sacrifice our own comforts, our own possessions, our own conveniences for the relief of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And I want to remind us this morning that when we talk about the body of Christ, don't think just about the people you see when you come to church. There are those people you see at the breakfast table. There are those people, we learn this first in a marriage situation. And then we learn this as God may bring children into our home, that there is a level of sacrifice, sacrificial loving that is appropriate first in the home situation and then also as we move out from there. And so the saying, we don't love things in the world and use people, we use the things in the world to love people is definitely true of this passage. God's children love more. And lastly, God's children have confidence before him. This is a tough passage for me to untangle. So I hope you'll do a better job at your table. Verse 19 says,

So certainly the direction of these verses is facing toward assurance and away from condemnation. Our worst enemy to condemn us is our own heart. And why is that? It is because our own heart has been with us every single time we have had a stray thought that we have not taken captive. Every single time that we have seen a temptation, allowed it to be conceived, birthed, and walked into that thing. Our heart has been there when we have issued forth an annoyance about a sister in Christ. Our heart has been there every time we have sinned. So our heart has abundant evidence to convict us, doesn't it? And yet, God's knowledge of us is greater than our heart. That's reassurance. He knows everything. He too was there every one of those times. But yet, he chooses to view us through the blood of his son. And so our heart no longer has that ability to condemn us because of what Jesus has done. So John says, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, it has been stopped from condemning us because of the blood of Jesus, we have confidence before God. And maybe some of you need to dwell on that, that confidence that we have, that idea that those sins are truly forgiven and they are buried. And not only a confidence, but now a boldness in verse 22 to go and ask things.

And we're gonna talk about this in chapter five, so I won't go through it here, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And at first read, it sounds like this is saying, so God sets up a system of rules. If you follow the rules, then God will give you the things that you ask for. But John defines what he means about keeping his commandments so that we know that that is not what this is talking about. And this is his commandment. Look, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, become his children, and that we love one another, bear the family resemblance. We believe, we embrace God's seed within us, and we allow the seed to grow. And when it grows, we're gonna love each other. The last verses say,

I wanna just close up by giving you one quote and two thoughts. And the quote is from Timothy Keller. And he says, the gospel is this, that we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe. And yet at the same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. Isn't that a great quote? And my two thoughts at the end are, even though we talked today about sinning less, God's children sin less, I don't want to leave us with the impression that that's the goal, just to reduce it a little bit. Or that we would say, well, I'm better than I used to be, because that's not in agreement with the passage, because the reason he appeared was to destroy sin. So my thought this morning is, what is the sin that you need to go about actively destroying? And not be content just to sin less, but to actually destroy it in your life, because that's in agreement with what God's doing. Second thought is, has God set before you this week an opportunity for you to sacrificially love on one of his kids? Maybe one of your kids, but one of his kids. Something that would relieve their distress and bless his heart. And if nothing has come on your radar, then my encouragement is to pray about it and ask him, Lord, show me an opportunity that you want me to show the same measure of love, the sacrificial love. Might be hard, won't it? Father, thank you for this passage. All the things that you show us in here, Lord, we are women who want to allow the seed that you've placed within us to grow. And so we want to do that by yielding to the work that you're doing in our hearts. Lord, I pray that as we discuss these passages, you would give more clear revelation. understanding, but most of all, Lord, we ask that you would help us to actually leave this room and do it. Help us to do what we see in this chapter. In Jesus name, Amen.