Remember Who You Are
What
excites you today? Many of us had a rough week. Thousands had to evacuate
after two dams failed in Michigan, leading to a historic flooding. More than 80
were killed in India and Bangladesh as cyclone Amphan made landfall. And plus, we
hear news that almost 100,000 died from COVID-19 in the US. As we are all going
through this coronavirus pandemic crisis, grieving over the loss of those who
died from it, and practicing this long isolating season, some of us find
ourselves wake up discouraged and don’t feel like getting out of bed, thinking,
“What’s the point of life?”
Christians, in John’s day, were
severely ostracized and persecuted. It just became harder and harder for them
to be together for worship and fellowship. So some of them began to forget who
they were when they couldn’t be together. They developed a kind of spiritual
dementia and forgot their true identity. They were discouraged and confused. So,
in today’s passage John, as a pastor, reminds God’s people who they are,
saying, “Beloved, remember who you are. You are children of God now” (v. 2). In the general sense all people are children
of God because God created them all. But here John is not talking about the
universal fatherhood of God. Here John is saying, “Every time you feel
discouraged, remember this: You were not children of God before, but now you are
his children in the intimate, spiritual sense. So be ye glad! Be ye encouraged!”
More Than Adoption
Paul proclaims the same spiritual
truth by using “adoption metaphor,” saying, “Once you were dead in your sins. You
lived in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil. All of us
lived according to our own desires and sinful nature. By nature we were
children of wrath. But in God’s great mercy we have been saved by grace through
faith. We have been adopted into God’s family. And now we call him “Abba,
Father!”” (cf. Eph 2:1-9; Rom 8:5) How precious! How glorious! One Christian
couple in my previous church fostered over 500 children since 1969. And they
have adopted 6 children. Every time I think of the couple and their family, I
remember this truth: “We have been adopted into God’s family. We are God’s
children now.”
But John goes further by saying,
“Yes, we are God’s children by adoption. But it’s more than adoption. We are God’s children by new birth!” What does it mean by that? Suppose you find a child
and want to adopt him into your family. You take him, and you love him. You
influence him with love and care, but you cannot change his personality and
temperament that he has from his biological parents. You just cannot change it.
However, when God adopts us into his family, he moves in by his Holy Spirit,
gives us a new heart, new affections, new nature, so that we may become his
children inside and outside. In verse 9 John puts it in this way: “No one born
of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's
seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born
of God” (ESV). Yes, we have been adopted into God’s family. But there’s more.
We have been born of God! We are
God’s children by new birth!
By Jesus’s Appearing
But again, John doesn’t not assume
that everyone is children of God. He says, “Examine yourselves to see whether
you are children of God. Test yourselves.” Then, how do we know that we are
children of God? If in doubt, how can we become children of God? According to
John, there are two answers – from God’s part and our part. First, we become
children of God by Jesus’s appearing (vv.
5, 8b). The Bible doesn’t say that we are ok just as we are. Instead, the
Bible does say that when we are born, we have sinful nature, and we are in sin.
What is sin? Sin is lawlessness (v. 4b). John Piper describes lawlessness like
this:[1]
Lawlessness is living as though
your own ideas are superior to God's. Lawlessness says, "God may demand
it, but I don't prefer it." Lawlessness says, "God may promise it,
but I don't want it." Lawlessness replaces God's law with my contrary
desires. I become a law to myself. Lawlessness is rebellion against the right
of God to make laws and govern his creatures.
Sin is lawlessness. Little Judy was
riding in the car with her father. She decided to stand up in the front seat.
Her father commanded her to sit down and put on the seat belt, but she
declined. He told her a second time, and again she refused. “If you don’t sit
down immediately, I’ll pull over to the side of the road and spank you!” Dad
finally said, and at this the little girl obeyed. But in a few minutes she said
quietly, “Daddy, I’m still standing up inside.”[2]
Lawlessness! Rebellion! Rebellion against God and His righteous law is the
essence of sin. But Jesus appeared to take away sins. Jesus appeared to destroy
the works of the devil, who is the origin of sin. Jesus came to live and die
and rise again, and somehow that did destroy sin. So now sin is conquered, and
the works of the devil is destroyed. By his appearing Jesus started the
adoption process. By his appearing Jesus opened the door. This is the first
step to become God’s children.
By Our New Birth
The second step is our part. We
must be born of God, born again, born anew, to become his
children. How can we be born of God? 1 John 5:1 answers this question,
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is
the Christ has been born of God.” When we humbly trust Jesus and believe in him
as the Christ, the Son of God, who takes away our sins and destroys the works
of the devil, God puts his seed, his nature, his spirit in us. Then, for the
first time we hate sin. We don’t love sin any more. We don’t make a practice of
sin. We can’t keep on sinning, because we are children of God now, because
sinning makes our Father grieve. So we don’t sin. We can’t sin. But instead,
for the first time, we take delight in God’s law. “Oh, how I love your law! It
is my meditation all day long” (Ps 119:97). These are the words of God’s
children.
We become children of God by new birth. So now we Christians,
God’s children, have two natures – the old and the new. One time a Sunday
school teacher was explaining the Christian’s two natures to a class of
teenagers. “Our old nature came from Adam,” he explained, “and our new nature
comes from Christ, who is called ‘the Last Adam.’” Then he continued, “This
means there are two ‘Adams’ living in me.” And he asked the class, “What is the
practical value of this truth?” The class was silent for a moment, and then a
student spoke up. “This idea of the ‘two Adams’ really helps me in fighting
temptation,” he said. “When temptation comes knocking at my door, if I send the
first Adam to answer, I’ll sin. But if I send the Last Adam, I’ll get victory.”[3]
Children of God do not make a practice of sin. Instead, they keep themselves
pure, just as their Father is pure (v. 3).
Live Like Children of God!
There is a story I always remember.
It’s a story about a man who found a young eagle which had fallen out of his
nest. He took it home and put it with his chickens in his barnyard. The young
eagle grew up with all the other chickens. Whatever the chickens did, the eagle
also did. The eagle thought it was a chicken. One day a naturalist passed by
the farm and found the young eagle among the chickens. After the farmer’s
permission, the naturalist took the eagle to the roof of the house and urged
him, saying, “You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” But the
eagle was confused and afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down for
the chicken food. Once more, the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard
to a high mountain. There he held the eagle high above him and encouraged him
again, saying, “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your
wings and fly.” The eagle looked around, began to tremble. Slowly he stretched
his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens, never to
return to the barnyard.[4]
Let us come and hear the God of
encouragement who speaks to the heart today: “Remember who you. You are
children of God. Live like sons and daughters of God. Don’t shuffle along, eyes
to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Lift up! Look
up! Set your hearts on things above. Live for eternity!” May the Lord give us
grace to look up and soar like an eagle. May we never return to the barnyard
and live like spiritual chickens. Amen.
[1] John
Piper, “The Son of God Appeared to Destroy the Works of the Devil,” (Dec 23,
1984), Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-son-of-god-appeared-to-destroy-the-works-of-the-devil
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be
Real (1 John): Turning from Hypocrisy
to Truth (pp. 109-110). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.
[3] Ibid.,
117-118.
[4] Bill
Bright, “A Chicken Or An Eagle?” https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/insights-from-bill-bright/a-chicken-or-an-eagle-jan-13.html
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