God's children
Preparation: Baptism & Temptation, 7 May 2017
Preparation: Baptism & Temptation
Series— Mark’s Gospel: The Real Jesus\
Mark 1:9-13
Series Big Idea: The shortest gospel is filled with good news about Jesus!
Big Idea: Baptism and temptation prepared Jesus for the ministry that would follow.
Preparation
One of the most rewarding parts of my childhood was Boy Scouts. As a scout, I learned about nature, how to tie knots, rappelling, wilderness survival, and so much more. The Boy Scout motto is short yet powerful: Be prepared.
Preparation. It’s one key to success in life. Anything worth doing is probably worth preparation which is why doctors devote more than a decade of their lives to education before performing their first surgery. It’s why an athlete will train for four years before entering Olympic competition. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden famously said, “When the opportunity arises, it is too late to prepare.”
What kind of preparation would be necessary to revolutionize the world? No human has had a greater impact on our planet than Jesus Christ did in the three years of His public ministry. We know almost nothing about the first three decades of His life, but Mark tells us about two significant events in Jesus’ preparation—baptism and temptation. And it leads to one truth that will blow your mind!
We’re in week three of an extensive series on The Real Jesus based upon the gospel or good news of Mark. This biography of Christ is short and sweet, the headlines, so to speak, of the life of Jesus.
In week one, we saw Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies, the Son of God, one of three Persons of the Holy Trinity, yet fully human.
Last Sunday we looked at the messenger, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin who prepared the way for Christ. Today we see Jesus encountering John—and satan.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (Mark 1:9)
John Mark, the writer of Mark, finally brings Jesus to the stage. His message is short and sweet. Jesus comes from an obscure village in Galilee and gets baptized.
Last week we said baptism had several possible purposes in the first century. It was used for cleansing the body, publicly demonstrating one’s faith, or perhaps symbolically purifying one as they turn away from their sins. It can also represent turning toward God, not just away from evil.
Baptism doesn’t remove sin. Jesus had no sin to remove. John had been baptizing in the Jordan River in the wilderness drawing crowds from the countryside and the city of Jerusalem, preparing the way for Jesus of Nazareth who finally arrives in Mark’s narrative, baptized by His cousin, John.
Today, baptism is a ceremony we do for people who want to go public with their faith in Jesus. They enter the water and are dunked in what is symbolically a water grave, dying to their own selfish will and desires before emerging out of the water resurrected as a new creation, seeking to devote their lives to following Jesus.
Jesus is dunked by John, and the original Greek clearly puts John in the background. The spotlight is on Jesus.
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. (Mark 1:10)
Notice the details here. First, Jesus saw heaven being torn or ripped open as He was coming out of the water. The verb for “torn open” will be used again by Mark when he describes the temple veil being torn in two from the top to the bottom. What is opened can be closed, but what is torn is more permanent. Both episodes give us a glimpse into God’s kingdom. Remember, heaven is where God is. In the Bible, it often means God’s dimension behind ordinary reality. All heaven breaks loose when Jesus is baptized! The hope of Isaiah has come to pass: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you” (Isaiah 64:1).
The Holy Spirit is then introduced, descending on Jesus “like” a dove. Can you think of any doves in the Bible? One brought an olive branch after the flood (Genesis 8). This doesn’t say a dove landed on Jesus, though. It says the Spirit descended on like a dove. It is as if the Spirit came upon Jesus, perhaps entering Him. We clearly see God the Son and God the Spirit together. The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation in Genesis 1 now descends on Jesus as a sign that new creation has begun.
The dove never came back: he was looking for some place to land. He tried to land on Noah, but Noah got drunk. He tried to land on Abraham…Moses…David…Solomon…Isaiah…Jeremiah…landed on Jesus.
And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
The voice of God the Father is heard. It will later be heard at the transfiguration when He says, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him! (Mark 9:7). As one might expect, Jesus’ baptism was special. Heaven was torn open, the Holy Spirit came on Him like a dove, and the Father spoke, announcing Jesus as His Son.
The Trinity
One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is the Trinity, one God in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They exist in community.
When we say, “God is love,” it’s not abstract. God is the community of love. The Father, Son, and Spirit interact as one. God rooted God’s communal identity in the core of our being as humans. We were made by community, for community. (Ruth Padilla Deborst)
I can’t emphasize this enough— we struggle in our individualistic culture to understand and appreciate the community of love that is the Trinity.
Artists have long depicted the Trinity with visual art. Some see a dismembered relationship between the three Persons while others see Them as a family, a community, relating to one another (Rublev).
(art examples)
How do we understand one God in three Persons? It is a mystery. No metaphor is adequate to describe God, but I like to think about an egg. The yolk, whites, and shell are all equally egg, yet distinct. We pray to the Father in the Name of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Modalism
There is a sect of Christianity which denies the Trinity. It’s called modalism. They believe in one God in one Person who changes modes, one moment being the Father and then shifting to become the Son and then suddenly appearing as the Holy Spirit. I can’t begin to tell you how troubling this belief can be, especially when considering this text. How can God be in the water, in heaven, and a dove at the same time? Although the word “trinity” does not appear in the English translations of the Bible, the concept is vivid, especially here. It’s why we sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy” last week instead of “Holy.”
The doctrine or belief in the Trinity is a beautiful picture of community, cooperation, and complementary collaboration.
John the Baptist introduces Jesus.
The Father identifies Him.
The temptation will initiate Him.
Temptation
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13)
There’s no mention of a baptism celebration, but rather the Holy Spirit sends Jesus into the wilderness for forty days. That’s a long time, friends. The wilderness is a harsh, rocky desert region. The wilderness was a place of testing for the people of Israel, and they often failed. Jesus never fails.
Forty is a special number in the Bible. It rained forty days and forty nights during the great flood (Genesis 7:12). The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Moses spent forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:18; 34:28). Elijah spent forty days and nights journeying to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
Jesus has been prepared for ministry by baptism and now it’s time for testing, for a face to face encounter with satan. Have you ever encountered satan? I doubt it. He has bigger fish to fry than you and me, I believe. He does, however, have an army of demons—fallen angels—who tempt and wreak havoc on our lives and world. The Greek word peirazo can mean tempt or test. In Hebrew, satan means adversary or enemy.
And what about the wild animals? Some see them as satan’s allies in contrast to the angels that attend to Jesus. Some see an allusion to Psalm 91:11-13.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent. (Psalm 91:11-13)
I like animals, but not necessarily “wild” animals. They don’t usually make good pets!
Matthew and Luke tell us more about the temptation but Mark simply gives us an image of Jesus and satan, angels and wild animals, good and evil. It will be a constant theme in the book…and all of human history.
Jesus has been baptized and tested. He’s prepared and next week we’ll see Jesus’ ministry begin.
One More Thing
Occasionally I come across as reading so profound it’s not worth paraphrasing; it simply needs to be read. Listen to N.T. Wright:
It happens all the time, in families, businesses, all over. Many children grow up in our world who have never had a father say to them (either in words, in looks, or in hugs), ‘You are my dear child’, let alone, ‘I’m pleased with you.’ In the Western world, even those fathers who think this in their hearts are often too tongue-tied or embarrassed to tell their children how delighted they are with them. Many, alas, go by the completely opposite route: angry voices, bitter rejection, the slamming of doors.
The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at us, and says, ‘You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you.’ Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.
How does this come about? It will take the whole story, particularly Jesus’ death and resurrection, to explain. But this is what the Christian gospel is all about.
It is true for one simple but very profound reason: Jesus is the Messiah, and the Messiah represents his people. What is true of him is true of them. The word ‘Messiah’ means ‘the anointed one’; and this story tells how Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, marked out as God’s son. The Messiah is called ‘God’s son’ in a few biblical passages, including the one that the heavenly voice seems to be echoing here (Psalm 2.7). Though the early Christians realized quite quickly that Jesus was God’s son in an even deeper sense, they clung on to his messiahship for dear life. It was because Jesus was and is Messiah that God said to them, as he does to us today, what he said to Jesus at his baptism. And without that word from God all we often hear, in our mind’s ear, is doors being slammed.
- N.T. Wright, Mark for Everyone (The New Testament for Everyone) Westminster John Knox Press; bold are my highlights
Your Team
How can that be? Let me tell you a story about two men named Chris—Coghlan and Bryant. Last fall, they both played for the Chicago Cubs who finally won the World Series. Kris Bryant is arguably the best player on the team. He hit two home runs during the World Series and was the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Chris Coghlan batted three times in the World Series, struck out twice, and never made it to first base. There’s a tradition in baseball where every player on the championship team gets a diamond-covered ring worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every player gets the same ring, whether they are superstars or bench-warmers.
That’s how I like to think about what it means for us to be “in Christ,” a phrase used more than a dozen times in the book of Ephesians to describe followers of Jesus. We are on His team, we wear His uniform. The Chicago Cubs are World Champions which means every player on the team is equally a World Champion. When we are in Christ, everything the Father says about Jesus He says about us.
Author Bob Goff said, "On the day of your worst screw-up, Jesus sees you and still calls you 'Beloved'!"
That’s good news, friends. That’s great news!
His baptism and temptation were preparation for a greater test…and a greater victory. Today is a great day to reflect upon your own journey, your own baptism if you’ve followed Jesus’ command to go public with your faith, something you can do next Sunday if you haven’t. It’s a great day to reflect upon your own temptations—those you overcame and those tests you failed. Jesus’ body was pierced and broken on the cross, His blood was poured out to offer forgiveness of your sins; past, present, and future. Hallelujah! Because of Jesus, the Father says, “You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you."
Credits: some ideas from Matt Carter (Austin Stone Community Church), Warren Wiersbe, NT Wright, J. Vernon McGee, Richard Niell Donovan, and David Garland.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series— Mark’s Gospel: The Real Jesus\
Mark 1:9-13
Series Big Idea: The shortest gospel is filled with good news about Jesus!
Big Idea: Baptism and temptation prepared Jesus for the ministry that would follow.
Preparation
One of the most rewarding parts of my childhood was Boy Scouts. As a scout, I learned about nature, how to tie knots, rappelling, wilderness survival, and so much more. The Boy Scout motto is short yet powerful: Be prepared.
Preparation. It’s one key to success in life. Anything worth doing is probably worth preparation which is why doctors devote more than a decade of their lives to education before performing their first surgery. It’s why an athlete will train for four years before entering Olympic competition. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden famously said, “When the opportunity arises, it is too late to prepare.”
What kind of preparation would be necessary to revolutionize the world? No human has had a greater impact on our planet than Jesus Christ did in the three years of His public ministry. We know almost nothing about the first three decades of His life, but Mark tells us about two significant events in Jesus’ preparation—baptism and temptation. And it leads to one truth that will blow your mind!
We’re in week three of an extensive series on The Real Jesus based upon the gospel or good news of Mark. This biography of Christ is short and sweet, the headlines, so to speak, of the life of Jesus.
In week one, we saw Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies, the Son of God, one of three Persons of the Holy Trinity, yet fully human.
Last Sunday we looked at the messenger, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin who prepared the way for Christ. Today we see Jesus encountering John—and satan.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (Mark 1:9)
John Mark, the writer of Mark, finally brings Jesus to the stage. His message is short and sweet. Jesus comes from an obscure village in Galilee and gets baptized.
Last week we said baptism had several possible purposes in the first century. It was used for cleansing the body, publicly demonstrating one’s faith, or perhaps symbolically purifying one as they turn away from their sins. It can also represent turning toward God, not just away from evil.
Baptism doesn’t remove sin. Jesus had no sin to remove. John had been baptizing in the Jordan River in the wilderness drawing crowds from the countryside and the city of Jerusalem, preparing the way for Jesus of Nazareth who finally arrives in Mark’s narrative, baptized by His cousin, John.
Today, baptism is a ceremony we do for people who want to go public with their faith in Jesus. They enter the water and are dunked in what is symbolically a water grave, dying to their own selfish will and desires before emerging out of the water resurrected as a new creation, seeking to devote their lives to following Jesus.
Jesus is dunked by John, and the original Greek clearly puts John in the background. The spotlight is on Jesus.
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. (Mark 1:10)
Notice the details here. First, Jesus saw heaven being torn or ripped open as He was coming out of the water. The verb for “torn open” will be used again by Mark when he describes the temple veil being torn in two from the top to the bottom. What is opened can be closed, but what is torn is more permanent. Both episodes give us a glimpse into God’s kingdom. Remember, heaven is where God is. In the Bible, it often means God’s dimension behind ordinary reality. All heaven breaks loose when Jesus is baptized! The hope of Isaiah has come to pass: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you” (Isaiah 64:1).
The Holy Spirit is then introduced, descending on Jesus “like” a dove. Can you think of any doves in the Bible? One brought an olive branch after the flood (Genesis 8). This doesn’t say a dove landed on Jesus, though. It says the Spirit descended on like a dove. It is as if the Spirit came upon Jesus, perhaps entering Him. We clearly see God the Son and God the Spirit together. The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation in Genesis 1 now descends on Jesus as a sign that new creation has begun.
The dove never came back: he was looking for some place to land. He tried to land on Noah, but Noah got drunk. He tried to land on Abraham…Moses…David…Solomon…Isaiah…Jeremiah…landed on Jesus.
And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
The voice of God the Father is heard. It will later be heard at the transfiguration when He says, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him! (Mark 9:7). As one might expect, Jesus’ baptism was special. Heaven was torn open, the Holy Spirit came on Him like a dove, and the Father spoke, announcing Jesus as His Son.
The Trinity
One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is the Trinity, one God in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They exist in community.
When we say, “God is love,” it’s not abstract. God is the community of love. The Father, Son, and Spirit interact as one. God rooted God’s communal identity in the core of our being as humans. We were made by community, for community. (Ruth Padilla Deborst)
I can’t emphasize this enough— we struggle in our individualistic culture to understand and appreciate the community of love that is the Trinity.
Artists have long depicted the Trinity with visual art. Some see a dismembered relationship between the three Persons while others see Them as a family, a community, relating to one another (Rublev).
(art examples)
How do we understand one God in three Persons? It is a mystery. No metaphor is adequate to describe God, but I like to think about an egg. The yolk, whites, and shell are all equally egg, yet distinct. We pray to the Father in the Name of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Modalism
There is a sect of Christianity which denies the Trinity. It’s called modalism. They believe in one God in one Person who changes modes, one moment being the Father and then shifting to become the Son and then suddenly appearing as the Holy Spirit. I can’t begin to tell you how troubling this belief can be, especially when considering this text. How can God be in the water, in heaven, and a dove at the same time? Although the word “trinity” does not appear in the English translations of the Bible, the concept is vivid, especially here. It’s why we sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy” last week instead of “Holy.”
The doctrine or belief in the Trinity is a beautiful picture of community, cooperation, and complementary collaboration.
John the Baptist introduces Jesus.
The Father identifies Him.
The temptation will initiate Him.
Temptation
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13)
There’s no mention of a baptism celebration, but rather the Holy Spirit sends Jesus into the wilderness for forty days. That’s a long time, friends. The wilderness is a harsh, rocky desert region. The wilderness was a place of testing for the people of Israel, and they often failed. Jesus never fails.
Forty is a special number in the Bible. It rained forty days and forty nights during the great flood (Genesis 7:12). The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Moses spent forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:18; 34:28). Elijah spent forty days and nights journeying to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
Jesus has been prepared for ministry by baptism and now it’s time for testing, for a face to face encounter with satan. Have you ever encountered satan? I doubt it. He has bigger fish to fry than you and me, I believe. He does, however, have an army of demons—fallen angels—who tempt and wreak havoc on our lives and world. The Greek word peirazo can mean tempt or test. In Hebrew, satan means adversary or enemy.
And what about the wild animals? Some see them as satan’s allies in contrast to the angels that attend to Jesus. Some see an allusion to Psalm 91:11-13.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent. (Psalm 91:11-13)
I like animals, but not necessarily “wild” animals. They don’t usually make good pets!
Matthew and Luke tell us more about the temptation but Mark simply gives us an image of Jesus and satan, angels and wild animals, good and evil. It will be a constant theme in the book…and all of human history.
Jesus has been baptized and tested. He’s prepared and next week we’ll see Jesus’ ministry begin.
One More Thing
Occasionally I come across as reading so profound it’s not worth paraphrasing; it simply needs to be read. Listen to N.T. Wright:
It happens all the time, in families, businesses, all over. Many children grow up in our world who have never had a father say to them (either in words, in looks, or in hugs), ‘You are my dear child’, let alone, ‘I’m pleased with you.’ In the Western world, even those fathers who think this in their hearts are often too tongue-tied or embarrassed to tell their children how delighted they are with them. Many, alas, go by the completely opposite route: angry voices, bitter rejection, the slamming of doors.
The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at us, and says, ‘You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you.’ Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.
How does this come about? It will take the whole story, particularly Jesus’ death and resurrection, to explain. But this is what the Christian gospel is all about.
It is true for one simple but very profound reason: Jesus is the Messiah, and the Messiah represents his people. What is true of him is true of them. The word ‘Messiah’ means ‘the anointed one’; and this story tells how Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, marked out as God’s son. The Messiah is called ‘God’s son’ in a few biblical passages, including the one that the heavenly voice seems to be echoing here (Psalm 2.7). Though the early Christians realized quite quickly that Jesus was God’s son in an even deeper sense, they clung on to his messiahship for dear life. It was because Jesus was and is Messiah that God said to them, as he does to us today, what he said to Jesus at his baptism. And without that word from God all we often hear, in our mind’s ear, is doors being slammed.
- N.T. Wright, Mark for Everyone (The New Testament for Everyone) Westminster John Knox Press; bold are my highlights
Your Team
How can that be? Let me tell you a story about two men named Chris—Coghlan and Bryant. Last fall, they both played for the Chicago Cubs who finally won the World Series. Kris Bryant is arguably the best player on the team. He hit two home runs during the World Series and was the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Chris Coghlan batted three times in the World Series, struck out twice, and never made it to first base. There’s a tradition in baseball where every player on the championship team gets a diamond-covered ring worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every player gets the same ring, whether they are superstars or bench-warmers.
That’s how I like to think about what it means for us to be “in Christ,” a phrase used more than a dozen times in the book of Ephesians to describe followers of Jesus. We are on His team, we wear His uniform. The Chicago Cubs are World Champions which means every player on the team is equally a World Champion. When we are in Christ, everything the Father says about Jesus He says about us.
Author Bob Goff said, "On the day of your worst screw-up, Jesus sees you and still calls you 'Beloved'!"
That’s good news, friends. That’s great news!
His baptism and temptation were preparation for a greater test…and a greater victory. Today is a great day to reflect upon your own journey, your own baptism if you’ve followed Jesus’ command to go public with your faith, something you can do next Sunday if you haven’t. It’s a great day to reflect upon your own temptations—those you overcame and those tests you failed. Jesus’ body was pierced and broken on the cross, His blood was poured out to offer forgiveness of your sins; past, present, and future. Hallelujah! Because of Jesus, the Father says, “You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you."
Credits: some ideas from Matt Carter (Austin Stone Community Church), Warren Wiersbe, NT Wright, J. Vernon McGee, Richard Niell Donovan, and David Garland.
Parable of the Hidden Treasure, 9 August 2015
Matthew 13:44
Series Overview: this summertime series will examine the various parables of Jesus recorded in thirteenth chapter of Matthew.
Big Idea: You are a treasure to God. God wants to be your treasure.
Introduction
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word treasure?
For some it may be the quest of the Goonies, that group of kids in the 1985 movie.
For others it might be a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean.
If your home caught on fire and you could take one non-living thing, what would you take? Why?
Treasure is a great word. Treasure Island. Treasure chest. Treasure hunt. Oh boy!
We’re in the middle of a series on the parables from the thirteenth chapter of the book of Matthew. Jesus loved to tell stories. In fact, last week we briefly read
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the
creation of the world.” (Matthew 13:34-35)
These are strong words! He spoke nothing to the crowds without using parables or stories.
It’s important to note these stories were loaded. They were intentional. They were dangerous and offensive and elicited a response. Jesus was not an entertainer filling time during lunch break. He was a revolutionary storyteller.
We mentioned last week most of the parables are not interpreted for us. They don’t read like the Ten Commandments and, therefore, we must humbly attempt to extract their original meaning and then bring it into our current context and apply it.
When we come to verse 44, Jesus has left the crowd and gone into a house where His disciples ask Him to explain the parables.
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” (Matthew 13:36)
We looked at His explanation of the weeds two weeks ago. Then we come to today’s text:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
Jesus is again teaching His disciples about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. It is the rule and reign of Christ. The bulk of Jesus’ teachings were about the kingdom of heaven—what happens when heaven touches earth and God’s divine plan is executed on our planet.
Jesus taught on the kingdom.
Jesus ushered the kingdom upon the earth.
The kingdom is here now…and also not yet! We are experiencing aspects of it in 2015, but it has not yet been fully realized.
Perhaps it’s like the Detroit Lions. They are a football team. They have many players and coaches. They workout, individually and together. But people can’t fully experience the Detroit Lions until their first exhibition game on August 13…and yet it’s not until their first regular season game on September 13 that they will be fully actualized.
Jesus came to our planet and gave us glimpses of the future. He taught what it means to be truly human. His vision was one of ultimate human flourishing. Yet clearly His rule and reign on earth is not fully realized today. But it’s coming. And it’s also now.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. (Matthew 13:44a)
Why would someone hide a treasure? There were no bank safety deposit boxes then!
Do you have hidden treasure? Where is it hidden?!
Would you hide a treasure in a field?
Jesus is saying the kingdom—His rule and reign—is like hidden treasure. It is real but not visible. It is intentional but not known. Someone hid a treasure in a field.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
A man finds the treasure. How? Perhaps he was a worker in the field, digging up dirt.
When we were in the Dominican Republic we did a lot of digging…every morning. We found some hidden treasure. Actually we found quite a lot! We unearthed clothing, bottles, trash, …ok, nothing of any real value! It was rather startling, though, to find various things under my shovel besides dirt and rocks!
Have you ever found a treasure? One of my favorite Christmas gifts as a kid was a metal detector. I had visions of finding great treasures at the beach. I think the only thing I ever found with it was pop cans!
This man finds the hidden treasure in a field and digs it up…NO! He hides it! He doesn’t want anyone to know about it, but he’s excited. In his joy he goes and sells everything he had to buy the field.
Last year there was great commotion around here about hidden treasure in the form of oil and natural gas. Our church was among many landowners in Scio Township offered money for our property—or at least access to what’s under the ground, the mineral rights. Eventually the land was deemed unsuitable for profitable drilling, but you better believe property values would escalate if oil was found.
In Jesus’ parable the field suddenly had extra value—to the man who knew what it contained. Can you imagine selling everything you have to buy a field? If the field contained enough treasure it would be a no-brainer!
What Does It Mean?
Jesus’ message is for each of us to wander in the field of strangers, search for treasure, sell everything we have, and buy the land. This is His strategy for real estate development, right? Hardly!
To fully understand Jesus’ parable we must understand the context.
Jesus is Jewish. The Jews are awaiting a Messiah (who is right in front of them!).
Most believe the field is the world and the buried treasure is the nation of Israel and/or the Church, the people of God. We don’t live underground in a box, but in many ways we are out of sight. Like the yeast we discussed last Sunday, growth is often slow and invisible.
What did Jesus do save/redeem us? He gave everything He had—His very self! Jesus bought Israel and us with His blood.
So What?
I want to suggest two responses to this passage. First, recognize how much God loves us. We are a treasure to Him. It seems crazy but from Genesis to Revelation it is clear God loves His children. He went to the most extraordinary lengths to prove it, sending Jesus to not only visit but die for us.
Second, what is your treasure? What would you sell everything for?
I remember multiple occasions when Heather and I talked to doctors about various treatment options for our sick child. Money was no object when it meant our child’s health. At one point we considered selling our house to pay the medical bills.
What is your treasure? Who is your treasure? The interesting thing about the treasure in this story is it is hidden. The kingdom of God is somewhat hidden. Salvation and the righteousness of the kingdom are greater treasures than anything the world has to offer.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold (though I often want silver and gold, too!).
Many of us are so familiar with God, so familiar with the gospel that Jesus is Lord, so familiar with the kingdom we forget their true value. The kingdom is the greatest treasure we can ever find and we must give thanks for this precious gift and joy.
What is your treasure? Who is your treasure? Paul wrote to the church in Philippi:
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)
Paul’s ready to trade everything for Christ and His Kingdom.
What do you truly desire? What’s your treasure? How do your actions show it?
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Series Overview: this summertime series will examine the various parables of Jesus recorded in thirteenth chapter of Matthew.
Big Idea: You are a treasure to God. God wants to be your treasure.
Introduction
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word treasure?
For some it may be the quest of the Goonies, that group of kids in the 1985 movie.
For others it might be a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean.
If your home caught on fire and you could take one non-living thing, what would you take? Why?
Treasure is a great word. Treasure Island. Treasure chest. Treasure hunt. Oh boy!
We’re in the middle of a series on the parables from the thirteenth chapter of the book of Matthew. Jesus loved to tell stories. In fact, last week we briefly read
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the
creation of the world.” (Matthew 13:34-35)
These are strong words! He spoke nothing to the crowds without using parables or stories.
It’s important to note these stories were loaded. They were intentional. They were dangerous and offensive and elicited a response. Jesus was not an entertainer filling time during lunch break. He was a revolutionary storyteller.
We mentioned last week most of the parables are not interpreted for us. They don’t read like the Ten Commandments and, therefore, we must humbly attempt to extract their original meaning and then bring it into our current context and apply it.
When we come to verse 44, Jesus has left the crowd and gone into a house where His disciples ask Him to explain the parables.
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” (Matthew 13:36)
We looked at His explanation of the weeds two weeks ago. Then we come to today’s text:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
Jesus is again teaching His disciples about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. It is the rule and reign of Christ. The bulk of Jesus’ teachings were about the kingdom of heaven—what happens when heaven touches earth and God’s divine plan is executed on our planet.
Jesus taught on the kingdom.
Jesus ushered the kingdom upon the earth.
The kingdom is here now…and also not yet! We are experiencing aspects of it in 2015, but it has not yet been fully realized.
Perhaps it’s like the Detroit Lions. They are a football team. They have many players and coaches. They workout, individually and together. But people can’t fully experience the Detroit Lions until their first exhibition game on August 13…and yet it’s not until their first regular season game on September 13 that they will be fully actualized.
Jesus came to our planet and gave us glimpses of the future. He taught what it means to be truly human. His vision was one of ultimate human flourishing. Yet clearly His rule and reign on earth is not fully realized today. But it’s coming. And it’s also now.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. (Matthew 13:44a)
Why would someone hide a treasure? There were no bank safety deposit boxes then!
Do you have hidden treasure? Where is it hidden?!
Would you hide a treasure in a field?
Jesus is saying the kingdom—His rule and reign—is like hidden treasure. It is real but not visible. It is intentional but not known. Someone hid a treasure in a field.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
A man finds the treasure. How? Perhaps he was a worker in the field, digging up dirt.
When we were in the Dominican Republic we did a lot of digging…every morning. We found some hidden treasure. Actually we found quite a lot! We unearthed clothing, bottles, trash, …ok, nothing of any real value! It was rather startling, though, to find various things under my shovel besides dirt and rocks!
Have you ever found a treasure? One of my favorite Christmas gifts as a kid was a metal detector. I had visions of finding great treasures at the beach. I think the only thing I ever found with it was pop cans!
This man finds the hidden treasure in a field and digs it up…NO! He hides it! He doesn’t want anyone to know about it, but he’s excited. In his joy he goes and sells everything he had to buy the field.
Last year there was great commotion around here about hidden treasure in the form of oil and natural gas. Our church was among many landowners in Scio Township offered money for our property—or at least access to what’s under the ground, the mineral rights. Eventually the land was deemed unsuitable for profitable drilling, but you better believe property values would escalate if oil was found.
In Jesus’ parable the field suddenly had extra value—to the man who knew what it contained. Can you imagine selling everything you have to buy a field? If the field contained enough treasure it would be a no-brainer!
What Does It Mean?
Jesus’ message is for each of us to wander in the field of strangers, search for treasure, sell everything we have, and buy the land. This is His strategy for real estate development, right? Hardly!
To fully understand Jesus’ parable we must understand the context.
Jesus is Jewish. The Jews are awaiting a Messiah (who is right in front of them!).
Most believe the field is the world and the buried treasure is the nation of Israel and/or the Church, the people of God. We don’t live underground in a box, but in many ways we are out of sight. Like the yeast we discussed last Sunday, growth is often slow and invisible.
What did Jesus do save/redeem us? He gave everything He had—His very self! Jesus bought Israel and us with His blood.
So What?
I want to suggest two responses to this passage. First, recognize how much God loves us. We are a treasure to Him. It seems crazy but from Genesis to Revelation it is clear God loves His children. He went to the most extraordinary lengths to prove it, sending Jesus to not only visit but die for us.
Second, what is your treasure? What would you sell everything for?
I remember multiple occasions when Heather and I talked to doctors about various treatment options for our sick child. Money was no object when it meant our child’s health. At one point we considered selling our house to pay the medical bills.
What is your treasure? Who is your treasure? The interesting thing about the treasure in this story is it is hidden. The kingdom of God is somewhat hidden. Salvation and the righteousness of the kingdom are greater treasures than anything the world has to offer.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold (though I often want silver and gold, too!).
Many of us are so familiar with God, so familiar with the gospel that Jesus is Lord, so familiar with the kingdom we forget their true value. The kingdom is the greatest treasure we can ever find and we must give thanks for this precious gift and joy.
What is your treasure? Who is your treasure? Paul wrote to the church in Philippi:
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)
Paul’s ready to trade everything for Christ and His Kingdom.
What do you truly desire? What’s your treasure? How do your actions show it?
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Children of God, 1 John 2:28-3:10, 24 May 2015
Big Idea: We are children of God…or children of the devil.
Scripture: 1 John 2:28-3:10
Introduction
My name is Kirk. Most people call me Kirk. Some call me Pastor Kirk. Three very special people call me Daddy or Dad. I love to hear that word. I have three adult children presently in three different states and I love being their daddy. I must admit in addition to great joy, there is great challenge involved in being a dad, not the least of which is calibrating invitation and challenge, encouragement and discipline, good cop and bad cop, warm love and tough love.
As we continue our examination of John’s first letter about twenty years following his biography of Jesus—the Gospel of John—we see John speaking like a dad, a shepherd, a pastor who has great concern for his sheep, his flock, his disciples. He showers them with confidence and challenge and provides for us an incredibly relevant message two thousand years later.
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
John refers again to the “little born ones,” his precious followers, believers in Jesus. He echoes Jesus’ words in John 15 about the vine and the branches were Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in Me. Abide in Me. Continue in Me.” The quality of fruit is directly related to the health of the branches and their connection to the vine and the roots. Good fruit cannot come from a dead tree.
Why remain and do life with Jesus? He’s returning and we want to be ready. We want Him to know us, to welcome us, to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” This life matters. Our actions count. This is preparation for the future. When Jesus returns it will be both wonderful and woeful. If we know Him, it will be a wonderful reunion. If we have rejected Him—and I don’t just mean in our head, but with our life and deeds—great peril awaits.
We don’t know when He is coming but we know He is coming and we’ll all have to give an account for our lives. Are you ready?
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)
Children look like their Dad. Have you noticed? This is not only true physically but also in mannerisms, habits, and actions.
God is righteous. His kids are righteous. It’s one thing to know Jesus but another to act like Him. Righteousness runs in the family!
One feature of this passage is the subject “everyone who” which appears nine times.
everyone who acts righteously has been born of God
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Although the NIV translation omits it, may read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has lavished on us.” Lavished!
We don’t expect to be God’s children, we don’t hope to be…we are His children! This is fantastic!
This love is great. It is special. It is unusual. This isn’t “I love ice cream” love or even “I’ll love you as long as you make me happy” love. It’s agape. It seeks nothing in return. It’s unconditional. It’s real! He proved His love by sending Jesus to die for us.
Keep in mind John is writing to believers, to children of God. He is inviting them into a deeper relationship with God. He is encouraging them. He is increasing their confidence in God and their adoption into His family in the midst of opposition, skepticism, and religion which says we’re saved by our works rather than the work of Jesus. Neither religion nor the world understands grace, unmerited favor. Our identity is given to us by God as we follow Jesus and are adopted into His family.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
God sees what we will be. He knows the future. Jesus is returning and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, we will have new bodies like Christ’s body, and we will see the glorified Christ and be like him. These are encouraging words. If you’re a follower of Jesus today, you are a child of God. You can be confident and secure.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)
everyone who has this hope based on Jesus makes himself pure
Following Jesus is just that…following, imitating, becoming like Him. This requires action. It doesn’t say all who think purity is a good idea are pure. It doesn’t say if I pray a prayer to accept Jesus into my heart I’ll live a pure and righteous life. It means if we follow the pure One we will live increasingly pure lives that reflect Jesus.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)
everyone who acts sinfully is really doing sin
This is a reference to habitual sins. Anything contrary to the will of God is sin. It’s serving our old nature. Sin will disrupt our relationship with God. Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we have been battling the allure of sin. Isaiah said
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
We all sin and fall short of God’s glory, His purity, His perfect standard of holiness. We need Jesus not only to forgive us but also to model for us what it means to be human, what it means to be pure and righteous.
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (1 John 3:5-6)
everyone who abides in Him does not commit sin
everyone who commits sin has never seen Him
Jesus came to take away our sins—plural. He never sinned. If we know Him, love Him, and follow Him we will not sin. This does not mean we will never sin, but it will be a regretful mistake rather than a prideful habit. If sin is rebellion against God, we can’t follow God and sin.
The believer who remains/abides does not practice sin. We do sin, and God can deliver us from sin. Jesus died to forgive us and allow us to be reconciled to our Dad.
When believers sin, there is sorry and remorse. If you keep on sinning and don’t feel guilt or conviction you’re in deep trouble!
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. (1 John 3:7)
God’s children look like God’s Son. The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree!
Everyone who acts righteously is truly just
Now John gets clear. Crystal clear. He shifts from invitation to challenge, from encouragement to warning.
The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)
everyone who acts sinfully belongs to the devil
These are strong words! You are either a child of God or a child of the devil. You can’t be both. Who’s your daddy?
Jesus died to take away the sin of the world, to put an end to sin and death and broken relationships. That was His mission, His purpose. I love what Paul wrote to the Colossians:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)
This discussion of sin is challenging because we do sin but we don’t want to sin when we are following Jesus. We have two natures, the old and new. They are in constant conflict. Paul described it this way:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:14-20)
That’s the definition of frustration, right there! He continues:
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. (Romans 7:21-23)
John continues:
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. (1 John 3:9)
everyone who has been born of God does not act sinfully
We must be born again! The new nature will not commit sin. The Prodigal Son left his life of sin and came home to his father.
This doesn’t mean we never sin but we don’t live in sin. Remember earlier John said
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
Have you been born of God?
J. Vernon McGee said he believed in the security of believers and the insecurity of make believers!
When we are helpless and hopeless, He’s able to take control. You can’t do it yourself. We need help. We need the Holy Spirit. We need God. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We must remain/abide/be with Him if we want to emulate Him.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (1 John 3:10)
everyone who acts unrighteously does not belong to God
It’s pretty simple. We are children of God if we do what is right and children of the devil if we live in habitual sin and fail to love others.
What fruit are you bearing?
Do you do what is right?
Do you love your brother and sister?
So What?
Perhaps the great question is not do you sin but do you want to sin? Do you want to do what is right and love you brother and sister. If so, call upon the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth and keep you from sin. God’s children are not perfect, but they are unconditionally loved, and with that love comes the Son and the Holy Spirit to offer salvation, forgiveness, sanctification, power, love, and hope.
If the world sees righteous Christians, they will see Jesus.
Followers of Jesus, be encouraged by God’s invitation for you to be His children, but also be challenged by the responsibility to follow Him, to look like Jesus, and to exhibit faith, hope and love…one day at a time.
Credits: some thoughts from Thru the Bible by J. Vernon McGee
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Scripture: 1 John 2:28-3:10
Introduction
My name is Kirk. Most people call me Kirk. Some call me Pastor Kirk. Three very special people call me Daddy or Dad. I love to hear that word. I have three adult children presently in three different states and I love being their daddy. I must admit in addition to great joy, there is great challenge involved in being a dad, not the least of which is calibrating invitation and challenge, encouragement and discipline, good cop and bad cop, warm love and tough love.
As we continue our examination of John’s first letter about twenty years following his biography of Jesus—the Gospel of John—we see John speaking like a dad, a shepherd, a pastor who has great concern for his sheep, his flock, his disciples. He showers them with confidence and challenge and provides for us an incredibly relevant message two thousand years later.
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
John refers again to the “little born ones,” his precious followers, believers in Jesus. He echoes Jesus’ words in John 15 about the vine and the branches were Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in Me. Abide in Me. Continue in Me.” The quality of fruit is directly related to the health of the branches and their connection to the vine and the roots. Good fruit cannot come from a dead tree.
Why remain and do life with Jesus? He’s returning and we want to be ready. We want Him to know us, to welcome us, to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” This life matters. Our actions count. This is preparation for the future. When Jesus returns it will be both wonderful and woeful. If we know Him, it will be a wonderful reunion. If we have rejected Him—and I don’t just mean in our head, but with our life and deeds—great peril awaits.
We don’t know when He is coming but we know He is coming and we’ll all have to give an account for our lives. Are you ready?
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)
Children look like their Dad. Have you noticed? This is not only true physically but also in mannerisms, habits, and actions.
God is righteous. His kids are righteous. It’s one thing to know Jesus but another to act like Him. Righteousness runs in the family!
One feature of this passage is the subject “everyone who” which appears nine times.
everyone who acts righteously has been born of God
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Although the NIV translation omits it, may read, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has lavished on us.” Lavished!
We don’t expect to be God’s children, we don’t hope to be…we are His children! This is fantastic!
This love is great. It is special. It is unusual. This isn’t “I love ice cream” love or even “I’ll love you as long as you make me happy” love. It’s agape. It seeks nothing in return. It’s unconditional. It’s real! He proved His love by sending Jesus to die for us.
Keep in mind John is writing to believers, to children of God. He is inviting them into a deeper relationship with God. He is encouraging them. He is increasing their confidence in God and their adoption into His family in the midst of opposition, skepticism, and religion which says we’re saved by our works rather than the work of Jesus. Neither religion nor the world understands grace, unmerited favor. Our identity is given to us by God as we follow Jesus and are adopted into His family.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
God sees what we will be. He knows the future. Jesus is returning and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, we will have new bodies like Christ’s body, and we will see the glorified Christ and be like him. These are encouraging words. If you’re a follower of Jesus today, you are a child of God. You can be confident and secure.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)
everyone who has this hope based on Jesus makes himself pure
Following Jesus is just that…following, imitating, becoming like Him. This requires action. It doesn’t say all who think purity is a good idea are pure. It doesn’t say if I pray a prayer to accept Jesus into my heart I’ll live a pure and righteous life. It means if we follow the pure One we will live increasingly pure lives that reflect Jesus.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)
everyone who acts sinfully is really doing sin
This is a reference to habitual sins. Anything contrary to the will of God is sin. It’s serving our old nature. Sin will disrupt our relationship with God. Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we have been battling the allure of sin. Isaiah said
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
We all sin and fall short of God’s glory, His purity, His perfect standard of holiness. We need Jesus not only to forgive us but also to model for us what it means to be human, what it means to be pure and righteous.
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (1 John 3:5-6)
everyone who abides in Him does not commit sin
everyone who commits sin has never seen Him
Jesus came to take away our sins—plural. He never sinned. If we know Him, love Him, and follow Him we will not sin. This does not mean we will never sin, but it will be a regretful mistake rather than a prideful habit. If sin is rebellion against God, we can’t follow God and sin.
The believer who remains/abides does not practice sin. We do sin, and God can deliver us from sin. Jesus died to forgive us and allow us to be reconciled to our Dad.
When believers sin, there is sorry and remorse. If you keep on sinning and don’t feel guilt or conviction you’re in deep trouble!
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. (1 John 3:7)
God’s children look like God’s Son. The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree!
Everyone who acts righteously is truly just
Now John gets clear. Crystal clear. He shifts from invitation to challenge, from encouragement to warning.
The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)
everyone who acts sinfully belongs to the devil
These are strong words! You are either a child of God or a child of the devil. You can’t be both. Who’s your daddy?
Jesus died to take away the sin of the world, to put an end to sin and death and broken relationships. That was His mission, His purpose. I love what Paul wrote to the Colossians:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)
This discussion of sin is challenging because we do sin but we don’t want to sin when we are following Jesus. We have two natures, the old and new. They are in constant conflict. Paul described it this way:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:14-20)
That’s the definition of frustration, right there! He continues:
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. (Romans 7:21-23)
John continues:
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. (1 John 3:9)
everyone who has been born of God does not act sinfully
We must be born again! The new nature will not commit sin. The Prodigal Son left his life of sin and came home to his father.
This doesn’t mean we never sin but we don’t live in sin. Remember earlier John said
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
Have you been born of God?
J. Vernon McGee said he believed in the security of believers and the insecurity of make believers!
When we are helpless and hopeless, He’s able to take control. You can’t do it yourself. We need help. We need the Holy Spirit. We need God. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We must remain/abide/be with Him if we want to emulate Him.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (1 John 3:10)
everyone who acts unrighteously does not belong to God
It’s pretty simple. We are children of God if we do what is right and children of the devil if we live in habitual sin and fail to love others.
What fruit are you bearing?
Do you do what is right?
Do you love your brother and sister?
So What?
Perhaps the great question is not do you sin but do you want to sin? Do you want to do what is right and love you brother and sister. If so, call upon the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth and keep you from sin. God’s children are not perfect, but they are unconditionally loved, and with that love comes the Son and the Holy Spirit to offer salvation, forgiveness, sanctification, power, love, and hope.
If the world sees righteous Christians, they will see Jesus.
Followers of Jesus, be encouraged by God’s invitation for you to be His children, but also be challenged by the responsibility to follow Him, to look like Jesus, and to exhibit faith, hope and love…one day at a time.
Credits: some thoughts from Thru the Bible by J. Vernon McGee
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.