I John 3:1-3, All Saints Sunday
One year on Mother’s Day, the Dennis the Menace cartoon showed a saintly appearing Dennis lying in bed. His mother bends over him looking upon his angelic face. Dennis says, “If there was a Mom’s Hall of Fame, you’d be in it.” Those words speak of the great love that Dennis’ mother lavished upon her son, unsaintly though he may act. Its not Mother’s Day. It’s All Saints Sunday. Our text for today speaks of that kind of love too, only this time it is our heavenly Father’s love for you and me, unsaintly though we may be. “See what lavish love the Father has showered on us, that we should be called children of God.”
We hear of this love in Thomas a Kempis 15th century hymn.
Oh, love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortal’s sake.
For our immortal sake Jesus took on our mortal shape. In birth, he took on our mortality. In death, he atoned for our deformity, our sin which sundered our kinship with the heavenly Father. God’s love given to us through Jesus is not simply fuel to rekindle the love that smolders deep within. Such love originates in God. We would as soon deny that we have any such sin as loving our life more than God or loving the world more than our Lord. We have shortcomings. But sin? It’s such an ugly word. Then to have to admit it to God and worse yet; to each other not only here in the safety of worship but also in the privacy of our home and out in the community as we wrong one another throughout the week. God’s kind of love embraces us with Jesus death and resurrection and is entirely undeserved. If there were a hall of fame for undeserved love, God would fill the whole bill. He forgives you, me and every person in the world who trusts in Jesus repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly. John writes later, “God is love.” Love is God’s very nature.
I preached on this text some thirty years ago. In that sermon I told of a man who stated that it was preposterous to think that a belief in an empty grave and supposed, but unprovable, resurrection should have the effect of leading people to live in peace, harmony and love. He felt if all the time and energy and brain power spent on religion had been invested in sitting down, thinking, reasoning and planning, harmony on our planet would be much, much nearer. He made numerous good points. How has that worked out? In the ensuing years we have had plenty of conferences and sitting around tables and thinking and reasoning and planning, but having used our human skills are we any closer to universal peace, harmony and love? Its because we are unable to reason out and plan peace, and implement harmony and love that God has lavished his love upon us and made us his children.
Just as we can’t figure out how to live in peace and love on this planet neither are we able to “by (our) own reason or strength” become God’s children and gain peace with God. Thus in baptism’s waters we were given a new birth, a second birth. Through water and word the Holy Spirit recreated us into children of our heavenly Father. The lavish love of God not only changes our relationship with God but with one another. James Limburgh recalled preaching a sermon in which he stressed that the church was the family of God. This means, he said, that we are able to rightly refer to each other as “brother George” or “sister Martha.” After the service, as he was shaking hand at the door, a girl of about 10 years gave his hand a good shake, looked him straight in the eye, and said, “Good morning brother!”
Being children of God is meant to be evident in us because we are not removed from the world. The great fourth century preacher John Chrysostom encouraged parents to name their children after Biblical persons. Then the parents should follow the naming with teaching about the child’s biblical namesake providing the child an example upon which he or she could pattern their own life as a child of God. That’s what saints are, people whom God has provided as an example for His children to follow.
As children of God who live in the world John writes of our life in this world, “The reason the world does not know us (as children of God) is that it did not know him (that is Jesus Christ).” The world is nothing other than those who do not believe in Jesus. So of course they are going to live lives opposed to God and God’s plan of salvation. The book of Acts recounts Peter and John healing a man lame from birth. As word of the healing spread, a crowd rushed from all over the temple grounds. Peter took the occasion to preach that though they had killed the author of life, God had raised Jesus from the dead. All was not lost. Just as faith in Jesus led to the healing of the lame man, so through repentance and turning to God the gathered crowd could have their sins wiped out. The Lord would shower times of refreshment and renewal upon them. However, the religious leaders had them arrested for proclaiming Jesus resurrection. Yet, the next day when they were brought before the temple authorities for questioning they continued to proclaim Christ. They spoke with boldness because its for the sake of unbelievers that God sent his son to die.
John writes. “What we will be has not yet been revealed.” Our view of eternal life is like looking through a gauze curtain. We can catch glimpses of what we will turn out to be, but when our eternal life is revealed it may actually be quite different than we had imagined. It will be also beyond all thought and fantasy.
Nevertheless, we do know three things. Jesus and our eternal life as God’s children will be revealed. Secondly, we will be like him. We will have shed our sin. We will no longer be harassed, bothered, tempted and led astray by our sinful nature. We shall be like Jesus. We shall be the perfect innocent creatures God created us to be. We shall be restored to people who perfectly bear the image of God. Moreover, we shall have a resurrected body like Jesus. Our body will no longer be liable to all the frailties, illnesses and effects of sin. We will be raised imperishable.
Thirdly, we shall see Jesus as he is. The disciples had some glimpses on the Mt of Transfiguration and in his appearances after Easter. Before he went to the cross Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be where I am; to see my glory.” So it shall be. No longer looking through darkened glass we shall see clearly.
An early American folk hymn serves us as a concluding meditation.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free
I’ll sing His love for me,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
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