Whose Kid Are You?
1John 3:4-10
Intimate relationship with the God of light and love is the overriding subject of the Apostle John’s letter to Christians of all ages in all ages at all levels of spiritual maturity. He used words like “fellowship”, “abide in”, “be in”, walk in light, love to describe relationship with God.
John interspersed clear declarations of his purpose throughout the letter prefaced by, “I have written…”
1. That we might have fellowship with God and each other. 1:3
2. That we might have joy 1:4
3. That we might not sin 2:1
4. That we might not be deceived 2:26
5. That we might be assured of eternal life 5:13
He wrote of the character of the God of light.
He wrote of the character of the Children of light
He wrote of the Love of God for His children
He wrote of the love of the children of God for each other
I. The God of light 1:1-2:28
A. The Message – God is Light 1:1-5
B. The Implication 1:6-2:28
1. Live in purity (Walk in the light)
2. Confess sin
3. Avoid sin but go to Christ as an advocate when you do
4. Give attention to His instructions
5. Love His kids
6. Keep growing deeper
7. Stop preferring the world of godless materialism and its stuff over God
8. Avoid deception by the antichrist by letting the word abide in you and abiding in Christ
II. The Children of light 2:29-4:6
This passage inspired a closer look at the Father/child relationship between a Holy God and sinful man made possible by Jesus Christ. John is the perfect example of truth spoken in love.
He is clear. He is bold. He is black and white. Yet his letter is filled with compassion and connection with his readers. Considers them dearly loved children.
There are five factors to consider in relation to genuine children of God.
Likeness factor
Righteousness factor
Love Factor
Obedience Factor
Confession Factor
A. The “Likeness” factor 2:29-3:3
God chose us to be infused into His family. God intends that we be like Him.
John speaks to five things God’s kids need to know about God’s kids.
1. Children of a righteous God live righteously.
If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:29
God is absolutely righteous. It follows then that children born of a righteous God will also practice righteous. We will come back to this thought in a bit. How do you distinguish God’s children? They act like Him! That leads to the second question.
2. We are God’s children by His loving calling and conversion 3:1a
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.
The word translated “see” or “behold” is actually the same word for “to know intuitively.”
“know”, “be aware”, “perceive”, “understand”, “take to heart”, “consider”, “notice”, “behold”, “contemplate”.
Contemplate the nature of God’s love. John instructed his readers to contemplate the wonder and nature of a love that would take the initiative to reach down to an infinitely inferior, hostile, stubborn, sinful, ungrateful, stiff-necked, proud and rebellious being and invite them to become part of His family by adoption (legal connection) and birth (genetic connection).
I love John’s next phrase that multiplies the wonder even more.
“and we ARE!” We are children of God not only by calling but in actuality.
3. The world won’t acknowledge you because it didn’t acknowledge Him. 3:1b
For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1
4. You will be like Him when He appears
Beloved, now (henceforth) we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:2
5. Those who realize their destiny – pursue their destiny 3:3
And everyone having this hope upon Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
The focus of this whole passage is to motivate God’s children to actively and enthusiastically cooperate in the process of purification. Passionately pursue purity. The longing for purity is at the core of every born again child of God. The New Testament continually calls us to holiness and purity. Scripture continually exhorts us to like Jesus.
B. The “righteousness/sin” factor 3:4-10
1. The nature of sin
John took the time to clarify sin and Jesus’ relationship to it. The false teachers had redefined sin. Since matter no longer mattered, neither did any physical sin. Since they had arrived at some super spiritual state of enlightenment they were basically no longer subject to any laws.
John already addressed this issue in chapter one but repeats himself here.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us…If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:9-8, 10
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1 John 3:4-5
All sin is a refusal to live by God’s clear standard. All sin stems from a heart in rebellion against God and His standard and laws. Jesus came to deal with sin. Sin has no place in Jesus.
John uses the present tense to indicate a continual absence of sin in the life of Jesus.
2. The nature of God’s children and the devil’s children
John contrasts the nature of God’s children and children of the devil in five absolute statements.
I call them absolute statement because of the frequent use of everyone, no one, anyone.
I will show the statements in contrasting columns first and then go back and explain them.
Children of God Children of the Devil
Follow Christ who has no sin Follow devil who has sinned from the beginning
Abide in Him Haven’t seen or known God
Don’t practice sin Practice sin
Are righteous as Christ is righteous Are unrighteous as the devil is unrighteous
Practice righteousness Practice unrighteousness (sin)
Born of God (children of God) Born of the devil (Children of the devil)
Infused with God’s seed Infused with a sinful nature (implied)
Cannot practice sin Cannot practice righteousness
Love their brothers Do not love their brothers
Let’s examine the specific statements.
No one who abides in Him sins
All inclusive statement “no one”. “abides” indicates an intimate relationship and vital connection. No one who maintains a vital connection with God sins. Now we know that he cannot mean doesn’t ever sin or has become sinless because he already made it clear that no one is without sin. His use of the present tense indicates a disposition to sin or a willful practice of rebellion against God. No true child of God who has committed their life to Him will live in a state of willful rebellion. He will expand on this as he goes along.
In contrast…
No one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
The one who continually practices sin against God really has never had a relationship and really does know God. The implication is no one who has really had an encounter with the living holy God and entered into a loving relationship will be able to continue to live in willful rebellion.
John urged his readers not to be deceived by the Gnostic false teachers who maintained they had a super spiritual relationship with God unaffected by their sinful actions.
The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous 3:7
Anyone who lived a righteous lifestyle does so out of an inner righteousness. They practice righteousness because of an inner righteous core nature just as Jesus is righteousness and practiced righteousness. The one who is of God practice righteousness.
In contrast however…
the one who practices sin is of the devil
The one who is of the devil practices sin just as is sinful and has sinned form the beginning.
John reminded them that Jesus came not only to deal with sin but to deal with the devil and his works.
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
No one who is born of God practices sin
Again, an all inclusive statement. No born again child (perfect tense) of God practices (present tense) sin! Wow! Am I in trouble. Again, he cannot mean the child of God never sins because of the clear statement earlier. How is it we have this aversion to practicing sin?
because His seed abides in him;
John used the Greek word “sperma”. We become children of God through a supernatural act of God whereby He infuses us with His divine nature. We are not just renewed; we are born again of a completely different seed, a different nature. Just in case they missed the power of his statement he repeats it in other words.
The one born of God cannot sin,
The true child of God not only does not practice sin, he can’t.
The reason? because he is born (perfect tense) of God. 3:9
God passed on His DNA to those he called as His children as sure as our father passed on his DNA to us at conception. God regenerates our corrupted spirit with His life, His DNA, His nature. Know that all the children of God live righteously because we share His DNA coding for righteousness. When God calls us, He renews us, regenerates our life, and transforms us with His eternal life.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away (aorist); behold, he has become new (perfect). 2 Corinthians 5:17
For by these (his virtue) He has granted(perf) to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers(aorist) of the divine nature, having escaped(aorist) the corruption that is in the world by lust. 2 Peter 1:4
The word “partakers” is a word that indicates an intimate mutual sharing. It is also translated “fellowship”. We can live differently because we ARE different.
Here is where Christianity departs from ALL other religions and philosophies. Most religions focus on some person who championed a particular way of thinking or creed along with a particular way of living. Most were inspired by evil spirits who perpetuate the belief by various ecstatic experiences.
Person, creed or beliefs, lifestyle, spiritual connection and experience.
In spite of all of those things, we are still the same person at the core of our being. We still have a fallen nature. We do not need reformation, we need complete transformation. We cannot reform the flesh. We cannot stand before a holy God reformed. We might act differently, and even live differently but at the core of our being we are not different, we are still spiritually dead by reason of our sins.
Christianity so far offers the one thing nothing else can – rebirth. Yes we follow the teaching of Jesus who offered a new way of living and the power of His Holy Spirit to indwell us.
But He also offered much more.
He offered the very nature of God. He offered new birth. He told Nicodemus that unless he becomes born again you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. The Bible teaches a transformation at the core of our being so that changes our very nature. For that reason, the true child of God cannot practice sin. It is contrary to his new nature. There are new desires. There is a battle with the fleshy drives still entrenched in our sinful bodies but that is not the core of who we are. At the core of our being we want the will of God. He continually works in us so that we both want to and do the will of God.
You can go to church. You can read the bible. You can even pray. You can try to live a moral life. You can do good works. But until you respond to God’s call to put you trust in Him and embrace Jesus Christ as your savior, you remain a child of the devil and will ultimately live in rebellion against God.
How can you tell whose kid you are? Since holiness and love is foundation of God’s nature, we can assume it would be the core foundation of His kids.
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10
There it is. God kids practice righteousness and love. Everyone who does not is obviously a child of the devil. Ouch. Is it really that black and white? So declares the Scripture.
The true believer cannot remain in a perpetual state of rebellion against their Heavenly Father.
David admitted (Psalm 32) that he was miserable when he failed to deal with his sin.
Conclusion
Two questions to consider today.
First, are you a genuine child of God?
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95)
Second, are you actively working to purify yourself?
We need to heed John’s advice to purify ourselves.
We must resist becoming desensitized to sin.
Paul called the Corinthians to do the same.
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NASB95)
James urges the same.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:8-10 (NASB95)
Peter joins the chorus.
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 1 Peter 4:1-3 (NASB95)
How?
There are things that God does. There are things that we must do.
• Engraft the word of God.
Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:11
• Confess our sin regularly
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
• Walk in the Spirit
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
• Encourage one another daily
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ…Hebrews 3:12-14
