Shiloh Bible Church
1 John 3:1-3
Family Resemblance
Introduction
Last Sunday morning we had a child dedication here at Shiloh. Rick and Stephanie Hill dedicated their daughter Kayla. George and Allison Flick dedicated their daughter Hanna. And Lance and Nikki Seesholtz dedicated their son Eli.
Now, Eli and Hanna are the first born in their family. Kayla is a second child. She has an older sister, Ashley.
Dr. Kevin Leman is a Christian psychologist. He wrote a book entitled The Birth Order Book. [Show book.] The subtitle of the book is: Why You Are the Way You Are. The basic thesis of the book is that your birth order—whether you are an only child, first born, middle child, or baby of the family—your birth order affects your personality development and traits. For example, Leman says this about first borns: “They are natural leaders and often high achievers. The majority of politicians, spokespersons and managing directors are first-borns. They frequently live with a sense of entitlement and even superiority. They often come in two flavors: compliant nurturers and caregivers or aggressive movers and shakers. Both are in control; they just use different methods. As a rule, first-borns are picky, precise people—they pay attention to detail—tend to be punctual, organized, and competent. They want to see things done right the first time. They don’t like surprises.” And then Leman has this to say about an only child: “Only-borns are the mega-movers of the world. They are task-orientated; tend to be extremely well organized, highly conscientious and dependable. They are keen on facts, ideas, and details and feel extremely comfortable with responsibility.”
Now, some people completely embrace the idea of birth order. And yet other people completely disregard it—they think it’s a myth. Well, whether you agree with the idea or not, it’s still an interesting concept when considering a person’s position in the family.
This morning I would like us to consider our position in the family—God’s family. The Apostle John talks about this in his first epistle. Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 3. It is our practice at Shiloh to teach through books of the Bible on Sunday mornings. Currently, we are in a study of the first epistle of John. We have covered the first two chapters. And now John begins chapter three with these words: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
God calls us His children—what a wonderful privilege that is! Now, it’s important for us to understand how a person becomes a child of God. A person does not become a child of God automatically. There is something that you must do. And that something is trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. The moment you by faith accept Christ’s payment on the cross for your sins, you become a child of God.
Now, what should you expect by virtue of your position as a child of God? Well, John tells us in 1 John chapter 3. John tells us that our position as children of God produces 3 results. First of all …
1. OUR POSITION PRODUCES PERSECUTION
Continuing in verse 1, John writes, “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
The world did not comprehend or recognize Jesus when He came to earth. A casual reading of the gospels shows that the world did not know Jesus. Jesus worked miracles, taught truth, revealed God to man, but the world did not receive Him. It would logically follow that if they didn’t know Christ, then they wouldn’t know His children. Since the people of the world have nothing spiritually in common with the children of God, they have no fellowship them and, therefore, no real knowledge of them. And what the world doesn’t understand, it doesn’t leave alone or ignore, but rather persecutes. John said it powerfully in verse 13: “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” In the Upper Room, Jesus told His disciples: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.”
Persecution shouldn’t come as a shock to us. Jesus forewarned His followers that they would be mistreated and even killed. Listen to how several of the disciples of Jesus died. According to church tradition, Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword in Ethiopia. Mark expired at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city. Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in the land of Greece. Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downward. James the Apostle was beheaded at Jerusalem. James the brother of Jesus was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and then beaten to death with a club. Bartholomew was flayed alive. Thomas was run through with a lance in the East Indies. Jude was shot to death by arrows. Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded. Barnabas was stoned to death. And Paul was beheaded at Rome by the Emperor Nero. As a matter of fact, the only Apostle to escape violent death was the Apostle John. He was banished to the Island of Patmos, but later released and returned to Asia Minor.
But persecution didn’t end when the Apostles passed off the scene. For the next 200 years—from the Emperor Nero to Diocletian—the Church endured 10 periods of severe suffering. But in AD 313, the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity an officially recognized religion. Although government persecution by the Roman Empire ended, that didn’t mean the end of suffering for the Church. Pockets of persecution against specific groups continued by civil and religious authorities for centuries. Christian groups such as the Albigensians, the Waldensians, and the Huguenots suffered terrible persecution for their faith in Christ. Individuals such as Savonarola, John Wycliffe, and John Huss were martyred. Even today in the 21st century, the Church of Jesus Christ around the world experiences persecution.
Nina Shea wrote a book entitled In the Lion’s Den. She states: “Millions of American Christians pray in their churches each week, oblivious to the fact that Christians in many parts of the world suffer brutal torture, arrest, imprisonment and even death—their homes and communities laid waste—for no other reason than that they are Christians. The shocking, untold story of our time is that more Christians have died in the 20th century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ.” Jeff Jacoby is a syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe. He wrote: “… for millions of Christians in other lands, fear is ever-present. Never before—never before—have so many believers in Jesus been persecuted for their faith. … Wherever militant Islam has taken hold and wherever Communist dictators still rule, Christians are in desperate danger. … Muslim troops from northern Sudan have sold tens of thousands of Christian children and women from the south into slavery. Many have been branded or mutilated to prevent escape; many more have been tortured, brainwashed or starved until they converted to Islam.”
Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” That was true of the Apostles and it’s still true of the Church today—2,000 years later! Now, I’m not advocating that you go out looking for mental, emotional, physical, social, or spiritual abuse. But I am saying that if persecution for the cause of Christ comes your way, don’t be surprised. Our position as children of God produces persecution. John also says that …
2. OUR POSITION PRODUCES PERFECTION
Not sinless perfection on earth, but glorified bodies in heaven. Look at verse 2: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Verse 2 refers to the return of Christ—the time we will see Jesus at the Rapture of the Church.
Both the Old and New Testaments are replete with promises of Christ’s Second Coming. There are 1,845 references to it in the Old Testament, and a total of 17 books that give it prominence. Of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second Coming—or 1 out of every 30 verses. For every prophecy about Christ’s first coming, there are 8 concerning His second coming.
Now, as we’ve said before, Christ’s Second Coming is divided into 2 phases. The second phase is the Revelation. It will take place when Christ returns to earth to set up His visible, literal, tangible kingdom here on the earth for 1,000 years. This event will follow the 7-year Tribulation Period. But before these events, Jesus will return in the Rapture which is the first phase of His Second Coming. Paul describes it in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Jesus Christ will descend from heaven to the clouds of the air. Everyone who has trusted in Him as Savior will be taken up bodily from the earth to meet Christ in the clouds. And John says that when we see Him, we will be like Him. That is, we will receive new, glorified bodies suited for heaven. Paul describes this transformation in these words in Philippians 3:20 and 21: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Because we are children of God, the Lord has destined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Bible teacher and Greek scholar Dr. Kenneth Weist wrote: “The Rapture has to do with the glorification of the physical body of the believer, not with a change of his inner spiritual life. While the saint enters heaven in sinless state, yet he is not catapulted ahead to absolute spiritual maturity in an instant of time. He grows in likeness to the Lord Jesus spiritually through eternity, always approaching that likeness but never equaling it, for finiteness can never equal infinity. The change that comes at the Rapture is therefore a physical one. We shall be like our Lord as to His physical, glorified body.”
When we see Jesus in the Rapture of the Church, He will change our physical bodies into the likeness of His glorified body.
So, our position as children of God produces persecution. But our position also produces perfection. And now thirdly, John says …
3. OUR POSITION PRODUCES PURITY
I see this in verse 3: “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” And what is the hope that John is referring to? The promise of a glorified body when Jesus returns. The Apostle is encouraging us to live a holy life in light of the imminent return of Christ.
My in-laws—Harold and Dorothy Wills—retired here to the Bloomsburg area back in 1987. They knew of Bloomsburg because their daughter, Kathy, married Charlie and Kay Dyer’s son, Charlie. Barb and I were living in Washington, DC when Barb’s parents moved to Bloomsburg. And so we would make an annual pilgrimage up here to Bloomsburg to visit. That’s how we got to know about Shiloh Bible Church. This was the church my in-laws were attending. And we would attend here when we came up to visit. Well, one winter—back in 1989—Barb decided to take our son Joel—who was only a few years old at the time—and come up here to Bloomsburg to visit Grandma and Grandpa Wills. Barb left on a Thursday and was to return to Washington on the following Tuesday.
Well, when Barb would go away, I always made sure I kept the apartment clean. If I dirtied a dish, I would wash it and put it away. When I finished reading a book, I would put it back in its place on the shelf. Well, this particular time that Barb went to her parents was an extremely busy and hectic time for me. Between my duties as Dean of Students at the college and seminary, and the courses I was teaching at the college, and the churches I was preaching at on the weekend, I was on the run. And I didn’t do what I would normally do. I let the apartment go. There were dirty dishes piled up in the sink, books scattered around the apartment, clothes on the floor, bed unmade—the place was a mess. On Sunday morning I looked around and said, “After I get home from church, I’ll clean the place up.” But when I got home from preaching I was so tired that I just took a nap in the afternoon instead. I got up and started getting ready to go to another church to preach in their evening service. I looked around at the mess and said, “No big deal. I’ll just come home a little early tomorrow from the office and clean the place really nice so it will look good when Barb comes home on Tuesday.” Well, just as I was about to leave to go preach that evening, the phone rang. It was Barb. I said, “Hi, honey. How are things at your mom and dad’s?” Barb said, “Everything was fine. We had a nice visit. But I decided to come back a little early.” I said, “How early?” Barb said, “Well, we’re in York right now and so we should be home in 2 hours.” I said, “Oh, isn’t that wonderful.” I hung up the phone. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t have time to go to the church, preach, and come back to clean before Barb returned. And I couldn’t call the church and cancel my preaching so I could stay home to clean. I thought that I could perhaps go to the church, preach the shortest sermon on record, drive back home and try to clean up as best as possible before Barb arrived. But I realized that that wouldn’t work. So I resigned myself to the fact that Barb would return to an apartment that looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
When I returned from church that evening, Barb met me at the door. She looked at me and said, “What in the world happened here?” And so I looked at Barb and I did what any self-respecting husband would do. I blamed her. I said, “You weren’t supposed to come home until Tuesday!” Well, we spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment. But I mean to tell you—had I known that Barb was returning Sunday, I would have had the apartment clean on Sunday. But she came back unexpectedly, and I wasn’t ready.
Listen, Jesus is coming again. He will return. But He hasn’t told us when He will return. So we need to be ready. We need to keep our lives clean and in order at all times. Knowing that Jesus could return at any moment motivates us to live a pure life. As John says in verse 3: “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” Our position produces purity.
Conclusion
Kayla Hill, Hanna Flick, and Eli Seesholtz—they can expect certain treatment just as any newborn entering a family. They can expect food, clothing, shelter, toys, and lots of love. Likewise, we as Christians should have certain expectation.
Our position as children of God produces persecution—so don’t be surprised if you suffer for Christ.
Our position as children of God produces perfection—one day you will inhabit a perfect body—one that sickness cannot touch and sin cannot taint.
Our position as children of God produces purity—we live a pure life so that we will be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
Let’s pray.
