Let’s turn in our Bibles to 1 John 2:28-3:3. This passage about us being the children of God brings to mind that great old song, tell me if you’ve heard this before:

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us 

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us

And then it goes like this:

That we should be called the sons of God

That we should be called the sons of God 

How many of you are familiar with that song? That song, of course, is based upon 1 John 3:1. I remember singing that song at church or on family vacations. It’s a beautiful reminder that those who have been born of God are the children of God.

In his fictional book, Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes from the perspective of one demon to another. It’s a senior demon, Screwtape, writing to his understudy Wormwood. And in that book, Screwtape says that the “Enemy [i.e. God] has a curious fantasy of making all these disgusting little human vermin into sons.” It’s amazing that God not only saves us from our sins, but he goes a step further and calls us “sons.”

Now some people may say, “We are all children of God,” meaning every person in the world, regardless of their spiritual state, regardless of whether they have been born again are God’s children. That’s what Oprah Winfrey would have you believe. That’s what other pseudo-spiritual leaders of our day will have you believe. But thankfully John didn’t take his cue from those individuals. The children of God according to the Bible, are only those individuals who have put their faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and have received the gift of the Son, the Holy Spirit.

John writes in his Gospel, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). You might remember Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus when he told Nicodemus that he must be born again. That conversation blew Nicodemus’s mind. He had no category for this term “born-again,” but soon enough he would experience what Jesus told him when the Holy Spirit indwelt him at salvation.

Paul writes, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father” (Rom 8:15). Church, do you know how awesome that is? That we are called the children of God? 

J. I. Packer writes this, “If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

Church, we are the sons and daughters of the Living God! And God is our Father. I think we take that for granted when we pray, “Our Father who art in Heaven” or when we pray to God calling him “Father.” I mean, that’s a beautiful thing to call God, Father, but that relationship came with a price paid on our behalf. That was only made possible by Jesus’s blood. But thanks to Jesus we are the children of God. And that’s what this passage is about. 

Now similar to fathers and children in this world, there are both privileges and responsibilities that we have as God’s children. For my son in my house, my son has privileges and an inheritance that no other child in the world has. Because he’s my son. He carries my name. But with that also comes responsibilities. My son has to unload the dishwasher at my house. My son has to get up at a certain time every morning to get ready for school. My son answers to me and Sanja for obedience, but he also receives love from me his father, and Sanja his mother, in ways that no other child in the world receives. 

And I don’t have enough mental capacity and the ability to love myriads of children all around the world. But God does! He doesn’t have those limitations. And for those in this room and for those around the world who have surrendered their lives to the Lord, and by faith received Christ as their Savior, they are the children of God. And with that designation comes both privilege and also responsibility. 

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Let’s talk about those. Here’s the question we want to answer today: 

Who are the Children of God and What do they do?

Write this down under #1: 

1) The Children of God are abiders (2:28)

We talked a little bit about this last time. Abiding is a very important concept in Johannine literature. And since we are forgetful creatures, John reminds us about this again and again. 

At the end of last week’s passage, John said, “just as it [that is the anointing of the Holy Spirit] has taught you, abide in him” (1 John 2:27). Now again in verse 28, John writes,

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 

Now there’s some word play here in verse 28 that I want you to see. The Greek word for “coming” is παρουσία, and the word for “confidence” is παρρησία. So at Christ’s παρουσία, we want to have παρρησία. 

At Christ’s coming, we want to have confidence. When Christ comes back we want to say, “Hey, Hey, I’m with him. Here we go.” And by the way this isn’t a “stick-out-your-chest and congratulate yourself for being so awesome” kind of confidence. This isn’t self-centered cockiness or arrogance. This is a Christ-exalting boldness. This is a Christ-believing assurance that comes from knowing that we belong to Jesus and Jesus belongs to us. And Jesus is going to bring about our long-awaited victory. 

I think this confidence will be especially needed as the time of his coming draws near, because if I understand the nature of his coming as it’s foretold in the Bible, Jesus is going to come at a time of great tumult on our earth. And we’ll have lots of reasons to be fearful. But Christ will be our confidence in that time. We’re not going to shrink back in shame at his coming. Those who reject him will do that. Those who are fakers, pretending to follow him will do that. Not those who are genuinely The children of God. 

So abide in him, Church. Abide in him, Children of God. Christ could come back at any moment, church. Do you know that? Abide in him.

How do we “abide” in him? What does that mean? Well abiding has the idea of fellowship that has already been expressed in this book. We fellowship with God. We take shelter in God. We seek God and we rest in God. 

How do I do that, Pastor Tony? Well let me be really practical with you in three specific ways. I would encourage you to abide in him: 1) Daily, 2) Weekly, and 3) Yearly. You daily spend time in God’s Word and with him in prayer. You weekly spend time with God the Father and your fellow siblings at church. And yearly you spend a time of retreat, getting away and refreshing yourself in the Lord.

You might even add to that something hourly. You hourly remind yourself in communication with God that I am a child of God, and my life belongs to him. I need those kinds of regular reminders.  

And by the way, I’m not advocating here for a kind of legalistic “got-to-do-this in order to earn favor with God.” You need to know that that turns my stomach to think that. God forbid that that would be the case. But instead as an act of obedience to Jesus’ command, “Abide in Me.” I can’t think of a better way to obey that command. 

Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me… [but] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:4-6).   

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So the children of God are abiders, church. And here’s another thing that they are: 

2) The Children of God are doers of righteousness (2:29)

29 If you know that he is righteous,

And by the way, that “he” is Jesus. We know this because of verse 28. The person who is coming is Jesus. We have confidence at his coming, meaning at Jesus’s coming. And verse 29 says,

29 If you know that [Jesus] is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 

John Stott writes in his commentary on 1 John that “righteousness, not knowledge, is the principal mark of the regenerate [i.e. the born again believer].” If you remember one of the things that John was dealing with was a group of people who were later called Gnostics. And the word “Gnostic” is built on the Greek word γνῶσις meaning knowledge. So John wants his people to know, it’s not γνῶσις that is the principle mark of salvation but righteousness. “So take that you lousy Gnostics!” “You show me your knowledge; I’ll show you my righteousness.” Because everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Now here’s how a person gets righteous. The Bible says that Jesus was perfect, blameless, and sinless. The Bible says that Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin” (Heb 4:15). The Bible also says that the righteousness that makes us right before a sovereign God is not our own righteousness, but the righteousness that has been imputed to us by Christ. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. This is a gift of God. 

Notice what John says at the end of this verse, everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. Everyone who has been born again, everyone who has the Holy Spirit residing within them has a righteousness that is not their own, but has been imputed to them, it has been gifted to them because of their faith. 

Now here’s the essence of what John is saying here. Imputed righteousness, that is righteousness that has been given to us through faith in Christ, will inevitably produce a righteous lifestyle in the children of God. In other words imputed righteousness will show itself in empirical righteousness in the lives of believers. We will practice Christ-like righteousness because we have been born of God. 

Let me put it a little more plainly. Children will act like their parents. Right? There are certain traits that your children inherit from you, good and bad. They look like you. Act like you. Talk like you. Behave like you. They knowingly and unknowingly inherit these things from their parents. And whereas the things your children inherit from you are a mixture of good and bad, in God’s case everything is good. 

God is righteous. Those who are born of God will be righteous too. Not perfectly! Don’t misunderstand me. We’ve dealt with this on a number of occasions in 1 John. We will be righteous like Christ… not perfectly but increasingly! We will walk in the light as he is in the light… not perfectly but increasingly! We will keep his commandments… not perfectly but increasingly! We will also stop loving the world (i.e. worldliness)… not perfectly but increasingly!

That’s the essence of what John is saying here. Let me boil it down to this. The Children of the Righteous God who have been redeemed by the Righteous One, Jesus, will increasingly live righteous lives because Christ is righteous. 

“But Tony, I’ve got a messed up family.” Okay. Well God will help you through that! 

“But Tony, I’ve got a serious anger problem.” Okay. Well let’s deal with that. Let’s confess it before the Lord and seek his righteousness in that.

“But Tony, can’t I just accept Christ as my Savior and live my life anyway that I want?” Let me just try to answer that as graciously and judiciously as possible. No! You can’t! It doesn’t work that way. And one of the things that I’ve noticed is that genuine Christians, the authentic children of God, they won’t be able to stomach their own sinfulness. They’ll want change. And they’ll change. And God will meet them where they’re at. And God will help them to live a righteous life. Not perfectly. But increasingly. Because the Children of God are Doers of Righteousness.  

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The Children of God are Abiders. The Children of God are Doers of Righteousness. Write this one down as well:

3) The Children of God are outsiders (3:1)

Now that might sound like an interesting statement considering the beauty of what is communicated in 1 John 3:1.  

3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; 

You might say, “Outsiders, Tony, really?” “What a horrible way to summarize this verse! Are you sure you got this point right?” “You should say that the children of God are loved. You should say that the children of God are favored. You should say that the children of God are God’s precious treasure. You should say that the children of God are awesome! Because God loves them!”

Well doubtless those things are true… except maybe awesome! We are loved. We are God’s precious treasure. We are favored. But notice the thrust of what John is saying here. You can’t really get it, until you read the rest of the verse. 

3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 

Whoa! That puts a different slant on this verse. So part of God’s love for us is that we are hated by the world. Got it? Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).

The reason why the world does not know us [the reason that we are outsiders] is that it did not know him. 

“To know” here has the idea of intimacy of relationship. Obviously the world “knows” about Jesus in a generic way, even a conceptual way. They might get the questions right about Jesus in a game of Trivial Pursuit. But they don’t really know him. He’s an outsider. And they don’t really know us or recognize us. They don’t understand the things we do. They don’t get it. Because we are the children of God, and they are not.

And this is part of the great bifurcation that John is creating in this book. There is light and dark. There is believer and unbeliever. There is love for God and love for the world. There are those who are with us and those who are against us. The question really comes down to this: “Do you want to be loved and known by the Father or do you want to be loved and known by the world?” Because you can’t have both. 

Now if you would, allow me to make the case for the “love of the Father” instead of the “love of the world.” If you’re conflicted about which is better, listen in for a second.

John writes “See what kind of love the Father has given to us.” The word “see” there is an imperative. Look at it. Observe it. Consider it. Weigh it against other kinds of love. See what kind it is. Because, it’s a better kind of love than you’ll get anywhere else. 

Because this love was demonstrated in this, “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the God of Eternity Past, to this world. And he came to earth, he took on human flesh, and he lived and died among us so that our sin could be atoned and so that we might have life. Why did he do that? Why would God do such an amazing thing for his created beings? Because he loves us. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, KJV). 

And it’s even better than that. John writes,  

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God

God’s love is so great, it’s so breathtakingly spectacular that we can actually be called the “children of God.” That’s not something to undersell. Who cares if the world rejects you? Who cares if you live as outsiders in this world? That’s a minuscule price to pay in order to be loved by God. 

Frederick M. Lehman said it this way about 100 years ago. 

O love of God, how rich and pure // How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure // The saints’ and angels’ song. 

He said also,

Could we with ink the ocean fill // And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill // And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above // Would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole // Though stretched from sky to sky.

 Church do you know how precious a thing it is that we can be called the children of God? Do you know what it cost Jesus in order that we might be called the children of God? The blood of Jesus did that. And yeah, we might be outsiders in this world. We might be outcasts and exiles in this fallen world. But I’d rather be an outsider in this world, than an outsider in the Kingdom to come. 

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Speaking of the Coming Kingdom. Write this down under 4:

4) The Children of God are anticipators of Christ’s coming (3:2)

John writes in verse 2:

2 Beloved, 

Notice the use of the word “beloved” here, ἀγαπητοί, because we are recipients of God’s agape love.

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

John gives two reasons here to anticipate Christ’s coming. 1) First of all, “we shall be like him.” Just stop and take that in for a moment. We shall be like Jesus! We shall be like “capital H” Him! We will have a new resurrection body like Christ’s resurrection body. “What we will be has not yet appeared.” And what we will be, will be like him. Not exactly like him. Not equivalent to him. Let’s not make that mistake. But, “we shall be like him.” 

 And not only shall we be like him, but 2) “We shall see him as he is.” We shall see him as he truly is. Not as some baby born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. That’s what he was; that’s not what he is. Not as some bloodied and tortured sacrifice on a cross. That’s what he was, not what he is. What he is, is an all-powerful King. What he is, is a conqueror and warrior. What he is, is the Sovereign King of the Universe, and when he returns, he is coming with power.  

When Christ returns, we’ll receive our new resurrection bodies. We’ll be perfect like he is perfect. We’ll be sinless as he is sinless. 

And almost as good as what we will be is what we will no longer be. And what we will no longer experience. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more curse, no more conflict! No more tears, no more fear, no more sin, no more death! No more trials! No more hunger! No more war! No more famine! No more Satan! All sorrow will cease. All pain will desist. All grief will be extinguished. All hardship will be a thing of the past. All turmoil will terminate forever. Everything will be spectacular and never again will we experience anything less than spectacular. And we will bask in the glory of God for 10,000 years and then forevermore. How could you not anticipate this? How could you not, as a child of God, anxiously long for this?  

When’s Jesus coming back, Pastor Tony? I don’t know. I’m not on the planning committee. I’m on the reception committee. But I’m longing for it. A little more every year. 

This last week we had a great retreat at Camp Eagle. It was phenomenal. We had so much fun, and the Lord was so good to us to allow us a little foretaste of heaven with the singing and the fellowship and the joy we experienced. And I could have just stayed up there another week or two.  

But here’s the thing, I would trade all of that, I would trade all of those experiences in this life to see Christ return. Could be today? That would be awesome. I would trade every joyful experience in this world right now to see him as he is and to be what I will be. And those truly great moments in this life are only a foretaste of how amazing our experiences will be in eternity.  

Charles Wesley, the great hymnwriter, said it this way:

And if our fellowship below // In Jesus be so sweet

What height of rapture shall we know // When round His throne we meet!

All praise to our redeeming Lord // Who joins us by His grace;

And bids us, each to each restored // Together seek His face.

The Children of God are anticipators of Christ’s coming, church. We long for the coming of all things good. And we long for the removal of all things bad. Honestly I don’t know which I long for more…the coming of the good or the removal of the evil. It’s a toss-up.

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Finally write this down under 5:

5) The Children of God are purifiers (3:3)

1) The Children of God are abiders (2:28)

2) The Children of God are doers of righteousness (2:29)

3) The Children of God are outsiders (3:1)

4) The Children of God are anticipators of Christ’s coming (3:2)

5) The Children of God are purifiers (3:3)

Look with at vs 3.

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 

“Everyone who thus hopes in him.” By the way, church, that’s not a “hope” like “I hope I get a raise at the office next year.” It’s not like “I hope that the Cowboys win the Superbowl.” That’s not “hope” in the Biblical sense. The Greek word for hope (ἐλπίς) doesn’t convey that nuance. This word is more of a sure thing than that. It conveys the idea of “confidence respecting fulfillment” or “expectation.” It’s a hope that is built on God’s promises, and if you know anything about God’s promises, you know that he will bring his promises to completion. I. Howard Marshall says, “Although the timing of his return is uncertain, the fact of his coming is certain.” And that’s true. We don’t know the hour or the day of his coming, but we know for a fact that he’s coming. He said as much. 

So let me paraphrase verse 3 this way, “Everyone who [believes Christ’s promise that he will return] …” Everyone in on that? How many of you believe Christ is going to follow through with his promises to return? Ok then. If you hope in Christ, if you believe his promise… you will work to purify yourself as a follower of Christ. God didn’t just save you to keep you out of hell. He saved you also to make you more like Jesus, his son. 

3 … everyone who thus hopes in [Jesus] purifies himself as [Jesus] is pure. 

You might say, “How do I purify myself, Pastor Tony? Isn’t that God’s job? Isn’t that what he does?” Well, yes and no. There’s a paradox at work here just like salvation. We are saved by God’s grace. And the Bible clearly says that God draws us to himself, but there is also personal responsibility to act on faith and believe. And there is also personal responsibility to purify ourselves in the work of sanctification that is ultimately a work of God. God is working in us to make us holy and pure. But we are also working to purify ourselves. Here’s a sample of verses that speak to that:

James 4:8 – “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” 

1 Peter 1:22 – “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”

Revelation 22:14 – “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

Revelation 19:8 –“it was granted her [that’s the bride, that’s the church] to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

There’s a sense, I want to be careful with this, there’s a sense in which we have a personal responsibility to seek God, and walk in the Light, and obey his commandments, and that has a purifying effect on our life. That work doesn’t save us. It can’t save us. Only God’s grace allows us to be acceptable before him. But just like what I said about righteousness earlier, The children of the Righteous God who have been redeemed by the Righteous One, Jesus, will increasingly live righteous lives because Christ is righteous. 

Similarly The Children of the “Pure God” or “Holy” God… The word ἁγνός here translated “pure” can also mean “holy.” The Children of the Holy God who have been redeemed by the Holy One, Jesus, will increasingly live holy lives because Christ is holy.

You might say, “What does that look like, Tony? Does that mean I beat myself with a holy stick every time I sin? That’s what the monks did back in the day!” No, don’t do that.

You might say, “does that mean I move out to the desert and remove myself completely from the world and the temptations around me? The monks did that too, Tony!” No, don’t do that. That’s a violation of Jesus’ Great Commission, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.” 

Here’s what that means. Here’s how you purify yourself. You take this Book, that God has given us. This precious revelation of God’s love for us and his instructions to us as the Children of God, and to the best of your ability, with the help of the church and the Holy Spirit living inside of you… You be obedient to it. And when you mess up and fall short of these commands, don’t beat yourself with the holy stick or even the ugly stick for that matter. Instead you 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

Okay. Everyone got it? This is what it means to be a child of God. This is what the children of God do. They imitate their Father who is in heaven. And by this it becomes evident to them and to others that they are the children of God and not the children of the devil (1 John 3:10). More on that next week. 

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I’ll close with this. Warren Wiersbe tells the story about a teenager who was riding in the car with her friends, when all of a sudden her friends tried to induce her to go to a place where she knew she shouldn’t go. And it was a place where her parents had forbidden her to go. And so she protested strongly that her friends should take her home so that she could obey her parents’ wishes.

Her friends tried to shame her by saying, “What’s the matter with you? Are you afraid your parents will find out and hurt you?”

The teenager responded, “No, I’m not afraid they’ll hurt me. I’m afraid I’ll hurt them.” More than anything this daughter wanted to please her parents because she loved them and because she belonged to them. And she wanted to honor them and represent them. 

Now here’s my point in sharing that story with you - how much more should we, The Children of God, seek to please our Father who is in heaven with our actions? I think there is a sense in which we should fear God, and fear is certainly a good short-term motivator. Fear of consequences. Fear of God’s wrath and judgment. But a more effective motivation is found not in fear of God, but in fear of displeasing God. Or let me put it a little differently. We obey God because we have a desire to please our Father who is in heaven, because we have been given the amazing privilege to be called “The Children of God.” 

Church, we are the children of God. Can you believe that? We are the children of God. If you have embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a child of God. He loves you. “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.” He loves you. So, in light of that love, in light of your identity as his child, let’s obey him and represent him well.