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Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, May 18th, 2003
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1 John 3:18-23 as follows --
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."
Dear Christian Friends,
"I don't know if it still happens in cartoons or not. Back in the olden days, when I used to watch Saturday morning cartoons like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner and such, it seemed to happen a lot. One of the cartoon characters starts to tumble down a snow-covered hill. Once he starts rolling down that slope, he collects more and more snow, turns into a big human snowball that keeps growing and growing, with him in the middle, until it smashes into a tree at the bottom of the hill.
I've never seen that happen in real life. I've seen people take spills while skiing; I've done it myself, but I've never turned into a human snowball. But we do use that expression, don't we? We talk about things "snowballing." We mean that something happens to start a chain reaction, and this chain of events just sort of keeps going by itself, rolling on downhill and growing bigger and bigger.
Sometimes it's a snowball of bad things that happen in a person's life, but it can also be a snowball of good things, a collection of blessings that grows bigger and bigger. That's what the inspired writer John describes in our text. When God's children walk the walk of Christian love, that sets off a chain reaction of blessings for them. It's a snowballing of good things that happen, and the Christian, the child of God, is right there in the middle of it. IT'S LIKE A SNOWBALL ROLLING DOWNHILL.
"Show me the money!" is what professional athletes say when it's contract time. To team owners and management, the star player says, "Don't just tell me that you love me, prove it! Don't just talk about how important I am to you; don't just tell the reporters how much you appreciate me — put your money where your mouth is. Show me how much you love me by what you do for me!" There's something there that's true in everyday life for everybody. People expect you to back up your words with actions; they expect you to not just talk the talk but to walk the walk. In other words — to prove that your talk is true and you're for real.
Understandably, then, the world expects those who claim to be Christians to act like Christians. If you preach about love with your words, people expect you to demonstrate love with your actions. Of course, that's what God himself expects from you and me. One of the big themes of John's first letter is the fact that those who have been born again as God's children will prove it in their lives. That's where our text begins, and that's where the snowball of blessings starts to roll. St. John addresses you and me when he writes, "Dear children, let us not be loving with words or tongue, but in deed and truth." Right before this he wrote that since Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. The apostle pointed out that if I have the means to help a needy brother or sister and I don't do it — how can the love of God be in me?
He urges us, then, as God's dear children, not just to talk the talk but to walk the walk of Christian love. Don't just say you love people, prove it! I think you know that he's talking about agape, the kind of love God has shown to us in Jesus. Agape is love that is undeserved and unconditional and selfless — it always aims at doing what is best for the other person. It is a fact that that love is born in those who are born of God. God's children receive agape from him and then act in agape toward others.
Now, when that is happening, when loving actions flow from our faith in Christ, it's obvious that other people benefit from it. They are blessed by our loving actions. But our text takes us in kind of a different direction than we normally go with this. John talks about blessings that come to US when we are doing loving things for others. The way he describes it, it's kind of a chain reaction, as one blessing leads to another and the snowball starts to grow. After urging us to love with actions and not just talk about it, he says, "This, then, is how we know that we belong to the truth." There's another of John's big themes — knowing that we truly are God's children, born again through faith in his Son. Yes, of course we know that, but do we always really KNOW that? Aren't there are a lot of things that cause us to be not quite so sure? Because we're still sinful and see daily evidence of it, we need reassurance that we're still in God's grace. John offers this: Every loving thing that you do is proof that you are still one of God's children!
Normally, we try not to make a big deal out of our loving actions; we're a bit fearful of becoming self-righteous about them (and that's OK). But John point to those very acts of love in our lives and tells us that "this is how we know that we are of the truth." As you think back over the past week, and you identify truly loving actions, you can view each one as a solid piece of evidence that you truly are a child of God. Your love in action is proof that Christ's love is active in you!
John also understands the psychology of a Christian; he knows what you're probably thinking right now. He knows that as soon as I start checking my life for love, my heart condemns me. My conscience points out all the ways I've failed to love people; it brings up all my unloving words and actions. John deals with that. This is how we set our hearts at rest, he says; this is how you quiet your conscience when it accuses you. You remember: "God is greater than our hearts." This is the God who "loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Based on the holy and loving life of Jesus our Substitute, and based on his taking our place under the curse of the law, God has justified sinners. In raising Jesus from death, God officially declared us to be people who fully meet his requirements.
So, when your conscience condemns you for your failures to love, remember that God has the final word; he's greater that your heart and he overrules your conscience! It condemns you, but he does not condemn you. As John says, God knows everything — he knows that his Son redeemed you. He knows that your sins were paid for, knows that he has forgiven you, knows that you are his child through faith in your Savior!
Are you with me so far? The snowball started rolling with you walking the walk of Christian love. Every loving action in your life not only benefits somebody else, but is also a blessing to you. It proves to you that you really are a child of God. So this snowball of blessings starts to grow. There are bumps along the way, like when your heart condemns you, but now you've dealt wtih that. You reminded your heart that God justified you, and his Word sets your heart at rest. Well, then, John says, "if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God." With evidence of love in your life and with your heart at rest, you have greater confidence to approach your Father in prayer. You pray more and more boldy. You ask your Father for more things, for bigger things and for better things. And then, "we receive from him anything we ask."
Can it be true that we really receive anything we ask? We do, if we pray as God's children! As God's children we know that we can ask for anything we want (anything that's godly, that is). We can request any blessing for ourselves or anybody else. At the same time, we are convinced that our Father knows best. So we ask for what we want, but are always happy to have him overrule our request or improve on what we asked. We always get what we ask, because he always does what's best. Our confidence grows - we ask more - we receive more!
That positive result of our prayers is attached to the fact that "we obey his commands and do what pleases him." And what does our God command? What is his will for us all? John writes, "To believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." That brings us back full circle to where we began. What our God wants is for us to have eternal life by believing in the name, the truth about the Son of God who redeemed us by his blood. What God wants is for us to demonstrate our faith by our love.
And it happens. We not only talk the talk, but walk the walk of Christian love, and that sets off a chain reaction of blessings. Those loving actions in your life reassure you that you are God's child. Your confidence grows and you boldly go to your Father in prayer. You ask him for more things, for bigger things, for better things. You ask for what's best and without fail you receive what you asked, because you're doing your Father's will which means believing in Jesus and loving your brother. And so it goes, full circle — a growing collection of blessings, like a snowball rolling downhill. And you, God's child, are right there in the middle of it!