What Traits Do God's Children Share? 1 John 5:1-6 041215M
What family traits have you inherited through your genetic code? For me, my
high forehead and the red hair I had as a boy were traits of the Miller family.
Even parts of our personality and some of the mannerisms we have can be
inherited, though many of those things are also learned from our parents as we
grew up. What about our characteristics as God's children? Are there things we
have in common as members of his family? John would say, "Yes, there are."
Let's answer that question today on the basis of these words of God:
What Traits Do God's Children Share?
1. They believe Jesus is the Christ.
2. they love God and each other.
3. They overcome the world by faith.
1. John speaks of Christians being "born of God." That's consistent with what
Jesus taught about the need to be "born again of water and the Spirit." It wasn't
your choice to be born. You didn't pick your parents or your family, your birth date
or your birth place. God did. And it's the same with our believing in Jesus. And
that's the first trait all God's children have: They believe Jesus is the Christ.
Isn't that what John says? Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is
born of God. That's what determines whether or not someone is a "Christian":
they believe in Christ. People talk a lot about faith today, but faith always has an
object. You rely on or trust in someone or something. In this case, it's trusting
that Jesus is the "Christ." "Christ" isn't Jesus' last name; it's his title. It's the same
as "Messiah" in Hebrew, and it means "Anointed One" or "Chosen One." By
whom? For what? Well, he was chosen by God the Father from eternity to save
the world from sin. He was chosen by God to take on his human nature so that
he could live under God's laws as a human being, keeping them for everyone. He
was chosen by God to become a human being so that, as the God-man, he
might bear the sins of the world and suffer God's wrath and punishment for them
when he died on the cross. He was chosen by God to rescue the world from the
power of the devil, from sin, and from the lasting effects of death.
And how do we know Jesus is the Christ? John says, 6a This is the one who
came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only,
but by water and blood. There have been various ideas of what John means
by Jesus having come by "water and blood," but the best explanation seems to
be that he is referring to both Jesus' baptism and his death on the cross. That is
where God revealed Jesus as the Christ, the Savior and substitute for a world of
sinners. At his baptism we see Jesus trading places with everyone in the world,
the innocent for the guilty. He lived under God's law without sin, though he was
tempted as all human beings are. In fact, the very next thing after Jesus' baptism
was his temptation by the devil in the desert. We see him on the cross shedding
his innocent blood to purchase a world of sinners for God. Christianity is a blood
religion just like the Judaism of the Old Testament that foreshadowed it. For
example, John had earlier said, The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all
sin (1 Jn 1:7). The writer to the Hebrews wrote, How much more, then, will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to
God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve
the living God! (He 9:14). So by water and blood we know Jesus is the Christ!
And how did you come to believe this? John says, 6b...And it is the Spirit who
testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. The Holy Spirit testified to these
things in the gospel and gave you faith to believe that Jesus is the Christ. It is
through him that you are born of God.
Praise God for your new birth. The Holy Spirit is still testifying to you that Jesus is
the Christ, your Savior. He took your place under God's laws and kept them for
you; he took your place on the cross when he poured out his innocent blood for
you. We might even add that he made you his own by the water and Word in
your own baptism that united you with Christ. And he gives you his blood along
with his body with the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. God wants you to be
assured that you are a member of his family, reborn through faith in Jesus.
2. Where the character trait of faith in Jesus exists in a person, there will be
other character traits. What traits do God's children share? John says They love
God and each other. He says this in numerous places, but in our text he writes,
1b ...Everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is true in
everyday life, isn't it? If a husband loves his wife and they have a baby together,
the husband is going to love that baby too. I can say from my father's funeral,
many people I didn't know were kind to me just because I was my father's son.
So if God's people love him--and they do because of what he's done for them in
Jesus--they're going to love his other children too, namely, their siblings in Christ.
And how do you know you love God's children? John continues, 2 This is how
we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out
his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. God
demonstrated his love in action. He didn't just say, "I love you; I forgive you." He
showed it by sacrificing his one and only Son. Christian love isn't just saying "I
love God; I love other people." It demonstrates love through acts of kindness and
selflessness. It strives to keep God's commands. And which are those? Well, his
commands are summarized in the Ten Commandments. And Jesus summarized
the Ten Commandments this way: Love the Lord your God with your heart, soul
and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Is that so hard? Is it a horrible burden to always try to put God and his Word first
in life, and to love other people and treat them as we want to be treated? John
says that for the person born again, no, it's not a burden at all: And his
commands are not burdensome.... In fact, there is a psalm that says, I delight
in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to your commands,
which I love, and I meditate on your decrees (Ps 119:47-48). It is a joy to obey
God and serve others when you walk in God's forgiveness and love in Christ.
The opportunities we have to show we are children of God who love God are
endless. They begin with our marriages and families and those closest to us.
They're reflected in the sacrifices of our time and attention we make for our
spouse, our children or grandchildren. They continue with the people we work
with and the patience we show others when they do stupid things or say hurtful
words. They continue with the way we relate to our Christian family right here at
St. Andrew. But let's be honest: sometimes it is a pain to do things for other
people, especially if they don't appreciate it. We get sick of doing for others;
when is somebody going to do something for us? It's actually very difficult at
times to put God first and obey his commands. In fact, to do it perfectly is
impossible. That's why we can rejoice that our salvation doesn't depend on how
well we have kept God's commands or loved God and his children. It depends on
Jesus and what he did for us. That's what moves us to love God and other
people, and to do it freely and willingly. It's not a burden when you don't have to
do it to have love God you, but you can do it because God already loves you.
3. And that's another characteristic or trait of God's children: They overcome
the world by faith. Listen again to what John writes: 4 for everyone born of
God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world,
even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God. The world isn't the rocks, mountains,
oceans and trees. The world is the people and the sinful ways they think, speak
and behave. Along with the devil and our own sinful flesh, the world is always
tempting us away from God and obedience to his commands. The world sees
God as a killjoy, the "heavy" who is always crashing the party. They see his will
for sex, marriage, honesty, integrity, uprightness and holiness as being
oppressive and unrealistic. They view God, the Bible, Christianity and the Church
as basically a bunch of rules and regulations that even those who call
themselves Christians or church people don't bother keeping. They don't realize
that we don't win the victory over sin by keeping commands and rules; we have
victory trough faith in Christ. And that is what leads us to keep God's commands
and to walk in victory over sin. We're already forgiven in Christ. We've overcome
the world because Christ overcame the world, as he himself said: "In this world
you will have trouble. But take heart ! I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33).
So how do you gain the victory over the world and the kinds of things it tries to
tempt you to do? When you yield to temptation and get "hooked" on worldly
things like alcohol, drugs, sex, work, shopping, or computer games, how do you
overcome? Look to Jesus! He overcame for you! In him you HAVE the victory.
And in him you can live victoriously over the world. And that victory will be
evident and final when he comes to take you to heaven!
And that's what characterizes us as God's children: We believe Jesus is the
Christ. We love God and others. And we overcome the world by faith. You're holy
in Christ, your risen Lord. After all, you DO resemble your heavenly Father, and
Jesus your brother too. The Holy Spirit has made you part of the family! Amen.
1 John 5:1-6
What Traits Do God's Children Share?
1. They believe Jesus is the Christ.
2. they love God and each other.
3. They overcome the world by faith.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
6a This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not
come by water only, but by water and blood.
The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7).
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead
to death, so that we may serve the living God! (He 9:14).
6b...And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
1b ...Everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and
carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his
commands.
And his commands are not burdensome....
I delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to your
commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees (Ps 119:47-48).
4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that
has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the
world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart ! I have overcome the world"
(Jn 16:33).