to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
A couple more. One youngster said, "When planets run around
and around in circles, we say they are orbiting. When people do
it, we say they are crazy." True. One defined the spinal column
as "a long bunch of bones. The head sits on the top, and you sit
on the bottom." OK.
None of those have anything to do with the sermon, but this
one jumped out at me because it surely does. One youngster
wrote, "Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if
you don't, why you should." In the context of our lesson, this
one really hits home: "See what love the Father has given us,
that we should be called children of God; and that is what we
are..." Is there any family resemblance? There SHOULD be.
I wonder how those Christians who were the first recipients
of this letter felt about that. They had had some difficult
times, some severe conflict in their fellowship.(2) There was
apparently some dissension about the relationship between faith
and action. For what it is worth, that controversy would not
have been a surprise, because the surrounding culture fought the
same battle. For those who came from a Jewish background, a life
that divorced faith from practice was unthinkable, but in the
larger world, the one nurtured in the culture of Greece and Rome,
religion largely had to do with paying homage to the gods so that
the gods would protect and enhance one's life. Morality was a
matter for the philosophers... Many early converts probably saw
Christianity as yet another way of approaching the gods, of
securing safety and prosperity for themselves..."(3) Sort of a
celestial good-luck charm. A divine rabbit's foot.
No different these days. Several years ago, Stephen
Carter's book, The Culture of Disbelief,(4) looked at how our
society wishes us to treat God as a hobby. Our culture sees
faith as something that we should not bring with us into the
public square when making decisions about life and how life might
be lived. Our society's message is clear: Practice your faith on
your day of devotion in your four walls and leave it there.(5)
I John says no. I John tells us that what we believe will
determine how we behave.
Our text begins with a reminder of the high privilege we
have in being in God's family. It is a privilege to be named as
the children of God. John Chrysostom, the great preacher of the
middle ages, in his sermon on how to bring up children, advises
parents to give their youngster some great scriptural name, to
teach over and over the story of the original bearer of the name,
and thus to give a standard to live up to, and an inspiration for
living, when reaching adulthood. So the Christian has the
privilege of being called the child of God. Just as belonging to
a great school, a great regiment, a great Church, a great
household is an inspiration to fine living, so, even more, to
bear the name of the family of God is something to keep a
person's feet on the right way, and to set us climbing.(6)
Something to note here. Some will want to raise the
question, "Are we not ALL children of God?" The answer is Yes
and No. One commentator explains it this way:
I love what follows: "Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is
this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see
him as he is." God is not done with us yet. And amazingly, what
lies in store is so wonderful it is beyond our comprehension.
Now, what is this audacious statement: "No one who abides in
him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him?"
Wait a minute. That sounds impossible. "No one who abides in
him SINS?" That lets ME out. How about you? Not to mention
everyone you know? Or perhaps there is more to this.
Bingo. This is one of those rare times when all those hours
in seminary Greek pays off. You see, the Greek verb "sins" here
is not to be understood as a one time thing, but rather something
that is ongoing. A more helpful translation would be, "No one
who abides in him sins and keeps on sinning." For that matter,
even our author knows that sin is going to come in our lives.
Not many paragraphs prior to these words, we find,
The point of John's "no sin" declaration is to make sure
that our profession and practice...our beliefs and
behavior...match. In other words, do not just "talk the walk,"
but "walk the talk." The phrase refers to people who can be
trusted. It is about the wholeness of life. It is Tiger Woods
who talks confidently about his ability and then goes to Augusta
and laps the Masters field. It is the person who has kicked a
drug habit and can effectively share his or her experience with
others. It is the person who professes to be a follower of
Christ, and then actually LIVES a Christian life.(9)
Dr. Robert Coles, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard
Medical School, in his class lectures has told students about why
he is unwilling, as a Harvard intellectual, to dismiss religious
faith as a matter of little consequence.
As a young psychiatrist in 1958...he was drafted and sent
down South. While living in New Orleans three years later, he
encountered 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, who was among the first
black children to integrate the city's schools. Everyday, Ruby
was picked up by Federal marshals and walked past crowds who
shouted, "You don't deserve to live;" "You're worse than an
animal." And yet, each day she went to school.
One day, he heard that Ruby had been talking to the crowd
heckling her. "Ruby," he said to her, "your teacher told me you
were talking to the people in the mob. I wondered what you were
saying to them."
"I wasn't talking to them," she replied. "I was praying for
them. They need praying for."
"They do?" Dr. Coles asked incredulously.
"Yes," Ruby answered. "That's what God would want me to do."
The point of the story, says Dr. Coles, is not to make Ruby
a saint, or to put down the angry, white crowd...but to put to
rest the simple minded notion of religion as the "opiate of the
people."(10)
The words are not just words. The talk is not just talk.
The talk goes with the walk, and the walk goes with the talk.
And when those two match, it makes all the difference.
A Civil War chaplain approached a wounded soldier on the
battlefield and asked if he'd like to hear a few verses from the
Bible. The wounded man said, "No, I'm so thirsty, I'd rather
have some water." The chaplain gave him a drink, then repeated
his question. "No sir, not now -- but could you put something
under my head?" The chaplain did so, and again repeated his
question. "No," said the soldier, "I'm cold. Could you cover me
up?" The chaplain took off his inside coat and wrapped the
soldier. Afraid to ask, he did not repeat his question. He made
to go away, but the soldier called him back. "Look, Chaplain, if
there's anything in that book of yours that makes a person do for
another what you've done for me, then I want to hear it."(11)
Walking the talk.
John's letter takes this concept of walking the talk and
pushes it. What we believe will determine how we behave.
It made all the difference in the lives of the earliest
disciples. You remember what happened. They were locked in a
Jerusalem room, scared to death that the same fate that had
befallen their Master might come on them. Suddenly, their risen
Lord appears in their midst. Is it a ghost? No. Jesus says,
"Yo, check out the hands and feet. Ghosts don't have flesh and
bone. And, by the way, have y'all got anything to eat?"
To say the least, the disciples are blown away by what they
have encountered. They hear again (for who knows the how-manieth
time) what the scriptures have all-along said about the Messiah,
then Jesus says, "You are witnesses of these things." And, sure
enough, the fact that they witnessed made them become witnesses.
Suddenly, they believed...and it made all the difference in how
they behaved. These children of God turned the world upside
down.
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be
called children of God; and that is what we are..." And, yes, we
WILL be different because of the family relationship, because
with privilege always comes responsibility. Are you ready for
it?
One night about a week and a half ago, my family was
shopping at Wal-Mart on Wendover when the announcement came over
the PA system telling everyone to evacuate the building NOW.
RIGHT NOW! Apparently, a bomb threat. No bomb, as it turned
out, but, better safe than sorry. These things happen with more
regularity than I care to think about, and they are strangely
indiscriminate. There was even a bomb threat at a meeting of the
South Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. 1,800
United Methodists were gathered in an Ordination service. Then a
telephoned bomb threat came through. The auditorium at Indiana
University quickly emptied.
The people left in hasty and not too orderly fashion.
Outside they discovered it was raining, but there was little
complaining because they realized how much the rain was needed
because of a drought. Forty-five minutes later the crowd heard
the announcement that the building has been searched and nothing
was found. They could reenter.
As the wet Methodists started to enter through the door,
security people kept repeating, "Please enter at your own
risk!"(12) Strange counsel for people entering a religious
service. Or is it?
Imagine entering our church's narthex and your eyes falling
upon a sign that reads, "Please enter at your own risk, because
after the service, your life may never be the same again!" Hmm.
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be
called children of God; and that is what we are..." What a
compliment awaits you! You? A child of God? Oh yes, I should
have known. I can see the FAMILY RESEMBLANCE.
1. Carl Horton via PresbyNet, "Bottom Drawer," #3156, 4/9/97 2. See 2:19 3. David Brandfass, via Ecunet, "Epistle Notes for Next Sunday, " #235, 4/8/97 4. New York: Basic Books, 1993 5. Brandfass, ibid. 6. William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude, Daily Study Bible Series, (Philadelphia, Westminster, 1960), p. 86 7. ibid., p. 87 8. 1 John 1:8-2:2 9. Richard Bolin, via PresbyNet, "Sermonshop 04 17 1994," #46, 4/16/94 10. Fran Schumer, NY Times Magazine, 4/15/84, quoted by Richard Bolin, ibid. 11. Carlos Wilton, via PresbyNet, "Sermonshop 04 17 1994," #5, 4/12/94 12. Lori Carey, via Ecunet, "Illustrations for This Week," #280, 4/12/97
There are two English words which are closely
connected, but whose meanings are widely different.
There is the word paternity and the word fatherhood.
Paternity describes a relationship in which a father is
responsible for the physical existence of a [child];
but, as far as paternity goes, it can be, and it not
infrequently happens, that the father has never even
set eyes on the [child], and would not even recognize
him [or her], if in later years [they] met. Fatherhood
describes an intimate, loving, continuous relationship
in which father and [child] grow closer to each other
every day. In the sense of paternity all [people] are
children of God; but in the sense of fatherhood [we]
are only children of God, when God makes [that]
gracious approach to [us], and when [we] respond.(7)
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he
who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we
have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is
not in us. My little children, I am writing these
things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone
does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice
for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the
sins of the whole world.(8)
Amen!
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