Behold What
Manner of Love
1 John 2:28-3:3
28 And now, dear children, continue
in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at
his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you
know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
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! The reason
the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 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. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself,
just as he is pure.
John begins the next section of his letter by using his
favorite name for his readers. Verse 28 begins, “Now dear children.” Several
times in this short letter John referred to his readers as “children,” “dear
children” or “dear friends”. Clearly he had a type of fatherly affection for his
readers. He cared for them and wanted them to know these wonderful truths. And
one of the most staggering truths comes in verse 29. And now, dear children,
continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed
before him at his coming. Here is the key question we need to ask about this
passage: Knowing what we know about the human heart and our inescapable
attraction toward sin, how is it that anyone could be confident and unashamed at
the second coming of Christ? Christ will come again through the clouds with
blasting trumpets and will appear to all mankind with a perfect blazing glory.
Do you recall what happened on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured? The
face of Jesus shone like the sun and his clothes were as white as light. The
Father spoke from Heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him.
Listen to him.” Peter, James and John were terrified and fell to the ground.
Would you say at that moment that these three men were confident and unashamed
before Jesus? They most certainly were not confident and unashamed. This
transfiguration of Jesus that they were privileged to see was a revealing of
some of his infinite glory and perfection. Jesus is fully God and fully man, but
the full glory of his deity was veiled and hidden by his humanity. When you
looked at Jesus walking through the countryside of eating a piece of bread, you
could not tell that he was God. His glory was hidden from plain sight. But on
the mountain just a little bit of his glory was revealed. I like to think of the
scene like this. Jesus’ glory was hidden and metaphorically speaking, it was
like his robe was the covering for his glory. But on the mountain, Jesus pulled
back the top corner of his robe to expose just a small glimpse of glory. Now if
this small piece of his glory caused the disciples to fall down in fear, what
will happen when Jesus appears in his full glory? What will happen when the full
force of his deity is revealed and the pure brilliance of his perfect glory is
shown to us? Can you imagine standing before Jesus and feeling confident and
unashamed? Yet John said that it is possible for believers to be confident and
unashamed at his coming. How can this be?
I
can think of three ways that we could feel confident and unashamed at his
coming. Let me illustrate it with this picture. The two bar graphs indicate the
level of worship between ourselves and God. The average person has some kind of
conception of God, but to them, God is quite small. God is not the all-powerful,
fearsome God of the Bible. The average person does not worship the true God but
rather worships themselves. Who is the chief authority in their life? They are.
Who decides their destiny and fate? They do. Who are they accountable to?
Themselves. The average person believes in some kind of God, but their God is
small and they are big. Is such a person confident and unashamed at the prospect
of meeting God? In their mind, God is like a giant, cuddly teddy bear who will
give them a hug with his big fluffy arms. The average person is not afraid of
God and is confident precisely because their God is so small and harmless. But
this is a dangerously false perception. The true reality is given to us in
Revelation chapter six. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the
generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves
and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the
rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb! Now does this sound like people who are
confident and unashamed?! The average person may feel confident before God but
this is a false reality.
The
second type of person who feels confident and unashamed before God is the
average Christian. They have a much better conception of God than the average
unbeliever. They begin with the understanding that they are sinners in need of a
Savior. Their graph, then, would be smaller than God’s. They understand that God
is bigger than they are and that they need him. After they become a Christian
they are grateful for their salvation. They read the first verse of chapter
three and they are glad. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God! But here is where the average
Christian makes a crucial step of misunderstanding. Most Christians read verse
one in this way. “Wow, look at how much God loves me!” They rightly understand
that God loves them and has made them worthy. But the problem is that this love
of God in a very subtle way becomes “me-centered.” As I said, it’s a very subtle
but important difference which looks something like this.
“Wow, look how much GOD
loves me!” Which then becomes…“Wow, look how much God loves ME! and finally
morphs into…“Wow, look how much god loves ME!”
This
really hit me during worship last week. We sang the song, “Above All,” which
really is filled with excellent lyrics.
Above all powers,
Above all kings. Above all nature and all created things.
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man. You were here before the world began.
Above all
kingdoms, above all thrones. Above all wonders the world has ever known,
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth. There’s no way to measure what Your
worth.
So far, so good. These lyrics elevate the majesty and worth
of Jesus in a way that is proper and Biblical. But the final stanza takes a turn
that could be misunderstood.
Crucified, laid
behind a stone. You lived to die, rejected and alone.
Like a rose, trampled on the ground. You took the fall and thought of me,
above All.
Is that really what the cross is all about—that Jesus gave
his life for us because he valued us above all else? I am not saying that this
song is evil or that we should never sing it again. I don’t know what the author
had in mind when he wrote these lyrics. But I am saying that we must be very
careful how interpret the meaning of the cross. If we carry the weight of these
words to their full conclusion, the result looks a little bit too much like,
“Wow, look how much god loves ME!”
Did Jesus really think of us above all things? Christ did not show his love for
us because we were so lovable, but rather he showed his love for us because we
were so unlovable. He loved us, not because we deserved it so much, but because
we needed it so badly. This is what can happen with this kind of “me-centered”
cross. In our estimation, we increase and in a sense, become equal with God. God
is still big and awesome, but if God thought of me above all things, then that
must mean that I am pretty important too! Would this kind of a person be
confident and unashamed in the presence of God? Yes they would, because at one
level they have a high view of themselves. I am not suggesting that such people
actually think they are equal to God, but their perception of God is not nearly
what it should be. Not even close.
Let’s go back to verse one, which is the key to
understanding how to be confident and unashamed at the return of Christ. How
great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! Instead of the NIV, I am going to use the ESV to get at the
true meaning of this verse. The ESV reads, “See what kind of love the Father has
given to us, that we should be called the children of God.” You will see that I
prefer this translation for several reasons. The first reason is because the
wording causes us to actually look in a certain direction. We are supposed to
look to God in order to see his love. “See what kind of love” is another way of
saying, “Look over there at the cross—do you see that love—do you see that
glorious perfection?!” This verse is intended to get our eyes off of ourselves
and onto Christ in genuine worship.
There
is a parallel meaning in Mark 13:1. And as he came out of the temple, one of his
disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful
buildings!” The same Greek word is used in a similar kind of reference. This
verse could be translated this way. “Look, what kind of stones and what kind of
buildings!” Why were the disciples so amazed at the stones and the buildings? We
can’t take a trip to the temple in first century Jerusalem, but we can do the
next best thing. We can take a trip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The
Western Wall is all that is left of the original outer wall of Herod’s
temple—the very same temple spoken of in Mark 13. This is the most holy site for
orthodox Jews. Night and day there are always at least some Jews praying next to
this wall. Is it big—is it glorious? It may not look all that impressive, but
let me compare it to some other ancient structures.
When you think of large structures built with enormous
stones in the ancient world, what do you think of? You will probably think of
the great pyramids in Egypt. We have all seen pictures of these pyramids.
Perhaps you have seen a show about the pyramids on the Discovery channel that
talk about the enormity of the stones used in the pyramids and the engineering
marvel of such a structure that was built almost 5,000 years ago. The great
pyramids are so impressive that many people have theorized that they were built
by aliens from outer space or by a giant race of men. Unquestionably, the
pyramids are an impressive sight, but the average weight of the stones used to
build the pyramids is only 2 tons—4,000 pounds, and the heaviest is roughly ten
tons. By comparison, the stone in the pyramids are small compared to the stones
used at Stonehenge in southern England. The largest stones weigh about 26 tons.
Once again, scientists wonder how such a structure could have been built by
ancient people.
Now
we move back to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and look more closely at the lower
stones on this wall. These stones are estimated at 50-100 tons, which means they
exceed any stone used in the great pyramids of Egypt or at Stonehenge. But that
is not all. In the last two decades, archeologists have been digging below this
outer wall and have found that the wall extends at much further below the
present ground level. It is there that they discovered something amazing.: a
single stone measuring eleven feet high, fourteen feet deep and forty feet long,
weighing about 500 tons, or one million pounds! This stone is the second largest
quarried stone in the ancient or modern world. It is staggeringly huge. Now when
we go back to Mark we have a better understanding. As Jesus and the disciples
were leaving the Temple, they would have been able to see these enormous stones.
Add to that is the fact that the entire Temple area was as large as _______, all
of it built with polished, white limestone. For the disciples, especially since
they were common laborers, the beauty and size of the Temple would have been
overwhelming. Therefore, when the disciples said, “Look, what kind of stones and
what kind of buildings,” they were actually commenting on the enormous size and
the magnificent beauty of the buildings. They said, “Look, at those enormous
stones and the beautiful buildings!”
In the same way, when John wrote, “See what kind of love
the Father has given to us,” he was commenting on the size and the beauty of
God’s love. It’s as if he said, “See the enormous and 
beautiful
love the Father has given to us.” We must see that John is pointing at
the Father. “Look at the Father! Do you see his love? It is enormous love. It is
beautiful love. Can you see it!” In that sentence, every possible bit of
attention is taken off of himself and pointed toward the Father. When that
happens, we decrease and the Father increases. This is true worship in its
fullest Biblical sense. When God becomes bigger and bigger I naturally become
smaller and smaller. The larger God becomes the greater the worship. I hope you
understand that God cannot actually increase in size or substance. He is
infinitely perfect in all ways, but it is our perception of him that changes.
The unbeliever has a no concept of God or a very small concept of God. The
average Christian is glad for their salvation but still perceives a small God.
But the Biblical Christian continually says, “Look over there! Do you see the
Fathers’ enormous love? It is huge! It is unfathomable! It is gorgeous. It is
the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!” That’s what a worship service should
be all about—getting our attention off of ourselves and pointing at the beauty
and enormity of God. This is what discipleship is all about—pointing to the
Father and glorying in the Son.
John was pointing at the enormous love of the Father, but
why was this love so beautiful? John said, “See the enormous and beautiful love
the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.” How could
I possibly become a child of the eternal Father, perfect in all of his glory?
But I am! Because the enormous and beautiful love of the Father, I am a child of
the King. But we don’t say it like this: “I’M a child of the king.” But instead
we say it like this: “I’m a child of the KING!” It is the glory of the king that
makes any relationship with him absolutely wonderful.
Next week we will think a lot more about the various
aspects of being a child of God, but let me leave you with one application. If
you are truly a child of the King, is there anything you can do that would make
him stop being your Father? If you failed this week, is he still your King?
“My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out of my Father’s
hand.”
Rich Maurer
July 8, 2007