Lavished Love

Lavished Love

Good morning Class.  Chris and I are visiting our children this week.  I am very thankful for Robert who agreed to teach today!

Question of the day:  If you could snap your fingers and instantly have any earthly possession what would it be? (This is not intended to be a deep philosophical question. just a fun get to know each other question!)

Today's lesson is a potentially difficult one.  A year a go I heard about an Adventist pastor who was using this passage to claim that we must live a sinless life to go to heaven.  His view of the gospel is what I call the BUT gospel.  Jesus died for our sins and salvation is a free gift, BUT..... 

There is no BUT!  

I had planned for us to only study the first 10 verses.  However this chapter really needs to be studied in context of the entire book and most certainly the entire chapter.  If we stop at verse 10 the passage can be misunderstood.  Please do your best to get to the end of the lesson. 

With that in mind, read the entire chapter.  

1 John 3

See what great 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 Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

More on Love and Hatred

11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[b] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

I want us to take a moment and discuss these two sentences.  

1.  BOTH of theses sentences end in EXCLAMATION MARKS!!  I want you to imagine someone like a Joanne saying this!  This is amazing! It is remarkable!  Unexplainable! (not a word, but fitting) 

2.  GREAT LOVE -  How beautiful to put these two words together.  LOVE is one of those words that is great on it's own.  After all John writes in this book, "GOD IS LOVE."  Love on it's own a wonderful word filled with meaning.  We as a world yearns for and needs love, and yet here John adds GREAT to this already great word!  Great love. 

Have you experienced a great love?

Do you know and experience what he is talking about here?

John continues.  After all GREAT LOVE isn't even enough here..... it is...

3. LAVISHED on US! - I love this word LAVISHED! A dictionary definition is bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon and to cover something thickly or liberally with. 

What a beautiful picture John gives us here.  What GREAT LOVE has been LAVISHED on us!

God has extravagantly, liberally covered us in this thick layer of LOVE.  

Have you ever gotten in a shower and the water pressure or the shower head is one of those that just seems to trickle out.  It is so unpleasant. I have very think hair and if I am in a shower like that it takes forever for the water to actually reach my scalp and really get all my hair wet.  I HATE it!  In contrast have you ever sat under or in a water fall? The water pours over you completely drenching you in a fraction of a second.  Even through my very think hair, there is not time between the water hitting my head and every single strand of hair being drenched.  

God's love is not like a low pressure shower it is like an amazing water fall! It covers, completely covers! Through all your layers of clothes, thick hair, your sin, your hurt, it completely covers it all! Have you experienced that LOVE?

If you haven't experienced that kind of LOVE, then I ask you to take this passage and pray that God helps you experience it!  Don't worry about the rest of the chapter, in fact, ignore it, until you can say you know what this kind of waterfall love from God is all about.  

4. CHILDREN of GOD! - This past spring the world was fascinated as we watched Megan become a princess, marrying her prince.  I remember hearing people say that they would never want that life.  I kind of agree, but not fully.  If Chris were a literal prince, I would be happy to take on the life.  Here is the deal.  To become part of the Royal family there are lots of changes in store for Megan.  You can see it as losing so much or gaining so much!  Megan loves to serve and reach out to those in need.  The scale which she can now help has grown exponentially.  She can do her humanitarian work on a much larger scale.  

OK maybe that isn't a great example for some of you.... 

Several families in our church have adopted children, some of you in our class have and some are starting the process and are planning to.  

A child who has no home, a child who has been abandoned, or a child who was born into a family that for whatever reason didn't have what it takes to be able to care for the child, when adopted into a family like those right here in our church, how do their lives change?

These children are no longer even adopted... they just ARE the child of their new family! They reap all the benefits of being a child in that home! The are lavished with GREAT LOVE! 

5. That is what we are! - I love this sentence!  Gunner is Tank and Shana's boy!  That is just who he is! Nothing else matters!  I am a daughter of God!  THAT IS JUST WHO I AM!!!!! FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, so now what do we do with these very challenging verses in the middle. 

6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

This is a difficult passage, there is no question!  However, I hope that when we are done with this we see it in a beautiful way. 

1. You can't read this and understand it without really digesting and KNOWING the first two verses.  YOU are a CHILD of GOD!  

You are now NOT a child of the ACCUSER!  

As a child of the accuser, we believe lies.  We live the life of an accuser.  What John is saying here, is this... YOU ARE NO LONGER A CHILD Of THE ACCUSER, but a CHILD OF THE REDEEMER!  THE KING OF KINGS! YOUR FATHER IS THE FATHER OF LOVE WHO LAVISHES IT ON YOU!

John is saying here, that being a child of the King changes you! Megan now has to live in a palace, she can't live in a simple apartment in NYC or LA.  She now has to live in the palace.   The facts are I am sure there are days that she wishes she could go back to her old life.  A life of "freedom".  A life where she could just go to McDonalds or Target whenever she wanted.  Or maybe she misses going out drinking with her friends, but she can't because she is now a princess.  She also has to learn the rules of the Royal family.  How to greet people, what to wear and not wear, how to speak, how to eat at fancy meals.  All of this is why many of us say we would never want to be in her shoes.  Not to mention that Royal family is far from a perfect family! 

I realize this isn't a perfect example....

I know twin sisters who at the age of six didn't know how to speak English but had created their own language, because they were so neglected, no one had spoken with them.  The girls were found in an apartment with nothing but some trash and a mattress.  They were malnourished and unable to converse.  They were then put in a safe and loving home.  These girls were no longer able to go back "home" to the infested mattress and empty fridge.  They could not be part of the new family and still live in the quagmire. 

That is what John is saying here!  You can't be covered by God's lavish love and still live in the quagmire of sin.  The accuser is trying to tell you differently!  He is trying to accuse you of not being good enough, of not getting it right. He is trying to tell you to keep living in sin, because that is who you are.   He is trying to tell you that you aren't good enough to live in the new home. He is also telling you that God is trying to keep you from shopping whenever you want and restricting you by keeping you from eating at McDonalds, when the truth is... God has a feast prepared for you daily of the best possible food for you, and you don't need to go shopping because it is all right there delivered to you,... Is sin something we are missing out on?  Is God trying to restrict us?

John isn't saying get it right or be condemned.  He is saying, God has called you to so much more!  You can't be sitting in the quagmire, without food, because you are not the child who needs to be adopted you ARE ADOPTED!!!!! So stop living like you still need to be adopted!

God... HIS GREAT LOVE has been lavished on you and you are now a CHILD of GOD!

I realize it doesn't feel this simple.  Why?  Because, like Paul says in Romans 7, "14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

This life is a struggle for sure. All of us, no matter how long we have been Christians and no matter how deeply we understand the great love of God and live surrendered to him, we still struggle. Paul is writing about us all!

So how do we handle all this?

In the example of the twins, the deplorable conditions are our sins.  So God has called us out of that.  We can't be called HIS kids and still live in those conditions.  We have to continually strive to live as a child of God! 

This is a work we do daily with him!

How?

How do we learn to live as a child of God?

Is there a sin you have been struggling with?

Is there some part of your life, your old life you don't want to let go of?

Is there something you know God has been asking you to give up or surrender but you just don't want to?

There is no question that to be a child of God requires change! 

Is that change hard?

I now want us to skip to the very last part of this chapter! John tells us!

"19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

1. We set our hearts at rest... HOW?

I don't know about you but setting my heart at rest sounds beautiful! Exactly what I need!

a. If our hearts condemn us:  KNOW that God is greater than our hearts and He KNOWs everything!

b. If our hearts don't condemn us: We have confidence before God because we keep His commands....

c. His commands are: 1. To believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. 2. To love one another as he commanded us. 

We skipped over a lot in this passage about the loving each other well.  It really is the answer.  If we keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him, and if we love those around us.... if we serve them, and feed them, if we cloth them, and forgive them, if we LOVE with a great love and lavish it on those we come in contact with..... we will have hearts at REST!!!!

So you are a child of God.  Not just any god but the God of GREAT LOVE that has LAVISHED it on you and CALLS YOU CHILD!  This God has adopted you from the accuser and now you live a very different life!  You can't live the life of a child of the accuser, because that ISN'T who you are!

GO and LIVE with a HEART AT REST!  YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE ONE AND ONLY GOD!

GO and LOVE WELL!!!