H. Michael Brewer
Crescent Springs Presbyterian
30 April 2006
CHILDREN OF GOD
I John 3:1-7
Usually when someone asks who I am, I give them my name, but it’s not a very good answer. In
the phone book of any decent sized city, you’ll likely find several Michael Brewers. There are at least
eight of us in greater Cincinnati, so maybe a name doesn’t count for much. For instance, every year in
some part of the country there’s a gathering of the Jim Smith Society. To get into the society you have
to be named Jim Smith. So far, they’ve signed up over 1,800 members.
A fellow in Australia says we’re all just statistics, just numbers in a grid somewhere. To make the
point, he legally changed his name to Sub Paragraph Three. He might have a point. For years I
refused to memorize my social security number, but they finally wore me down. After entering it a few
thousand times, you can’t help but learn it, can you? But I hope Sub Paragraph Three is wrong. I’d
hate to think I’m just a number.
How do we know who we are? Does our identity come from our gender, our color, our nationality?
Or maybe our relationships. In some circles, I’m Bethany’s Dad or Janet’s husband or I’m the
Presbyterian preacher. I’m proud of that, but it seems there ought to be more to me than my
connections. Can we define ourselves with labels like conservative or liberal, Democrat or
Republican, management or labor, single or married, young or elderly? Is that all there is to you and
me?
John the Elder, in his First Letter, says No! At the core of us is something that matters much more.
John reveals our truest and deepest identity when he proclaims, “See what love the Father has given
us, that we should be called children of God.” And then, lest anyone misunderstand, John adds, “But
we are not just called God’s children; in fact, we are God’s children.” Not sure who you are? Try that on
for size. You are a child of God.
Sometimes people use that expression “child of God” to mean anybody and everybody. After all,
we’re all created by God, therefore we are all children of God. There is some truth in that, but it’s not
what John has in mind. John means being a Christian, someone who has been welcomed into the
household of God through the grace of Jesus Christ. “To all who received him, who believed in his
name, Christ gave the power to become children of God.”
The Bible talks about our being born anew in God’s love. That’s a powerful idea. It brings to mind
a new beginning and a life drawn entirely from the life of God. Of course, every comparison we use to
talk about God’s love always falls short. We can talk about being born of God, but we all know that
sometimes parents bring children into the world and they do not love them or care for them or cherish
them. Birth alone is no guarantee of love.
So the Bible also talks about our being adopted by God. Adoption has to do with choosing and
being chosen. Adoption has to do with willingly opening one’s life and home and heart to another
person. Adoption means creating a relationship of love where there was none before, voluntarily
binding oneself to the destiny of another.
In the Roman culture of the New Testament, adoption was a sign of great honor. You catch that
sense of privilege in John’s words: “Behold, what love the Father has given us.” The word that John
uses here is rare in the New Testament, and it might be translated like this: “Consider how lavish is
the love that the Father has showered upon us!”
God has chosen you, reached out to you, opened the gates of heaven and the doors of God’s own
heart to you. God has claimed you and is taking the chance that you will reject that claim, deny that
love, and refuse that relationship. God is willing to run the risk of being wounded by you, because God
does not want to live without you. To be the children of God is not a right we can claim or a reward we
can earn. Rather our adoption by God is a gift of sheerest grace, a pure privilege in Christ.
If we are truly the children of God, if that is our identity, then what does that say about our
character? Every family has its rules and standards; what about the family of God? John describes
Christian character with the word “righteous.” When John uses that word he means simply doing the
right thing. “Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as (God) is righteous.”
In other words, the children of God should reflect in their own lives the character of God and the
values of God. That’s what it means to do right. Children take after their parents, don’t they? And we
are to take after God. How can we take after someone we’ve never seen? Oh, but we have seen God!
The face of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ is the likeness of God in human flesh. Christ is the
image of God unobscured by sin. Christ is our pattern for life, our guide, the big brother we model
ourselves after.
How many times lately have you paused in the midst of your day and asked yourself, “Is this the
way Christ would live this moment? Is this the choice Christ would make? Are these the words Christ
would speak? Is this how Christ would treat this person?” Of course, you don’t need to ask yourself
that all the time, because you have already formed some of the character of Christ in yourself. When
you go into a department store, you don’t ask yourself, “Would Jesus Christ stick this under his coat?”
You’re further along than that, I suspect.
On the other hand, as you’re driving home from the department store and someone cuts you off on
the interstate and nearly runs you into the concrete barricade, maybe you do need to ask yourself, “Are
these the feelings Jesus would have about this other driver? Are these words Jesus would use?”
If you never compare your life to the life of Jesus Christ, then you probably aren’t taking this whole
thing seriously. For all of us, some choices will come easy, and other choices will force us to wrestle
with what it means to be a child of God. None of us is complete yet in our Christian faith. To be a child
of any kind is to be unfinished.
Isn’t it a thrill to watch children grow up? They are always learning so much, acquiring new skills,
broadening their understanding, sharpening their moral vision. And always there is more to come.
Children are such on-the-way people with victories behind them and challenges before them.
I wonder if God thrills to watch us growing up as the children of God? We are all of us unfinished
children. We’ve made some progress; we’ve learned some things. But there is more for us to learn,
more progress for us to make as we grow into our true identities.
You see, being the children of God calls for cooperation between us and God. Only God can do
the adopting. God chooses us. But then we have choices. Will we live by the rules of God’s family?
Will we become more and more like God? Will we press on toward maturity in Christ? In short, will we
keep on growing, or start coasting? Someday, God will fulfill his purpose in us. Our fullest
possibilities are known only to God, but we know this much: at the end of time when Christ is revealed
in glory, you and I will be like our Lord. God will finish that work for us, but in the meantime we must
carry it as far as we are able.
There was once a French soldier who came home from war so terribly scarred that he was
unrecognizable by friends or family. Actually, you couldn’t exactly say that he came home. Rather he
was found wandering around in confusion in a train station in rural France. Not only was he scarred
on the outside, but he was also scarred on the inside, a victim of amnesia. He had no memory of his
own identity or his home or even his name. When asked where he was heading or who he was
looking for, the unfortunate man could only repeat over and over again, “I don’t know who I am.”
The authorities took the soldier from one railroad station to the next, from town to town, in the
hopes of finding where he belonged. In the third village he came to, the soldier saw a path that
seemed familiar. He followed the path and it brought him to the door of his father’s home. Only then
did he remember who he was.
Our feet are on a path blazed by Christ. With each step we become more like our guide, and the
more we become like our guide, the closer we come to home, where we will find our rightful place,
where we will find our lost identities, where we will find our truest selves.
Soli Deo Gloria