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Who Cares #4: "Who Cares About You?" 1 John 2:28-3:3; John 3:1-16
by Clancy Nixon
Church of the Holy Spirit
March 25, 2007
Ashburn, Virginia
www.HolySpiritAnglican.org
There are some things we all know in life. For example:
You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull
the mask of the old lone ranger AND?... [hand to ear] You don't mess around with Jim.
Or is it Slim?
We don't always know as much as we think we do. Sometimes we can miss the
obvious. When I was a lad, I loved to read Sherlock Homes stories. I loved how he would
see things that others overlooked, like the purloined letter that was right there all the time,
and use deductive reasoning to find the criminal. I wanted to be a detective just like
Holmes. The problem was, I just don't have that gifting for seeing things. I can reason
just fine, but I can miss seeing things. I'm one of those husbands who can look in the
refrigerator for well over a minute, and say to my wife, "Honey, where's the butter?"
And she can stroll over and pick it up in less than one second. On the Myers-Briggs, I'm
highly intuitive, but very low sensing. When it comes to seeing the environment, I can
miss what is obvious to some people. We all have blind spots.
The title of this message is, "Who Cares About You?" By now, if you have been
hearing me preach lately, the answer ought to be obvious: God cares and we care. Let's
say that together: God cares and we care.
I have heard several people share with me a rule of thumb they use to determine
who is important in their life, so they can make decisions about how to spend their
discretionary time. I don't know how popular this strategy is, but these ones have decided
to invest their lives in the people who care enough about them to come to their funeral.
[raise hand] Have you heard of this strategy? In a few ways, it is reasonable; I mean,
why should you spend our time with people who don't care about you?... Good question.
I'll tell you why; because God cares about them, and so we are called to care about them,
too. The parable of the Good Samaritan makes no sense from this "attend my funeral"
perspective. After all, the man who was left bleeding by the road may have been so
groggy and half dead that he may not have ever known who his helper was! God cares
for you even through people who do not know you. Thank God for the people who have
cared for you long before you cared for them.
Yesterday, ten intrepid souls braved the rain and the traffic to pick up trash on the
roadside at Waxpool and Shellhorn. One person said picking up cigarette butts was
personal penance from years of smoking! Another concluded that plastic is evil! My
guess is that none of us will look at that property the same way again. In that act of love,
we cared about our neighbors, many of whom will never care for us. After all, God loved
us while we were yet sinners, amen?
The last three weeks, in our We Care Campaign, we have been looking at who
cares about your marriage, who cares about your family, and who cares about your
children. The answer is, God cares and we care. Let's say it again: God cares and we
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care. This week, we conclude our campaign by looking at who cares about you your
soul, your body, your spirit you.
How can you know that God cares about you? That video on the Father's Love
Letter that we just saw was a powerful witness, wasn't it? God is a loving father who
knows all about us, has a perfect plan for us, and meets all our needs from his riches in
glory. Everything we heard and saw on that video is true, because God inspired every
word of the Bible from which that video is a paraphrase.
The first letter of John is a letter written for believers so that they may know that
they remain in Christ. John's gospel is written for unbelievers, that they might believe in
Christ, and John's letters are written for believers, that they might have assurance of their
faith. John is writing as a pastor to his friends in a church in Asia, for some have been
seduced by false teachings into a different gospel, a Gnostic gospel. Turn with me to the
first letter of John, chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, found on page 1208 of your blue pew
Bibles.
"How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God!" John has an outburst of wonder at God's love in making us his
children. John Stott tells us that "How great" means literally, "of what country!" Father
God's love for us is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that John wonders what
country it comes from. He loves us simply because we are his children. It is in the
Father's nature to love his children, to give us everything we need for our life and our
salvation. Notice also verse 2 he calls us his "dear friends," and in verse 7, dear
children." The King James Version and the NASB translate the beginning of verse 2 as
"Beloved." As a believer, that is who you are. You are a beloved child of God. Beloved,
I am convinced that we must get this if we are going to walk in the life that God wills for
us. If we are in Christ, you and I are sons and daughters of the king. Billy Bray, the coal
miner evangelist in England, loved to preach about how his adoption by the king of
Heaven, his inheritance in Christ made him royal blood as much as the king of England.
We have full rights to an inheritance, not only after we die, but in the here and now.
When you walk into a room with other people in it, are you conscious that you bring the
Kingdom in with you? Do you live with that level of faith? The resources and the power
and the love of the Kingdom of God are here for you right now, because your Father in
Heaven loves you. God cares for you that much He wants to change your world, to heal
you and those around you, to bring salvation in, to brgin love and grace and peace.
God loves you in ways that are individual to you. One way that God shows his
love for me in my quiet time by addressing me as his son. God has shown many of you a
sign when you have asked for one. One day when she was depressed and walking along a
beach, Stasi Eldredge asked God to show her a starfish as a sign of His love for her
personally, because she loves starfish. And she came upon a beautiful big starfish. She
was so pleased with this, as she turned a corner on the beach, she was unprepared for the
sight of thousands of starfish. It was as if God was saying to her, I love you more than
you can imagine.
Verse 1 says we are called children of God. Then he says, that is what we are!
But he tells us we are called this name because there is something powerful just in the
name, child of God. There is real spiritual power in names. God has many names, and
each name speaks of his different attributes. There is spiritual power in saying, "Peace be
with you." Every name has a meaning, and every time a name is spoken, even though
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we may not know its meaning, that meaning is not lost in the spiritual realm. God knows
the meaning; angels, both light and dark angels, know the meaning.
Consider my son Sam's names. Samuel means "asked of God" and Elijah means
"Yahweh is God." Nixon means "son of the victory people." As the people of God, we
walk in victory, because Christ has already won the victory. Every time I say the name
Sam, I speak the truth about my son, that we asked God for him, that he was meant to be
born, that he has something of the prophet about him. Saint Chrysostom once preached
that parents should give their children names of Bible characters, and tell them the story
of that character many times, so that the children will have high standards to live up to.
Sam is named for two mighty prophets of God, and trust me, he knows their stories!
When he was little, we used to joke about Sam that he acted like a cross between Benito
Mussolini and Felix Unger everything had to be just so, and woe betide if you did not
do it his way! Sounds like a prophet to me. Will's name means protector or guardian,
and if you know him, you will know that Will is a warrior. God knows each of us by
name, and he lavishes his love on us.
Child of God is not just what we are called; if we abide in Christ, it is what we
are. Not everyone is a child of God. The Bible says that by nature, we are creatures of
God; only by grace are we adopted into God's family, so then we can become children of
God. These two concepts are connected, but are really very different. Paternity is very
different than Fatherhood. Paternity involves who is responsible for the physical
existence of a child; but Fatherhood describes a loving, committed relationship. In the
sense of paternity we are all children of God; in the sense of fatherhood, only those who
are born again are children of God. God cares for you so much, and we care for you so
much, that we want you to know that you are his child, that you are born again. Jesus
said, "Not everyone who calls me `Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven." Many
people think they are right with God, but they are not.
Nicodemus knew a lot, but there were some things he was clueless about until his
encounter with Jesus. Nicodemus was a famous man, deeply religious, wealthy and
powerful. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Our equivalent would be a
Supreme Court Justice, a US Senator and a Bishop, sort of an Antonin Scalia, Barack
Obama and Martyn Minns rolled into one. Despite his position, Nick was still searching
for something. He was like many of us in that way. Do you feel dissatisfied with your life
in some way? Maybe your marriage is not all you had hoped it would be. Maybe your
love for God has grown lukewarm or even cold. Listen to what Jesus told "Nick at Nite."
Jesus said, "You must be born again, or you cannot see the Kingdom of God."
The idea here is a change, starting over, a new beginning. Now we all like new
beginnings. Look at the popularity of the TV show "Extreme Makeover." Jesus isn't
about cosmetic surgery, but about soul surgery. I need to ask you: Have you been born
again? Almost half of all Americans claim to be born again. When following the way of
the cross becomes popular, often it's because the cross has been taken out of The Way.
28% of those ones who claim to be born again also say Jesus sinned like other people,
and even more say that being a good person is good enough to get you into heaven. Nick
came to Jesus at night. I think that like Nicodemus, some of these people who say that are
born again have been worried about what people think of them, so they prayed a prayer
and made a decision, and yet they remain in darkness, even though they believe that they
are saved.
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The Bible compares us to sheep. Greg Laurie tells about 450 sheep who jumped
to their deaths in Turkey. First one sheep jumped off a cliff, and then 1,500 others
followed. The only reason they did not all die is that they were cushioned by the ones
who went first. "All we like sheep have gone astray." People will line up for the latest
fad and do what everyone else does. Now is the time to think for yourself about whether
you are born again.
John's first letter says that we can know we are born again by what we believe,
and how we act. We are saved by grace through faith, and faith alone. Yet the only way
we can know if our faith is real faith, and not just a said faith, is by looking at our deeds.
John 3:20 says that everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the
light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. First John 3:6 says that no one who lives in
him, who abides in Christ, keeps on intentionally sinning in a sin pattern. First John 2:29
says "Everyone who does what is right has been born of him." Your righteousness is not
the cause of the new birth; your righteousness is not a condition of the new birth; your
righteousness is evidence of the new birth.
These passages can make church people uncomfortable, because they know that
they sin, and they think they are born again. Well, we all sin occasionally. If you sin
repeatedly and knowingly in a particular area and have not repented of that sin, then
friend, you do not have a biblical basis for assurance of your salvation. Men, if you
struggle with internet porn on an ongoing basis, and half of all church men do, then you
have not willingly given your eyes over to the Lordship of Christ, and you are on shaky
ground.
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." God's love has been
lavished on you. God cares about you. He loved you so much that he gave a gift to you
his son, Jesus Christ. But it's not enough that someone offers you a gift you have to
accept it, to receive it, to use it, to embrace it to make it yours. You must be born again.
That is the truth, and we care about you enough to tell you that as often as necessary. We
care about your relationships with your family; we care about your marriage; and we care
about your eternal destiny. We want you to enjoy the love of God and the love of God's
people forever.
The way you become born again is this: Repent, believe, confess and receive.
That is how you become born again.
First, repent. Turn from everything you know is wrong. That is the missing part
of many in the church who are unregenerate. They never turned from their old way of
life. This is essential. If you have not repented, if your pattern of life looks like the
world's, like it did before you believed, except now you have added church - you are
probably not saved. Repent: today is the day of salvation.
Second, believe. Believe that God loves you, that Jesus is the Christ, that he died
to pay for your sins, that he rose again and gave us his Word as a reliable testimony of the
way things really are. Believe in Jesus Christ.
Third, confess. Confess your new faith in front of people. Take the public step to
proclaim to the world that Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior. Jesus said, "If you
confess me before men I will confess you before my Father, but if you don't' confess me
before me, I will not confess you before my father." If you have never done that before,
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let today be your day. I will give you air time in just a moment so you can do just that.
Confess publicly that Jesus is your Lord.
Fourth,