Pastor's Sermon
April 19 2015
“Knowing We Are Known” 1 John 3:2 Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you in the name of Him who KNOWS you, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. To be known can be something really special. Especially if it goes way beyond a simple knowing of someone’s name. Really knowing someone involves intimacy, and all that is packed in that word: · Familiarity and trust · Closeness and understanding · Caring and tenderness · Affection and relationship To be known by someone in this world might involve some or all of those items I’ve just listed. These are what we depend on for having a sense of love and acceptance toward one another. When scripture says that God loves us, something much greater than these all combined is going on. So, when John writes “See what kind of love the Father has given to us,” He is writing about a different kind of love, an incarnational love, that actually lives and abides with us and in us. It is the kind of love that knows exactly who and what we are, top to bottom, inside and out. That love even allows us to drive nails through it attaching it Jo a device of extreme cruelty to die. Then God raises it on the third day to proclaim peace to those who mourn what they have done. This is the love that the apostle talks about: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1, ESV) Nevertheless, that love can be unknown, not because God has not made it known, but because of blatant unbelief. But those who receive the message, who believe in the name given above all names, these God knows and loves through His Son Jesus Christ. This is how the children of God KNOW THEY ARE KNOWN. God reveals it to them. Moses was concerned about this very thing for himself and for God’s people being led out of Egypt. Listen to this discourse between the Lord and Moses: “And he [God] said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he [Moses] said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”” (Exodus 33:14–16, ESV) “How shall it be known?” That is an interesting question in view of what the world purports today. The world wants to lay claim to the love that belongs only to the children of God; and they want to do it without KNOWING THEY ARE KNOWN! They want to say they know God and are blessed by Him while actually denying His power. What they see of Christ, they want. So they try their best to mimic the works done by the saints. They have no idea that on the Last Day the One who knows all things has also said: ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21–23, ESV) So, “KNOWING WE ARE KNOWN” is not about what we think or feel or do. “KNOWING WE ARE KNOWN” is about revelation and God’s real presence with us. Being known by God is transformative in the children of God in the sense that they deplore sin, even hate sin, and want nothing to do with it. Children of God find sin in themselves especially inexcusable, and unworthy of love. Even so, they are relieved to hear the voice of their Savior say: “Peace to you.” Then, pure love is revealed and the words for our meditation comfort us: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, ESV) Yes, Jesus, the Christ of God has chosen to make Himself known in us. In theological terms this is called the MYSTICAL UNION. John refers to this union in the first chapter in real presence terms. “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship (koinonia) with us; and indeed our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3, ESV) The Greek word (koinonia) is the very same word used in the union of Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Holy Supper. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation (koinonia) in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation (koinonia) in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, ESV) It is that union wherein God in Christ comes and identifies Himself in sinful man to redeem sinners, call them out of sin, and give them new life, His life, actually living in them. It is an incarnational and eternal gift that will not tarnish, fade, or diminish over time because of who the giver is. The gift, though eternal, can be stolen, chocked out, abused, refused and even rejected on our part. That is all on us. The reason why is because God has chosen to make Himself known in these last days through His Son who is revealed most definitively and clearly through the written Word that God caused to be written over a 1600 year period so that we would have an account of what He was doing for us. But not only what He was doing, but how He was doing it, for us, for all mankind. He has even connected that Word with visible elements to assure and convey the function of His life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into the very life of sinners in the here and now. But let no one be deceived; these means of conveying God’s grace and mercy and life can be rejected. More and more, they are being cast off as useless in a world trying to take ownership of something they know nothing about. How can it? The very means by which the real thing is given is being rejected. And that is the very work of anti-christ that even John speaks of. “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:2–3, ESV) Oh how good it is to “KNOW WE ARE KNOWN!” You see, KNOWING WE ARE KNOWN gives us insight of faith that the world and those not known do not and cannot have. The message of Jesus confirmed by the Spirit is clear: “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:5–6, ESV) I think I might have heard a few groans when I read that. It should make us groan. It reveals a truth that’s hard for us to deal with because of our sinful human nature. When are we ever without sin? … Never! That is the point the Spirit of God present in the children of God is making. There is never a moment that we are without sin. In fact, because of the sinful human nature, we share in the sin of all mankind. Oh, gee, I hate that. I don’t want to accept that. But it is true. I know it is true. My own heart bears witness against me. So how can we be comforted by these words from the apostle? We are caught in God’s trap. Part of confession of sin, is realizing what we are really confessing. When Jesus appeared to His children after His Resurrection, the world did not see that. When absolution of confessed sin comes to us, it is like Jesus appearing to us and saying “Peace to you. See my hands and my feet.” The Holy Spirit in us comforts us with those words and assures us that we are God’s children now. The world doesn’t see that, and it cannot, because it does not know Him. Hear again the words of the Spirit: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, ESV) Simply said; God isn’t finished with us yet. His love is transformative and eternal. God’s Word active through His Spirit in us continues its transformative work. Like the brilliance of His glory, it reveals sin in us so that we might recognize our Own unrighteousness, confess it for what it is, and turn away from it to the light that gives life and rescues from sin. This is a lifelong process, as long as we do not shrink back and away from it. “KNOWING WE ARE KNOWN” we do not shrink back because we have come to know how good it is to be known by Him who reveals Himself, shows us His sinless hands and feet and brings to remembrance why these wounds were necessary. It was done for us, and not only for us, but for the whole world. It was so that we might be cleansed from all unrighteousness. John says: “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3, ESV) Isn’t that assuring and comforting? It’s the hope in Him that purifies. When God Himself knows us in His Son Jesus Christ, we are in a state of having been purified of sin from beginning to end. And yet, that inner work goes on in us as an “already-not-yet-tension,” no matter what the world, or our feelings tell us. · Love knows us completely. · Love loves us completely. · Love purifies us completely. · Love knows us to be like Him. This is precisely why God appeared in human flesh. Love, so Amazing! Love, so divine! “KNOWING WE ARE KNOWN” is the best thing that can happen to a person. It is incarnational abiding love so amazing, so divine. Amen. Now may He who knows us keep our hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus now and to life everlasting. Amen. |
AuthorPastor Dean R. Poellet Archives
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