Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Easter 4 Series B 1 John 3:1,2

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. 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.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Today is Mother’s Day! It is not a date that is technically a church festival. And so there will be lots of people who will go to church today—who will not hear about Moms. And that is just fine. In Christian freedom and Christian liberty you can celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Easter and there’s nothing wrong with that! But it seems to me—in Christian freedom and Christian liberty it’s not wrong today—to study and apply God’s Word especially in the light of Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day means Mother’s Day cards. If you go down to MiMi’s Hallmark they have a zillion Mother’s Day cards. There are pictures of the most beautiful flowers. My Dad always used to buy cards that were spring loaded. My Mom would open them—and by the flowers there would be these little bees—each on their own little spring—that would go-boing! There are cards now with little computer chips—so they play music when you open them. There have been lots of commercials this year—for gifts you can order over the Internet. You can get your mom coupons for a day at a spa—where they paint your face with this really thick green glop—and put little cucumber slices on your eyes—and kind of fruit smoothies in your hair. And then they give them a back rub—and heat up these really round—really flat stones—and put them on their back—and that’s supposed to feel really wonderful and relaxing. Today there will be more phone calls than ever. And today there will be more people eating out—because it’s Mother’s Day. But the best thing you can share with your Mom is not for sale. It is at the same time free and priceless. The most precious thing you can share on Mother’s Day is Jesus’ forgiving love. It’s Jesus’ love that we come to Church to celebrate each Sunday after Easter. It is Jesus’ forgiving love that makes us children of our Heavenly Father and heirs of forever rest in Heaven.

Today God’s Word reminds us in simple yet profound terms:

How Great Is The Love God Lavished On Us!

1. We are adopted children of God

2. What we will be in heaven is beyond words to explain!

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today comes from the almost end of your Bible. The Apostle John—the disciple Jesus loved—wrote three letters—1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John. John wrote his three letters to believers in Asia about 90 years after baby Jesus was born. The first letter was written to unspecified believers. The second to a congregation—the “chosen lady”. The third letter to a co-worker named Gaius. John’s letters are written to “dear children of God.” All of the writers of God’s Word wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit breathed into them—not just the outline—not just the thoughts but the very Word of God. And yet—when you read the different parts of God’s Word—you get the different flavor from the different writers—almost the same way different moms make different spaghetti sauce or different moms make different birthday cake or different moms make different apple pie. They all make the same good food—the basics of law and gospel are always there. But the flavor—the seasoning—the style is different and you can tell! There is in John’s writing the very obvious flavor of the fact we are living in the end times! The fact that Judgment Day may be very very soon! In the very last book of the Bible—the Revelation to St. John—John talks about Judgment Day as the day of final deliverance from all the pain and hurt and harm of sin. He talks about Judgment Day—not a day to be dreaded like a visit to the dentist for a root canal—but a day to be longed for—a day to pray for—a day to do everything humanly possible to hasten on! John wrote, “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book…Behold, I am coming soon!…The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, Come!”…he who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:7f We pray that Jesus would come soon—because of the dangers of false teachers who have gone out into the world! False teachers who would mislead even the elect—mislead even those who were chosen by grace alone to be saved! We need to arm ourselves against false teachers by being so grounded in God’s Word—every one of us—that we cannot and will not be misled! John also writes about faith showing itself in lives of love! It was John who wrote what Jesus said the night he was betrayed. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. …No one has greater love than the one who lays down his life for his friends. …You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:9f

Last Sunday, today—and for the next 3 Sundays after that—we will be reading here in Church from First John. Last week we read the opening verses of Chapter 1. Today we read the opening verses of chapter 3. “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 Greek Word for love here—agapan—is the most amazing kind of love of all. It is not the “hugs and kisses” kind of love that you see on Hallmark cards—the Victoria’s Secret kind of love—the day time Soap Opera love—the mashing lips together—forget to take a breath—out of control kind of love. And it’s not the my best friend kind of love—the we just made a touchdown—pile up in the end zone—Lambeau leap—hug them and drag them up into the stands—soldiers hugging the newly freed prisoner of war love. This is more pure and precious and wondrous than that. Agapan love is the unconditional one sided—give and give and give without any thought of what’s in it for me. It is the love that is given without being earned or deserved at all! Nancy and I went to an art show at our Wisconsin Lutheran College the other day. One of our friends who is an art major there—displayed some of her best work. Part of the show was a series of photographs—black and white photographs—portraits of some of her friends. They were very nice pictures—very pretty college students—sitting under trees—sitting beside the river—sitting on benches and stairs. They were very nicely done. But what was really exceptional was the fact that next to these portraits was a neatly typed page—written by the person in the picture. And these pages talked about their pain—the almost unbearable pain they had—deep inside their hearts. Many of them suffered from eating disorders. Some would simply starve themselves. Some would binge and purge—eating and eating and eating—and then making themselves throw up. Some would do almost permanent and irreparable harm to their bodies—to their ability to ever have a baby—in the pursuit of being skinny. Their starvation was not so much a matter of their tummy as a matter of their heart and mind. To the point that even when they were but skin and bones—literally skin and bone—like a Holocaust survivor—their self-image was still that of a person too fat! Some of the women in the portraits had been abused in unspeakable ways. Their faces were averted—or you could see in their eyes a sadness and pain that will only go away when Jesus takes them to heaven. It seemed to me—though—that the common thread in these portraits was a desire at first—a plan in the beginning—to be perfect—to be a perfectionist in the most self-destructive sense of the word. To be absolutely intolerant of any flaw in themselves—in their appearance—in their abilities in music or the arts—in their studies—in sports—in anything and everything they did—to be without flaw or error of any kind! The problem of course with that is—no one is ever flawless and perfect except the Lord Jesus! Jesus never ever did anything wrong. Then he died in our place—washing away our guilt! 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. Most of the world did not understand Jesus. They were so quick to judge him on the basis of the outside—what they could see by just looking at him. They saw a carpenter—a man who worked with his hands—not highly educated—born in a stable in Bethlehem—raised in the little town of Nazareth. Some saw in him the cure for any physical disease. They saw Jesus give sight to the blind. He made the lame to leap like a deer—the deaf to hear—the lepers cleansed—the dead made alive again. Others saw Jesus good for a free lunch—five barley loaves and two small fish enough to feed thousands with more leftovers than he had started with. They saw in Jesus the answer to their physical problems—while ignoring the priceless spiritual blessings that Jesus wanted them to have. Some saw in Jesus the hope of running the Romans back to Rome—to make Israel free and strong again—like in the days of King David and King Solomon. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. This world doesn’t understand getting up on Sunday morning—getting dressed in your best clothes to come to Sunday School and Bible Class—to sit and listen to sermons. This world doesn’t understand meekness and gentleness and lowliness. It confuses them with weakness and being walked on and taken advantage of. This world doesn’t understand our sure and certain hope of heaven because Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save us. But we do!

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. What we will be has not yet been made known. Children grow. They grow up. They mature. They change. I made a presentation at St. Luke’s in Oakfield the other day—to the home and school society—to parents and teachers and students. They had a little potluck supper and then I told them about Africa. There was a mommy there—a very nice lady. I smiled at her—and she smiled at me—and I thought to myself—I bet I’m supposed to know who you are—and I don’t. Then she said to me—do you know who I am? I said—I should! She said—you confirmed me! I had confirmed her about 14 years ago. The last time I saw her—she was a young lady—13 years old. Now she was a mommy—almost 30 years old. She was all grown up! People don’t stay the same. Things that are alive grow! There are sometimes powerful changes from 8^th graders to mommies. But those changes are nothing—compared to the changes that will happen when we come home to heaven. Just imagine when Jesus makes everything new! No one will wear glasses. No one will need medication. No one will take pills. No one will have arthritis. There will be no tumors—no leukemia—no car crashes—no heart attacks—no accidents of any kind. You can’t imagine how wonderful that will be! We will see Jesus face to face. Nothing could be more wonderful than that!

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! I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day—when I saw the cover of The Reader’s Digest—Bill Cosby—“his smart, funny advice to families everywhere.” I thought—that might be good. It was sad. Bill Cosby talked about when he was young—just 8 years old—living in a housing project in Philadelphia. One day the doorbell rang. Because they had no phone someone had to come to their door to tell his mom that his 7-year-old brother named James had died in the hospital! That was the first funeral Bill Cosby ever went to. He said he went up to the casket 4 or 5 times—to watch—to see if his little brother was breathing. He thought maybe he did. But, of course he didn’t. The article talked about Bill Cosby’s son Ennis. Ennis had dyslexia—and yet overcame it—to become a teacher—to teach children who learned in different ways. But Ennis died, too—murdered in a random robbery—when he stopped in his expensive car to change a flat tire. All of Bill Cosby’s humor and fame and earthly riches could not keep him safe from the most painful experience—the loss of a child. There is comfort—the beginning of healing—in the precious good news—our sins are forgiven. There is the beginning of healing in the fact that we are children of God. That one day we will see Jesus face to face. That one day we will be together—the family of God—safe at home in Heaven. Amen!