"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God!"
"Beloved, now we are children of God..."
These verses in 1 John chapter 3 give us the assurance that we are God's children... maybe.
What is the condition of we? The end of Chapter 2 states, "everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." What does it mean to practice righteousness?
What is righteousness? Isn't it to do what is right? To practice justice?
So, if I do what is right I am a child of God?
What if I make a mistake? What if I sin? Do I lose my "God's child" position? Do I jump in and out of His family? 1 John 1 states, "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
Romans 3:10 quotes the Old Testament, "There is none righteous, no, not one."
So, if I sin, and I'm not righteous, what can I do to become and stay a child of God?
How can I earn His affection/ His favor?
When does doing what is right, what is good, become more about us and our pride and less about our relationship with a righteous God? And what does this performance have to do with love?
I went down the path of trying to please God with my abilities. I found out that I don't have much ability.
When I failed, I picked myself back up and tried harder. When I sinned, I confessed and pushed through, to try to do better and stop my sin. Wherever I went, sin was right there with me. I couldn't shake it.
I still can't, and neither can you- believe it or not (1 John 1). We can't make ourselves good enough for a holy God. And our understanding Father knows it and wrote it in His Book.
Have you tried to give unconditional love to someone else? Has it ever become conditional... loving them based on how they treat you? Jesus said to love our enemies... He set an example for what is righteous. He elevated the Old Testament law to a new spiritual level. "You have heard it said... but I tell you...". Jesus told a number of people to leave their lives of sin, and to go and sin no more. Is this possible? Can we make it through a day without sinning? Or, more precisely, can we make it through a day obeying the greatest commandments which sum up the Law and the Prophets... to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love others as we love ourselves? Jesus even elevated the second commandment to, "love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34).
Check out 1 John 1:8 & 10
Did God give us the commandments so that we could obey our way to pleasing Him, and earn the title, "His child"? Can we love others as Jesus loves them? I don't think Jesus is requiring the impossible from us. We just need Him to accomplish it in us... because apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15). When I set out to do something "for Jesus", because He deserves it, I owe it, and He requires it... I don't get very far. When I set out to trust and receive Him, He works in my life and His power flows through me naturally... not of my own striving- all I'm doing is sitting at his feet. (Romans 4:5)
Jesus told Martha that only one thing is needed and Mary had chosen that one thing and it wouldn't be taken from her... what was it?
What did Jesus answer when He was asked, "What must we do to do the works which God requires?"
Our motives reveal the value of our works. Prideful motives (which abound, and deeper than we realize) reveal truly ugly works (even though they may appear good to the world). Christ-centered motives reveal beautiful works (even though they may not be as glamorous to the world). Each work will be shown for what it is, because God's judgement is based on truth, not appearances.
Consider a few scriptures:
Galatians 3:19 NKJ
"What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator."
Romans 3:19
"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
Romans 5:20
"Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
Galatians 3:24 NKJ
"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
Philippians 3:9 NKJ
"and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith"
Galatians 2:21 NKJ
"I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
These scriptures remind me that striving to obey God's law, His commands, is a broken road that I cannot accomplish the way I "should"...
Deuteronomy 6:17 NKJ
"You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you."
Deuteronomy 6:25
"Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us."
The law hasn't passed away. It is still relevant, even though the world doesn't acknowledge it. It declares what is right and the world will be judged by what is right.
Matthew 5:18 NKJ
"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."
Luke 16:17 NKJ
"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."
This scares me. And it should, because under the law, I am broken. There is a solution, however.
Matthew 5:17 NKJ
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."
Romans 3:20 NKJ
"Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
1 John 1:9 (& Proverbs 28:13)
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Check out Ephesians chapter 2 (vs. 4-9) & Philippians 3:8-9.
So, what does it mean to practice righteousness?
Hebrews 10:14
"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."
Romans 3:21-24
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"
I submit for your consideration that practicing righteousness means practicing belief... willingly choosing to place your faith in Christ's atonement... His imparted righteousness on our behalf. James reminds us that faith without works is dead, as works do follow genuine faith (naturally, not contrivingly), but Hebrews also has something to say concerning this...
Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
Romans 3:28
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."
Jesus fulfils the law for us and in us... we naturally love others as He works His love in us, and we participate in the greatest commands through Him.
In conclusion, we are children of God because He brought us to faith in Him. It is not contingent upon our performance. It is contingent upon His grace and mercy and our acceptance of Him.
1 John 5:1a
"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God..."
Let's practice righteousness
