All Saints
1
Jn 3:1-3
11/4/18
In February of this year, the NCAA
ruled that the University of Louisville would be stripped of the national
championship it had won in men’s basketball in 2013. The decision was part of the sanctions
against Louisville’s basketball program that resulted from a sex scandal in
which strippers and prostitutes were being supplied by coaches to recruits and
players.
This action was extremely unusual
and was unprecedented for the two college money making sports: men’s football
and men’s basketball. In the past,
schools such as the University of Miami had won national championships in
football, and then later it was discovered that they had been cheating in order
to do so. The programs received stiff
sanctions as they lost scholarships and their performance on the field was greatly
harmed. Some have not returned to the
level of success they once had.
However, they retained the national
championships they had won. The school
and fans had the memories of all the great experiences, and they could still
proudly declare their national championships.
No doubt many fans would say it was worth it. Sure they had been caught
cheating and were suffering now for it.
But the winning and the glory of the national championships would always
be theirs.
Yet for Louisville, this was no
longer the case. The 2013 national
championship had been vacated. For
almost five years the school and its fans could proudly declare this status –
they were three time national champions, with titles in 1980, 1986 and 2013. But the NCAA’s decision meant that they had
lost the status of that third national championship. In an enduring reminder of this fact, the
school had to take down and remove the 2013 national championship banner which
had been so proudly hung alongside the other two.
Today we are observing the Feast of
All Saints. In our text, the apostle
John says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to
us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Because of the love of the Father revealed in
Jesus Christ, all Christians are indeed the children of God. This is a status that we have now. We still face the challenge of the world now
as we look for our Lord’s return. But
the Feast of All Saints leads us to consider those who have already died in
Christ. For them the struggle is over.
They had the status of being God’s children during their life, and they still have it now. We rejoice that they have it and that it will
never be taken away.
In the verses immediately before our
text, John had said: “And
now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have
confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he
is righteous, know that he who practices righteousness has been born of him.” In his letter, John emphasizes two things
that the Christians in Asia Minor are to do. They are to believe in the
incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ; and they are to love one another.
John’s
point of reference for all that he says is the return of Jesus on the Last
Day. He says that Christians are to live
with this in mind. Abiding in Jesus –
continuing in faith – will allow them to have confidence and not shrink in
shame when the Lord returns.
Why would
they have shame apart from Christ? It’s
the same reason you would. In words that
you know so well from Setting One in our hymnal, John had said in the first
chapter of this letter, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, wh is faithful and
just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Apart from Christ, our sin is reason for
shame before God.
In Jesus
Christ, God has shown us the most amazing love.
Yet how do we respond to this? Do
we love others? Sometimes. But sometimes
we just love ourselves. We avoid
situations that would require us to help.
We tell that story about another person because we want the pleasure of
sharing the juicy information that makes another person look bad.
But because
of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us we have no reason for shame. John says in our text, “And everyone who thus
hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
Or as he will say in the next chapter, “In
this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.”
What is more as those who have been
born again of water and the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ now leads, prompts and
enables us to share Christ’s love. As
John says in the verse just before our text, “If
you know that he is righteous, know that everyone who practices righteousness
has been born of him.”
This is what God has done for us in
Christ. And in our text, John calls
attention to this amazing reality. He
says, “See what kind
of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;
and so we are.” Because of the love God
has given you in Jesus Christ, you now have the status of being children of
God. This means that you already have
eternal life now.
But it is
not just the living who have it. So does
every Christian who went before you.
They are children of God. They have no reason to be ashamed because of
what Jesus did for them. Born again of water and the Spirit during life on this
earth, that new life continues now.
Their bodies may be buried, but they are with the Lord in joy and peace
that has no end.
They can’t
lose that status. They no longer face any challenge from the world. They have
died in Christ and so for them, the struggle is no longer part of life. We
rejoice in this fact. It should comfort us to know that our family and friends
are with Christ in a peace and joy that can never be taken from them.
Our situation, of course, is very
different. John says in our text, “The
reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” John goes on to indicate in this chapter that
world’s response is far more than just a lack of recognition. He says, “Do not
be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” The world – our culture in the all the ways
it has been perverted by sin – hates us for a simple reason. John says in this letter, “We know that we
are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
That is the
challenge we face. It is one that
continues to threaten us. We dare not
ignore this fact. But by giving us faith and rebirth, God has also given us the
victory that carries us through. John
says in this letter, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is
it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son
of God?”
We long for
the day when all Christians will no
longer have to overcome the world by faith. We long for the day when the world
will be forced to know and honor the risen Lord. We long for the Last Day – for
the return of Jesus Christ. We know that
because Jesus is the Lamb of God who taken away the sin of the world, we have
confidence in the day of judgment. There
is no reason for us to shrink from him in shame at his coming.
We know that the saints who have
gone before us have life and peace now – something that can never be taken away
from them. We know that we too are
children of God who though we are hated by the world, will have no reason to
fear or be ashamed when Jesus Christ returns in glory.
Yet what we don’t know is what we and
the saints will be like when Jesus returns.
We don’t know is what we will be like.
John says in our text, “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.”
In both his
Gospel and in his letters, John asserts he reality of the incarnation. The Son of God became flesh. He became man, without ceasing to be
God. In his resurrection on Easter,
Jesus brought that flesh through death so that it can never die again. He transformed our flesh to free it from all
the ways that sin affects it.
We do not
yet fully understand what this means. We
get some sense of it in the Easter accounts.
But we don’t really understand it yet. This will only happen on the Last
Day when we see Jesus as he is. Only
when we see him face to face will we understand what the resurrection means for
us. Only then will we be transformed to
be like him – incapable of ever dying again.
This means
that based our our experience and perspective – and of course that’s the only
one we have – the best is yet to come for the saints and for us. Because of Jesus Christ, all of us are
children of God now. We all have eternal life now.
The saints
no longer face the hatred of the world.
They are at peace. They face no
challenge or threat to status they have. Instead, that is something we continue
to endure. Our faith in the risen Lord
must continue to overcome the world.
Yet all of
us together await the Last Day. We look
for the day when the risen Lord will raise and transform all of our bodies to
be like his. What will this be like? We
don’t know for sure. But we know that “when
he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
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