GOD’S CHILDREN
DR. JIM DIXON
1 JOHN 3
FEBRUARY 27, 1983
The movie “Gandhi” has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards. In that movie, Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu leader, tells a Muslim friend that all people are children of God. It’s a noble thought from an honorable man. But the simple truth is that all people are not children of God. Even Hindus and Muslims prove this when they murder each other, as in 1947 when more than a hundred thousand people were killed in a Hindu-Muslim war and just this past week when hundreds of Muslims were murdered in Northeast India in the province of Assam by invading Hindu tribespeople.
The Bible tells us that all people are created by God, but all people are not children of God. It takes something very special to become a child of God and those who are God’s children live differently than the world. The Apostle John in the third chapter of his first letter gives three descriptions of the children of God. First of all, he tells us that the true children of God are those people who have been born of God. John says that they have the seed of God planted in them.
Barb and I have two children. There are of course many children in this world, but only two belong to us. Only two were born of us. We conceived them, we begot them. Barb gave birth to them by cesarean section. We have two birth certificates from Aurora Presbyterian Hospital that prove that those children were born of us and belong to us. The world understands that. The world understands what it means to be born of the flesh, what it means to be born of men, but what does it mean to be born of God? I don’t think any concept in the whole of the Bible has produced greater confusion than this concept of spiritual birth.
A man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night. He knew that Jesus was different. He knew that Jesus had come from God and he had questions regarding eternal life. Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Nicodemus said, “Can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do you marvel that I say to you, you must be born anew?” Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus that we are born anew in that moment when we believe in Him, in that moment when we ask Christ to be our Lord and to be our Savior. In that moment when we relinquish our life to him and say, “Lord Jesus, come into my life. I want to live for you.” In that moment, God sends his spirit into our spirit and we are born of the spirit. We experience spiritual birth. This is not a physical birth and it does not always result in physical feelings, but we accept by faith that when we confess Christ, the spirit of God has entered our spirit and our spirits are rekindled and we become children of God.
Charles Colson was a presidential aid to Richard Nixon. He has oftentimes been quoted as saying that he would gladly have run over his grandmother to get Nixon reelected. But a miraculous thing happened to Charles Colson just after the Watergate trial. Charles Colson was born again. He wrote a book by that title in 1976. In that book, he explains how after reading C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, he knelt and he invited Jesus Christ to come into his life and be his Lord. In that moment, the Spirit of God came into him and he was born anew and his life has changed. Today, Charles Colson, along with Senator Harold Hughes is seeking to share the love of Christ with men and women in the federal prisons of this country.
There’s a certain mystery to this concept of spiritual birth, and I think it is illustrated in the ancient mythologies of the birth of the rose. You know, there are 300,000 species of plants in this world, and there’s no plant more famous than the rose. Yet botanists do not really know when the rose first appeared in this world. 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians cultivated rose gardens and they placed roses in the tombs of the great Pharaohs. By the time Cleopatra ruled the Egyptian empire, the rose had become the flower of Egypt. The Greek mythologies talked that in the beginning at the dawn of time, Aphrodite, the goddess of life and the goddess of beauty, was born in heaven. At that same moment, simultaneously, the rose was born on earth. To the Greeks this expressed the concept that heaven and earth had joined together in the birth of life.
Of course, it’s simply a mythology. But the Bible tells us that there was a time when heaven and earth joined together in the birth of life, and that was 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. He was born of heaven and born of earth, Son of man and Son of God. He was a born of God and born of man. He was the God man. The Bible tells us, whenever anyone in this world believes in Jesus Christ, in that moment, once again, heaven and earth unites together in giving birth to life. We who are sons of man become sons of God.
I was born of man, born of the flesh, born physically in 1945, thirty-seven years ago in Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in California. But I was born of the spirit, born of God, born spiritually in 1950, thirty-two years ago in my parents’ house when I knelt in the living room and I said, “Lord Jesus, come into my life. I want to live for You.” What’s true of me is true of all the children of God. The children of God have been born of God.
Secondly, John tells us that the children of God are not dominated by sin. John says, “No one who is born of God commits sin. For God’s seed abides in them, and they cannot sin, but they are born of God.” By this it may be seen who are children of God and who are children of the devil. He who does not do right is not of God nor he who does not love his brother.” This passage has been very confusing to many. We should understand that John is not saying that Christians do not sin. He’s already said in the first chapter of his letter that everyone sins. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and His word is not in it.” John is saying that as Christians, as the children of God, we are not dominated by sin.
In the first chapter of his letter, the Greek word for sin is in the aorist tense and it refers to specific acts of sin. All people in the world commit specific acts of sin. That’s true of each and every one of us here, even as the children of God. But in the third chapter of this letter, John uses the present tense of the Greek word for sin and it infers continuous action. John is saying, “Christians, those who are born of God are not dominated by sin.”
A few weeks ago, my son did something wrong, my little five-year-old boy Drew. I had to discipline him. He felt really bad afterwards and I felt kind of sorry for him. So I put him on my lap and I said, “Son, sometimes it’s kind of hard being a little boy, isn’t it?” He smiled and he said, “No.” He said, “It’s not hard being a little boy, but it’s hard being a good little boy.” I think sometimes as the children of God, we feel like that. It’s hard being good little Christians. Yet God wants us to know, and John wants us to know, that when we become children of God, He has placed His spirit within us as a seed and His Spirit anointed us and protects us so that we should no longer be dominated by sin.
A few weeks ago, I was reading about barnacles, troublesome ectozoan, little animals the size of a dime. They cling to the hulls of great ships. They have six legs. They have more tenacity than anything known to man. When they cling to the hull of a ship, they shuck their shells stripping themselves of their own eyes and they form a new plate of armor in which they are encased for as long as they live as they cling to that ship. In the course of a year, a great ship can be burdened with 30 tons of barnacles. Those barnacles can begin to dominate a ship so that its performance decreases and ultimately it sinks. Periodically, ships are brought into dry dock and they are washed with fresh water and they are scrubbed with iron brushes. In recent years, scientists have found special mercury-based paints with which they paint the hulls of those ships. That mercury-based paint protects these great ships as they move through the sea from the barnacles. With this special paint, barnacles still come in contact with the ships and occasionally barnacles cling, but most barnacles are repelled because of the mercury-based paint.
John wants us to know that when we become children of God, we become like those ships. As we move through the sea of life, we have been covered with the Holy Spirit and He protects us. So we cannot be dominated by the barnacles of sin. We’ve been given an immunity system, a spiritual immunity system.
Each and every one of you in this room have physical immunity systems. They are given you by God. They are miraculous. Whenever a disease enters your body, whenever a virus enters your body, your physical immunity system goes to work. You have white blood cells called lymphocytes and they produce antibodies. These antibodies cover the protein coat of the virus and it keeps the virus from attaching to the receptors of cells, keeping the virus from spreading in your body. You have these same lymphocytes which attack the cells that are infected by the virus and the lymphocytes destroy those cells before they can reproduce, thus keeping the virus from spreading. Your immune system also has a capacity to produce high fever. That’s a good thing because fever slows down and even stops the progression of certain viruses. Sometimes it’s not a wise thing to get rid of a high fever. Your body also in its immune system produces mucus, kind of a gross thought, but mucus traps viruses so that your body expels the virus through coughing and sneezing. In recent years, scientists have found that your bodies in their immune systems produce a chemical when a virus enters your body, your body produces a chemical called interferon. That chemical also protects the normal cells of your body and attacks the virus. A complex physical immunity system given to each and every one of you.
John wants you to know that when you are born spiritually, you are also given a spiritual immunity system in the person of the Holy Spirit. So that the Holy Spirit who has come into us as Christians, convicts us of sin. When we are tempted or when we have fallen, the Holy Spirit leads us to repentance. The Holy Spirit protects us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome sins. But even as in our physical immunity systems, if we do not take care of ourselves physically those immunity systems do not work right. If we do not eat well, if we do not sleep enough, if we do not get plenty of exercise, our physical immunity systems do not work properly. The same is true spiritually. If we are not taking care of ourselves spiritually, our spiritual immunity system and the person of the Holy Spirit does not release its full power in our life. That’s why it’s so important for us to take care of ourselves spiritually as the children of God, that we might spend quality time in the scriptures and in prayer and in fellowship with other Christians and in the exercise of ministry for Christ in this world.
Quite often Barb and I go over to the international athletic club to exercise. I play a little racquetball or basketball or I jog and I’m always amazed at the number of people who are there taking care of themselves physically. Barbara joins these dance aerobic classes and the gym is just packed. These classes meet at many different times during the day every day of the week. People are so involved in taking care of themselves physically. People want to take care of themselves materially and economically, so millions of people enter the job market. But the Bible says nothing is more important than spiritual health that we learned to take care of ourselves spiritually.
So we had this second message from John. As the children of God, we should not be dominated by sin because we’ve been given a spiritual immunity system in the person of the Holy Spirit. But we must learn to take care of ourselves and our spiritual health.
We have a final message from John. It is this: the children of God are not understood by the world. John says, “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” The Greek word here for know is the word “ginosko,” which means to understand. The world did not understand Christ and it does not understand the people of Christ.
Bob shared with us last week how when we become Christians, we receive a new identity in Christ. We receive new values, we receive new goals. This identity that is given to the children of God is not understood by the world. Those values, those goals are not understood by the world. When we become Christians, we begin to desire to be like Christ, to share His glory, to share His character, to share His love, to share His joy, His happiness, even His power. We long to be like Christ.
A couple of weeks ago, someone asked Drew what he wanted to be when he grew up. Drew said he wanted to be a minster…that means minister. I don’t think Drew even knows what a minister does. Some of you may not know either. Bo Mitchell asked Drew about a week ago what a minister does, and Drew says, “A minister makes money.” I don’t think he’s quite ready to enter into ministry, but right now his only desire to do whatever his dad does because he identifies with me. Now that someday is going to change, I’m sure, but right now he identifies with me and he wants to be like me.
But you see, as Christians, we identify with Christ as the children of God. Through Christ, we identify with Christ and we want to be like Him. We have that desire forever. It never leaves us. It never should leave us. So we are called to be like Christ. But we should understand that the more we become like Christ, the less the world is going to understand us because the world did not understand Christ. Some people thought Him a great prophet, some thought Him a great priest, some thought Him a great teacher. Some people thought He was demon possessed. Some hated Him, some feared Him, some revered Him, but few understood Him. The Bible says that “He came into the world and the world was made by Him and the world understood Him not. He came unto His own people and His own people received Him not. But to as many as received Him to as many as believed on His name, He gave power to become children of God.
You see the teachings of Christ were not understood by this world because they were different from this world. Jesus said, “You have heard it said of old thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. I say to you, love your enemy. Do good to those who despitefully use you.” The world can’t understand that kind of love. Jesus said, “You know how the rulers of the Gentiles love to lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. He who would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all, the slave of all. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” The world can’t understand the joy, the greatness of service.
Jesus said “He who would come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me. For he who would save his life shall lose it. But he who would lose his life, for My sake and for the sake of the gospel shall surely find it.” He tells us that it’s only as we give our lives to Him and as we give our lives to others, that we find life and receive life. As the children of God we understand that we only receive life as we give our life to Christ. But that’s not understood by the world.
George Beverly Shea was 22 years old. It was in the 1930s. He was living in New York City. He had a great voice, and tremendous musical talent. He was offered a tremendous contract with a leading radio station in New York City and it involved a lot of money. He wanted to take it, part of him did. But you see, he knew that Christ was calling him to the full-time gospel ministry. So, George Beverly Shea turned that contract down. He went home that night and he felt frustrated. It was a hard decision. His mother showed him a poem written by a woman named Rhea Miller. George Beverly Shea sat down that night and he wrote the music to that poem. It was copyrighted in 1939. We sang that song this morning. “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I’d rather have Him than have riches untold. I’d rather have Jesus than have houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hands than to be the king of a vast domain or to be held in sin’s dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”
In the years that followed, George Beverly Shea went to work for the Billy Graham organization. For 30 years he has served that organization. Through the years, literally millions of people have accepted Christ. He made a decision when he was 22 years old, a decision not understood by the world, but a decision led and blessed by God. There are children of God in this world who have houses and lands. Many of you do. There are children of God in this world that have silver and gold, but there should be no children of God in this world for whom Christ is not paramount. Nothing is more important than Jesus to the Christian, the will of Christ, the work and the ministry of the kingdom of Christ. You see, when we live with that priority, the world simply cannot understand us.
So we have these three messages from the Apostle John. The children of God are born of God. They have the seed of God planted within them. They have received Christ as Lord and Savior, born anew. Secondly, the children of God are not dominated by sin. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit and He is our spiritual immunity system, but we are to take care for our spiritual health. Finally, the children of God, when they really seek to live like Christ, are not understood by this world. But even though we are not understood by this world, we have this promise from God that He will bless us in this life and for all eternity. Shall we pray?