The Lutheran Hour
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"Children of God"
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Text: 1 John 3:1
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. Two thousand years ago the angels shared the story of the triumph of God’s love. At the Savior’s open tomb the world heard lives can be transformed and eternity can be changed. Today, by the Spirit’s power, may you know and believe, through Jesus your life can be changed. Amen.
A number of years ago a long-term study was conducted by Johns Hopkins University. A professor had his graduate students interview and investigate the background of 200 boys who were growing up in poverty. Then, on the basis of the information, the students were asked to predict the future of those boys. The college students predicted 90% of those 12-to-16-year old lads were going to spend serous time in jail. As I said, this was a long-term study. It was long-term because 25 years later, the University sent researchers into the area to re-interview those boys who had now grown into men. The study wanted to see what had happened in a quarter-century; it wanted to find out if the predictions had been accurate.
Of the 180 who could be found, only four had spent any time in jail. The researchers were amazed. When they tried to determine how their predictions could have been so wrong, a pattern emerged. One after another of the now grown-up boys said, “Well, there was this teacher…” One after another of the boys talked about how they had been influenced by the same teacher. The researchers had to know, “Is this teacher still alive?” Well, yes, she was. She was alive and living by herself in a retirement home. Eagerly they went to her and asked, “What did you do that left such an impact on so many boys who seemed destined for a bad life?” The teacher thought, thought again, and then thought some more. Finally she said, “Nothing comes to me. I didn’t do anything. All I tried to do was truly love my students.” That’s the story. Now, here’s the question: do you think that story is real? I mean, do you think that story really happened? Do you think love can change people and their destinies?
Think about your answer for a moment. I can wait. Do you have your answer? Good. Now I’d like you to keep your answer tucked away for a bit. Keep it tucked away while I share: I honestly don’t know if that story is true. I do know people respond to that story in two different ways. The first group thinks, “Life isn’t that easy. Life is hard. Life is dog-eat-dog. Life is survival of the fittest. Life is going out and taking what you want.” The first group says, “That story is nothing more than a bunch of silly, stupid drivel. Love sells candy to sweethearts and tunes for songwriters, but it doesn’t change anything. Not really.”
Over the years I’ve noticed that people who feel so strongly about my question, feel that way because they have never seen, nor experienced, a lasting love. Many times the people who seem so anti-love have come from homes which have been broken up after weeks, months, years of continuous parental anger and argument. Others had, in grade school, been the object of their classmates’ cruel comments, the center of unrelenting disrespect, derision, and disdain. More than a few had gone through their teenage years feeling unaccepted, unappreciated, and unacknowledged. Shunned by many, they found solace in the close companionship of a single, special friend; a single, special friend who ended up betraying their secrets, making fun of them behind their backs, and deserting them at the earliest possible opportunity.
Can love change people and their destinies? Some people are sure it can’t. Many feel that way because a sweetheart took their love and ran it over with a dump truck; took their hearts, sliced them up and hung the pieces out to dry in the sun like beef jerky. Many feel that way because they couldn’t count on the people who were closest to them; because they couldn’t trust the people who were dearest to them; because they couldn’t lean on those who should have supported them in the dark moments of their soul. If you believe love can’t change people and destinies, it is probably not because you don’t want to believe it. On the contrary, you want to believe; you just can’t. You’ve been hurt too often; wounded too frequently; let down too far to risk yourself again.
Years ago, a lady in her late twenties came and visited with me. She began the conversation by telling me that all men were slippery, slimy, scummy snakes who couldn’t be trusted or depended on. With tears, she poured out the frustration of years of dating and being dumped, of listening to lines which proved to be scams; of commitments made and broken. When I asked, “Where do you meet these disappointing heartbreakers?” she replied, “Bars.” It was right about then an old country-western song started to run through my brain. Maybe you remember it, “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” Although there are exceptions to the rule, I suggested that bellying up to the bar was probably not the best place in the world to find the true and trustworthy love of her life.
At which point the cynics among you are going to challenge me by saying, “And I suppose, pastor, you’re going to say, ‘Go to church. You can do better in church.’ Well, pastor, if that’s what you’re going to say, let me tell you that the people in churches can be cruel and critical; malicious, mean, miserable, malevolent, and maligning. They can be….” Folks, hold on, hold on. Yes, I was going to suggest people might try finding love in a church; but probably not for the reason you think. All of us know people who go to church are imperfect. We all know church folks are filled with all the flaws which are common to the rest of humanity. Even so, when asked to find a true motivator for lasting love, I think I’ll rely on the Holy Spirit rather than distilled spirits. I’d still say go to a Christian church.
Go to church and meet the Triune God. Go to church and get to know Him whose love can change your life, your destiny, your future, and so much more. That’s what the beloved Apostle John was trying to say when he wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). Now I don’t know if my reading of those words conveyed the awe, the admiration, the amazement and astonishment John felt when he first wrote them, but I am almost positive all of those things were there.
I am confident because John had seen Jesus; up close and personal. Now, if somebody followed you or me for three years, they would become pretty disillusioned. True, we might look good at a distance and acceptable from afar, but if somebody hung around us for any length of time all of our sins and shortcomings, our flaws, faults, and failings would come to the fore. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a wife of ten years complain, “Pastor, whatever happened to that fun, considerate, good-looking guy, that gentleman I married?” I can’t count the husbands whom I’ve heard whine: “I don’t know whom I’m living with, but it’s not the girl I married ten years ago.” What was the problem? Well, they got too close to their spouse. What’s the problem? Anyone who closely watches us will be disappointed, disenchanted, and dissatisfied.
But that’s not what happened during those three years John had followed Jesus; heard and watched Jesus. Now you don’t have to take my word on this.John tells you what he saw and heard in his Gospel which chronicles those days.
John shares how Jesus was concerned about little things, like helping out a bride and groom who were going to be embarrassed because they didn’t have enough supplies to take care of the guests who had come to their wedding. He tells of how Jesus took care of the big things like bringing a dead friend back to life. John tells of how the Savior, unlike many others, reached out to the ignored outcasts of society like an unnamed woman of Samaria. John wrote how Jesus had compassion on those who had special needs. It didn’t make any difference if people were hungry, blind, lame, or possessed by a devil, Jesus cared for and cured them all. John was amazed at the work of Jesus as he recorded the wanderings of the Christ. The apostle told of the omnipotent power of Jesus who could still a storm; the humility of Jesus who was not above washing His disciples’ feet; the integrity of Jesus who cleansed His Father’s house of thieves. John recorded the prayers of Jesus spoken for the lost, the saved, those who were with Him, and those who would come after Him. John preserved the stories of Jesus’ tears shed for an unrepentant city, as well as for a dead friend.
Page after page, story after story, John paints the picture of a perfect Christ. Go to any library, visit any bookstore, and pick out a biography of some important person. Scan the pages of any honest biography and you will quickly be confronted by the narrative of a person who was both a saint and a sinner. Even the best, the greatest, the smartest, the most moral person will have their admirable qualities being balanced by the questionable ones. But in the Gospels, Jesus is shown for what and who He is: the sinless Son of God who was born into this world to seek and save the lost; the Redeemer who has come to give His life as a ransom for many; the Good Shepherd who was wiling to offer up His life for protection of His flock.
“But,” I can almost hear you say, “John’s Gospels, the other Gospels are hardly honest. They were written by Jesus’ friends.” And so they were; but those Gospels also record the words of Jesus’ enemies. Take a look. See what those who hated Jesus had to say about Him. The Pharisees said Jesus receives and eats with sinners. Thank God He did, for Jesus came to bring light to those who were in darkness. When the Christ healed a man who had been born blind, some said Jesus was possessed by a devil. When the Lord raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, the priests plotted at how they might put Him to death lest everyone believe on Him.
Judas, the disciple who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood. At Jesus’ trial, when liars were brought in to condemn Him with their perjuries, they couldn’t agree on a story which would stick. When He was on trial for His life, again and again the Roman procurator declared Him to be innocent of any wrongdoing. Jesus’ earthly enemies could find no fault in Him and His demonic adversaries called Him the Holy One of God. Do you understand what is being said here? If I were to ask your detractors and enemies to say something bad about you, they would have no problem coming up with a list. In Jesus’ case the charges of His worst enemies only make us love Him more.
Now, if you’re wondering what does any of this have to do with the power of love and love’s ability to change people and their destinies, all I can say is, “be patient, John will tell you.” Everything John has shared so far points to Jesus as an extraordinary teacher, a friend, a humanitarian, and a worker of wonders. But John tells you more of Jesus’ story, an all-important part of Jesus’ love and life. That segment of the story begins in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus knelt in prayer. While He did so, the sins of every human being who has ever lived were placed upon Him. Consider that. Everything you have ever done wrong, every injury you have ever caused, every guilt you have ever felt, every evil you have ever committed were laid on Jesus. You alone know the weight of your transgressions. Now, multiply your wrongdoings by billions of people and you will see the pain Jesus endured.
That night in the Garden Jesus saw you, me, every person ever; He felt the sins of you, me, every person ever and He willingly, let me say that again so you may get a scope of His love – He willingly picked up your sins and made them His own. Then, carrying those sins, He did not resist arrest when His enemies came for Him. On the contrary, because it was the Father’s will that He die, Jesus went forward to the trials which would lead to His death. At those trials they brought in liars to testify against Him; they beat Him; they whipped Him, they hammered a crown of thorns upon His head. They spit at Him, they laughed at Him, they mocked Him; they called for His crucifixion. Then, having endured all this, Jesus carried your sins, along with His cross, to a skull-shaped hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem. There He allowed Himself to be crucified. No artist’s pallet, no movie, no drawing, no words can express the agony that He endured during the six hours He hung suspended between heaven and earth.
Does love change people; does it change their lives? Love changed Jesus. Love took Him from His throne room of heaven and placed Him on the cross of Calvary. Love changed Him from being acclaimed by angels to being cursed by the crowds who demanded His death. Love for you put Him on a cross and into a borrowed tomb. Does love change things? It does! Does it change futures? It can! Stand at His grave three days after His corpse was placed in it. Be there and see Jesus Christ, God’s Son, be raised to life. See Him as the stone is rolled away from the tomb’s entrance. See Him come forth and let the world know that God’s love is victorious; sin’s ransom has been paid; the devil is defeated; death’s reign is at an end.
These things John saw and through His Holy Spirit-inspired writings, you may, with the eyes of faith, see them too. You may see a living Christ, your loving Christ, reaching out to you, wanting to pick you up, desiring to dust you off, inviting you to be part of the Father’s family of faith. Those who acknowledge Him as God’s love come to earth, know Christ’s love changes lives and the destinies of all who believe. The risen Christ says that hell’s open mouth has been shut and our eternity will be filled with joys beyond telling, happiness beyond description. See what kind of love the Father has given us, that your sins are forgiven, your debts paid, your future is bright. See what kind of love the Father has given us.
Can Christ’s love change people; can it change their destinies? I know it can. I said there were two groups. I’m part of the second. I’ve seen how it can. I’ve seen it in my grandfather. Let me tell you about him. His father died when he was young and as a boy in Chicago, he had to go out and earn a living. An inadequate diet gave him rickets, a deformity of the legs. Without an education, he was apprenticed to a wagon maker, and then in his early teens he worked at the Chicago stockyards, helping with the daily slaughter. Eventually he became part owner of a blacksmith shop and spent the rest of his working career standing in front of a hot forge. Grandpa married, and had a son – my father. When my dad was shot down over Paris in World War II, my grandmother became so distraught, she took to her bed. Although my father was eventually released from a prisoner of war camp, the illness never released my grandmother. I can never remember a time where she was, or acted, healthy. For more than 20 years my grandfather, with help from my mother, took care of his wife. From beginning to end, his had been a hard life, an unfair life, a cruel life. But my grandfather never complained. Those who knew him never heard him complain about anything which had gone wrong.
By the time grandpa reached his mid-eighties, his health began to fail. My parents took him in, and since I was away at school, he slept in my bed. Coming home for holidays and occasional weekends, I was able to see, better than the others, how the beloved old man was slipping away. The last time I saw him, a week before he died, I overheard a conversation he had with my parents. I wasn’t supposed to hear what he said, but I heard, and I remembered. The man who had had a hard life, who knew he was dying had not grown bitter or angry. On the contrary, I overheard him say, “I’m sorry for Kenny. I really didn’t want to ruin his vacation this way.” He was dying and he was worried about me, ruining my vacation.
Can Christ’s love change a man? Can Christ change a destiny? My grandfather is proof Jesus can do that. Millions of Christians are proof of the power of the Savior’s love. Because of Jesus, God’s love gathers up our old life, our dirty sins, takes them to the foot of the cross and disposes of them. At the foot of the cross, because of Jesus, those sins are gone. Can Christ’s love change things? Can a living Lord make a difference in our future? I don’t believe it does; I know it does. If you would like to know, too, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for November 4, 2007
TOPIC: Meaning of LifeANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hi, Mark. What do you have for us today?
ANNOUNCER: A listener wants to know, “What does Scripture say about the meaning of the Creation? Why did God create us in the first place? God loves us dearly, but I don’t see why He really needs us.”
KLAUS: I don’t know if we’ve ever had a question quite like that. Let me see if I can boil it down to some workable components.
ANNOUNCER: All right.
KLAUS: How about this: God made us – but what did He expect to get out of it, and what benefit did He intend for us to receive? Does that pretty much do the job, Mark?
ANNOUNCER: That’s a good place to start.
KLAUS: So, what did God expect to “get” out of making us? Before I go any further, Mark, I need to add a qualifier.
ANNOUNCER: And what would that qualifier be?
KLAUS: Well, what I’m going to say is, for the most part a conjecture. It is something I draw from Scripture. I can’t point to one, single passage where God said, “I woke up one day and had a few hours on My hands, so I decided to create stuff.” I think God implies the reason why He created the universe, but He alone has to have the final word.
ANNOUNCER: So, when I get to heaven some day and ask the Lord, “Why?”…
KLAUS: Don’t be surprised if He says, “Well, Ken Klaus tried to answer that question one day. He was in the ballpark, but he didn’t hit a home run.”
ANNOUNCER: Understood.
KLAUS: So, why did God make us in the first place? We know that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere all at the same time, and we would assume that the Lord really doesn’t need the world and everything in it. I mean God can be completely self-contained. We can’t add a whole lot to His completeness, and truth be told, we can’t take much away from Him either.
ANNOUNCER: So far I think you’re just making us seem unnecessary.
KLAUS: Yes, and in one respect we are. God is perfect, complete all in Himself.
ANNOUNCER: But I also assume God didn’t make us just for no purpose at all.
KLAUS: Right. God doesn’t need us; but He wanted us. He wanted His Creation.
ANNOUNCER: Why do you say that?
KLAUS: There is another attribute of God I haven’t mentioned yet, Mark. That attribute is “love.” 1 John 4: 8 says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Understand, God was love before He called the universe into being. He loved us before the world was made; He loved us when we were in a state of perfection. He loved us after we fell into sin. He loved us enough to send His Son to redeem us. He will love us on Judgment Day; and He will love us through all of eternity. Love is who God is.
ANNOUNCER: So you’re saying God created us because He is a loving God.
KLAUS: Absolutely.
ANNOUNCER: And He made us…
KLAUS: He made us to be recipients of His love. Look at the Garden of Eden. Perfect place. No sin, no problems, no pain, no tears, no hurts. That perfect place reflected God’s perfect love for His Creation.
ANNOUNCER: I might add, just as it will be for believers after Judgment Day.
KLAUS: Yes, when what once was, will be restored. God loved us and He gave us all we needed to be truly appreciative, thankful for what He had done. Everywhere Adam and Eve looked, there was evidence of God’s love.
ANNOUNCER: And it should have been only natural then for God to expect people to love Him in return.
KLAUS: That would be the logical thing for our first parents to have done.
ANNOUNCER: Couldn’t God have made them so that, let’s say, Adam and Eve had to love Him and they could never disappoint or disobey Him?
KLAUS: God can do anything, and He could have set things up that way. He chose not to. After all, when you have to force someone to say, “I love you,” it doesn’t mean very much, does it?
ANNOUNCER: I suppose not.
KLAUS: God made us, at least in part, to be loved; and to love in return. That we didn’t do so, that we still don’t, is a sad commentary on us and the sin that plagues this fallen world.
ANNOUNCER: Well, I agree with that. But there is good news.
KLAUS: Yes, in spite of our lack of love, God didn’t change who He is. In love He sent His Son to save us. That’s what Saint Paul said in Romans 5:8: ” God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
ANNOUNCER: And so now, for those who have been brought to faith in Jesus as their Savior, they can be sure that God still and always loves them.
KLAUS: Yes, and will continue to do so through all eternity, in God’s new and restored Creation.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. And that brings us to the end of our program for another week. We thank you, the listener, for making this program part of your day. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“A Lamb Alone Bears Willingly” arranged by Richard Wienhorst. From Jesus Christ—the Light of the World by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 1995 Concordia Seminary Chorus) Concordia Publishing House
“An Wasserflüssen Babylon” by J.S. Bach. From Organist Frederick Hohman & Johann Sebastian Bach by Frederick Hohman (© 1988 Pro Organo, Durham, North Carolina)
“The Gift of Love” traditional, arr. John Leavitt. From The Beautiful Treasure by John Leavitt (© 2007 John Leavitt) John Leavitt Music/ASCAP