Children continue in Christ, as we will see Him (1 John 2:28-3:3)

I gave the following talk one week apart in two different aged care homes. The idea was that this was prep for a future talk and also I have been thinking about the idea of what it means to see God in the new heavens and earth. Like God the Father is invisible, for us to see Him does something about His nature change or ours? Do we see God with physical eyes that we have or will have, or is it a metaphor of something? Or maybe as I have normally thought, it is talking about seeing God the Son. Anyway I didn't really touch on any of this below, but I was thinking about that all the same.

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The Father's Love

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Our passage today is about being children of God and it got me thinking about me and being a father. I am a father of 3. My middle child, my oldest son, he is 9 and full of beans. Every morning he wakes up ready to run around. And the problem is, we are bad parents in that we haven’t allowed Saturday sports for him, even though he would love to do something like that. However, a few Saturdays ago I recently joined what I call a cult. It’s called Parkrun. It's a volunteer, free running group which you sign up and then at 8am on a Saturday you do a 5-kilometer run. There are lots of Parkruns over Canberra and the world, they all do a 5k run at the same time and their website keeps all your stats and personal bests and you can find others who do it and see their rank and run times. To my surprise, there are a few people at church that does this thing. I can’t say that I am a runner, but because my son loves to run, we have started this thing. 8am on Saturday morning by Tuggeranong Lake. My youngest son who is 7 also wants to come along, and so this Saturday we will see how he will go. I will be with him so my running time will not be the best that it could be.

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So because I love my sons, I now find myself sacrificing my Saturday mornings to run 5 kilometres, and not even keeping my own time, but running with them. This act I do for my sons is because I love them and doing this would be a good time together, even if it costs me sore legs and an elevated heart rate for 30 minutes. And now in my house, there is this anticipation about the next Parkrun. How will we go this week? What place will we come? My boys are looking forward to this.

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And it has only just dawned on me that my 9-year-old son looks up to me. He might have for some time but I am only just getting it. Now, I am probably pretty average for my age, but to a 9-year-old, I am big and strong, and I can run more than him. One day I think he too would like to have the strength I have and be able to run like I do.

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Today in our passage it talks about the love our heavenly Father has for us and how we can be called children of God. Not only can we be called children of God, we are actually His children. The adoption papers are in, all those who trust in Jesus have been included into God’s family. This is because God loves us.

‌In St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, is a life-size, marble statue of Christ writhing in anguish on the cross. The statue is subscribed: “This is how God loved the world!” (Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1944 This Is How God Loves)

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“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (

John 15:13

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“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

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The love that we can see of God, the love that He has lavished on us, is in Jesus who died for us and has brought us into God’s family. He did not just sacrifice his Saturday sleep-in for his sons, He came as a person, lived a righteous life and died for us in our place. He showed us what it means to obey God, and we can look up to him, seeing how he did it, how he prayed and trusted God, and how he loved others and put their needs before his own.

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And today we may not see God face to face, but twice in our passage, it talks about how one day we will see Him. We are to continue in Jesus now so that when he comes we will be confident and not hide or feel embarrassed, but instead look forward to his return.

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We will be like Him for we will see Him

‌And we should look forward to his return, for it is a good thing. My boys are looking forward to a run. I doubt that is many of us here, but what do we have to look forward to? 

One minister said for a Christian, hope is our responsibility. We are to have great hope, for we know that our God, our heavenly father loves us, and He is going to return. He may return before we die, or if not, we will see when we do.

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Do you remember Larry King? He was like a TV interview show. Once he interviewed an American minister and off air Larry King said to him

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“Are you afraid to die? Do you have a fear of death?”‌ 

I said, “I have no fear of death.”

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And he asked me again, “You … you really mean that, you have no fear of death?”

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I said, “I have no fear of death.” I said, “I have normal anxiety about the way you might suffer prior to death, but I have no fear of death because of my hope in Christ. That’s … that’s the fulfillment of everything that matters to me.”

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And then he said, “I wish I could have that faith.”

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And I said, “Oh you could. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the truth of Jesus Christ, the Word of Christ.” (John MacArthur Sermon Archive (A Theology of Hope))

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This minister went on to say, that he has no fear of death for that means heaven. Who is afraid of heaven? For there is where we will see God.

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And in verse 2 it says, when we see Christ when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We will change when we see Jesus. It is like a Dad who goes on a big business trip and brings presents for everyone. When Jesus returns it says we will get two things, we will be like him and we shall see him.

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In being like him, will not become exactly as He is, we may not become all-knowing, or all-powerful, we may not be able to control the weather, but we will be like him in his character. We will be perfect, sinless able to worship God with a pure heart. Able to love others without mixed motives. We will be able to do what pleases God without struggle.

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We also will be like God in that we will never die. We will live forever. Jesus will return in a body, like his resurrected one, and we will get the same, and this body, it will be immortal. It will last the length of heaven, which is forever and ever. And there we will see Jesus, like he was at his transfiguration, in all his glory.

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God has shown his great love for us and promises that one day we will be like Jesus, pure and everlasting. He did this not because we were good and loved him first, but because He is and loves us. And we can now wait with hope, looking forward to that great moment where we will see Jesus. And as we wait, we can look up to him, like a child to a parent, we can see what we will become, pure just as He is pure. We will live forever just like how He will live forever.

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There was a sick man, a Christian, who was troubled by the little love he felt he had for God, and so he spoke to a friend about this, who just had a baby. The friend said

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“When I go home from here, I expect to take my baby on my knee, look into her sweet eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and tired as I am, her presence will rest me; for I love that child with unutterable tenderness. But she loves me little. If my heart were breaking it would not disturb her sleep. If my body were racked with pain, it would not interrupt her play. If I were dead, she would forget me in a few days. Besides this, she had never brought me a penny, but is a constant expense to me. I am not rich, but there is not money enough in the world to buy my baby. How is it? Does she love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until I know she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it?”

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The sick man exclaimed, “Oh, I see, it is not my love to God, but God’s love for me, that I should be thinking of. And I do love Him now as I never loved Him before.” (Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (1941 My Love and Baby’s Love))

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“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

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May we remember this as we look forward to seeing Jesus as he is.

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