REFORMATION/STEWARDSHIP
October 31/November 1, 2010
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: 1 John 3:1-2

“I AM A CHILD OF GOD!”
1. By Grace Alone.
2. Through Faith Alone.
3. By Scripture Alone
1 John 3:1-2 (NIV) “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Who am I? Who are you? Brothers and sisters, these may sound like basic or “Duh” questions but in reality all the great philosophers throughout the ages have tried to answer that question. They want to know what makes people tick, why they do what they do. What makes me tick? or you? What makes me the way I am? Is it nature or nurture? Today as a church family we look at the question “Who am I?” from the vantage point of celebrating the Lutheran Reformation and focusing on our Christian Stewardship of time. Along with many other brothers and sisters in our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod we are focusing on Christ’s love as our calling and noting the fact that love takes time. But back to the question, “Who am I?” If you listened to God’s Word you would answer correctly, “I am a child of God!” We’ll add in a Lutheran way, by grace alone, through faith alone and by Scripture alone.
By grace alone I am a child of God and so are you. God says so. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” When sociologists and other people studiers study people they always have this debate: Is it nature or nurture? Do people act the way they do because they are wired that way or is it learned behavior? When it comes to being a child of God is it by nature? Any person who has the ability to be brutally honest about themselves along with all Bible believers knows that we are not the children of God by nature. By nature we don’t look like God at all. We all start out with that sinful nature that is selfish and spiteful and haughty and mean spirited. If you are honest with your thoughts you admit it. We were talking with Chris Driesbach at supper the other day and in his down to earth way about this very thing he said, “I’ve thought about what it would be like if God had a little viewer that He could shine on people and see what they were thinking. If He did that to me He’d go Ugh, throw that one back. He’s awful.” Chris is honest. By nature we are pitiful sinners.
If you had lived in the time of Luther you would have stopped right here and said, “That is who I am. I am a pitiful sinner probably headed for Hell but if I stick with the church maybe I’ll get a chance a millions of years in purgatory. That’s what the Roman church was teaching its people. But that’s not what God says is it? It says we are the children of God—by grace alone. John used some words to highlight grace. Love lavished on us. That’s grace. Not only does God not give us what we deserve, “Yuck, throw them back!” He gives us what we cannot earn, status as the children of God. That love took time. God carried it out in time when He patiently put up with the backbiting and bickering children of Israel because they carried the Savior to be born with them. Jesus took the time to become one of us and live for us for 33 years and when He took the time to pay price for every sin on Calvary’s cross. Because of God’s grace lavished on me in His Son Jesus Christ, I am a child of God. So are you.
Sometimes it doesn’t always feel that way. Are you ever disappointed in your life as a Christian? Do any of these questions run through your mind? Why do I keep doing that? I know it’s wrong. I know I should be content with just food and clothing because God will never leave me nor forsake me, but I’m not always happy. I know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength but I keep failing. I know I should rejoice always but I’m just empty inside. Am I really a child of God? Cheer up! Did you know that you are not the only one who looks at you and wonders if you really are a child of God? John says, The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Did you catch that? The world doesn’t recognize us as children of God. You’ve heard it I’m sure. Churches are filled with hypocrites. The Christians who seem to make it to the news are the ones who have fallen or who speak the truth with hate rather than with love. The world is never going to get it. They don’t realize that being a child of God is not something you attain by your living or being perfect. It is only attained through faith in the One who was perfect for us. Jesus the Christ.
Martin Luther had to learn that truth. He was not taught by his church to do good works to thank God for His forgiveness but rather to earn God’s love and forgiveness. But then the Spirit working through the word revealed to Luther that he was righteous, a child of God by faith alone, in Jesus alone. He learned that the Pope was not his holy father for he already had one holy Father in heaven and that Father said Luther was a child of God, so he was. Do you need to relearn that truth or maybe even learn it for the first time? You are a child of God through faith alone. If you are disappointed in your Christian living, if you wish you could be better for God that’s great. But don’t basis your status on what you look like now. Now you’re still struggling with sin in a sinful world. But when he appears we shall be like Him for we shall see him as he is!
And more good news. He hasn’t left us without help now. I have recently come to the realization that I am starting to look like my father. Now those of you who know my father and mother might raise an eyebrow at that because you would say that in looks I much more favor my mother. But I’m not talking about a physical looking like my dad. Here’s what happened. I was gone from home for about two days. Came back. Kind of expecting that hero’s welcome from the family. You know. Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home! Yeah, no. Here’s what I got. “Sure was quiet around here. Didn’t have to listen to all that whistling!” That’s what I got from all my girls! Whistling all the time? That’s my dad! The whistler. Everywhere. He probably didn’t realize he did it either. Why am I doing that? Well I’ve been shaped by him because of the time I spent with him.
And this is the really neat part for the children of God. We can spend time with Him and the more time we spend with Him the more we will look like Him now. If you would look at the children of God at the time of Martin Luther you would probably have said they don’t look much like the children of God at all. Inquisitions. Tortures. Execution. All carried out in the name of the Lord by the Roman Catholic church. I’m not throwing stones. That’s undisputed history. There’s a simple reason for it. The Bible was a closed book. Few got to read it. God changed things at the Reformation. With the Bible translated into languages people could read and the invention of the printing press soon many of God’s children were spending time with the Father and more and more they began to look like Him.
Today one of your legacies, your birthrights as a child of God and a Lutheran is to be a Bible reader. I am a child of God by Scripture alone. God tells me that here and He shapes me. Are you disappointed with your looks? Would you like to look more like your Father in heaven? Would you like to have in yourself and your home and your church home more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control before you get to heaven? Spend time with your Father in Scripture alone.
It will take you some time, of course. But love takes time. In the next few weeks we’ll look more at how we are using the time God has given to us. We’ll check ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word to see how we look. Maybe we’ll want to make some changes. But when you do look in the mirror see first what God sees, a child of God, by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. Amen.