Will Glory Hurt? - Audio
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We're continuing our series in the first John today, our summer series. One of the things you've noticed, and we talked a little bit about last week, and you keep seeing it over and over, is that John constantly uses family language for the church and for people who are in the church, Christians, are in Christ as we're brothers and sisters, we're children of God, we'll even see it in the text today, but that's actually become kind of not popular or unpopular, especially in churches that are a little more secret sensitive, because the word family today is fraught in the West, especially in the United States of America. A lot of people recognize the fact that some people when they hear family, they're like, "I don't like that," because for a lot of people, family brings up some things aren't good. People have gone through a divorce, or they're in a childhood situation where there's abuse or violence or something like that. And moreover, there's even parts of our culture, elements of our culture that are just anti-family in general, especially the classic sort of mom, dad, and kids type of family, because it's seen as maybe inherently patriarchal or something like that. Remember the case, family language has gone out of favor in evangelical Christianity, because it rubs people some people the wrong way. Well, unfortunately, or fortunately, as a Bible church, it's the core, it's the crux of how he thinks about what's happened through Christ, and we're going to see it today, that has some major implications. He takes the language of family extremely seriously, and we're going to see that that plays out in what he thinks about is going to happen at the end, it plays out in a lot of different ways. And so let's take a look at the text together, and we're going to see the family of God address. He even starts with little children, and that's Technia in Greek, it's like little ones. He's like, "And now little ones, little children continue in union with him," if you are following along in the Pew Bible, or if you've got your digital Bible on your phone, it's probably says something like remain or abide in him. Throughout the series, we've been translating that type of language as union, and if you want to go back and see why, I think it was our first or second in the series, kind of explains that, but it's for good reason, it's because John thinks that what's happening in Christ is that we're being united so that when he appears, you have confidence and are not ashamed in front of him at his arrival. If you know that he, Jesus, is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been, listen to this, born from him. Born from him. Now just look at what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we've been called God's children, and we really are, if you're following in a different translation, that's an emphatic in Greek, it's like, and it's true, like it's unbelievable, it's crazy to think about this, but we really are, we really are God's kids. This is why the world does not know us, it didn't know him. John goes on, dear friends, right now we are God's children, and what we will be hasn't yet been revealed. We do know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we'll see him as he really is, and while all who have this hope about him purify themselves just as he is pure. Let's pick this apart, and I hope that you noticed at the very, as I tried to emphasize it in the reading, this is all family language, right? It's God's Father, we're little children, we're born from Christ, right, and so for only $35, you right now can go on your phones to amazon.com and purchase my first book, Labor
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Today we continue our series in 1 John with "Will Glory Hurt?", a look at what John thinks we should expect from Jesus's return and how best to get ready.