You Are Lavishly Loved by the Lord!

4th Sunday of Easter, 4/22/18
1 John 3:1-2


You Are Lavishly Loved by the Lord!
I. You are his child.
II. You will be like him.


There are many questions Christians have asked throughout the history of Christianity. We’re no different as modern Christians. We still ask what God’s will is in a specific situation. We still ask what we will know and what we won’t know once we get to heaven. And we still ask, “Does God still love me?”

We want to know that we are loved. And when that’s the case with our earthly relationships, we seek evidence of that love. For instance, what was it that calmed us down as sobbing, troubled children? Most likely, it was the warm and tender embrace of our mothers along with her soothing words assuring us that she still loves us and, therefore, it’s going to be OK. But what is it that calms us down as troubled grown-ups facing one disappointment in life after another? It’s the assurance that our God still loves us.

But our God doesn’t pull us up onto the safe haven of his almighty lap. He doesn’t enfold us in his strong, but gentle arms. We don’t hear his loving, reassuring voice from heaven.

But we do have his word—a word that will never perish, a word that will never fail us. And in that word he assures us that love is his very essence and that he loves us with an eternal love.

As people who question God’s love for us from time to time, we have the answer to our questions here in the word of our God this morning from St. John’s first letter. In that word our God assures us that he isn’t stingy with his love for us; he lavishes it on us.
No matter what’s happening around you, no matter what threat is currently assaulting the peace in your life, you are lavishly loved by the Lord. On this Good Shepherd Sunday in which Jesus portrays his everlasting love for us in a way that is so familiar and so reassuring to us, be assured of that comforting truth! You are lavishly loved by the Lord! Let’s take that truth to heart this morning.

Part I.

From time to time you will see and hear about the need for good foster parents. The current opioid epidemic in our country has only made that need more intense. Veteran foster parents will tell you that providing a safe and nurturing environment for these foster children is not the difficult aspect of this endeavor. What’s difficult is filling the hole in the foster child’s heart—a hole that results from the sense of not belonging anywhere and, most importantly, in a family. One expert in this area suggests taking pictures that show the foster child involved with the foster family. Even pictures of things the foster child has accomplished while in the foster family will help. Apparently, there’s reliable research that supports this link between visual images and the development of a healthy sense of belonging.

The Apostle John wrote these words of our text to a group of Christians who were questioning whether or not they belonged to God. Well, what was the problem? It wasn’t any personal disaster they were facing. As far as their earthly lives were concerned, things were going as well as could be expected for these first-century Christians. But they were facing a spiritual battle of epic proportions. They were surrounded by a very appealing, but very deadly heresy. There were false teachers around them who were denying the basic truths of Christianity. They denied that Jesus was the eternal Son of God. They promoted immoral lifestyles as healthy and acceptable. They downplayed faith and elevated human reason. In short, they were asserting that these Christians didn’t have a relationship with God. What they were holding to by faith was all a myth. It was nothing.

Bottom line…they were plagued with the uncertainty of who they were and where they stood with God. They were spiritually insecure.

But John doesn’t have any pictures of them interacting in God’s family to assure them. He doesn’t have a document signed with the finger of God indicating their relationship with him. What he has, however, is much better. Pictures and documents will deteriorate and, one day, will be destroyed. But God’s word lasts forever. And that’s what John uses to assure them. To Christians who were insecure in their relationship with God, John declares emphatically, “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.” John deals head-on with the world’s opinion. It states that our faith is a myth and that it does not bring us into a relationship with God. But what else would you expect from the world? It doesn’t know who the true God is. On the other hand, you do, because you are a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Would you like some objective proof? Look to your baptism. There God used the washing with water connected to the word of the risen and living Lord Jesus to bring you into his kingdom—into his family of believers.

And recall why he did that. He didn’t do it because he used his knowledge of all things to peer into the future and see what a lovely, cooperative, dependable, faithful child of God you would be. He did not choose you to be his child because of who you were or would become. He chose you simply because of who he is—the God who is love, the God who reveals his grace towards sinners. In other words, don’t be delusional when it comes to your place in the family of God. It has nothing to do with who you are or what you would do. It has everything to do with who your God is and what he has done for you in a Savior named Jesus Christ. He did it purely out of his divine love for you.

You are lavishly loved by the Lord. You are his child!

It’s a crowded world out there. Billions of people share this planet with you. And even when you’re by yourself, with the click of a button, you can bring the whole world into the room with you. But in spite of a world full of people and access to that world at your fingertips, it can still be a very lonely experience. You can easily conclude that no one knows what you’re facing. No one can understand what you’re dealing with. And when the problems in your life go unresolved in spite of the fact that you have implored your God daily for his help, you begin to have some serious doubts about your relationship with him. “What does he have against me? Does he know what I’m facing? Does he care?”

This morning St. John reminds you that your God does care, that he loves you—lavishly so. To convince us of it John doesn’t simply parrot the words, “God loves you.” He tells us how. He has made you his own dear child. That relationship isn’t the result of government paperwork and a county court’s decree. It’s the result of God sending his own Son to become your Brother. God loved you that much. And his love didn’t stop there at the incarnation. It continued all the way to Calvary’s cross where he sacrificed his Son for you. And he did that not because of who you are. He did that because of who he is. That’s why you are lavishly loved by the Lord. That’s why you are his child.

Part II.

It’s human nature—often part of our sinful human nature—to wish our lives were the same as someone’s we admire. We want to live in their house, we want to take their vacation, we want to eat in their restaurants, drive their cars, and look like they do. In short, we want their lives. We want to be like just like them.

But have you ever wished, “I want to be like God”? Subconsciously we do. We chafe at God’s demands. We bristle at his claim on our lives. Even as Christians we constantly battle against a sinful nature that tries incessantly to push God out of our lives, or at least limit his control on them. Truth be told, we do want to be like God.

But we don’t vocalize that, at least not in those words. That’s because even the sound of it is ludicrous. How can the human be like the divine? That defies human reason.

But listen to John’s words of encouragement. “Dear 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.” As evidence that your God loves you, John not only points you back to the life and death of Jesus, he points you forward to the return of Jesus. On Easter Sunday we took to heart the encouragement that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead guarantees our own resurrection on the Last Day. Then God’s plans for us will reach fulfillment. Finally we will be like God. In what way? The Bible assures us that God will glorify our bodies. We’ll be like God in that we will no longer experience temptation, sorrow, pain or death. All the difficulties of this life which make our personal lives a valley of sorrows will be over. We’ll be changed and so will the world in which we live. In short, we’ll attain perfection—a perfection that will last forever.

So, don’t let your present situation in life rob you of the Christian hope that is yours. You are lavishly loved by the Lord! You will be like him.

In spite of the unseasonably cold weather and the occasional unwanted sighting of snowflakes, we know that warm weather is right around the corner. Early flowers have emerged from bulbs in the cold ground and are blooming. Tree blossoms are in full view. Warm weather will arrive soon.

Just as we’re waiting for warmer weather, so we Christians are waiting for better times. We long for the day when we’ll be free from the daily barrage of evil. We look forward to a life free from the aches and pains which remind us where our lives will inevitably end. Will things ever get better? Indeed they will! A risen Savior assures us of it. He guarantees it! We will be like him—risen and glorious! That’s a solid Easter truth. And that’s God’s lavish love for you in action. Just as you know that warm weather will soon be here, know that just as surely you will be like your risen Savior, Jesus Christ. You are lavishly loved by the Lord! May your Lord wrap you in his love each day of your life! Amen.