1 John 3 1-3

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1 John 3:1-3

Abba, Father!

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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! The reason the world does not know us is that it did notknow him.

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Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for weshall see him as he is.

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All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,Did anybody make it to the “Fun Run” yesterday?I know I saw a few of you there. It was really busy, wasn’t it? – probably one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen. All these parentsand these kids gathered at the TAAC grounds – it was crazy.While I was there yesterday I saw this one little kid – maybe threeor four years old just sort of wandering around – she was wearingher orange t-shirt like everybody else. Weaving in and aroundeverybody’s legs – oblivious to everything with a smile beamingon her face.Then – she stopped and she looked up – and started to look at allthe faces above her – and the smile left her face. It’s like she hadthis sudden realization that she didn’t know any of the faces aboveher. One moment she’s safe and having fun – and then the nextshe’s lost.Have you ever been lost in a crowd? Like this little girl in a sea of giants. All of a sudden you know that you’re not where you’resupposed to be and that you’re not safe anymore. This kid musthave been terrified.You know – sometimes we feel like this when we grow up too.Like we’ve wandered a little too far. Where we look up and westart to see faces that aren’t familiar. Where the things that arearound us tell us that we’re not where we’re supposed to be.

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This happens in life – we make choices that get us there. We dothings that aren’t good and then we’re in trouble – maybe with our parents or the people we love or with our money.We know the world isn’t always a safe place to be and thingshappen – we get sick, or there’s a disaster, or something happens tosomeone we love – and we find ourselves not even knowing howwe got here.And we feel confused, disoriented, alone, lost and scared. We alldo…everybody who’s here has at one time or another…and that’swhy these words from John – your GEMS theme text – are so goodfor us to hear, and to remember, and to keep with us for those timeswhen we’re lost because when you’re feeling lost like this youneed to know is that…

I. You have a Father who loves you.

This little girl in the crowd. I mean she’s just flipping out – crying – and nobody’s really paying any attention to her and then shestarts to wail – “Daddy! Daddy!”And then everybody knows she’s in trouble – she’s lost – she’sfeeling completely unsafe so she cries out to the biggest, safest,strongest force in the universe that she knows. Her dad – becauseshe knows that he loves her and that he always takes care of her.Wouldn’t that be great now that we’re all grown up if we couldhave someone like that in our lives – someone so big and so powerful that loved us and would always take care of us?Well, we do…

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Listen to this from John’s letter – it’s the first verse of chapter 3 – it’s your theme verse so some of you probably even have itmemorized by now.

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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!Children of God.The Bible calls us this all the time. Not just a church, or a nation – not just a bunch of people that God likes a lot – we’re His kids.Paul tells us elsewhere in the Bible that one of the things that Jesusdid when he died and he rose again from the dead – is make us partof a new family – not only did God forgive our sins but he adoptedus as his own.God is our Father. The Bible uses this word

“Abba”

– it’s notGreek – it’s what the young Jewish children would have calledtheir fathers – today we might day Daddy!And he loves us – Daddy really loves us – John says that that helavished his love on us. That’s a big fancy word – lavish – we don’tuse it a lot these days. It means to go over the top.It’s like when your parents give you gifts – maybe they give yousocks – which are awesome. You can never have enough socks.And when your parents give you socks – that’s love. They love youso much that they want your feet to be warm and safe and protected. And you feel loved and safe and warm and protected. Now let’s say – instead of socks – you come home to a room filledwith socks and nylons and knee highs and dresses and clothes anda dozen pairs of beautiful shoes everything is perfect. And youfeel like a princess. That’s lavished. It’s over the top. It’s your

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