Sermon 1 John 5:1-13 Testimony of God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 5:1-13 Testimony of God

May 17, 2015

            This will be my final sermon in a series drawn from the important New Testament book of 1^st John.  It's possible that an aging disciple of Jesus, John the son of Zebedee, wrote this to a church experiencing division as a result of false teaching concern the Gospel of John.  We have seen that the Son of God in whom we believe for eternal life is a flesh and blood human being named Jesus of Nazareth.  And we are children of God who learn about God by imitating Jesus.   To imitate Jesus we must love God and love one another.  Today we will ask the important question “How do we know this to be true.”  And the answer will be “by the testimony of God.”  We will get to this, but first let's pray.

            May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 5:1-13  5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God,which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 

            The second century Christian writer, Irenaeus, wrote an interesting story about the disciple of Jesus named John, the son Zebedee.  According to Irenaeus, sometime in the late first century or early second century an aging disciple John fled from a public bath house in Ephesus.  As he ran from the building he was heard to say, “Let us save ourselves; the bath house may fall down for inside is Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth.  (Eusebius (Hist. 3.28.6 and 4.14.6))

            Obviously the disciple John and Cerinthus disagreed over something.  And this could be the source of division in the church of First John.  Cerinthus was a Christian teacher at the end of the first century and the beginning of the second.  He was concerned about how Jesus could be both man and God at the same time.  This didn't make much sense to him.  He thought that since God is a spirit it didn't make much sense to talk about his birth or death because spirits are neither born nor die.  So Cerinthus came up with an idea.  First, he didn't believe in the virgin birth.  Jesus, he thought, must have had two natural parents, Mary and Joseph.  Cerinthus then speculated that God's spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism when the dove came down from heaven.  This Spirit gave Jesus extraordinary powers to do things like walk on water and calm storms.  According to Ceninthus, this Spirit must have left Jesus before his death because spirits don't die.  And now even though Jesus is dead and buried he sent this Spirit to us for comfort and power.  All this sounds ok, but according to the disciple John, run for your lives whenever you hear it because the roof may fall down.

            According to 1 John, Cerinthus is a false teacher because he taught that Jesus was just a human with an extra helping of the spirit of God for part of his life.  1 John says that Jesus was both a flesh and blood human being and God for all eternity.    For Jesus to be with us at the end of time he must have been there at the beginning.  And if we have any hope at all in our resurrection to eternal life,  Jesus must have been resurrected from the dear.  The question we have is “how do we know which one is true?” To know whether or not something is true we need some witnesses.  And we need to hear some testimony.  So let's first turn to the Holy Spirit.

            John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]

            The Holy Spirit did not come down on just an ordinary man to give him extraordinary powers.   The man, Jesus, was already the Son of God. The Holy Spirit came down as a dove in order to show who the Son of God was.  And so it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God.

            So far we any one pretty reliable witness, but are there any others.  There is another, and according to 1 John this is the water and the blood.  Let's see how the water and blood testify to the identity of the Son of God. 

John19:33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

            The crucifixion of Jesus was witnessed by the disciple he loved.  And later, after the resurrection, Jesus returned to this disciple who exclaimed, “7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7)

            And so the testimony of the water and blood is that the Son of God was not some spirit who flew away before the crucifixion.  Rather the Son of God was crucified on a cross and resurrected from the dead for all to see.

            So we have heard from the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Son of God before his baptism.  The water and blood testify that he remained the Son of God after his death.  The testimony so far indicates that Cerinthus was wrong.  But there is one more witness to hear from, Almighty God.

            God's testimony is written directly on our hearts.  We know that Jesus is the Son of God because God has given us the faith we need to believe it.  Every time someone passes through the baptismal waters we are reminded that Jesus is God's Son who was present at creation.  Every time we lift up the cup in communion we are reminded by his blood of his resurrection and promise of eternal life.  Our salvation depends on a human being the Son of God because only a human could pay the price for our sins.  Our salvation also depends on the Son of God being God because only God can forgive sins.  So the Son of God must be both human and God to pay for and forgive sin.   The Gospel of John puts it this way.

John1:  9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

            Cerinthus's ideas were rejected by the church because Jesus had to be both God and man to achieve our salvation.  This is what it mean to call Jesus the Son of God.  The promise of scripture is that if you truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, both God and human, you will receive eternal life.

            And this brings us to Ascension Sunday.  Jesus, both man and God, is in heaven right now sitting a God's right hand.  Just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead to eternal life so too will all who believe, be resurrected to eternal life.   Let's pray.

            Father in heaven, we thank you for the enormous gift of Jesus.  We believe that he existed with you before creation and will be with you at the end.  We believe that he came to earth as a human and died for our sins.  We also believe that he rose from the dead leading us to resurrection and eternal life.  We thank you for this gift and pray in his name.  Amen.

Sermon 1 John 4:7-21 Abide in God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 4:7-21 Abide in God

May 10, 2015

Since Easter I have been preaching from the book of First John. There was a church in the late 1^st and early 2^nd centuries that had experienced division over doctrinal matters. The people who left were devout Christians who believed in the Son of God and expected to receive eternal life as promised in the Gospel of John. But they were mistaken about the identity of this Son of God thinking it to be some kind of spiritual creature. The church's pastor insisted that this was incorrect. The Son of God was none other than Jesus, a flesh and blood human being.

The pastor then went on to explain that just as Jesus is the Son of God so too are we children of God. And as children we should imitate him in order to know him and grow to be like him.

Then the pastor said, that if we are imitating Jesus Christ we should be loving each other because that is what Jesus did. Leaving the church is not the way to show one's love for one another. With this the pastor urged the people who had left to return. But loving one another is very difficult especially when we disagree with each other. So today we will read how it is possible to love one another. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 4:7-21 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

There is a story in the book, The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, by Mark Labberton. There was woman, a member of his church, in her eighties named Doris. One day as Doris was getting into her car a young man jumped in, pushed her over, and took off. As they went down the street Doris did what any kidnapped eighty year old would do, she asked him his name. He told her that his name was Jesse and that he was kidnapping her so she would give him money out of a bank ATM. Jesse said that he needed this money for drugs. So Doris told that it was terrible to be on drugs. That was an awful way to live your live. She told him he should get off drugs. When they arrived at the ATM Jesse forced her to withdraw the maximum amount. When they got back in the car Doris told Jesse that he really needed some help. He needed God's help. They visited two more ATMs when Doris hit her daily withdraw limit. Then Jesse drove her to a deserted street and said he was going to leave her there. Before he left, Doris told Jesse that she would pray for him, pray that he would be caught and find the help he needed. Jesse then helped Doris out of the car and opened the door for her to get in the driver's seat. He helped her with her seat belt. And kissed her on the cheek as he said goodbye. It is needless to say at this point, but Doris is a very loving person.

Think of someone you know who is a loving person. This is Mother's Day and many of you are thinking about your mothers. And if your mother was anything like my mother then you were really blessed. But even though we may say that our mother or pastor or teacher or friend was loving, would we ever say that our that person is love? I don't think so. Your mother may have been the most loving person your ever knew. She might have displayed mature self-giving love. You might call he loving, but you would never go all the way to say that she is love. But the author of 1 John says that someone is love. And who might that be? Well, according to scripture God is Love.

Sometimes we make the mistake of reversing this and saying Love is God. When we do this we start worshiping love and try to turn our experience of love into a god. But scripture is very clear on this. We do not worship love. We worship God who is love.

The reason we are able to love one another is because we were first loved by God. As Christians we experience God's love in many ways. For some of us, we experienced God's love in our parents who took us to Sunday School and Church when we were young. For some of us, we experienced God's love in a Born Again experience or an experience of Getting Saved. For some of us, we experienced God's love through Spiritual gifts or in the pages of scripture or in daily devotions. My prayer is that you will all experience God's love this morning in worship.

Once you experience God's love in your life you will know God. This is because according to scripture God is love. So you will come to know God by experiencing his love. And the evidence that you have experienced God's love is that you begin to love one another. So if we claim to have experienced God's love for ourselves it will be on display for others to see as love for one another.

God displayed his love for us by sending his own Son into the world. God loves us so much he had his Son teach us the way to eternal life. God loves us so much he had his Son die for us so that we may be free from sin and live lives of fullness and abundance. God's love for us is overwhelming and undeserved. If comes to us as free gift. Shouldn't we share this gift with others by loving one another? When we love one another something happens to us. We change in important ways. Loving one another is evidence that God's Spirit abides in us. God's love remains in us. And so you are able to love one another.

So how can we, as God's children, be sure that God abides into us? How can we be certain that God's love is in us. According to 1 John we can be assured that God abides in us if we believe that the resurrected Jesus is the Son of God.

So far we have seen that our experience of God's love and our love for one another is evidence that God abides in us. And we have also seen that our belief in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God, gives us the assurance that God abides in us now. So, what is the benefit we receive from having God abide in us?

According for First John, the benefit of having God's love abide in you is that you will experience no fear on Judgment day. On the day Jesus returns and we, like him, are resurrected from the dead we will stand before him. He will be our judge. But if God is with us, if God's love is in us, then we will stand before Jesus filled with confidence in our salvation. We will appear before Jesus having been made like him loving one another. And since we have loved one another we know that on Judgment Day, God will love us because God is love and his love abides in us. And so there will be no fear, because love always casts out fear.

But of course if we fail to love one another then God's love must not be in us. And if God does not abide in us then when Jesus returns we will be judged for the sin that is in us. Then we should be afraid, very afraid.

As Pastor I can assure you that if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believe that he was resurrected from the dead then God will abide in you, and God's love will overflow from you, and you will love one another. I can can also assure you that if God abides in you, then you will have no fear on Judgment Day.

If you have just moved to the area and are looking for a church, what should you look for? Well, if the people in the church love one another then you can be sure that God abides in that church and you should stay there. But if a church is divided and fighting with each other. If there seems to be no love for each other in that church then God does not abide in that church and you should run from it as fast as you can. My prayer is that when people visit First Presbyterian they will see evidence that God abides with us. They will see that evidence only if we truly love one another.

We are love one another not because we hope that God will love for doing so. God's love is not effected by anything we do. God loves us because God is love. And the more we know God the more we are filled with his love. And his loves spills out of us as love for one another. Remember that all of us are children of God. And so when we love one another we are really loving all of God's children.

So we have learned today that God is love. He displayed his love for us in his Son Jesus Christ. As we get to know him through prayer, Bible study and worship we find ourselves filled with his love. God abides in us. We display God's love in us by loving one another. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for your abiding love in us. Help us to display your love to the world by loving one another. This we pray in the name of your Son whom you sent to us out of your great love for us. Amen.

Sermon 1 John 3:7-21 Love One Another

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 3:7-21 Love One Another

May 3, 2015

This is the third in my series of sermons drawn from the important book of First John. This book was written to a church that was trying to be faithful to the Gospel of John. A group in the church had been mistaken about the identity of the Son of God in whom you must believe to have eternal life. They thought this was some kind of spiritual divine being; certainly not a human being. And certainly not a human being that had been executed by the Romans. But the pastor of the church has written to assure them that the Son of God was the flesh and blood person named Jesus. Jesus had claimed to be this Son of God and his bodily resurrection proved it.

The pastor of this church then told them that just as Jesus is the Son of God so too are we children of God. And as children we learn about God, grow into Christ, and show Christ to others the same way children learn about and grow into adults. Just as children imitate adults to learn and become one so too do we imitate Christ to learn more about and grow into him. Today we will see what we must do to grow into Christ. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 3:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Evangelical churches in the United States believe strongly that Christians must love God because he loved us first. We love God by worshiping him. We love God by studying about him in Bible study. We love God by praying and meditating on scripture every day. We love God by growing his church and be bringing people to faith. The good news that evangelicals proclaim is that God loves us and so we must love God.

Mainline churches believe just as strongly that Christian must love their neighbor. Mainline Christian volunteer to feed the homeless. They bind up wounds of the injured, pray for the sick, and give clothes to those who need it. They work with their churches and government for social justice to provide for the needs of people. The good news mainline churches proclaim is that the God loves us and so we must love our neighbor.

This division has been with us since the early church. In the church of First John the group who left believed that God was a spirit and thus there was no need to care for flesh and blood people. All we had to do was believe. Those who remained in the church believed that God came to earth as Jesus in the flesh. To imitate him we must care for other flesh and blood people.

So what do we do? Do we spend our time in prayer and worship and Bible study to come closer to God? Or do we spend our time outside of the church helping those in need? The author of First John says there is no difference. There is only one command. And that one command is you must love both God and neighbor. It is not either love God or love others. It is love God and love others. You must do both.

Evangelical and mainline churches are both correct in part, but they only go half way. If you spend all your time loving God but neglecting the needs of others you are not following Christ. And if you are meeting the needs of others, but you are not enough spending time loving God with worship and prayer then you are not following Christ either. You must love God and love your neighbor.

And why are we to do this? We love God and our neighbor because that is what Jesus did. He laid down his life so that God would be glorified and people would live lives of fullness. We are not called to lay down our lives. But we are called to love God and our neighbors with all of our hearts, all of our souls and all of our minds.

But how can we do this? It's overwhelming! Well, the only way we could love God and love others that much is if we are first loved by God. And that is exactly what happens. God loves us first. We are filled with his sacrificial love. And then we are able to love God and the people God created fully.

The Apostle Paul put it this way in First Corinthians chapter 13.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The reason God loves us is because by definition God is love. He made his love manifest for us by sending his son into the world. What binds the Father and Son together is love. The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. The bond of love between Father and Son is the Holy Spirit. The Son loves the Father by sending the Spirit. And the Fathers loves the Son by sending the Spirit. Our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the trinity is held together by love. As children of God we are adopted into this Holy Family by loving God and loving one another.

And this is the message the author of First John sent to two groups who disagreed over doctrinal differences. God loves you. If you want to love God you must also love one another. Love must overcome differences in doctrine. The people who have left the church and people who remain must love God and love each other just as God loves them.

And what about us? God loves us. God hears our prayers. God wants us to live our lives to the fullest. To that end he sent Jesus Christ to us as a gift. He wants nothing in return. Out of gratitude we should love one another, love the people in our families and communities, and even love our enemies. If we love we get to know God better. If we love we become more and more like Christ. If we love we show Christ's love to a world in need. This is truly a full life of love.

 Let's pray. Father in heaven we thank you for the love you have given us. We thank you for the love you showed to us by sending your own son to die for us. We thank you Jesus for coming to earth and experiencing death so that we may experience life to the full. For all these reasons and with the help of the Holy Spirit we pledge to love you with worship and prayer and we pledge to love others by serving their needs. We thank you for the full life you have given us. Amen.

Sermon 1 John 3:1-7 Children of God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon 1 John 3:1-7 Children of God

April 26, 2015

I am continuing today with the second of a series of sermons drawn from the book of First John. As we saw last week this book was probably written by the pastor of a church that has been ripped in two. People have left the church over the interpretation of the Gospel of John. Most of this is due to the interpretation of the identity of the Son of God in who you must believe to receive eternal life. 

The pastor said unequivocally that the Son of God is none other than Jesus of Nazareth who died, and was raised from the dead. The pastor saw him, touched him and ate with this Jesus. His resurrection was an experienced reality that proves his identity as the Son of God.

Today this pastor will make the analogy that just as Jesus Christ is the Son of God, so too are we children of God. We will see today what this means, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

1 John 3:1-7 3 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 not know him. 2 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 we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

The author of 1 John has called us “children of God”. So our relationship with God is similar to the relationship a child has with a parent. Consider for a moment what it would be like to be a toddler or preschooler again. Also suppose that you have a teacher. Now, let's say that the teacher want to teach you something. How would he or she do it? Or looking at it another way, how does a young child learn?

If a teacher gave a group of 2-year-olds a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannicas, and told the children to read them, what would happen? Well, the 2-year-olds would quickly figure out how to rip pages out of books. That what 2-year-olds do. And they will rip pages out the books until they get bored and move on to something else, or until an adult stops them.

Young children learn not by reading books, but by imitating adults. They see what we do and do it themselves. Over time, around 18 years or so, they see what we do and hear what we say and learn more and more about what it means to be an adult. So, if we are children of God, God's 2-year-olds, how would we learn about God? Would we learn about God by reading books? No. We would learn about God by watching what he does and hearing what he says. Then we would imitate him. And by imitating God we learn more and more about him.

This is why we are to obey the commands of God, by walking in the light of Jesus Christ. Jesus loved God and loved others. So if we imitate him by loving God and loving others we learn more about him. Every time we worship or work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter or pray, we experience some of the things Jesus experienced and we come to know him better. We can't fully know Jesus by reading about him. We must do what he did. And by imitating him we come to know him, just like we know what it means to be an adult by imitating adults when we were young. So to be children of God means that we imitate Christ to get to know him better.

Of course we could decide to disobey God. We could do those things God does not want us to do. Or we could refuse to do what God wants us to do. And in our disobedience we would also learn something. We would learn more and more about the devil. Cheat on your spouse, steal from your employer, lie to your friends and you will know more and more about the devil who does all these things too. Don't do this. Imitating the devil is never a good idea.

We have found that children learn about their parents by imitating them. But there is something else that happens when young children imitate their parents. When children do what their parents do they grow up into adults. They learn to be adults by imitating what adults do. This is a process that takes eighteen years or so. So too in our relationship with God. As children of God if we do what Christ told us to do then we become more and more like him. We grow into the full stature of Christ. So as we feed the hungry, care for sick, and nurture children we become more and more like Christ who also did all of these things. This is the goal of all Christians: to become more like Christ. As children of God we do this by imitating Christ.

Of course we could grow up imitating the devil. By doing what he does we become more and more like him. We grow in sin and become more and more evil. Don't do this. It doesn't end well.

So far we have seen that as children of God we can know more about God and we can become more like Christ by obeying his commands. But something else happens as well. Let me explain.

How does the world know about God? How would the tourists coming to Ocean City this summer learn more about God? How would the international students who come here to work know more about God? How would the immigrants who study ESL in our church know more about God? How would the people in AA or those working on GEDs come to know about God? We could give them a book to read, but they would probably just rip out the pages or throw it away. The way people in Ocean City come to know God is by watching us. They hear what we say. They see what we do. And if we are faithful in our imitation of Christ then they will see God in us. If visitors to Ocean City imitate us then they will know more and more about who God is, and they will become more and more like Christ. And this is how faith in Jesus Christ grows.

Of course the other is true as well. If we imitate the devil others will too. So if we hang out in bars, engage in casual sex, and pass out drunk on the streets we will become more and more like the devil and visitors to Ocean City will do the same. Don't do this. Don't lead people to Satan by your lifestyle, what you do and say.

I can remember talking to my grandmother. Her mother prayed and read her Bible every day. Her mother took her to church every Sunday. When my grandmother became an adult she continued these practices. To remind her of the importance of obeying Christ's commands a friend gave her a picture with the the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. My grandmother hung this picture over her bed so that every morning and every evening she would be reminded to pray and obey God's commands.

When my mother was born, my grandmother put this picture in her room so that my mother, by imitation, would learn the importance of daily prayer and righteous living. I found this picture in my Grandmother attic. The newspapers which held the picture in the frame were old and faded. She told me the story of how the picture was given to her after her father died and she had to go live with her brother. She told me how it hung in my mother's bedroom. So I asked for the picture and hung it in my bedroom to remind me to pray every day and obey God's commands. Today that picture hangs in the Pastor's office of First Presbyterian Church reminding me that I am a child of God.

I am concerned about young Christians today. So many of them choose to worship only with other young Christians. Churches have been established just for the young with musical styles and fellowship that caters to them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means that young Christians will not have the opportunity to be in church with people who have been imitating Christ for decades. They won't have the role models of faithful living that young people have had in the past. My prayer is the one day all generations will worship together so young Christians can learn about Christ from people like us.

I recently heard a story about a Presbyterian church in Lake Park Iowa. The pastor of this chirch preached a children's sermon on Jonah. He explained to them that Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh to proclaim the love of God. He said that many Christians today also have this reluctance. Well, the children of the church decided to do something about this. A couple of 3^rd and 4^th graders got the other children in the church to contribute almost $100 to support Leisa Wagstaff, a 

Presbyterian educator serving in the southern Sudan. The children of Lake Park wanted to help the children of the Sudan to go to school. Presbyterian children in the Sudan were overjoyed when they received the gift, and one boy said, “They know we exist!”. The adults in Lake Park realized that sometimes real children know how to act as children of God more than adults. So they decided to imitate their children and begin supporting Presbyterian mission activity too. (http://www.pcusa.org/news/2015/3/18/childrens-sermon-moves-iowa-children-support-missi/)

We are all children of God. Our responsibility is to know God as a parent. We do this through the process of imitation. We obey God's commands and do what Jesus did. As we do these things we learn more and more about our God, we become more and more like Christ, and we bring more and more people to Christ by what we say and what we do. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we are your children. We thank you for the love you have given us. We thank you for all the blessings we have received. Strengthen us to imitate you so that we can know you better and be more like you. Use us as role models to help others find you. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.