Behold, What Manner of Love!

Well, good morning. Once again, everyone. Thank you very much. This is Hannah Way and to the choir for the beautiful special music. This was a little like a NASCAR pit crew.

Pretty soon you've got the, everything's done, drop it, and off it goes. No. I appreciated Mr. Janisic's message very much in the aspect. He also talked a lot about how there has been a lot of topics that have been on the minds of our speakers of late. One of the challenges that comes with that when you get to the Holy Days is that when you're all kind of on the same train of thought, so to speak, you're going to some of the same places. I like speaking before everybody else. It's kind of a nice thing where I get to have first crack at them. Sometimes on the Holy Days like this, it's like playing a large game of battleship. You call your passage out, and you see somebody wince, and you know you got a hit. Yesterday at the Bible study, I went to 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, and Mr. Kinsella looked up in horror. I said, no! No! So anyway, if you would alternative 1 Peter 2 and verse 9... I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I won't do that to you. I won't do that to you. But no, it is. It's wonderful to be together. It's wonderful to have this opportunity to gather as God has commanded us on this Holy Day, on this wonderful day of Pentecost. Brethren, have you ever been entrusted with something? Have you ever been entrusted with something? Maybe given something from someone that is precious to them, given ultimately the imperative to keep that thing or whatever it might be safe and protected. Maybe it was the very first time that you drove your parents' car on your own, just by yourself. That look your father gave you as you hopped behind the wheel, closed that driver's side door, and turned over the ignition. That look that said that gas tank had better be full. That car had better be washed and waxed, and there better not be a scratch on her when you return it.

Maybe it was a precious family heirloom that somebody lent you for a wedding or an event, a brooch that had been in the family for generations, or a dress that had been worn by everyone in your family to that point prior, and you knew that you had to take care of that thing so that nothing got spilled on it or it got messed up while you were out there getting your groove on. Maybe it was a situation in which someone entrusted you with their child, with their most precious possession, knowing full well that you would keep them safe, that you would keep them protected from harm while they were in your care. When we're entrusted with something, we are responsible for ensuring that no harm comes to whatever it is that we've been given to care for. Brethren, we are gathered today on this 1994th Pentecost, since the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D.

1994 Pentecosts in that time period. And on that day, sound came down from heaven, as that of a rushing, mighty wind filled the entire space where the brethren were gathered, divided tongues as though a fire sat upon them. The multitude gathered was filled with the Spirit of God, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

See, Peter preached a powerful sermon. Three thousand people were added to their number, and the New Testament church had begun. There's a lot that has taken place in those intervening years. You think back even in your experience, in the time that you've spent as a part of the Church of God, the things that have taken place. The Church of God is ebbed, and it's flowed through human history. At times, it was in the forefront of the historical record. It was prominent, it was influential, and at other times, it was more in the background. Sometimes, we might even say underground in that sense. At times, the Church of God surged forward, and marching through ancient lands and boundaries. And other times, Rome had it on the run. It's always been present. There's always been a remnant of believers keeping and protecting the truth of God.

And it's incredible to consider that in our own modern church history, we think to our own experience from the time of Mr. Armstrong until today, let's see the 90 or so years since the Eugene congregation was founded. 90 or so years at this point. That only represents less than 5% of that total time period. 95% of the history of the Church of God, as we would know it, took place from 31 AD to 1933. There's a lot that has taken place to bring us to this point. There's a lot that has taken place to bring us to today. There have been many faithful brethren for thousands of years that have carried this baton of this precious truth, this incredible calling, handing it off from generation to generation to generation for safekeeping, down through 2000 years of human history to you and to me. The revealing of that truth, the opening of our hearts to receive it, is only part of this incredible calling that God has given to each and every one of us that are gathered before Him on this day.

It's just one example of the amazing love that the Father has for those that He has called in this life, His firstfruits. His firstfruits. Let's turn over today to the book of John. We're going to begin today in the Gospel of John, John 14. He would turn over there.

Just prior to this section in John 14, we see Christ take the time to explain to His disciples what was going to be taking place later that night, both to Him and ultimately as a result of what would happen to Him, to them as well. As we see Him go through, we see Him explain. He informs them that He would be departing from them and ultimately where He would be going that they would not be able to follow. In fact, He explains to Peter that despite his protests and his claims, that He would lay down His life and die for His Lord. He let Peter know that before the night was out, that He would deny Him three times as the events unfolded. And so the words that we see recorded here in John 14 are words of comfort. They are words of comfort that were said to beloved friends. Jesus spent three and a half years of His life with these men. They had walked throughout the dusty roads of Judea. He loved them dearly, and He was about to say goodbye. He was about to say goodbye, at least in the sense of His physical life. His time physically was running out, and in His incredible love for them, He desired to leave them at peace in their hearts. John 14 will begin in verse 1 with the words that Christ spoke to them on that night. John 14 in verse 1 says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.

And then He tells them, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also.

He begins with this concept of let not your heart be troubled. Don't worry.

You have faith in God? He said, have faith also in Me. He tells the disciples, I am going so that I can prepare a place for you so that you will have a home, so that you will have a place.

And I go to prepare that place, that I will return to receive you to Myself, and that they will be together again, that they will be reunited in His Father's house. We see, ultimately, the disciples didn't fully understand what Christ was getting at, but He could see that as a result of the words that He had spoken, as a result of the revelation He had given them, that they were deeply troubled. And as the events would unfold later that night and into the next day, there was going to be a critical need for comfort in the hearts of His disciples going forward. I think what's amazing to consider as we look at this example, what's incredible to consider, is that even in the great distress that Jesus Christ was in, and we see later the great distress that He was in, the prayers, the sweating of blood, I mean, just the things that He was going through, the distress that He was in as He faced His own mortality and His impending death, it's noticeable that His focus, His concern, was on His brethren. His concern was on the trouble that was in their hearts and the comfort that they needed and would be provided. He goes on in verse 15. He begins to define the foundation of the relationship between us and God, how we interact with Him, how we interact with God the Father. And He illustrates this great depth of love that God the Father had for them as well. Verse 15 of John 14, it says, if you love me, if you love me, keep my commandments. He says, I will pray to Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. He says, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. A little while longer, verse 19, a little while longer, and the world will see me no more.

He says, but you will see me, because I live, you will live also.

That is an incredible promise that we have been provided, an incredible love that has been shown to us. At that day, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love Him and manifest myself to Him. So Jesus addresses the love that they were to have for Him, and that is a love that is rooted in obedience. That is a love that is rooted in obedience. It brings that out in verse 15, the importance of that follow-through, the understanding of those teachings and the keeping of those commandments, as that is how they would show their love for Him. But He also says that as a result of that love, that the Father promises that He will love those who love His Son in that fashion. Verse 21 is powerful. Verse 21 is powerful. We've read it already. I want to read it again. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love Him and I will manifest myself to Him. How would God show His love to those believers? How would God the Father show His love to those believers? One of the ways that we see is through the provision of a helper. Through the provision of a helper, the Greek word is paracletos, through the provision of a comforter.

One of the most powerful acts of love that we can experience as humans is to have someone come alongside us in the midst of tragedy. To have someone come alongside us to wrap their arms around us as we experience such deep levels of human grief, as we deal with such levels of trial and challenge and comfort us in the midst of those times of trouble. And so what we see is the great love that God has for us in that He provided a portion of His essence, His mind and His power, to those who loved Christ, who kept His commandments, who submitted themselves in the covenant of baptism, and ultimately that Spirit that He would provide them would give them comfort in their troubles. Not only that, that Spirit would abide in them. That Spirit would dwell in them a portion of the Father and of Christ, dwelling in His people, a down payment toward eternal life and that promise that was provided to the firstfruits of God. This precious promise of this gift was fulfilled on this day of Pentecost so many years ago as the Spirit of God was poured out on those gathered, then in Jerusalem. And since that time, God's Spirit has dwelt in His people and His firstfruits throughout the history of the Church of God. If you would turn over to Romans 8, Apostle Paul understood this relationship. Apostle Paul understood this relationship in Romans 8. We're going to pick it up in verse 18 to begin. But he understood intimately this relationship that God was seeking in His people, this relationship that was being established as part of this process.

Throughout his writings, numerous places, Paul refers to God as a Father. He refers to God as a Father. He refers to us as His people, as adopted children, as the very children of God. Romans 8, we'll pick it up in verse 18 where we see this analogy built in some respects. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but was subjected, or because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now, and not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly awaiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Paul writes that the earnest expectation of the creation of what God has produced and what God has made, this earnest expectation is awaiting the revealing of the sons of God, a creation that was subjected in hope and will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Not only does that creation groan and labor we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan and labor too.

We receive that down payment. We're awaiting this time. We're groaning and laboring in the sense within ourselves, awaiting that adoption and the redemption of our physical bodies to spirit beings, to the point of fully then born and begotten in that sense, children of God. Well, at this time, as the firstfruits of God, we have been begotten of the Spirit of God. We've been spiritually conceived. We are developing. We are growing to become like our Father and eagerly awaiting that time when we will be born to spirit beings. And brethren, our Father who has begotten us, he is eagerly awaiting that time too. He is eagerly awaiting that time as well, when his children will be revealed and the process is complete.

While we're here commemorating the Day of Pentecost today, people all around the United States are celebrating the secular holiday of Father's Day. It is Father's Day in addition to being Pentecost today. As late as in the year as the Holy Days were this year, they happened to line up. Probably some of the latest that we've had the Day of Pentecost, as I can recall in recent years. But I think that's probably apropos based on where I'd like to go with this today. Father's Day was originally intended to honor and love the sacrifice that fathers make in order to care for and provide for their family. Ultimately, since then, like many other secular holidays, it's become overly commercialized. Barbecues, ties, socks, they fly off their shelves, they find their way onto the patios, the necks and the feet of fathers everywhere. Despite the commercialization, though, despite that commercialization, it was originally intended to be a day that showed and honored the love and the appreciation for the love and support and guidance that fathers do provide.

Ultimately, it commemorates this important role that they play in the development of the child. So I'd like to take a little time today to explore this. The title of the sermon is, Behold What Manner of Love? Behold What Manner of Love? The title comes from the passages that are found in 1 John 3 and verse 1. If you would turn over there, 1 John 3 and verse 1. I want to kind of set the stage a little bit for where we're going to go. 1 John 3 and verse 1, as we consider this calling and this opportunity that has been provided to us as the first fruits of God. 1 John 3, we'll pick it up in verse 1. It says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us.

What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. It says, Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this open Him purifies Himself just as He is pure. The Apostle John had an intimate understanding of this relationship and the concept of this begettle process and what it is that God was doing in the lives of His people, those whom He was calling at that time. He understood that those whom God called were and were in the process of becoming the very children of God. The Greek word that is used there is teknon and it leaves little debate to its interpretation. The word is used to describe anywhere from an infant to an adolescent, but it specifically references offspring or children. It says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we would be children of God, that we would be called children of God. Brethren, have you stopped recently to meditate on what that means? Have you stopped to consider what that means? What that involves? What that ultimately means for us today? We sung the hymn today. I'm going to pop it up here real quick. We sang the song, We Are God's People, hymn number 133. I just want to read the lyrics to you real quick because I don't know about you, but as I was singing it, I found myself doing what I sometimes do when we sing hymns and just singing the words, not thinking about what those words were necessarily. We need to ensure that we're taking the time to consider what these things mean. We are God's people, the chosen of the Lord, led by His Spirit, established by His word.

Our cornerstone is Christ alone, and strong in Him we stand. Let us live transparently and walk heart to heart and hand in hand. We are God's loved ones, the bride of Christ our Lord, for we have known it, the love of God out poured. Now let us learn how to return the gift of love once given.

O, let us share each joy and care and live with a zeal that pleases heaven. We are the body of which the Lord is head, called to obey Him now risen from the dead. He wills us be a family, diverse, yet truly one. O, let us give our gifts to God, and so shall His work on earth be done. We are a temple, the Spirit's dwelling place, formed in great weakness, a cup to hold God's grace. We die alone, for on its own each ember loses fire. Yet joined in one, the flame burns on to give warmth and light and to inspire. Brethren, we are God's people. In the Father's infinite love, He has given us, He has given you and I an incredible opportunity at this time. He has taken us from a place that we may have found ourselves, whether actively living in opposition to His way through our own arrogance or our own ignorance or perhaps revealing His truth to us in different ways.

He has allowed His Spirit to work with us to enable us to see that truth for the first time, clearly.

And then He gave us a piece of Himself dwelling within us to give us the strength and the power to change. That is not something that has been provided to everyone at this time, but it has been given to you. It has been given to me. God is working now in this life with His first fruits, and then the remainder of mankind will be given their opportunity at the end of the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. But right now, today, this has been given to you. This has been entrusted to you. We need to keep that in mind when we approach our calling. We need to keep that in mind when we consider what this church is and what it means and what it represents. It is not just a church. It is the people of God in this age at this time.

For 1900-plus years of human history, God has worked with a specific group of individuals.

Those whom He has called who have received His Spirit through baptism and have begun that process of growing in His nature and their lives ultimately as they work to fulfill the mission that He has provided to His disciples. And as we talked about yesterday, that mission includes you directly. It does not necessarily include your neighbor, your boss, your co-workers.

Not necessarily. John talks about in verse 1, the world does not know us. It does not recognize us as the children of God because it did not know Him. It is possible that those individuals will be called by God, maybe as a direct result of your example and God's grace. But this way of life, this calling, is not just something a person can choose to come to.

It requires God the Father specifically opening someone's eyes and hearts to His truth. Go ahead and leave a bookmark here in 1 John. If you would turn with me, please, over to the Gospel of John. Back over to John. This concept was something that John knew. John 1, and we'll see what John writes here in this first part of the book of John. But this concept was something that John understood implicitly.

He understood how God operated in the people that He selected and how He chose the individuals that He opted to work with as His firstfruits, as those individuals, even going as far back as the beginning people that God began to work with, how He worked with those firstfruits. John 1, we'll pick it up in verse 12. John 1 in verse 12, it says, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who would love Him, who would keep His commandments, ultimately who would go and show their love in that way, to those whom received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, provided that inheritance, provided that opportunity to those who believe in His name, who were born, verse 13, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, of the will of God.

It is through the will of God that those individuals who have gotten spiritually, through the choice and ultimately the selection of the Father, for those who have accepted the truth of Christ, who accepted and believed who and what He is, who accepted His teachings, who are willing to follow Him, willing to obey Him, to become His disciple, that God gave the right to become His children. You see and you understand what you see about God and what you know about God, not necessarily because of what you've been taught, even necessarily how you've been raised. That's a component of that process. But you see and understand these things because God has opened your eyes to understand His Word.

He has given you the ability to see these things. He has opened your eyes. His Spirit working with you enabled you to see these things, to recognize them as true, and ultimately to endeavor to live accordingly, as it says, to purify ourselves as God is pure, as we fine-tune and as we work on cleaning those things up and out that do not look like God. As a result of that, brethren, we cannot, we cannot ever reach a point where we see our calling as commonplace. We cannot reach a point where we see our calling in that sense, even as equivalent.

We need to be very circumspect of those things because it's not normal. It's not just another church. We don't want to go clear into the other ditch and think that we're better than. That is not what I'm saying, but we do need to recognize that we are different. We are different. We have been called to be different. We've been called to see things differently, to understand things differently, to live differently, because we are the first fruits of God Himself.

We are the individuals whom God has chosen to work with as a part of these first fruits. And as part of that ongoing first fruit harvest, we belong to a part of that initial group of people that God has chosen to work with.

Brethren, that is a multi-millennial collective of faithful brethren from the beginning of human history. The examples we see in Scripture of the people who walked with God, who trusted in Him and put their faith in Him and did not yet receive the promises so that they would not be made perfect apart from us. Ultimately, we are a part of that group. Many of that group, many of those whom you've known even, have fallen asleep and they await the resurrection.

But you have been selected to be a part of this group right now, today, because of the incredible love of our Heavenly Father. It is that love that has brought you to this point, into relationship with Him. Let's turn over back to 1 John 4. 1 John 4, just a chapter forward from where we began today in 1 John 3. 1 John 4, what we see John address is this topic of God's love, how it's manifested, in what ways this agape is expressed and shared among those who ultimately receive it. 1 John 4, and we'll pick it up in verse 7. 1 John 4 and verse 7. The Apostle John writes, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

2 John 4. In this is love, not that we loved him, or not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, it says, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. This love that God has provided to us, this love that God has outpoured, is expected and intended to be extended to others as well. Through us, as an expression of that love, is a demonstration of our begettle, a demonstration of our understanding of God. John writes that if we don't love, quite frankly, we don't know God. If we do not love, then we don't know God. John states, one of God's fundamental aspects of his nature is love.

But then he describes how God manifested that love toward his creation. He manifested it in the sense that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Notice verse 10. Notice verse 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So the manner of love that's been expressed to us, that's been revealed or manifested to us, gave us the ability to be brought into reconciliation with the Father through a covenantal relationship involving his Son. He goes on in verse 12. He says, no one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. We have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we've known and believed the love that God has for us. Once again, he states, God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. Loving one another, expressing that a God expressing that agape to those who are around us, is an expression of God dwelling in each of us.

John very much echoes Christ's words in this section and the way that he writes these things that we saw in John 14 of Christ and the Father abiding in us through the love that is shared with others. Verse 17, love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. He who fears has not been made perfect in love. Verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. You and me. When Peter preached that powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., he concluded his message with the following statement. He said, repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He said, for this promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. That love which God has extended to us has been extended to all of those that he has called down through history, to his firstfruits, to those whom he called into relationship with him and justified as a result of the sacrifice of his son. And that promise was not just extended to those who heard that message then and there. It was extended to their children. It was extended to the generations that would follow and end need that God would call down through time. It means you. It means your children, your grandchildren, as many as God chose to call. 17 years ago, I was blessed to become a father with the birth of our firstborn son, Aiden. I remember thinking to myself at the time, I wish these things came with a manual, because I really had very little idea of what to do, what it meant. You know, here was this child that was fully dependent on me for every possible thing he would need from that point going forward. I had a younger sister. I have. Sorry, don't mean to...

insinuate anything else. She's fine. I have a younger sister. I don't remember much from her early life, oddly enough. I really don't. Thinking back on it, I don't remember much. I actually wasn't overly involved in her care from as much as I can recall. I don't have much in the way of a large family. I don't have a ton of cousins. I don't have a large extended family. I wasn't around a lot of infants when I was growing up. Here is this infant that I'm looking at not having a clue where to go or what to do. I remember holding him not long after he was born, not really being certain how life was going to change, but knowing that it would.

Knowing significantly that it was going to change. In that particular moment, I came to understand that I would do anything to make sure that he was cared for. I would do anything. It didn't matter how many jobs I needed to work to make ends meet. It didn't matter what I needed to sacrifice to make certain that he had the opportunities to be successful. In that moment, I came to understand what agape meant. I came to understand what agape meant. That I would willingly give my life, my efforts, my energy, my wants, my desires, for him and for his needs.

That process has been replicated with the addition of our other children as well.

Ultimately, the realization of what it means to be a father and what it means to really, truly love someone settled into my heart. As time has gone on, I have come to understand and realize the incredible importance of what I have been entrusted with. What my children really are.

I've come to understand that as time has gone on. I've not just been entrusted with my calling.

I've been entrusted with theirs as well. Their calling is their own. I want to be very clear. We need to understand that. Their calling is their own. It is their responsibility in the long term to make those decisions, to make the choice that God has offered to all of us. That is their call. That is their decision. But I think as all of us understand pretty fully, legally, socially, for the most part, these days sometimes you wonder societally, children aren't capable of accepting that calling until a certain point when they are of the mind to understand. Research has shown, by and large, around age 11, is when kids begin to make that decision for themselves, that that is the direction and the scope and the way that their life is going to go. Later, that commitment comes as they enter into baptism frequently in those young adult years.

But in those intervening years, as Mr. Janisic spoke this morning about the instruction of our children, their calling is my responsibility. That is my responsibility. It's my responsibility to make sure that they understand how to obey, that I am training their heart to follow God as disciples. It's my responsibility to make sure that they know God, that they know Christ, that they understand the letter and the spirit of the law, that they're trained to put on godly character on top of making sure that they're protected and they're provided for.

In short, I am to love them as God loves them. And how does God love them? By giving them the same incredible opportunity that we have seen and we've talked about today. Giving His Son as a propitiation for their sins so that they can be justified to God as well. He has entrusted them to me to bring them to Him. That love that we are able to have for our children, that agape that we are able to provide as fathers, is because of the love that we have from God. That is what enables us to even have this level of love, is because of the agape that we receive from our Father. For love is of God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We love Him because He first loved us. Brethren, you have been given a beautiful and special gift. My goal today was to help us to recognize and to honor and respect that calling that we have been given. We've been provided an opportunity to be first fruits in the plan of God, to have an opportunity to live this life at this time, to be part of the plan of God through the millennial reign of Christ as spirit beings. Whether that initial calling came through an initial calling from God or whether that calling came as a result of the faith of your parents and your grandparents, the end result is the same. You are being provided an opportunity to become the very children of God. That opportunity is made possible through the incredible sacrifice that God and Christ made on our behalf, without which we wouldn't have a chance.

On this day of Pentecost, brethren, 2024, let's not forget the incredible love that has been poured out for us as we have been called and justified and are now awaiting the glory to come. Let us lean into our calling, let us love one another, and let us move forward in the love and the grace of God our Father. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us all.