Children of God
04-26-09
First introduced at a New York Toy fair in March of 1959, Barbie still has her looks and figure. "Barbie's modern-day sisters have perpetuated that perfectly pink, high-heeled, firm-bosomed, often blonde look that the world knows well. But there is a wayward member of the sisterhood hailing from the rainforests of southeastern Australia who has shaken the world of conventional, fashionable, perfect little icons. She is Feral Cheryl, and she's not your mother's Barbie doll (September-October 1999, 23).
I’m dead serious. Cheryl is named for the green extremists of the rain-forest region of Australia known as the "Ferals." She is a "natural doll" who wears her alternative lifestyle with pride. Feral Cheryl is neither blonde nor is she emaciated, and not a thread of pink polyester will ever touch her anatomically correct body. Her style includes tattoos, dreadlocks interwoven with real glass beads, and assorted piercings. Her wardrobe consists of a single simple outfit, with no accessories except for a handmade, crocheted, rainbow dime bag with some kind of herb inside it that smells a bit like basil. While Barbie is a politically correct woman, dabbling in every career from veterinarian to pilot to professional volleyball player, Feral Cheryl simply hangs out. While Barbie can be seen wearing a swimsuit, astronaut uniform, or scuba diving gear, Feral Cheryl wears only a carefree sarong and bandeau top. Barbie gets around in an array of vehicles from Mustang convertible to Holiday Camper to wheelchair; Feral Cheryl walks everywhere she goes, unhampered by the stiletto heels Barbie often prefers. While Barbie is cranked out in Asian factories producing hundreds of identical creations each day, Feral Cheryls are individually made. No two are the same. So what's all this got to do with being a child of God? Plenty." 1
What exactly does a child of God look like? John suggests that the world "does not know us" (v. 1) and it's a good bet the church doesn't either. Too often the church has been guilty of faith-profiling that is judging Christians by standards that Scripture itself doesn’t invoke. Even though the Church is increasingly a melting pot of denominations and faith stages and interpretations of Scripture, we nevertheless find comfort in sharing the pews with people who generally look like, act like, dress like, worship like, live like ourselves.
When in fact, John suggests that what we will be has not yet been revealed. That leaves a lot of room for discussion. Certainly, there is an enormous wardrobe Barbie-Christians can access to at least "look" like Christians: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, and so on. But non-Christians can wear these garments too.
The point is that the church cannot be defined in conventional political, economic, or social terms. Yet, that is the way we tend to judge the spiritual character of the people who make up the Christ Body called the church. We may not recognize them, but God's children are everywhere. And we are both shockingly different from each other and shockingly indifferent to each other.
The elder writing 1 John tells us that we have not earned a spot in this family by our good deeds or by our noble thoughts or by our winning ways, but by one thing, and one thing only: the generous love of God (v. 1). That is not to say that how we act and interact with this world doesn’t matter. What the author is telling us is who we are makes a difference in the way we live. I had a childhood friend whose mother use to always say, "a Macer, does not do that." It was not a snobbish statement but a recognition that because she belonged to that particular family, there were certain things they chose not to do, because of who they were. We are God’s children, and if we participate in the family, we should develop characteristics of the family. The thing is, when I look at the media, or when I get threatening and hate-filled letters from others identifying themselves as Christians, when I see Christians shunning Christians and non-Christians alike, when I have a difficult time understanding another person’s worldview, I sometimes wonder if we really are a part of the same family. My twin sister and come from the same parents, and we are really quite different. Likewise, we may not always understand each other, but we are parented by the same divine parent. Yet we do not always resemble the characteristics of Christ.
The author of John talks about two specific characteristics that his community needs to work on, as they struggle to form their identity. Characteristics that are important to the life of every Christian. The first characteristic is "doing righteousness," the norm of righteousness is God’s own justice, particularly justice for the poor. We often think of righteousness as being morally, infallible people, when in fact one of the definitions of righteous is responding to injustice. A characteristic of every child of God is to actively respond to injustice. The second characteristic is purity, moral uprightness and integrity. It is impossible for us to be pure in the sense of being free from any fault, sin, poor judgments, anger, hatred, etc. We can be people of integrity, people working for clarity, people who try to limit or reduce those relationships and things in our lives that are damaging, abusive, destructive… the very opposite of what we call wholeness in God. The author argues that in both righteousness and purity, God’s children are like their divine parent. Our Christian life must be more than mere words, but action, and those actions must be of integrity and motivated by love and compassion, not fear and judgment. Our Christian life is not defined by a certain style of worship, or thought, or dress, but by the reflections of our spirits, our minds, our hearts. Do we reflect the characteristics of God and Christ?
We know that this world is full of moral ambiguities. We know that being in relationship with God and other, can complicate our theological worldview. The author of this text is bold in asserting that everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness. He writes, "sin is lawlessness." Lawlessness, in Jewish apocalyptic thought, is a cosmic power, something greater than the sum of its parts, which hates God. Righteousness on the other hand, is the form in which God’s rule over creation is revealed. This was a common theological teaching in John’s day. You can choose to be either for God or evil, righteousness or lawlessness. For the author sin is a black or white issue. We live in a world of gray. "Lawlessness," is not as easily defined, in the context of today’s social structures. Yet God’s children still must take sin seriously. Sin is more than inappropriate behavior. Sin is not about piercings and tattoos. Sin is larger than a few political issues. Sin is a spirit of rebellion against God. Sin is damaging to God, self, and others.
So, what does a child of God look like? A child of God is righteous and pure…some of them look like Barbie, some look a lot like Cheryl. All of us should somehow reflect Christ. An important DNA marker of the child of God is that he or she is growing, developing and maturing in relationship and faith. What we are becoming is not yet completely clear, but John tells us that when our growth is finished we will look a lot like Jesus Christ.
A colleague of mine tells a story about some children in art class. In this art class some children were working with plasticine, a clay-like substance that can be used over and over because it does not harden. A little girl had made a very nice model of a creature with wings. She held it up and said to everyone, "Look at the angel." There were exclamations of delight from the class and teacher. Then the girl quickly molded the angel back into a ball and asked everyone, "Now what is this?" Someone said, "It looks like a ball to me." "No," she said, "It's a hiding angel."2 That ball of clay was an angel waiting to be. And that plasticine rolled in a ball was just as important to that little girl as her completed model of an angel. "Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed."
God is at continually at work in us this is the secret to any spiritual success. But we need to realize that our progress toward purity and righteousness is never an isolated human activity, but is instead a response to God’s action in our lives. We cannot reach maturity on our own, any more than children can grow into healthy and responsible adults without good genes and good guidance. Like mothers and fathers who conceive and nourish and nurture and support their children, God is always working to mold us into the kind of people God desires for us. That mold is not like a cookie cutter. We are diverse and beautiful children.
God's children, your sister or brother, are not those who necessarily look like you, act like you, believe like you, worship like you. Your brother and sister may not be on the same side of the political fence as you, may not be in the same denomination as you are, may not be protesting the same causes as you, and may not understand God as you do. The world, John says, does not "know us," and we had better exercise some caution before we start defining who the "us" is. The church is not called to be radical chic, a way cool movement that appeals to everyone. But we are not called to do the kind of business which is exclusively God's business either. What we are called to do is grow and mature as a children of God, work for justice, live with integrity, love with every fiber of our being, and know that each of us, uniquely beautiful is loved by God.
Thanks be to God. Amen
1 Rev. Bob Taylor, Radical Chick,
Homiletics, March-April, 2000.
2 Rev. Bill Bouknight, The Hiding Angel, found at www.desperatepreacher.com
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