Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world

Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world

Based on 1 John 5 :1-8

Preached on May 10, 2015


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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Fellow baptized children of God, two wrestlers entered the ring, sizing each other up. They circled each other waiting for the signal to engage. One was huge, sumo in size, and he smirked at the other, because the second wrestler was tiny - not even a lightweight.

It was not a fair fight. Suddenly, the signal sounded. And the men threw themselves into a grapple - if one could even call it that. The massive man began crushing the tiny one beneath him. This was only a matter of time.

Beloved, would you say you have been under a lot of pressure lately? Do you have a lot of external influences that weigh on your heart and mind? A lot of responsibility? A heavy load?

Life is full of burdens. There is no end to the list of expectations that the world is ready to heap on you. Whether it is a matter of how you raise your children, or how you present yourself in public, or how well you do your job - even if you should prove yourself in one of them - there is an endless lineup of bigger, broader burdens waiting behind it.

And then, it would seem, to make matters worse, there are God's commandments. God obviously has something to say about how you ought to be living and what you ought to be doing. And as is the case for us sinners, His "oughts" usually become our "didn'ts" and our "wouldn'ts" and our "haven'ts." The weight of our guilt and shame would be bad enough, but that world out there has been waiting in the bushes to pounce on you the moment you mess up - you Christian - you're supposed to be so holy - but you're the same as everyone else.

Immediately you are tempted into thinking that it is your job to prove them wrong. Like you have to prove it to yourself that you are actually a Christian. Prove it to God that you deserve His love and affection. Suddenly, you are alone - carrying the load of the world, and the even bigger load of yourself.

Dear children, St. John pens his epistle right into the face of this heavyweight. He tenderly lifts up to your eyes the freedom God has won for you, so that you might have rest. Yes, there are innumerable burdens. Yes, there are pressures and stresses and cares and sorrows. But everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This word "overcome" is no trifle either. It means conquer. Overpower. Crush. Everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. Everyone who has been born of God overpowers the world. Everyone who has been born of God crushes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

John is crystal clear. Faith is God's victory for you. Trust that Jesus is your Christ. Trust that He died and rose for you. For you will never prove it to yourself that you are a Christian. You will never prove it to God that you deserve His love and affection. And you're not supposed to - that's what Christ is for. Jesus makes you a Christian. Jesus earns His Father's love and affection for you. You simply trust in Him. For He is your champion.

There are many pictures of this in the Bible, but one of the most memorable is the story of David and Goliath. Here we have the fate of two armies/two peoples being determined by this fight between two champions - the giant and the tiny, little shepherd boy. It is not a fair fight. But David knows his victory has nothing to do with his own efforts or strength. It is not David that Goliath challenges - it the LORD Himself. How dare this man, no matter how big he is, threaten God's people! Does he think the LORD is a fool? And so armed with faith alone, armed with trust in the LORD, the little boy runs forward without a shred of armour to face a giant whose chain mail weighs 120 lbs. He cries out as He approaches, that the LORD does not save by sword or spear. For the battle is the LORD's and he will give you into our hand. David's stone sinks into the giant's forehead who falls face first into the ground. Finally, David runs and stands over the fallen giant. He draws Goliath's sword, cuts off his head, and the entire enemy army flees.

David is a picture of Christ. For Christ had the fate of His people determined by His own such fight. He, the good shepherd, went up against this world's giant - the devil. Christ was armed with faith alone. Trust that His Father had Him, even though He punished Him to death on the cross. And Jesus did not save us by sword or spear. Instead He used the devil's own sword, the cross, to crush his head and make all our enemies flee, even our sin and death.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. You are God's child. By faith alone. And how dare this world threaten you! How dare they bully you and pressure you and burden you! Do they think the LORD is a fool, that He would let this go unnoticed? Everyone who has been born of God crushes the world. This is only a matter of time.

But you doubt, don't you? There are times when you doubt whether you could be one of God's children. Your guilt and your shame and your fear well up inside and they scream at you - how could you be God's child? And so St. John points us to this fact. Jesus is the One who comes to you by water and blood. Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. You are God's child because He says so, and He says so, and He says so. Even you cannot deny that you have got wet in His Word and Spirit. Even you cannot deny that His blood has passed your lips and burned your throat and filled your belly. Jesus is the One who comes to you by water and blood. The Trinity is in agreement - You are God's child. You have been given faith.

Beloved, St. John makes an even finer distinction here than we have looked at. And it is the most important. He says your victory over all these pressures is faith in Christ. Faith removes the burden - even of the commandments - because it lays hold of the promise of Christ. St. John boldly says that the commandments are not burdensome! I mean, how does he say that? Hasn't he read them? But this is the exact emphasis he is trying to make. Faith removes the burden of living a perfect life, because it trusts in the perfect life of Christ. It clings to what Christ has done as its only hope before God - and this takes away all the pressure.

God's children do not carry God's Law on their shoulders - for Christ has carried it for them. You are no longer weighed down by the demands and the threats and the fears, but are free to love God and your fellow believer without all that.

By faith, you want to love God and His children. You are proud of what He has done for you, and you want your brothers and sisters in Christ to know this. "Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him," John writes. Here he encourages us in our faith to love our fellow believer. He is talking about the people around you in the pews. The ones you share this victory with. In what ways can you act for them? How can you show them the love of God? Could you serve on council? Or help out in the kitchen? Could you build them up by attending Bible study? Or acting as usher or greeter? Everyone is different. We are given different gifts. But everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By faith, we want to love God and act for His people.

But these new desires, these new affections are not our own doing. They come from that Spirit who testifies to the water and the blood. They are a pleasure. A joy. They are what grow out of the freedom of our victory in Christ. They are what flow from the font, and arise from the altar. So when you return from the rail today, having had your sins forgiven and burdens removed by Christ, and you are praying that you may abide in Christ the Vine, pray also for this congregation, that the LORD would stir up a great active love within us for one another, that we might remind each other that we are the children of God, because Beloved, everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

That massive wrestler thought he was crushing the tiny one. But all he can remember now is that fall.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Cameron Schnarr