1 John 3:1 A Greater Love than Mother's 1. See it in what God calls us 2. See it in what it cost God to do that May 9, 2004 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! A teacher asked a boy this question: "Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you--your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?" "A sixth," replied the boy. "I'm afraid you don't know your fractions," said the teacher. "Remember, there are seven of you." "Yes, teacher," said the boy, "but you don't know my mother. Mother would say she didn't want any pie." Today we take note of and honor mothers and their love. Most people will agree there is nothing like them in all the world. The lengths to which they go--running errands and wiping runny noses; drying tears and calming fears; getting up and bringing a drink of water; giving advice and even birth. The sacrifices they make--leaving the dress on the rack at the store and buying a new school outfit for their child instead, eating the slightly burned piece of toast. Mothers are truly unique! Most of us have had the good fortune of having mothers like that. Having been the recipient of that kind of love myself, I would join you today in saying that it's hard to imagine a love better than a mother's love. I would join you today in rejoicing in and praising God for that love. But you and I would be remiss today if we did not make mention of and think about a love that is greater than a mother's love. We would be remiss because there really is such a love. It's the love God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, has for each one of us. On many days, that may not occur to us and may even be a little bit difficult for us to really see. But God helps us with that in the Bible verse I just read. 1. See it in what God calls us The verse begins by saying, "How great is God's love!" That's not a question. It's a statement. Actually, it's a statement with an exclamation point behind it--sort of like saying, "God's love is really great!" Why? Because of what he calls us. Our Bible verse says: "We (are) called children of God." More than that, it says: "That is what we are!" We aren't just called or labelled "God's children"--as opposed to other living creatures being called "God's animals" or "God's plants." We really are God's children. We are actually members of God's eternal family! No mother, not even the mother of Jesus, can call us or make us that. But God does. In fact, at the beginning of last Sunday’s service, we were reminded that God recently declared and made a small girl named Elizabeth his child. When I baptized Elizabeth, not only water was placed on her head. God's name was placed on her as well, because I said: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," and that's saying a great deal! Already in the Old Testament God said when his name was put on people, he would bless them in all sorts of ways. (Numbers 6:27) So also today. Having been called members of God's family, Elizabeth--along with us--can look forward to God providing-- in the words of Martin Luther—“clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse, children” (Explanation to the First Article of the Apostles Creed)--in fact, everything that we need for our body and life. She and we can also count on God, who is almighty, to be there to guard and protect us all the days of our earthly lives. And when those days are done, we can look forward to entering one of the many rooms in God the Father's heavenly home. Now someone might say, "That's nice, but it's not all that great a gesture on God's part. After all, the Bible says God created us, formed us in our mother's wombs, and gave us life. After doing all that, what's so loving about him calling us his children? We would really expect that, just as we expect parents to call people they've brought into the world their children and to provide for their needs." But it is truly great love in God's case. Children we bring into this world are our own flesh and blood, but we aren't God's flesh and blood. First of all, because the Bible says God is a spirit and doesn't have flesh and blood. But even if he did, we still wouldn't really be God's own flesh and blood, because the spirit of God is holiness (sinlessness). And we don't have that spirit. Just a few verses after our verse for today, St. John tells us anyone who breaks the law sins. The Law means the 10 Commandments, which, say: "No cheating or stealing, no name-calling, no hating and hitting, no disobeying of parents or government, no lusting, no bad language." In addition to those "no's", the 10 commandments also say: "Love and respect God before and more than anyone or anything else, gladly hear and learn God's Word, be content, speak up for others and speak out about God.'' Quite, obviously, you and I break the Law. We break it even though we are aware of and understand its rules and regulations. We break God's Law often--many times in the course of each and every day. Yet he calls us His children. Again, someone might say that's not such a great thing. After all, children break their parents' rules, but parents still call them their children. Thank God that is true, or all of us would have grown up as orphans! But again, there's a difference here. Even though their offspring are disobedient, earthly parents cannot write them off as their children. When all is said and done, questioning and disobeying family rules is a natural bent that parents pass on to children. But that is certainly not the case with our breaking of God's Law. God didn't give that spirit to us. Nor did God give it to Adam and Eve, because the Bible says God is not the author of evil. Therefore God would have had every reason to disown us, to tell us that we are no longer his children, that we will not receive his love. As terrible as it would have been as a child for me to have my mother tell me that she was no longer going to treat me as her child--in fact, as terrible as such a thing would still be for me today--can you imagine what it would be like for us to have God disown us because of our sinfulness! Yet, despite this alien and antagonistic spirit of ours, despite our sin, God calls us his children and continues to treat us like children all the time--something even the most loving of mothers isn't capable of doing! Here someone might still say (maybe even someone inside of us might sometimes say), "Yes, but that's not difficult for God. He's capable of doing anything." So he is, but not always without some cost or sacrifice. 2. See it in what it cost God to do that God cannot simply sweep our different spirit and our disobedience under some big rug and say, "There! Now you're all my children." He cannot do that, because he is on record time and again in the Bible as actually hating such things and even stating that they separate us from him. In the Bible God also says he cannot deny himself. He cannot go against himself. That is, he cannot act contrary to anything he has said or any position he has taken. Therefore God’s statements that he hates sin still stand. And yet his statements that we are his children are also most certainly true, and our counting on him for preservation, protection, and the like is absolutely valid. The puzzle is solved and the problem resolved in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the Book of Galatians the Bible says: "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons" (4:4,5). We know the sending not only meant coming from the glories of heaven above to the imperfect and sin-filled earth below, but it also meant living a life in total obedience to God's laws. More than that, it also meant giving up that life in death, and not just any death, but the painful and disgraceful death of execution on a cross. Through that sacrifice the matter of our sins has been rectified. In chapter two of his first letter John says Jesus is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (vs. 2) and in Ephesians 2 Paul said Jesus' death on the cross made us "fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household" (vs. 19). You see why I say God's love for us is greater than our mother's love, don't you? A loving mother would rather endure suffering and disgrace herself than see one of her children endure it. If she had anything to say about it, she would not give up the life of one of her children. She would give up her own life before she would do that. But what did God do in order for us to be called and treated as His children? He gave up His Son--His one and only Son! Does God love you? That's like asking if our mothers loved or love us. We know the answer, especially today. The answer is: "Yes, most definitely," because evidence of their love is literally everywhere in our lives. It's a great thing to know and a great feeling to have this weekend, because it gives us comfort, security, peace and hope. It also moves us to go out and carefully choose a card, pick up flowers, make a phone call, or just reminisce about mom and her love. We also pull out our wallets to buy gifts and dinner for our mothers--at nice restaurants, too! Why? "Because you deserve it and you are worth it, Mom!" Good for us if we do and say such things! Given the nature of our mothers' love and the financial resources we have, that is as it should be. May we in fact do and say more of those things throughout the year! And let flowers and generous gifts also be given to God and placed on his altar. Let our lives reflect the love that we have for him. Let open expressions of appreciation to him be heard from each one of us with Mother's Day eagerness and sincerity all year long, because any time we can say our mothers loved and love us (and thank God, most of us will be able to say that until our dying day), we can also say God loves us. We began by talking about a mother whose love for her children showed itself in that she would give up a piece of pie for them. We surely could have come up with even greater examples of mothers showing love. And yet, we may say that God loves us with an even greater love, because in addition to giving us mothers and other good things in life, God loved us so much that he gave up his Son's life on the cross just so he could call Elizabeth Rutschow and all the rest of us his children this morning and forever! Happy Mother's Day--mothers, fathers, sons, daughters--all the children of God! Amen.