Yet to Be Revealed
BMCC Sunday Sermon · 1 November 2026 · Speaker: JY
Today is All Saints Day, a special occasion in the church calendar — a day that reminds us that the community of faith transcends time and space, and that we are in communion with the saints of all ages through Christ. On this particular Sunday, the congregation of Blessed Ministry Community Church gathered in unusual circumstances: Pastor Hong was unwell, and Holy Communion was postponed until the following Sunday. Yet grace was not absent. JY led the congregation in a reflection on 1 John chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, preaching under the theme “Yet to Be Revealed” — an invitation to sit with one of faith’s most profound tensions.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” (1 John 3:1, NRSV) — This was both the entry point and the foundation of the sermon. JY noted that 1 John was written against a backdrop of fracture: the Johannine community had experienced internal splits. Some had left. Wounds and confusion remained. The letter’s sharp binary contrasts — light and darkness, truth and falsehood, children of God and children of the devil — on one hand confirmed the community’s belonging, but on the other could inadvertently harden the line between “us” and “them.”
This tension is not distant from Blessed Ministry Community Church. JY spoke honestly: she herself finds genuine communion — 彼此相通 — genuinely difficult. “In Hong Kong, many different leaders believe in Jesus, and they all have a place in heaven.” She paused, then added with a touch of dry humour: “If I ever get to heaven and see them all there — that would be quite complicated.” This candour connected with those listening: crossing difference to find real communion has never been easy.
Yet the text offers a way. JY traced three steps, the first — and most foundational — being to receive God’s unconditional love. “See what love the Father has given us” — the status of being God’s children, she explained, has already been given. It cannot be earned. It does not depend on performance, piety, or anyone else’s approval. “As we slowly come to accept that we really are loved — that truth begins to reshape how we treat others.” A person who knows they are loved no longer needs to protect themselves by diminishing others.
The second step is humility. “What we will be has not yet been revealed,” the text says (3:2). JY observed that this carries a quiet but important reminder: yes, we are children of God — that is settled. But the full picture of every life, our own and others’, has “not yet been revealed.” We cannot yet see the complete truth about one another. “None of us has fully grasped the truth, or fully seen what God is still completing.” This humility invites us — when we encounter people with different theologies or different understandings of faith — to pause before labelling, to resist dividing the world into “us” and “them.”
The third step is integrity — living authentically. “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (3:3). JY acknowledged that the word “purity” carries heavy baggage in many religious contexts, having been wielded harmfully. But in the frame of 1 John, she pointed out, “purity” describes living as Christ lived — with genuine integrity and truthfulness. Later in the same chapter (3:18), the author writes that love is not to be expressed in word or speech alone, but in truth and action. This integrity takes practical form: when believers who are doing well see those who lack, they share; and by living well, they show those still struggling that life can be rich and full for anyone — “and so can yours.” This is not merely encouragement — it is an invitation to reach down from where you stand and lift up those who are still falling.
As the sermon drew to a close, JY shared a conversation she had with Pastor Hong just before the service. In a moment of low spirits, she had challenged him: “Does God care more for people who love him, or people who do not?” His reply came in three words: “Too binary.” JY laughed, then said sincerely: “I realise I often divide people into two sides myself.” That act of self-examination was the sermon in miniature: between the “already” and the “not yet,” all of us are learning humility, learning integrity, and learning to keep walking the path of communion together. The most important thing is not that we resolve every contradiction, but that we are willing to be authentically human — and in so doing, give God space to keep shaping us.
“My hope is in God.” — As the sermon ended, these words became prayer and became invitation. Together, we can walk this path. But the outcome belongs to God.
Blessed Ministry Community Church is a home that welcomes everyone — regardless of gender, sexual orientation, family background, theological perspective, or where you find yourself in your faith journey. Here is a community willing to say honestly: “I don’t have all the answers either,” while also holding firmly to this: “You and I — we are both worthy of love.” If you are still searching, still asking “who am I?” and “where do I belong?” — you are welcome to join us on Sunday. Together, we walk this still-unfolding, “not yet revealed” path.
