The Children of God: So We Are!, Part II

1 John 3:1–3 NKJV

Behold 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. 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 hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Prayer

Last week we looked at the simple statement.

Since we are the children of God, our lives will be marked by familial love, and unfriendly rejection.

Being before Doing.

How our identity is what produces our actions.

We are adopted into the family of God by the sin covering work of Christ on the cross.

We also saw how it was more than just a mere title, we are in fact children of God.

Barriers of Self-Hate and Self-Love.

Solution of Self-Forgetfulness.

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Until this adoption is fully revealed, we must purify ourselves by focusing our hope on Him.

Before we get into this passage, I want to be clear.

When we talk about the children of God, we don’t want to confuse the notion that everyone is a child of God.

In a general sense, we are all children of God because we are made in the image of God.

We are ALL children of God because God is our creator.

But we are NOT all children of God in a specific way.

So we can say “God loves Sinners” (Objectively)

But we also must affirm specifically, “God loves Me” (Subjectively)

Which is dependent upon our response to Christ.

1 John 3:1 (NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

If you are a Christian, than this is true of you.

It is a reality that we live in right now.

He goes further in verse 2.

1 John 3:2 (NKJV)

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,

The Children of God (vv. 2-3)

“What We Will Be”

John is saying that we are currently are God’s children, but there is a sense in which what will be has not been revealed yet.

So what is the dynamic of this already and not-yet?

Some have called this the great tension of the Scriptures.

The tension is: we still live in the age of sin’s corruption AND we live as children of God.

We must never seek to remove this tension.

The Already

“Present Reality”

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God,”

Even while living in a sin stained, sin tarnished world.

John can confidently say, we are the children of God currently.

It is the same concept that we talked about last week which was adoption.

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, by mean of which we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

This adoption is God’s free act of grace to receive us as children into His family.

It is God’s unmerited favor to wicked and sinful people to bring them into His family.

What exactly does it mean to be received into the number?

When the Bible refers to the Christian, it refers to them as those who are called out.

When it refers to Christians, it calls them to be ‘Holy’

Called to Holiness

Those who are set apart from the world.

Those who have a new nature.

To be received into the number is to be called into the family of God.

1 Peter 1:14-15

1 Peter 1:14 (ESV)

As obedient children,

Notice even how Peter grounds the believer in the identity of being chosen by God.

He grounds the Christian in the fact that he is a child of God.

1 Peter 1:14 ESV

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

So he begins with their identity and then commands them.

Since you are God’s children, don’t be conformed to your former way of life.

Since you are a part of God’s family, no longer be guided by your former unawareness of sin.

1 Peter 1:15 ESV

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

The life of the Christian is the life of the here and now being called to holiness.

Remember how we talked about self-hate and self-love last week, those are two directions on the same pendulum.

And that pendulum is called PRIDE.

But what Peter is saying here is we are called to holiness, that is a Godward focus.

Or devoted in a Godward direction.

See this is abundantly good news, God has actually freed us to be a part of His family.

He has actually called us into His family and to reflect His Godward commitment everywhere we go.

Here is a test for you

Religion: When you sin, you’re worried about others perception.

When you sin, you run and hide from God.

When you sin, you seek to self-excuse.

Christianity: When you sin, you’re concerned that you have hurt your Father’s heart.

This is what it means to be received into the number of God’s family.

1 John 3:2 (NKJV)

Beloved, now we are children of God;

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, by mean of which we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

What exactly do those privileges entail?

We could pick any number of the privileges of our adoption as children.

I want us two focus in on two.

Treasures in Jars of Clay

2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

What Paul is saying here is that God has shown in our hearts the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

We now see God as He is, as revealed in Jesus Christ.

And we are NOW the children of God, but listen to what he says next.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

So Paul is NOT saying, look how wonderful we are.

Look at our greatness.

He is saying, we are these weak and fragile pots which are easily broken.

But we carry around with us a message, which is the treasure.

Listen to how he describes his experience in the here and now....

2 Corinthians 4:8–10 NKJV

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Paul is saying that in this present moment, we are weak and fragile.

We are those who are easily broken.

Easily crush, easily destroyed, but this message is imperishable.

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The second privilege I want us to focus on have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

Looking in A Mirror

And the looking into the mirror is made up of two components...

Unveiled Faces

2 Corinthians 3:15 NKJV

But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

Paul is picking up on what happened in the Old Testament when Moses came down from off Mount Sinai.

He was forced to cover his face because when he met with God his face literally shone.

The people begged him to put on a covering just so they wouldn’t have to actually look at his shining face.

Paul links that covering with the way the Jews faces were veiled.

But Paul says about us....

2 Corinthians 3:16–18 NKJV

Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

What Paul is saying here is that we like Moses are beholding the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ.

And since we have been adopted into God’s family and since we have been changed by the Spirit of God, we are being transformed.

Transformed from the glory of the old age to the glory of the new age.

The glory of the old age, dominated by sin and death.

To the glory of the new age, dominated by perfection and life everlasting.

So Paul says that we see in a mirror twice, the first referring to it positively marveling..

Paul again refers to looking into a mirror but this time…

Partial Knowing

1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

Paul’s point is NOT that we see God in a distorted manner now.

His point is that we see Him indirectly, which is the nature of looking in a mirror.

This seeing that we have is as in a mirror.

(NIV) “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror...”

Which should be compared to the one day hope of beholding Him ‘face to face’

Though we know the Lord in a beautiful way now, in this already moment, we DO NOT know Him like we will one day.

“Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found among the most ‘natural’ men, not among those who surrender to Christ.

Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.”

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Imagine your life without sin’s corruption, what would it be like?

Our World

There would be no more poverty and hunger.

There would be no more violence and hatred.

All of the systems and injustices which pervade our would would be removed.

Our Hearts

The general discontented feeling of work.

The conflict and

1 John 3:2 NKJV

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.

The Not Yet

“Future Glory”

This brings us to our second statement at the top...

Until this adoption is fully revealed, we must purify ourselves by focusing our hope on Him.

How are we to think about this future glory?

What does John mean by, “we shall be like Him”?

What does this “not-yet” experience mean for us?

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

“things which angels desire to look into.” (1 Peter 1:12)

How are we to think about this future glory?

Beautiful Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

This hope for Peter is a hope that is living because of the resurrection of Christ.

See everything we have ever known will one day shrivel and die.

Everything will decay and be lost.

Everything will rush and be destroyed.

But what Peter is reminding these believers is that there is an inheritance coming their way.

1 Peter 1:4–5 NKJV

to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Its an inheritance which is untouchable to the destruction of this world.

It will not fade away.

It is reserved in heaven for God’s children.

The Trinity: An Introduction How the Triune God Communicates His Triune Benefits to Us

The blessings that the triune God communicates to us now by grace through faith, by means of the ministry of word and sacrament, he will one day communicate to us in glory through sight, apart from creaturely instruments, by the glory of his own manifest presence

What has been promised to us WILL be fulfilled.

It will happen.

1 John 3:2 NKJV

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.

What does John mean by, “we shall be like Him”?

Conformed to Christ

Romans 8:28–29 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

God has saved us for more than a “get out of hell free” card.

He has saved us to be conformed to the image of Christ.

We have been redesigned and recast to be the spitting image of Jesus in terms of righteousness.

This conformity does NOT FULLY happen in the here and now.

But one day, when we see Him face to face, we shall be like Him.

The Beauty & The Beast

At the end of the movie, Beauty and the Beast

There is a moment where the beast is kissed and is transformed.

And its that transformation which reflects what our transformation will be.

1 John 3:2 ESV

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

What does this “not-yet” experience mean for us?

Free from Suffering

Revelation 21:3–5 NKJV

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

He will wipe away every tear.

There will be no more death.

There will be no more sorrow.

There will be no more crying.

There will be no more pain.

I heard an illustration from Tim Keller which really incapsulates this well...

Having a Bad Dream

Every couple of years, I have a nightmare which really bothers me.

In the dream my family dies or my house burns to ground.

But then, I wake up.

My first thought it is, “It was only a dream!”

Everything that was bad in the dream was only a dream.

And what we see in this passage of 1 John 3:2 is this.

Jesus is not saying that he will give us a nicer place.

He is going to make everything that has been touched by sin a bad dream.

He is going to incorporate even the worst things that have ever happened to you.

They will be taken up into the glory that is to come in such a way that they make the glory better and greater for having once been broken.

This is what will happen!

This is our glorious destiny in Christ!

The Great Tension - Already & Not-Yet

When we find a tension in the Scriptures, some people are prone to removing the tension by elevating one side over the other.

When the tension is removed by elevating the ALREADY,

then you have a bleak understanding of the kingdom of God here and now.

Then you will only see to escape out of this world rather than seek to redeem it through our lives lived out in the gospel.

Treating the return of Christ like an escape valve...

Sometimes believers have treated the doctrine of the return of Christ as if it were an escape valve from having to face the harsh realities of life.

They say, “No matter that ungodliness is everywhere apparent, no matter that men and women are suffering from persecution and hunger, no matter that the church is unfaithful to God’s written revelation of his will and ways; soon Jesus will return, and nothing else will matter.”

Some unfortunately have even rejoiced when conditions in the world have gotten worse; for, they say, “It is a sign of a not-too-distant second coming.”

When the tension is removed by elevating the NOT-YET,

then you will demand things of God NOW which He never promised.

Things like healing, wealth, prosperity.

The question is, what do we do in the mean-time?

1 John 3:3 NKJV

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Notice that term, “hope in Him” ....

That little “in” word is so important.

This term is NOT expressing the relation of hope to the subject.

Which would be us…

Rather it signifies the relation of faith, trust, and hope to their object.

Which is Christ!

While We Wait

“Gradual Unfolding”

The Dawning of A New Day

One of my favorite parts of hunting every year is waking up early enough to see the sun rise and have nothing else better to do than sit and watch it.

But as the day dawns, it is amazing to look around and see the way the creation slowly reveals what is present.

When you get in your tree stand, everything is completely dark.

But slowly and surely, things become all the more clear.

Until this adoption is fully revealed, we must purify ourselves by focusing our hope on Him.

1 John 3:3 NET 2nd ed.

And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

Those who have their hope focused on Christ will purify themselves, just as Christ is pure.

There we see again the fixing of ones eyes, heart, affections, and hope on Jesus.

Purifying Oneself

Titus 2:11–14 NKJV

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

“They purify themselves like a bride who longs for the day when the bridegroom will appear to receive them into his Father’s house, where they will drink in his Spirit and rejoice in his eternal love.”

Since we still live under sin’s corruption, of both our world and hearts, we wait for the full expression of our Adoption into God’s Family.

Until this adoption is fully revealed, we must purify ourselves by focusing our hope on Him.