Children of God
1 John 3:1-3
Most of us blithely toss off the phrase, "I'm
a child of God." It sounds warm and fuzzy, but we tend to view
it as kind of a buzz phrase - no real meat to it, but a nice
thing to say. In three short verses John enlightens us:
(1 John 3:1-3 NIV) 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! The reason the world does not know
us is that it did not know him. {2} Dear friends, now we are
children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made
known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. {3} Everyone who has this hope in
him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
How great is the love
One of the great changes in attitude between
John's time and ours is our view of mankind. We think of people
as being wonderful; they saw the insignificance of man in
comparison of God. As the Psalmist put it:
(Psa 8:3-4 NIV) When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have
set in place, {4} what is man that you are mindful of him, the
son of man that you care for him?
But here we see God's great love in that we
are now his children! The very word used in the Greek, teknon,
gives us the clue to the meaning. It is the root of our word
"technology;" it means something that was produced. We are
children, made so by God. Indeed, we know that we are children
of God purely because of what Christ did at the Cross. It is
essential for our understanding of this that we know grace; we
need to understand that this is God's work, not ours.
Progression
One reason John sounds so amazed and joyous
is this: until the Cross, the idea that we could be children of
God was unknown. But there is an interesting progression:
We are, of course, the servants of God.
It is a title that King David used of himself; a title given
to Moses, and one we share. For most of the time before
Christ, this was the highest position a man could have. It
meant that God did not need to explain anything - just issue
instructions.
There was an exception to this: Abraham
was called the "friend of God." It is unique, but as Hebrews
teaches us, this is because of his faith. Interestingly, on
the night before the Crucifixion, Jesus "promotes" his
disciples from servants to friends.
But then, after the Resurrection, he
calls his disciples his brothers. Only after the
Resurrection can we become children of God, joint heirs of
the kingdom.
How can this be? We are in the family of God
because we are led by the same Spirit.
The world does not know
One result of this is that we are now divided
from the world. The world does not "know" us, because it does
not "know" Jesus. The Greek word for "know" in this sense is
ginosko, which means a particularly deep knowledge. They do
not have this deep knowledge of Jesus - and therefore they do
not have that deep knowledge of us. How can this be?
First, God arranged it that way because
it is fitting. No servant is above his master, and if they
don't know him, it would be unfitting if they really knew
us.
This is caused not by our actions but by
their ignorance. Hey, we're willing to talk about it.
This is the root cause of what Paul refers to
as the "hidden" life:
(Col 3:1-3 NIV) Since, then, you have been
raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. {2} Set your minds on
things above, not on earthly things. {3} For you died, and your
life is now hidden with Christ in God.
This is why the Christian so often appears
inconsistent to the world. One minute demanding righteousness,
the next offering forgiveness. We should be inconsistent to
principles and rules - and always consistent to our Lord.
We shall be like Him
The passage touches upon the resurrection of
the dead, and the heavenly body we shall someday have. Much has
been written about this, and we can say but a few things here:
There is little to say - for it is not yet
revealed
(The implication of the Greek phrasing is
that we have not yet been told the answer). "Through a mirror
darkly" as the old King James put it - that is how we see what
we shall soon become. Why, then, did God choose not to reveal
this to us, except in tantalizing hints?
The time is not ripe. We know that we
must endure suffering in this body. We also know that the
suffering is trivial compared to the glory. Perhaps God is
making sure that the comparison will be appreciated!
It's beyond our ability to comprehend.
We know that no one has seen what it will be like, and we
know that it will involve all of creation itself. If - as I
suppose - the "laws of nature" may indeed be completely
changed, then we would have no way of imagining what things
might be like.
We shall be like Him
We do have some hints, however. We shall be
like the risen Lord. We have a couple of hints as to what this
will be like.
We are told that we shall be transformed.
The word in the Greek (summorphos) means to be molded
into an image. So it's still "us" - but remolded.
We are told that the image is the
likeness of Christ. The word for "likeness" used is the root
of our word "icon."
What a collection of hints! Based upon our
Lord's appearances after the Resurrection, we can gather the
following:
We may be able to be superior to time and
space. Our Lord appears inside a locked room, without use of
the door.
We will be recognizable as ourselves - at
least sometimes. The disciples recognized our Lord, when he
permitted it.
One thing is certain: it will be a
totally new thing.
We shall see Him as He is
The word used for "see" in this passage means
"to gaze wide-eyed," as if in amazement. We should be amazed;
the Old Testament Jew was taught that no one could see God and
live. What do we know about this "seeing?"
We shall do it with our own eyes - this
is a physical resurrection.
But there is also a spiritual
transformation, for it is the pure in heart who see God.
Perhaps we need to be transformed before we
will be capable of seeing him. Who can say?
Implications in our lives
All this sounds so wonderful; yet one might
say, "so what?" It hasn't happened yet; until it does, what
possible effect could it have? John gives you one reason here
immediately - and there are others.
Personal purity
The word for "pure" in the Greek, hagnos,
is related to the same root word that is used for "holy." It is
instructive to look back into the Old Testament to see what
purification involved:
It began with cleansing. In our
experience, this would equate to two things: confession and
repentance. There we have the practical side that we need.
It ends with sacrifice. After the
Cross, this can only mean the sacrifice of Christ; if we try
to perform our own cleansing, it will fail for lack of
acceptable sacrifice.
Dealing with others
Should such a hope change the way you deal
with others? Indeed yes!
Suppose you met someone who had been
through this transformation. Someone to whom walls were no
barrier, for example. You would react in fear and awe. That
someone could be sitting right next to you. View them with
"forever eyes," and then ask if your treatment of them would
be different. Someone who is cold, dirty and hungry today
could - if the Lord chooses to come so soon - tomorrow be
like an angel of light. So how should you treat such an
angel?
That very same someone is, as we would
say, "well connected." It is considered a sign of influence
to have your picture taken with the President - as if to
say, "I'm a man of influence, look who I know." But the
person sitting next to you might be well connected - to the
Lord of the Universe, the Sovereign Lord. How would you
treat such a person?
Consider this: if you mistreat my child,
do you suppose I would be unconcerned? Certainly not. If you
fear me, how much more should you fear the Sovereign Lord?
So then how should you treat one of his children?
Waiting in Hope
Hope is always a difficult virtue to explain;
it sounds so impractical. But if you hold to the hope of the
resurrection, your hope changes the way you act.
It changes what you think is important.
If there is no resurrection, no hope, then grab everything
you can in this life - for there is no second chance. But if
you have that hope, should you not then reexamine your life,
asking, "Is this stuff really that important - for
eternity?"
It changes your view of "the possible."
Some of us quit at our good works when it appears that we
cannot see them accomplished before our deaths. But it is
not so; if you have this hope, you pass the torch on to the
next generation, knowing that God will bring it to pass -
and reward you for your part in it.
Hope changes the way you view death. Is
it the end - or is it merely, "God be with you 'til we meet
again?"
Summary
By the grace of God, shown at the Cross, we
are now the children of God. Like our brother Jesus, we shall
rise from the dead in a new form, as yet unknown to us.
Therefore, let us live our lives in this hope, purifying
ourselves, treating each other in kindness and love, and waiting
for our Lord's return in hope.
