If you think of who we are in the present and consider the future that lies ahead, how would you describe us in our relationship with God? Complete this phrase: “Christians are like…” what?
While you're searching for a comparison, keep in mind John's words in our text: “Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.” Reflecting the sense of those words, how would you finish the phrase: “Christians are like….”?
This is how I completed it: Christians are like unfinished biscuits. How do I mean that? Let me explain.
Our family likes those Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits that you buy at the store rolled up in a cardboard container. In that container are 8 biscuits of raw dough, not yet baked. Sara and Vanessa used to eat the dough like that – raw. I didn't. I want my biscuits done. But whether baked or raw, they were still the same thing, biscuits. They weren't meat, they weren't eggs, they weren't cereal; they were biscuits. It's just that in the package they weren't completed yet. I like them best when they are completely done. Delicious!
In a sense Christians are like unfinished biscuits. We are God's children in Christ. But in the present we're not completely done. Something more lies ahead that will make us even better. In that way we are like unbaked biscuits. John wrote: “How great the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 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.” In the present Christians are like unfinished biscuits. There's more to come.
What that all means, we'll let John explain. Just realize, dear Christian, You're Not Done Yet! So, be happy, be patient, and while you patiently wait, be certain that for now…
I. In love God already calls you His children.
You're Not Done Yet, but you're already His. You're already God's child through faith in the Lord Jesus because Christ has already died for your sins, and rose again to justify you before God (Ro.4:25). The Bible says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Ga.3:26). And there's more. It continues, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ….You are a son” (3:27).
Do you believe in Christ as your Savior from sin? Then you're a child of God. Have you been baptized into Christ's name? Again, you're a child of God through the new life the Holy Spirit gives. Believe in, baptized in Christ - you already belong to God; you're His child. It's not just a future thing; it's of the present.
Already God's! When that reality sank in it took John's breath away. So he exclaimed, “And that is what we are!” He nearly shouts it out in wonderment. “That's amazing! Children of God already? Amazing!” It's amazing because it was not always that way. In fact, there was a time things were the complete opposite.
When each of us entered this world, we didn't come as God's children. We entered it spiritually fallen, like our first parents. From the moment we were born, yes, even before we poked our heads out of our mother's wombs, we were sinners (Ps.51:5) alienated from Him. We weren't in God's camp; we were in the devil's camp, at enmity with God (Ro.8:7). The Bible describes that state this way, “At one time we were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).
Even now such things are a part of our lives. It doesn't take much to see it. Have you ever been angry at someone? Have you ever been envious of what someone else had that you didn't? Have you ever hated someone for what they did to you? Have you ever had any bad thoughts? Have you lied to someone, deceived someone, or disobeyed anyone? That's proof that by nature God's blood doesn't run in us, for God is not like that. Children are a reflection of their parents. They look like them; they act like them. Could you call sin a reflection of God's holiness? I don't think so.
God's children? No way; not as we came into this world. That's the bad news! But there's more.
The Bible continues, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us…because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (that's baptism!) whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4f).
There you have it, dear friends. In ourselves not God's children, but by God's mercy in Christ made His children. At birth dead in sin; at Baptism made an heir of life. Your baptismal certificate becomes your adoption paper. God adopted you in Christ. In love He called you His child. Amazing, isn't it? What a turn around.
Imagine it this way. A few days ago I read a story about a distressed young mother who in her extreme poverty could not take care of her child. So one day she gave him up for adoption. At that time no one could see it, but within a few weeks the child would be adopted by a wealthy couple. After all the requirements had been met and the necessary documents signed, that poverty stricken little boy was declared the son and legal heir of a fortune which ranged in the millions of dollars. In a second his fortunes had changed.
What that wealthy couple did for that helpless infant, God did for you and me when He paid for us with the blood of His only Son, Christ, but in a much higher sense. And then He baptized us into His name. By sending His Son to the cross in our place, God made it possible for us to enter His family and to be made heirs of eternal treasures – indescribable and immeasurable. As the Scriptures say, “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the adoption (or full rights) of sons” (Ga.4:4).
Sons and daughters of God! In love God already calls us His children in Christ. In Baptism He makes us His own. And having been adopted into His family we have forgiveness and fellowship with God. Like every good father should, He obligates Himself to provide our needs. He protects, He guides, He gives a sense of worth. He's there for us in emergencies. When we need to talk, we can go to Him in prayer and talk things out. We can ask for anything to help us. Amazing! When we couldn't climb to Him, He stooped to us to make us heirs of heavenly treasures. And He's not stingy; He lavishes His gifts upon us. How great His love that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!
II. In love He'll make you like Him.
Once we were rebels, now children! And you're not done yet. John writes, “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.”
God's children now in faith - that's certain. But we're still like unfinished biscuits; we're not yet all that we are going to be. He's not finished with us yet. Something else is going to complete us.
But looking ahead we don't know exactly what we'll be like.
That's true of the immediate future. You have no idea what God has in store for you in faith tomorrow. What great opportunities and blessings will He give you in His kingdom next year? In ten years? We don't know yet, only He does. But it will be for His glory and your good. Then one day when His time for you here will be done, He'll take you to the Father's House above. What will that be like?
Again, we don't know exactly what we will become. We know that things will be different for us. For one thing we won't have pain and sorrow. We won't have worries about finances or the anxieties caused by threats of disease and bad health. We also know that sin will no longer get us. But there are so many other things about our life in heaven that we don't know. The one thing John tells us for certain is that there we shall be like Him.
I'm not even sure what that means. But I have a pretty good idea that it will be wonderful to be like the risen Savior for the Bible says that “by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, He will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body” (Phlp.3:21). What does that mean for us?
The best clue we have is to go back to Easter and Jesus' resurrection from the dead. His victory is the first of many such resurrections. We will become like Him. What a turn-around! When He came to earth as a baby, He lowered His glorious self to become like us. And after His resurrection He kept His body so that He could remain our human brother forever. Now, when we go to heaven to be saints with Him, we will be changed, filled with glory like Him. I don't understand what all that means. But wow! Is that not worth waiting for! In love He'll make you like Him. And that will be delicious. Done forever!
Maybe you can't see it now. The world definitely can't see it in you. After all, you really don't look like heavenly royalty to the naked eye, do you? Look at yourself? Do you look and always act like something from heaven? The rest of the world laughs. But the world couldn't figure out that Jesus was God's Son either.
So be patient, be humble, be happy, and eagerly wait to see what God will one day make of you. When I was a kid, I sat in front of the oven eagerly waiting for Mom's baked things to be done so that I could taste them. You may be unfinished now, but in faith and in love God already calls you His child and one day He'll make you like Him. Amazing! God grant it to us for Jesus' sake.