Children of God Now and Then for paper
Did you notice the title? “Children of God Now and Then.” The expression “now and then” usually means that something only happens occasionally, not regularly. This may be the way we think about being children of God. Every now and then, we get it right and act like children of God. That’s not the way we’re going to look at it today. You are children of God now because God calls you children of God. You will be children of God then when Christ returns because God’s call does not change.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1John 3: 1.
Imagine a ficticious person names Jane Doe who lived among us. Jane Doe was born October 7, 1952, to John and Mary Doe. Then, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. So God caused Jane to be born again as his dear child, fathering her in Baptism.
Jane lived a normal life among us then Jane died on July 25, 2024. She is now among the saints pictured in Revelation, clothed in white and standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. She is survived by her husband and children, grandchildren, relatives, and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and especially by her Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that whoever lives and believes in him isn’t really dead!
When all of that is read at a funeral, who in their right mind would say that Jane’s birth as a child of John and Mary was only an empty ceremony? That it didn’t really happen? That’s outrageous. People saw her. She was a real, live person! But many people would say that the birth from heaven, being fathered by God, never happened, that it was just an empty ceremony. Ridiculous! We saw the new Jane! We saw her new nature in her confession of faith, her marriage, and her life of faith. Her life was better, she was better, because she was a child of God. The love of God can be seen! “See what manner of love God lavished on Jane, on you, on me, that we are called children of God—and we really are.” We are just as much a real child of God as Jane was a real child of John and Mary! But the world doesn’t recognize that child because it doesn’t recognize the Father. Even Jesus was seen by some as only the child of Joseph and Mary, because they didn’t recognize his Father. So we are children of God now through baptism.
“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”. 1 John 3: 2
Jesus will come back, appear again, and we will then appear “like him” in glorious ways we can’t understand now. But we will still be children of God. We will continue to exist in a way that we don’t know, but we will be. I stopped with the word “be” deliberately. We don’t know what we will be, but we will still exist, still be children of God. Job said that even after his body was destroyed his eyes would see God. John tells us that we shall see our Redeemer too. There is a resurrection, and we’ll be there. So we will be children of God then because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3: 3
This verse calls all this a hope, and a wonderful hope it is! Then, though, there’s something that sounds like a catch to all these great promises. There’s always a catch, right? A child of God that has this hope now and then “purifies himself.” How can we purify ourselves? Am I disqualified because I can’t make myself saintly enough? That’s what the word purify means.
No! It’s not a catch. No one is disqualified whose sins are covered by Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for all sins. And just as we are justified by grace, by God’s work and not ours, we are also sanctified, purified, by grace, through faith—God’s work, not ours. God does this through the means of grace: Word and Sacraments. God calls us to faith by the Word, keeps us in faith by the Word, makes us a child in Baptism, and feeds us with the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening in faith.
God made you his child now through baptism and keeps you his child until “then” when he returns, And God keeps his children clean now and then!
Blessings,