A. Life on earth is brief and filled with sorrow and uncertainty.
1. In Psalm 90:10, the Psalm of Moses declares the truth for every man's life, "As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away."
2. Life on earth is so unpredictable that we cannot say with certainty what may happen within a day. James 4:14 says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."
B. Those of us who are the children of God in Christ should not be overly troubled by the brevity, sorrow, and uncertainty of this world, for we shall overcome them all.
1. To this point, the keynote verse for our lesson is 1John 3:2:
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
2. From the thoughts of this passage, let us consider what we are in this world and what we will be when the Lord takes us home.
II. WHAT WE ARE
A. First and foremost, we are now children of God living in a godless world.
1. Just prior to the verse quoted above, John wrote, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him" (1John 3:1).
a. Indeed, it is a great show of God's love that we would be called His children. This is truly amazing, for we were once helpless, ungodly sinners, yet God loved us so that Christ died for us and allowed us to become God's children (Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 1:3-6).
b. Having come out of the world, the world now does not know us. Jesus foretold this to His apostles in John 15:18-20:
18"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also."
2. As children of God called and adopted to be separate from the world, we have a mandate to live godly lives in a godless world. Consider Philippians 2:14-15:
14Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.
B. While living in the world, we are housed in perishing bodies.
1. In 1Corinthians 15, Paul gives a great discourse on the resurrection. We will read some of these verses later, but for now consider a summary of what is said about our present, physical existence.
a. We live in a perishable body (v. 42). It is not built to last.
b. Our bodies are also dishonorable, being base and defiled by sin (v. 43).
c. Our bodies are also weak and severely limited in power (v. 43).
d. We have natural bodies, which are unsuitable for the kingdom of God (vv. 44-46, 50).
e. Our bodies are earthy, meaning that they have their origin and nature from the earth rather than from heaven (vv. 47-49).
f. Our bodies are mortal, which means that they are subject to death (v. 53).
2. Paul gives further insight in 2Corinthians 4:16-5:4.
a. He describes our physical existence as a decaying, outer, temporal man (2Cor. 4:16-18). Paul suffered more than most, but the essence of his words is true of us all.
b. He also describes the body of man as an earthly tent and house that groans under its burdens (2Cor. 5:1-4). Truly, man yearns to be free of these burdens.
3. As we read before, James describes our physical lives as a mere vapor (Jas.4:14). We live on the earth for only a little while, and then we will be quickly gone.
III. WHAT WE WILL BE
A. When the Lord takes us to be with Him, we will still be children of God, but our existence will change.
1. Paul describes the resurrection in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17:
16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
2. Contemplating the resurrection will naturally lead to the questions and answers of 1Corinthians 15:35-41:
35But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" 36You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 37and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
B. From the passages mentioned earlier, let us consider the great changes to our existence at the resurrection.
1. Notice the great contrasts between the existence in which we are "sown" (our worldly, physical existence) and the existence we will have when we are raised from 1Corithians 15:42-44:
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
2. This radical change from a dying, physical body that is suitable only for the earth to an immortal, spiritual body that is suitable for the kingdom of God is described in 1Corinthians 15:50-53:
50Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
3. While we are living and suffering life in this world, the anticipation of the resurrection and the coming changes give us hope, joy, and perseverance. Consider 2Corinthians 4:16-5:4:
16Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 1For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
IV. CONCLUSION
A. Notice again our keynote verse of 1John 3:2 -- "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is."
1. "We will be like Him" -- What a wonderful thought! Don't you want to be like Jesus?
2. Are you ready for His appearing? If not, then become a child of God now while you can.
B. May these thoughts always bring comfort to you. Consider Christ's words in John 14:1-3:
1"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
