EXCHANGING GROANS FOR WOWS

1 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. 2Beloved, 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. 3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.—1 John 3:1-7 (NKJV)

Fred Craddock, preaching professor for many years at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, said these words about change: “Paul says that the groan in creation, in us, in God, is a groan not of death, not the death throes; but a groan of childbirth. God is giving birth to something new. God is doing something fresh. God is creating new heaven, new earth, and by the time I have mastered the groan, I will have to exchange it—for a WOW!” (1)

Change is not always easy; and we seem to be peculiarly prone to resist it. The most common excuse you hear for an unwillingness to change is, “But we’ve ALWAYS done it that way.” Is that a valid excuse? Think about this: the U.S. standard railroad gauge has been set forever at 4 feet, 8½ inches. That is the standard distance between the rails for every railroad in the country. How did it get set at that particular width? It’s very simple: that’s the way it was done in England, and the standard got transported here. Why, then, did they do it that way in England? Well, because the pre-railroad tramways were built to that standard. Why? Because before the tramways, wagons were built to the same scale. Why? Because they found that if they made them any other size, the wagon wheels would not fit in the ruts already present in their dirt roads. Why were the ruts that size? That was the size used by Imperial Rome, who first built the system of roads in Europe. Why that size? Because 4 feet, 8½ inches was how wide a chariot had to be in order to hitch up two war horses to it. (2)

I suspect that our resistance to external changes around us, is grounded in our resistance to internal changes God wants to make within us. John speaks of change, in terms of its relation to us past, present, and future. He says of past change, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” When we consider what manner of people we were in times

past, and consider that the Father still loved us anyway, and CHOSE us as His people, then all we can do is be amazed.

One of my favorite authors, G. Campbell Morgan, says of the past, “The one thing you hate most of all in your past is your own sin.” He is right, we always look back and say, “If I had it all to do over again, and knew what I know now. . . .” We would give just about anything to change it—yet we fight with all our might to avoid having to make any kind of change in the present.

And what does John say here about our present? “Beloved, NOW we are children of God.” Are you a child of God? Right now, at this very moment, do you feel like a child of God? If you DON’T feel like a child of God today, what is the reason? Could it be that what we know about ourselves inside, about our sinful nature, clouds the reality of who we are as God’s chosen people? I like this poem that I ran across, called “God’s Child”:

I may be black, I might be white; I may be free,But I am still God’s child.I may be up, I may be down; I may wear a smile, I might wear a frown,But I am still God’s child.I may be rich, I might be poor; I may be exciting, I might be a bore,But I am still God’s child.I may be thin, I might be stout; I may be in, I might be out,But I am still God’s child.Mistreated, unseated, but never defeated,Because I am, God’s child. (4)

Our present reality, whether we are constantly aware of it or not, is that we are children of God.

What does he have to say here of our future? “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.” Our future reality—we shall be CHANGED. Then, if that is the case, think about it: all of us here can probably look at our PAST and see the change God has brought about in us to the PRESENT; we can see from His Word today that God’s design for our FUTURE involves change; do you think, then, it is safe to say that we are a people who seem to have been DESIGNED for change?

I find it interesting that the one who says He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” says also, “My desire for you today is to be different from what you were yesterday; and my desire for you tomorrow is to be different from what you are today.” And notice what He says our focus should be: “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

The question then becomes, “How do we purify ourselves?” I’m still working on the answer to this one, but my basic answer so far is,

“We don’t.” We depend on Christ, of whom the prophet Malachi wrote, “He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi.” As a people whose destiny in heaven is to be changed into the likeness of Christ, our business in the present is to begin changing into that likeness NOW.

One place we start is here today at this table. As we take part today once again in this symbolic receiving of Christ, We are reminded of that DAILY receiving of Christ, walking in His presence, allowing the Spirit and the Word to begin to bring about in our PRESENT that which is destined to be our FUTURE.The WOW’s of tomorrow will be worth all the groans of growth today.

NOTES:

(1) Fred B. Craddock, in “Journal for Preaching,” quoted in “Leadership” journal.

(2) Clark Cothran in “Leadership.”

(3) G. Campbell Morgan, “The Purpose of the Advent: 2. To Take Away Sins,” Westminster Pulpit, Vol. 1, p. 315.

(4) T. Garrott Benjamin, quoted in “Oh, Grow Up!” Larry Bethune, online sermon preached at University Baptist Church, Austin, Texas, May 7, 2000.