************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 37d ************
Doctrine: Eschatology; we live in tension between the already and not yet
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on October 10, 1999
B.C. 37d
Romans 8:5-25
"Already but not yet"
Introduction
Underlying the New Testament's teachings about the last things is a tension between the "already" and "not yet." It is, in fact, impossible to understand the last things apart from this tension. Let me illustrate what I mean by the "already but not yet."
Topic: Second Coming of Christ
Subtopic: Already But Not Yet
Index: 1344-1350
Date: 10/1999.101
Title: Pregnancy and Birth
I was cooking a piece of meat on the grill today. I had to check the meat to see if it was done. I cut off a little piece and popped it into my meat. It was so juicy, so tasty. So I already had a taste, but it was not yet the full meal – that had to wait until all of us were sitting around the table.
A couple expecting a child also experience the "already but not yet." Already in the womb they can feel the child kicking and moving. Already an emotional attachment is being formed between the parents and the child. Already the mother is caring for the child by watching what she eats and drinks and being careful about what she does. Already the couple have a baby -- which is why there is real and genuine grief when there is a miscarriage or a still birth. On the other hand, they do not yet fully have a baby until after birth. It is not until then that they can see and touch and hold. It is not until then that they get to feed and burp and change.
According to the New Testament Scriptures, the believer experiences the "already but not yet." He is already in the future era spoken of by the prophets of the Old Testament, but he is not yet in the final state. He is living in the last days, but the last day has not yet arrived.
Last time, if you remember, we looked at what happens to the believer and unbeliever in the time between their death and the Final Judgment. Those in the Intermediate State experience the "already but not yet." The believer is already with Christ, he or she is already experiencing the joys of heaven; however, this joy is not yet complete. The unbeliever is already experiencing the pain, anguish, and torments of hell; however, this eternal torment is not yet as awful as it will be.
If you remember, we also looked at the Kingdom of God. We learned that the Kingdom too is "already but not yet," that it is both present and future. Already Jesus is King but every knee has not yet bowed before Him and every tongue has not yet confessed Him. Already our God reigns, but many still oppose His rule.
In our Scripture reading from Romans 8 we see the "already but not yet" reflected in three areas: the new life, the indwelling of the Spirit, and being children of God.
I New Life
A We see the "already but not yet" in the new life. On the one hand, it is already ours; on the other hand, it is not yet fully ours.
On the one hand, the new life within us is already revealed. Already we are new people in Christ, a new creation (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:17). On the other hand, the new life is still hidden (Col 3:10) and is not yet fully ours. Paul says that the creation groans – as in childbirth – as it waits for our final consummation (vs 19,22); and, we groan with it as we also wait (vs 23).
B The new life is "already but not yet." Consider what this says about the kind of life we live. On the one hand, we have already put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24). We have already put on the new self renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Col 3:10). The life-giving Spirit is in us (vs 9) so that we both live in accordance with the Spirit (vs 5) and our mind is controlled by the Spirit (vs 6). On the other hand, we do not yet fully live as new people in Christ. Or, as Paul puts it in an earlier chapter,
(Rom 7:15,19) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do ... (19) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
Paul talks here about his continued struggle with sin although he is a new creation in Christ.
We all experience this, don't we?! On the one hand, everyone of us who believes are new creatures in Christ. In a very real sense we can all say that our new man lives. Within all of us is both the desire and the ability to do the will of God. On the other hand, that old man of sin is still within us and is very much alive.
Because of the "already but not yet" we are divided people for, on the one hand, we want to do good and the Spirit enables us to do good and, on the other hand, we also want to sin and rebel against God. We are people in which genuine piety and genuine wickedness coexist.
The Bible offers us many illustrations of people living out the "already but not yet." Think of Noah. He is described as a righteous man yet he also got drunk and lay shamefully exposed for all to see him. Think of Abraham. He is called God's friend yet in Egypt he failed to trust God when Pharaoh saw his beautiful wife Sarai. Think of Moses. God talked to him face-to-face as a man talks to his friend, yet he failed to obey God and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Think of King David. He is not only a mighty man of God but he is also a peeping tom, an adulterer, and a murderer. Or, think of Peter. He is not only one of the Lord's saints, the rock on whom the church is built, but he is also a liar, someone who denies the Lord in order to save his own skin.
Topic: Sin
Subtopic: Exposure of
Index: 803-805
Date: 4/1986.19
Title: Now White is White?
A man had a small white Highland terrier which he kept spotlessly clean by frequent washing, brushing, and powdering. One night a winter storm dropped a fresh blanket of snow on the countryside, and the next morning the whole world seemed to glisten under the splendor of the morning sun. As the man stood gazing out his window, he saw a drab-looking dog walk across the snow. He wondered whose it was -- then suddenly realized it was his own well-groomed terrier! It was as clean as always, but against that dazzling background it appeared dirty.
Imagine that! The same dog looked both clean and dirty at the same time.
Because the new life is "already but not yet" that's the way the believer is – at the same time he or she is both clean and dirty; at the same time he or she is both the new man of righteousness and the old man of sin.
Our new life is "already but not yet" – this means that our struggle against sin continues throughout all of life. We know we cannot attain sinless perfection in this life. Does this mean, however, that we are to simply give in to sin? Does this mean that we are to accept evil and injustice with a shrug of our shoulders? Absolutely not! We are to engage in the struggle against sin and evil, not in the expectation of defeat, but in the confidence of victory. Sin may not yet be fully defeated in our life but the decisive battle has already been fought and the doom of sin and Satan is certain.
Our new life is "already but not yet." This means we must make every effort – by the strength of the Spirit – to continually live up to what we are. We know we are new creatures in Christ, so we should want to live a positive and victorious Christian life. We know we are new so we must make every effort to live as new creatures in Christ.
C Our new life is "already but not yet" – this has definite implications for how we look at ourselves and others.
What best describes you? Are you a new person who is imperfect or an imperfect person who is new? Does the emphasis fall on being new or on being imperfect?
I remember the time I preached a sermon on how anyone who believes is a new person in Christ. Your old man is dead, I said, and your new man lives. Afterwards a member argued that I was wrong. He didn't want to hear about being new; rather, he wanted to hear about being a sinner. "Don't forget total depravity," he said. "Don't forget what the Catechism says: 'We are so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil' (Q 8). And, 'I have a natural tendency to hate God and neighbor' (A5)."
Some churches are this way too. They continually emphasize the imperfections rather than the new life. In the New Testament, however, the emphasis falls on the new, not on the sin. For the Christian believer today the already outweighs the not yet.
Our new life is "already but not yet" – this has definite implications not only for how we look at ourselves but also for how we look at others. The people of God are not to be addressed as those who are totally depraved, incapable of any good, inclined toward all evil. That's why Paul wrote his letters to the "saints" in Ephesus (Eph 1:1) or at Philippi (Phil 1:1). They are to be treated and addressed as those who are new creatures in Christ. Christians should deal with each other as new but forgiven sinners.
D Our new life is "already but not yet" – this helps to explain our present sufferings. And there is so much suffering among the people of God: cancer, heart attack, death, wayward children, AIDS, poverty, adultery, broken relationships, drug and alcohol abuse. Whatever is found in the world is found in the church as well.
"Why do the righteous suffer such things?" One answer to this question is that suffering is a sign of the "not yet." Suffering still occurs in the lives of believers because the new life is "already but not yet." Suffering still occurs in the lives of believers because sin and its results have not yet been eliminated. Suffering still occurs in the lives of believers because the Spirit "who raised Christ from the dead" has not yet given us a glorified body (vs 11).
However, as Paul reminds us, suffering and pain should never have the final word in a believer's life. "Our present sufferings," he says, "are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed" (vs 18). When the "not yet" becomes an "already" then all the suffering and pain will be gone. When the "not yet" becomes an "already" then the many sufferings we experience today will be forgotten.
Topic: Heaven
Subtopic: Glory of
Index:
Date: 9/1992.101
Title: Blankets or no blankets
I am sure you have heard some variation or another of the story of the woman who couldn't keep quiet in church.
It seems that a very staid and orthodox Presbyterian minister had in his congregation in old Scotland a poor old woman who was in the habit of saying, "Praise the Lord!" or "Amen!" whenever the minister said something that really struck her.
This greatly annoyed the minister. So one New Year's Day he went to see her. "Betty," he said, "I'll make a bargain with you. You call out 'Praise the Lord' just when I get to the high-point of my sermon, and I lose my whole train of thought. Now if you will stop doing it all this year, I'll give you a pair of wool blankets." Betty was poor, and the offer of the blankets looked very good. So she did her best to earn them.
Sunday after Sunday she kept quiet. But one day the minister preached on heaven and all the benefits of life with Christ. As he preached, the vision of the blankets began to fade and fade, and the joys of salvation grew brighter and brighter. At last Betty could stand it no longer, and jumping up she cried, "Blankets or no blankets, Hallelujah!"
Betty, like Paul, realized that her present sufferings and poverty could not begin to compare with her future glory. In her suffering and in her hope Betty experienced the "already but not yet" of the new life.
II Indwelling of the Spirit
We see the "already but not yet" not only in the new life but also in the indwelling of the Spirit. On the one hand, the "Spirit of God lives in you" and you "have the Spirit of Christ" (vs 9). On the other hand, all that you have is "the firstfruits of the Spirit" so that you groan inwardly for more (vs 23).
What is meant by firstfruits? The word is used in the Old Testament to describe the first products of the field or of the flocks which are offered to God (Deut 18:4; 26:2; Neh 10:35-37). The firstfruits therefore stand for the beginning of the harvest; only in this case it is God and not man Who gives the firstfruits.
In Old Testament times the firstfruits is the beginning of a much greater harvest still to come; so likewise in New Testament times the reception of the Spirit by the believer is the beginning of a much greater harvest still to come. Now we have the Spirit; after the second coming we shall have the full harvest. The indwelling of the Spirit in the believer's life is "already but not yet."
III Children of God
Lastly, we see the "already but not yet" in being children of God. On the one hand Paul says we "received the Spirit of sonship" and, the "Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (vs 15,16). On the other hand, "we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons" (vs 23).
Already we are sons and daughters of God. Already we can call God "Abba, Father" (vs 15). Already we are "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (vs 16). At the same time we have not yet tasted the fullness of the blessings and privileges of being God's children. That's why the "creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed" (vs 19). Our adoption as sons and daughters of God, in other words, is something which we both have and do not yet have. Being God's child is both something present and something future.
Conclusion
"Already but not yet." That to a large extent sums up the Reformed doctrine of the last things. We believe that God's end-time promises are already realized but they are not yet fully realized. We believe that the future is already here but it is not yet fully here.
"Already but not yet." This says something about the present. Though our hope is on the future we cannot dismiss the present as being unimportant; after all God's glorious promises are already being realized in our midst: ours is new life now, we are indwelt with the Spirit now, and we are sons and daughters of God now. We need to hear this because there are Christians who are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good. We need to hear this because there are Christians who are so future-oriented that they rob themselves of the joys of salvation that are ours right now. We don't fall for this trap because we know the future, to a certain but limited extent, is now.
"Already but not yet." This also says something about the future. Though the present is important, we do look forward to the future when all the glories of the new life, the full indwelling of the Spirit, and the total blessing of being God's children becomes ours. Though the present joys are real and many, the glory of the world to come will far outshine what we have now. Remember what Paul says?
(1 Cor 2:9) "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"
We need to hear this because there are Christians who are so this-worldly minded that they fail to store up treasure for themselves in heaven. We need to hear this because there are Christians who become so used to this world that they lose sight of the world to come.