At
the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled
Connect. During this series, we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us
in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 John. During this
series, we are going to discover the components that make for true connection
and community. During this series, we are going to discover the landmines and
roadblocks that keep us from true connection and community. And as we go
through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the
power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands, in a way that moves
us to the place where we can experience the connection and community with God
and one another that we were created and designed to experience.
This
week I would like for us
to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we
jump into the next section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded
for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of John, we will see
John reveal for us another timeless truth when it comes to how we can experience the connection and community
with God and one another that we were created and designed to experience. So
let’s jump into the next section of this letter together, beginning in 1 John
2:12-14:
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been
forgiven you for His name's sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you,
young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children,
because you know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers,
because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you,
young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you
have overcome the evil one.
Now, to fully
understand what John is communicating in these verses, we first need to ask and
answer several questions. We need to ask and answer the question “Who are the
children? Who are the fathers? Who are the young men?” When it comes to these questions,
it is important to understand that there has been great discussion throughout
history as to exactly who John was writing to and what he was trying to
communicate in these verses.
Over time, four main
theories have emerged that have tried to describe who John was addressing and
what he was communicating. The first theory holds that the children refer to
all Christians, while young men and fathers refers to either the deacons and
elders who were in leadership positions in the church or to older and younger
men in the church. The problem with this view is that there is overlap in the
descriptions of each category. For example, both the children and the fathers
have known the Father. All followers of Jesus, by definition, have come to know
Him who has been from the beginning. In addition, John does not seem to be addressing
the issue of leadership or making a distinction in terms of either
chronological age or spiritual maturity as it pertains to leadership.
A second view holds
that children, fathers, and young men refer to literal groups in the church. In
other words, children refer to those who are in the children’s ministry, young
men refers to those in Jr. High and Sr. High, and Fathers refers to those who
are in adulthood. However, the order seems to be odd, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t John
refer to his readers in either ascending or descending chronological order if
he was speaking purely in those terms? Instead, John refers to children,
fathers, young men. And then he repeats himself in the exact same out of
chronological order.
A third view maintains
that children, young men, and fathers are metaphorical terms used to discuss
various stages in the Christian experience. In other words, children refer to
new Christians who are babes in Christ; young men refer to spiritual
adolescents; and fathers refer to spiritually mature followers of Christ. The
problem with this view is, just like the previous view, the order is odd for
someone who is discussing the different stages of spiritual maturity. In
addition, many of the qualities that John speaks of here overlap into multiple
groups that he is addressing. Finally, while John often uses a great deal of
imagery and metaphor in his writing, he does not seem to be doing so in these
verses. These are objective qualities that his readers possess and have
obtained.
A fourth and final
view, which I lean towards fairly strongly, is that the terms children,
fathers, and young men are a figure of speech that was common in the culture of
the day that John used to reveal the qualities of faith that should be evident
in all followers of Jesus. John here is using a play on words familiar to the
culture of the original readers of his letter to explain the qualities that are
evident in a person who has genuine and authentic relationship and connection
with God through Jesus Christ.
We see John reveal the
first quality that is evident in a person who has genuine and authentic relationship
and connection with God through Jesus Christ in verse 12 when John uses the
phrase “because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.” John is
reminding the readers of his letter throughout history that, as followers of
Jesus, we have been released from the moral consequences of our acts of
omission and commission against God and others that flow from our selfishness
and rebellion against God and others as a result of our response to what God
has done for us through Jesus life, death and resurrection by believing,
trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And John is reminding the
readers of this letter throughout history that as followers of Jesus, God has
removed the moral consequences of our selfishness and rebellion so that Jesus
reputation would be enhanced as a result of what He has done for us through His
life, death, and resurrection.
We see John reveal the
second quality that is evident in a person who has genuine and authentic relationship
and connection with God through Jesus Christ in verse 13, when John uses the
phrase “because you know Him who has been from
the beginning.” John is reminding the readers of this letter throughout history
that, as followers of Jesus, we have come to arrive at the knowledge of Him who has been from the
beginning. In other words, all followers of Jesus have come into relationship
with Jesus Christ as the eternal God and Creator who entered into humanity to
have relationship with His creation.
We see John reveal the
third quality that is evident in a person who has genuine and authentic relationship
and connection with God through Jesus Christ when John uses the phrase “because
you have overcome the evil one.” John’s point here is that followers of Jesus,
like young men, should have the strong drive and desire to engage and overcome
the evil one as we fight the battles of spiritual warfare in the strength that
comes from Jesus. Now a natural question that could arise here is “Who is the
evil one?” The evil one refers to the devil.
John’s point here is
that, at the moment of our rescue from our selfishness and rebellion when we
place our confident trust in Jesus by believing, trusting, and following Jesus
as Lord and Leader, we obtain victory over the enemy of our souls, Satan. The
word overcome is a verb that signifies an action that has ongoing results. John’s
point here is that as a follower of Jesus, our identity is that of one who has
the victory over Satan and his attempt to keep us from the relationship that we
were created for with Jesus Christ. It is important to understand, however,
that while the victory is won, there still is fighting left to do. We will see
John address this reality in a few verses.
Then, in verse 14 we see
John reveal the fourth quality that is evident in a person who has genuine and
authentic relationship and connection with God through Jesus Christ when John
uses the phrase “because you know the Father”. John is reminding the readers of
his letter throughout history that, as followers of Jesus, we have come to
arrive at the knowledge of God the Father. In other words, all followers of
Jesus have come into relationship with God that is an
ongoing reality in their lives.
John reveals the fifth quality that is evident in a
person who has genuine and authentic relationship and connection with God
through Jesus Christ when John uses the phrase “because you are strong, and the word of God
abides in you”. John is reminding the readers of his letter throughout history
that, like young men, followers of Jesus are to be strong and have the word of
God abide them. John’s point is that, as
followers of Jesus, we are called to be strong spiritually. John reveals how we
become strong spiritually as followers of Jesus by stating that the word of God
abides in us.
Now, as we have talked
about throughout this series, this idea of abiding refers to someone who does
not leave a certain realm or sphere. John’s point is that the message and
teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible does not leave the
life of a follower of Jesus; they remain ingrained in a person’s life and
develops the spiritual strength necessary to fight the ongoing spiritual
battles that occur as we live out our day to day life as followers of Jesus here
on the earth.
So here is a question
to consider: are these the qualities that are evident in your life? Do you live
in the reality that you have come into a relationship with the Creator of the
universe? Do you live in the reality that you have been released from the moral
consequences of our acts of omission and commission against God and others that
flow from our selfishness and rebellion against God and others?
Do you live in the
reality that you have come into relationship with Jesus Christ as the eternal
God and Creator who entered into humanity to have relationship with His creation?
Do you live in the reality that you have the victory over Satan and his attempt
to keep us from the relationship that we were created for with Jesus Christ? Do
you live in the reality that you have come into relationship with God that is
an ongoing reality in your life?
Do you live in the
reality that you are called to be strong spiritually as a result of the message
and teaching of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible remaining
ingrained in your life to develop the spiritual strength necessary to fight the
ongoing spiritual battles that occur as we live out our day to day life as
followers of Jesus here on the earth? Are
these the qualities that are evident in your life?
Now, as we talked
about as few minutes ago, as followers of Jesus, our identity is that of one
who has the victory over Satan and his attempt to keep us from the relationship
that we were created for with Jesus Christ. However, while the victory is won,
there still is fighting left to do; there are still battles that we will face
as followers of Jesus.
And as John continues
in this section of his letter, we see John turn to those battles. Tomorrow we
will discover what those battles are together…
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