Preached 2/27/22 [previous sermon]
1 John 2:12-14
[audio]
INTRODUCTION:
Just about everyone has the same reaction to a baby or a toddler. We speak in a funny voice, using baby talk, and sing silly tunes while making goofy faces. The first time someone brings their baby to church, everyone gathers around and says “Ooooooh, how cute!” A baby is, of course, a lot of work to care for, but we get through it with a hope and vision of the future when we can proudly send our offspring into the world to make their own way and to (hopefully) be a good testimony of the home in which they are raised. When that day comes, our memories of their youth contain highlights of fun times and loving moments (for the most part) and all of the diaper changes and long nights with crying infants have faded into obscurity. It is in our nature to grow, to mature, and to go out and try to make our mark on life.
Growing up takes gumption. It takes resolve. It requires a decision to become a responsible adult. Most people embrace this change. In fact, one of the main impulses in a young person is the desire to grow up as fast as possible. When we were young we wanted to stop being kids as soon as possible. We wanted no bed times. To not have to eat our vegetables. Etc. But there are exceptions, like Peter Pan … and Toys R Us shoppers (“I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a toys r us kid…). Though these examples are fictional or tongue-in-cheek, there are real examples. A few years ago there was a news story about a 52 year-old man in Canada, who was a father of seven, that left his family and announced that he identified as a six year-old girl. He dressed up like a little girl and actually found a couple that adopted him as their daughter. In an interview he said "I can't deny I was married. I can't deny I have children. But I've moved forward now and I've gone back to being a child. I don't want to be an adult right now." But that is not moving forward – by definition. It’s a retreat. In the real world, we raise our kids, they grow up, then the process is repeated. If at any time that process stopped the human race would be completely gone in less than a century. It must continue.
The same is true for the church. Without new generations hearing the gospel and receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, there is no church. If new believers do not grow up and become the next generation of the functioning body of Christ, that body will atrophy and lose its influence. It will have no power. It will fade as an institution. But that is not what Christians are made for. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10 (to all believers in Jesus):
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Unfortunately we all (to some extent) have a secret fondness for the romance of the Peter Pan story. A boy forever, in Never-Never Land. Well, at least until Jesus comes. We are all, in our flesh, a Toys R Us kid at heart. But God wants us all to grow up.
The first epistle of the apostle John is a very challenging letter. It is written to Christians in every church and contains many descriptions of what a true believer looks like. But it was not written to discourage Christians and make them doubt their salvation. The purpose of the letter is given by John in the final chapter of the epistle:
I John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
In fact, John includes around 12 other different statements about his purpose for writing this letter, including:
I John 1:4 … we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
I John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
I John 2:7,8 Beloved, I am writing you [a commandment that is both old and new] … because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
I John 2:21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
1 John 2:26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
Along with these, John includes a parenthetical section in the middle of chapter two that is very interesting, and this is where we are going to look today.
I Little Children (12,13):
Our little passage can be found nestled in between two of the self-checks that are in this book. In verses seven through eleven he warns that a true Christian will love other believers and want to be with them. Verses fifteen through seventeen warn us against loving the world and its many temptations. Right in between these, in verses twelve through fourteen, we see John giving a note of encouragement. He affirms that he is writing to believers, and he describes us in glowing and hopeful terms, giving the life-cycle of a member of the kingdom. Just like the life cycle of people in the natural world, a Christian is born – well, born again, then he or she grows up. And, as we will see, the end is glorious. The life cycle goes over three stages: childhood, the strength and triumph of the young adult, and then the wise knowledge of the parent, passing the torch to the next generation in the church. Each group gets two two mentions, and each one gets a different encouragement from the apostle. Let’s go from youngest to oldest. First, the little child in the faith is addressed:
I John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
1 John 2:13c I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
The first stage in the life of a child of God is the removal of their sins and their acceptance by a loving heavenly Father. Verse thirteen is especially amazing. God the Father does not just accept us from afar. The relationship God has designed is one of self-disclosure. Who can forget the first days of their salvation, when we first realized that not only did we now have an eternal hope but God Himself loved us enough to give his Son for us and to us. Not only that, you became part of his family – his kingdom – for eternity. You belonged. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:12-19 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Along with that, scripture tells us that God placed that sense of his loving fatherhood right into our hearts:
Romans 8:15-17 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Galatians 4:4-7 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Jesus Himself was the One who came to reveal the Father to us, we who were formerly far off - we who could never make it to God on our own. He brought us to his Father when we were hopeless, and God brought us in and became our heavenly Father.
Since John is using the example of children here, what might we infer from this likeness? With our children of the flesh there are characteristics, vulnerabilities, and steps to growing for each age group. John himself gives many warnings and admonishments to his readers when he calls us “little children”, including don’t sin (2:1), when you do sin don’t pull away but remember Jesus is there as your advocate (2:2), abide in Him (2:28), don’t be deceived by false doctrine (3:7), don’t just love with words but in deed and truth (3:18), remember that your victory over the world and sin is by God’s power so don’t fear (4:4), and guard yourself from idols (5:21).
Not only does a child need to be kept safe from danger, but a child also needs to be nourished, and to grow up. Peter and Paul use food as a picture of the word of God. This is the nourishment that we need to grow. Now as we know, the first thing that an infant consumes is milk. And we drink a lot of it so that we can live and grow. It is one of our first tasks as Christians to consume that milk. It should be our passion:
1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation--
The milk of scripture is the basics of the gospel of God’s love. We need to consume it so that we can appreciate what we are and what we have. We should long for that milk and read it daily. But a baby does not keep drinking its milk. Soon he or she grows a set of teeth and then all of the delicacies that life has to offer become available to us. If we are still drinking from our baby bottle when we reach adulthood – we really haven’t reached adulthood. As a growing Christian, the milk of the word is no longer sufficient for growth. We need solid food:
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
The Corinthian church had many problems largely because they were not studying the meat of scripture. It is not just the teachers and preachers in the church that have the responsibility to learn more about what the Bible says. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian but has not progressed beyond John 3:16 is like an adult that is sitting in a diaper with his “binky” in his mouth. He is not growing up and being an active member of the body of Christ. Paul had to act like a nanny to the Corinthians rather than as a fellow-worker in the service of God, and it frustrated him. Note that he used a different word for them. They were not little children, but infants in Christ. Their Christian lives had stagnated and they had never left the nursery.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says something similar:
Hebrews 5:11-12 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Note that the natural progression is to drink the milk of the word, then to eat the solid food of the word, and then to become a teacher of the word. The readers of the epistle to the Hebrews needed not only to learn the complicated stuff but instead had to go back to the start to re-learn the basic principles of the Bible. So the proof of the pudding in this case was being able to apply the word to situations in their lives, to recognize false doctrine, to be able to learn more, and to be able to teach it to others.
II Young Men (13,14):
Having encouraged the new believers, John moves forward to the young adult years. In that part of life a person leaves home and makes their way in the world. They have learned and mastered a trade and they now build their life and their home and their family. They can serve in the armed forces. During this time they are at the height of their strength, mind, and health. Their steps are sure, their voice is clear, and they overcome all obstacles to reach success! John’s description of these Christians is similar:
I John 2:13b I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I John 2:14b I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
At this part of our spiritual development we should be leading the charge for God in our local church. James Montgomery Boice describes them like this: “They are the ones most energetically engaged in the business of Christian living and who are expected to be the church’s first line of defense in case of attack. … The author writes three things of these men. First, he says they are strong. This is the natural virtue of young manhood, but we might have expected John to encourage them to be strong rather than simply stating that they are. This is not John’s approach, however. Rather, he wishes to assure them of that which they have already attained and of the fact that under God they are able to meet Satan’s attacks.”
This should be reassuring to us all in our walk. We may be weak, but God is strong. In chapter four, John assures us that we have overcome the spirit of antichrist “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (4:4) How does John say that these young men are strong? That is in the second part of his description: “and the word of God abides in you”. Now we see the link back to the previous section. They became strong young men and women because they had been built up eating the solid food of the word. As Boice writes: “God has himself made them strong through his Word that is abiding in them. These men have understood the gospel. They have assimilated its demands, including obedience to God and the need to love the brethren, and they are using their knowledge.”
What is the third part of John’s description? It is a cry of VICTORY! In fact, this part is repeated twice for emphasis. Our weapon is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” as Paul writes in Ephesians 6. In 2 Corinthians he described this warfare:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
As we already read, our strength to overcome evil comes from God being within us. On the way to the cross, Jesus told the apostles:
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
With God dwelling within us we have someone standing with us more powerful than any spiritual enemy we might face. John finishes his victory chant in 1 John with these verses:
1 John 5:4-5 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
John MacArthur asks (and answers) the question “How do you know when you are a spiritual young man? You know you’ve arrived at that level of maturity when false doctrine doesn’t interest you but gets you angry. If someone asks, “What do you believe?” you are able to tell them and support your answer with Scripture. A young man has outgrown his emotions and feelings and looks to the Word for guidance. Whereas spiritual babies are primarily concerned about their needs, a young man is not.”
III Fathers (13,14):
The final people that John describes are the fathers. His description of the fathers sounds very similar to the description of the children, but it is actually very different. Both times fathers are addressed John addresses them with the same words
1 John 2:14a I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning
Again, their knowledge is the feature that describes them. As a new Christian we only know that God is our loving father and we are his children. As a believer progresses in their walk they become more saturated with the word and have their hearts become more conformed to the image of Christ. In the end, they know God more deeply and more intimately. Sterile theology becomes the basis of a growing and deep and eternal relationship with one’s creator and Lord. God’s holiness and majesty become ingrained in our perception. The fear of God and also the love of God find their balance in our minds and hearts. We put away more and more that displeases God and his joy becomes our strength. This is what He saved us for.
All through scripture we are told to seek the knowledge of God and promised the knowledge of God.
Consider a few scriptures:
Col 1:9-10 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
2 Pe 1:2-4 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
In the same way that a newlywed couple rejoices in the first days of living with their new spouse, we are excited with our newfound salvation when we come to Christ. But just like a marriage, that is just the start. There are a lot of issues that come up when living a life together. What is true for marriage is true for the Christian life. Only in that relationship, we are the only one who is doing the changing – God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The final point in our relationship with God is a perfection of our faith based on our more complete knowledge of Him. As Boice writes: “It is the fathers who, as the result of a lifetime of spiritual experience, have known the Eternal One and have come fully to trust him.”[1] MacArthur writes: “Spiritual babies delight in their experiences, and young men delight in their understanding, but fathers delight in God. It’s one thing to be a spiritual young man and know the Word; it’s something else to be a spiritual father and know the God behind the page. The spiritual father has plumbed the depths of the knowledge of God. He doesn’t just know doctrine; he knows the God who revealed it. He may spend as much time in prayer as he does in study because he knows the Word and wants to commune with the One who is revealed in it.” [2]
III Conclusion
So the first thing to remember as we conclude is that John wrote these words to comfort and give assurance to Christians. He assumes that the ones reading this have the blessings that he ascribes to them. But in all of this we much check which group we are in. Unless we were saved within the past year, we had better be in one of the older categories. If not, John gives a solution – get into the word. Read the Bible often. Read it thoroughly. Go to Bible Studies. Participate in your local church’s preaching and teaching services – they are there for you. If the Bible is difficult for you to understand, pray to God, the author, to reveal its wonderful truths to your mind and heart. Find someone to disciple you in a one-on-one study. If you are father, find someone to disciple. I would like to finish with Paul’s prayer for his spiritual children in Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:15-23 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Please pray this prayer for me! I will pray the same for you.
