“Seasons
And Stages” • 4.30.20 • Calvary Christian Fellowship,
Thursday Night Study (Covid-19 #7)
Intro.
Text
• I John 2:12-14 : " I
write to you, little children, because
your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is 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 wicked one." : The first thing that strikes us in this
passage is the strange way in which this is written.
- What we are reading is a parenthetical pause.
John has been writing in such a definitive and strong way, that His readers
might get the impression that he thinks of them as less than Christian!
- As a good Pastor, he knows when to stop
preaching against wrong ideas and to start affirming the right ones!
- He has to correct and rebuke the false
teachers for their corrupting doctrines, but he also has to encourage and
exhort those within earshot, whose faith was holding steady!
- As a loving overseer, John wisely takes a
breath and assures his dear children that he knows and trusts better about
them. This doesn't take away from anything that he has written.
- In fact, while I never endorse
self-condemnation and extended introspection among those that believe, I always
feel that it's good for believers to conduct regular spiritual
self-examination.
- Based on what John has already written, you
could easily check yourself against your attitudes regarding sin, confession,
holiness, keeping God's word and loving your brother.
- Ask yourself honestly, "Am I walking in
the light?" "Am I reflecting the light of Jesus Christ to my
world?" "Would the world have a hard time finding me guilty of
keeping His word?"
- These are healthy questions to ask yourself
and wisdom would dictate that you not trust your assessment alone, but that you
have someone in your life that you trust to corroborate your findings!
- It would be more than a shame to live out
this life THINKING that you were a believer, only to discover that you weren't
ever one! That would be an eternal tragedy!
- John does not want them to get the wrong idea
and he also wants to head off the Gnostics right at the root of what was likely
driving them.
- Think about this: The very first sin that was
ever committed upon the Earth was committed by a person who ostensibly wanted
to be closer to God through knowledge that they didn't possess.
- Eve had everything a person could want, but
when the enemy came to tempt her with a shortcut to greater intimacy with God,
she couldn't resist! Listen to those words again.
• Genesis
3:6a : "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate." : In part, many of the Christians in John's congregation may have
been falling prey to this exact kind of temptation.
- This section is meant to help the church
understand that process and progress are the natural manner that the Lord uses
to grow in His church. Each of us are in a season or a stage.
- There are no shortcuts to maturity and wisdom
in the body of Christ that can be facilitated by a "special
knowledge!" No one gets to fast track through the process of God's
sanctification.
- John mentions that as he lists off these
three types of people that were in the church in Ephesus and indeed, are a part
of every local Christian body, including our own!
- While John writes strictly to males, a matter
of cultural propriety, we can safely count believing women as being represented
by these categories as well.
- Last Sunday, as we finished the Gospel of John, one could make the argument that
Jesus at acknowledged two groups within His flock, the very young and the old.
- John adds a third group that exists in the
fellowship. Let's talk about each group before we look at what John wants them
to know. He'll employ two sets of "triplet" phrases here.
- The first of both sets of triplets begins
with "little children" in verse 12
and 13. The words are translated the
same in English, but are different in the original language.
- The first use in verse 12 refers to a newborn, while the second use in verse 13 refers to a little child. Think of
an brand new baby and then a child between the ages of two and six.
- The second category are the
"Fathers" in verses 13 and
14. There isn't any way around this.
These are men and women that are advanced in years, senior in their Kingdom
citizenry!
- Let me also say that this doesn't mean that
they are Senior Citizens, but that these are people who have been in the Lord
for a long time!
- Finally, the third group that is represented
here are the "young men" in verse 12 and 14. The words are
identical and it refers to a man that is 40 and under.
- John makes time to address each group. They
are all equally important members of the Lord's church! I mention that because
in our day, it's easy to dismiss one over the other.
- I have watched churches cater to the young,
hoping to become the latest viral craze on the internet. I have also watched
churches grow old, hoping that change will never be witnessed!
- Still, there are other churches filled with
spiritual infants who never progress past evangelism.
- A healthy church body has at least some of
all three groups represented and John wants to serve all of them and he expects
them all to serve each other!
- The Bible doesn't know anything about age
segregation. You never hear of "Youth Groups" or
"Keenagers" getting together apart from the weekly fellowship meal.
- I am not saying that these things are
necessarily bad, but an emphasis upon them truly cripples what the church is
meant to be. To cater to one over the other is spiritual malpractice!
- A Pastor who believes that he can make the
choice to have one over the other has an agenda, not a calling! Didn't we see
this just this last week in our examination of John 21?
- Jesus specifically called Peter to feed the
young lambs as well as the old sheep! Having looked at the three different
groups, let's examine what is said to each group.
- We'll begin looking at the "little
children" that John writes "because
your sins are forgiven for His Name's sake." (v.12) That is what an infant in Christ needs to be assured of the
most!
- This is the group designated by being
"newly born!" Each of these groups are genuinely Christian and these
are newly born, regenerated, Christian people!
- Please help yourself and understand that
there is no such thing as a Christian that is NOT BORN AGAIN! If you are a
Christian, you are definitely BORN AGAIN!
- The Bible does not know of another kind of
Christian! Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again, he could in no
wise enter the Kingdom of God! (John 3:3)
- Think of what it was like for you, after you
had been regenerated, after you had believed upon Jesus Christ. You felt clean,
unburdened and joyous at the thought of the Lord's grace toward you!
- The sin that once stood in the way between
you and Him was nailed to the cross of Calvary, the penalty paid and the stain
of sin, separated from you.
- In other words, the cause of the former
offense between you and God, is not even considered any longer! That previous
label is no longer attached to you.
- This is the joy of the newly regenerated in
terms of their relationship to sin. He has done this for the sake of His own
reputation! He did this because He is loving, merciful and full of grace!
- You and I stand in Christ as trophies of His
grace, not ones who have earned anything with God! He alone is worthy and His
forgiveness is ours because He wants to be gracious!
- That is a great beginning and that joy should
always be there, along with it's more mature consideration.
- When John next addresses the "little
children," the not-so newborn, he writes them letting them know that they
"have known the Father."
- It's natural and right for a person to
progress in their thinking about the essential nature of their Christian walk.
- There is a wonderful relief that our sin is
washed away, but there should be an equal awe attached to the reality that we
have been called into a relationship with the Father!
- When John speaks of "knowing," he
employs the word which reflects an intimate knowledge based upon experience.
Two points should be sticking out to you here.
- First, this is a huge blow to the Gnostics!
They were peddling ways to promote the knowledge of God, to invite people to
come to "know Him" through their mystic and esoteric knowledge.
- Even the smallest children in the faith has
it better than that! The youngest child with the most basic vocabulary, can
rest in the assurance that He has sufficient knowledge of the Most High!
- Again, please do not confuse this with
complete knowledge. We will spend an eternity with God and probably not even
scratch the surface of what can be known about Him!
- But even a baby Christian can intimately know
what belongs and what does not belong to the Father by their own experience.
- That should always be our best and most
natural defense against false teaching! It reminds me of Pastor Damian Kyle's
response to Jehovah's Witnesses that come to his door.
- He'll often ask them if they can improve upon
forgiveness of sin and a guarantee of eternal life! "What!? You don't have
anything better than that!? Maybe YOU should listen to MY spiel!"
- The second point that should stick out to you
is that every Christian must transition from "Exile" status to
"Citizen" status!
- Yes, we were once in darkness. Yes, it had a
hold on us. But now we are light! We are in the light and we know the light!
Old things have passed away, behold all things are new in Christ!
- Christians are not defined by their past, but
by their future! They are not to relate themselves to what they have been
brought out of, but what they have been brought into!
- Our great joy in life going forward must be
centered on the fact that we have already taken full possession of the
knowledge of the Father! We belong in His Family!
- Because He is our Father, we conform
ourselves to living a life that reflects His values!
- Let's move onto the second group of people
that John identifies here in this section in the order that they appear. John
speaks to the little children and then, he addresses the Fathers.
- John notes twice that he has written to them
because they "have known Him who is
from the beginning!" The Fathers within the church have known Jesus!
- Why does John tell them this two times? Is
this a moment of senility on his part or perhaps on the part of the Fathers!?
Certainly, that isn't the case.
- The idea is the emphasis on the great reward
that virtually only someone who is a Father, a man who has lived their full
life, can know! Think about it.
- When you are a infant, your thoughts are
focused on what is. A young child, on what will be.
- When you are a young man, you are focused on
what you will do. When you are a Father, you are focused on where you will go!
- All the toys and the status in the world
falls to the wayside and all that matters to a Father in the chuch is knowing
Jesus!
- Knowing Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our
faith, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End becomes the greatest
privilege that a person can experience upon this earth!
- When you think about what truly matters, what
could matter more than growing to know the person that you will spend eternity
with? Listen to Paul address the Philippians
in this regard.
• Philippians
3:7,8,10 : "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for
Christ. Yet
indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . . that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to
His death," : Truly, as one ages, these thoughts
become more and more precious to the saint of God.
- They have experienced what it is like to know
Jesus and that's really all that they need! These are the priests which don't
need an inheritance because they have access to Him!
- This is the cry of Mephibosheth, who was
willing to let all of his family wealth pass to a man that defamed him, for the
sake of the returning King! (II Samuel
19:30)
- If it was true earlier for the children to
ask a false prophet for a better outcome than eternity, try asking them to
provide a better Savior than Jesus Christ!? There isn't one!
- Before we move onto the final group, understand
what John has just done. He's gone from the beginning of Christian life to the
end. Infancy to Fatherhood!
- Every one who has come to the Father has been
born again, they have come out from a life of sin and in the end, have
discovered that the greatest reward in life is Jesus Himself!
- Paul will tell the Romans that the
righteousness that comes from heaven goes from "faith to faith." It
begins in faith and ends looking toward the same object that began it: Jesus!
- John writes this in this order to mark the
benchmarks of a believer's life! This is the trajectory that a Christian life
will take. You were an infant in Christ. Eventually, you become a Father in
Christ!
- When you reflect gratitude for salvation or
are being assured of your relationship to the Father, you are "a little
one."
- When you are continually impressed with the
character, the person, the work and grace of Jesus Christ, you are a
"Father."
- You begin dependent, filled with questions
and wonder. You end being the one with wisdom and love for your fellow
believers, who will need to focus their attention upon the answer, Jesus!
- This brings us to our final group and the
last parts of these two triplet phrases: The young men, the
"neaniskos," those 40 and under.
- Among the three groups, the young men are
given the most encouragement and don't you think they need it? You don't send
children or "Fathers" to war. You send the "young
men/women!"
- He begins in verse 13 with the statement which he will repeat in verse 14, "you have overcome the wicked one."
- The young men are in the middle of their
greatest battles. They are at their most energetic and in the prime of their
life.
- John encourages them with this thought, that
they have already overcome! The original word carries the idea of conquering or
subduing an enemy. They have prevailed!
- The wicked one has failed to derail their
lives. The one that has always been wicked, has been so from his origin, has
had no lasting impact upon their lives.
- The burning question is how? How did they
conquer the enemy? Thankfully, we don't have to leave this book. The answer is
a few pages to the right, over in chapter 5.
• I John
5:4,5 : "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the
victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world,
but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" : This is how you have become a conqueror over the enemy: You
have been born again when you believed upon Jesus!
- The victory was won on that day, in that
moment! All that is left to do is cooperate with His Spirit in the fight that
God is winning in and through us!
- Why is it then that our hearts often feel
like giving up? Why does it feel like we are actually losing the battle most
days, either with our own emotions or in our own relationships?
- The key word there centers on "feeling"
and that can hardly ever be trusted when assessing how a war is going! Ours is
only to be as prepared as possible each day to fight.
- And just how does a young man do that? John
answers this in verse 14. He has
written the young men because they are "strong and the word of God abides in you!"
- Strength refers to power, might and being
valiant! Do you see yourself that way? I sure don't, but John writes this as a
matter of fact relating to the Christian!
- This reminds me of when the Angel of the Lord
came to call upon Gideon, who was threshing wheat while hiding in a wine vat!
God called him a "mighty man of valor!" (Judges 6:12)
- You are strong, not because of your self, but
because of the One who indwells you!
- It's good that we don't see ourselves that
way. This is more than likely the reason why God allows us to feel what we do.
He provides us with one way to increase our faith.
- By the word of God abiding in us! This will
be the secret to your strength. You will continually feel like your losing the
battle as long as you are kept from the manual!
- If a young person is going to be able to hold
their ground in a spiritual fight, they cannot be ones that merely visit the
word in a seasonal or casual way.
- John writes of these people that the word
"abides in them." What a statement to make!
- God's word is at home in every part of their
lives, from their occupation to their financial obligations, to their
relationship goals and everything in between.
- These people are either never at a loss for
scriptural support and they are always seeking to add scripture knowledge to
their lives. When a trial comes in any area, scripture is their first response!
- It is telling that when Jesus was tempted by
Satan, three times He answered Satan's temptation with the word. He said
"It is written" three times! (Matthew
4:4,7,10)
- That instant reply will be the sharp sword that
is swung against the enemy of God! Getting a single sermon on Sunday or even a
second one on Thursday is still the BARE MINIMUM!
- The person that John is talking about here
lives and breathes the word of God! Is that descriptive of your relationship to
your Bible? I pray it is because there is no other source of strength!
Conclusion
- As we draw to a close, John has written this parenthesis to a church that was at the very least, sympathetic to teachings that, if followed, would have ruined their lives.
- As we draw to a close, John has written this parenthesis to a church that was at the very least, sympathetic to teachings that, if followed, would have ruined their lives.
- There is no fast track to spiritual
enlightenment. There is no special information that will take you further than
Jesus Christ is able to carry you.
- You might be a brand new believer. Rejoice in
that season! Relish the wonder of your salvation and be grateful for what you
are and to whom you belong!
- You may be a Father/Mother figure in our
fellowship. Keep your hearts focused on Jesus, the One from the beginning that
you have known and will know for eternity!
- Perhaps you are a "young person!"
Thank God that you have already overcome! Commit your heart to the Word and may
you see your strength grow in proportion to your investment!
- John was thankful for the varied seasons and
stages of Christian life. May we be grateful as well!
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