1 John 2:12-17 October 15, 2006
The last time I preached from 1 John 2, I mentioned that John was writing to a church that was bruised and broken and possibly full of self doubt and doubt about their own faith and belief. He tries to encourage them by commending their faith and showing that the detractors’ faith is no faith at all.
He gave two proofs that the Christian had the true faith: 1 – they we doing what Jesus taught & 2 – they had love for each other.
He communicates this in both the positive – you know that you have faith because… you know that they do not have faith because…
I know that some of you listened to these proofs and saw them as tests, and you weren’t quite sure if you were passing the test. “Am I really doing what Jesus said?” “Am I really loving my Christian brothers and sisters?” “ Am I in, or am I out?”
It is like we will even get discouraged by a word of encouragement sometimes! Maybe it harkens back to a time when you didn’t
It appears that John knew this, so he writes an encouragement so blatant, that we could never confuse it with judgment!
Read verses 12-14
“What I’m saying is you are getting it right!”
John could have been speaking to physical children, parents, and young people, but many people read this passage thinking that John is writing to new Christians, those long in the faith, and those in the middle.
This is what he says…
Blessing for new believers 12,14a
Your sins have been forgiven on account of his name
The two things that new Christian know the most is that their sins have been forgiven, and that their relationship with God has been restored.
We are like pilgrim in pilgrims progress, walking through life with a great burden of guilt and shame on our back. Pilgrim gets to the cross and the burden falls off
– The Mission, Robert Deniro has his burden cut off at the top of the falls – the burden crashes over the falls and is gone forever.
The goodness of being forgiven Psalm 32 NLT
1 Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,
that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of victory.
How many people have known the goodness of forgiveness?
Some responses to forgiveness – no thanks, I’m just fine
“I’ve got it under control, I’ll deal with it, and then come to you.”
My experience of thinking I had had it under control – God getting right down into my face and saying, “no you don’t!” – harsh grace, but the grace was so much better than my attempts at control!
Forgiven on account of Jesus
– Phil 2:6-11
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
– God looks us, then at Jesus, and says, “on account of what he has done, your sins are forgiven.”
The older versions “For the sake of his name” – our forgiveness brings glory to his name.
“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
- Colossians 1:13-14
You know the Father
So, when we place our lives in Jesus’ hands, he forgives our sins, puts us back into right relationship with God the father, and he gives us his Holy Spirit who teaches our spirit to call God “Abba”
We start to pray to God, and say eternal lord, God of all that there is, and the spirit wispers in our ear, “call him Daddy.” “You are his well-loved child, his chosen and adopted son/daughter, call him Abba.”
Blessing for the Spiritually Adult 13a.14b
John then blesses the fathers, the spiritually adult or mature. As he blesses, the new Christians, then the mature, and then the middling youthful Christians, It is almost what he would say to young marrieds, old marrieds and those in the middle – “You young marrieds; isn’t the honeymoon great? – you old marrieds, you really know each other, you really know each other now, there is an ease in your relationship, a good comfort, you middlings, you’re working it out.” We have the same experience with our relationship with God – the honeymoon where it is thrilling to be forgiven and in relationship with our eternal father, the stage of maturity when we are at ease in his presence, and the middle stage when we are workinh it out.
He says “I’m writing to you fathers because You know him who is from the beginning
And he says it twice!
There are a few people in the Bible who are called a friend of God: Abraham, and David. I would like nothing better than to be known as a friend of God. As I get more gray hair on my head and I move from being “that young pastor” to being that old guy, I would like to be known as someone who knows God.
That said, If you can find a mature Christian who knows God like an old friend, try to hang around with them as much as you can and let that knowledge rub off on you!
1Jo 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life,
Ps 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
Blessing for the Maturing Christians13b,14c
There is this way of talking about how groups come together and function that they c all forming, storming and norming. The group forms of joins together and sets the rules by which they will exist, and then a conflict erupts and they have to work it out and then after the come through the storm, they figure out how they are going to exist after the storm, and what rules or norms need to be inplace in response top the storm.
It seems that John knew about this in regards to the Christian life – we come together with God and there is this wonderful understanding of forgiveness and new relationship with God. But then God begins his work on us, to deal with the issues in our life, to deal with the roots of the things we needed forgiveness for. Like the potter shaping the clay he begins to work at us to make us the person he planned in the beginning. We also start to get to know him, and possibly struggle through issues we have with his character. The relationship begins to look like a storm in this middling faze.
The good news is we can come through the storming faze to the comfort of the norming faze.
The young people that John writes to are in the midst of the battle that is the Christian life
This is what John writes to those in the storm:
I am writing to you young people, because you have overcome the evil one, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
You have overcome the evil one
Jesus in the desert – Luke 4:1-13
You are strong - Pr 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength; and the beauty of old men is the gray head.
Erwin McManus – Praying for his boys – not that they would be safe, but that they would be dangerous
Christ in you, the hope of glory – the fear that the demons had for Jesus
Strength to know God’s love: Eph 3:16-19
Just as Jesus was strong in the desert because he knew the Father’s love for him. The Devil kept saying “If you really are the Son of God…” But Jesus knew who he was and did not have to prove it. We too are strong when we know His love for us and we can defeat the temptations
The Word of God lives in you – this is how Jesus overcomes the Devil in the desert
Psalm 119:9-11
How can those who are young keep their way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart
Do not let me stray from your commands
I have hidden you word in my heart;
That I might not sin against you.
You have overcome the evil one
You might look back at times in your life and say, well, I gave into the temptation here, I refused God’s shaping here, I failed there. You don’t much feel like you have overcome the evil one, you don’t feel strong, but weak. You may not have overcome at times, you may have lost some of the battles, but you are still here, you are still fighting, you are still available to God. The very fact that you have not been destroyed or dragged away from God shows that you have overcome, maybe bruised and beaten, but overcome. Find the strength of God, keep his Word inside you, listen to the spirit who says you are loved by God, and next time you will do more than just survive, you will overcome.
You will move toward being one of the fathers/mothers who know the one who is from the beginning.
Call
Does John’s description describe you? Are you forgiven? Do you know the father? Are you a strong over-comer, with the word within you?
Do you want to be?
