How To Know That You Know That You Know: 1 John 2:3-14
The People Of God: Studies in 1 John Sept. 25, 2005
Intro:
What is “for sure”? (invite responses). I have one more…
Last week I kicked off our fall sermon series through the book 1 John. It is a fairly brief epistle, written by Jesus’ disciple John near the end of his life, probably 40 or 50 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is written with a pastor’s heart. John is writing to urge those who look to him with respect to one main thing that pops up repeatedly throughout the letter – that we who are Christians need to love one another deeply.
As we walk through this series, we are looking for answers and insights into one main question: “what does it mean to be the people of God?” Last week I challenged you to read the whole epistle – now I’d like to check on your homework… how many of you read 1 John this past week? (hand out “rewards”…) .
Last week we looked at chapter 1 and the first two verses of chapter 2, again looking for answers to the question “what does it mean to be the people of God?” We discovered two main things last week – that we are forgiven and that we are a fellowship. This morning we are going to look at the next section, 2:3-14. Here we are going to discover that we are a people whose actions of love are evidence of a transformed heart. And of that, we can be sure.
1 John 2:3-14 (NRSV)
3 Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. 4Whoever says, ‘I have come to know him’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6whoever says, ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as he walked.
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 11But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.
12I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.
13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one.
14I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Assurance:
Do you ever have doubts about your salvation? It is quite natural, quite common, especially when we are being mindful of eternity and we want to be sure. Maybe sometimes you look around at others, hear about something God is doing in their life, or see how God is blessing them, and you see that in stark contrast to your own life and start to wonder – am I really loved by God? Am I really one of God’s children? Do I really know Him? Sometimes those questions sneak in, often at those times when we get an honest glimpse of our sin. And we start to wonder.
John has some good news, a high call, and a sharp tone. The good news is one of assurance. Do you wonder how you can know for sure that you know God? Look at what John says: “we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments”. The obedience of our lives is the evidence of our relationship.
Note first what it is not: it is not how we feel. Our emotional realities change, and are temporary, and are influenced by all manner of external and physiological factors. They are good, but not enough. We don’t always feel close to God, we don’t always feel loved by God, we don’t always feel like we are secure. Our culture majors on the emotional; our Bibles do not.
Second, it is not our experiences. Again, these are good, but they are not the evidence of our relationship with God. I think many, many non-Christians have had some sort of “experience” of God, whether they recognize it or not. Most of us have also had times in our lives when we have experienced the powerful presence of God, and it has been wonderful. But again, those are not enough – and if we are seeking those “experiences” we are seeking the wrong thing: we need to seek not for the “experience” but rather for the lifetime of obedience.
Because, says John, it is our obedience that defines our assurance of relationship. Here again the doubts creep in – “well, I certainly didn’t do a good job of obedience when I… so I guess that shows I’m not good enough.” But let me take you back two verses to verse 1: “But if anyone does sin… we have Jesus.” This assurance based on obedience is not for people who never sin, otherwise John would be contradicting the assurance he had just given in verse 1 (and 2). Rather it is for those of us who, in the words of John Calvin, “strive, according to the capacity of human infirmity, to form their life in obedience to God.” (as quoted by Stott, Tyndale NT Commentary on the Letters of John, p. 95).
So when the doubts come, answer them by examining your life. Are you working with God to be as obedient as possible; even though you sometimes blow it? The measure is not perfection, but of heart attitude.
The next three verse elaborate on this introductory assurance: “4Whoever says, ‘I have come to know him’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6whoever says, ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as he walked.”
Just like we saw in chapter 1, John starts with the negative example and then gives the positive. And, also like chapter 1, we see John’s straight speech. Verse 4 is rather bluntly saying that our words, if divorced from our actions, are lies. We can’t just say it, we must live it.
In verse 5 we get the positive – what happens when we obey. “truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection.” Have you ever thought about it quite like that? That YOUR obedience demonstrates the “love of God” reaching “perfection”? Those are strong words! The incredible, all powerful, sustaining, forgiving love of God reaches “perfection” in our obedience. Think of it in terms of the love of parent for child. We might discipline, we might do things that are unpopular, we might ban chocolate cake for breakfast – because of our love for our children. When we get a negative, pouty, rebellious, defiant reaction, we are upset but remain unmoved by this display of immaturity and self-centeredness, because our love is strong enough to see the longer term good. On the other hand, when we get a positive, obedient reaction to our love, which we have expressed through discipline and through instruction and through a requirement of obedience, it is much better. This is like when our child says, after a punishment, “thank you for disciplining me, I’m glad you love me enough to deny me a temporary pleasure for a greater good and it is my humble privilege to obey you.” What – that never happens? I’m sure that is there somewhere in the parenting manual!! Well, dream with me for a moment that that actually did happen, and you will understand verse 5: in that spirit of obedience, the love of the parent is made perfect. It might not ever happen with your children; will it ever happen for you in your relationship with God the Father??
What is the standard for obedience? John gives us that in verse 6: “to walk just as He walked”. Jesus’ walk is the standard for our walk.
Actions of Love Reveals The Heart (vs. 9-11)
We are seeing an answer to our question, “What does it mean to be the people of God?”, already in the first 4 verses – we are obedient. We are a people whose actions of love are evidence of a transformed heart. Verses 7 and 8 highlight how the command to love one another is both old and new, and then John continues the thought that our actions reveal our heart in vs. 9-11. Here John gets more specific in terms of our relationships with one another. “9Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 11But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.”
At first glance, most of us might think we are ok here. After all, “hate” is such a strong word… and I can’t think of any other Christians I know who I would say I “hate”. Maybe some I don’t like, some I don’t want to be around, some I think are completely wrong about a host of things, but I wouldn’t call that “hate”. At most, my attitude would be a neutral one.
Let me share a perspective on this from a commentator named Howard Marshall: “John will have none of that (attitude of neutrality). His concept of love is caring for the needs of others, even to the point of self-sacrifice. If I am unwilling to do that for somebody in need, I love myself more than him; I am not being merely neutral, but am actually hating him. Moreover, he is writing about our fellow-Christians, and is thinking no doubt about relationships in a comparatively small community where everybody could know everybody else; in this situation failure to care for others was all the more heinous. John’s comment is a shocking one, for here and elsewhere he is deliberately awakening us to the need for radical love if we claim to follow Jesus.” (The Epistles of John, NICNT, p. 131.)
What does it mean to be the people of God? That we love one another deeply – radically.
A Very Brief Look At The Last Section (vs. 12-14)
For the sake of time, I’m not going to dig into these last 3 verses. I love them, although they are a little quirky and repetitive. I believe John is not here speaking literally of kids, dads, and young people, but rather is speaking metaphorically of people who are young in faith (discovering the joy of forgiveness and an “abba, Father” relationship), of people who are mature in the faith (discovering the depth of Jesus as an eternal being and present companion), and of those in the middle somewhere. That is most of us, and so notice what John says of us: “(we) have conquered the evil one… (we) are strong, and the word of God abides in (us), and we have conquered the evil one.” The simple thing I want to point out here is the tense: we HAVE conquered. It is done in the past, and we are now able to enjoy the results. That is a powerful, simple truth to remember in the midst of daily life – the enemy is already conquered. Jesus did it, and we can live in the victory and be strong and be filled with the Spirit (which is how the word of God abides in us).
Conclusion: So What Does This Tell Us About Being The People Of God?
As I look back over the whole passage, I believe that John is teaching us that we are a people whose actions of love are evidence of a transformed heart. That gives us assurance, God’s love is “made perfect” in our obedience, that obedience is lived out in the context of our relationships with one another that need to be characterized by radical, self-sacrificing love for one another, and “(we) are strong, and the word of God abides in (us), and we have conquered the evil one.”
Let me close with a story about a Christian saint from many years ago. Theodora was a married young woman who succumbed to adultery, and when convicted by God of her sin fled to a monastery, disguised herself as a man, became accepted into the community and was transformed by the working of God in her heart and she served humble for 8 years.
One day she, or “he” and some other monks were sent to buy supplies and stayed the night in an inn. The Innkeepers daughter became pregnant, and the blame fell at the feet of this young monk known as Theodore. The scandal became great, and Theodore was blamed. “They entrusted the infant into the care of the Saint and threw her out of the monastery in disgrace. The Saint humbly submitted to this new trial, seeing in it the expiation of her former sin. She settled with the child not far from the monastery in a hut. Shepherds, out of pity, gave her milk for the infant, and the Saint herself ate only wild vegetables. Bearing her misfortune, the holy ascetic spent seven years in banishment. Finally, at the request of the monks, the Abbott allowed her to return to the monastery with the child, and in seclusion she spent two years instructing the child.” (http://home.iprimus.com.au/xenos/martyrtheodora.html). For nine years, this woman willingly bore the consequences of another’s sin, and poured her heart of love into the innocent child. There are numerous stories of miracles that God did through her, and it was not until after she died that the others discovered that Theodore was actually Theodora.
The Orthodox church recognizes her as a great saint – because her actions of love (radical, self-sacrificing love) were evidence of her transformed heart. That is what it means to be the people of God. We are a people whose actions of love are evidence of a transformed heart. May God continue to transform your heart, and may your actions of love be the evidence of that transformation.
