The Demas Dilemma - 1 John 2:12-17 - July 14, 2013
Series: That We May Know – Life With Jesus - #7
As a parent I’ve learned something about myself over the years and it’s something I’ve seen in others as well. This is what I’ve learned … I’ve learned that as a parent, I find that it’s often easier to rebuke, than it is to lift someone up, and it’s easier to correct, than it is to encourage them. And yet encouragement usually goes so much further than correction does in helping someone become all that they can be. Correction is often necessary, but encouragement is essential.
And as we think back over the weeks that we’ve been in this series in 1 John, it’s fair to say that John’s been giving his readers, and therefore us, a great deal of corrective instruction. Some of them, just like some of us, have had false ideas of what it means to be a Christian and what the Christian life looks like. They’ve deceived themselves and so the correction is absolutely necessary.
Today though we’re going to see how John balances that correction with a word of encouragement. I’ll ask you to open your Bibles with me please to the book of 1 John, 1 John, chapter 2, beginning in verse 12. And as you’re turning there let me just remind you of where John has led us to so far in our study of this book.
His whole purpose in writing it is so that we might have life in Jesus, and with Jesus, and through Jesus; that we might know Jesus, and the Father, and might have real life with them here and now. But he goes on to say that there are some things that will prevent us from knowing, and experiencing, that abundant life, that salvation, that hope, to which we are called.
And the first is our attitude. We need to check our attitude towards sin. If we think sin is really no big deal, or that we’re the exception to God’s word, or if we justify it, excuse it, or continue in it after learning the truth about it … well the truth then is that we’re walking in darkness and we aren’t really doing life with Jesus at all. We have not understood, nor accepted the Gospel, and if we think we are Christians, then we’ve deceived ourselves. We’re still dead in our sins and transgressions because the Gospel is about newness – the new creation, the new life, the new hope, and the new attitude towards sin.
Secondly he tells us that we need to check our walk. Are we living for God or are we living for ourselves? Has His word become the guide by which you live your life or do you simply do what seems right in your own eyes? If you’re not taking God’s word to heart and living by it, then you’re probably not saved, because Scripture tells us that we know that we’ve come to know God when we obey His commands. The person who says, “Yeah, I know God, I’m a Christian, but does not obey God’s word, makes themselves out to be a liar and the truth is not in them.”
And then thirdly, John says that we need to check our hearts. See, hatred is a sign of unbelief. The over-riding characteristic of the Christian, is their love for God, and their love for one another. If you’re not loving on God, and if you’re not loving on one another, chances are that you’re not a Christian after all, because the two greatest commandments that we are given, are that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and that we are to love our neighbours as ourselves. Jesus says that the world around us will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another.
So those are the words of correction that John gives us – words of warning: check your attitude, check your walk and check your heart. Each of us is to examine ourselves in light of these truths to see if we are walking in the darkness, or if we’re living in the light. And we have the assurance that Christ Jesus is in us then, unless of course, we fail the testing. That brings us to our verses this morning as we begin reading in verse 12. John says, …
“I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 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 evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” (1 John 2:12-14, NIV84)
Now I’m going to be completely open with you this morning. Those verses have always bothered me – they just don’t seem to fit in with the rest of this epistle. To me, it’s like John got going on a roll, laid down all this good corrective instruction, and then got interrupted and when he came back, forgot what he had been writing, and just picked up with an entirely new thought, and one that doesn’t seem easy to understand at that. And maybe you feel that way as well – you look at these verses and you wonder, “What on earth is John trying to get across to us?” Anyone feel like that this morning? …
O.K., well let’s try to understand it together because all the pieces actually do fit together with this letter as a whole. What John’s doing here is talking about the family of God. In verse 12 he calls them “dear children.” It’s a term of endearment rather than a reference to actual children. He’s writing these words to those who have examined themselves to see if they are in the faith, and who have discovered, that they’ve passed the test. Their faith is genuine. Their salvation is sure. How do we know? Because he’s writing to those who sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus’ name. The word used for “forgiven” is from a Greek word that means to “to send away, or to depart from one’s self.” In Jesus our sins have been removed, they were put away at the cross and because of that they are no longer remembered against us. We have been forgiven, the penalty for our sins has been paid, and we are declared “righteous” in Christ.
So John’s writing now to those who have become new creations, those who have been born again, those who have been saved, those who are walking in the light, those who have been redeemed and entered into new life in Jesus; those who have been forgiven. And what John shows us is that they’re really three different stages to the Christian life, and everyone here this morning, who has been forgiven their sins and born into new life in Jesus, is going to be in one of those three stages right now. So as we go through these, I want you to consider which stage you are in right now and how you are going to move to the next stage.
John starts with the “Fathers.” He’s not necessarily talking about biological fathers here but rather spiritual fathers, and we could add to that, spiritual mothers, as well. The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, writes these words … “I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” (1 Corinthians 4:14–17, NIV84)
Paul was as a spiritual father to the Corinthian believers. It’s he who had come alongside them and introduced the Gospel to them. It’s he who has spoken the truth to them in love and who continues to encourage them in their faith. A man who becomes a spiritual father, or a woman who becomes a spiritual mother, is a man or a woman who has matured in their Christian life. It doesn’t mean they are perfect. It does mean that they have walked with Jesus for many years and have themselves grown in Christlikeness during those same years.
John says the fathers have known Jesus. The Greek word is “ginosko” and it refers to a knowledge that you can only gain by experience. Someone can tell me the element on the stove is hot and I can know it in my head, but if I reach out my hand and touch that element I will know that it is hot by experience. Spiritual fathers and mothers have experienced life with Jesus – they have reached out and touched Him in the victories, the struggles, the answers to prayer, the hope, the joy, the wonder – firsthand experience. They have witnessed God’s faithfulness and they have grown mature in their faith. These are the men and the women who ought to be stepping up to the plate to mentor others in the faith, to teach Bible Studies or Sunday School classes. These are the ones who should be coming alongside the next generation and helping them grow in their faith.
What’s that look like? It’s seasoned women of God coming alongside the younger women and encouraging them in their marriages, as they raise their children, as they experience loss, as they undergo hardship, being right there with them to help them see God in the middle of it all, sharing from the benefits of their own hard won experience, and encouraging them through a quiet faith that stands firm.
It’s spiritually older men coming alongside the younger men, teaching them what it means to be a man of God, or the head of a household. Helping them navigate the pitfalls of this world and helping them grow into godly men who could one day be spiritual fathers themselves. It’s men discipling, and mentoring, other men, and modeling to them what it means to love God and to love others, and to stand boldly for the faith. In those verses I read moments ago Paul told the Corinthians that he was their spiritual father and then he urged them to imitate him. That’s what a spiritual father does – sets an example worth imitating because he himself has become an imitator of God, and he is walking as Jesus walked.
Let me ask you a question here: Is there someone in your life who you would consider a spiritual mother or father? Someone who, when you look at them and the way they do life, you see a reflection of Jesus? Someone who is willing to enter into your life and share with you the benefits of their wisdom, of their walk with God? Who are the spiritual mothers and fathers in our church? Remember, it’s not necessarily the oldest members, but those who have gone the deepest with Jesus.
The other question we could ask is this: Are you at the point where you could be a spiritual father or mother to someone else? God has not walked with you all these years, He has not called you to Himself, in order for you to fade away quietly in the back corner of a church somewhere. Be like the apostle Paul, who, as death drew near, wrote these words saying, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6–7, NIV84) Friends, keep the faith, fight the good fight and finish well!
At the end of verse 13 John speaks of another stage of faith. He refers to the “dear children.” Although it’s translated the same in our English Bibles, it’s actually a different Greek word than he used in verse 12. In verse 12 the connotations of the word he used were ones of affection and endearment. Here in verse 13 the connotations are those of little children who are just learning about the world around them. Whereas the spiritual fathers and mothers are mature in the faith, those he writes about in verse 13 are spiritually immature.
Now let me make this clear: there is no shame in a new believer being spiritually immature. It really can’t be any other way. When a baby is born we don’t expect them to be able to walk or talk or feed themselves or anything like that. In fact we expect them not to be able to do those things for a period of time. We do expect however, that over time, they will grow and mature. It’s very similar when it comes to faith. Remember how excited you were when you first believed? You didn’t know anything about God except that Jesus died for your sins and that you’d received forgiveness and that your life wasn’t the same as it had been a short while ago. You were excited and you couldn’t stop talking about God and church and the things you were learning … but you were spiritually immature.
Peter writes to new believers with these words … “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:2–3, NIV84)
Do we have any new believers here this morning … someone who has been a Christian for less than three years maybe? O.K. – that’s great. You’re still relatively young in the faith. That doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to offer to God or to the church though. If you’ve got a heart that’s surrendered to God in love and obedience – God can use that way out of proportion to the number of years you’ve walked with Him.
But God’s plan is not for you to remain young in the faith. The tragedy in the church, is when those who have been Christians for years, are still spiritually immature. They should be spiritual mothers and fathers but instead they’re still infants in the faith. In the book of Hebrews Paul speaks of the spiritually immature with these words, saying … “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:12–14, NIV84)
And Paul writes to the Corinthian believers with these words, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?” (1 Corinthians 3:1–3, NIV84)
God’s plan is for the spiritual newborn to grow into spiritual maturity. Which brings us to the third stage of faith that John writes about – the young men. In verse 13 he says that the young men have overcome the evil one. He’s talking about those – both men and women - whose lives are being shaped by the Holy Spirit. Their values, priorities, and purposes are being transformed by the Spirit of God that dwells within them. They are resisting temptation, growing in their faith, drawing closer to God, increasing in love and holiness, growing in Christlikeness, and thereby overcoming the evil one who would seek to tear them down and destroy them. These are the ones who are seeing changes in their lives because of their faith.
These are the ones who are beginning to understand that the secret to victory is found in the truth of Paul’s declaration in Galatians 2 where he proclaims … “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV84) It’s Christ living in us that gives us the victory!
This young man stage is the bridge between the spiritually immature and the spiritually mature. It’s the road that has to be traveled in order to get from the one to the other. And it’s not just a product of time – of years lived as a Christian – it’s a product of practice as well. In verse 14 we read that these young men are strong, not in and of themselves, but because the word of God lives in them. This is what has helped them to overcome the evil one. They have been transformed by the renewing of their minds as they have gotten into God’s word. They have taken it to heart, allowed it to shape, and to mould, and to guide their lives and their choices. They have bowed the head, bent the knee, and humbled themselves before God and His will, and have strived to walk in loving obedience as Jesus did. And it’s changed them – in good ways, in godly ways – they have become, in reality, the new creations that they have been called in Scripture. In those verses we read earlier, Timothy becomes Paul’s spiritual son, and Paul sends him out to the Corinthian church to minister to them in the power of God to help them move into this young man stage of faith where they are growing in Christlikeness.
Friends, the Word of God abides in the sons and daughters of God. In Psalm 119 the psalmist writes these words … “How can a young man keep his 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 your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:9–11, NIV84) And again later on in that same Psalm he says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105, NIV84) If you want to grow in maturity you need to get the Word of God into you – not just in word, but in practice. You need to apply it to your life and live it out and experience, as the spiritual mothers and fathers have, that God’s word is true, that God is steadfast, and that His love will not fail you!
Spiritual mothers and fathers, spiritual sons and daughters, spiritual infants … which one best describes you? Are you growing in your faith, in spiritual maturity, or are you stuck in a rut and going nowhere fast? What’s it going to take to move you from where you are today, to where you need to be tomorrow?
John points us in the right direction with what he writes next. Let’s continue reading in 1 John, chapter 2, verse 15. This is what he writes … “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15–17, NIV84)
The word, “world,” is used two different ways in the pages of the Bible. On the one hand it refers to all creation and all that God has made and blessed and called, “good.” On the other it refers to a way of living, and thinking, that is opposed to all that God has deemed to be good, and right, and true. It encompasses any aspect of life, every facet of living, that does not acknowledge, and love, God. In this sense the world is a system that sets itself up opposed to God, whether openly, or by mere apathy. It’s that second view of the world that John has in mind when he says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.”
Love of the world, in this sense, is incompatible with love for God, for the world stands for all that sets itself up, over, and against God. You can’t love both God and the world system that is opposed to Him and His will. Remember what ______________________ read for us before the message this morning? Paul was writing to Timothy about another man named Demas. Demas deserted Paul, turned away from the ministry, fled from God, why? Paul says it’s because Demas loved the world more.
And this is the dilemma that faces our churches today – and not just today – but in any age. The temptation to love this world system, the ways of this world, and the things of this world. And in order to love, and to respond to God, in our daily lives, we have to stop acting from these motives that belong, not to the kingdom of God, but to the value system of this world.
John talks about them right here. He calls them the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does. These are the motives that drive those who are living according to the world rather than to the will of God. We see all three in the temptation that Jesus faced in the wilderness before He began His ministry.
The cravings of sinful man appeal to the flesh. After 40 days without eating, Jesus was hungry. Satan tries to get Jesus to turn the stones to bread and eat His fill. When Satan led Jesus up to a high place and showed Him the kingdoms of the world, in all their splendour and wonder, and offered them to Jesus if Jesus would only worship him, Satan was appealing to the lust of the eyes. And then when Satan invited Jesus to throw Himself off of the temple that He might be rescued by legions of angels, he was setting Jesus up to fall prey to pride, and the boasting of what one is, or has, or does.
These are the temptations that are common to man. Jesus faced them and overcame them, how? – By the word of God. Every time Satan put Him to the test, Jesus fell back on the Word of God, and stood firm in what God had said, and as a result, because He leaned on God’s Word and His will, He honoured His father and did not sin. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” (John 4:34, NIV84) Jesus did not buy into the world’s way of doing life, He did not make Himself a part of the system that opposed God. He was in the world, but not of the world, and that ought to be true of us as well.
Friends, it’s the young men who have stored God’s word in their heart who have overcome the evil one. It’s the spiritual fathers and mothers, who have not just stored that word in their hearts, but who have journeyed with Jesus over a period of time, and have experienced firsthand His faithfulness.
So let’s take to heart the last verse of our passage this morning. Let it’s truth shape and guide and direct your life from this day on for John says this: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Why invest in something that’s here today and gone tomorrow? Society after society has set itself up against God and they have been swept away by the passing years while God still stands today and forevermore! Build your life on the rock that will weather the storms that come; that will stand the test of time, and let us grow up together in spiritual maturity for this is good and pleasing in God’s eyes.
Let’s pray …
