Introduction
When I turned 40, people assured me very
enthusiastically that life was just beginning for me. Actually, I’m not
sure because from about that time I noticed more frequent backaches, an unfamiliar
inability to read without holding my book at a yard’s distance, and a new habit
of telling a story to the same person twice. Nearly two decades on, that has
increased to three or four times.
It’s
one of the tell-tale signs that the First Letter of John must have been written
by an old man. John sort of goes round in circles and he keeps coming back to
the same point he made a little earlier. Experts think he was probably in his
80’s or even 90’s.
Under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, old John writes this really quite rambling
letter. The last time I spoke on 1 John, I said a lot about the writer. Remember
the on/off switch, fiery, headstrong, black and white young man who became a
soft and loving old grandfather figure after a lifetime of walking with Jesus?
Today
though, we’re going to focus more on the recipients. Who did John write to and
why did he write to them? In this short passage we are looking at today John
answers precisely those two questions.
He
says, “I’m writing to Christians, and I’m particularly interested in saying
something unique to people who fall into one of three categories. He calls
them, in v12-14, “little children, young people and fathers.”
You
might think immediately of 6 year-olds, 18 year-olds and maybe 50 year-olds.
But John doesn’t mean age groups; he is talking about three different levels of
Christian maturity. He’s writing to new Christians, committed Christians and really
established, mature Christians.
If
you had to say, which group would you say you belonged to?
Are
you a young, new Christian still discovering it all, still very much adjusting
to new gospel values that have only recently become important to you?
Or
have you been a Christian a while now; you’re committed, you’re used to it, you’ve
had some ups and downs and being a Christian now feels quite normal?
Or
are you a leader or an influencer, more mature in the faith now, able to pass
on some wisdom to others, maybe act as a mentor; have you become a father or
mother figure that others in church look up to?
As
we gain experience over time as Christians, God expects a progression, a growth
in our discipleship. Many of Jesus’ parables (like the mustard seed, the sower,
the wheat and tares, the yeast and the seed growing secretly) are all about
growth.
As
we begin this year, let’s just pause for a moment and ask the question, really honestly,
am I any further on in my faith than I was this time last year?
·
Am
I more loving towards unlovely people?
·
Do
I know my Bible a bit better?
·
Am
I better able and more willing to tell someone my story, how I came to be a follower
of Jesus?
·
Am
I more patient in suffering?
·
Am
I more persistent in prayer?
·
Am
I winning more of those daily battles against temptation?
·
Have
I become more generous with my money and more servant-hearted with my time?
These
are good questions to ask ourselves.
1. Young
Believers
Let’s
look at these three stages of maturity in being a Christian. First of all, new
believers, young Christians. What does John say to them?
Verse 12: “I am writing to you, dear children, because
your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” Who’s name? John’s
talking about the name of Jesus. The greatest and most illustrious name in
world history. The name above all names. The only name given under heaven by
which we must be saved. At the name of Jesus alone every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall honour.
And
verse 14: “I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father.”
Two
things, very simple things, basic things: 1) they have experienced forgiveness of
sin and 2) they’ve begun to relate to God as Father. That’s a great start.
Those
amongst us who are young in the faith shouldn’t look to go any further until we’ve
really grasped those two things. Let’s look at them in a little more detail;
firstly, forgiveness.
Forgiveness
is one of the things that distinguishes Christianity from other faiths and beliefs.
It’s the big issue that sets Christians apart from Muslims, Hindus, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs and every other religion or secular
philosophy you can name: it doesn’t matter how badly you have messed up, if you
sincerely repent, you can be assured of total
forgiveness.
You
haven’t got to endure a heavy time in Purgatory. You haven’t got to be
reincarnated and suffer miserably in a future life because what you’ve done in
this one. You haven’t got to pay God back in any way.
Some
people live all their lives under a cloud of condemnation and heaviness. They
are racked by guilt and regret. It’s like they’re carrying a ball and chain
everywhere they go.
Class
101 in the Christian life says this; all your sins are taken care of. Satan says, “Huuuuuh, just look
at your sin!” And God says, “No, just look at my Son!” And off comes the
ball and chain.
When
we repent of sin and ask God to forgive us, he totally wipes out the stain of guilt
in our lives because of Jesus’ perfect atoning death. He paid the price in full
for sin. Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished.”
Forgiveness
changes the world. Close your eyes if you will and picture this scene from the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. I read this account in a
book by Mark Stibbe and J. John.
A
frail black woman rises slowly to her feet. She is over 70 years old. Facing
across the room are several white police officers, one of whom, Mr. van der
Broek has just been found implicated in the murders of both the woman’s son and
husband some years earlier.
He
had come to the woman’s home, taken her son, shot him at point blank range and
then set the young man’s body on fire while he and his officers partied nearby.
Several
years later, van der Broek and his cohorts returned to take away her husband as
well. For many months she heard nothing of his whereabouts. Then almost two
years after her husband’s disappearance, van der Broek came back to fetch the
woman herself.
How
vividly she remembers that evening, going to a place beside a river where she
was shown her husband, bound and beaten, but still strong in spirit, lying on a
pile of wood. The last words she heard from his lips as the officers poured
gasoline over his body and set him aflame were, “Father forgive them…”
Now
as she stands and listens to the confessions, a member of the Truth and
Reconciliation commission turns to her and asks, “How should justice be done?”
She
says, “I want first to be taken to the place my husband’s body was burned so
that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial.”
“My
husband and son were my only family, I want secondly, therefore, for Mr. van
der Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come twice a month to the
ghetto and spend a day with me so I can pour out on him whatever love I still
have remaining in me.”
“And
finally,” she says, “This is also the wish of my husband. And so, I would
kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that
I can take Mr. van der Broek in my arms and embrace him and let him know he is
truly forgiven.”
Forgiveness
is the most powerful force on earth. These young believers have begun to understand
that.
And
they have also started their walk with God by relating to him as Father. They get
it that they are now children of God, loved and accepted by him. God is
everything you long for in a Father; someone strong, someone wise, someone who
loves you, who is committed to you and who wants to spend time with you.
He
is devoted, he cares, he protects, he corrects, he provides; that’s the Father
heart of God and these new Christians have discovered just how good he is.
They’re
not anxious orphans trying to impress God, fearful that he might change his
mind and not accept them after all. No, with God there’s security, there’s
safety.
Do
you know that? Are you secure in your relationship with God as Father? You’ll not
be able to go very much further until you have really grasped this. It is
essential.
2. Committed
Christians
John’s writing to somewhat older Christians
too. This time, John addresses them as “young people.”
As
they’ve gone on further, he says (in v14), they’ve started to take more
responsibility. Little children should be carefree; they don’t have to think
about paying the rent or making lunch or mowing the lawn - but as we grow into
adulthood, we have to start behaving differently.
Sometimes,
as in the physical world, spiritual growth is abnormally slow. It’s a bit of a
worry. There’s nothing to be concerned about when you behave like a 5-year-old
if you’re five. If you’re 21 and you act like a 5-year-old, then it’s a
problem.
In
the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer has to say, “Look you really ought to be
on solids by now. But you’re not yet weaned. You’re still on mother’s milk.
You’re getting a bit behind. You’re not growing right. Come on, let’s move up
the curve.”
But
these Christians have become committed, they’ve become robust. Where does that strength
come from? How have they managed to build up their spiritual muscle? John says,
“You’re strong because the word of God lives in you.”
Church
leader Ben Stuart said five years ago, “I have never met a strong Christian who
doesn’t meditate on God’s word every day. And I have never a weak Christian who
does.”
Why
is strength so critical for Christians as they grow and mature? It tells you
here, twice, (in the middle of v13 and the end of v14). It’s because we have a
spiritual enemy, the devil, who doesn’t give it a rest night or day.
The
great 20th Century Welsh preacher Martin Lloyd Jones once said, “There is no
grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which
depicts it as offering a life of ease with no battle and struggle at all...
sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a
battleground, not a playground.”
The
New Testament likens the devil’s approach to Christians to a lion’s hunting
behaviour. Here’s what happens. Lions take their time to stalk their prey,
observing a herd from distance, waiting to see if a young one or a weak one gets
distracted and slightly separated from the rest.
Once
a lion selects a victim it approaches by stealth, inch by inch, until suddenly
it springs, sprints, closes in, pulls to the ground and severs the jugular
artery of its prey.
Let’s
not be blasé about spiritual warfare. That ferocious, bloodthirsty, man-eating king
of beasts is what God says our enemy behaves like. Satan targets the sick ones
(meaning those who are undernourished from not getting enough of God’s word),
the young ones (new Christians who aren’t yet experienced in fighting sin) and
the isolated ones (solitary Christians who think they’ll be alright on their
own).
Here
are some of the devil’s tactics that the Bible explicitly tells us about.
·
He
wears you down with condemnation – you’ve really blown it now…
·
He
tells lies about God – God doesn’t love you, God can’t use you…
·
He
tempts you to sin – Oh, go on, loosen up, no one will notice…
·
He
sows doubt – God isn’t real, it’s like Santa, people grow out of it…
·
He
promotes division – Those Christians in that church down the road, they’re
unbalanced and unsound, pass it on…
But
these committed Christians John writes to here are wise to the enemy’s ways.
They have had a few victories already; “you have overcome the evil one,” John
says.
They’re
resisting temptation. They’re shutting their ears to Satan’s accusations.
They’re standing firm against gossip about other believers. He’s been constantly
trying to grind them down and they’ve told him to go to hell every time, and they’re
still standing.
In
their growth as Christians, they’ve begun to be discerning. They can tell now when
it’s the father of lies doing the talking. They’re seeing one or two strongholds
come down through prayer. They’ve spoken out the word of God in faith and
they’re winning.
We
cannot take ground from Satan if Satan has ground in us. You win the battle and
you win it decisively, says 1 John 2.14, if
you are getting your spiritual muscle mass built up by the Word of God.
3. Mature,
Experienced Disciples
New believers and committed Christians; finally,
John is also writing to mature and experienced disciples; role models that
others in the church look up to.
He
calls them “fathers” in v13, possibly because they now know what it means to
lead people to Christ and have spiritual children. “I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning,” a sentence repetitive
old John duplicates word-for-word in the following verse.
John
Wesley once said, “When I was young, I was sure of everything. A few years on,
having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as
I was before. At present, I am hardly sure of anything except what God has
revealed to me.”
The
standout characteristic of the young people in the last section was strength. They’re
the sail on the boat, picking up the wind and getting things moving. They’re strong.
They’re young. They’re energetic. They’re dynamic…
But
these older, more mature believers stand out, not for their strength, but for
their wisdom. They’re not the sail; they’re the rudder; they’re the ones
stopping the boat from hitting the rocks at top speed.
I
grew up on sailboats. Take it from me; every sailboat needs sails and rudders.
Every church needs dynamic strength and deep wisdom. What are you contributing?
Wisdom
is priceless. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When as a
Christian you have known joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, ecstasies and
pain, encouragements and disappointments, and it’s pushed you deeper down into
God - at the end of that you know, you really know, the Lord.
As
we look ahead to 2020, let me ask you; what’s your goal as a Christian? Think
about that... The distinguishing feature of mature disciples, according to v14
is to really know God.
Even
the apostle Paul,
·
who
had seen the Lord’s glory on the road to Damascus,
·
who
spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians,
·
who
healed the sick and raised the dead
·
who
was caught up to paradise,
·
who
had ecstatic celestial encounters in the 3rd heaven
even
then, twenty years after his conversion, Paul wrote about having one single and unique future aspiration:
What do I want? “I just want to know Christ...” he said. That’s still the goal.
There
is no greater thing than knowing Jesus. If you’re going to attain maturity,
being parents in God as it were to younger believers, then make knowing Christ your
highest ambition. Are you determined to know God better?
Ending
John could have been writing to us at All
Saints.’ New believers, more committed, established active Christians and wise,
mature, experienced guides. Every church, including this one, needs all three.
Each
of us is at a different stage in our walk with God. The question is, “Am I
advancing?” Am I still moving forward with God? What am I going to do this year,
starting today, to ensure that in 12 months’ time I’m further on than I am now?
Let’s
pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5 January 2020
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