1 John Chapter 2 Verse 12
· I call these verses, spiritual state identification. This is where you start. You have received Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven, that’s where you start… And John calls this step one, “little children.”
1 John Chapter 2 Verse 13a
· A bit of spiritual maturity sets in…, and that only comes by growing in the knowledge AND grace of Jesus Christ. Which means, you are learning and applying and that application causes changes…, there has been a serving of the flesh since even before being saved, just like a freshly born baby, but in some circumstances, you are making the cognitive deliberate decision to heed what you have learned from the Word (knowledge) and from the Lord Himself (grace) rather than a childish reliance upon physical senses, emotion and experience…
· And so, the title flips from “little child” to “father” and that is NOT a title of age. There are plenty of so-called fathers that are little children even at 30, 40 or 50 years old… The difference between a baby and a father is accountability and responsibility. A father cares for another before himself. And any Christian who has any amount, even a smidge of Christian maturity, will at least desire to serve others over themselves…
· Another thought on a father. Fathers drive, children ride. My kids get in the car, settle in, and have no clue where they are going sometimes! HA! I’m driving! OF COURSE I know where I’m going! I have the whole plan! I know the reason. I am responsible for the safety of ALL of us getting there…, SEE the difference?
· Also, there’s a bit of spiritual maturity that has arrived because there begins to be a dawning in the mind of the Word of God. What happened in the beginning, how did we get to where we are today…, and knowledge is being accepted as well… It’s like hard drives being overwritten…
1 John Chapter 2 Verse 13b
· State #3. Level #3! You are saved and forgiven of your sin. Level #1. You are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ evidenced by your sincere care for one another. Level #2. And now you are in the battle!! Not only for the souls of others, AND against the stumbling of others…, but also just the daily battle against your own flesh! Awake and aware and walking in the light. It’s here and now that you become a walking testimony of Jesus Christ!!
1 John Chapter 2 Verses 13 – 14
· It seems like John is repeating himself but he is not. This is level up, level up, level up…, because the spiritual maturity pattern we just went through repeats! Why? For a few reasons. First, the more you walk with the Lord, the more you grow in humility and essentially are cycling back to square one…, and I’ll say more and more frequently the more mature you get!
· Living for the Lord and walking with Jesus and growing in the grace and knowledge of Him and understanding more and more and loving Him and others and caring about others more and more and BOOM, the cross of Christ just levels/flattens you emotionally and spiritually again! This is perhaps where the church in Ephesus got stuck as detailed in Revelation Chapter 2…, they left their FIRST love! And you return for a season to just being a little child in the hands of the Father…
· You learn something, God shows you something, you experience some new amplitude of God’s grace as you trust and obey Him through something like never before…, and you are just back to square one…, and, in a way, weeping in joy at the feet of YOUR Savior… And your bond strengthens, deepens, and you continue on through the spiritual progression but with all of the wisdom, tools and power you have gained along the way…
· The New commandment is continually making YOU new…, in fact, even all things new, day to day, season to season, glory to glory as you in humble obedience grow up in the college of Christ! Which ONLY looks like agape…
1 John Chapter 2 Verse 15
· Notice not a peep about people. John says love for the world and the things in the world is incompatible with love for God and the things of God. What’s going on here? Does this mean that if I love baseball, or if I love my church, or if I love my home or my job, does this mean that I’m in the wrong? Not at all… Really what we are talking about here is priority in a sense.
· You see love is a supreme affection and in that it allows no rivals…, or its not love. God has said from the very beginning, have no other gods before Me. Love…, which implies loyalty, which implies fidelity, love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind was given in Deuteronomy 6 and then restated by Jesus in the Gospels. So what? How does this work? What is John saying…?
· My love for the Lord is first place. No rivals. If there are any, there’s the problem. And this priority continues. Next is my love for my wife. No rivals…, but before I love her, I love the Lord. That’s the way it is. I will not deny my Lord to love my wife. Third, my children. I love my children. No rivals, but before them is my wife, and before her is the Lord. I will not deny Jesus nor April to love my children. Fourth is my calling, my ministry. I love the ministry. No rivals. But I will not deny my Lord, my wife, or my children to love the ministry. Fifth is my profession. I love my profession, very thankful for it. But I will not deny Jesus, nor April, nor my children, nor church (my ministry) for work… This is the way it is…, and in the end, I don’t care who likes it or who doesn’t like it…, this is what it means to be a Christian, to fear the Lord and to obey His Word!
· AND I want you to see and I want to make very clear that John makes no mention about and is not talking about loving, caring for or serving other people. If we don’t care for and love others then we are denying the faith and the love of the Father is not in us!
· Jesus said all of the law and the prophets, all of His will and commandments, wrapped up into this that we should love others as Jesus has loved us! And consider His crowd. Were any of His disciples Christians? Not as we know that term today!
· It wasn’t until after His resurrection that Jesus came to them in John Chapter 20 and it says in verse 22, “He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That was the moment the disciples and everyone with them became Christians because that is what it is to be a Christian. Receiving the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit… And so, when Jesus said “love one another even as I have loved you,” at that time, His audience was unsaved… So, are we to love the brethren more than we love the unsaved? Agape doesn’t work like that and that’s the point that I’m making! The unsaved of the world are not what John is talking about in verse 15…
· Paul confirms this in Romans 5:8 saying that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us… This love was put on display as Jesus essentially allowed Himself to be destroyed for whom? The lost world! Saying even from the cross, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing…” And, for God so loved…, the WORLD, that He gave His only Son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life!
· So, who are we, as Christians today, who are we to love and serve and care for? EVERYONE! Luke 6:32 even says, “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them!” Fast-forwarding to verse 35, “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil!” WHOA! SOOOOO, all that to say and to make very clear that John is not talking about people in this statement in verse 15.
· So, what is he talking about!? Having a god higher in your heart than the Most-High… Look at the next two verses….
1 John Chapter 2 Verses 16 – 17
· This is what has become of this world in its fallen state. John says ALL that is in the world, the kosmos in the Greek, the spiritual Babylon as we have studied and talked about before, is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Lust of the eyes? But I am to walk by faith and not by sight! The righteous, right with God, right in alignment with heaven, this is what they do. I get it, I can see what is right in front of me, but God told me to trust Him…
· So, with whatever I am seeing, facing, who gets the position of honor in what I decide to do? My finite momentary immediate perception, my eyes…, or the Word of God, the Word of the infinite eternal, perfect, holy and all-knowing God!? But I want that instant gratification. That instant momentary satisfaction of aligning my actions with my emotions…, it’s like a drug fix! Lust of the flesh! Who gets the position of honor in what I decide to do? My finite momentary immediate emotions, my flesh…, or the Word of God, the Word of the infinite, eternal, holy and all-knowing God!?
· But what will they say, and won’t I feel like a fool!? I’ll be missing out if I don’t go for it now… The pride of Life! Who gets the position of honor in what I decide to do? ME or JESUS? Am I really a Christian filled with the love of the Father or am I just a believer set on serving and protecting and providing for me, filled with the love of myself!? You see you can’t be filled with two things… That doesn’t even make sense…
· This and these are the singular strategy of the enemy to destroy your soul and if he can’t do that, to destroy your life. These are his three plays and every sin and element of darkness stems back to, originates from and is one, two, or three of these things. And this is the kosmos. This is the fallen. Genesis 3:4, “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened (lust of the eyes), and you will be like God (lust of the flesh), knowing good and evil (pride of life)…” Then…, they became their own gods… and ruined everything…