October 5 | Love Abides | Text: 1 John 2:18-29

Good morning, church family, and welcome. It is a joy to begin our gathering this morning with what is a beautiful and significant moment.

At this time, I’d like to invite the families who’ve signed up to participate in our child dedication to please come forward.

In a few moments, our sermon is going to focus on a powerful phrase I heard a lot growing up: "Remember who you are."

We'll see in Scripture that our identity in Christ is all about belonging to God's family and remembering our family name. This dedication is a beautiful first step in that journey for these children. In a world that celebrates wandering away from faith, this is a moment where we plant a flag as parents and a people of God and say, "This child belongs here, in the family of God."

Before we go any further, I want to clarify what we are doing here today, as it may look different from what some of us have experienced. Many in our church family come from traditions that practice infant baptism, and while we honor and respect those backgrounds, our understanding of Scripture, leads us to practice believer's baptism—the moment an individual, responding to God's grace, chooses to publicly declare their personal faith in Jesus as a believer. It’s taking one’s personal faith public.

What we are celebrating today is not baptism, nor is it a moment that saves these children. We rest in the goodness of our God, remembering how Jesus welcomed children, and we confidently entrust these little ones into His just and merciful hands. So this isn’t baptism. Instead, this is a dedication. It is a profound commitment from these parents, and from us as their church family, to create an environment where these children can grow to one day make that beautiful and personal choice to follow Jesus for themselves.

This parental commitment is described for us in Deuteronomy, chapter 6. Listen to God's instruction to His people:

Deuteronomy 6:5–7 NLT

5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

What this passage shows us is that while teaching our children God's Word is essential, faith is often more caught than it is taught. This dedication, then, is not just a promise to teach God's story, but a commitment to model a life of faith in the everyday moments. It’s a promise to live out your faith authentically, demonstrating what it looks like to follow Jesus so that your children can see and catch the reality of a life lived for Him.

So, with that understanding, I’m going to ask the parents a few questions.

<Address the first set of parents and child by name>

(Pastor to Parents):

Dustin & Taylor Herman Briella Kay Herman

Eli & Brooke Miller Mia James Miller

Travis & Sierra Roehrig Kade Thomas Roehrig Siblings: Brecklyn & Elliette

Brett & Kaite Yungmann Claire Marie Yungmann Siblings: Charlotte & Nora

In the presence of God and your church family, I ask have 3 questions for all of you that I’ll invite you to affirm with the statement, We do!

Each question is a bit lengthy so don’t get jump the gun. They are weighty commitments. Alright. You ready?

Do you acknowledge that your child is a gift from God, and do you commit to loving and parenting them with grace and humility, recognizing your own need for God’s help every day?(Parents): We do.

Do you commit to teach the Word of God? Will you faithfully point your child to Jesus Christ as the only way to be saved?(Parents): We do.

Do you promise to model a life of faith, relying on the Spirit of God to guide you, and commit to remain with the people of God, striving to create a home where God is honored, forgiveness is practiced, and love abides? If so please respond, We do.

(Pastor to the Congregation):

Alright, now, Church family, these parents cannot do this alone. It truly takes a village—a church family. So now I ask you, the people of God at Crossroads Church:

Do you commit to supporting these families? Will you pray for them, encourage them, and partner with them in showing these children the love of Jesus, helping them always to remember who they are in Christ? If so, please say, “We do.”

(Congregation): We do.

(Pastor):

Alright, now I'd like to pray over each child individually, dedicating them to the Lord under the promises that have just been made.

<(Move to each family, holding or laying a hand on each child as you say these words.)>

For each child:

"[Child's Name], together with your parents who love you and this church family, I dedicate you to the Lord Jesus Christ in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

<(After dedicating each child individually, address the congregation to pray together for all the families.)>

(Pastor): Now, let's seal these individual dedications with one prayer together for all these families. Please pray with me.

Prayer of Dedication

"Father God, thank you for the incredible gift of these children. Thank you for [List children's names]. They are a testimony to Your goodness and creative power. Lord, we lift up these parents to You. Grant them endless patience, profound wisdom, and a deep well of grace that flows from You. Help them to be the models of faith You have called them to be. When they are tired, renew their strength. When they feel lost, guide their steps. May their homes be filled with laughter, truth, and an overwhelming sense of Your presence. And for these precious children, Lord, we pray for Your hand of protection to be upon them. We pray for their health and their joy. But most of all, Father, we pray for the day when they will personally understand our family story, when the Holy Spirit will stir their hearts, and they will choose to be adopted into Your family through faith in Jesus Christ. May they come to faith early and learn to live with you in joyful surrender all the days of their lives. We dedicate these children to You, and we commit ourselves—these parents and this church—to raising them in Your love and for Your glory. In the strong name of Jesus, we pray, Amen."

(Pastor): Let’s all congratulate these families!

As they return to their seats, let's prepare our hearts for worship.

Intro:

Every time my brother and I would head out the door as teenagers—whether we were going to hang out with friends, go to a football game, whatever it was—my mom had this one, consistent, final instruction for us. We’d have one foot out the door, and we’d hear her voice call out, "Boys! Remember who you are!"

Now, she wasn't worried we’d suddenly get amnesia and forget our names. No the phrase meant something far more than that.

It meant, Remember who I raised you to be. Remember the values we taught you. Remember whose name you carry—the family name—and represent it well out there. It was her way of saying, your identity is tied to this family, and that should shape everything you do when you’re away from home.

In a way, she was saying, "Abide in this family." Carry our story with you, follow the example that’s been laid for you, and never, ever forget that you can always come home.

That deep, profound sense of family identity is exactly what the Apostle John is trying to instill in the church in our passage today.

He’s writing to a group of believers who are wrestling with what it means to belong to God’s family, especially when they’ve seen some people who they thought were family walk away. His core message is simple but life-altering: In a world of spiritual wanderers, genuine love—the love of God’s family—abides. It stays home. It endures because it remembers its family name.

So before we unpack that, let's hear the whole passage together. I'm going to read from 1 John chapter 2, verses 18 through 29. As I read, listen for the contrast John makes between those who leave and those who stay. Listen for his confidence in the believers he's writing to. And listen for the resources he says God has given them to remain faithful.

1 John 2:18–29 NLT

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. 20 But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. 21 So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. 22 And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23 Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us. 26 I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. 27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. 28 And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. 29 Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

Now, let's walk through this together. John begins by addressing a painful reality in the church. This is….

1. The Tragedy of Forgetting (vv. 18-19)

He starts with this urgent warning in verse 18: "Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come."

Let’s pause there for a second… can I just say how awesome the Bible is! It doesn’t just tell us what happened, the Bible tells us what always happens! We’ve all heard the news and the buzz is a wash right now with people predicting the end! That ain’t new!

Every time we see chaos in the world, it can feel like the end is near. John felt it, too. But his point isn't to make us panic or get lost in fearful speculation about the end times. His goal is to diagnose a clear and present danger in the church now.

He says, in an age filled with the spirit of antichrist, our main job isn't to point fingers out there, but to ensure our own hearts are wholly for Christ.

As he points out an "antichrist" isn't just some future figure; it's anyone who offers a substitute for Christ. In John's day, it was false teachers who looked like family, who talked the talk, but then walked away. They didn't abide. The left for new and novel ideas and ultimately the left Jesus himself!

And in verse 19, John gives this stunning explanation for why they left: "These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us."

Did you catch that? Their wandering wasn't a failure of God's family; it was a revelation of their true identity. Their leaving proved they never truly belonged in the first place. At heart, they were spiritual orphans, not children of God.

Now, our culture champions this wandering. It calls it "finding yourself" or "deconstructing your faith." But John reframes it as a tragedy—abandoning the safety of home for a wilderness of our own making. He teaches that true identity isn’t found by looking inward or out there; it’s a gift you receive when you're adopted by a loving Father.

This is why leaving the faith is so much more than leaving a set of ideas; it's leaving a family.

So if the tragedy is forgetting, the solution is simple: remembering. And John shows us three powerful ways to do this. If you remember nothing else from today, remember this: we need the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God. Say it with me: Word of God. Spirit of God. People of God!

Alright ,lets unpack it from the text.

How does love abide or remain. John shows us 3 essentials to abiding, to remembering our family name in vv. 20-27.

2. How Love abides (vv. 20-27)

Firstly he says, we remember our Family Story—Through the Word of God.

John lays this out as the foundation for staying put. Look back in verse 24: "So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father."

What does he mean by "what you have been taught from the beginning?" He’s talking about the core, unchangeable, apostolic gospel. The story of Jesus.

The wanderers, the antichrists, they were peddling something new, something supposedly deeper or more enlightened. But John’s command is radically counter-cultural. He says, “Don’t look for the next new thing; go deeper into the first thing. The most important thing.” Our family story.

You see, we don’t treat the Bible as a collection of suggestions we can take or leave. We treat it as the unchanging story that tells us who our Father is, what He has done for us in Jesus, and who we are because we carry His name by faith. The promise here is astounding: when you let that story abide in you, you abide in fellowship with the Father and the Son. This isn’t about just holding to a doctrine; it’s about holding to a relationship. The story keeps you close to the Father!

For anyone here feeling the pressure to wander, to "find your own truth," hear this: true freedom is not found in creating a new story, but in faithfully abiding in the unchanging truth of our family story found only in Jesus! This truth is laid out plain and simple in God’s Word, the Bible! If you want to remember the family story, then you need to spend time with and in the Word of God!

But that’s not all we need to do. You see the problem is we’re weak, we doubt and sometimes the Word of God is hard to understand?

Which brings us to the second way love remembers the family name:

we relate to the Person of the Spirit -the spirit of God.

Church this is how we have the power to learn, love and hold onto the story. Look at what the text says. In verse 20, John contrasts the wanderers with true believers: "But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth." Then he drives it home in verse 27: "But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie."

This is the game-changer. John calls it an "anointing," (That’s what the NIV says) and he wants us to be crystal clear: this is not a special feeling or some impersonal force. It’s a Person: the Holy Spirit. He is the personal, indwelling presence of God Himself for every adopted child. He is God’s guarantee, the one who confirms our adoption and whispers our family name to our hearts moment by moment. He is the abiding presence who guides us according to the family story. He’s the one who makes the words on the page burn in our hearts.

While the orphan might know the family rules, it is only the child who knows the Father's presence personally, because the Spirit lives in them.

This means, Church, that our ability to abide—to hold on, to remain—is not self-generated. We don't gut it out. It comes from the Spirit, who applies the gospel's power directly to our hearts. And that truth has a powerful, practical implication for every single one of us, especially for those who feel like you're barely hanging on.

For the doubting believer here this morning, listen carefully: your struggle to hold on to the truth is not a sign of your failure; it is a sign of spiritual life! The struggle itself is evidence of the Person of the Spirit, holding on to you, wrestling with you in the truth. The wanderers John mentioned didn't struggle; they just left. So if you are fighting, take heart! That's the Spirit at work. It's when there's no struggle at all that we should begin to worry.

And I need to be very clear about what this means. We’re talking about the personal, guiding whisper of God, spoken to our hearts by His Spirit. This is real, good, and absolutely essential for the Christian life. Folks, I love the Bible, but without the Spirit applying its truth to our hearts, it can remain just words on a page. The Spirit is the one who illuminates it, making it come alive. That's why some of the most brilliant scholars can study the Bible their entire lives and miss its heart, seeing it only as a collection of myths. They have the words, but they've missed the Person.

Now, we absolutely need the Word of God. It’s our family story, our anchor, revealing God’s character and giving us the objective, unchanging truth to live by. But the Bible isn't an encyclopedia for every decision in life. You won't find a verse that tells you whether to take that job, sell your house, or who to marry. For that specific, personal guidance, we need the Spirit. He speaks in that still, small voice—a nudge, a sense of peace or unrest, a deep conviction.

But here’s the crucial balance: because that whisper is personal and filtered through our own imperfect hearts, we must always test it against the objective standard of God's Word. The Spirit will never contradict the Scripture. When there’s a conflict, the Word wins. Every time.

But what about when the Bible is silent? What keeps that subjective whisper from leading us astray? This is where God’s wisdom is on full display. He doesn’t leave us alone to figure it out. The same Spirit who personally indwells you also indwells the person sitting next to you. And that powerful, internal work of the Spirit isn't meant to be lived in isolation; it drives us outward, toward the third crucial way we remember who we are.

The third way love abides as we remember our family name is be remaining with our Family—The Church, the people of God.

Now, John doesn't give a new command for this in this section, because the whole passage is built on this reality. Look back at the reason he gives for the wanderers’ departure in verse 19: "These people left our churches..." They left "us." The ultimate test of their false identity was their abandonment of the family.

This is God's beautiful, practical design: abiding in Christ is inseparable from abiding with His people. Remembering who you are is not a solo mission; it’s a community project. God gives us this family to help us on the way.

Folks, even the lone ranger had tonto! There is no such thing as a solo or individual Christian! You need the Church and the Church needs you!

Think about what this looks like. When your memory of the family story gets fuzzy from the noise of the world, your brothers and sisters are here to speak that truth to you again. When your own heart grows cold and you struggle to feel the Spirit’s presence, the family is here to carry your burdens and wrap you in prayer. They are the ones who hold up the mirror of God’s Word and help you see your true reflection when you’ve forgotten—the reflection of a beloved child of the King.

This is why a commitment to Christ is always a commitment to His body, the local church. We need each other. Desperately.

So let’s put it all together. We remember our family story from the Word of God. We relate to the Person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. And we remain with our family, the Church or the people of God. This is the three-stranded cord that is not easily broken. This is how love remembers its name and it abides!

And this faithful remembering leads directly to the final result John talks about.

Look at vv. 28-29 with me as we conclude:

3. The Confidence of Remembering (vv. 28-29)

John ends this section with a look to the future. Verse 28 says: "And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame."

The result of remembering is confidence. Not arrogance, but a settled, joyful assurance. Why? Because, as he says in verse 29, "Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children."

Let's be crystal clear. We are not saved by what we do. Salvation is a free gift. But—and this is John’s whole point—we show who we are by how we live. Practicing righteousness isn't what makes you a child of God; it’s simply the family resemblance. It’s the unmistakable evidence that you share the family DNA. It’s the fruit that grows when you remember your family name.

(Conclusion)

This fight—to remember or to forget who we are—is the defining struggle of the Christian life. And it actually reminds me of a story most of us know well: The Lion King.

Think about it. Simba was born a prince, the child of the king. He had a name, an identity, a family. But a deceiver, his wicked uncle Scar, comes to him with lies. Scar is the antichrist of the story. He twists the truth and convinces Simba that he's unworthy, that the family is better off without him.

And what does Simba do? He forgets who he is. He runs away from his identity and wanders into the wilderness to find himself. He disowns his family to live out his own truth and life on his own selfish terms: "Hakuna Matata." He is the perfect picture of the spiritual wanderer and antichrists John describes.

But the father's love pursues him. And then comes that powerful moment where he hears his father’s voice: James Earl Jones, "Simba, Remember who you are."

At that moment, Simba has a choice. He can continue to believe the lie, or he can remember his family name and go home. The antichrists John talks about are the ones who chose to stay in the wilderness. But the child of God is the one who, by grace, listens, remembers, and returns home to take up their true identity in Jesus as their Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.

Now, this is where the reality of the gospel becomes infinitely better than the Lion King.

Our Father doesn't just shout from the sky as some weird cloud thing; No, He sent His Son to us and He puts His Spirit in us. That "anointing," the Holy Spirit, is the abiding presence of our Father, constantly speaking to our hearts, reminding us: "You are my child. Remember the family story. Remember who bought you. Relate with my Spirit. Remain with your faith family! Remember who you are!"

This is the call to every single one of us today. The world, the enemy, and our own hearts will lie to us and tell us to wander. But the Spirit of God is calling out: Remember your family story, the gospel. Listen to the Person of the Holy Spirit. And stay close to your family, the church!

Word of God. Spirit of God. People of God!

And when you remember who you are, you can have confidence. You are not a stranger hoping to get into heaven. You are a child of the King, joyfully waiting to welcome your Brother home when He returns!

Love abides, because it knows its family name, do you?

Let's pray.