Be Sure Of Your Identity (1 John 2:12-14)

Intro

We know the brand Nike. The brand was named after the Greek Goddess who represented victory. Interestingly, a stone statue of the Greek goddess Nike has been found in the ruins of Ephesus.

Guess where many believe John was when he wrote these 3 letters? Ephesus. Maybe he could look around town and see the reminder of how people put their hope in mythological creatures. How they would desire victory and success in life so much that they would create an omen, a myth, to help.

Now here is John, in his old age, reflecting back on his life with Jesus personally, and his ministry since Jesus ascended to heaven. He wrote these 3 letters to believers in Jesus whom he dearly loved.

He’s encouraging them to stand firm in truth amid various lies. He’s encouraging them to be faithful in their walk with the Lord, walking in the light and loving God and others.

Now in chapter 2, verses 12-14, he so lovingly encourages his people to be sure of their identity. And look at one of the things he says twice in these verses: he tells them they are overcomers. V.13 and 14, John says you have overcome the evil one.

Overcome. νικάω nikáō (nee-cow); from νίκη níkē níkē (3529), victory.

Is it a play on their culture? Where these people could look around and be tempted to put their hope in a statue, a goddess, for victory. Either way, John makes clear to his readers—to us—that we are overcomers, we are victorious over the evil one when we are in Jesus. John is saying “know who you are in Christ—be sure of your identity.” You are an overcomer.

Today, we are encouraged to find our identity in all kind of things.

We are hearing a lot about gender-identity. What do you want to be? Then, build an identity around that.

We have popular cultural mantras like “be who you are” and “I was born this way”. Let me say this: think about the way in which you were born. You were born a sinner. You will naturally act in all kinds of sinful ways.

But Jesus makes us a new creation! We no longer have to give in to that sinful flesh of ours because the Holy Spirit of God within us has loosed us from the chains of bondage.

The only One who can be who He is is God, because He is self-defined and self-sufficient. He is God. But if we all claim I can be who I am, we are just allowing our sinful flesh to overcome us, instead of us overcoming the evil one.

We even have the less benign emotions that come with feelings of identity because of relationships and associations we have on earth. I am a father, son, manager, graduate, truck driver, an athlete, a beautician, a teacher.... We can let these relationships become our identity. The danger can come that when these relationships might disappear, then we feel a purposeless void in our lives because we put all of our identity in that relationship, instead of understanding our identity in Christ.

And often, failures tend to make up our identity. Past experiences can linger on us like a scarlet letter that make us feel like we can never escape the condemnation of that relationship. I’m a drop-out; addict; divorcee; dishonorably charged; fired…

This is where the hope of Christ is so refreshing. Because we may have once been involved in activities in our past, or there may be situations that are true now in our lives still because of situations in the past, but Paul says in , “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (, ESV)

13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

Be sure of your identity! Of who you are in Christ. You always have hope and always have purpose. We have overcome. We have victory over the evil one!

14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Specifically, John gives 4 identifiers of believers: We are forgiven, we know God, we have overcome the evil one, we are strong with the Word abiding in us.

We are forgiven, we know God, we have overcome the evil one, we are strong with the Word abiding in us.

This passage is very poetic. John addresses 3 different groups, twice for each group. Little children; fathers; young men. Much study has gone into distinguishing between these groups and trying to figure out who he is talking to. Is it physical age? Spiritual maturity? Does it present a norm of understanding and function for different maturity levels within the church? In our brief time her, I am not going to focus on this issue at all.

Instead, we will focus on the message given to these groups. These 4 identifiers of believers. And let me start with this: all but one time there is a verb associated with one of these three groups (which is 6 times), these verbs are in the perfect tense in Greek.

(ESV)

12I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

14I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

All verbs are in the perfect tense: “The verb tense used by the writer to describe a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being or a result that exists in the present (in relation to the writer). The emphasis of the perfect is not the past action so much as it is as such but the present “state of affairs” resulting from the past action.” (Michael S. Heiser and Vincent M. Setterholm, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Lexham Press, 2013; 2013).)

The verb tense used by the writer to describe a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being or a result that exists in the present (in relation to the writer). The emphasis of the perfect is not the past action so much as it is as such but the present “state of affairs” resulting from the past action.

Michael S. Heiser and Vincent M. Setterholm, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Lexham Press, 2013; 2013).

Let me tell you today that your identity is in Christ because He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!! (). What Jesus did in you at one point in your history is still effectual for you today.

You were forgiven, and you still are. God separated your sin as far as the East is from the West, and He has promised to never remember those sins and hold them over you again.

You came to know God, and you still know God. There was a moment in your life where you were made alive by Christ and you knew God in a personal way, no longer just in a head knowledge.

You overcame the evil one, and you still will overcome the evil one. In Christ, you have the power of the Holy Spirit within you that has broken the bondage of slavery to sin, and we have the great hope and promise that we will live eternally in the freedom of Christ.

There are 2 verbs not in perfect tense: are strong, and the Word of God abides in you. These are in the present tense. This makes sense- we need to actively be in the Word of God in order to be strong.

You see—we have an identity in Christ, and we are to live within that identity.

Right now, some of you might not be forgiven, might not know God, and might not have overcome the evil one. This can be true in your life if you accept Jesus.

For those whom this is true, we will be able to come to the Lord’s Table together in just a moment with joy because we know that His sacrifice on the cross made it possible to be who we were created to be. Don’t be who you are, be who you were created to be.

νικάω nikáō; contracted nikṓ, fut. nikḗsō, from níkē (3529), victory

Guess where many believe John was when he wrote these 3 letters? Ephesus. Maybe he could look around town and see the reminder of how people put their hope in mythological creatures. How they would desire victory and success in life so much that they would create an omen, a myth, to help.

Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).