remember where you are spiritually...

intro:

in the previous couple verses we saw the need to love others as christ loves others and to show others the love of christ no matter what we think about them or better yet what they think of us...

the passage immediately jumps into looking at our selves and our individual spiritual growth… this is one continuing passage or on thought john was presenting to the church…

so we need to pay attention to whats said and how it is said as well

there are 3 distinct groups of people addressed here by john (little children, fathers, and young men) and each one is addressed twice...

also notice in verses 12-13 john said “i am writing to you” in the Present tense

and in verse 14 he says “i have written to you” in the past tense

so two questions immediately come up here:

who are these people john is talking to

and why does he change tenses in the middle of one letter??

1. who are the people john is addressing?

is he talking to different age groups in the church? (children, older fathers, and young men?)

or is he talking about spiritual stages of growth?

understand like today their are in the church other adults than just young men and fathers, there are also full grown men and mothers, and young ladies

it is very doubtful john here was addressing different age groups of men in the church , but it is very likely almost sure that john was addressing the stages of spiritual growth inside the church

there are also full grown men and mothers, and young ladies

he used the masculine descriptives because of the culture of the day , and it only takes a little common sense to see this in the passage

2. then why does he change the tense he is writing from present to past?

honestly for emphasis… john is driving home the point that believers must grow in christ

they must confirm their growth in christ and they must conform themselves over time to the image of Christ

basically it is written to different stages of christian maturity in the same letter… some are babes in christ, others are a little more mature and some are very mature...

so with that in mind we can look at the passage:

remember the overall subject of the letter “how do we know if we really know god?”

there are several ways to see that which started with do you follow the commandments given? do you love god and others rightly ?

and here we are at the third which is our spiritual growth… because if you really know christ then you have grown, developed and matured some in christ

sense you’ve professed christ you have grown in christ if you truly know him....

if you’ve grown then you’re a child of god

if you’ve not then you might have some searching to do because it is either because you never where gods or its because you have a sin problem hindering you from growing past this point

when a person is truly born again their will be a change in their life… not over night but a true christian will change little by little to grow and conform to the image of christ

a person who really knows christ will follow christ, its real to them not just a show on Sundays

they will grow in knowledge of the son of god and they will see their own spiritual growth,,, its not what someone else sees its what has god done in your life and you honestly looking at seeing the growth

look at the passage with me:

I. Remember your spiritual growth

1 John 2:12–13 KJV 1900

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

1 john 2:

in church like anywhere else there are various stages of growth and thats important to understand

whats great about what john is saying here is this applies to every stage of a believers growth

no matter who you are, how weak or strong you are, how long or how short of time you’ve been a christian this applies to you

this is one of those great messages the whole church needs

there are little children or people who had just received Christ and begun to follow him

if this is you guess what, you are no longer guilty of sin, no longer to be judged for sin, no longer condemned by your sin, and you won’t be eternally punished for your sin either

you have trusted Chirst as your savior and he bears the weight and punishment now for your sins

salvation is jesus becoming the substitute for sin, not a one way ticket to heaven

you are forgiven and able to live in fellowship with a righteous god because of that salvation and thats what heaven is (eternal fellowship with the righteous god of heaven)

but then look at the words “FOR HIS NAME SAKE” because they are important

we are saved for the sake of christ not for us or what we do

its because of what christ has done

its about the love god has for us shown through the love the son has for us and the death on the cross

the point being here is that as christians we need to remember our sins are forgiven

and younger christians remember that because its easy for our old self to come up and drive us away from the love we have in christ

and just keeping it real all of us easily fall into this idea that we are guilty and that guilt drives us from serving rightly...

but the truth is we are saved forgiven and redeemed by the savior if we have believed and trusted in him

we have to be on guard against this idea of guilt and remember the forgiveness given at the cross

then their are fathers or spiritual fathers

the ones who have walked rightly for years and the ones in authority in the churches leading the flock

we are to remember that we have known god from the beginning of our conversion and have faithful and diligently served him because its easily forgotten and so many give up on everything they have done

they have fed on the word and set aside so much time of prayer and walking with god

they have witnessed the miracles and saving power over again over again

they have been loyal to god and to his church and the mission put to us by the savior ot spread the gospel

they have given over and over again all they had to christ to meet the needs of their neighbors and fellow Christians

the point of the address to them is that they have a rich deep knowledge of god and must never forget where they come from and how far they have grown in christ

they need to remember how they gained this knowledge and what it took serving god for this time

they must remember that the race is not yet done and they have been asked to faithful finish the race, or the work, set before them

and you might say why would they forget, well the truth is the closer you get to god the more the attack comes and sometimes the attack is pride in your walk...

pride in thinking you wont fall or you wont do that;

or pride in thinking that isn’t your problem you’ve been saved for years and preached 1000’s of sermons

pride in thinking you've seen miracle after miracle happen so you don’t need to guard from anything because you got this

and when you fall many of the others fall with you....

thats why you a mature father in the faith need to remember where you were and where you are and then count the cost of your decisions

then their are the young men or the mature believers in the church

they have come along way and fought the fight for many years...

the devil has attacked and attacked them but they have kept fighting the good fight

every temptation imaginable has come to them and they have kept going to futher the kingdom and glorify the father

the sins of: evil thoughts and wicked actions; drunkeness and drugs; stealing and pride and arrogance’ gossiping and hate and anger; lying and greed and immorality; coveting and jealousy; and whatever else you cane come up with

this is the believers who have walked faithfully with christ over a long period of time and has over come and over come temptation after temptation...

overcoming temptation is something i think the church needs to work on a lot more then we do

we take grace and we let ourselves become people who simply sin and sin and know grace will cover it

we know we cant lose our salvation so we preplan our sin and then when we do have a weak moment of failure we flippantly ask for forgiveness

we don’t draw near to god and we fail, we don’t even read gods word much less study it and we fail

we yield ourselves to sin instead of giving ourselves over to spiritual growth

we leave the armor at home and think we don’t need that or that because it may become cumbersome and then we fail

we are not on guard against the sins that easily get us and we aren’t submitted, and we keep our path on the same path of the wicked and we wonder why we are failing

we need to rememebr who we are, where we are spiritually, and who our god is so we can stop failling and falling so often...

and when we do fail or fall we need to repent and get our lives and hearts right with god so we can live a god honoring life

we need to be more alert to life and to sin and stop making excuses for our sins and start acknowledging ur sin and the dealing with it head on

II. then we must remember our relationship with god

1 John 2:14 KJV 1900

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

and here he switches gears that he was writing them and then that he did he did write to them

here he starts stressing their personal relationship with god and his word

he wrote to them about who they are in chirst and then he tells why he wrote to them

he wrote to them to stir up their relationship with the father because as believers no matter where we are spiritually we must never forget that it is the god of creation that we know and who saved us

we have the greatest privilege in the world and have access to the god of heaven at all times and he actually listens to us

we are adopted into the family of god and are now a son or daughter of the most hugh king of heaven and earth

he is our father

little children or young believers, must remember they have known the father

they have been adopted into the family of god

god is real and god is supreme and he is the only true living god and he is their father

he wants to adopt them as his children and with that take care of them as his children

and young believers need to keep god in their mind as their father not their buddy or some less than righteous and glorious being

they must remember the reverence of god and the honor of god when they are worshipping god

they need to bring their needs to god as their father and trust him ot look after them in whats best

they must ask and depend on him for their needs and to be taught and grow in him and his word

they must fellowship and commune with him daily and do nothing to shame him

they must share with others who their god is and never be ashamed of him

turn to:

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 KJV 1900

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

this is a verse that is often forgotten by newer or less mature christians

they wanna be saved and they wanna go to heaven but they wanna keep doing whatever they were doing and keep being whoever they were before salvation

they wanna keep that unclean thing with them and hope for the best

they don’t want to separate and be a holy set apart people instead they wanna be a people who do whatever they wanna do and think everyone who says otherwise is just judgmental

i got news for you young Christians and less mature christians when a more mature christian or spiritual leader gives you advice about separation its best you listen

then he brings up the fathers again...

they need to remember everything that was said earlier ( thats why its repeated again btw)

but they also must never allow them self to be lifted up in pride

no matter how much they think they know or how spiritual they think they are they are still sinners and they are still in need of god

god is eternal and we are finite in our knowledge and existence and without him we are nothing no matter what we think of ourselves

they still need to keep growing because growth is never ending while we are in these fleshly sin-filled bodies

and so much can be said on this part here because we are living in the middle of an epidemic of “leaders” who have lifted up as gods and make people think they are above reproach

we have the scandalous actions of leaders and the church splits

and we have the know it all foul mouth preachers who act like everyone is wrong but them and they know god more than anyone

we have seen church leader after church leader fall because they were above the preaching they were preaching.... and its all a pride issue

conversation about generational leadership [we try to give power to committees and teams where others try to hoard power in the church]

then it goes back to the young men again and they have been given 3 things here

remember they are strong

they must know their strength and be assured of their strength and their growth

they must remember where the strength comes from and where the growth is coming from

they must never trust their flesh or their own mind because those things fail

they cant honestly think they are always strong so they must trust in the one who’s strength is never failing

they must remember where their failures are and where their redemption is...

remember the word of god that abides in them

this is the key to spiritual growth and to pleasing god right here

without the word of god you are not growing and you are not living a life that honors god at all

look think whatever you want but if you are not reading and studying the word of god then you are not doing all you can to grow in your faith

you are probably stagnant and less then what you could be for the cause of Christ if you are not in his word daily

you will never see the richest of blessings god has for you if you are not one who craves the milk and then the meat of the word of god

if you’re a mature believer then you’re a believer who is in gods word often,

if you are not in god’s word often then you better believe you are not a mature believer regardless of what you think

conclusion:

the point is no matter where you are spiritually you need to grow

but you need to remember where you came from and where you are in your growth

and you need to remember where you are isn’t always where someone else is… and thats ok

but be honest… where are we spiritually today??

have we become stagnate ? and why have we become stagnate

have we been growing like we should ? why not if the answer is why? if so how much have we grown?