In all walks of the Christian life, what we have in common is Christ.

Introduction

Good morning, Lafayette Baptist Family, it is very great to be with you all again this Holiday weekend. Emily and I are very happy to be with you all again this 4th of July weekend and share God’s words with you. Before I get to far in, I want to thank all of the veterans, military, and military families in this room. Thank you, your sacrifice is so much greater than I know, and it has been beneficial to us in ways that I don’t even understand. Thank you.

Our verses today are 1 John 2:12-14, 1 John 2:12-14. If you will all please go ahead and turn in your bibles there, 1 John 2:12-14. While you are doing that, I want to paint a picture with you. Imagine if you will, a small little boy or girl, a newborn. Imagine this little boy or girl being held by mommy or daddy. This baby is safe, this baby is precious, this baby is loved. Imagine them, that a few years have passed, at 4 years old this child is still all of these things, safe, precious, loved but now we see a child that is stronger and more capable than the newborn. Then, a few more years come and go, and the child is 10, he or she is still a child but is capable of more. Then, a few more years come and go, and the child is 16, we may start referring to this child as no longer a child, but a young man or woman. He or she is still all of the things that he/she was before but now is stronger and able to do most things on their own. Fast forward and the young man or woman is 25 years old. Still young, still strong but something is changing. Yes, he/she is safe, precious, loved, strong, independent, but now we are seeing maturity start. Then, ten more years come by, the young man or woman would no longer be considered “Young” maybe “younger” but no longer young, he or she is (and has been for some time now) a full fledged adult. He or she is probably at this point a father or mother or at least aspires to be. He/she makes decisions based off of wisdom now instead of just instinct that the younger self would have; and will find that they make decisions off of wisdom more and more as the years go by this person is mature and is maturing as the years come on. So, let’s take this idea of life lived and matured and apply it today to our faith lives and walks. Through all of it though, what did the person have that was true through it all. It was that this person was safe in Christ, this person is precious to God, this person is loved by the by the creator of all things, loved by the most powerful and important being ever, God. So, what I’m saying is and what the main point/title of the sermon today is that, In all walks of the Christian life, what we have in common is Christ.

The Text

Now, if you will all please rise for the reading of God’s word together, which is 1 John 2:12-14. While I am reading, please follow along in your own bibles. Now, when I am done reading I will say “This is the Word of The Lord” and if you will please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Before we begin though, let’s pray. Father, we come before you expectantly. Father, we know that you are going to show us something in Your Word. Refine us, Father. Make us come to know and love and understand You all the more. Help us to take it all in and then go and share it all out with others. We thank you for this wonderful gift that we are getting to experience together today. That, we get to come together and worship You. Help us to make everything we do all about worshiping you….. Help us to put anything in our way of doing that aside. You are the truth and light and life, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ who died for us so that we can be redeemed and experience a perfect fellowship with you. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy name that I pray, Amen. 1st John 2, starting at verse 12. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.13 I 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. 14 I 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. This is the word of the Lord (thanks be to God), thank you, you may please be seated.

Context

Today we begin our sixth expository Installment of the letter of 1st John. I know it may seem like we have been in this letter for a while, but I want to encourage you that we are all making very good progress in this letter together. Speaking in general, and especially when reading, understanding, and digesting God’s word, it is so good to finish something that you start. This is because we seek to know the full council of God’s word and it is saying to us, as opposed to taking out little bits here and their as we please. I would encourage you all, when you are doing your own bible reading and devotion to dive deep and start a book of the bible and read to completion. In fact, it is good to read a book several times in row, it really is amazing how the Bible is to us a living writing, whereas different things speak to us different times or even just different days or hours in our lives based upon our spiritual needs at that time. This is of course because we worship a living God who knows you even better than you know your own self.

Psalm 139 says about him that, O Lord, you have searched me and known me!2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Long story short, he knows you so much because he made you and is all knowing. Also just a quick side note, if you are ever wondering which text to read to follow along in this sermon series, you can’t go wrong by finishing up the chapter we are in or reading the next chapter if we just finished one up.

Last week, and the week before, we talked at length about the greatest commandments that God has given us. These are of course to Love God and Love people. In fact, our love of God should motivate us into loving other people every bit as much (and even greater so) as we love ourselves. Last week especially, we talked about how these commandments were from all the way in the beginning of the Christian and Hebrew faith, that they were set a long time ago and have always been base level expectations for believers. We then covered how Christ came and made this commandment new, he renewed it. He increased it’s importance. He made it new in emphasis (saying that all of the old law hung on these two commandments), new in quality (that it was to go a greater measurer, emulating up to the point of death like Christ had died for us the cross), and new in extent (that this love extended to EVERYBODY, including your enemies, no longer is the question, “who is my neighbor” a legitimate question).

With those important and building block parts of faith in mind, John then moves into this section which seems to be an address of sorts. That is, he is saying who this letter he is writing is for. He makes it pretty clear here, it is for Christians of all levels of maturity and all walks in life. The theologian Van Neste says of this section that, “John provides a valuable pastoral example in this section. He has not dodged the challenging truths that needed to be stated in the previous sections. He has been bold and direct. But he is not shrill, and he does not stay in confrontation mode. Here he pauses to encourage his people with the reality of gospel promises. These truths—and not browbeating—are what will inspire them to persevere and to pursue holiness.[1] So, let’s move deep into the text together and discover what it is that God is trying to tell us here.

Message

Here is the first point, Christ In Us

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

The first thing I want you notice is that the word children is used two times in this week’s text. Both uses of the word are different in who they are addressing and implying, and the original language clearly uses two different words. Specifically, when John is saying “little children” in this verse, he is using it much like he did in the beginning of this chapter where he says, “My Little Children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” So, here John is once again tenderly and fatherly referring to his entire audience, not just children. Rather, he is acting as a father would, using a term of endearment to the entire church then and now as he was a sort of spiritual father. You might say that John is saying here, “I am writing to you all beloved fellow Christians, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”

Ok, so we got who John is addressing under wraps, let’s look at the rest of the verse. “Because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. Who then is the “him” here, it is of course Christ Jesus who died on the cross that our sins would be forgiven. It is in His name and for His sake that our sins are forgiven. This can be hard, you have heard me say this once but I’ll say it again, your salvation isn’t about you. It’s about Jesus, it’s about the great work of God who redeems sinners and makes them saints so that God can be glorified through the entire process. If we begin to believe that our salvation is about us, then we find ourselves in a tricky situation; a working our way down a slippery slope that the world wants us to believe, a lie that says, “Everything at all times is always about me.” This in and of itself is one of implications of the Gnostic Gospel, that John was writing this letter to guard, protect, and correct about.

In addition, this verse serves as one of blessed assurance to believers everywhere. That is, everyone who is a child of God can rest at peace knowing that their sins are forgiven. Once you come into the grace of God, you join His “family” per say. You become part of a glorious inheritance that is worshiping God and experiencing fellowship with Him for eternity. Never do you have to worry about the evil of the world, because God is your father and He is supreme over all, ALL things. When Christ comes in us, he changes us. This brings us to our second point.

Moving on, the second point is, Christ Transforms Us.

13 I 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.

Notice in this verse, it consists of three different sentences. Each one is addressing and describing something about different Christians. The first is to fathers (and I would say mothers as well) who are mature and have spent many years in their faith and have refined it and trust in God in all things without fighting the situation. The second sentence is to the young men (and young women) who have been in their faith for a little time. These are Christians who are coming into their own, they are fighting spiritual battles and are realizing that through Christ they have power and victory over Satan and sin, they are becoming mature but are not yet mature. The last sentence is addressed to children, these are people who are new to their Christian walk and know the father through Christ and rely on Him. This is much a like a child is susceptible to danger and rely on their parents to keep them from danger, they are weak on their own but have access to the great and powerful God that they serve, though they probably don’t even comprehend what this can mean for them.

So, from the analogies here, we can think of the Christian faith life that it looks a lot like growing up. That you begin as a tiny little newborn (this is where you first pray for salvation and are baptized). Then you grow up as a child and become an adolescent or a young adult, relying on the watchful eye of your father and mother less and less because you are realizing on your own how to overcome sin and the evil one, you are having victories and you are laying the groundwork for the rest of your life. You then become a mature adult, this doesn’t mean that you are just mature and that’s that. As all you of here know, there is a big difference between a 35 year old and a 60 year old. Both are adults yes, but one has seen and experienced much of life (of their faith life) than the other and has overcome things that the other is only just setting out to do. One thing that these fathers (and mothers) do have in common though is that as they are more experienced, much more is expected of them. You wouldn’t expect a 6-year-old to pay a mortgage in life or make spiritual decisions for the whole church unadvised. You wouldn’t expect a newborn to feed themselves or teach an adult level Sunday school class. In the same way, we need to think about how and who we let teach us and lead us in the church body. Helping each other become more mature in our faith is vital for the health of any church body and Christ desires this for His bride.

One of the biggest expectations is that a father/mother will help bring up, teach, and encourage the spiritual children and spiritual young men/women around them. In a sense, if you are helping (or if you are) raise them, then you are building them up in the Lord, helping them know the Heavenly father all the more.

I want to make one thing clear here, just because someone is an adult or adolescent or even a child doesn’t necessarily mean that this is their spiritual maturity. I know of many men and women with white hair who sit in a pew every Sunday morning that are still just spiritual babes. Paul spoke about a similar group in Hebrews 5 when he said, 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. In the same turn, I know of many young men and women who have a spiritual maturity that far exceeds their years in life. What I’m saying here is, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, some people don’t get as far along in their faith as they should, and some exceed what is expected of them at that time.

You will notice here that John is also implying that a Christian does not just become saved and then “they are good.” Rather, there is an expectation that the new believer would grow in their faith and trust in Jesus all the more as they grow more mature. Christ Transforms us throughout our lives, yes he does transform us at salvation, but he continues to do this through our lives, this transformation and the growth in our faith is a process known as sanctification; one that every true Christian who has the chance to live longer past the point of confessing redeeming faith takes part in.

This brings us to our next point, Christ Matures Us.

14 I 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.

Here, we move into the conclusion of this section. John here restates things he had just said before, that he is addressing fathers because they know “Him who is from the beginning” meaning God, that fathers know God and that they know Him more completely. Yes, the babes do know God, but they don’t know Him like they know Him. In their life and faith trails they have grown even past the victories in strength that the young men have in their youth and have gotten to a place where their wisdom and faith that have secured a place in life where this strength is no longer needed. For example, a young man may have the strength to move a large tree that fell in their yard, but an older and more mature man knows to remove a tree before it falls, perceiving the risk it has on house and body before it causes any harm. This is a lot like sin, the more mature you are, the more you can perceive that it is right around the corner and not put yourself in situations that may cause it. This is a mark of maturity, this is a faith in Christ Jesus that knows not to say no to Him, but yes to Him when he wills something for your life. This is a maturity that spends time with God every day as often as they can and more. This is a stage in life that REQUIRES you to positively influence others in the ways of a true faith in God.

John then goes to address the younger men. He calls them strong, he is encouraging them, much like we would do to our sons who are trying to become strong (in my mind I think of weightlifting or training for football). John points out to these young men (and women) that they are finding victory, he points out that this is not because of their individual strengths or ability, but rather that the word of God, (God’s word, The bible, The Scriptures, Christ) lives in them. This is where they are actually getting their strength. John is saying here, yes you have and will continue to make spiritual mistakes, but you will overcome every one of them because Christ Jesus is your Lord, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to help you. Continue to trust in Him for your strength and you will know many more victories. In fact, some day you will win so many victories that your enemies (your temptations) will no longer try to attack to you in the way that they have because of your awareness of them. Rather, you will grow older and perceive when the deceiver (the devil) is at work and know when to alter course before the threat even comes. At the same time, as you are older now you too are now in some way responsible for the upbringing and encouragement of the babes, just as the fathers are responsible for the same thing for you. Granted, the expectation here isn’t as deep as the fathers, but it is still there and still vital for the growth and encouragement of those behind them in their faith walks.

As you can see here, there is an expectation for all believers, that once they have a saving faith, that you will continue in their growth. This is what discipleship is, teaching people in the faith, making them curious students of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ doesn’t just call us once and then we are done, he calls us for a lifetime. He calls us through a lifetime that will produce have maturity. This means, if you find yourself plateauing in your faith for a prolonged stretch of time, something is wrong. This means, that if you are doing the minimum effort to be perceived as Christians (or even just a church goer) and call yourself a Christian, then something is wrong. As you get older, you should be getting more and more excited about Jesus. Your heart should ring with joy more and more over the years when you hear that Jesus died on a cross and took our sins away so that we can be spotless before the father. It means that every day you are learning something new (whether we realize it or not in that moment) about what it means to love God and love people. If He (Jesus Christ) is in you, then this will happen one way or another. Sometimes, this may look different or take a little longer because of the issues or pain that we are in (and that’s OK), but either way God is teaching you something through it all. The call may be hard to listen to, but it is their none the less, God still loves you through even the deepest hurts, He never stopped. Leaning on Jesus may be hard, but He will pull the believer back to Him.

Conclusion

My brothers and sisters, beloved, does this describe your life? Are you maturing in your faith as the years go on? In the same turn, do you recognize that no matter what the believer’s faith walk looks like, that this person is precious to God. Do you see that, In all walks of the Christian life, what we have in common is Christ. If he is what we have in common, then what greater bond could there ever be? With Christ in common, we should be with each other and involved with each other like the closest and healthiest of families.

If you do, this is great, lets continue to do this until the day that Christ glorifies our bodies. Maybe for others, this doesn’t quite sound like your life. Maybe for some we confessed Jesus and became that spiritual babe that we spoke about earlier, but you never got any older. Maybe you got a little older, and at this point should be more spiritually mature but you are not. To those people, I want to say that God does not hate you and He is not angry at you. Rather, He is calling you. He is calling you to a greater and sweeter devotion to Him. Will you take the next step today? He is calling you; He wants you to know Him all the more in a deeper and richer fellowship. If you think He is calling you to the next step in your life but you are unsure of how to proceed, I will be here during the last song. I would love to pray and talk with you.

Perhaps for others in this room today, you have not yet become a little child of God yet or you are unsure if you are. To you (and everyone else in this room), I share the greatest news in the history of the world. Yes, God loves, and yes the whole world stands condemned in front of Him, but God has provided the way through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross to pay your sin debt to God. As Romans 8 says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Faith and acceptance in Jesus Christ is the only way to do this, there is no other way, period. If you think this is you and you are ready to take the first steps in faith today, please come up here during the last song I would love to talk with you and pray for you as well.

Friends, I love you all. Before we conclude today, let’s pray. Father, thank you so much for this message you have shared with us. We ask that glories of your grace and your gospel captivate our minds as we go out this week. Help us to be mature believers and lovers of You. Motivate us out into the world that we can be your instruments to let you light shine in our communities. I ask that if anyone here wishes to confess you as Lord or wants to mature more or has prayer needs today that he or she would boldly come forward father, come forward to love that is devoted to you, to loving you and loving the others that we may encounter. It’s in these things I ask father and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and Perfect name that I pray, Amen.

[1] Van Neste, Ray. “1 John.” Hebrews–Revelation, edited by Iain M. Duguid et al., vol. XII, Crossway, 2018, pp. 433–34.