1 John 2:12-27
John continues here showing us how we are to live in fellowship with God.
Our discussion of the scripture:
- In the theme of growth, John compares our relationship of God to that of families. He breaks us down into 3 categories. (v. 2:12-14)
1. little children: brand new Christians who have been forgiven and are learning how to live.
2. young men: those Christians who have been battling and growing fighting the world to be with God. (sounds like teen years fighting desires to please their parents)
3. fathers: mature (spiritually, not physically) Christians who have had little children and young men disciples of their own. They have learned the truth and work to share it with others.
-God calls all of us to grow. We should aspire to be a spiritual parent. Its the natural occurrence. If any of us say a 10 year old that still looked like a baby, we would think there is something wrong with them. The same holds true for us spiritually. (Heb. 5:11-14)
- We are warned that we can't love or be led by things of the world. The world is defined as anything that excludes God's perspective. In addition we are reminded that the world has an expiration date, whereas we are promised eternity in heaven. (v. 2:15-17)
- John reminds us that there is not just one antichrist, but many who are against the ways of God doing the bidding of the dark ruler of the world. He calls out many around us that are false teachers who leave faith of Christ claiming to know truth and trying to tell us. He reminds us that if they really knew the truth, they would not have left, but continued on doing the work God calls us to do. (v. 2:18-21) (ref. John 15:9-10)
- The truth of Jesus is absolute. If you don't believe in who Christ is and what he does, then you have no relationship with God. If you didn't know your best friend had a kid, is he really your best friend? (v. 2:22-23)
-John continues talking about how we should abide (or remain) in Him. So many of us try to go back and forth from the world to God to the world to Jesus, from the world to church. What good is a hot tub when you just step in it and then get back out again. In fact you feel colder and worse before you ever got in it. The intent is to abide in the hot tub so that it can work its job through you. Completing the job it was intending to do. There will be those that lie and say there is no joy or good that can come from abiding in Him, but the truth is they never have, for if they did, as he said earlier, they would have never left. (v. 24-26)
- When we come to know Christ we are gifted with the anointing, or the holy spirit. We have direct access to God. Imagine if God gave you a cell phone, giving you all access to all his information and ability to get messages for all he has to say. We now have a tool to know the truth all the time. Thats the holy spirit. We don't need the world to tell us what to say, how to look, how to live, because we have a direct line from God. Beauty is, just like on on our phones. When we look at social media and we see something that is off, we go and fact check it to find out if its true, we can do the same with God. When we get a message from God, we can fact check it to see if it really came from Him. We can turn to His word. If what he said does not line up with Scripture, then its not true. If it does, there is a good chance it was from him. God will direct our thinking and acting. We have to remember, the best way to get service for Gods phone (annointing) is to remain in his presence (the light). (v. 2:27)
Visual: Telephone Game - Its easiest to hear Gods word directly from him, and its even easier when all the voices of the world aren't drowning him out.