The Church … The world
1 John 2: 12-17
The Letters of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Max A Forsythe
Introduction: My study outline of the three letters of
John is almost thirty years old, and as in those earlier studies, I have not
followed the versification and chapters in the normal sequence, but arranged
the essential topics to a preaching order that better meets our twenty-first
century thinking patterns. The commentary outline of John R.W. Stott (that I am following in this
series) identifies these five verses as a digression about the Church and the
world. If you will look at the summer
outline in your bulletin, you will see that a second digression in chapter
three will be considered at the end of our series.
Now, as we consider our topic the Church … the
world, you may well wonder what word belongs in that blank. Perhaps you could
gain a hint from our denominational title.
Just like I was quizzed at one point in my ordination process, what word
best fits the blank? Are we the Presbyterian Church of America or the
Presbyterian Church in
Development: The Church of Jesus
Christ is not of this world; instead the Church is in the world. See how much
importance can be attached to one little two-letter word! Let us see how the Apostle John handles this
issue in his digression from his prime purpose in this particular letter. As we consider the teaching here we would do
well to remember that this sinful world though ruled by Satan is still the
object of God’s love and saving activity. So much was God's love that He
entered into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Now He is enthroned at
the right hand of the Father in heaven. And Christ's own Church remains in the
world until He returns.
To this Church John writes this verse twelve. "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins
are forgiven for his name’s sake." There is a hint here in the phrase of that
old Children’s classic: Peter Pan.
By that I mean, in the presence of the Lord we are ever and always
little children – knowing and trusting in the kind mercy and grace of our
heavenly Father. But more than that
permanent relationship, we are encouraged by John in Calvin’s words to lay hold
of “that doctrine which teaches that Christ is the
only author of salvation and of all blessings.” It is for the statement in the second
half of this verse that we gather around the table of our Lord today and every
day when we take hold of the opportunity to partake of the heavenly feast, a
feast upon the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – in whose Name we
have been forgiven of every sin! May we,
being so charged and admonished: focus
our hearts today and always so that we may “contemplate
the grace of Christ.”
Now there is duplication in verses thirteen and
fourteen, and there are several interpretations about the repetition. Probably
the best course is to consider the repetition here for emphasis. Three groups are carefully addressed
according to Augustine and Calvin, thus, we all - must pay close attention to
the crafting of words given to us through the Apostle John. Calvin notes “the
three ages, [are] the most common division
of human life.”
John, “begins with the
old, and says that the Gospel is suitable to them, because they learnt from it
to know the eternal Son of God.”
In spite of the usual habit of the older generation to discredit any new
thought, John encourages us all that “the Gospel
contains not only a knowledge that is ancient, but what also leads us to … the
eternity of God.” Thus, for all
of those, who are “ancient in days” – they may have their prejudice against all
the newer trends, but still grasp the gospel of Christ – which truly is most
ancient in its design and purpose. So to
all of the older generation we may speak boldly of the old gospel which is
worthy of consideration because the Lord prepared and designed it from the
beginning of time.
The next group addressed is the young men. An age group described by Calvin as “so addicted to the vain cares of the world, that they
think but little of the
The last group mentioned, is mentioned only
once: “I write to you, children, because you know the
Father.” Here we should see
the ongoing work of the church to our young people: to help them know the
Fatherhood of our Triune God. And our
ministry here is to act like adults who have understood the revealed will given
to us through the scriptures, and to share that gladly in every way with the
whole family of children given into the care of the church. Sadly, we live in a time where children are
too often exploited by the fallen adults to serve an increasing worldly
agenda. Almost any adult interest in
children not their own is held suspect in our jaded society. One thing that we all need to remember is
that as children grow older, they will seek the affirmation of other adults
that their own parents are sane, kind, loving and worthy of respect. This is something that true friends of the
family can encourage in your talks with the children of the church. Of course, it is a special gift from heaven
to be loved and cherished by children who are not your own – and such a gift
must be used to point the little ones to our greater Father who is in heaven.
Over the years, I became first a father figure, and
then a grandfather figure to many of my students. Sadly, all too many had had a bad experience
with their biological and adoptive fathers and it was very difficult to share
the biblical concept of fatherhood. More
than one young student has told me she loved me more than her real father. In every case – my responsibility was to
point that heart-felt affection, that “agape” to the true God and Father of us all. Of course you always have to be very careful
and straight forward in such situations and always point the higher love
onwards and upwards as the Father of love allows. Unlike, the worldly – we dare not claim what
is not ours. This thought leads us to
another point:
Notice in our text, that John does not mention his
work amongst the community, neither have Paul, Peter nor have any other of the
early leaders taken any credit for the salvation gained by believers. Unlike an
evangelist at
Even as John repeats himself in admonition here, so
will I consider again the earlier points of verse thirteen as they are stated
in verse fourteen. Again, John begins
with the fathers of the church, the elderly leaders of Christ's Church. Here we must understand that with maturity in
the word and the grace of growing understanding, the elders of
In stark contrast are the young men who by their
enthusiastic work and strength overcome the evil one. For this same reason does
the military prefer younger recruits for the more dangerous work of the
infantry and combat branches. Younger men act without thinking, they take
chances, and they take risks because they have not yet appreciated the fact of
mortality and the infirmary of age. So it is within our denomination as well as
others, that many of our Church planters are inexperienced enough not to
realize how difficult the task of establishing a Church really is! Of course, all such generalizations are not
foolproof. But, still the work of Christ's Church demands all of the energy
that young men have to give. But, what is the source of their strength? Once
again, we point to the third phrase of verse fourteen. "the word of
God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." Whose strength is it really? By the same
token, military victories are also determined by the providential will of the
Father. It is this understanding that has guided the great captains of battle.
How much better ought Christians serve their heavenly
King and give their strength and determination for God's cause in this world
which is occupied by the enemy Satan. Here the Apostle changes the emphasis of
his message, to warn all groups within the Church to learn the essential lesson
that we are only in the world and not of the world. "Do not love the world or the things in the world." This
command is grounded on two arguments: the incompatibility of love for the world
and love for God and the temporary nature of the world contrasted with the
eternity of those who do God's will. How
well do we appreciate the difference between the world and the Kingdom? Do we
measure the success of the Church by worldly standards? If we did we would have
thought the Church all but dead in the former
In verse fifteen, John admonishes us: “Do not love the
world or the things in the world.”
Of course we remember the phrases from the psalms and parables about the
fading glory of the flowers of the field.
Fresh flowers, even with special chemical additives, can only grace out
tables and homes for a few days at most.
Artificial flowers last a little longer, but even their worldly
materials fade from dust and sunshine.
When my brother and sister and I cleaned out the old homestead, there
was almost a whole pick-up truck load of decorative plastic that mother had
collected and saved over several decades.
“Vanity of
vanities”, Solomon described the worldly scene. And so do we all have collections of
“precious” goods that have no long term heavenly value.
Of course, there are worse things in this regard;
flowers and books, furniture and china are never so deadly as those cherished
sins we collect in our hearts. Calvin
describes as worldly “everything connected with the
present life, apart from the
In verse sixteen, the Apostle identifies three
kinds of worldly lusts. The first Calvin
describes as a general corruption. The second
lusting of the eyes includes “libidinous looks as well as the vanity which
delights in pomps and empty splendor.”
In our contemporary language Calvin means the “eye candy” of the worldly
media and the splendid pompous architecture of
The final place is given to pride, “with which is connected ambition, boasting, contempt of
others, blind love of self, headstrong self confidence” and many other
personal vices celebrated far and wide by the contemporary worldly generations.
Certainly, we all understand our personal
culpabilities in these worldly pursuits.
Calvin softens the condemnation for us in these words: “Were any one to
object and say, that no one doeth what God commands, the obvious answer is,
that what is spoken of here is not the perfect keeping of the law, but the
obedience of faith, which, however imperfect it may be, is yet approved by
God. The will of God is first made known
to us in the law; but as no one satisfies the law, no happiness can be hoped
from it. But Christ comes to meet the
despairing with new aid, who not only regenerates us by his Spirit that we may
obey God, but makes also that our endeavor, such as it is, should obtain the praise
of perfect righteousness.”
Conclusion:
The essential question before us today is really
simple: which is of more important, the
issues raised by the worldly culture or the issues raised by the Scriptures? Your answer to that question does indeed have eternal
implications and we must learn to become more interested in doing the will of
God alone. But how can we know is we
are doing His will and working for His Kingdom. Ah, that is the purpose of this
series. As we consider the essential tests of these five short chapters we may
better appreciate where our hearts, hands and heads really are. Yes, our work here may be in a liberal
worldly secular state, but if we will faithfully serve our Lord and put Him,
His gospel and His glory before our worldly concerns then we will have
participated in building for eternity. This should be our calling and our
earnest desire. May it be so, Amen.
Resources Used:
Barnes, Peter. Welwyn
Commentary Series: Knowing Where We Stand.
Burnaby, John. Library
of Christian Classics – Augustine: Later Works.
Calvin, John. The
Comprehensive John Calvin Collection (Ages Software).
Stott, John. Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries: Epistles of John.
Good News Publishers. The
Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
Copyright (C) 2002 Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian
Church in
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