Intro & Recap

Years ago, a Dear Abby (1/10/99) column ran a story by a retired schoolteacher. One day she had her students take out two sheets of paper and list the names of the other students in the room. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down by their names.

She took the papers home that weekend and compiled a list for each student of what the others had said about him or her. On Monday she gave each student his or her list.

Before long, everyone was smiling. “Really?” one whispered. “I never knew that meant anything to anyone.” “I didn’t know anyone liked me that much!”

Years later, the teacher went to the funeral of one of her former students, who had been killed in Vietnam. Many who had been in that class years before were there. After the service, the young man’s parents approached the teacher and said, “We want to show you something. Mark was carrying this when he was killed.” The father pulled out of a wallet the list of all the good things Mark’s classmates had said about him. “Thank you so much for doing that,” Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it.”

A group of Mark’s classmates overheard the exchange. One smiled sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. It’s in my top desk drawer at home.” Another said, “I have mine, too. It’s in my diary.” “I put mine in our wedding album,” said a third. “I bet we all saved them,” said a fourth. “I carry mine with me at all times.” At that point, the teacher sat down and cried. And, she used that assignment in every class for the rest of her teaching career.

That story shows how much we all need encouragement.

Recap

The apostle John has been dishing out some strong words as he warns the flock about the false teachers who were trying to deceive them.

If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
He is about to say that if you love the world, you don’t have the Father’s love in you (2:15). But before he says that, he inserts this short section to encourage those who may have been troubled by what he had written.

After all, his goal in this is so that we may “know that we know him”.

I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.
I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one.
1 John 2:12-14

When John addresses one group, he doesn’t mean that what he says of that group is not true of the others.
John the old man refers to everyone as “little children” seven different times in the book.
Repitition, so let’s combine them.

There are stages of the Christian life.

John’s not talking about physical age, although they correspond (it’s hard to have walked with God for many years if you haven’t lived many years).

It’s okay to be a baby; it’s not okay to stay one.

We can be content in him in whatever circumstances we find ourselves;
we should not be content in our current level of growth.

Nothing more grotesque than a 45 year old trying to look hip.

Marie: An inch to hemline for every year above 40.
FRANK: You should be dragging around a Persian rug!

Young Men, Young Christians

you are strong,
God’s word remains in you
you have conquered the evil one.

Young Christians have a kind of strength.

Fathers

you have come to know the one who was from the beginning.

Children

your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
you have come to know the Father.

Satan accuses & tempts.