Brothers of the Spiritual Family

Introduction:‌

The world today is aiming whether intentionally or not to deconstruct the ‘family’ as we have known it for many years. There are trends today that promote this. One trend is being married and living in two separate houses, these houses can be right next to each other, or even across the street. It shows in statistics. Regarding marriage and divorce, the US Census Bureau, lasted dated in 2019, shows that out of 1,000 people 16.3 get married and almost half at 7.6 wind up getting divorced. Regarding families here is a stat from last year. “According to the US Census Bureau, 18.4 million children, 1 in 4, live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home.” While statistics on mothers is not as alarming, “8% of households in the United States are headed by a single father who is raising at least one minor child. 52% of households that don’t have a mother living with her children are divorced, separated, or widowed and living with just the father” (Brandongaille.com). Here is one more, “In 1968, 85% of children under 18 lived with two parents. In 2020 that number was 70%” (census.gov).

Why do I bring this up? Well, the reason is because I want us to take a gander at what a Spiritual Family looks like and how it is different from the world. Turn with me in your Bibles to

1 John 2 . We are going to read verses 12-14. Originally, I was going to combine this with verses 15-17, but as I looked into this portion of Scripture, I found that there is much here that is relevant for us today and I wanted to spend some time looking through this important set of passages.. I want us to look into the “branches” of a Spiritual family, 1. Children (v.12), 2. Fathers (v.13), and 3. Young Men (vv.13-14). Let’s read verses 12-14.

1. Children in the Spiritual Family (v.12)

Before we begin note that John speaks of children in verse 13. The meanings are one and the same in verses 12 and 13. So, we are going to focus our time in verse 12 as we look at this first branch of the spiritual family. Most of us have had or have children. And all of us have been around children. When we think of a child we think of full of energy, rambunctious, curious, questioning, fearless. These are, of course, all worldly means of thinking about a child. The Lord has made children to run and enjoy the earth that He has created. As we saw before, when John uses the word ‘children’ it is metaphorical, and he always uses it in the plural. We know that John, then, is speaking of Christians. These Christians could be those who do not have a lot of experience as a Christian, but they have experienced the saving work of Christ in their lives. They may not have gone through fiery trials. They are, most presumably, on fire for the things of the Lord. These children have a thirst for the Word of God. They have a basic understanding of who Christ is and the love of the Father that pours out on them, which both the young men and fathers also possess. In fact, “the fathers and the young men ‘are’ those who under one aspect are all “little children”.” Why is John writing to those whom he calls ‘children’? Not only is John writing so that believers would not sin (c.f. 2:1), but he says this knowing that their sins have been already forgiven (v.12). This is a special connection that John has with those who believe. Every believer can and must say that his/her sins are forgiven. They are no longer associated with us. They are not counted against us. John is communicating the power of the gospel in simple terms. Let me go a little further here. The word ‘for’ in verse 12 tells us that the work of forgiveness is done by Christ. This tells us that Jesus’ name holds great power! We, as believers in Christ are forgiven by the name of Christ. What implications does this have for us today? First, we do not have to visibly see Christ to be forgiven. We do not have to stand in a particular direction to be forgiven as the Muslims do, we do not have to pray the rosary like the Catholics do, we do not have to “depend primarily upon the degree to which we accept and follow Jesus Christ or perform essential rites like baptism” as the Mormons do, we do have to live in endless existence because individuals are reincarnated over and over again, experiencing suffering throughout many lives like the Buddhists do. What does Peter say in Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” And what does Jesus say to Thomas in John 14:6 ? “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” We are saved by the power of JESUS NAME! And in His name ALONE!

What does all this truth bring forth? Worship. God has invited those who do not yet believe to come to Him and worship. Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Jesus Christ is entitled to our worship. His saving power is told to us in Luke 5 when the paralytic is not only physically healed, but his “sins are forgiven you” as Jesus put it. And the woman caught in adultery in Luke 7 where He tells her that her “sins have been forgiven.” We are continued examples of sinners being forgiven of all our sins by His saving work on the cross. God spoke like this to those of old. Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Again, in Micah 7:18-19 “Who is a God like You, who forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? He does not hold fast to His anger forever because He delights in lovingkindness. He will again have compassion on us; He will subdue our iniquities. And You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” It is God who is worthy of our worship and as His ‘children’ we emphatically and full of gratefulness worship Christ the King.

So, who are the ‘children’ in the spiritual family? They are composed of every single believer that has ever trusted in Christ and for those believers who have not yet come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. One writer puts it this way, “There is a sense in which every Christian is still a little child, a sense in which he ought to be so–ever dependent upon the great Father, ever ready to receive the word of the Father without questioning, ever teachable, ever restful in the Father’s care, and full of love to Him who is his all in all.” By no means, does this verse diminish the state of being labeled as a ‘child’ for we are all children of God.

2. Fathers in the Spiritual Family (v.13)

‌The first “branch” of the Spiritual family that John writes to are fathers. John is writing these things to fathers who know much about the things of the Lord. Peter emphasizes this in

2 Peter 1:12-13 which follows after our Scripture reading from last week. Turn there with me, 2 Peter 1:12-13 . Listen to Peter’s words that he wrote to remind them of those things that produce faithful living in Christ. Further, in verse 13, Peter desires to not only remind them, but also to stir them up, or to cause them to self-examine or reflect on their lives.

Turn back to 1 John 2 and look with me at verse 13. To whom is John writing to by means of fathers? Is he referring to earthly dads? The Greek makes it clear as John refers to fathers as “one advanced in the knowledge of Christ.” The principle is similar when we consider earthly and spiritual fathers. A father or a mother, (because father refers to both parties) is going to be farther ahead in life than a child would. Even though our culture would seem fit to have 7-year-olds make life altering decisions that there parents do not need to be made known of, anyone who can think logically can see that fathers and mothers have more knowledge than a child. Hence, why 7-year-olds do not drive automobiles. But when we think of fathers, we think of those whom we can glean wisdom from. One verse that my pops likes to bring up is Proverbs 16:31 , he won’t quote it verbatim, but I will. It reads “Gray hair is a crown of beauty; it is found in the way of righteousness.” God has put ‘fathers’ on this earth for us to glean godly wisdom from. John tells us that they have known God since the beginning. We know that this is not literal. Our fathers were not ‘with’ God when He created the earth and all that is in it. But what it does tell us is that those who have been walking with God for many years have much that they can teach us. Not only are they able to teach us, but they encourage us. They tell of the wonderous ways that God has worked in their lives. The ups and the downs that they have gone through and how they persevered in God alone. Do you think that you are going through something troubling that no one else has? I am sure you can find an older saint that can somewhat relate. Maybe not exact, but one of the joys of our Christian experience is that we have can share and relate with one another as we grow together in Christ.

As Christians how are we to treat our fathers? 1 Timothy 5:1 tells us “Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather plead with him as a father.” We are to respect those who are farther along than we are. This goes for little kids too. One answer I could not stand when I was a kid when I was told to do something was “because I said so.” Every person in this room is younger than some saint living somewhere else. This is a call to us all to respect those who are older and full of wisdom not only because “someone says so” but because in doing so, we have the benefit of gleaning from their triumphs and mistakes, and in turn we can heed some of those warnings and not be subject to sin.

One final observation on verse 13. This verse implies, in the other direction, that those who are young in the faith are not mature. I once had a conversation with a gentleman, and he was trying to tell me how his way was the only way regarding the end times. He was giving me verse after verse after verse showing me why this was the case. Not only was I skeptical because he was pulling verses out of the middle of multiple different chapters and attempting to string them all together, but here I came to find out that he had only been a believer in Christ for 2 years! Even Charles Spurgeon, who began preaching at 16 was heavily influenced by the likes of George Whitefield and John Wesley as well as Charles Simeon who is the name behind the Simeon Trust workshops that are held all over the world. The fact is, is that we are unable to gain godly wisdom from young Christians who are not experienced. God has given us older saints to love and cherish as they bestow God given wisdom, from their experiences, practically into our lives.

3. Young Men in the Spiritual Family (v.13-14)

In our third, and final, point this morning we are going to look into what the Greek calls “the second branch of the spiritual family.” Which refers to the young men. Look with me in verse 13 once again. The young men that John is talking to are those who have overcome the evil one. What does this refer to? Simply put, these young men have overcome or conquered the evil one. With all of the context that we have looked at, we know that these young men are filled with the Holy Spirit and that is why they are able to overcome the evil one. Turn to Titus 2 . We are going to read verses 6-8 as Paul, practically, instructs young men. Who is the opponent in this passage? The opponent is the same as the “evil one” in

1 John 2 . It is the devil, the evil one who would nothing but to bring us down and discourage us and long for us to “leave the faith.” But as we have seen in verse 13 in 1 John 2 , the young men are spoken of as those who have overcome the evil one. They overcame the evil one by abiding in instruction that was before the Apostle Paul, nonetheless the instruction was the same.

John writes to these young men in verse 14 as well. In this verse, he tells them that they are strong and that the word of God abides in them. At the end of the verse, he repeats the overcoming of the devil. First, notice that these young men are strong. It is enticing for us to take this right off the page and say that John is talking to a group of young men. We see that that is not the case. Ephesians 6:10-11 tells us to “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” We know in that text that Paul is speaking to believers. He is encouraging to stand strong in the power of the Lord that is needed when the enemy comes to attack. I want us to notice how the word of God is the instrument in having the power to conquer the devil. John tells us here, that the young men can overcome and (I would go further, saying that they were able to live according to Titus 2 ) because the word of God was in them. What does it mean for the word of God to abide in a person? Since John is speaking to believers in the family of God let’s get a little more personal. Let me ask it this way, what does it mean for the word of God to abide in us? With children we sing songs like the B-I-B-L-E and that it is the book for me, we sing songs about having our light shine, there is an early, and rightly so, emphasis on the word of God. We are encouraging our children to start early to be lovers of the word of God. And this is what John is telling US! What is it that captivated us at the moment of salvation? For every believer, it must be that our eyes were open to the fact that we were sinners and that we needed to saved. And where to we find that truth? The word of God! It is the truth that brings us to confession and repentance and it is the same truth that we continue to abide in as we grow as Christians. Do you have a desire to be in the Word? Is it the first priority of your day? When you are having a difficult time, do you run to it? When you are rejoicing joyfully, do you come back and praise the Lord who has blessed you to rejoice? When you are raising children what is your means to raise them, is it the Word? Grandparents, are you encouraging your children to raise the grandchildren on the solid foundation that is found in the Word of God?

For the young men, the Word of God is essential to them, it is at the very core of their being. As we have seen thus far, it really is the DNA of every believer. From a newborn babe to a senior saint, the Word of God must be the motivating factor for our very existence! Brothers, as those chosen to be a part of the spiritual family let us emulate the example brought before us in the text this morning and encourage one another as we live together on the truth that is only found in the Bible.

Conclusion:

According to John, there are three groups of people in the Spiritual Family. Where are you at this morning? To which group do you belong? If you do not relate to any of these groups, what holds you back from being grafted in? Today is the day that you can be grafted in, turn from your sins, repent, and trust in Christ.

Christian, wherever you are at, your main objective is to worship God. You were created for worship. You worship in the church, you worship God as you spend time in His Word, you worship as children who love God, you worship as fathers who have known the riches and grace of God, and you worship as young men who are strong in God and who are empowered to overcome evil. Whichever group you are in this morning, remember this one thing, that you are created to worship God. It is worship as a spiritual family sets us apart from the deconstructing families of our day. May we be those who, by our worship, show the work that God does in preserving the spiritual family until He calls us home.