“I.D.’d”
Who are you? - a totally new you, in Christ. You 2.0. A part of Family 2.0.
A…
-brother
-Light-walker
-brother-lover
-in Him (Christ)
-Word-keeper
-commandment keeper
-God knower, you know God
-propitiated
-sin-confessor
-forgiven and cleansed-one
-truth producer
-God-sharer, a Father-fellowshipper
Who you are not
A…
-darkness walker
-liar
-sin-deny-er
-sinner
-hypocrite
-commandment-neglecter
-brother-hater
Last time we were looking at this idea of the New-Old Command. Family 2.0. Jesus took an age-old Jewish command to love your neighbor and updated it for this new family, this new assembly of forgivens, of those who put their trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sins. This is how we do it. We love one another. Not brother-haters but brother-lovers. This is how we roll in the family of God, those of us who are following Christ. Nazarenes. Christians. Christ-followers. And it is not external, something far off or difficult to attain. It is IN you, John says. Christ’s love is IN you. There is this seed of love, and it has been completed, completely planted in your heart and ready to bear fruit. And this command, this Word is IN you.
There is this Word, this Message, this Truth about the God of Truth Who is the Word, that which was heard and seen and manifested and touched. Jesus. And it - He - was proclaimed and testified and written about and announced. And this One Who is the Word - we are IN Him! And so maybe you’ve noticed this recurring theme of “IN”. 17 times in this section - the word “IN”.
Is it in you? What is in you? Who is in you? Jesus - is He in you? Is His Word in you, His Truth, His Light? Are you in Him? Or is darkness still in you? Are you in the Light? His Light? His Truth? His love? It is a package deal.
John 14:20
“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
And if you and He are “IN”, if He is “IN” you, then He will come out. His Truth will come out. His love will come out. Love for one another, our spiritual neighbors, our family. It is the outcome of the “IN-GO”. In goes Jesus. In goes His Light, His Truth, His love. In you this love of God has been perfected. God has planted His love seed in you - and out it comes. It just comes out (or should) as you abide in Christ, as you walk IN Him and with Him and as He walked. His love begins to grow, and spread, and branch out - to all those around. Back to the Lord, to my spouse, to my neighbors (and enemies), and what John is stressing here, is that it should and must manifest in the direction of my brother. To the one who is also in the family of God. Brothers. And sisters. The group. The body of Christ.
The sad and tragic reality is that Christians, the supposed repositories of God’s boundless and eternal charity, can be among the most uncharitable towards one another. The light for some reason is NOT on. Maybe what we see is a bit of culture? Often it is not antagonism or unkindness - it is indifference. Isolation. Disconnection. Love not withheld but rather dammed up. Cause I’m isolated. Not connected. Regardless, John says a hating brother is an oxymoron. A contradiction in terms.
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” – Brennan Manning
Who ARE you? John’s talking about that. Let’s talk about that…
1John 2:12-17 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
Who you are (ties back to where you are), and Whose you are…
-You (little children) are forgiven ones…
- our family is the brotherhood of the forgiven
- a monstrous gargantuan mountain of sin debt, it is unpayable
- it requires a payment of innocent blood
- eternal God stepped out of heaven - forgiveness is waiting to happen!
- monumental, immeasureable forgiveness made available!
- and/so we are (should be) forgiveness waiting to happen!
- forgiveness is vital to the health and endurance of any relationship
- children instinctively avoid (and hate) - they (we) must learn to forgive
- BECAUSE of His Name
- it is the Name ON which we have called
- whosoever will call on the Name of Jesus
- it is the Name BY which we are called
- what’s at stake here is not merely your and my reputation but the reputation of our great God and Savior
- probably there is someone who did something to you, and you need to forgive them…
- you are unable to love them - it’s holding you back, wrapping you up in bitterness, and it’s holding back the mission…
-You (fathers) know Jesus (and the Father) - that's about both connection (resources and power) and accountability.
- Dad know things. You can ask you dad (altho he may say, ask your mother).
- Dad knows how to fix things, OR Dad usually knows a guy who can fix it.
- This guy we're now connected to is the Guy of guys. and who we are is, WE know Him too…! And He can fix anything.
- And He is in us! And we are in Him!
-You (young men) are overcomers. You are strong. God’s Word is you.
- Young men are known not for what/who they know but for what they can DO. Feats of strength!
- I can do all things through… through Who?
- No greater feat of strength than doing what God wants, what our first dad (and his first-born son) was unable to do
- But we are in Christ, and HE has defeated the enemy!
- Verb form of the word, nike - which means VICTORY!
- That nike swoosh has been emblazoned right on our spiritual chest! It’s not about some logo we wear on our body - it’s our identification with Jesus.
- The Word of God is in you
- How did Christ overcome the evil one? "It is written..." God's Word.
- In Ephesians 6, when we’re all suited up for battle, how do we defeat the evil one? Sword of the Spirit = Word of God
Because of this IN-GO, out comes Jesus. Out comes forgiveness. Out comes power. Out comes victory. In goes His love seed, which has been completed, and out comes His love. And where does this love get directed? If God’s love is in you, where will it be directed? Our care and concern, our affection, our attention, our devotion - is directed towards our brothers and sisters.
I’ll tell you where it is not directed, John says. It is not directed towards the world. It is not directed towards the things in the world. Do not love the world nor the things in the world, he says. THE FIRST IMPERATIVE IN THIS WRITING! And what does this look like?
-Lust. The Greek word means desire… Desire is a contingent quality - the object of my desire makes all the difference.
- Lust of the flesh - what I can touch, possess
- Lust of the eyes - what I don’t possess
- Isn’t that how it went down for Eve? She looked at it with her eyes, and then she touched it (and she didn’t die…)
- Boastful pride of life - the here and now
- This is where the here and now is more important than eternal and the unseen, and I am more important.
-God says, My people have committed two evils… They have forsaken Me, and they have resorted to broken cisterns (Jer 2.13)
-the baubles and the trinkets which the world offers, things and stuff and cotton candy
-the law of diminishing returns and the yawning infinite abyss (I can never fill the bottomless hole in my heart with any created thing)
-prioritizing and pursuing that which perishes
-these are all things to which I am giving my time and my talent and my treasure - and my heart
-lacking love of the Father FOR their brothers OR love FOR the Father
Everything which is in the world, including desire - is technically FROM the Father. He made everything. He made all things to be enjoyed - with gratitude. There is nothing wrong with desire, in and of itself. It is the object, and the outcome of the desire which makes it or breaks it.
1Timothy 4:4
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
But how about this person in whom there is no Light? Stumbling around in the dark? Where is my focus when I am groping in the darkness? On whom am I focused? Me. I’m looking out for me. I’m taking care of me. All I can really care about is me.
Loving the world and the things of the world happens at the expense of loving my brother and of doing the will of God, what He wants.
First of all, the world and its desires are passing away. They are slated for destruction. So in the first place we are talking about a colossal waste of time in the end. But it is also a waste of time in the present because the world and all it offers will never satisfy. Nothing in the world will ever fill the infinite abyss in my heart. The God-shaped vacuum in my heart is something only He can fill.
Thus in the end, who I am, when I am in Christ, is someone into whom Christ and His Word and His love has gone, and now out of whom Christ's love is flowing, love for Him and love for His people. This is what He wants, more than anything else. And as His children, we want what He wants. We want Him. This is who we are. Our new ID.
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