Focus on the Church Family

A Study on God and Relationships

1 John 2:12-14

English Standard Version

Fellowship with Him and One Another

12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.

13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Focus on ATTITUDES:

Attitudes we have reviewed in the last several weeks:

Attitude about Adoration:

Who God is and What God has done;

Attitude about Confession:

Agreeing with God about our sin;

Attitude about Thanksgiving:

God wills that we be thankful all the time;

Attitude about Supplication:

Pleading a humble petition to God;

Attitude about Fellowship:

Be Ready to do any good work in His name;

Attitude about Joy:

Spiritual maturity produces lasting joy.

Attitude about Walking in the Light:

A strong desire to know Jesus and spend time with Him.

Attitude about A New Kind of Love:

Our love for one another is motivated by our love for Christ.

Look at another attitude:

Another Choice for A Person To Make:

Attitude about the Church Family: Spiritual Growth and Fellowship

STEPS TOWARD GROWTH AND MATURITY

Step 1 – Experiencing Forgiveness:

God is so rich in mercy,

and He loved us so much,

and we were dead because of our sins, BUT;

He gave us Life when He raised Christ from the dead;

He gave us His grace so that we have been saved;

He seated us with Him in the heavenly realms;

He united us with Christ Jesus;

God can point to us in all future ages;

As examples of his grace and kindness toward us;

As shown in all He has done for us united in Christ Jesus.

God saved you by His grace when you believed;

We can not take credit for this; it is a gift from God;

Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done;

So none of us can boast about it.

Step 2 – Overcoming the Evil One:

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord;

Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness;

Instead, expose them.

It is shameful to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret;

Their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them;

For the Light makes everything visible.

Living by the Spirit’s Power and Walk in Wisdom:

- Be careful how we live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise;

- Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days;

- Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants us to do.

Step 3 – Know God:

These are the gifts Christ gave to the church:

Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers;

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work;

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to build up the church, the body of Christ.

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son;

This will continue until we will be mature in the Lord;

This will continue until we measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Then we will no longer be immature like children;

We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching;

We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION:

01. Is essential, not optional, for Christ-followers.

02. Is a process, not an event.

Justified: declared righteous because Righteousness in Christ is credited to you, no longer under judgment of God.

Sanctified: made righteous, real transformation;

The Doctrine of Sanctification:

Is it an event or a process after justification?

Can you be perfected in your sanctification before you die?

Glorified: completed in righteousness.

03. Is a work of GOD BUT requires OUR participation.

NOT JUSTIFICATION BUT SANCTIFICATION.

04. Involves those practices, experiences, and relationships that help us live intimately with Christ.

05. Is not a compartmentalized pursuit. God is interested in our life – all of it.

06. Can happen in every moment. It is not restricted to certain times or practices.

07. Is not individualistic but takes place in community and finds expression in serving others.

08. Is not impeded by a person’s background, temperament, life situation, or season of life.

09. It is available right now to all who desire it.

10. And the means of pursuing it. Fully devoted followers are handcrafted, not mass-produced.

11. Is ultimately gauged by an increased capacity to love God and people.

Do you believe you can be more like Jesus just by trying harder?

We are transformed to be more like Christ by cultivating a close, personal relationship with him.

John addresses himself to:1) children, 2) young men and 3) fathers.

This has nothing to do with age or sex but with levels of Christian maturity.

God’s family like every human family has members of different maturity.

1. Some in a church family are NEW in the faith: SPIRITUAL BABES

They know their sins are forgiven;

They are in the family of God and have experienced the new birth;

No longer is God feared as a Judge but is loved as a Father;

God knows our deepest needs and loves us with an everlasting love;

So we push on deeper into maturity for a more consistent walk with Christ.

NOTE:

The way into God’s family is through the new birth which comes from God:

Man’s responsibility is to believe in Jesus Christ: His works and His words.

2. Some in a church family are ADOLESCENTS in the faith: SPIRITUAL TEENAGERS

They are strong,

The word of God lives in them;

They have overcome the evil one;

Adolescents in spiritual maturity BUT are growing spiritually;

They are busily involved in the battle of Christian living;

They are spiritually minded but not yet mature;

They are young Christ-followers have overcome the evil one and are continuing to overcome him;

They are energetically engaged in the business of Christian living.

3. Some in a church family are MATURE in the faith: SPIRITUAL ADULTS

Like older parents, they have progressed into a deep communion with God;

Their knowledge of Him ripens with the years;

They are mature or Spiritual Adults in a congregation;

They have gained much personal knowledge of God by experience;

The Spiritual Fathers have progressed into a deep communion with God.

A person matures through regular, systematic Bible study.

Self-feeders. The key to spiritual maturity is spending time in the Word of God.

Recently, we have talked about observing A True Christian:

1. Walk in the light;

2. Keep the commandments of God;

3. Love the brethren.

Recently, we have talked about observing A NON-Christian:

Those who are false counterfeit Christians:

1. Do not walk in fellowship with God;

2. Do not keep the moral law of God;

3. Do not love the family of God.

How does Scripture define a CHURCH?

The church is heaven on earth;

It is a heavenly experience brought down to earth;

It is not going to be anything like the world;

The church is going to be the place where you hear the truth proclaimed;

The church is the pillar and foundation of Divine truth;

The gathering of true worshipers worshiping in Spirit and Truth;

The church is your nation;

The church is your country;

The church is your state;

The church is your city;

The church is your tribe;

The church is your ethnicity;

The church is your family;

The church is the realm of your most essential and all-satisfying relationships;

A church is a fellowship:

-where the superficial is replaced by the supernatural;

-where carnal desires are replaced by spiritual desires.

NOTE:
When A Person states they have a personal relationship with Christ and is detached from the church it is like saying I’m connected to the head but not to the body.

What Is A Christian's Responsibility to the Church:

1. It is an obedience issue:

The Lord wants involvement in His church fully.

The Lord wants obedience to His word;

The Lord wants submission to those responsible as under-shepherds;

2. It is a fellowship issue:

Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some.

Stimulate one another to love and good works that we might encourage one another.

It’s not about what we get, it’s about what we give.

We are not coming here to receive, we are coming here to give.

This is where we give our life.

3. It is an authority issue:

We need:

to be trained;

to be discipled;

to be led;

to be admonished;

to be warned;

to be reproved;

to be rebuked;

to be exhorted;

to be instructed;

to be edified.

4. It’s an identity issue:

We are in Christ. We are inseparable from Christ.

We are in His body;

We bear His name.

We literally are one with Christ.

We are crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not me, but Christ lives in me.

5. It’s a loyalty issue:

You’re called and gifted to show love and ministry to others.

The church is where you come to serve others, and in so doing, you’re served.

6. It’s a ministry issue:

It is collectively with other believers to advance in the name of Christ in the kingdom of God;

7. It’s a truth issue:

It is faithful to teach the Word of God get a systematic understanding of the Word of God.

It is to help new believers from being tossed about with every wind of doctrine.

8. It’s an evangelism issue:

It is about showing Love one another as Jesus has loved us.

To be victorious over the attacks of the Devil a Christian must be strong in the Lord;

The secret to being strong is found in abiding in the Word of God;

Knowing and applying the Bible to life is the secret to all Christian living.

This is why Satan fights:

- Bible study;

- Building your life around the centrality of the scriptures;

- The authority of the Bible.

Ignorant and rebellious Christians are great tools in the Devil’s hands;

But victory is for those who know and apply the Word to their experience through faith and obedience;

Not just enjoying the forgiveness and fellowship of God, but fighting the enemy.

Focus on a New Kind of Love

A Study on God and Relationships

1 John 2:3-11

New American Standard Version

Fellowship with Him and One Another

03 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

04 The one who says I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

05 But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

06 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

07 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

08 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.

09 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Focus on ATTITUDES:

Attitudes we have reviewed in the last several weeks:

Attitude about Adoration:

Who God is and What God has done;

Attitude about Confession:

Agreeing with God about our sin;

Attitude about Thanksgiving:

God wills that we be thankful all the time;

Attitude about Supplication:

Pleading a humble petition to God;

Attitude about Fellowship:

Be Ready to do any good work in His name;

Attitude about Joy:

Spiritual maturity produces lasting joy.

Attitude about Walking in the Light:

A strong desire to know Jesus and spend time with Him.

Look at another attitude:

Another Choice for A Person To Make:

A New Kind of Love: Our love for one another is motivated by our love for Christ.

John said:

I am not writing a new commandment to you;

But an old commandment which you have had from the beginning;

The old commandment is the Word, which you have heard;

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you;

Which is true in HIM and in YOU;

HOW TO BE TRANSFORMED BY THIS NEW KIND OF LOVE !!

1. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING WILL RENEW YOUR MIND:

In what sense was the commandment to love others both old and new?

It was OLD in the sense:

It was already there in the Old Testament;

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Leviticus 19:18).

Also:

It was NOT the first time that John's hearers had heard it;

From the very first day Christianity taught that the law of love must be the law of their lives.

This commandment: Old in Jewish law and Old in Christian teaching (John writes this 50+ years after Ascension).

It was NEW in the sense:

It had been raised to a completely new standard in the life of Jesus.

It was as Jesus had loved men that mankind were now to love each other.

Jesus said: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.

It could well be said that mankind did not really know what love was until they saw it in Him.

Examples of: An old thing can become a new experience in the hands of a master.

A game may become a new game to a person when seen as a master plays it;

A musical concert may become a new sound to a person when heard under a master conductor;

A chocolate cake may become a new dessert to a person when prepared by Mrs. June Wells;

In Jesus LOVE became NEW in 2 directions:

1. It became NEW in the extent to which His love reached;

In Jesus love reached out to the SINNER.

To the orthodox Jewish Rabbi the SINNER was a person whom God wished to destroy;

To the orthodox Jewish Rabbi there is joy in heaven when one sinner is destroyed.

Jesus was the friend of outcast men and women and of sinners;

Jesus was sure there was joy in heaven when one sinner goes home;

In Jesus love reached out to the GENTILE.

To the orthodox Jewish Rabbi the GENTILE was a person whom God wished to destroy;

But in Jesus God so loved the world that He gave His Son.

Love became NEW in Jesus because he widened its boundaries until all were included.

2. It became NEW in the extent to which His love would go;

No sin from any person could turn Jesus' love to hate;

No hate from any person could turn Jesus' love to hate.

He could even pray for God's mercy on those who were nailing him to his Cross.

John 2: 7:

This is Not a new commandment;

This is Not taking philosophy to the next logical step as is common in the history of philosophy.

John said it’s an OLD commandment BUT it has a newness to it.

It has a freshness.

The remarkable part of the newness of this:

- The old commandment is the Word, which you have heard.

- The new commandment ( new: not the idea of new in time, chronologically, but the idea of something new in quality).

- This is Manifested in Jesus Christ for the first time so that the visibility of what it means to love your neighbor is clear.

Jesus says the same thing: I have a new commandment that you love God and love all others.

That was a fresh new way to see the commandments of God and exactly how we are to love others.

He says I want you to love in a way you’ve never known before.

1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING WILL RENEW YOUR MIND:

2. CHANGE OF ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE TO BE OBEDIENT:

Another attitude:

Another Choice for A Person To Make:

Another Choice for A Person To Make Perfect Ones Love For Others !!

First we know what the Bible tells a person to do;

Next a person has a choice to obey it.

What is Jesus telling a person about a choice for loving others ?

I want you to love the way I’ve loved you.

That’s how I want you to love others.

Understand what it means to live a life that reflects God’s love.

If we claim to know God our lives will show evidence of His love.

1. Living Like Christ Proves We Know God (vs 3 – 6)

2. Loving One Another Proves We Know God (vs 7 – 11)

How had He loved them?

Three years of meeting every need they had:

providing for them food;

providing for them teaching;

providing for them forgiveness;

providing for them grace;

providing for them mercy;

providing for them patience;

How did He love them?

By washing their filthy feet.

A metaphor how Jesus had loved them all through His ministry.

They always needed their feet washed spiritually !!

They loved the Lord and believed in Him YET they had doubts, failures, pride, ambition, greed, self-centeredness.

Jesus made the choice to keep loving and loving and loving and loving, patiently, patiently, patiently.

There is a level of understanding of the perfection of that love which was never able to be understood by anybody until it was personified in Jesus Christ.

Never has the world seen this perfect love until Jesus showed it to them.

Remember: We never can find that perfect love toward others until we see it in Jesus.

HOW WERE THE DISCIPLES IMPACTED BY THIS PERFECTED LOVE?

- Look what it did to Peter after the foot washing event;

- It eventually took a compulsive emotional person and transformed him into a strong patient leader;

- But Jesus knew as He washed the feet of Peter that Peter would deny Him 3 times before the next morning.

The Significance of what he did: it is not just what Jesus did in the foot washing event.

The Significance of who did it: it is that it is the Lord of Glory, the Son of the Living God.

- Look what it did to John as he wrote these epistles;

- John was not known as a tenderhearted man;

- He is the same one that wanted to call down fire from heaven;

- He wanted to incinerate a whole village of people who did not comply;

- He became gentle and kind by the mighty work of God in His life;

- He expresses affection and love so readily and so easily both toward the Lord and toward others.

- John became known as the apostle of love.

- He has a tenderness about him that causes him to express his affections for others.

- John has the kind of love for believers making it a evident of true salvation.

- It’s very evident because he identifies the people to whom he writes as the ones whom he loves.

- He loves those who are in Christ. He loves those to whom he writes.

1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING WILL RENEW YOUR MIND:

2. CHANGE OF ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE TO BE OBEDIENT:

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE FUEL THAT EMPOWERS A TRANSFORMATION IN A PERSON:

Keeping commandments and Loving = the character of a person who has been transformed.

One will love the brethren.

One will have a great affection for those who are in Christ.

One will long for that fellowship and to render service to those who are in Christ.

One really been changed and regenerated, 2 things are going to be true about your life:

One will obey God;

One will love other Believers.

Then the contrast comes in verse 10:

John was perfectly right when he drew his sharp distinction between light and dark, love and hate.

How does a Person regard Others?

(i) One may regard Others as negligible:

One can make plans without taking others into account;

One can live on the assumption that the need of others is of no concern;

One can live on the assumption that the sorrow of others is of no concern;

One can live on the assumption that the welfare of others is of no concern;

One can live on the assumption that the salvation of others is of no concern;

One may be so self-centered that no one matters except self.

(ii) One may regard Others with contempt:

One may treat others as a fool in comparison to their intellectual attainment;

One may regard the opinion of others as having no value;

One may regard others as useful enough for the menial duties of life.

(iii) One may regard Others as a nuisance:

One may regard any gift to charity that has to pay for social welfare as regrettable.

One may regard others in poverty or in sickness or under-privileged as mere nuisance.

(iv) One may regard Others as an enemy:

One may regard competition as the principle of life;

That others in the same profession or trade are potential competitors and, therefore, a potential enemy.

(v) One may regard Others as fellow worker in the Kingdom:

One may regard others needs as their needs;

One may regard others interests as their interests;

One may regard to be in fellowship with others as the true joy of life.

How can a person know a transformation has taken place?

John gives us two ways to know: if you do what Christ says and live as Christ lived.

If one is in the light (possessing eternal life) or if one is in the darkness (sentenced to eternal death):

- It is made known in this matter of loving;

- The one who loves his brother abides in the light;

- The one who keeps the commandments is the one who knows God;

- In him the love of God has truly been brought to perfection through salvation.

1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING WILL RENEW YOUR MIND:

2. CHANGE OF ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE TO BE OBEDIENT:

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE FUEL THAT EMPOWERS A TRANSFORMATION IN A PERSON: