1 John 2:15-29
Announcements:
- First Fruit Offering
Text: 1 John 2:15-29
Verses 15-17
There’s a good chance you’ve heard before about the different Greek words for love: phileos, eros, and agape. Phileo means brotherly affection, eros means romantic or erotic love, and agape means devotional or sacrificial love.
And with that, there is this common understanding that agape is always good. Agape is the very best. Agape can do no wrong and cannot be corrupted.
As an example, the majority of the dialogue in the push for homosexual marriage centered on this idea of “same love.” They love one another and love is highest and purest. People appropriated the morals of the Bible, misapplied them, and Christians didn’t know what to do. Most would either deny it and say “no they don’t really love one another” and many just caved in. People didn’t know how to win that argument.
The truth is the only thing that sin cannot corrupt is God. Agape, yes, even agape, can also be used for evil. Agape can be sin. And agape can even mean that the agape from the Father is not in you. But it’s true and that is clear from this verse. John says “Do not agape the world or the things in the world. If anyone agapes the world, the agape of the Father is not in him.”
Well what’s wrong with agape toward the world? You might wonder. Aren’t we taught that you should love the world? Did not Jesus die for the world? Aren’t some of the most beautiful stories we’ve ever heard in the world where a believer chooses to die because of their desire to see an unbeliever saved? Isn’t it good to go out of your way to show love to a stranger? Yes!
Here is the thing: John is meaning something different by the word “world” here. He is talking about the system of evil that dominates the world; he’s talking about the stuff that is in rebellion to God. He makes this clear in verse 16 – he’s talking about the sinful desires of the flesh, and of the eyes, and the pride of life. He’s not talking about the lost souls of men whom He wants to save, but of all the evil and sinful stuff that is going on.
It is possible to agape those things. It is even common to agape those things. There are people who make a killing off of sin. Their lives revolve around it. There are people who devote themselves to lies and hate and all the ugly things in this world. There are people whose life is all about kidnapping people and selling them into slavery. And they agape it. They sure do. They give their all in intense agape love, but they do it unto evil.
But we are told – you are not to be like that. There is agape that comes from the world and there is agape that comes from the Father. The world and its desires are terribly silly things to agape because they are passing away. If you agape lust, you need to know that there will not be any more of that in the life to come. If you agape being rude to others, trust me – you’d better find a new hobby because that one will soon cease to exist. It does not make sense to give yourself to something that is passing away.
Instead, notice, those who do the will of God abide forever. Those who do the will of God, I think it’s clear by now, are believers and they do so because they have been born again. You, my brothers and sisters, will endure forever. And the kind of agape that the Father has and, I hope, put into you will also abide forever. Therefore, don’t waste your time slipping into the sin of loving the world. Love the people, not the sin system. Agape God, agape people, and agape the pure and holy things that will last.
Verses 18-25
The Christians to whom John was writing had some people who had left their assembly. They didn’t leave on good terms, or to attend somewhere else, or something like that. They left because they became antichrists. They came to deny that Jesus was really the Messiah.
Evidently at one time they had said they believed that, or at least gave the appearance of believing that. They were a part of the believers meeting together. Probably singing songs, listening to preaching. Taking part in other ways. But then they left them and began to deny that Jesus was the Messiah.
Have you ever known someone to do this? Since most of us have grown up in a time where it was very common to be exposed to the Bible, you will find this is common. There are quite a few people out there today who once claimed to be Christian, but who now deny that Jesus is the Messiah. These verses are very applicable to America today.
*Leighton in China*
When I heard it my heart sank, my arms and legs felt like wax, the back of my throat began to burn, tears struck my eyes and my heart began to race. I don’t know what my face did but I could see the concern and compassion in Daniel’s eyes. He knew I was upset. It was only because I have grown used to suppressing tears that I didn’t burst into tears on the spot. Why this reaction?
What does John have to say about this? “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us… No one who denies the Son has the Father.”
It was heartbreaking because I know what John says. “No one who denies the Son has the Father.” Nobody wanted to say it. How hard to accept that of one who is close to you. But it’s my desires and feelings against the Bible. It says what it says.
Well, from there the ladies on the team would spend some time with his wife to try to encourage and strengthen her. A couple of the guys would meet with Leighton on occasion to try to engage him. I wish the story had a happy ending, but as far as I know he is still in unbelief. That doesn’t mean it won’t ultimately have a happy ending, but so far as what I can share with you that is it.
So I can imagine the pain that was gripping this assembly that John was writing to. John had bad but necessary news to deliver to them, for their own protection. He addresses them in his usual affectionate way as “children.” You can kind of tell by his tenderness that this is something that probably aren’t going to want to hear. The truth is the people who have left them and now deny Jesus is the Messiah are not saved. Had they been saved, they would have remained with them.
And that’s an important thing to remember when interacting with anyone who has left the faith in this way, especially if they then try to take you with them. If you encounter someone who says they used to be a Christian but now are not, do not believe them.
Link: Evidently those who left were also trying to deceive the people John was writing to into leaving with them.
Verses 26-27
I can well imagine what these people might have been saying to the believers: “I was once as you were, but then I came to my senses and realized Jesus is not really the Messiah. And I experienced the things you did, but those experiences weren’t true.” But the Bible says “no, actually, you were not as I am, because had you been as I am you would have remained with us.”
Confrontational as that might be, it is also important that people who have left the faith know this. We want to believe that they are just Christians who have lost their way, especially because most likely some of our own friends and family have done this – but it is dangerous to believe that. It is encouraging to us to believe it, but dangerous to them.
They need to know that they never really did experience the new birth, because in their current thinking – they think they have experienced what Christianity has to offer them. You don’t want them to think that because thinking that can only harden their rejection. They look back on their experiences, conclude that their experiences were false, and then conclude that Christianity is false. The truth is, their experiences were false, but Christianity is not false – they are.
John in these verses also teaches us how to defend against such an attack, for our own protection. He says “you have no need that anyone should teach you.” Why? Because of the anointing that you received from Jesus that abides in you. An anointing is a spiritual blessing. You and I have received a lot of spiritual blessings. You know about the change that has occurred in your heart. You know about the change that has occurred in your life. You know about who you used to be and now who Jesus has made you. You know about times of answered prayer. You know about times God’s Holy Spirit has directed you. You know about how God’s Holy Spirit has been changing your way of thinking to be more like Jesus. You know about how the world makes sense when you view it from the Bible, and how it does not make sense when you remove God from it. You know that you used to distain God’s commandments but now you abide in them. You know you used to hate people but now you love them. Maybe not all of you are deeply aware of all of those things, but as verse 20 said – you all have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge. Verse 27 again, this anointing teaches you about everything, it is true, and is no lie.
So you don’t need someone to come along and tell you “It’s not real.” You don’t need someone to teach you ways that are contrary to Christ. Stand and say: “No. I know it’s real. I am sorry for your sake that it was not real for you, but I know the anointing I have received from God through faith in Jesus and it is true. You can have it to if you trust in Him.”
A buzzword that has been going around in attacks on Christianity, and would no doubt come to mind if there were to happen to be an opponent to Christianity here, is the term “confirmation bias.” You might have heard of it. I have been saying “your experiences of anointing teach you that this is true.” The unbeliever today says “confirmation bias.”
I think it is probably the poorest attack on Christianity I have heard to date. Confirmation bias is when you believe something, and so when you view information you are biased, and the things you view tend to confirm your bias. An example, you believe in sin. So when you see someone doing something bad, you interpret it as sin, and it confirms your bias. You believe God has changed you, and so when you look at the change in your life, you attribute that to God.
Here is the thing: when I look at things through God’s word – it makes sense. It works. He created us male and female. That makes sense. We are created in His image and it is what makes us different from the animals. It makes sense. I believe we are different from the animals. I observe we are different from the animals. My belief is confirmed. There is something not quite right about us called a sin nature. I see that all the time. It makes sense. When I see something beautiful I have an experience of awe: that makes sense if we are meant to be worshippers.
Someone today might call that all confirmation bias.
But here is the thing: when I look at the world through the atheistic worldview: very little makes sense. The atheistic worldview starts in this way “I believe that everything comes about through random chance and natural processes.” Then you look at the genetic code and… it’s a language. There are four possible letters forming 22 possible words. And combinations of these letters and words give instruction for forming the larger organism.
You mean to tell me that an entire language came about from nothing due to random chance and natural processes? And if one word is off you don’t get me. If one letter is off you don’t get a word. And they are interdependent: if you don’t have all four letters in existence at the same time and they don’t have the ability to form into words, then the DNA strand cannot function. They all die. You don’t have life.
A needs T and C and G to live. And they need to form into words. And those words need to form in an intelligible way to give instructions for building the organism. And the organism needs to be produced so that it can reproduce to make more A, T, C and G. If that breaks down at any point, life doesn’t exist.
And that’s just leaving out space, time, physics, energy. How did space get here by random chance and natural processes? Or time? Because you need a lot of time for all the random chances you are going to need. How did that get here by random chance and natural processes?
It takes an extreme amount of bias to look at that and have a naturalistic worldview confirmed.
So many other things don’t make sense. Laughter does not make sense. Personality does not make sense. Mind doesn’t make sense. Art and music do not make sense.
I am glad to have a worldview in which everything that I view confirms it. That seems to me to be exactly what you want out of a solid worldview. That is what John says to us: you have experienced it, you see through it and what it teaches you is true. You have no need for anyone to teach you to the contrary. That’s powerful.
So as for me and for you, we have God’s anointing and it teaches us about everything, and is true, and is no lie. I am glad that the things I see and experience all confirm my faith in Jesus. I’m not ashamed to admit that my worldview consistently makes sense to me – call it confirmation bias if you want.
What does it say about the opposing worldview when very little makes sense through it? It would seem to me that they are blind. And by the by, Spiritual blindness is what the Bible calls it. So people’s inability to see the obvious also makes perfect sense in my worldview. The Bible says that the fool believes in His heart there is no God. Confirmation bias again.
Because of God’s anointing in my life, my confirmation bias runs extremely deep. You are going to have an impossible time trying to sway me from it.
Link: Let’s draw some points together and end with strong encouragement in verses 28-29
Verses 28-29
As we have said in this sermon and previous sermons, there are several ways that you can know that you have eternal life. That is the primary reason John is writing this book. There are opponents out there denying it. But you can know that you do. You can know that you have eternal life because of God’s anointing – or spiritual blessings – in your life. That fruit gives evidence of the change.
You can know you have eternal life because that anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie. Things make sense to you more now that you know God.
You can know you have eternal life because you love the brethren. Once you had hate, now you have love.
And you can know you have eternal life because you’ve been changed to obey His commandments, when previously you lived in rebellion to them. Since you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
And so – abide in Jesus. Draw closer to Him. He is real, your eternal life is real, it is true. In that way you can have great confidence at His coming and not shrink back from Him!