{"id":28362,"date":"2023-10-29T22:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-john-1_1-10-copy-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-10-24T10:28:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T17:28:29","slug":"1-john-2_9-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-john-2_9-17\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Stages in Your Spiritual Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 John 2:9-17\u00a0 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01\u00a0John\u00a02:9-17.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 John 2:9-11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.\u00a0<\/em>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.\u00a0<\/em>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-11:\u00a0 Light versus darkness is an ongoing theme in 1 John, the idea that God is light (see 1 John 1:5), that Jesus is the true light (2:5) and that if we are in Jesus we are in the light as well (1:7).\u00a0 In contrast, the darkness is anywhere where Jesus is not glorified or obeyed (1:6).\u00a0 How do you know if a Christian is truly in the light or in the darkness?\u00a0 It\u2019s in how that person loves others.\u00a0 Here John proclaims that anyone who says he is in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness, whereas anyone who loves his brother lives in the light (v10).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0how we love others is proof of whether we are truly in Christ or not.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, when we live in hate, we live in the dark, can\u2019t see clearly (\u201cthe darkness has blinded him\u201d \u2013 v11) and don\u2019t know where we are going (v11).\u00a0 When we live in love, we live in the light and there is nothing in us to make us stumble (v10).<\/p>\n

So often what keeps us from loving the way God made us to love is the unhealthy stuff\u00a0in us<\/em>\u00a0that makes us stumble \u2013 selfishness, laziness, prejudice, fears and insecurities.\u00a0 But when we living the lives God calls us to live empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are no longer bound by those things anymore \u2013 as verse 10 says, \u201cthere is nothing\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0him to make him stumble.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 John 2:12-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.\u00a0<\/em>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.\u00a0<\/em>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-14:\u00a0 Here John addresses three groups of people: children, young men and fathers. While it is possible that John is referring to his readers by their physical ages, it is quite possible that John is categorizing his readers by their spiritual maturity. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s as if John is saying that in the kingdom of God there are three big stages in spiritual maturity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s the spiritual child.\u00a0 Spiritual children have been forgiven of their sins (v12) and have God as their father (v13 \u2013 \u201cbecause you have known the Father\u201d).\u00a0 They also have much maturing to do.\u00a0 You are born again as a spiritual child (or infant) when you receive Jesus Christ into your life.<\/p>\n

Second, there\u2019s the spiritual young adult.\u00a0 Spiritual young adults are stronger and more mature than spiritual children.\u00a0 That is because in addition to being forgiven, spiritual young adults have grown up to experience victory over the enemy (\u201covercome the evil one\u201d \u2013 v13).\u00a0 They have allowed God\u2019s Word to dwell in them more and more (\u201cthe word of God lives in you\u201d \u2013 verse 14; see also Colossians 3:16).\u00a0 Just as Jesus had God\u2019s Word living inside of Him and thus He was able to be victorious over the evil one (Matthew 4), similarly if you want to grow up from being a spiritual infant to a spiritual young adult it\u2019s about letting God\u2019s Word change the way you think so that in the battlefield of your mind you can overcome the evil one.<\/p>\n

Third, there\u2019s the spiritual father, or the spiritual parent.\u00a0 Spiritual parents have experienced what spiritual children and spiritual young adults have experienced.\u00a0 But spiritual parents are more mature than spiritual children and spiritual young adults because they have one more defining characteristic: they have \u201cknown Him who is from the beginning\u201d (v13, 14).\u00a0 In other words, while spiritual children know God as their father, spiritual parents know the Father in another sense: like the Father Himself, they reproduce themselves spiritually.\u00a0 They become mentors, shepherds and spiritual parents for others.\u00a0 In this way they have a sense of how the Father feels, loves, protects and guides His children.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s desire is that all of us grow up spiritually.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of your calling.\u00a0 May you grow from a spiritual baby to a spiritual adult to a spiritual parent who reproduces and mentors others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\u00a0<\/em>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.\u00a0<\/em>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-17:\u00a0 What does it mean to \u201clove the world or anything in the world\u201d?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t John himself write that \u201cGod so loved the world that He gave His only Son\u201d (John 3:16)?\u00a0 Yes he did.\u00a0 But here when John says \u201cthe world\u201d, he doesn\u2019t mean humankind per se.\u00a0 Rather here \u201cthe world\u201d refers to a system of thinking, feeling and living that pervades society and that is all about worshiping yourself instead of worshiping Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s a system that lives on \u201cthe cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does\u201d (v16).\u00a0 It\u2019s a system that does not last and ultimately makes us miserable, whereas those who do God\u2019s will live forever (v17). \u00a0\u00a0So when John writes, \u201cdo not love the world\u201d he is saying, \u201cDon\u2019t give in to that system.\u201d\u00a0 Or as Paul writes, \u201cdo not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind\u201d (Romans 12:2).<\/p>\n

Father, I pray that I would grow up spiritually from a spiritual child to a spiritual young adult to a spiritual parent.\u00a0 May I go from one who is weak and immature to one who is strong in You, who experiences victory by hanging onto Your Word, who takes care of others and who lives set apart for You from the world. In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is\u00a01\u00a0John\u00a02:9-17.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 John 2:9-11 (NIV)\u00a0
\n9\u00a0\u00a0Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.\u00a0
\n10\u00a0\u00a0Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.\u00a0
\n11\u00a0\u00a0But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.<\/p>\n

On verses 9-11:\u00a0 Light versus darkness is an ongoing theme in 1 John, the idea that God is light (see 1 John 1:5), that Jesus is the true light (2:5) and that if we are in Jesus we are in the light as well (1:7).\u00a0 In contrast, the darkness is anywhere where Jesus is not glorified or obeyed (1:6).\u00a0 How do you know if a Christian is truly in the light or in the darkness?\u00a0 It\u2019s in how that person loves others.\u00a0 Here John proclaims that anyone who says he is in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness, whereas anyone who loves his brother lives in the light (v10).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0how we love others is proof of whether we are truly in Christ or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28365,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28362\/revisions\/28365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}