Each week throughout 2021, I will share a Bible study blog post taking us through the letter of 1 John. Only five chapters long, this brief book is worthy of our consideration. Whether you drop in for one post or many, I pray that you enjoy them. Access all posts here.
2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
2:14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
Fathers
Last week, we covered the little children in John's exhortation. In this second group -- fathers -- we have mature believers. Don't let the age or the gender give you too much pause. To be a father speaks of maturity. I think a seventeen-year-old female can attain elements of the maturity a father possesses. You don't have to be old or male to have a sense of spiritual fatherhood.
You see, fathers are those who protect, provide, teach, and lead their families. Gently, lovingly, they serve those under their care. To be a father should mean sacrifice because it's a position filled with responsibility for others. And fathers are supposed to have a steady hand. While children are born immature, and young men are growing into adulthood, fathers are to be stable people.
When our children were young, Christina and I disciplined them when they threw fits. We fully expected them to throw tantrums, but we wanted them to know it's not acceptable to fly out into a rage. So we would stop them during their tantrums, have them fold their hands, and look us in the eye. We'd then ask them to apologize. "I'm sorry for my fit," they would say.
Fathers are those who have matured past fit throwing. They are trustworthy people on whom others depend. Their lives are laid down for the betterment of others.
Spiritual fathers are the same way. In various ways and to differing degrees, spiritual fathers, with great maturity and sacrifice, care for others. Put this way, the Good Samaritan acted as a father, and so did the apostles. Even Mary, the mother of Christ, acted as a spiritual father when she took young John under her wing at the cross (John 19:26). These are the spiritual adults.
You Know Him Who Is From the Beginning
And what makes someone a father? John says, "You know Him who is from the beginning." Did you notice how he wrote it twice? To the children and young men, he altered or added to their descriptions the second time through the song, but not with fathers. For them, the same description was written twice: you know Him who is from the beginning.
Who is it the fathers have known? John describes Him as the One who is from the beginning. Most think John is describing Jesus. This is because John used the idea of the beginning to describe the start of time, and Jesus' presence and role in creating all things (John 1:1-4). He also used the word to describe the beginning of the gospel, both historically and in our own lives personally (1 John 1:1, 2:7).
John amazes me here. He was likely the only one interacting with this letter who had walked and talked with Jesus. He'd alluded to this earlier in the letter (1 John 1:1). He had known Him who is from the beginning.
But now, in a twist, he addresses the spiritual adults in the congregation and says that they, also, had known Jesus. This doesn't mean John's experience wasn't unique -- it was -- but he felt others could and should know Jesus for themselves.
Know Him
Let this stand out as a significant mark of Christian maturity for you. The fathers knew Jesus. They'd walked with Him, talked with Him, heard Him, and seen His work on earth. We too must crave interaction with Christ, experiential knowledge of His life.
Knowing Jesus starts with an intellectual understanding of Him, but goes on into experiencing Him. As we move through this letter, John will show us the importance of believing the right things about Jesus. But the fathers knew Jesus in their daily lives.
As an example of this, notice how Luke described the gospel he wrote:
"In the first book...I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach..." (Acts 1:1).
In Luke's mind, the incarnation through the ascension was only the beginning of Jesus' life and teaching. The book of Acts was the continuation of Jesus' life and teaching. In Acts, they watched Jesus. You see, Jesus is still working. They knew Jesus. We can still know Jesus.
Jesus wants you to know Him this way. There is a story from Christ's life I've always loved. Early in His public ministry, the religious leaders challenged Jesus' treatment of the Sabbath day. They were upset about a lot of things -- I think it's what legalistic people do -- but were really bothered Jesus was healing on the Sabbath. So they said things like, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day" (Luke 13:14). What grumps.
One Sabbath, Jesus sensed this tension as He stood in a synagogue. There was a man in attendance who had a withered hand. The religious leaders watched Jesus like a hawk. Jesus asked them if it was lawful to do good or harm on the Sabbath. They didn't answer.
Finally, Jesus told the man:
"'Stretch out your hand.' And he did so, and his hand was restored." (Luke 6:10).
I love it! Jesus challenged them regarding the Sabbath. Realizing they didn't want Him to heal people, He told the man to stretch out his hand, which he did. Though Jesus hadn't reached out to touch him, it was obvious, the man had been healed by Christ.
But the story illustrates a common hurdle in the Christian life. Jesus is there. He wants us to stretch out into obedience to Him. He knows His power will be there for us when we do. He wants us to experience Him. "Stretch out your hand," He says. Too often, though, we won't, and this keeps us from experiencing Jesus as we could.
Paul said:
"...Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12–13).
The mature believer has lived such a life. They live out the salvation Christ has given them, and as they do, they experience the power of God working in them. God is there to help us will and work for His good pleasure. He doesn't only create desire, but also ability. If we step out, we'll experience this empowering act of Christ.
Should Such a Man As I?
Remember Nehemiah? He knew who he was, so he said, "Should such a man as I flee?" And, here in 1 John regarding the fathers, what does knowing Christ do to us?
I think an experiential knowledge of Christ keeps us from so many of the stupid pressures our world lays on us. Next week, we are going to dig into these pressures, but once you taste Jesus and His work, you want less of the world. You aren't as easily duped into conformity.
Over the past few years, Christina and I have formed a relationship with a pastor and his wife in Napa, California. Their story is an amazing one. She had grown up in Napa, but addiction had taken over her life. She sometimes lived on the streets, and the church's original pastor would open the church lobby for her to sleep in at night. Years later, she moved back east to attend a Christian rehab program, where she became a believer, grew, and eventually ascended into leadership. During that time, she met an up-and-coming young pastor, and they fell in love. As God would have it, they eventually moved to Napa, and he is now that church's pastor.
In the very church lobby she slept in as an addict, this woman now stands in as a loving servant of Christ, greeting and praying and loving the church week after week. And now they are launching, with Pastor Mike Casey's help, their very own Bridge and Regeneration Ministry. It's a fantastic story. But if you asked her if she'd like to go back to that old life, she'd say, "Should such a woman as I go back? I have experienced the love and grace and power of Christ. I've known Him who is from the beginning. I cannot return."
There is one final group John mentions in this section, young men who are victorious over the evil one. We will cover them next week.
