I John 2:1

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I John 2:1

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

THE STUDY:

          We are entering chapter 2 of John’s 1^st Epistle. I pray that God has been speaking to you during this time and you are developing a desire to dig deeper into His word.

          This passage is promoting one of the key essentials to our Christian heritage; Forgiveness of Sin! We will look, more in detail, at the later part of this passage tomorrow but today I am excited to reveal to you what God has shared with me concerning the phrase, “My little children.” To help better understand this phrase we need to know more about John in regards to this movement called Gnosticism. I will not be sharing any new information about the Gnostics but I do encourage you to do research on this group so you can have a better understanding of what John was dealing with.

          When John says, “My little children” he is not referring to them as a child per say but as someone who he has an intimate understanding and feeling toward them. Just as Jesus stated in John 13:33, Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ We have the sense of a very intimate moment between Jesus and His disciples. John uses the same phrase (little children) when he addresses the reader. This gives the reader a sense of a father speaking to his beloved children.

          I wondered why John used this phrase. The answer may be found in the fact that John was the last living disciple. He was viewed as the last charter member of the disciples and, with that, he was looked highly upon by the church of that day. With this position in mind we can now see why John calls them “My little children.” He does this with position and influence in mind. He was the last (so called) authoritative figure (disciples) and was very influential regarding the truth of the Word of God.

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• First thing we can walk away with is the fact that there are still authoritative figures in the Church of Jesus Christ today. Those figures are called minister, pastors, elders or whatever the denomination chooses to call them. The scripture is very clear to the idea of needing and respecting leaders within the church. We can debate this fact of a need for leaders due to the fall of many prominent church leaders. This should not be a reason for God’s people to think they can do without leadership. Leaders have a responsibility to seek the face and guidance of the Holy Spirit. They will be held to this calling that God has on their life. The sheep, God has given these leaders, have a responsibility to follow and pray for their spiritual leader. This is what they will be held accountable for.

• Secondly, there is going to be times when you feel like John. He was very concerned for the church and, knowing that his time was coming to an end, felt a need to leave “his children” with some simple truths. He pin’s one of those truths in his gospel, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Let us remember God is still in control.

CONCLUSION:

If there was one last thing I could share with my children before I left this world it would go something like what I found in the song “These Simple Truth” by Sidewalk Prophets:

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say!

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod