How many of you have ever watched someone do something really well and wished you could do it too? As followers of Christ, just like we sometimes fantasize about being great athletes or performers, sometimes we see what appears to be deeper levels of spiritual commitment and dedication in other people and we think, “Yeah I’d like to be that committed, but that will never be me.”
Last week I talked about how my goal for us individually and as a church this coming year is that we would experience “forward motion,” which I defined as experiencing spiritual growth in our own lives, and then seeing God use that growth to affect and influence the lives of other people. So what I want to look at today picks up from there and hopefully, gives us an encouraging grid and perspective through which we can better understand and make sense of how God sees our spiritual growth over time.
If you were here on the first Sunday of last year, you might remember that I gave this same message. I wasn’t planning on doing it again, but the same things that motivated me to do it last year kept nagging at me this time so I’m doing it again. So turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 John 2. The book of 1 John was written by the apostle John, one of the 12 disciples that accompanied Jesus during his three-year ministry, and one of the 11 that Jesus commissioned to carry his message to the world. John was known for his volatile temper and eventually ended up as the pastor of the church in Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. Because Ephesus was a port city—a commercial center—it was also a cultural and religious melting pot and John’s church reflected that cultural and racial diversity as well. There were Jews who came into Christianity with a strong, sense of religious tradition and there those who came from the pagan mystery religions where the moral code was almost antithetical to the teachings of Christ. John had to work hard to communicate his message in language and terms that would make sense to people who struggled with a broad spectrum of challenges—just like we do—to experience God’s plan for their lives. What John is trying to accomplish in this passage, beginning with verse 3 of chapter 2 are several things I think are right in line with what God wants for us in our lives. The first is that…
True spirituality means knowing God and obeying God
Look at 1 John 2:3 where John writes,
3 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments.
That phrase “be sure” is from the Greek word gnosko. It’s a word that described one’s knowledge of something through exposure to both information and experience—meaning that you understand something not just because you know about it, but because you deal with it in some way. What it means here is that you can obey God without knowing him and you can also know God and not obey him. But true spirituality—an ongoing, life-changing relationship with God, can’t be experienced without both knowing and obeying. Jesus said,
“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
If someone claimed to be your friend, but knew nothing about you and rarely, if ever, spoke to you, or wasn’t interested in what you’re all about, would you consider that a meaningful or important relationship? No. Worshipping God in both Spirit and truth helps us to see how both knowing God and obeying God are interdependent components. God doesn’t want you trying to obey him without knowing him anymore than he wants you to know him but not obey him. However, what we’re going to see is that the one who knows God, but struggles to obey is heading the right direction more than the one who obeys God’s word, but has no relationship with God inwardly. And the way I want to help us understand this is by using the image of a dartboard to represent our spiritual journey and to see how…
God cares more about where your dart is aimed than where your dart lands
Look at 1 John 2:4-11 where John says in verse 4,
4 If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth.
This is a scripture that has been misused often to make people who struggle feel guilty and discouraged and to feel like giving up. But when you really understand what it meant as John wrote this to his church, I think you’ll begin seeing completely differently. That word obey is from the Greek verb tereo. Greek was the trade language in the middle East during this time, which is why the New Testament was written in Greek instead of Aramaic, which was language they actually spoke to each other.
The word that’s translated “obey” in this verse is also translated throughout the New Testament as “to keep,” or “to do,” “to guard,” or “to observe.” In their language it described something you were aiming at or sincerely trying to achieve. Now, why do I tell you all this stuff about Greek words? So you’ll think I’m smart and believe anything I say. No, the reason I dump that on you is because, if what John is trying to tell them is, “When you do fail to obey Christ, then it means you really don’t have a relationship with him” then we’re all lost. If he’s really saying, “Look, you screwed up, so now it’s all over. One chance at bat, one swing, one strike, and you’re out. Being a child of God means you get one dart and if you miss the bull’s eye, it’s over.” And honestly, if that were the case, I would have given up a long time ago, but I experienced a lot of relief and encouragement when I realized that’s not what John is trying to communicate.
But even when we know that it’s not an “all or nothing” thing, sometimes we still get discouraged and burned out because we think everyone else looks like they’re hitting the bull’s eye and we’re not. So we beginning believing that deep and profound spiritual victories and transformations happen in other people’s lives, but not ours. We become defeated, thinking that we’re experiencing a sub-standard spiritual existence—and it just isn’t true. What John is trying to put before his people here is a target—like a dartboard. God knows you’re not going to hit the bull’s eye every time. In fact, for many of them, like many of us, they’re doing well when their dart even hits the board. But that’s why understanding this principle is so crucial. Because if I’m doing my best to aim at the bull’s eye, I may never actually hit it, but what’s important is not where my dart lands on the target, but that I’m aiming at the target.
So what’s the “target?” John says the bull’s eye is obedience to Christ’s commands. But what does John means by “his commands.” Is he talking about the Ten Commandments? Is he talking about all the rituals of the Mosaic Law? Is he talking about the 350 rules of the Talmud that the Jewish priests and Pharisees observed? What are the commands of Christ? If you’ve spent much time reading or studying the Gospel stories, you probably know the answer to this one. Jesus said it’s really pretty simple:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Then he said it a little differently:
“I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35)
So how is love growing stronger in you—your love for God as well as your love for others? The answer to that will first have to do with how often you’re throwing darts at that target. Look again at 1 John 2:5 where he says,
5 But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him.
I won’t bore you again with the details, but the grammar of this phrase also reveals that this goal is not static, but an ongoing, dynamic, of ever-increasing maturity and completeness. If you wanted to be a world-champion dart-thrower, you’d be practicing every day, learning new ways to get better at landing that dart right where you want it to land on the target. But would you give up because your dart didn’t land exactly where you wanted it to every time? No. If you did, you’d give up right away. The spiritual journey is kind of like that too. It’s like throwing darts.
So what’s on your dartboard? According to this passage, two questions belong in the bull’s eye: The first is How does loving God better require me to be different? If you want to love God better; if you’re going to put “Loving God better” on your dartboard, what needs to be different about you? What needs to change? What needs to be cultivated or mentored or learned? What needs to be added to you life? What needs to be subtracted from your life? What needs to be added, or subtracted in order for your darts to land as close to the bull’s eye as you can get them? Again, it’s not whether you hit the bull’s eye, but whether you’re really aiming at it!
There’s a second question: How does loving others better require me to be different? In the same way, if you’re going to put “Loving others better” on your dartboard, what needs to be different in you? what needs to be different about you? What needs to change? What needs to be cultivated or mentored or learned? Maybe some things need to be added to you life. Maybe some things need to be subtracted from your life. The answers to these questions are different for each us because loving others presents different challenges to each of one of us. Now look at what 1 John 2:6 says,
6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.
“Okay, now you’re really getting out there. We should live our lives as Christ did? How is that possible?” Not if we’re really his followers. What’s he like? What’s important to him? How would he treat the people in your world—at work, or at school, or in your house? Does it or would it make sense to people when they find out you have a close relationship with him? Do you accept people like Jesus accepts people? Do you forgive people like Jesus does? Do you feel compassion or contempt for people in sin? That’s what Jesus is like. Is that what you’re like? If it isn’t, is it what you want to be like? Are willing to aim at being like that? John goes on and adds some more specifics to this challenge to love others in verse 7, where he writes,
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment, for it is an old one you have always had, right from the beginning. This commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. 8 Yet it is also new. This commandment is true in Christ and is true among you, because the darkness is disappearing and the true light is already shining. 9 If anyone says, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. 10 Anyone who loves other Christians is living in the light and does not cause anyone to stumble. 11 Anyone who hates a Christian brother or sister is living and walking in darkness. Such a person is lost, having been blinded by the darkness.
Hate’s a pretty strong word. And you may feel like, “I don’t hate anyone.” There may have been or there may be someone whom you hate; or someone you will hate. It may be someone in your church, or home, or at work, or living next door. Again, it’s important that we don’t take this passage out of its context and lose the meaning John has for them. We come back to that picture of taking aim. So…
What are you doing about your “hate?”
I’ve found that, when I’m struggling with those kinds of feelings for someone else there are five things I need to do in order to keep those emotions I can’t control from manifesting themselves in inappropriate or sinful behavior:
First, I pray for my own eyes to be opened to anything I am doing wrong. Even when someone has burned you, it doesn’t mean you’ve done nothing wrong. But even if you haven’t, there will still be the temptation to see yourself as if you never do. And as soon as you begin feeling that way it should set off an internal alarm, reminding you that you’re just as susceptible and liable to sin as badly as anyone else.
Second, if it’s another believer, I try to look beyond their words and actions to see their heart. I remind myself that, in their heart, they really do believe in and love God and are probably doing their best to walk with him and are struggling with their own stuff just like I do.
Third, I pray for them. I pray that they will see what God wants them to see and change; not the things I think need to change, but the things God wants to change.
Fourth, if becomes obvious that resolving the conflict is not possible, I pray that God will remove us from each other, if necessary. Sometimes, in order to love someone, I need to keep a certain amount of distance between them and me. If we don’t have to communicate, then we won’t sin against each other. So I pray that God would provide that distance. And then fifth, remember that…
Loving others is about value, not about affection
In order to love someone with God’s love, you don’t need to like them or even be their friend. You just need value them—recognizing and respecting them as a creation of God for whom Christ died. Why did God make them such an annoying jerk? I don’t know. But he did and we need to remember that God loves them and no one likes to hear someone being hateful or bagging on someone they love. So, even just out of love and respect for God, value and respect his children and that will manifest the love God has given to you when you love those he loves.
These last three verses contain something we all need to remember, that everyone throws their darts from a different place. Being a child of God and a follower of Christ is a journey. That’s what walking with God and throwing the darts is all about. Journeys take time and even though everyone is on the journey with the same God, their experiences are still unique, but the reason we gather together is so that we can all experience this journey of grace together. The journey of grace involves victory and defeat, successes and failures, confidence and fear. But the great thing about this journey is that, while each step is revealed one at a time, the destination—heaven—is guaranteed for everyone who makes the choice of faith to go on it. So why doesn’t everyone want to go? Author Richard Paul Evens writes this: “The most difficult decisions are often not the ones in which we cannot determine the correct course, rather the ones in which we are certain of the path, but fear the journey.”[1]
The journey of grace is a series of thousands of steps of faith—sometimes they feel like leaps of faith. And that can be pretty frightening. So no matter where you’re at on the journey, it’s our commitment to do our best to meet you there. Look now at 1 John 2:12-14, where John says,
12 I am writing to you, my dear children, because your sins have been forgiven because of Jesus. 13 I am writing to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young because you have won your battle with Satan. 14 I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you who are young because you are strong with God’s word living in your hearts, and you have won your battle with Satan.
John is addressing three groups of people and we’re all in one of these groups. The first group he addresses are “children.” Some of us are at the front end of the journey of faith; you’re just beginning and so maybe even calling yourself a follower of Christ feels a little strange or premature. You’re still on one of the first legs of the journey and so things like an understanding of God’s forgiveness are still crucial. What’s important to God is that you gain an understanding of who it is you’re worshipping and praying to. On the one hand, none of us will ever fully “get it.” But on the other hand, there are still some foundational stones that need to be laid so that, as you build on them over time, those things will make more sense because you’ll understand how they all rest upon the foundation of your faith. That’s why he says to this group,
12 I am writing to you, my dear children, because your sins have been forgiven because of Jesus; because you have known the Father.
This is encouragement to keep going; don’t get discouraged; don’t give up; the journey may contain a lot of mystery, but the destination—and the one who waits for you there—is not a mystery at all.
The second group are the “mature.” These are the mothers and fathers of the faith. The picture here is one of both age and maturity. Those who have been at this a while, maybe even for a lifetime. Now, this doesn’t mean that, just because someone is older we should assume or expect that they are fathers or mothers in the faith. But on the other hand, there are those among us who are mature in age and in faith and because of the combination of both spiritual and chronological maturity, John says,
I am writing to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning.
He reminds you of the longevity of your relationship with God and all that God has accomplished in your life isn’t just for you. Originally, those things were for you, but now those experiences and the lessons you’ve learned are there for the benefit of others.
The third group is the young men and women of the faith, to whom he says,
I have written to you who are young because you are strong with God’s word living in your hearts, and you have won your battle with Satan.
This group is not necessarily new to the faith, but they’re not fathers or mothers yet either. Because they’ve been walking with Christ for a while, they’re experiencing the victories that come from the process of purging destructive behaviors and ways of thinking that result in sinful words and actions. This is where I see myself. I’ve been on my spiritual journey for about 20 years now, but I’m still one of the “young men.” God is still purging and shaping and molding me everyday, but I’ve also been able to experience some victories as well. My target now is to finish well, to finish as “a father of the faith.” So my daily prayer is for God to continue to expose and purge from my heart and life those things that prevent me from being more like him.
As you look at your own life, I want to challenge you to take some time this week to get alone with God and figure out what’s on your dartboard when it comes to loving God and loving others better. Put some things on there that have never been there. Put some things on the target that you’ve never aimed at. Put some things on the “Loving God” target that maybe you’ve always though were beyond you. Maybe there’s a sin issue that needs to go. Maybe there’s a discipline issue that needs some energy behind it. Maybe it’s giving God some of your time and skills. Maybe it’s time to let God take you deeper into worship—whether here in our services or in your own quiet time with him to read his word, pray, meditate on what you’re learning, listen to his spirit speak to your heart.
Second, put some names on the “Loving Others” target that you’ve been afraid or unwilling to aim at. Maybe God’s asking you to reach out to someone at work or school who doesn’t fit in and you’re the one who’s going to help that person experience a taste of how valuable they are to God. Maybe there’s someone you just hate and God is asking you to exchange those thoughts of frustration or hatred for prayers. Maybe there’s someone in your life who needs less pushing and more grace.
When you take aim, remember that the big issue—the thing God is most concerned about is just that—that you’re taking aim! Will you ever hit the bull’s eye? Yes. Sometimes out of luck and sometimes out of skill. But a lot of the time your darts won’t land in the bull’s eye. They land somewhere else. Sometimes you dart may even miss the board completely. But there’s something you can successfully do every single time, no matter where your dart lands—you won’t hit the bull’s eye every time, but you can aim at it every time. And when you’re consistently aiming at the bull’s eye, you know at least you’re aiming in the right direction and that, the vast majority of the time, you darts are going to hit the board.
Suggested Thoughts & Questions for Group Discussion
In this message, John said true spirituality included both knowing and obeying God.
¨ If you had to tell someone what it means to know God, what advice would you give them?
John said that the phrase "be sure" meant to know something through both knowledge and experience--to know God we must be learning his word in various settings as well as experiencing a relationship with him.
¨ How can you plan to do that throughout your week?
¨ Which is more difficult to plan, the studying or developing a personal relationship?
¨ If you were cultivating a relationship with a new friend, what would you plan to do?
¨ How does that differ and how is that similar to what you might do in cultivating your relationship with God?
John stated that God cares more about where your “dart” is aimed than where it lands.
¨ Why do you think our heart’s intent matters so much more to God than the results of our efforts?
John made three interrelated challenges regarding how we love God and others. The first centered around how loving God better requires us to make changes within ourselves.
¨ How do you interpret that in the scope of your own experiences?
¨ Will the changes you might make be difficult?
¨ If so, is actually making the changes or being committed to making the changes the greater challenge?
¨ How can others pray for you in this area?
The second challenge was similar in that it required changes within ourselves, but differed because it was a challenge to love others as Christ has loved others. The first part of this is to learn to value others as creations of God just as we are creations of God.
¨ Looking back on the last year, has there been anybody you have personally disliked?
¨ If so, can you see their value at this time?
¨ Do you have to like them to see their value as God does?
¨ If you were to go through each day trying your hardest to see every single person you come across as valuable, how do you feel that would affect your day?
¨ Would it be tiring at first, even exhaustive?
¨ After awhile, if you kept it up, what affect do you think it would have on your attitude towards people in general?
¨ Your attitude toward yourself?
¨ Your attitude towards God?
John gave us guidelines for this kind of challenge:
¨ Ask yourself if you accept others as God does.
¨ Ask yourself if you forgive others as Jesus forgives.
¨ Ask yourself if you feel compassion or contempt for people in sin.
¨ If you made these a part of your thought process in trying to view others as God would, could you come closer to the goal of valuing all people?
¨ Would using these steps help you to remember God’s viewpoint?
Finally, John gave us guidelines should we need to combat feelings of hate.
¨ Pray for my eyes to be opened to anything I’m doing wrong.
¨ Ask yourself if you’re looking beyond others words/actions to see their heart.
¨ Pray that they’ll see what God wants them to see and change.
¨ Pray that God will remove us from each other if necessary.
¨ Do you find any of these more intimidating than the rest?
¨ Are they things you are capable of praying for/doing?
¨ Do you have any feelings of hate you feel this guide could not help you work through?
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[1] Evans, Richard Paul, The Locket, (New York: Simon & Schuster), 128
