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Dr. Ron Hall, professor and pastor, and Peter Englert, pastor, help you delve into 1 John. Understand the context and background while applying this practical book of the Bible to your life.
1 John - 2-12-17.mov
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Peter Englert
00:00 - 00:27
Welcome to the Reading First John podcast. I'm here with my friend, Ron Hall, and today we are going to be looking at First John 2.12-17, but we're going to split it up into two sections, and we're going to just work on them going together. So without further ado, And I'm pretty excited. This is probably my favorite passage in 1 John.
Peter Englert
00:28 - 00:43
So we'll get started with that. And then, so let's start with 1 John 2, 12 to 14. And then, like I said, we'll jump to 15 a little later. It says this, I'm writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
Peter Englert
00:44 - 01:01
I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
Peter Englert
01:01 - 01:25
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. So, Ron, why don't you kind of work us globally where this fits and then kind of take us through. And one of the things we love about John is most of the time it takes us a while to figure out why in the world did he write this. He literally tells us that in these passages.
Ron Hall
01:26 - 01:58
RL – Yes, and the good part is for us following the progression. We've dealt with in chapter 1 about the incarnation of Jesus as God, walking in the light as he is in the light, the need for confessing our sins, not being among those who are cessationists, that we're denying sin. And then we'll deal with that further on in the letter later on in chapter Two, next session we're together. But for this time, John now lands in this section about spiritual growth.
Ron Hall
01:58 - 02:23
He wants them to develop. And so he uses these images that he repeats, dealing with children and fathers and young men. And I think the best understanding of it is these are people that are in the progression of spiritual growth. So when you become a child of God, you experience the forgiveness of your sins that comes through Christ.
Ron Hall
02:24 - 02:39
And then when you are a young person growing in the faith, it's learning how to be able to overcome the evil one. And I love the way it captures Father. You've known Him who is from the beginning. So it's a progression in your Christian life.
Ron Hall
02:39 - 03:03
So those of you listening today, some of you are young in the Lord, or there might be even some among us that don't know Christ yet. And this is a great opportunity to respond to the message of the gospel. But you become a child in the faith, and then it's being able to experience forgiveness. and then being able to be an overcomer as a young person in the Lord.
Ron Hall
03:03 - 03:16
And those of us that are here that are farther down the road, I've been serving the Lord for decades now, we should be matured enough to be more of fathers in the faith and be investing in the children and then the younger people.
Peter Englert
03:19 - 03:48
One thing that I just want to point out, because I think that this is helpful, You know, I think in our culture, you know, if we were writing this, we would say young men, young women, fathers and mothers. And one of my favorite stories was Tim Keller was actually doing a Bible study with an atheist, and they read the word son in one of the epistles. And they said, Oh, I'm the status of a son, even though I'm a woman. And so I just.
Peter Englert
03:49 - 04:02
I want to kind of rest at ease because sometimes we can read these with our filters in the 21st century. But what John is saying is really applicable to all of us, no matter what our gender is.
Ron Hall
04:03 - 04:22
That's why I was referring to young people. And so the Bible is often doing that so that it is inclusive. The Greek word dealing with mankind often translated mankind, anthropos. And yet it's really humankind would be a better way of doing it.
Ron Hall
04:23 - 04:36
So I think we can fit in these young men to be young women. It's all inclusive. And the idea of us being able to overcome the evil one, whom John is going to be unpacking on the works of the devil that we need to overcome.
Peter Englert
04:38 - 04:54
Well, so let's kind of start just the rhythm, because you do a great job of breaking this up. Let's start with the rhythm of, first of all, the young anthropos, the young humans. What is John's rhythm to helping them grow in this passage?
Ron Hall
04:55 - 05:10
It is dealing with how we overcome the enemy. He wants them to be strong in the Lord. And notice he says in verse 14, and the Word of God living in you. So how do we overcome the evil one?
Ron Hall
05:10 - 05:39
We overcome the evil one by following after God's Word. That's why it's so important to have a devotional life, to regularly expose yourself. Or in the language of Ephesians 6, we take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Or in the language of Hebrews 4.12, the Word is living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword, pierces the dividing of our asunder, our soul and spirit joint and marrow.
Ron Hall
05:39 - 05:57
So the young person overcomes through the abiding Word of God within us. And I think it's interesting of this overcoming language, and boy, if there was ever a time we needed help with that. It's in the day and age as we're being bombarded with so much evil all around us.
Peter Englert
05:59 - 06:10
Hmm. Yeah. And I think, again, you know, part of because the second half of the verse actually clarifies that more. So I think we're going to come back to that.
Peter Englert
06:10 - 06:20
So let's start here. Let's start looking to the fathers and the mothers, the the anthropos there. What what's John's main thrust in these few verses?
Ron Hall
06:21 - 06:53
Well, I summarize it under a spiritual growth. or I entitled it Growing in the Lord. It is all about spiritual growth, that wherever you're entering into the faith, and we're all children of God, even when you're a father in the faith, wherever we're entering, we are all to be growing in the Lord. And that was Peter in 2 Peter 3, verse 18, "...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." So it's about growth, it's about development.
Ron Hall
06:54 - 07:02
Or in the language of John 15, about producing more fruit, much fruit. That is the idea. So it's a growing Christian life.
Peter Englert
07:04 - 07:22
Yeah, I heard one pastor define maturity, it's producing more than you consume. And I think that there's a lot of people that have been following Jesus for a long time. that they're not producing. And so we even think about the Great Commission.
Peter Englert
07:22 - 07:43
I just heard Barna said that 51% of Christians don't understand the Great Commission to their life, and that's making disciples. And so even here, John is painting that picture. And so before we close up, we've kind of talked about it. the youth and the children.
Peter Englert
07:44 - 07:54
But, you know, what are kind of some summary thoughts of what should we be thinking about as we just kind of hear this rhythm and structure from John in this passage?
Ron Hall
07:55 - 08:26
Well, I'd like to reinforce this idea of fathers in the faith. And so since that is the ultimate goal, that you become a mature follower of Christ, and the early verses ended up dealing with this about being captivated by love and walking in obedience. So we need more fathers in the faith that will be people that are able to invest in others. And John's language about him, you've known him, it was from the beginning.
Ron Hall
08:27 - 08:56
So there's a sense as we're maturing in the faith, sometimes we have to live with more ambiguity because we don't have all the answers, but in this sense, we can at least have the assurance of the Father's love. So if you're a child in the faith, anticipate that growth. If you're a young woman or you're a young man in the faith, then anticipate growing forward, but try to find people that can mentor you along. You could say, well, Ron, I want that, but I don't see enough examples.
Ron Hall
08:56 - 09:29
But there are people out there that follow hard after the Lord, and it's being able to let those individuals pour into you. And my relationship with Peter now, I mean, he was one of my students, and here we are decades later, still connected. We worked on the same campus after he was a graduate, and so we've had that connection. I mentor him continually on the journey, and he's mentoring me by us engaging in this podcast for you folks.
Peter Englert
09:31 - 09:55
Yeah, and you know, just one thing as kind of a pastor on the ground. You know, we bought this lie that programs will disciple people. And even the best program, it's all about facilitating a relationship, you know? And so I think in many ways, we're moving back to what John has experienced here, which he's saying, hey, there's an interplay.
Peter Englert
09:56 - 10:15
between fathers and mothers, daughters and sons and children. There's an interplay of people working together. And in different books, I think even Titus talks about the interplay between young women and older women, young men and older men. So this is ingrained in there.
Peter Englert
10:15 - 10:29
I do want to say one thing, because I just think it's important. And you highlighted it a lot. about the word of God, but I think sometimes we can get stuck in verse 14. It says, I write to you, young men, because you are strong.
Peter Englert
10:30 - 10:47
That is not self-help. What we you know, it's not like we're trying to tell people, you know, you're strong, you know, tell yourself that. But that's connected to the word of God. And you have and to overcome the evil one because of what Jesus has done in you.
Peter Englert
10:47 - 11:06
And I. I just think that that's important to call out because sometimes I don't want to go super old school. I think it was Stuart Smiley from Saturday Night Live that used to say, you know, I'm smart, I'm good looking and doggone it, people like me. You know, that's not what this passage is saying.
Peter Englert
11:06 - 11:12
It's saying as you're rooted in Jesus, there's going to be certain areas of your life where you grow strong.
Ron Hall
11:12 - 11:25
Yeah, I mean, that's good. And that's why he reinforces it. He takes the positive approach. Rather than saying, what's wrong with you as a young person in the faith, he takes the approach as, hey, you're overcoming the evil one.
Ron Hall
11:26 - 12:06
but it's reinforced through the Word of God that will really be driven home with verses 15 through 17, because how do we overcome temptation? We overcome temptation through the Word of God, and Jesus is our example for that. So I've been dealing with, running in with a lot of individuals lately. When I say a lot, I'm talking about five or six of mothers who had kids out of wedlock, and trying to raise their son, daughter, most of them have one to two kids, and what to do with that.
Ron Hall
12:06 - 12:29
These young children don't have men in their life, and I thought, how important it is to have someone. So while we're finishing up on this section, the idea of fathers to look up to, and I've been telling these women, they need to have men that are stable in their life. And the one said, yeah, the boyfriend I'm with, He doesn't want to serve the Lord. I need someone who's a Christian.
Ron Hall
12:29 - 12:40
Would you pray for me that a Christian husband would come along for me?" And reinforcing it. But this is the example. The Lord designed it where we'd have people that we should be able to look up to.
Peter Englert
12:41 - 12:56
Mm hmm. Yeah. And just to close on that, you know, I serve at a church where, you know, we're talking about mentoring and we're talking about the importance of it. And, you know, I I wonder just there's this feeling of inadequacy.
Peter Englert
12:57 - 13:15
There's this feeling maybe training. And again, that's on our responsibility. But I also think You know, we want, you know, as a millennial, that's almost 40. You know, when I'm 50 and 60, you know, I want to be like the Ron Hall that I'm looking for, you know, the the 30 or 40 year old.
Peter Englert
13:15 - 13:28
And, you know, in my orbit, there's the 20 somethings and 30 somethings and they're different. And that's the way the church is supposed to run. So. Yeah, let's hold that intention because, you know, you actually teed us up really well.
Peter Englert
13:28 - 13:43
I want to read the the second part. So as you said, 12 to 14 is purposeful and positive. This is kind of the the good news, bad news. So let's read this and then we'll process it together.
Peter Englert
13:44 - 14:07
Verse 15 says, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." So Ron, let's have some fun.
Peter Englert
14:09 - 14:21
Let's say, you know, John's sitting with us, you know, he's reading this letter and he goes, you've overcome the evil one. don't love the world. What's the transition? What's the tie?
Peter Englert
14:21 - 14:25
Because he goes from good news to bad news really fast.
Ron Hall
14:25 - 14:46
Well, I think he's pointing out what can captivate our attention. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. the same temptations that were found in the Garden of Genesis are found here and described. They're in the Garden of Genesis, they're in the garden with Jesus and the temptation he had.
Ron Hall
14:47 - 15:17
His temptation in the wilderness, this has reinforced this pattern. So John is saying, this is what I want you to be as young children, as young people, as fathers, as you're maturing, but hey, there's a world out there that wants to captivate you. And this is not thinking just in terms, Peter, and all listening to the idea of the cosmos as just the planet in the solar system. This is really talking about the world and its ways.
Ron Hall
15:17 - 15:26
And so he identifies that. So that's the transition. Here's the ideal of what we want, but here's what allures and wants to draw you away.
Peter Englert
15:28 - 15:49
We're going to talk more just kind of examples, but why don't you kind of walk us through? Because like what you said, the the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life that's connected to Jesus's temptations. It's not the first time that it's mentioned. Why don't you walk us through each of those kind of in the biblical context that you've seen?
Peter Englert
15:49 - 15:49
Yeah.
Ron Hall
15:50 - 16:08
And that's a huge one. I do want to reinforce this whole idea of love. Where will our loyalty be? Will our loyalty be to the Father, to God, to Jesus, or will our loyalty be to the world itself?
Ron Hall
16:09 - 16:24
So it's the first command, you shall have no other gods before me. So the summary, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The summary of the Ten Commandments, love your neighbor as yourself. So the idea is love for God is first.
Ron Hall
16:25 - 16:47
So the world is tindalating, it's tandalizing. It wants to lure us astray, and so lust the flesh, lust the eye, pride of life. I mean, Jesus had it from Satan in the temptation that I referred to before and you referred to. you know, if these stones can be turned into bread, because he's hungry.
Ron Hall
16:48 - 17:13
And then the idea that in the temple, you know, you cast yourself down and the angels will hold you up, and the idea, all of the kingdoms of the world I can give you if you only bow down and worship me. And those are the same temptations in the garden with Adam and Eve. They were there, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life. And it's amazing, Satan doesn't have any new material.
Ron Hall
17:15 - 17:33
Because the old material works again and again and again. Think about the temptations you're facing. Oh, Ron, you know, 50 years ago, they didn't have computers, they didn't have temptation that would happen on the computer. They still had the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
Ron Hall
17:33 - 17:56
And that's the makeup of the world system. I'm also doing a reminder of Ephesians chapter 2, that the God of this world, of what he does, he lures people on his path. 2 Corinthians 4, for the God of this world has blinded the eyes of those which see not. So this is constantly gnawing at us.
Ron Hall
17:56 - 18:02
And it goes back to the previous verses, how do we overcome? We overcome through the Word of God. Hmm.
Peter Englert
18:03 - 18:34
So I think what's powerful and what you just said is the devil doesn't play any new games and. You know, I think, you know, there's two sides of the sin coin. There's the legalism side that we deal with with the religious leaders in Jesus and even quite now churches where, you know, we take these laws and we try to make them like the penultimate. But then there's, you know, what we might call the libertine side, which I'm free in Christ, I can do anything.
Peter Englert
18:35 - 19:08
You know, I think that's kind of what Galatians is dealing with the legalism side. You could probably put Ephesians, who's dealing more in the libertine side, and then you see Romans 14. And the reason why I'm talking about all of this is what makes the Bible timeless is the Bible's not going to give you an answer of whether you should watch this movie or not. The Bible is going to say, hey, am I developing a lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life?
Peter Englert
19:09 - 19:32
Am I making that decision to watch this movie out of any of those three things? And again, the example that's in the New Testament is eating meat to idols. You know, so Paul says, hey, if your conscience isn't effective, if you just look at it as meat, go ahead and eat it. But if you're with someone that it's going to lead them towards sin, don't do it.
Peter Englert
19:32 - 19:57
And I think that that's what makes this passage powerful is it's kind of like the parent that you've probably done this with your kids. Your kid asks you and says, you know, Hey, Dad, is this the right thing to do?" And you look back at them and say, do you think it's the right thing to do? I think in some ways, Jesus is giving us a framework as opposed to just the straight, don't do this, do that.
Ron Hall
19:57 - 20:13
Yeah. He's not dealing with an external righteousness out of this. He's dealing with a holiness that is worked out within our lives. And John has been dealing with that already, and he continues to reinforce it.
Ron Hall
20:14 - 20:52
So John is telling us, here are the allurements of what you're going to face. So if you're going to be a growing person in the faith, then you're going to have to deal with the temptation that is before you. Now, in light of what you just said, remember, there are people that were a part of this community of faith who decided they don't have sin in their lives, and that they weren't going to stay with the faith and follow after. And we have this same thing that can happen today, where people are lured astray, and John said, no, here it is, lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life.
Ron Hall
20:53 - 21:10
So it's ending up where you're hostile toward God, and we have a confused culture with this. We just look at it, and you're right. We watch this movie or not, it's a matter of principle within you. There are certain things that you might be able to tolerate that someone else can't.
Ron Hall
21:11 - 21:17
Well, think about it. Will this lead me astray? Will this lead me down a road that will be devastating to my spiritual growth?
Peter Englert
21:20 - 21:51
So let's let's kind of just apply this because you you know, you have some different just questions and ideas, because again, I think I think some of this is just processing out loud. But you know what? I'm actually finding this in your notes. So one of the questions that you have that I see, what are three areas of temptation that come to each person from the world system which Satan runs and entices people through?
Peter Englert
21:51 - 22:08
So we just kind of talked about that, and I think that that's pretty powerful. But besides watching movies, how else would you see this applying, but also connected to the first part? Because I think that that's where the practicality of reading 1 John, not just at the surface level, but at a deep level.
Ron Hall
22:10 - 22:38
It's what's captivating our attention. Our church, the pastor where we are, has come alive, and there's about 3,000 people, over 3,000, that participate. And it's the idea, when you get up in the morning, that you deal with a devotional. And so he provides a, it's not deeply exegetical, but it's a devotional reading to get people to start the day in the Word rather than in the world.
Ron Hall
22:39 - 23:01
So he is so strong about not letting your news feeds be where you go first to find out what's going on in the world. And this happens to all of us. He says where you start the day is going to impact where you end the day. So am I going to start the day in the world and what's going on with all of the noise in the world?
Ron Hall
23:02 - 23:25
Or am I going to go ahead and start the day with the Word, be thinking about God's thoughts? You know, there was a guy who I know, he was a radical doctrinally, Norman Vincent Peale, and off the deep end with positive thinking, but he would say, Lord, what are you up to today? Because I want to be a part of it. And so how do we avoid less the flesh, less the I pride of life?
Ron Hall
23:26 - 23:31
Lord, what are you up to? Because I want to be a part of what you are doing. That's a check for us.
Peter Englert
23:32 - 23:48
Mm hmm. Well, and also, you know, I know I talked about the Stuart Smiley, you know, kind of in the negative way. I think the Bible does redefine that in a positive way. You know, it's saying you your identity is a child of God.
Peter Englert
23:48 - 24:13
Your identity is, you know, the good news of the gospel, like Jesus Christ died and rose again to give you new life. Therefore, this is how you live, you know, and you and I maybe someday we'll do an Ephesians study together. But, you know, we one of the first things you taught me about Ephesians one to three, it talks. Some would say it's way more theological and Ephesians four to six is practical.
Peter Englert
24:13 - 24:41
But I think one of the things that you said, no, no, no, no, it's all practical, because if if I don't know who I am in Jesus, I'm gonna be disconnected to the way I behave. And so I think a lot of what John's doing here is a lot of what Paul does in the New Testament, is he's saying, hey, let me tell you who you are, let me tell you how you're supposed to live, and this is how it plays out. And that's what makes this passage really powerful.
Ron Hall
24:41 - 24:54
And there's so many examples we come up with from the Bible. of people's lives. Think about Solomon from the Old Testament, how he's led astray. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life.
Ron Hall
24:55 - 25:09
Think about David with his fallen sin. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride of life. They were repeated. And it's the same case with us, so it's so true and spot on with what you're saying.
Ron Hall
25:10 - 25:31
So how are we going to address this? You know, there's that old saying of the idea, sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay, and you'll reap more than you ever sowed. I mean, that's a biblical principle, the law of sowing and reaping. If we sow to the flesh, we'll have the flesh reap corruption.
Ron Hall
25:31 - 25:57
If we sow to the Spirit, we'll have the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians. So what are we going to do? What you feed will grow and what you starve will die. I'm hitting it from all different angles for all of us listening and processing to say, okay, what is it that I need to get my arms around in order to not let this world system that John is addressing envelop my life and consume me?
Ron Hall
25:58 - 26:17
And it happens because the Christian life is so daily because we're making decisions today that are going to affect tomorrow and the next day. And so if we can see it so daily, am I going to give in to that temptation today? What am I going to let take hold of me?
Peter Englert
26:19 - 26:41
Yeah, the last thing I'll say is You know, C.S. Lewis and other authors have said that pride is actually the foundational sin, and you might not agree with it. But I think the point is, is that when we sin, we basically say to God, God, you can't provide for me. God, I'll take things into my own hands.
Peter Englert
26:41 - 27:12
I know better than you. And I think what what's powerful is when we read God's word and when we pray. And I'm just even thinking about worship right now. When you start your day saying that the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, when you start by saying Jehovah Jireh, God provides for me, when you start going through these attributes that God is always present, God is always with me, it changes and competes and goes
Peter Englert
27:12 - 27:32
against the world system. I have to get what's mine, I have to do what's on my own. And I think the power of 1 John is John again is telling you, hey, walk into the Word of God, Jesus Christ has saved you. But then connected to that, don't follow the pattern of the world, follow the pattern of love, which is in Jesus.
Peter Englert
27:33 - 27:33
Yeah.
Ron Hall
27:35 - 28:12
And I think overarching with all of this that can help us, Peter, in processing all of us listening, this whole idea that if anyone is consumed by lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life, the love of the Father is not in him. So what is my avenue to overcome the love of God? You know, that the love of God in Romans 5, 5, is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. And John is going to reinforce that over and over again, not that we loved him, but he loved us and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins.
Ron Hall
28:13 - 28:39
So he loved us first, so rather than the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life being what consumes us, let's be consumed by the love of God. And then chapter one, we've already dealt with it, we're gonna have conviction. As we're walking in the light, He's going to expose it, bring us cleansing. And now in chapter 2, don't let the world go ahead and captivate you, lead you astray.
Ron Hall
28:39 - 28:56
Instead, be consumed with the love of the Father. I love that picture because I'm not on my own to overcome lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and pride of life. I have a heavenly Father that loves me, loves you, and He's going to be there to help us through it.
Peter Englert
28:57 - 29:08
Well, that is a great place to put a close to this episode, and then next episode we will pick up in 1 John 2.18. Thank you so much for joining us.