1 John 5 - Three Levels of Spiritual Maturity
Tom Shrader examines 1 John 2:12-14, identifying three levels of spiritual maturity within the family of God: little children who know the Father, young men who overcome the evil one through Scripture, and fathers who have deep intimacy with God. He challenges believers to assess their spiritual growth and move beyond emotional childishness toward maturity through Word study, holy living, and mentoring others.
“Your obedience today is going to determine your sense of God's will tomorrow.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 John
Recorded: February 02, 1989
Duration: 44 min
Themes: maturity, growth, discipleship, mentoring, fathers, children, overcoming, intimacy, new believer, young christian, spiritual father, mentor, struggling with growth, seeking maturity, bible study leader, mature believer
Scripture: 1 John 2:12-14, 1 John 2:3, 1 John 2:9-11, Hebrews 5:12-14, John 9, 2 Peter 3, Proverbs 6:16-19
Theological Themes: spiritual maturity, sanctification, biblical authority, scripture study, holy living, discipleship, spiritual formation, christian growth
Full Transcript
We are studying John the Apostle, 1st John, almost all the way to the back of the Bible. John writes also a gospel that we know. He writes the book of Revelation and he writes these three little books toward the end of the Bible. 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John. This guy was long on literature and short on titles evidently because that's what he called them. It's a personal account about where you and I can find real life. He said there's only one place we're going to find real life and that's in the person of Jesus Christ.
We are in the middle of a little mini three-week series that's really going to now be four weeks on the most important question that we can ever ask. It's the most important question that we're ever going to have to deal with in our life and in the life of anyone that's ever lived on the face of this earth. The question essentially is this: are you a Christian? Very direct question.
The Straightforward Approach
I like, because of the position that I'm in, I teach a lot to men and every once in a while to men and women, and that's fine men and women, but I like the men a little better because you can be more direct with them. They all think, even though they may not be, they all think they're bottom-line kind of guys. Just give it to me straight, Tom, I can take it. Don't sugarcoat it for me, just lay it out.
Well, okay, here it is. John lays it out. He says this: are you a Christian? And here's how you'll know. Because a lot of us answer yes to that question without really thinking. Or we may say yes and then say, why are you a Christian? And you'll hear all kinds of different answers to that. John said, here's how you know you're a Christian.
The Doctrinal Test
First of all, there's a doctrinal test. He says, what do you say about Christ? See, the root word of Christian is Christ. You're not going to be a Christian without Christ. If, in fact, you don't embrace the person of Jesus Christ, you're not a Christian. You couldn't be. Any more than I am an American and living as a citizen in Romania, I mean, it's not going to happen.
The first test of a Christian is, who does he say Christ is? Who does she say Christ is? John says, He's God come in the flesh to die for your sin and to die for my sin. That's the first test of a Christian. That's how I know if I'm a Christian or not. That's the first part of the test.
The word that John uses is confess. That means to agree. I acknowledge that Jesus is God come in the flesh to die for my sins. Now, the second part of the doctrinal test is this. I confess my sin. I acknowledge that I've sinned. By that, we don't mean break some commandment. We mean, I acknowledge that I fall short of the mark. That's what sin is. God's standard is perfection, and we've established over a period of time that none of us are perfect, so we've all sinned. We confess that we're sinners. We confess Christ came and died on the cross to save us.
The Moral Test
Now, that's the doctrinal test of whether you're a Christian. If you don't answer yes to either one of those, then you know right now, in the quiet of your heart, you're not a Christian. But that's not the complete test. There's a second part. It's the moral test. That test is internal. That's inside. There's a moral test. It's external.
John said, If you're a Christian, you're going to live like it. First of all, there'll be obedience. Chapter 2, verse 3. John said, "And by this we know that we have come to know Him. By this we know that we are Christian, if we keep His commandment, if we obey Him." That is not some fear of violating a law. That is a desire to do what's right in God's eyes. It's a desire to know what God has for me, and then to do it.
The Key to Finding God's Will
Men, let me give you just a little nugget. This baby is not going to cost you one extra penny, and this may be the most profound thing that you'll hear this morning. This is just a little extra. This is a freebie. Your obedience today is going to determine your sense of God's will tomorrow.
I sat with a guy last week, and he's dying to find God's will for his life. I mean, he wants to find God's will for his life so bad he could spit. He wants to just find out what God wants him to do. Well, as we talk for a while, we find out that this guy is living with a gal. They're not married. Not sure that they want to get married. They're just kind of testing it out. Why buy the cow when milk is so cheap? That kind of an attitude.
Well, I said, let me tell you something. While you're squinting to find God's will, let me help you with wide open eyes give you the first thing He wants you to do. He wants you to get rid of this gal. I mean, if you're sitting here, and you're involved in adultery, or you're involved with some gal outside of marriage or something, you don't need to go straining to find God's will. There it is. Boom. It's clear.
So often, we're out there trying to grab more for God's will, trying to find out if He wants us to buy a blue house or a red house, and trying to figure out where He wants us to work, and what He's trying to do. Is God bringing economic calamity on Phoenix just to get me out of the real estate business? Well, I don't know. I doubt it. If you want to know God's will, here it is in verse 3. Keep His commandments.
Love for Brothers - The Specific Test
Now, that's a pretty broad thing. I mean, that's a pretty broad statement. Here's the particular. He said, here's just one aspect of it. Verse 9, 10, and 11. It's the three verses we closed with last week. "The one who says he's in the light, and yet hates his brothers is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there's no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brothers is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, does not know where he's going, because darkness has blinded his eyes."
There's John's way of contrasting again. He said, the one that's in
The one who walks in the light, the one who knows Christ, is going to have a love about him. There's going to be a sense of love. And one of the things he's going to love for sure are the brothers, the other Christians.
We said this last week: you may not like them. There may be people, and if your church is like ours, there's some people in there, very honestly, I don't like. But I'll tell you what, I love them. See, I don't need to like them. They don't need to be fun for me to be with. They're just different than I am. What interests me doesn't interest them. But we have one basic, fundamental, uniting factor. We both love the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are people, and I mean this honestly, that we will meet anytime, anywhere, and do anything we can for them, because we really love them. We'd rather do that than have dinner with some of them. But I pray, and you should too, that God gives me that love, that feeling back. Because that love is a commitment. That's what He's saying. He said, you're going to know morally where you are by your desire to obey and your desire to love.
Here's how you'll know about the love: you'll start to love the unlovable. What I've found in all those occasions, because of what we do and where we're in, is we're forced to come together with people that on the surface I don't think I have a lot in common with and I don't really like. You know what I discover? They're pretty neat people. And God will do that. And that's the test. There's the moral test, that's the external, and the doctrinal test, that's the internal, to find out if I'm a Christian.
The Family of God: Three Levels of Spiritual Maturity
Let's assume for a second, and I understand it's a dangerous assumption, let's assume for a second that everybody in the room is a Christian. I don't believe that, but let's assume it. John says, now I want to talk about a next level. I want to talk about something new. We find it in verse 12, 13, and 14. We're going to spend some time today to break this down.
He said, "I'm writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. I'm writing to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you children because you know the Father. I have written to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one."
John starts to write now about the family of God. Let's make some distinctions here. Let's first of all point out that we do not believe in the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of men. We're not all brothers.
I was at an ecumenical meeting not long ago and there were Buddhists and Hindus and Islam and Catholics and Protestants and community churchers and everybody. The speaker got up and said the one thing we may disagree about the specifics but we all worship the same God. No we don't. The Buddhist doesn't worship the same God I do. His God doesn't have a son named Jesus Christ. We don't all worship the same God and we're not all brothers in the sense of a brotherhood of man.
Two Distinct Families
There's a global sense in which we are the world but that's not what we're talking about. Jesus makes the distinction. He looks at some Pharisees and He says, "You know what? You're just like your daddy the devil." John says you and I are children of God. There's two distinct families in the world: those that believe in God and His son Jesus Christ and those that don't.
John says don't miss it. Because that's the case, in this subgroup, this family of God, there's three positions He talks about: little children, young men, and fathers. We're going to look at each one of those but let me introduce it by saying I want you to be looking at each position trying to figure out where you are in the family of God. You say you're a Christian. Great. Are you a little kid or are you a young man or are you a father? Where do you fit in the family of God?
We point out one other thing. Just because you determine you're a little child, it does not necessarily mean you'll become a young man. If you think you're a young man, it does not mean you'll become a father. There are people who come into the family of God as little children and die as little children.
Understanding "Little Children" - Born Again into God's Family
He says let's look at the family of God and the first word He uses is little children. How many of you are deeply interested in the Greek? That's what I figured. Absolutely none. But you got to get it for this one sentence so we can understand it.
The word child appears in verse 12 and verse 13. It says children verse 12, children verse 13. In the Greek it's two different words. In verse 12 here's what He's saying: I'm writing to you little children, those of you who have been born, the whole world, those of you that have been born into the family of God. I'm writing to all of you, kids, young men and fathers, for your sins have been forgiven for His name's sake. He said I'm writing to those of you who've been born again.
There it is, there's the term. Born again, that's what we're going to say. I've been born again into the family of God and that term might have some negative connotation for some of you because we so abused the word. We've got born-again chicken houses and born-again car dealers and born-again everything's born again. It doesn't mean refurbished building, doesn't mean under new management, although it does in a sense. It means that we've been born into the family of God.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Hey, you must be born again." You and I who've come to Christ have been born again spiritually. We were dead spiritually, now we're alive. And here's why. You ever wonder why God saved you? Maybe I'm sick. I am sick. Maybe I'm different than you and I probably am.
why God saved you. I was never particularly puzzled why God didn't save Aunt Harriet or Uncle John. And I never wondered when was God going to get around to my family. I always wondered why did God save me? Not because I deserve it. We got that figured out. Not because I earned it. We got that figured out.
Here's why He saved you. Verse 12, for His namesake. He saved you so you would point out what a gracious God He is. Remember in John's Gospel in the ninth chapter, Jesus is walking along with the disciples as they come upon a man, I believe he's blind, and they ask this, the disciples, did this guy sin or did his parents sin? Remember Jesus' answer. He said neither one. But that this man might be a display case for the work of God. Jesus said, I'm going to do a mighty work in this man so that you will see the mercy of God.
Well, I want you to understand, those of you that have come to Christ in repentance and faith, as you walk around, people are looking at a trophy case. That's what you are. You're a display case for the mercy of God. If you want to see how creative God is, you walk out and look in the sky. What a beautiful creation we live in. But if you want to see a real picture of the mercy of God, and I do not mean this self-centered or egotistical at all, you want to see a beautiful picture of the mercy of God, here it is right here. And it's all through this room. That's why He saved you. He said, little children, those of you that have been born into the family, you were saved for God's sake, not because you earned it.
The Three Levels of Spiritual Maturity
Now He deals with all three groups and let's deal with them. Here it is, here's the first one, and we'll take Him out of order but put Him in the way our mind thinks. Verse 13, He said, I've written to you children because you know the Father. That's the characteristic of the child. The word used for child in the original language here in verse 13 is padia. It means ignorant. It would read like this, I have written to you little ignorant ones. Take some of the flattery out of it.
He said, I've written to you little ignorant ones because you know one thing. You don't know a lot, but you know this, you know who your daddy is. And one of those kids, I remember when they were six, eight, nine months, they didn't know much, but boy, they knew who daddy was. You could have a lot of guys, they could sit here and a lot of guys could walk in that door, but I'll never forget Sarah, the first one, boy. She didn't have a lick of hair and she was nine months old. She was bald as a cue ball and she had great big eyes. She was so cute and people would walk in and walk in and walk in and you'd kind of sneak up and all of a sudden she'd see you and her feet would go and her hands would go and her eyes would go and she'd smile because she knew who her daddy was. She'd see me and bam, she was there.
Well, that's the picture of a spiritual little child. He doesn't know a lot, but he knows who His daddy is. He has the right, Paul says, to call a mob a father. Literally, daddy. The God of the universe, you know well enough to call daddy.
The Problems with Remaining a Spiritual Child
Now there's some problems with being a child. Keep your finger there and turn to the book of Hebrews, just to the left, through Peter's writing and James and you're into Hebrews and the fifth chapter. If you're a child in the family of God, we're happy about that, but you come into the family of God just as you come into the human race with the desire, hopefully, or at least the design on growing. Peter tells us in 2nd Peter 3 to be growing in maturity.
And He starts by saying this, look it, you're a child, Hebrews 5:12, but you don't need to stay there. The author of Hebrews is writing to a group of people who are struggling. He said this, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracle of God. You have come to need milk, not solid food.
This is one of the problems of kids. Little kids, physically, and little kids spiritually, they can't handle heavy food. The Word of God is spoken about as milk and as bread and as meat. And that's exactly the progression we had with our kids. We gave them milk and then when they could handle that, we gave them a little bread and then when they could handle that, we gave them a little meat. We didn't sit down the first time we could get them in the high chair and start slinging prime rib at these kids and say, okay, eat it, eat your prime rib, you're not going to get out of that high chair until you eat your prime rib. They just weren't capable of doing it.
But the author here is writing to a group. Now maybe you've been a spiritual child for a long time. I met a guy the other day that goes to the same church that I do, and he's been a Christian, he was telling me, for 20 years. I have a great... that is something that makes my ears perk up and makes me say, I want to talk to this guy, I want to find out what he can teach me. Here's what I discovered. He had been a Christian for 20 years, but he did not have 20 years of Christian experience. He had one year of Christian experience, 20 times. He was about 60 years old and he was a spiritual little child. He could cry out, I have a Father, and that was about it. And the author of Hebrews would have been writing to him, he's saying, look it, by this time you should be growing, but you're still messing around with those basics. You still need to be spoon-fed, you should be feeding yourself. That's the characteristic of a spiritual child.
Here's the second thing, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. He's not accustomed to right living. A spiritual child is stumbling and falling all the time. We had a baby over at the house the other day, and the baby is now a toddler, just learning to walk, and I forgot what that was like. And she'd take a little step forward, and then she'd take a step backwards, and then she'd kind
A spiritual little child is going to stumble and fall and is not used to right living. He's got that milk in there, but he doesn't have that strength, that encouragement, that ongoing fortitude that he finds in verse 14.
Here's probably the most deadly characteristic of a little child, and the author puts it in a positive light. He said this: "Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice..." These are people that have been living it for a while. There aren't many people who like to practice. You get around a pro-athlete, you get a chance to talk to a pro-athlete, or an amateur athlete, or maybe your kids - they love the track meets, but they're not really interested in running those miles and sprints that it takes to get ready. We're not into practice.
He said those who practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. He said here's a spot mark of a spiritually mature, so here's this mark of a spiritual child: They don't know the difference between what looks good and will destroy them, and what looks bad and is good for them.
The Danger of Spiritual Immaturity
Larry uses the illustration all the time, and it's a perfect one, of the little child who's just enamored by the candle on his birthday cake. That flame flickers, and there's something about it - it almost draws that little child to it, because it looks so good, it's so enticing as it dances there, that they just want to grab it. Now it really looks good, but it's really bad for them.
Or the swimming pool - we're about two months away from when you'll see all those public service ads that say, "Child proof your pool," because boy, on a hot summer's day to a little kid, that water feels so good, and it looks so good, and the sun dances off of it, and it glimmers, and he just wants to jump into that. And it really looks good, but it is deadly for them once they're involved in it.
Now you and I, if we're spiritually little children, we grow up and we don't have that discernment. We're walking through the mall, and we see that girl, and she looks so good to us, but she'll destroy us. We see that business opportunity that really looks too good to be true, and we find out that it really is.
Characteristics of Spiritual Children
If you're a spiritual little child, here's some characteristics about your life. One, you're still drinking milk. Two, you're still struggling with living. Three, you haven't figured out good and evil, and there's some tension in all that.
Here's the last thing about a spiritual child: They're very emotional. Our Sunday school class meets in a gym. There's about a hundred and eighty people in there, and when that thing is over, it's just chaos. There are kids everywhere. There are people running, and there's high schoolers, but the best part happens about seven minutes after we're done, because the parents come back with the real little kids, and I mean they are sprinting, and they are running.
There's one little guy, Zach. Zach is the cutest of them all. He'll run by, you can hear him say, "Tom, Tom," and he'll go running by himself. I say, "Where are you going, Zach?" He said, "I don't care, I don't care," and he just runs in a circle, and that's kind of like a spiritual child. They're just kind of running around.
We'll do something in here on Satan, and they'll run back home, and they'll have everybody on a Satan kick. They'll have Satan in the podium, Satan in the water, Satan everywhere, and emotion runs, and all of a sudden, they just kind of run out of Satan emotion. But then about that time, somebody gives them a copy of "The Late Great Planet Earth," and they're thumbing through that in prophecy, and they're running off, and prophecy becomes - they're just moving by emotion. That's the characteristic of a spiritual child.
Guiding Spiritual Children
And men, let me tell you, here's the trick. Those of you that pride yourself of being spiritual young men and fathers, it's to take a spiritual child, and that emotionalism, and support him in it, but direct him. Don't take away his emotion. Don't just sit and put him down, and put him down, and beat him up. Direct him. Guide him. That's what he needs.
The Second Group: Young Men
Here's the second group. Back to 1 John. Here's the second group: It's young men. John writes to the young men, and he says something pretty interesting.
Verse 13, he said, "I'm writing to you young men, because you have overcome the evil one." He says down in verse 14, "I'm writing to you young men, because you are strong. The word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
Now, if you're like me, you read those two little verses, and you say, "You know, there's something about these young men that's kind of odd. They've overcome the evil one." Who's the evil one? Satan? These guys have overcome the evil one. Now, wait a minute. What does that mean? How have they done that?
Understanding Satan's Deception
Well, men, Satan isn't just somebody out there with a pitchfork and horns, looking to make you fall. He's not some repulsive figure in the corner. Remember, Satan came to Eve, and when he came to Eve, she did not go, "Ah." In fact, what she said is, he really looks good. The word there in the original text said he was the shining one. He was the prettiest of them all.
See, when Satan comes, he comes looking real good. And one of the things that Satan is, is an angel of light. Here's how these guys have overcome the evil one: They've learned to distinguish good from evil, to distinguish real, solid faith. They have overcome Satan in that they have determined what their faith is, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They're mature.
Look how they became strong, verse 14, by the word of God. They know the word of God well enough to know what false religion...
is, because that's how Satan comes. Anything that's not Christianity is false religion. In fact, we say this every once in a while, just for you new guys especially, because this will help clarify things for you. God hates religion. God can't stand religion. In fact, in the Old Testament, religion came up as they burnt sacrifices. The smell came up to God, and God went, that makes me literally throw up. I hate it. I hate religion. I hate a meaningless ritual of a guy trying to appease a holy God. It'll make God sick.
God hates religion. God loves relationship. And the young men have determined that. They know the real thing. They're not getting sidetracked by somebody who comes along with words that sound like this, same words but a different dictionary. They say Jesus Christ, but they don't mean God come in the flesh. They mean a good teacher. And there's a maturation process that comes that allows you to make those really tough calls. That's when you'll know you're on base. And you can make those tough calls.
Distinguishing Truth from False Teaching
We've shared this with you before. Every once in a while we'll be in a group or a setting or we're out with some people and we're talking and there's kind of a mix in there, Christian, non-Christian, and everybody wants to know what the Bible study's like and all this. And I'll use this little icebreaker. You know, we have a thing that I believe. Let me just throw it out for discussion to you guys. I believe that Mahatma Gandhi's the nicest man in hell. Whoa.
See? That does a couple of things. One, it saves me the aggravation of having a lot of meaningless conversations. There's not a lot of people who want to talk to somebody that says that. Two, the guy on the other end has to stop and say, well, why did He say that? Because see, when Gandhi died, I've got to tell you something. That is not a shot at Gandhi. I have admiration for Gandhi. I think Gandhi went about as far as you can seemingly go in the flesh to please a holy God.
The problem is this. When Gandhi died, He left behind, I don't know if you've seen that picture, it's a beautiful picture, of all Gandhi's earthly possessions that He left behind. A prayer book, a pair of glasses, and a walking stick. I mean, He really gave His life to what He believed. The problem is this. Gandhi said, I read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all the time. Jesus Christ is a great role model for me. He was a great teacher. I live by His principles. But then Gandhi said this, and this is a quote. He said, but to think that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh to die for my sin, I absolutely reject that.
That's why we can say with absolute confidence that Mahatma Gandhi is the nicest man in hell. Because men, that's the barometer for heaven or hell. Boy, that's tough stuff. I mean, that I don't want to hear. See, I want to take Adolf Hitler because I'm comfortable with Him and we'll just send Him to hell and that's easy. See what you're missing and failing to understand is Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler and Tom Schrader and all of you are in the same boat. And the only thing that gets us out of there and into the family of God is faith in Christ. That's tough stuff. And the only guy that's going to move toward that is the spiritual young man.
The Danger of Pride in Spiritual Young Men
Spiritual baby, He's marked by enthusiasm and emotionalism. The spiritual young man, He's starting to understand the Word of God. He's marked by understanding. Now let me give you a little warning. Let me help you. I see myself as a spiritual young man. I don't think I'm a spiritual father. And let me tell you something about us spiritual young men. We have a disease called pride.
If you put it in the earthly picture, these spiritual young men are like your teenagers. They think they know everything. And there's something about these spiritual young men, when you really get into God's Word and you really come out, there is such a sense of peace, there's such a sense of understanding, there's such a sense of seeing things from God's perspective that pretty soon you really think you're something. And that's a characteristic of these spiritual young men. They have really started to understand the plan of God. And they can get a little puffy.
So what you need to do, you fathers, you spiritual fathers, you need to come alongside of them and they're not like the emotional guy. They need to be brought down a notch or two. But they need to be directed and built up too.
Spiritual Fathers: Knowing God Intimately
Then there's the last group. It's the spiritual fathers. These are the guys that have been around for a while. Here's what John writes. I'm writing to you fathers, verse 13, because you know Him who's been from the beginning. Verse 14, I'm writing to you fathers because you know Him who's been from the beginning. Word processors stick? What happened there? The stenographer said run that by me again, John. Because it's exactly the same thing.
Because here's the sign of a spiritual father. He knows God. He doesn't just know the revealed Word of God, He knows the God that revealed it. A spiritual father has a deep, intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of the universe. He understands God, He communes with God. He's in deep relationship with Him.
Four Ways to Become a Spiritual Father
Now, let me tell you how you get to be a spiritual father. There's essentially four ways. Here's the first one. You grow in the knowledge of the Word. You study the Word. That's where the growth comes from. As you spend time studying the Word, you will grow and you'll mature. And it will be in quantum leaps. And men, I would encourage you to study. You should do it before you come in here. You should do it on the way to church on Sunday. You should do it every time you sit on your own. And when you get ready to open this work, say, God, give me your Holy Spirit to open my eyes and open my heart and let me understand this Word. And He'll dump this stuff into you. You won't be able to process it as fast as it comes.
Here's the second thing about a spiritual father. He lives, and
I choose this word with a great deal of caution: he lives a holy life. He lives a righteous life. He lives a life that's right. Here's what a spiritual father does. He determines what the right thing is to do, and then he does it. He doesn't come and figure out what the right thing is to do and then reprocess everything and then go back out. He doesn't go and seek a second opinion. He doesn't go and try to get somebody else to give him an alternative. He says, "Look, here's what God's got for me to do and I'm going to do it."
There's a great song. It's so simple that we hardly sing it anymore: "Trust and obey. Trust and obey for there's no other way." There's no other way. Just trust Him and obey Him.
Here's the third way you become a spiritual father. It's the same way, in a sense, you become a physical father: you start to duplicate yourself. A spiritual father is somebody who's producing some fruit. A spiritual father is somebody who's taken some time to bring along a spiritual child.
The Fourth Way: Time
Here's the fourth way, and very honestly those first three are not that bad. The fourth one will drive you crazy. It's not what you want to hear. Here's the fourth one: time. It just takes time.
I have a friend who I went to one year. This guy runs and he trains and he diets, and he's a little pudgy, and I said, "You look really good right now. What's the secret?" He said, "Let me tell you something, Tom. I've been on every diet there is. I've been in every gimmick. I've been in all these workout places and health farms and all this." He said, "I've discovered how you lose weight. Two ways: eat less and exercise." Kind of basic. He said, "There's no instant fix where it just happened."
I remember sitting with a guy one day and he wanted so bad to be a spiritual father, and we had to stop and we had to say—in fact, his words were, "I'm just looking for a button. I just want to go and have it happen." And I really believe there is a button. The problem is it takes you, oh, ten years or so to find it. When all of a sudden everything comes together, just like it did that first day that you were learning to drive a car.
I never thought I was ever going to learn to drive a car. My dad was trying to convince me of that. I remember the first time we ever went out, and I remember turning a corner and going up on the curb, and he just said, "You're never going to..." And now I get in there. I got in the car this morning and the next thing I knew I was in the parking lot. I don't even think of it. It's just second nature. It just takes time and there's no gimmick. And that's the process that we go through.
Where Are You on the Ladder?
Man, I don't know where you are on that ladder. First of all, I just hope that you're a child of God. I hope you're one of the verse 12s, that you've just been born into the family of God. And that comes when you confess Jesus as Lord and confess your sin and you place your faith and trust in Him. That's how you become a Christian.
But man, that is not the end. God's goal is not to have you saved and then put you on a shelf until your body wears out and then take you to heaven. He saves you so He can use you. Now He's got a plan.
Are you a little child? Are you still drinking milk? You can be 60 or 70 or 80 years old and still be a spiritual child. If you are, here's the good news: He wants you to grow. Here's what He wants you to do: get into those deeper things. Start to spend some time in His Word. And when you do, you'll become a spiritual young man with some understanding.
And there's some spiritual young men in this room right now. That's not the end. God wants you to be spiritual fathers. He wants you to live a holy life. He wants you to determine what's right and do it. He wants you to spend time in His Word. He wants you to spend time with His people. He wants you to spend time with Him. And you'll be a spiritual father. What a beautiful picture of how God works.
Love and Hate
But in the midst of all this, we serve a God who is a God of love. Anybody doubt that? Anybody think God's not a God of love? I mean, God is a God of love, isn't He? But there's another side to love. See, if I really love something, I'll also have in me hate. If I really love my wife, I hate the cancer that's eating her up. If I really love my kid—we can relate to this at this time of the year—if I really love my kid, I hate that temperature that's gone up to 102 and then 104 and then back to 100 and back up to 103. I hate it.
Men, if you really, really love God, you will really, really, really hate Satan. There is a love that God hates. It's in verse 15: "Do not love the world nor the things of the world." See, God is a God who hates.
What God Hates
Let's close with this. We've got just a couple of minutes and we'll close. Turn your Bibles back to the Old Testament to the book of Proverbs, just so we can see a little glimpse of how God hates and what God hates. Proverbs chapter 6. Just thumb through that Old Testament, and if you're not sure where Proverbs is, you'll hit the book somewhere. Find your way to Proverbs. Psalms and go right. Proverbs chapter 6, verse 17.
"There are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven, which are an abomination to Him."
Let me give you just a little side note. It's not that the author was writing and said there's six things God hates—no, no, no, seven. See, we believe that this book is an inspired Word of God and literally true. We take it literally. It's also a piece of literature. And that was a technique of reinforcement. That's what he's doing. He's saying there's six things God hates—in fact, there's seven of them. Here they are.
Now, let me tell you, this is not an all-inclusive list. God's got some hates.
that aren't listed here. But this will give you a good picture of what God hates.
The first one is haughty eyes. That means pride. The guy that walks around with his nose in the air really thinks he's something. Well, God hates that. That pride's at the root of all rebellion.
The second thing is a lying tongue. God is a God of truth, so He hates a lie. He hates the lie that turns people away or leads them aside.
Third thing is, in verse 17, the hands that shed innocent blood. Men, God believes in the sanctity of life. God created life and He hates everything that destroys it. God created this planet and it's a beautiful planet. You and I, if we're Christians, we should really be the greatest ecologists and environmentalists in the entire world. We really should. We should be fighting to protect the planet. God hates those that shed innocent blood.
Wicked Plans and Evil Associates
Here's the fourth thing: a heart that devises wicked plans. Now, this isn't a bad guy. This is a creative guy and he pours all his creative juices into planning something wicked. This guy spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to do bad things.
He's got an associate, right there in verse 18. It's the fifth thing that God hates: feet that run rapidly to evil. This is the guy that's coming along. He's not as creative, but this guy's a great follower, saying, "Hold on, I'll be there in just a second. Here I come, because I want to participate in this."
Here's the sixth thing God hates: a false witness who utters lies. Somebody that would just destroy your reputation. It's somebody that bears false witness against you. Jesus felt this. Paul felt this.
Here's the seventh thing: one who spreads strife among the brothers. See, God is a God of unity. Those of you that are involved maybe in a church setting, and you've got one of these little gossips. There's somebody that would be in that group and they're gone. They're the first ones to leave a small group. And boy, when they're gone, they become the topic of conversation. "Did you hear what brother so-and-so said? How about pastor so-and-so? How about sister so-and-so?" Boy, let me tell you, men, God hates that, as you tear the body of Christ apart.
The Power of the Tongue
One other thing, and we close with this. Again, it's not an all-inclusive list, but of these seven, three of them deal with this little thing called the tongue. He hates, number two, a lying tongue; number six, false witness; number seven, those who spread strife. See, this tongue is an evil little thing.
You and I can violate all ten of the commandments with our tongue. I would no more think of taking a knife and shoving it into his body than I would fly. But you know what? I'll knife him with this little baby right here. I'll cut him to shreds. He won't even know what hit him. I'd never come over here and steal this man's car, but I'll steal his reputation just like that with my tongue.
Well, men, there is a love that God hates. Next week, we're going to take a look at that love that God hates. It's a system that you and I live in every day. Next week, we're going to take a look at a practical way to approach the entire world and everything in it.
Closing Prayer
Let's pray. Father, what a privilege it is to call You that, to call You daddy. We just thank You that You're at work in our lives, using us, molding us, building us. Father, those of us that are Your kids, cry out for those that might be here that don't know You, that Your Holy Spirit would just pull them right now in a way they couldn't resist into the family of God.
Father, we ask You to take those of us that are spiritual children and give us some bread. Give us Your solid word and cause us to grow. Father, those of us that are young men, help us not get puffy and built up, but Father, help us understand and discern the truth. But we don't stop there. Those of us that are young men, Father, help us be fathers who know Your word, who are committed to live a good, right, clean, holy life, who are willing to take what we've got and pour it into others so that we know You in a deep, intimate, personal way.
Lord, help us understand that there's no gimmicks and no shortcuts, that that's Your system, that's the way it goes, that's what You've determined, but Father, help us stay on track. God, I thank You for what You're doing in this group. Thank You for the growth in numbers, but the spiritual growth too. We've seen some men become children in here, and we've seen some children become young men. Father, we thank You for that.
Father, we thank You more than anything for Your Son, Jesus Christ, and it's in His precious name that we pray. Amen.