Living God's Way in an Ungodly World
In a world that makes up its own rules, it is important for Christians to stay focused on the One who still rules...Jesus Christ. Come and listen to the great Gospel message, learn about the love Jesus Christ has for you, and know what God's word, the Holy Bible, has to say about overcoming the challenges of following Jesus in a world that no longer wants Him.
Living God's Way in an Ungodly World
Building Resilience Through God's Word
What does spiritual growth look like in different stages of a Christian's life? In the latest episode of "Living God's Way in an Ungodly World," We dive deep into the wisdom of 1 John 2:12-14. We explore how "little children" symbolize all new believers, basking in the joy of their newfound forgiveness and relationship with God. We then reflect on the wisdom of seasoned saints who possess a deep, intimate understanding of Christ through years of steadfast faith. Lastly, we celebrate the spiritual vigor of young men and women who have fought and overcome the wicked one, embodying resilience and spiritual fortitude.
Temptation is a universal struggle, but how can we overcome it through faith and righteousness? Drawing from 2 Timothy 2:22, we emphasize the need to flee from youthful lusts and actively pursue virtues such as faith, love, and peace. We look at practical ways in avoiding sin and fortifying our spiritual lives, and consider the pivotal role mature Christians play in supporting others on their spiritual journeys. It's a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of our actions and the collective pursuit of a pure heart.
Spiritual warfare is a reality for believers, and equipping ourselves with the armor of God is crucial. This episode delves into the unseen battles against evil forces, underscoring the importance of truth, righteousness, faith, and salvation. We highlight the necessity of daily prayer and cultivating a personal relationship with God, stressing that our true strength comes from Jesus Christ. As we wrap up, we encourage listeners to stay steadfast in their faith, actively engage in spiritual battles, and continuously grow with the support of a faith community. Join me in this enriching and empowering discussion that I pray will bolster your spiritual journey.
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Hello and good day. You are listening to Living God's Way in an Ungodly World. I'm your host, b Maul. Thank you for joining me. It's so good to have you here. We are continuing in the book of 1 John. We're in chapter 2. Today we are covering verses 12, 13, and 14. In this podcast, we continue to go through the Bible, book by book and chapter by chapter, verse by verse, because that is the best way to know our Lord and Savior, our Heavenly Father, is by reading his word and his complete word. The reading begins I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him, who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him, who is 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 wicked one. Here ends the reading. Heavenly Father, I pray for those who are listening. I ask you, lord, to soften their hearts, to help them to overcome any obstacles they may have, lord, anything that is between you and them, and to guard my mouth and to make sure it's only your teachings and not of my own. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen, as usual, let's go ahead and unpack this. C 1 John 2, verse 12. At first glance it can sound a little confusing, because John mentions several times that he's writing to children, to fathers and to young men, and this fathers and young men represent male and female. But starting out, I write to you, little children. It's interesting because little children in this context, in this Greek word, technion means darlings or Christian converts. John is addressing everybody, or at least everyone who is born again. He is not talking to anybody who is not a believer. He is speaking to his brothers and sisters in the Lord. Now, remember, cChrist has been ascended into heaven now for some time. This was written later on in John's life. So many years have gone by. And the reason I say that is because in this particular letter and at this particular time, when he says little children technion is all who are born again, regardless of age. So, yes, little children who are born again, young people who are born again and older people who are born again, and he says because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake, and that's very comforting. It's a reminder of why we are born again, why we are his little children, because our sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
B.R.Maul:Then John goes on verse 13,. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him, who is from the beginning. You might have already caught on that John is using different degrees of Christians, going from little children, christian converts, in other words. I think Paul mentions at one point baby Christians, some more recent convert. It's got nothing to do with age, it's got nothing to do with intellect, it just has to do that they're recently converted.
B.R.Maul:Now, fathers he's referring to these are seasoned saints, followers who have been with Christ for years. They have known him and in this context it means to understand the kind of understand that we can only gain from living with somebody, knowing them on a more intimate level. We get to know each other's ins and outs. So my wife, she knows and understands me and I understand her, and a lot of that just comes from observing, living alongside of the person. Of course we get that through conversations that we have throughout the years. But to truly understand somebody, what makes them tick, likes and dislikes, how they respond to things. All of this, on a more intimate level, is living alongside of them.
B.R.Maul:And so, at this point, referring to the fathers, these are those who have that experience of life as a Christian, the failures, the times of rejoicing, all the ins and outs, truly learning from Jesus, from not just listening to him but also able to walk with him, observe him, and today we do that through his word, the next degree of Christian that John acknowledges. He says I write to you, young man, because you have overcome the wicked one Young man here in the Greek is neaniskos. I believe it is. I know my Greek. For anybody who's a Greek scholar, I'm sure they're cringing every time I speak Greek. Neoniskos and what it means is youth under the age of 40. So obviously not a child, but somebody who still is old enough.
B.R.Maul:And they have overcome the wicked one. He's referring to spiritual warfare, spiritual battle. We are constantly fighting against the enemy and I'll touch on that here just shortly because I'll read more about other passages that talk about this. But to overcome the wicked one, the only way we do that is by submitting, by being under God, and as a child of God we are given that ability to make the wicked one flee, not on our own accord, of course.
B.R.Maul:For those who are not born again, unfortunately, they are sitting ducks. All those who do not have the Holy Spirit in them are easily overtaken and controlled and influenced by the satanic influences of this world. But these are ones that John is talking to that are more mature. They haven't been around as long as the older saints, so they don't have the life experiences and they don't have as many experiences to enforce their faith, their love for Christ, but they're still strong nonetheless.
B.R.Maul:Now it's interesting because now John starts to repeat himself because he says I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. Well, he's already addressed little children In verse 12, he said I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Now he's saying I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. That one took me a little longer to catch on to, but I noticed that the word children is different here. There's actually two different types of children that John is referring to that he is talking to. The first ones are the Christian converts, so referring to everybody, because at one point, even if you are a mature Christian, you were at one point a convert, a new convert. But here he's talking about more.
B.R.Maul:Who is somebody who's an infant? The Greek here is paideion or paideion, an infant, half-grown somebody who's a boy or girl, that's not fully mature. In fact it goes on a little further to even say immature Christian. All of these that he's addressing are brothers and sisters in the faith, but at different levels. So this is a little different, because this isn't referring to every convert. This is referring to those little children, and this is only spiritually, not at all to do physically, because a baby Christian can stay a baby Christian, a little tiny Christian, even if they're old and have gray hair or no hair at all. It doesn't matter. What matters, that determines if someone is no longer a baby Christian, is how long they've been in God's Word, not how long they were born again. And isn't this an area that is misunderstood so much in the walk with Christ? Because too often it is used the other way around that somebody was baptized when they were an infant. That's not what the Bible teaches, so that's not what I teach. That infant baptism that's not what the Bible teaches, so that's not what I teach that infant baptism, that doesn't do anything.
B.R.Maul:People have a false sense that they are these mature Christians because oh, I'm, you know whatever 35, 45, 55. Hey, I was baptized 35, 45, 50 years ago and so now I'm a mature Christian. And yet they may have never opened the Bible, or very little, and I personally have sat down in Bible studies with boys and girls much younger than me. But as Christians go, they are mature, they have been in God's Word, they get it, they understand it, they have known Him with that maturity level Not the maturity as they have that experience behind them of life experiences, but they do know Him because they have been in his word over and over again. It goes on in verse 14, I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. If you have your Bible open, you can look at 13 and 14, and those are identical when he is referring to the fathers. I have written to you, fathers, why? Because you have known him who is from the beginning. He says that twice. I don't know exactly why he says this twice.
B.R.Maul:What I believe is that he's emphasizing the importance of this, the importance of having those mature Christians around, and how important it is that we all become mature Christians, because often in God's Word, when a word or phrase is repeated, it just means it's all the more important. An example of that is when Jesus would say Verily, verily, I say unto you. It's getting their attention, it's more important than just Verily, I say unto you. So the emphasis is there and how important it is and how such a blessing it is to have mature Christians around us when we come together in groups and worship the Lord and to walk with him together as we open up his word and we grow with one another together, as we open up his word and we grow with one another. It is so sweet to have the Christians with us who have been walking with him for years, because life's experiences are so valuable and all of us have different things to bring when we're talking about experiences and sharing our walk with others. And hopefully those young Christians are indeed paying close attention and utilizing that alongside their reading God's word and getting to know him in that way.
B.R.Maul:And then he addresses the young men again and this is men and women, because he ends with I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. Now, in the end of verse 14, it's very similar when he addressed young men in the end of verse 13. In verse 13, he says I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Notice now he fills in more. It's like he's explaining how or why, because he says I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. He adds more information in there for us, as he's addressing these young Christians that are growing strong in the word, and maybe that's one thing that he's painting for us, a picture that these young Christians are indeed becoming stronger, as he acknowledges them.
B.R.Maul:But both fathers the word fathers and the word young men are the same. Both times he uses those. It's only when referring to children that John operates that there are two different types, and that is, the Christian converts and those who have remained baby Christians because they're not maturing, they're not growing. Let's take a look here, because it seems like there's more detail that we could get out of really looking into the young Christians that John is speaking to. I think we covered the different types of children and the fathers being the mature Christians, the mature saints, but now let's take a look at young Christians, someone who is 40 years or younger and are growing. Let's take a look at that, because there's three different areas here I can look at with you that will support what we're talking about here, what John is speaking about.
B.R.Maul:The first one is found in James, and it is in chapter 4, verse 7. And James writes therefore, submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. There's that submitting to God and he will flee from you. There's that submitting to God, and before we can resist the devil, notice that James says submit to God. So first we submit to God.
B.R.Maul:As a Christian, as we are reading God's word, we are knowing okay, there's that word, you have known him. We are growing in our knowledge of him. We are getting a better understanding because we are living with him. We are making him a part of our life, day in and day out. With that, we submit to God, we put our life under him. We turn to him before we do anything else. Before we turn to anyone else, we go to our Father first and foremost in prayer and supplications, and with that then we can resist the devil. And James makes it very clear that he, the devil, will flee from you.
B.R.Maul:When we know God's word and we use God's word, the devil can't handle that. That's what Jesus did when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, when he was fasting and Satan was there tempting him. Obviously he's a crafty devil. He knows his timing. Let's wait till somebody is physically exhausted and tired, because our spiritual and mental and physical selves are all connected. When one is hurting the other, one can hurt as well. That is a good time where the devil goes in and tempts our Savior, jesus Christ. Now, temptation itself is not a sin. Everyone is tempted. Even Jesus Christ was tempted. We're told that the difference between Jesus and us is that Jesus didn't fall into the temptation. He overcame it and he did so with quoting the Word of God, the Bible. Now another example that might help us out to better understand the growing of these young Christians that continue to grow in strength and will someday become fathers. They'll be mature Christians and be able to help other Christians in their time of need.
B.R.Maul:2 Timothy, chapter 2, flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Wow, there's a lot there. I could do a whole podcast just on this. In fact I could do a series of podcasts on this. There's just so much here I can't unpack it all. But let's take a look at some of the key words here. The first one right away, right off the bat verse 22, flee. If we are fleeing right for our life, we're not just turning around and waltzing off for our life, we're not just turning around and waltzing off, kind of saundering away. Right when we flee, we're running, we are giving it all. We got to get some speed. Here is what we're told to do.
B.R.Maul:This is Paul writing to his young protege, timothy. He says flee also youthful lusts. He says flee also youthful lusts, youthful lusts. Now, that can be difficult because youthful lusts, that's something that we tend to grow up with, something we are used to having. It's a sin that we may be comfortable with and that's different for everybody. I can't speculate what that could be. They can easily be ingrained into us. But Paul is telling Timothy here, and Timothy, being a young Christian, he's saying do that. Turn away and run as fast as you can from these lusts that have been a part of you. Drop them, leave them alone, do not turn back and just keep running. But Paul doesn't just leave it at that, because we need to do more than just turn and run like crazy.
B.R.Maul:And what does that look like? Well, many different ways. But one thing I can think of, for example, is, whatever that temptation might be of yours, and if you are still wrestling with youthful lusts, when you feel it coming, when you see it coming, when you hear it coming, whatever signs there are and there are always signs, born-again believers you have the Holy Spirit in you, beloved, and so there's no excuse to not understand when these lusts are rearing their ugly head. And when that happens, do whatever it takes, and oftentimes it could be just physical distance between you and whatever it is. Maybe it is food, and food is a huge temptation for a person and it's hard for them. They can't resist it, or at least they feel like they can't, because it's a youthful lust. They're used to just walking into get-togethers and parties where there's all kinds of really good food and they just can't help themselves as they stand there and just keep eating. One way to avoid that, for example, to flee, is. Okay, you see that table of goodies, turn around and walk right away. And if that's not good enough, depending on what kind of party and get-together, it is well, avoid those situations if it is something that is that detrimental in your life.
B.R.Maul:The point being is to just flee, that he says, but pursue righteousness. That's. The other key word here is pursue. Now the same thing with fleeing. Fleeing, we're turning away and we're running away from something as fast as we can. But if we're pursuing someone or something now, we're running towards them or it as fast as we can Do you see the connection there? Paul says to pursue. What are we to pursue? Paul says righteousness. We get that from God's word. We can't follow somebody else's because we are all flawed, and so we want to get our righteousness from God's word, from our Heavenly Father. He will lead us down the paths of righteousness, for his namesake, david, wrote that in Psalm 23.
B.R.Maul:Faith okay, that's another one we are to pursue. So righteousness and faith, that's very important as well, because without faith we are unable to please God. We cannot be a Christian without faith. The very act of faith is believing in his son, jesus Christ, without actually seeing for ourselves Jesus hanging on the cross and bleeding and ourselves walking alongside and taking notes and going, yep, I guess he did live a sinless life. No, this is all part of faith. We pursue righteousness, we pursue faith.
B.R.Maul:Love, that's the next one. Without love remember without love we're nothing. All of our kind works means absolutely nothing. We can give all that we own to the needy, but without love it does nothing. We can try to say polite things, kind things, but without love we're like loud crashing cymbals. So love, all of this stuff comes with time and practice and that's why we need to pursue it. It's something we chase down because it can easily start running away from us as we get tied up into the worldly things all around us.
B.R.Maul:And peace, peace, oh beloved. To have peace in your life. Do you want that peace? Do you want to be able to lay down your head every single night and not worry about what tomorrow is going to bring? Just have that peace, and it's the kind of peace that only Jesus can give us. That surpasses all human understanding. We don't understand that kind of peace. The world sees the peace that Christians have, that are walking with the Lord and they don't understand it. The Christians' belongings can be taken away from them or their house burns down, but they can still have peace.
B.R.Maul:Here are things that we pursue and, as a young Christian that John is referring to, these are characteristics that these young Christians are pursuing and have obtained. And, of course, remember we're only human. There are times when what we're pursuing that righteousness, faith, love or peace can start getting away from us. Then we have to be active, we have to get up off our chair and run after that and regain it, recapture it in our pursuit and keep fleeing from those old lusts, short tempers, witty insults, sarcasm, all these other kind of lusts that we may have grown up with in an atmosphere that the world condoned and then it became a part of us.
B.R.Maul:And the last part of this, with Paul talking to Timothy, interesting enough, we're fleeing and pursuing with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Isn't that something? So don't do it alone. You can't do it alone. God didn't make us to be these islands, that we are to be self-efficient. There are countries in this world that have a much better understanding of that than those of us who live in America, because for those of us who grew up in America, that's what we're taught that you just pull yourself up from your bootstraps and just keep on going. We focus a lot on the individual instead of the village, where other countries I think they have a better understanding of this, because they don't focus on the individual, they focus on the village, the family. Now, the last area that I want to talk about. That supports what John is referring to when he's speaking to these young Christians, which again was men and women. A little longer reading, so bear with me.
B.R.Maul:We're in Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 18. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So, right away, we are to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, not our own, and this is something that born-again believers that are new to their faith, baby Christians haven't grasped yet. They need to grasp it and own it. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God. You may have heard about that, the armor of God. It's very interesting, and the day when I do come to the book of Ephesians, I'll teach these verses in more detail about the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now I want you to hear the word stand, because we'll hear that numerous times now, because standing it's like standing strong, like you're standing up for something Verse 12,.
B.R.Maul:For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. All right, that should make your hair stand up on the back of your neck. We often want to attack the people who are doing the wrong Right now, all around the world. Without a doubt, satan is working overtime to do whatever he can to get as many people away from God as he can. And when we see people doing these horrendous things, making horrible decisions based on greed or lusts or anger, hatred, all these emotions that Satan is going to use as leverage, so much satanic activity going on in our world. But we, as Christians, we must remember, beloved, that it is not the flesh and blood that we are up against.
B.R.Maul:I know that is difficult. It is so difficult. There are those in power right now that when I hear their name, I cringe because of the things that they are doing to our country in America that they are doing to innocent people. They are doing to our country in America that they are doing to innocent people, and I can't stand it. I get really angry when I think about it. So I try not to think about it too much, right, I try to think more of my Lord and Savior.
B.R.Maul:That doesn't mean I'm running from it, but with that point is, we're not up against flesh and blood. We are up against these principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. This is that invisible war that is going on all around us Now. The good news is we know how the war ends. Right, if you have read God's word, you do. But that still means that within a war there's still battles, and there are plenty of battles that we are losing.
B.R.Maul:And I say we, I mean those of us who are on the side of righteousness, who are on the side of light and goodness. But attacking the people isn't going to get rid of this evil. We need to protect our loved ones and ourselves with God's word, to keep the enemy away from us, and I'm not advocating that. That doesn't mean it doesn't get physical, because, yes, it is the flesh and blood that these powers and principalities are indeed taking over and working through. But for us to go after these people, we need to be praying for them because hopefully they can still be saved, moving on. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God and we certainly need that that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, so withstand and stand Verse 14, stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth. That'll help defend us.
B.R.Maul:Knowing the truth is very powerful, because if you don't know God's Word, if you don't have the real truth, you're going to buy into whatever narrative the world is putting together. And boy are they spinning some pretty nasty narratives and unfortunately, millions are listening and buying into it. We must have the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, must have the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, protecting our hearts. That breastplate goes over our chest and it protects our heart To not give in to the temptation to do wicked to the wicked, to do evil unto evil. We must resist that and we can only do that with God's word. To have the breastplate of righteousness, god's righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's what helps keep us moving, getting people the gospel message and having that peace for ourselves with the gospel message, knowing that, no matter what happens to us, the gospel message, that's where our hope is, because Jesus is our hope, he is the gospel message, and so we use that to move us around freely.
B.R.Maul:Verse 16, above all so this is important taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. There's that faith again. Without faith we cannot please God and without faith those fiery darts are going to hit us and take us down because he will knock our faith right out of us. And if we don't have faith then we can't fight. We don't have that fighting oomph in us anymore because we lose our faith and then the wiles of the devil, all the evils of this world, suddenly is too much for us and unfortunately this is the stuff that leads to suicides, because when somebody loses all hope, there is no reason to live, and that breaks my heart, beloved. We need to take up the shield of faith and again that comes with reading the Word of God and taking in, consuming the Word of God, loving Him with your heart, and then verse 17,.
B.R.Maul:And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, the helmet that protects our head, right Blows that we would get to the head. That's psychological. With the helmet of salvation, we know what we're fighting for. We have salvation, and so we can fight against Satan and his minions as they continue to yell and scream at us, or even whisper in the dark, how worthless that we may be, how sinful and how unworthy we are and that we are nothing to our Heavenly Father. Look what he does. He lets all this bad stuff happen in the world. Look at poor you, all this stuff that's going on. Look what other people have. And so we wear that helmet of salvation.
B.R.Maul:We stay focused on our salvation, on Jesus Christ you see how that stuff works and the sword of the Spirit, and that's capital S, which is the Word of God, with the Word of God and the help of the Holy Spirit. That's the one part of the armor of all of this that is actually offensive. The rest is defensive. It protects us. But we go on offense as well when we fight in battles and we use God's word to attack our adversaries and we use the word of God to fight back and to make the demons flee Verse 18,. Make the demons flee Verse 18,. Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. That's capital S, once again in the Holy Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. All right, these are things that make a Christian going from a little child to a young Christian and then that perseverance and with time sticking with it, that young Christian to father. Those are the three areas that John is referring to in the three verses today verses 12, 13, and 14.
B.R.Maul:I know we covered quite a bit here. Oh, how much I wish we could jump into a lot of these other verses with talking about fleeing and pursuing and talking about the armor of God. I would love to get into this a lot more, but we are about out of time. I'd love to hear from you. Get a hold of me, remember, stay in his word. God loves you so much and this is how we build a relationship with him.
B.R.Maul:Pray to him every day, don't let a day go by. Those people in your life that you love, that are dear to you. You don't ignore them. You talk to them every day. So pray to him, pray to your Holy Father every day, get together with brothers and sisters, your family, your eternal family, those who are born again, and make sure those that you are indeed growing with reading God's Word are born again.
B.R.Maul:That's important to do. You're not judging them. I never ask you to judge somebody's eternity, but it's okay. We want to make sure somebody's a relative right. That's the way we work and that would be out of love, because if they're not born again and they think they are, that's a way for you to serve as well and then worship our Father. All of these things are part of that relationship. I'm here for you and I'm making it easier and easier for you to reach out, because I know there's plenty of those who are looking for some advice that's based on God's Word, counsel from those who have been walking with the Lord for a while. And there's just so much in God's Word. And until next time, god bless.
