Studies in First John - Message Three

The Three Spiritual Ages of Man

1 John 2:3-14
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.
8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 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 evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. 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.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

................Shakespeare - from As You Like It

Infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier (youthful aggressor), justice (elder statesman), Golden years (retirement) second childhood (twilight years)!

Intro
In one of the most famous of all Shakespeare's plays - As You Like It, written 400 years ago - the greatest of all Bards broke a man's life down into seven ages - starting with the baby, mewling and pewking in it's mother's arms, and finally ending up in a kind of second childhood senility - Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. I think that's me already - my teeth hurt when I get a cold, I'm accelerating through the stronger grades of spectacles, I've worn my taste buds out with years of superhot melt your false teeth curries - and I'm sure there's something else only I can't remember!!
I reckon Shakespeare got the idea from the Apostle John - who wrote in the second chapter of his first epistle of what I describe as the Three Spiritual Ages of Man.

Different End Result
There is of course a big difference -Shakespeare has poor old man ending up as helpless as he began - and in fact even worse. A baby may be helpless but at least it has a lifetime to look forward to. The seventh age man in Shakespeare is sans everything and slipping towards oblivion.
How different it is for the Spiritual Man - John has three ages for us, but they are ages of progression, a moving towards maturity. In the opening verses of this passage, John describes the goal of the Christian life -
· God's love made complete in us (v5)
· Walking as Jesus did (v6)
· Living in the light (v10)
· Mature, consistent in love (v10)
· Not stumbling (v10)
The goal of the Christian life - the final age of spiritual man is not to be spiritually senile, devoid of our senses, slipping towards oblivion. No! To be like Jesus, living and loving in maturity, obeying God's Word, going from strength to strength, and finally into a glorious and blessed hope of heaven and eternity.

Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
1 John 3:1-3
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

So what are the three spiritual ages of man?
Childhood, Manhood, Fatherhood

Childhood
When you are born again, you are not born as a fully-grown spiritual adult, but a baby. You didn't come out of your mother's womb reading the Times and sipping coffee. You didn't come out, look at the midwife and say "Slap me again and I'll sue". Peter speaks of us young Christians as "new born babes" and suggests that the Word of God is the best "mother's milk" a spiritual baby could ever have. All your senses are there when you're born, but they're just not developed. You are not experienced in using them, you have no frame of reference for the data you are seeing and hearing.
It is exactly the same when you are born again - you are a fully blown child of God, you are saved. As John puts it in verse 12, your sins are forgiven. Your spiritual equipment, your supernatural senses are all there, but not developed and not experienced. You have no frame of reference, no context in which to process the data you're receiving. There are two characteristics to bear in mind with spiritual childhood.

Dependency
Babies are dependent. You can't just call them down to dinner, you can't just throw them some clothes and say "get dressed". Somebody had to change Einstein's nappies! You can't just give them a roast joint, a knife and fork and tell them to get on with it. You have to feed them, you have to help them. Babies will throw anything in their mouths - I laugh when I see devoted Mums with the latest hi-tech, microwave, digital bottle steriliser and while they're trying to work out which button to press, junior is out in the garden eating worms, rabbit droppings and drinking the water from flower pot trays.
Spiritual babies are the same - it's a miracle I didn't die of spiritual indigestion at the age of one month. The girl who led me to the Lord gave me a Matthew Henry's Commentary, a copy of Evidence that Demands a Verdict, a Smith's Bible Dictionary and a Halley's Bible Commentary four weeks after I had given my heart to the Lord! It was like a baby trying to chew a chunk of boiled elephant hide.
A person who is two months old in the Lord doesn't need Calvin's 14 volumes on justification. Help them on a need to know basis - little bits at a time. And if you are a baby in the Lord, there's no shame or stigma in admitting you don't know, or that you need help. No-one will think you're an idiot - ask, just ask!
They are vulnerable - need protection, provision, guidance, loving care.

Discipline
Hebrews 12:5-11. Children need discipline - it is a mark of legitimacy. Let's not get this wrong - the discipline is not sickness, but hardship. In other words when we don't get what we want, when we want it. Austen Phelps said "Character, by its very nature, is the product of probationary discipline". God doesn't want us to turn out spiritual brats, He wants us to learn values, above all wants us to learn faith. You often see children throw tantrums because they've learned that tantrums get results. Not with God they don't. Calm, peaceful, assured, faith. This is a word of encouragement.

Manhood
When I was 18 I thought my father was ignorant. By the time I turned 21 I was amazed at how much he had learned in three years. When I was a teenager - I thought I knew all the answers. But as I got older, I realised I didn't even know all the questions. I used to think I was pretty clever in pulling the wool over my father's eyes - but as the years rolled on I realised he already knew every trick in the book, and had tried them all himself anyway!
It's painful going from teenager to manhood or womanhood. I saw one of my nephews a few weeks ago, and his voice was all over the place. When it comes to young men, although wisdom and experience may be lacking, yet that is made up for in enthusiasm, vigour, strength, ability. It's the same spiritually. There are two hallmarks of spiritual manhood I particularly want to mention.

Power
The future of the church lies in the hands of the young men and women. The older ones will bring the guidance, wisdom, experience necessary to pick the locks of the enemy and undermine his strongholds, but the front-line fighting will be carried out by the young ones. John addresses them and says you have overcome the evil one, you are strong, the Word of God lives in you. Overcoming the evil one is, I believe, learning to beat temptation, learning to rise above the snares and wiles of the enemy. None of these things move me, wrote Paul. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
This is a realisation of power, you begin to learn that you can do things, like beat your Dad in a game of finger twist. Spiritual gifts begin to develop, prayers are answered. You begin to develop identity, realising who you are in the Lord. The key for us older ones is to recognise and release. Not stand in the way.

Purpose
You begin to get a direction for your life, shape to your ministry, a calling. I remember spending three days praying and fasting when I was just four months old in the Lord, I wanted to know His purpose in my life. When you're young, getting a purpose is the most important thing. Careers are not just about making money, but finding and fulfilling purpose, getting direction. When you're a baby you're not interested in purpose, just in rearranging the pile of doggy doo in the back yard. When you're old there's no longer much time for purpose, but as a young adult - purpose is everything. God created you for a purpose, there's a reason and a mission for your life.
"Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus forgets who he is and what life means" Francis Schaeffer.
"More men fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent" Billy Sunday.

Fatherhood
Paul wrote in 1 Cor 4:14-17 that you may have ten thousand teachers but not many fathers - those who give birth to you through the gospel and exercise genuine godly fatherhood to help you come to maturity. This isn't just a matter of "do as I say" but "do as I do".
Fathers have wisdom and experience and are able to nurture younger ones not because of their knowledge but because of their fatherhood, the example they set, the care they exercise. Follow me even as I follow Christ.

Tolerance
The great thing about being a father is that you can often see things that are not right in your children, but you know that you cannot change it by law, only by grace. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Paul warned both his Ephesian and Colossian readers not to exasperate their children, not provoke them to wrath. As a mature Christian, it's easy to see what's wrong in younger ones, easy to see the speck in their eyes. How you help them deal with it could either make or break them. A true father exercises tolerance, not coming down heavily on every misdemeanour, but gently persuading, pointing out, encouragement. (Garth!). Psalm 25:4-10. You see God deals with us mercifully, even when we're wrong - His grace covers us until we mature.

Tenderness
Psalm 18:35. Your gentleness has made me great. Exercising watchful, careful guidance, prayer, encouragement. You see John twice says to the fathers "you have known the Father from the beginning" i.e. you have known the Father and His ways for so long now, you know that is the key to prospering the lives of the younger ones. Psalm 103:7-14. This is how we should be as fathers to the younger ones among us. People learn faster in an atmosphere of tolerance and tenderness. 3 John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth. Col 3:12-15 MENTORING?
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. NKJV