Stages of Christian maturity.

1 John 2.12-14.

John already stated in previous verses he wrote this letter so his joy might be full, 1Jn 1.4 and so his readers won’t sin. 1Jn 2.1 Here he gives a few more reasons for its composition—along with the people he attached to his particular reasons. This letter is to τεκνία/teknía and παιδία/pedía, children and invants; πατέρες/patéres, parents; and νεανίσκοι/neaníske, young people. (And since adulthood back then began when you were 13, these’d be teenagers.)

1 John 2.12-14 KWL

12Children, I write you²

because your² sins are forgiven in God’s name.

13Parents, I write you²

because you² knew this from the beginning.

Youths, I write you²

because you² conquer evil.

14Infants, I wrote you²

because you² know the Father.

Parents, I wrote you²

because you² knew this from the beginning.

Youths, I wrote you²

because you’re² strong,

and God’s word remains in you,²

and you² conquer evil.

The repetition is Hebrew-style poetry, where you repeat ideas instead of phonemes. Sometimes the very same idea, ’cause John wrote twice that he’s writing parents because they knew this already, and that he’s writing teenagers because they conquer evil. The first three statements are in present tense (γράφω ὑμῖν/gráfo ymín, “I write you”). The second three are in aorist tense, which is a tense we don’t have in English; it’s set in neither past, present, nor future, so it’s timeless. Translators tend to make it past-tense (ἔγραψα ὑμῖν/égrapsa ymín, “I wrote you”) but perhaps it’s better expressed as “I wrote you, write you, and will keep on writing you.” The first three are about why John’s currently writing to his readers, but the last are why John would always write such stuff.

The new command: Stay in the light!

1 John 2.7-11.

In John’s gospel, Jesus gives his followers a new command. The way he talks about it, kinda suggests it’s not just a personal directive from their master, nor a commentary on the Law of Moses like he does in his Sermon on the Mount. This is a new command, meant to be added to all the other commands of the bible, followed just as intently.

John 13.34-35 KWL

34“I give you² a new command

so you² can love one another!

Same as I love you²,

you² can love one another.

35This is how everyone

will come to know you’re² my students:

When you² have love among one another.”

Like all the other things Jesus teaches, and possibly more so, Christians have sought any loophole possible for not obeying him here. Typically by claiming other Christians aren’t real Christians. Because they have different doctrines. Now, heresies I can understand, but we’re too often arguing over differences that are really slight, and insist we’re not merely nitpicking; this is a profoundly vital difference. Fr’instance full-immersion baptism, and absolutely not sprinkling: This has somehow attained the level of “profoundly vital.” You can read Christians’ articles on why this is so, and look at the ridiculous conclusions they eagerly, willingly jump to. Hopefully you’ll recognize their argumentativeness for what it actually is: Jesus wants us to be one, Jn 17.20-23 but the devil doesn’t, and it’s successfully convinced them it’s okay for them to oppose Jesus.

Following the devil’s lead, we nitpick away, and disqualify people from Christianity over these things. Slightly different doctrines, slightly different rituals, slightly different sins. They revere the wrong Christian leaders and teachers, and play the wrong worship music, and vote for the wrong candidates. They’re too young or too old, too formal or informal, too white or brown (although let’s pretend racism isn’t really our hangup; let’s pretend it’s politics again). Pick your favorite excuse.

Anyway. In today’s discussion on 1 John, we got John writing about a new command. And a number of commentators have decided John is writing about “the new command,” Jesus’s command in John 13 about loving one another.

Because, they figure, the author of 1 John and the Gospel of John is the same guy. Probably has the same audience. Probably the audience read the gospel, and knows John’s references to “new command” are about that new command. Plus, would John dare to issue a new command on his own?—he’s not God, not Moses, definitely not Jesus, and has no business declaring commands on his own initiative.

I would remind you it’s not wise to just assume the readers of 1 John have read John. If John really is a wise, Spirit-inspired author like we believe him to be, he wouldn’t make that assumption either; he’d make it clear he’s talking about Jesus’s “Love one another.” Is that what John’s doing in today’s passage? It looks like he’s actually not. Yes, loving one another is part of it, but the command actually isn’t loving one another; it’s “Stay in the light!”

It’s kinda obvious when we read today’s soundbite:

1 John 2.7-11 KWL

7Beloved Christians, I write you² not a new command,

but an old command which you² had since the beginning.

The old command is the message you² heard.

8Yet I do write you² a new command,

true for one and all:

The darkness is going away,

and the true light is shining already.

9One who says they’re¹ in the light

while hating one’s fellow Christian:

They’re¹ in the darkness right now.

10One who loves one’s fellow Christian

lives in the light,

and isn’t triggered by them.¹

11One who hates one’s fellow Christian

is in the darkness, walking in the darkness,

and doesn’t know where they’re¹ going

for the darkness blinds one’s eyes.

The whole purpose of John’s letter, plainly stated, is to keep John’s students away from sin. 1Jn 2.1 How we go about doing that, is we stay in the light which God is. This is John’s new command.

And it’s not all that new, as John pointed out. Every Christian’s heard it, in one form or another. Shun evil; stick to what’s good. Follow Jesus, walk like he did, and teach everyone what he taught. Mt 28.20 “What would Jesus do?” like the T-shirts say. The assumption one usually makes when they embrace a guru, is the goal of being just like that guru. The term “Christian” itself means “little Christ,” or Christ-follower. Does this really need to be spelled out?

But then again it is a new command. Following Moses’s teachings didn’t turn the Hebrews into people who asked themselves, “What would Moses do?” Especially since the scriptures record Moses’s screw-ups as much as his accomplishments. So really you don’t follow Moses; you follow the Law. Whereas in being Christian, we do follow Jesus, ’cause he never secrewed up. We obey Jesus’s commands too, but Jesus personifies his own commands to a level Moses never even approached. Following Jesus is following his commands. Following him is a command in itself.

So while it’s not new, it kinda is. There’s never been a guru we could follow to the level we follow Jesus. And frankly, if we’re not willing to follow Jesus to that level, we suck as Christians.

The point of following Jesus, as stated in verse 8, isn’t because “the darkness is past,” as the KJV puts it. Παράγεται/parághete is a present-tense verb, which means the darkness is currently passing. It’s not gone yet. We gotta work at it! When we follow Jesus and walk in the light, we’re helping to drive darkness out. The more of us that are in the light, the fewer places there are for dark to be. Christianity spreads, darkness recedes. And on New Earth, darkness will be utterly gone.

Disobedient Christians.

1 John 2.1-6.

I’ve known various Christians who get really outraged by the phrase “cheap grace.” Grace, they insist, isn’t cheap!

Well of course it isn’t. But “cheap grace” doesn’t mean we think grace is cheap; it means others treat it as cheap. They take God’s forgiveness for granted. They figure Jesus took out a trillion sins by his death… so what’s one more?

Heck, what’s a thousand more? God’s given us a blank check of forgiveness! We can sin ourselves raw, and he forgives all! So why go to all the bother of cleaning ourselves up and sinning no more? Self-discipline is so hard. Easier to just do as comes naturally—and remain the same bitter, selfish wankers we’ve always been. But we’re forgiven just the same! And still go to heaven!

Hence the popular bumper sticker:

Also found on window stickers, buttons, hats, or T-shirts, at many a Christian website or bookstore.

Now yes, this message can be used to describe just how expansive and generous God’s grace actually is. You don’t have to be perfect to come to Jesus. He came to treat the sick, not the healthy; Mk 2.17 he saves sinners, not paragons. Taken that way, it’s not a bad message.

But that’s definitely not the way Christians mean it. What we typically mean is, “Yes I’m a raging a--hole, but it’s okay if I’m an a--hole, because Christians don’t have to be perfect. It’s not a requirement!”

Wrong. It is a requirement. Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. Goodness is expected to be noticeably evident in God’s children. If you’re sinning, we can’t tell you belong to your Father, and it’s entirely reasonable to assume you don’t. So stop, for the love of God!

True, we don’t enter God’s kingdom by first becoming sinless and perfect. We get in through God’s grace. But the kingdom isn’t for sinners! It’s for people whom God makes sinless and perfect. He’s trying to transform us. And either we’re on board with his program… or we have no business calling ourselves Christian, because we’re actually not.

Obviously I’m basing this rant on 1 John, so here’s the relevant bible quote:

1 John 2.1-6 KWL

1My children, I write these things to you²

so you² don’t sin!

And when anyone sins,

we have an aide with the Father, Christ Jesus.

He does right by us too.

2Jesus is the solution for our sins.

And not only for our sins,

but also for the whole world.

3We know that we know Jesus this way:

We keep his commands.

4Saying we know Jesus

and not keeping his commands:

It’s a lie,

and there’s no truth found this way.

5God’s love is truly completed

by whoever might keep Jesus’s word.

We know we’re in God this way.

6 One who says they¹ abide in Jesus

is obligated to do this:

Just as Jesus walked,

they¹ themselves¹ are to walk like this.

If a person’s not even trying to keep Jesus’s commands, they’re not Christian. They’re not “in God,” not in the light, have no relationship with him. Might think they have a relationship with him, ’cause they go to church and quote bible and said the sinner’s prayer once. But when they treat God’s safety net of forgiveness like a bounce house, they clearly don’t give a wet fart about Jesus. They’re not following him, trappings aside. Not Christian.

So if you’re not keeping Jesus’s commands, repent and start keeping ’em.

The National Day of Prayer.

In the United States, it’s the National Day of Prayer, held the first Thursday of May.

Various articles are gonna say the National Day of Prayer began in 1952. It didn’t really. Congress and various presidents have called for national days of prayer, starting with the first Continental Congress in 1775. They just haven’t been consistent. Ten presidents never bothered to call for any such days.

What did happen in 1952, was Billy Graham held a rally on the steps of the Capitol, which spurred Congress to unanimously pass Public Law 82-324, signed into law by Harry Truman. It says,

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

Truman scheduled the first National Day of Prayer for 4 July 1952, and next year Dwight Eisenhower scheduled it for the same day, 4 July 1953. Then it started moving round the calendar. Mostly it happened Wednesdays in late October. In 1972 there were two.

PRESIDENT	DATES
Harry Truman	4 July 1952
Dwight Eisenhower	4 July 1953 26 October 1955 2 October 1957 7 October 1959	22 September 1954 12 September 1956 2 October 1958 5 October 1960
John Kennedy	4 October 1961 16 October 1963	17 October 1962
Lyndon Johnson	21 October 1964 19 October 1966 16 October 1968	20 October 1965 18 October 1967
Richard Nixon	22 October 1969 20 October 1971 18 October 1972	21 October 1970 16 February 1972 17 October 1973
Gerald Ford	18 December 1974 14 May 1976	24 July 1975
Jimmy Carter	15 December 1977 3 October 1979	7 October 1978 6 October 1980
Ronald Reagan	19 March 1981 5 May 1983 2 May 1985 7 May 1987	6 May 1982 3 May 1984 1 May 1986 5 May 1988

In 1988, Public Law 100-307 fixed it to the first Thursday in May, and that’s what it’s been ever since. (In fact, as I was looking up the dates for the previous National Days of Prayer, my search engine kept insisting it took place the first Thursday of May of that year. Nope. Bad search engine.)

Largely the National Days of Prayer were left up to the presidents until the 1980s. In 1974 the International Congress on World Evangelization was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, and on their return to the States, the American delegation decided to create Mission America to enact some of the plans they’d made in Lausanne. Part of Mission America was the National Prayer Committee, founded in 1979 and headed by Vonette Bright, one of the founders of Campus Crusade for Christ International (now Cru). They met in Washington D.C., started coordinating with the White House about National Day of Prayer events, and held their first joint event in 1983 in Constitution Hall.

What does the event look like? Well, y’know: Speeches from politicians and clergy. Prayers. Sometimes presidents let the National Day of Prayer Task Force take the lead; sometimes not. Sometimes they’re good reminders about the importance of talking with God; sometimes they’re a bunch of platitudes which say little. Some politicians have no prayer life at all, and it shows when they talk about it. (Disturbingly, some clergy members are the very same way.)

But what does this National Day of Prayer thing do? Well, it’s a reminder to pray for our homeland, which is something we oughta be doing regularly. A reminder to pray for our leaders; something we oughta also be doing.

And for Christian nationalists, it’s a not-subtle-at-all way to remind people of the political strength of Christian voters. We are legion, and we vote, so get in line. But I’m not gonna discuss the nationalists today; their godless motives aren’t about prayer anyway.

What does God want from us? [Mc 6.8]

Micah 6.8 KJV

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

One of the bigger gags from Douglas Adam’s comedic sci-fi radio show, then book series, then TV series, then movie The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2 for short), was the meaning of life. Or as H2G2 put it, “the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.” Some aliens built the best computer ever, solely to figure this out. After 7.5 million years of calculations, it turned out to be “42.” Bit of a letdown, but the computer pointed out it made perfect sense once you knew what the Ultimate Question was. But deducing that would take an even better computer—plus another 10 million years. Problem is, the whole H2G2 story begins with that computer getting blown up.

Adams was atheist, so he wouldn’t have taken his Ultimate Question from the prophets. I’m not, so I will.

See, when you believe in God, he’s part of the question. He created us, and since we recognize him as infinitely intelligent, he created us for some reason. There’s some purpose to our existence. Sp… what’s our purpose? What does God expect of us? That’s the question.

And Christians deduced our purpose is a relationship with God. He created humans specifically so he can interact with us, and because God is love, it’s to love us; and he hopes we’ll love him back. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, the main purpose of humanity (or, in 17th-century English, “the chief end of man”) is yea: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.”

So how do we respond to God’s love? Well, humans tend to think in terms of karma, and figure we owe God big-time for everything he’s given us, for everything he promises us; we have to deserve it somehow. We really don’t, and can’t; it’s all grace on God’s end. But ungracious people struggle to wrap their minds around that idea, and still wanna know what they can do to merit a relationship with the Almighty, and salvation. “Just trust Jesus” doesn’t feel like enough for them.

Well… you can follow Jesus. He taught us a bunch of stuff about his kingdom, and how we oughta live our lives as inheritors of that kingdom. We can do that. And some of those Christians who want God’s kingdom on merit try to legalistically do that, and find it a titanic struggle, or make things miserable for their fellow Christians around them, ’cause God’s kingdom runs on grace. We aren’t following Jesus because that’s how we merit the kingdom; we’re following him out of gratitude!

But if you want a short description of God’s expectation for us, that’s where the verse from Micah comes in. And unlike God’s commands—unlike the greatest commandment or the 10 commandments or the entire Law of Moses—it expresses the attitudes God wants his worshipers to have. Be fair. Be merciful. Be humble. Because Jesus is likewise all these things.

Jesus’s mission to the world.

John 17.6-8.

In Jesus’s John 17 prayer, after he asks his Father to glorify him, he tells his Father he’s been doing the job the Father sent him to do: He’s been collecting followers.

As I said in my previous article on this chapter, this isn’t a prayer we pray along with Jesus, like the Lord’s Prayer. This is a prayer Jesus uniquely prayed to his Father. We’re just agreeing with him as best we can; we’re asking that Jesus’s will be done, same as he wanted his Father’s will to be done.

John 17.6-8 KWL

6“I make your¹ name known to the world’s people,

whom you give me.

They’re yours¹ and mine; you¹ give them.

They kept your word.

7They now recognize everything you¹ gave me

is from you,¹

8for the words which you¹ give me,

I give them.

They accept the words

and truly know I come from you.¹

They believe you¹ send me.”

’Cause we do believe the Father sent Jesus, and how all Jesus’s teachings originate with the Father. Right?

So that, in turn, is what we oughta likewise pray. We belong to Jesus—and our Father. Our Father gave us to Jesus; he’s our Lord now. We accept him.

I should point out in verse 8, when Jesus says his followers ἔλαβον/élavon, “take, receive, choose, accept,” is properly interpreted “They accept the words,” like I have it, or “They accepted them,” like the NIV and most other bible translations have it. Problem is, every so often some preacher with a shaky handle on Greek will notice there’s no actual pronoun there after élavon. Context makes it obvious Jesus is talking about his teachings, but some of these guys will insist Jesus is really talking about himself—“They accept me.” If you ever catch someone preaching that, feel free to ignore them, and go with the way most bible translators have put it.

The Twelve Hours Story.

John 11.9-10.

All my life, whenever I’ve heard people teach about Jesus’s parables, they tend to note, “But there are no parables in John.” Which is rubbish; Jesus uses a number of parables in John. In fact I would argue it’s because of this false belief in John’s lack of parables, the parables which are totally in that gospel get skimmed over—“Well that’s not a parable; that’s just something Jesus said by way of teaching.” No dum-dum, it’s an analogy describing God’s kingdom which you’re meant to figure out, so it’s clearly a parable. And you’re acting like one of those people with plugged ears and closed minds.

Take fr’instance Jesus’s Twelve Hour Story. It’s rare you’ll find a biblical commentary which treats it like the parable it is, and instead treats it as some strange, hard-to-understand thing Jesus says in the middle of the Raising Lazarus Story. It’s only hard to understand if you’re not even trying to understand it. Here’s the thing he said:

John 11.9-10 KWL

9Jesus answers, “Aren’t there 12 hours in the day?

When someone walks in the day, they¹ don’t stumble.

For this person sees the world’s light.

10When someone walks in the night, they¹ stumble.

For the light isn’t in them.¹”

By now Christians oughta know who the world’s light is: Jesus. Do you remember what was happening when Jesus said “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”? Jn 9.5 It was right before he cured a man born blind. It wasn’t just a metaphor to remind his students he can cure those whose only experience is living in the dark. The king of God’s kingdom personally exemplifies what we’re meant to do to bring hope, healing, and truth into a world which’d much rather stay in the dark because their deeds are evil. Jn 3.19-21

All Jesus’s parables describe God’s kingdom, and this saying obviously describes it too: When we walk in the day, we walk in the light; we don’t stumble. When we walk in the night, we’re not in the light, so of course we stumble. Stay in the light!