Divine Maturity

1 John 2:14 ~ "I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning." 

Layer upon layer of spiritual progress in Christ leads to one absolute and overarching truth--you will come to know the Father. There is no greater height to gain than to know God. From the very beginnings of the new life--knowing your sins are forgiven in Christ, through the maturing and strengthening of being a young man who is strong and viable against the enemy because of God's word, all leads to the ultimate rock of truth--knowing God the Father.

There are a couple of truths I want to show you concerning our text today. The first is the description of how a mature believer knows the Lord. The "children" in Christ know the Father in the simple trust of a toddler. It is so much more with one who is mature, for the mature believer, with depth, knows "him who is from the beginning." 

Like a submarine in the ocean, that statement buries us in the depths of the knowledge of God. It speaks to God's greatness--for He is "from the beginning." The fathers of Christian maturity know the Lord in His glory, they have experienced the goodness of God and the greatness of God and they now have in their lives an absolute confidence in the Lord for they have come to know the Faithful Savior, who is God from the beginning and will be God through it all. 

God is from the beginning--the Creator of all things. He is Sovereign and the ultimate and absolute authority over His creation. All things have their origins in the One who made it all.  The mature Christian knows Jesus as He who was and is and is to come, the Almighty (see Revelation 1:8). The Apostle Paul prayed that he should know God (see Philippians 3:10). Is that your prayer? Do you want to know the Lord--not just know His gifts, or His callings, or His promises or His power? Do you want to know Him?

There is a deep relationship formed in the life of the one who knows God as the "one who is from the beginning." It speaks of a depth of familiarity that has moved you beyond calling Him "daddy." Consider where the greatest relationships are found--in the greatness of familiarity. I have known newlyweds as well as those who have been in each other's lives for more than half-a-century. The newlyweds may know the joyful exuberance of the new relationship. But those who have spent their lives together are so intimately familiar with each other that they are like one mind and heart. 

And that is where God wants to take your fellowship with Him. 

The second truth to see, is that those who are mature are identified as "fathers." That identity is rich with meaning. A father has a deep responsibility to those in his care. Fathers are to be the ones who have answers for the children in Christ. Fathers have a maturing influence on those who are growing in Christ. 

A spiritual father is one who has come through life and experiences, trusting Christ, failing at times, learning and growing and have gone from a child nature, through the experience of life and faith, in obedience to God's word, have built their spiritual muscles as a young man and now--mature and confident in the Lord, they are stable, even unshakable, in the Lord.

And this is the level to which God wants to bring you. 

Let me draw from a statement in our text to close out our thought today: "you know Him." Let those three words become the fullness of your pursuit in life. Strive to know the Lord.

​These last three days have been a view to your spiritual growth. Begin where we all must begin--to know your sins are forgiven in His name. Grow strong into a solid, vital believer through the Word of God. And then, mature into that condition that is so stable and strong that you are as a father in the faith. I trust this is your desired path.

In His Grace,
​Pastor Michael

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