Welcome to Friday’s podcast from STC Sheffield.  It has been a pleasure to share some reflections from the book of 1 John with you this week, and I’m looking forward to listening to Tom next week, as he continues our journey through the letters of the New Testament.

REFLECTION:

In the meantime, our Bible passage for today is 1 John 2:7-14.  I’m not going to focus on a particular verse, but instead I’d like us to look at the groups of people that John addresses or identifies in verses 12-14: children, fathers and young men.

We know that every member of the human race experiences theses different ages and stages in their lifetime: being a child, being a young adult, and then becoming a father (which is more accurately translated as being an elder in the church, or an older and wiser person, rather than having biological children).

However, as Christians we should actually be experiencing or operating at each of these stages all the time, in our walk and journey as a disciple of Christ.

Let’s start with being children.  Obviously, we know that we are all ‘children of God’ and that we are adopted into sonship, but what are some of the characteristics of being a child?

Well, children are in need of instruction, they need teaching and training in all sorts of different things – be that potty training, how to write their name, or as they get older how to cook a meal or use the washing machine!

In your journey with God, or at this stage in your life, where do you need to learn more or be taught new things?  And who are the teachers who can instruct and train you in this?

An example from my own life right now would be that in 12 weeks time our eldest son Jacob will leave home; and a year after that Max will also move out.  This is new to me.  I have little to no experience of what it is like to parent adult children, to have your children leave home, or how to support the third child who is now at home with no siblings around.  At this stage in my parenting journey, I am a child myself, and I need to spend time talking to and learning from others who have done this, people who can teach me new strategies and approaches, and probably wipe away a few tears.

I was humbled to read a piece that Pete Greig, the founder of the 24/7 prayer movement, wrote this week about heading off on a marriage retreat with his wife of 26 years.  It’s not that they think there are any particular issues or problems in their relationship right now, but they asked a man who had been married for 50 years to teach them what it meant to thrive in a marriage beyond 26 years and when all the children had flown the nest.  Pete and Sammy Greig recognised that despite raising their kids to adulthood, planting 3 churches and founding a worldwide prayer movement…….they were still children when it came to this stage of their life, and they were open to receive teaching and instruction from those older and wiser than them.

Where in our lives, in our walk with God, would we benefit from learning new things, or getting some further teaching, training and instruction?

The second group of people that John addresses is the fathers or, as we noted earlier, the older and wiser members of the community, the elders of the church.

The reflections here are quite simple.  Where, or to whom, are you being called to be this older and wiser person?

It may come as a shock to the teenagers, students and young adults listening that this applies to you.

As parents, one of the things that Alan and I have always sought to provide for our children is people younger, and considerably cooler, than us to invest in their lives.  I know that both of our boys have good relationships with a lot of great Christian men in their 20s and 30s, and that Faith also chats to some amazing young women who are strong in their faith, and have taught her that she shouldn’t date anyone unless he loves the Lord!