Tweets from God: 2 John
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 5/29/2016
A couple of weeks ago I began a series I’m calling Tweets from God. What we’re doing is going through the five shortest books of the Bible. Each of these books is a single chapter and can be read in less than three minutes. Like a tweet on Twitter, these bite-size books of the Bible are short, to-the-point, messages from God to his followers.
The first of these brief books is Obadiah—a quick prophetic word regarding the nearby nation of Edom. And it’s not good news for Edom. If we summarized the book of Obadiah in one tweetable sentence, I think it would be this: God always sticks up for his children! Similarly, the book of Philemon, written by Paul to a fellow Christian named Philemon about his runaway slave could be summed up: Faith in Jesus leads to true freedom!
As we come to the third of these one-chapter books we discover a short simple letter to young Christians just learning how to walk.
We’ve got a few fitness enthusiasts here who enjoy walking and even running for exercise. I don’t know how you feel about walking, but it’s not my favorite thing. I did come across a cute list of indicators, however, that let you know it’s time to take up walking. You know it is time to take a walk when…
• You get winded just saying the words "5 K Run."
• You come to the conclusion that, if God really wanted you to touch your toes, He would have put them somewhere around your knees.
• You analyze your body honestly and decide what you should develop first is your sense of humor.
• You step on a talking scale and it says, "One person at a time, please."
According to the Mayo Clinic there really are a lot of benefits that come with walking even just a mile a day. For example, regular brisk walking can help you: maintain a healthy weight, prevent or manage various conditions (including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes), strengthen your bones and muscles, improve your balance and coordination, and even improve your outlook on life.
As important as physical walking can be, your spiritual walk is even more important. That’s what John writes about in the brief epistle aptly titled Second John. If you have a Bible or app on your phone, let me encourage you to open it there.
John wrote this letter to a particular church, but we’re not sure which one because it was written during a time of Roman persecution when churches were forced to meet in secret, similar to the underground churches in China today. So John spoke in code. He refers to the congregation as “the chosen lady” and its members as “her children.” In his closing he refers to the congregation he is with, saying, “The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings” (vs. 13). In other words, the people in John’s congregation send their greetings to this other congregation.
It also seems that this congregation had a lot of new and young believers who were just figuring out this whole Christian walk. So John writes to them, encouraging them to walk in three ways—in truth, love and obedience.
First, John urges these Christians to walk in truth.
• WALK IN TRUTH
John begins this letter with a heavy emphasis on truth. He writes, “I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth—because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever” (vs. 1-2 NLT).
He then goes on to say, “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us” (vs. 4 NIV). Walking in truth may sound like a foreign concept to some people because we live in a post-modern culture where the very notion of truth is under attack.
Ravi Zacharias has said, “The single most important question any human being can ask is the question, ‘What is truth?’” The answer is—truth is that which corresponds to reality. Truth isn’t subjective or situational. It’s not shaped our beliefs; rather, our beliefs ought to be shaped by truth.
The question then becomes—how do we know what’s true and what’s not. Notice that John said he was happy to find “some of your children walking in truth.” That means even in the church not every believer is conscious of and committed to the truth.
John actually follows this up by saying, “I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist… If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement” (vs. 7, 10 NLT).
The number of itinerant evangelists and teachers had grown by this time; mixed with the legitimate missionaries were others who promoted heretical ideas about Christ and the gospel. Little has changed in two thousand years. Televangelists, authors, and media outlets peddle their own take on truth.
How do we discern spiritual fact from fiction? As Christians our most trusted source of spiritual truth is the Bible. Thus, the best way to determine whether any particular belief or worldview holds true is to compare it with Scripture. The more familiar we are with God’s Word, the more discerning we become.
Every so often a dishonest dealer tries to pass off a fake or forged comic book as a valuable collectible. Among the most common counterfeits to surface is Action Comics #1, which features the first appearance of Superman. An authentic copy of the elusive issue fetches more than a million dollars at auction, making it a popular target. But wise consumers can guard against fraud by familiarizing themselves with the real thing. The iconic cover image of Superman hoisting a Studebaker overhead features several unique elements. A white glare appears on the front fender. A yellow running board accents the green car. Beads of sweat fall from the face of the frightened man in the foreground. A short black line floats just below the flying headlight. A falling rock appears on the right edge. No known reprints or reproductions duplicate all of these detection points. A knowledge of the true Action Comic #1 helps identify the fakes.
The same is true for spiritual truth. The more familiar we are with the truth revealed in Scripture, the more quickly we can identify fakes, frauds, and fictions in the flood of information we receive each day. And the better equipped we’ll be to walk in truth. Furthermore, John also urges these early Christians to walk in love.
• WALK IN LOVE
While truth ought to determine our values and views, love ought to determine our attitudes and actions. In the next couple of verses, John writes, “And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another… As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love” (vs. 5-6 NIV).
The instruction to love one another is a recurring New Testament theme. But it wasn’t a new concept even back then. The first command to love your neighbor can be found all the way back in Leviticus 19:18. But Jesus brought us greater understanding and emphasis on love. Love is the hallmark and heartbeat of Christianity.
Time and again Jesus urged his followers to love one another, love their neighbor and even love their enemies. And he exemplified love in his own life.
So what does it look like to walk in love?
We can show love in countless ways: by accepting people, by avoiding prejudice and discrimination, by listening, helping, giving, serving, etc. I’ve always been partial to Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.
He tells us there that love is patient, kind, and forgiving. Love, he says, is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It’s not demanding or irritable. In fact, Paul employs a kaleidoscope of words to describe of the spectrum of love. In the original Greek, all fifteen of the terms Paul utilizes are verbs. What this means is that love is not simply a fleeting feeling, or a fickle emotion; love is active. It’s the conscious choice to be polite (because love is not rude), to be self-sacrificing (because love is not self-seeking), to be calm (because love is not easily angered) and quick to forgive (because love keeps no record of wrongs). This is what real love looks like.
But a life of love isn’t easy. Some people are hard to love. Whether it is a negative coworker, an exhausting friendship or a challenging family member, there are times when we just want to give up on people and feel as though all our love and patience has run out. Fortunately, God’s love never runs out.
This is his promise: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jeremiah 31:3 NLT).
You know what that means? You have a deep reservoir of love from which to draw. We have access to a love that is always abounding, always giving, always selfless, always real and true. When we find it hard to love, we can immerse ourselves in heaven’s endless love and let it fill us and empowers us to love one another. That’s what I want for this church more than anything. I want to be able to come here, and I want you to be able to come here, and feel surrounded by the love of God. I want for each one of you to live in the overflow of God’s love—to walk in love.
Finally, in addition to walking in truth and love, John urges the “chosen lady and her children” to walk in obedience.
• WALK IN OBEDIENCE
Four times in just three verses John mentions the commands or commandments of God. Then he adds this: “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands” (vs. 6 NIV). Similarly, Jesus put it this way: “If you love me, you will obey what I have commanded you” (John 14:15 NIV).
This is something I try to teach my children. My kids show me their love in a lot of ways. The girls like to give hugs and cuddles. Yeshua likes to wrestle on the floor and just spend quality time together. And I love those expressions of love. They make your heart melt sometimes. But what really makes my heart happy is when they listen to what Ashley and I tell them to do and then do it!
In Dr. Kevin Leman’s book, Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours, he explains that rules without relationship leads to rebellion. On the other hand, relationship without rules leads to ruin. You have to have both. At our house, I want my kids to obey our rules, but not out of fear or threats; I want them to obey because they love me and they know I love them. The same is true in our relationship with God.
If we truly love God, then we’re going to honor and obey him!
Roger Staubach, who led the Dallas Cowboys to victory in the 1971 Superbowl, had to learn that the hard way. He once admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of frustration for him. His coach, Tom Landry, sent in every single play from the sideline. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right if he did!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a “genius mind” when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”
Many of us wrestle with the same problem. We like to call our own plays and make our own decisions. But loving God mean being willing to trust and obey—to do things God’s way no matter what. We may not understand exactly why God wants us to go to church, be baptized or give generously—but God said it, so let’s do it. We may not agree with God’s ethics about sex and relationships—but God’s in charge, so we obey.
Just like it did for Roger Staubach, walking in obedience will lead to harmony, fulfillment and victory.
Conclusion
I’m still not a big fan of walking—I’d much rather drive from point A to point B. But I realize that walking can help me live a happier, healthier life. So it may be time for me to start walking. Likewise, walking in truth, in love, and obedience will give you a happier, holier life. So it’s definitely time for all of us to start walking!
Invitation
Next week, we’ll examine another bite-sized book of the Bible—3rd John. In the meantime, maybe you’ve been struggling with discernment and need some help walking in truth, or maybe you’ve got some difficult people in your life and need some help walking in love, or maybe you’re struggling with surrendering to God’s leadership and need some help walking in obedience. It always helps to have a walking buddy—someone to walk along beside you and encourage you to keep going. If I can help you with that today, then please come talk with me as we stand and sing.
