Walk In Love

WALK IN LOVE

2 JOHN 1:6

THREAD: 2 John 1:6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

NARRATIVE 1 (sorta Genesis 4:1-8)

Once there was a family that had two sons. The older son was named Cain. The younger son was named Abel. Cain was a farmer who worked the soil and did well at it. He loved the outdoors and loved seeing small seeds grow into large plants. Abel, the younger brother, kept flocks and enjoyed animals of all kinds.

The day came for the family to bring offerings before God and worship Him by offering something of what they had either grown or raised or made with their hands. Each of the family members have a choice as to what to bring before God. The mother and father gathered their gifts and their offering was ready. Cain went to the trees he’d been tending and picked up the fruit off the ground and went to a leftover basket for some tubers he’d harvested two weeks before. His offering was ready. Abel slaughtered the best young goat their family had and brought the best parts of the animal and his offering was ready. The family prayed together and offered their gifts to God in worship. A sense of peace came over the mother, father, and younger brother and they knew God had accepted their offering. Cain had no sense of peace for his offering was not accepted.

It is at this point that the family has many choices. How will each of them treat Cain? What words will they say to him? What will Cain do? What will their attitudes be? They could look down on him. They could make fun of him. They could yell and be angry. They could look on him with disgust. Many things could happen. The mother and father and brother chose to say nothing. Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Cain now had choices as to what he would do and say. He could offer another gift immediately. He could learn from the situation and do better next time. He could confront his family about their silence. Instead, Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

BASIC DEFINITION OF LOVE

This morning we are talking about love. What is love anyway? Is it a feeling? An action? Some kind of chemical process in our brains? A figment of our imagination? In the Book of Genesis, human love is shown as something that is complex. Love is an action (Genesis 20:13), love is what parents feel for children (Genesis 22:2), love is what motivates marriage (Genesis 29:18), and love can also be gained and lost (Genesis 29:32). I found it interesting that even as human love is shown as complex in Genesis, Godly love is shown as simple in Exodus. In the Book of Exodus, God’s love for us is unfailing (Exodus 15:13), lasting generations (Exodus 20:6), something that abounds (Exodus 34:6). Love is a topic talked about in the Bible and is mentioned 731 times in the Old and New Testaments (NIV).

So what is love? Love is both a feeling and an action created by God in us that is a strong or constant affection and devotion for someone that comes from kinship or other personal ties. Love has many different definitions and is one of those words that have as many different definitions as the people trying to define it. Canadian poet Margaret Atwood said, “The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because snow was important to them: there ought to be as many for love” (The Treasure Chest, Harper Collins, 1965, pg 148). I think there are more than 52!

THREAD: 2 John 1:6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

NARRATIVE 2 (p)

Kelly and I are fortunate in the summer time to have a few weeks where all three of our kids are either gone to one place or all gone to different places. The other week two of our kids were at CIY at Johnson in Tennessee and one was at “Camp Nana” enjoying being spoiled by grandparents. Kelly and I got together for lunch at a busy restaurant that has a special on Mondays. I actually saw a few people from the church there [point out Chris if he is there] and said hello. While we were eating, a person who used to come to our church walked in and sat down with a group they were with. I was faced away from them, but Kelly was faced towards where they sat saw them come in. To make a short story even shorter, Kelly relayed something that happened while we were there. I was up filling my drink and the person got up to refill their drink as well. They got up from their table behind us to fill their drink, saw me at the machine, and turned around and sat back down. I can only assume because they didn’t want to talk to me. I got back to my table and Kelly told me what happened.