Speaking the truth in love

Introduction:

Good morning New Life! Another day in the house of the Lord Amen! Some of you will quickly notice that Pastor Love and first Lady Sister Love aren’t here this morning. That is because it is officially the month of September and Pastor Love is taking his yearly sabbatical. So as they take this month Curtis, Jeremiah and I will be filling in. So we will continue to pray for them as get some much needed rest. With all of that out of the way I want to start out by saying Sunday’s are some of the most refreshing times for the Saint’s and people of God because it’s a time were we can gather, worship and have fellowship. Even more so than that Sundays are where we get to experience the truth of Gods word. As most of you know we began a brand new sermon series on the book of 2nd John and the last time I was up here I did an introductory message on 2nd John. It was in that message that I said that John has a specific theme throughout his second epistle that theme is speaking the truth in love.

In today’s modern and digital world we have basically ultimate access to all sorts of information. We see it in the news on TV, we see it in the movies and shows we watch and most dangerously we see it in the social media we use. As I sit back and think about it I now realize that I am ashamed at how much time I have wasted on this little device right here. Perhaps us as Christians, maybe even us as a society has been given too much access to mainstream media, perhaps even far more so than God is pleased with. But I am thankful that God has given us the Church because it is in Church that Christians get to here the Gospel message every Sunday. Even more so than that the Church is where Christians have the opportunity to speak the truth in love.

Discerning the truth from error is something that even the Apostle John had to deal with. That is because we know from Johns previous Epistle that John wrote to the Church of Ephesus in order to warn them to be on guard against false teaching. Brothers and Sisters if the Apostle John had to combat the false teachers in his day, over 1500 years ago how much more then do we as Christians in the 21st century have to be on our guard? Especially when we have too easy access to information of any kind.

Well, thats when we come to Johns second epistle. Which as I have already stated has a theme of speaking the truth in love. We have three observations from this mornings text,

1.) Walking in Love (verses 4-6).

2.) Walking in Truth (verses 7-9).

3.) Walking in Discernment (Verses 10-13).

So if you have your Bible please grab them a turn into the book of 2 John 1–13 “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teachings of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The Children of your elect sister greet you.”.