2 John walk in love

INTRO

-Welcome, please open to 2 John as we continue our study through this short but powerful letter.

Mother’s day?

This is John, writing to a church, wanting us to understand essential things for Christianity. things like truth, love, abiding, and ultimately, Jesus.

Let’s Pray!

THE WORD

English Standard Version Chapter 1

4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

-John has encountered some believers from the “elect lady’s” church that he was impressed with. Maybe they were passing through or came to meet john, we don’t know. However, he rejoiced, or was filled with joy because they were walking in the truth. We will get to that in a moment of what “walking in the truth” means.

-This statement of John rejoicing greatly to finding these children reminds me of a mother’s heart. Mother’s want their children to walk in the truth and to walk in Christ. But this isn’t just for mom’s this is a question for all of us.

What are we rejoicing in for others?

-Are we rejoicing that our children or friends are building the American dream, that they are succeeding in a sport but they are losing their soul? I’m not saying we can’t do other things but what are we celebrating most in our lives, because it will show others what we are excited about.

Theological importance

- I want to talk about something sneaky John is doing here in saying that we were commanded by the father to walk in the truth. Where does the father command us to walk in the truth? If you search through scripture, there are many psalms that talk about walking in the truth. Of course we could say he commanded it in the old testament about walking in the law. But, the sneaky thing that John is doing here is talking about Jesus, God’s son, told us to walk in the truth in John 8 when he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 8

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We also know that the father told Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration to listen to Jesus, His beloved son. A command. Not a suggestion.

So if John is saying the father commanded it, but Jesus was the one saying, then…

John is reminding us that Jesus is God.

-This is important because of Gnosticism.

-Still important for us today. Many people are good with God, religion, and then you get to Jesus and things get dicy.

-Also important because since Jesus is God, we need to listen to him, trust him and believe him.

-We should know his word. We should know his commands which is what John talks about next.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

5 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.

-I may be presuming something here, but John says he is rejoicing that these believers are walking in the truth. But then he tells the church, that they should love one another. Maybe they were not loving. Have you ever met people who know the truth but are not loving?

-We need truth and love. What leg do you want the most?

- We need both. And how do we do that? We look to the beginning.

-Who is the beginning, Jesus. Spoke the truth, walked in love. Walked in truth, spoke in love. We need, more than ever, to look to Jesus to know the truth.

-Not to a denomination. Not to a theology or a doctrine. But to the beginning, the son of God in revealed in the word of God. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

-What is love practically?

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 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.

-I know we talked about this before when we were in 1 John but John is giving us no excuse for how we love one another.

-The best way to love others, is walking according to the commands of God. You are the best spouse, friend, father, mother, or whatever when you are loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

-The commands Jesus gives, like we see in Matthew 6 (read)would change our relationships if we focused on that rather than on fixing someone. Don’t show your righteousness off, pray, give, fast. Do it in secret. Don’t worry, store up treasure in heaven not here on earth. Just starting there and focusing on living that way and I promise it will change you. You will stop holding other people accountable and you will hold yourself accountable. Then you will be able to walk in a purity of love.

-Okay, I promised, if you remember, that we would talk about this idea of walking in love. Because there is a need to expand on what John is saying here because it is brilliant.

WALKING IN TRUTH

Walking in truth means you are acting in faith.

You are not called to be apathetic, unresponsive, and making confession without any action. Knowing the truth but not acting on it is not walking. It is sitting. Get spiritually fat and lazy. James talks about this. Jesus talks about this with the great commission. He said go! Not sit! Don’t just gather once and a while, give into your flesh when you want, and as long as you put that you are a christian or religions person on your social media, that is fine.

We are about to have a child and I love seeing kids walk. Because this is God’s heart. You and I need to get up, try, and fall down. And know that our father is there clapping his hands.

Try sharing your faith. Try serving in a ministry. Try getting up and praying. Try listening to God’s voice and responding to it.’

Walking in truth means you are looking to Jesus

Truth continues to be fought after and there are a million voices out there. Are we listening to Jesus, the one who has been there since the beginning?

Are we getting into the word more than other things?

10 day challenge of seeing if you can spend more time in God’s word than you do any other book or device.

Walking in truth includes walking in love

This is the desire of our church. But to walk in love, in purity, and in holiness, we need to know the commands of God.

Walking in love doesn’t mean just hugs and kisses or warm fuzzies. It means encouraging, stirring one another up to love and good works, cheering each other on, being patient, calling out the idle and supporting the weak. It is Jesus. So this is why we need to abide in the Gospel and see the love of God in our lives.

Remember, this is not us striving to do this in our own strength, this is us walking in fellowship with Jesus. Abiding. Trusting. And then in that having His Spirit flow in and through us and helping us walk in the truth. Keep walking in the truth church. And let’s rejoice in others as we see if happening!