Truth & Love: a beautiful balance

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.
2 John 5-6

Love is a dominant theme in all of the apostle John's writings. And this little postcard is no exception. But it isn't about gushy emotions. There is a necessary relationship between love for fellow believers and love for the Lord shown by obedience to the truth of His commands. John says that walking in obedience to the Lord is the first step in real love among Christians.

This is important because the very next section (2 John 7-11) - what is really the heart of the epistle - warns against associating with false teachers. False doctrine is wrong because it does not walk in Christ's commands. It cannot be love. It must be avoided and confronted.

The necessary relationship between truth and love is vital to the church. It makes us unique. Truth cannot exist without love or it is just stale fact that is void of life. Love cannot exist without truth or it is just sappy emotionalism. Both must exist in commitment to each other as evidenced in the lives of Christians who together walk in love according to Christ's commands.

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The Truth Lives Among Us

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:
2 John 1-2

This short little scrap of a note of a letter was meant to encourage Christians in their commitment to the truth. Truth is certainly doctrinal, but it is not JUST that alone. Truth lives in God's people. I love the way that John puts it here. The Greek that the ESV translates as "abides in us" can be translated as "lives among us." This is a community effort. Yes, individual believers must know and obey the truth of the gospel. But it lives, it remains, it is seen in us as a group. This is about the primacy of the local church.

Christians are to thrive in a church, a community of fellow believers, because that is how the truth remains. Lone wolf Christians will be more likely to have shortcomings in truth and obedience. God designed Christians to need one another. It is maturity in community that is the bond of disciples to one another.

The problem is that we focus in on the areas where my brother or sister still needs maturity. And it is easy to pridefully pick on the collective church as a group of hypocrites and liars. But that is taking our eyes of the truth and our own need to grow in it. The truth challenges us individually to change and to grow. And it challenges us to lovingly challenge one another. That is how the truth of the gospel lives among us.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

The Last Word on Jesus from the Gospels

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
John 21:25

John's final commentary on the life of Christ is poetic and personal. He lets himself say something in the first person, a comment unique in all four gospels and he saves it for the last of the book. It is a fitting epilogue.

He clues us in on how the gospel writers composed their works. They needed to be selective. They had to define the life of Christ and even in his three years of earthly ministry their was an intensity and breadth that not every word and deed could be recorded. They were men who had a message in their written accounts. Some brevity was necessary to relate that message pointedly. But nothing was lost. We know everything we need to know about Jesus. What emerges from each of the brief four gospel accounts is a full picture of Jesus, not just a rudimentary sketch.

They also had a daunting task. John is the most personal and the most doctrinal of the four gospels. It shows the deity of Christ most dramatically. It paints the conflicts Jesus had with official religion in the boldest strokes. John gives us the strongest personal reactions to Jesus by those who accepted Him AND those who rejected Him. And John says there was more he could have written. There is an old story tellers adage that applies: "Always leave them wanting more". The gospels do just that.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

The Gospel of Peace May Be Uncomfortable

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
John 20:21

The disciples were huddled behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. They knew there had been a resurrection. They had not yet seen Jesus, and were not going to go around talking about this. Until now. And Jesus came challenging their fear by giving them words of peace and of command.

When I think about how they must have been feeling, I see that Jesus was working them over. He was giving them a convicting message. They were hiding from the world. He was sending them into the world. They were huddled together in fear for comfort. He was breaking them up and sending them out into ministry. And the world had not changed its opinion of Him. The authorities would still be opposed to the saving message of the gospel. But these men were nevertheless challenged to get at the call Christ was giving to them.

How many times have I preferred the comfort of the church crowd to the challenge of the Great Commission? If I am not careful, I will stay huddled in the church. But the odd thing is that obeying Jesus in going into the world brings peace, nor from the world, but from Him. And the peace goes into the world one redeemed sinner at a time. It is a gospel of peace. I need to remember that.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

"It is finished!" - triumph in the tragedy.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

For the disciples this seemed like an ending, but for all of us, this was the beginning. The crucifixion was not just some horrifying injustice. It was not about man's cruelty to man. It was about God's love for mankind despite their cruel sin. And the world of humanity, represented by Roman authority and Jewish religiosity turned against God in a momentous sin. They crucified the Son of God. Yet, He gave up His spirit on His own. He would lay down His life of His own accord... freely.

It took these events to bring salvation. And the sins of the whole world, my own sins, were carried by Him to that cross and in His death I died. In the hours that followed, Jesus' body was lowered from that pain-filled cross and buried in a rich man's borrowed rock tomb. But on the third day... all the trauma turned to triumph.

His last cry from vinegar soaked lips was "It is finished!" And that is the first shout of victory that echoed three days later when His followers murmured unbelievably, "He is risen!" Christ's victory over sin and death came at a high price. And by faith I accept, living it at a high cost... offering my life in obedience to my Lord.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Not of This World

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."
John 18:36

Jesus is different. We cannot treat Him like any other historical figure and think we got Him right. He was bringing something to humanity from another realm. His kingdom was unlike anything this world had ever seen. And it is ironic that Jesus says this in the situation that He does.

He is on trial for His life and is standing before Pilate, the Roman governor who has the authority to pronounce sentence on Him. He has been brought to Pilate by the Jewish religious authorities who arrested Him, but who had no final say so on His fate. A "system" is being worked, twisted to kill Him... it was politically complicated. But not for Jesus... His kingdom is not of this world.

He made it clear that the "might makes right" thinking of Rome was not how His kingdom worked. And He made it clear that His kingdom has the highest authority. His calm answer before the judge was evidence of His innocence of the seditious charges the Jews made of Him before Rome. Pilate saw this for what it was. He literally washed his hands of an innocent man's blood when he handed Jesus back over to the Jews, accompanied by a Roman crucifixion death squad. But Jesus and a kingdom were still in charge. This was God's plan to bring salvation to all who would believe and usher in a King and a kingdom that are not of this world.


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The Scriptures as agent of change

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:17

Jesus prayed that God would use His Word as the means to holiness for His disciples. We are changed through the process of sanctification. And we become more like Christ by knowing, believing, following, and obeying the truth. We know the truth in the Holy Scriptures. There is no other way. Jesus Himself asked for God the Father to do this in us.

So it is absolutely imperative for me to be changed by the truth of the Word of God. Only by exposure to the Word, acceptance of its truth as I come to understand it, and applying the principles to my daily experience can I truly mature in my faith and become more like my Master. So getting into the Word is a mandate of discipleship. It is my work for true life. And it is a life's work.

Lord,
I thank You for the accessibility to Your Word that I enjoy. It is an abundance of riches. And it is also a serious demand. You want me made holy, changed, and charged for Your service by my intake of Your truth. Do so in me, even today!
Amen


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.