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2 John "Cookie Dough Church"
I used to love to explore my grandfather’s house. It was a large
house that he built himself with many rooms and a great basement and
even a few hidden rooms. In one of the hidden rooms my grandfather had
a still and made elderberry wine! But more interesting over the years
were the bookshelves that lined the walls of the basement. I spent hours
of my summer vacation going through these books. Through them I explored
many more places than just the rooms in my grandfather’s house.
Now imagine that as you were exploring a place like this,
you found a secret room that you never noticed before. And in the room
there was a special shelf of books. You might think, “Well, these
books are special! That is why they are hidden away.” And as you
look through them you find that you are right. Here are all of the best,
most expensive and important books. But then in between the larger,
better looking ones you find a few that are only a couple pages long.
Wouldn’t you be curious to see why these little books are so important?
I doubt that you could leave the room without taking a peek inside them.
Did you know that sandwiched between all the larger books of the Bible
there are some that are only one chapter long? There are four one chapter
books in the New Testament. They are 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Philemon.
Two were letters from John to churches, one was a letter from Paul to
a man with a church meeting in his house, and one was a letter by Jude,
the brother of James, to a church that we don’t know of. These
are short little books, but do you know what they are about? I know
that the Bible is effective to change our lives and that all of it is
inspired by God, so when I come to these little books I must ask myself,
Why did God think it so necessary to include this? Why are these little
books so important that they are in the Word of God?
For the next four weeks we will study these books, starting with 2 John.
Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to work through these books in our
hearts to give us a better relationship with Jesus Christ.
“ The Elder,
To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”
John was writing to a woman who probably held a church
in her house and to the members of that church. He calls them her children
because they probably came to Christ through her witness to them. Did
you know that every Christian in the world came to Jesus as someone’s
spiritual child? Not only are they children of God, but they are also
children of another Christian who showed them Jesus and His love for
them. Can you think back to who your spiritual father or mother was?
Some of you can probably tell me the name of the person and I would
love to hear the stories. Some will probably think of two or three people.
And some of you will not have a person in mind but a book, or a ministry,
or some event in your life that led you to Jesus. But in any case you
came to know the love of Christ because someone left a testimony of
Him.
Do you have spiritual children? If you have been living your life for
Christ, then you probably do. You might not even know their names but
people have been watching you. And some have seen through your testimony
that Jesus loves and is real today. John was very happy to meet some
of this woman’s spiritual children because he could see that they
were walking with Jesus Christ and that their testimony was going forth
to others.
“I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking
in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.“
But John also heard from these believers of trouble back at the church. There were traveling teachers that would come in and stir up trouble. Soon, parts of the church were fighting with other parts of the church. The church on one side of town wouldn’t talk to those on the other side of town. And John decided to write a letter to remedy the situation. It was a very tricky letter because both the problem and the solution was love. What the churches needed was more love, they needed to put there differences behind them! But at the root of the problem was also love. Because as the false teachers came around they preyed on the Christian hospitality and the loving welcome that they received. Do you see the problem? How could they reject these teachers and still show love to each other? You know how people are, Teacher So-and-So comes and he is supported by this church, but the other church rejects him. Pretty soon the churches are arguing over which teacher is right. John writes,
“And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. “
The commandment that Jesus Christ gave to His disciples in John13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” You see the solution has to be love. Many churches just give up. They tire of fighting so they just break off contact. They build a wall between themselves and other Christians. But this is not the answer. Jesus said that we must love one another. The key to love though is “as I have loved you.” If we are to succeed we must follow the example of Jesus Christ. We must love as Jesus loves.
In just the few short verses we have already read, John has used the word "truth" five times. And this is where we will find the answer to the problem. Because what the Enemy uses to disrupt love, are lies.
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”
Sometimes the lies sound so good. Of course Satan doesn't come out and say it straight. He is tricky. Usually he says something convincing like, "You don't need Jesus, God loves everybody. As long as they are good God will save them." But God teaches plainly that the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. John writes,
“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctine of Christ has both the Father and the Son." There is no straight way to God. The distance between us and Him is too great. But God sent His son Jesus, to be the bridge between us and God. This is the kind of love that we need to show to each other. Are there Christians with whom your relationship is not what it should be? When you think of them, is the distance between you just too great? God loved us so much that He sent his son Jesus across that distance. Would it be too humbling for you to go to them and ask for forgiveness? Jesus loved us so much that He humbled himself to become a helpless baby, and then humbled himself to be put on the cross for crimes that He did not commit. You see if we are to love one another, to get past these walls that divide us, we must love as Jesus loves.
"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.”
Let me tell you about my experience with making cookies. I have a sweet tooth and I like to munch. So I keep asking my wife to make cookies. But my wife loves me. She knows that I will get fat, so she steadfastly refuses to make them for me. But I, unable to resist temptation, decide to make the cookies for myself. When I make cookies something always happens. I put in all the ingredients, mix them together and put them in the oven. But as they cook, sometimes the gooey cookie dough just melts all over the pan and other times the dough hardens into tough little balls. My mother's cookies are chewy, soft but not too soft. I know there is something in her cookies that keeps them from melting, but yet keeps them from hardening up. The church is kind of like these cookies. We want to be soft, loving, but not too soft. If we melt all over the pan the world will no longer be able to see Jesus in us. What keeps us from getting too soft is truth. As we love as Jesus loves we have to hold onto the basic truth that Jesus is the source of our love. We love because He loved us first. We love as He loves us. But we don't want to get too hard either. There are many churches so hung up about truth that they can't love anybody. John was only concerned with one truth. The truth of Jesus Christ. This is the truth that we need to add to our love. There are many other things that are important. What songs we sing, what clothes we wear, how we govern the church, who our leaders are and what we don't eat or drink, but none of these are important enough that we should break off fellowship. The only ones we can't accept are those that teach against Jesus Christ.
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