A look at 2 John - Part 2

2 John

Truth
The first thing we must notice about this letter is that John is writing it for a reason. It appears from verses 7-11 that John is concerned about “deceivers.” He even calls their work “evil” (v.11). The word that John uses here literally means “evildoers.” That is the same word that President George W. Bush used to describe the terrorists that attacked America. It is also the same word that Jesus used in Matthew 6:13 when he prays “…deliver us from the evil one.” John is not just a little bit upset about what these deceivers are doing. He is ticked off in a major way. These deceivers were not teaching the truth about Jesus Christ. It is important to notice that it is not just that the deceivers were not teaching about Jesus… they were. The problem is that they weren’t teaching the truth. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says about such people, “Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark; that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter” (Is. 5:20).

We live in a world today that does not want to draw lines between what is good and evil. Terrorists believe that the evil they do is really good. College campuses all over the nation have professors that teach there are “no absolutes.” In other words, there is no good or bad, it only depends on how you feel about it. I had a professor in college that “preached” the greatest sin for any human being was to cling to one “idea” as truth and reject other “ideas” as false. His point was that truth was different for everybody.

It is evident that the apostle John and my professor do not share the same philosophy. In fact, John, in this letter, is adamant that we as Christians absolutely reject any false teaching about Jesus Christ. He states it this way, “For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will not have fellowship with God” (v.9).

The false teachers (deceivers) did not believe that Jesus came in a real body (v.7). They wanted to deny that Jesus was a man. There have been other false teachers throughout the years that have wanted to deny that Jesus was God. The truth about Christ is that he is both man and God. It is essential to the Christian faith. Jesus was the perfect man that physically died on the cross for the sins of the world. Jesus was also the Son of God and was raised from the dead. He conquered both sin and death and bridged the gap between man and God. Because of Jesus Christ, man can enter into relationship with God. Some people would like to say there are many ways to God. The truth, the absolute truth, is that belief in Jesus Christ is the only way.

Questions
1. Read v.3. What are the two things that John is telling us to “live in?”

2. Why is the truth so important? (see 1 John 4:10-12).

3. When is the last time you had a chance to share the “truth” with somebody?

A look at 2 John - Part 1

Over the next few days I am going to be reflecting on John's second letter. It is short, very short. It is easy to read and because of that we tend to blow by it. I know I have. But, over the past couple of days, it has arrested my attention. So, I'm going to share a few thoughts with you. Here is part 1:

“Can’t Have One Without The Other”

2 John 6 – “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.”

Love is such a weird concept. Some people get starry eyed and mushy feeling when they think about it. Romantic dinners, boxes of chocolate, and red roses. For some it is little notes. For others, love is sharing a long walk at sunset. There is also the group of people that try to avoid love. It feels uncomfortable. It requires too much energy. They’re afraid they won’t be loved back. Maybe they were hurt or abused by someone in their past and they have decided they would never get that close again.

Love is easily confused. It is confused with sex. It is confused with being taken advantage of. It is also confuse with selfishness. Selfish love says “I will love you if…” Rather than being concerned about the good of another, it is being concerned only with self.

Interestingly enough, love is also used to score a zero in tennis matches. Some claim that the term “love” comes from the French word “l’oeuf” (which means egg). The zero on the scoreboard looks like an egg. Whether that is the truth or not, I have no idea. But nonetheless, the word love covers a lot of ground in our English language.

So the question becomes: What does John mean when he tells us that we should love one another? It is probably safe to say that he doesn’t mean we should be out trying to beat everyone in a game of tennis. But, what does he mean? And most importantly, what are the truths in this little letter that are vital for us today?

We will look at these questions tomorrow and Saturday... but for now, think about this for a minute:
1. Think for a moment about someone that loves you. How you KNOW that they love you.

2. How do others KNOW that you love them? How do you express love?

Christianity - the hobby

Jim Smithies, Missions Pastor at Bethel Bible Church has challenged me with his thoughts about The Great Commission being treated as a hobby in our lives...

read his thoughts here

.ross Retro

It has been fun to sit and browse through YouTube with my kids and look at crazy videos and music and some of the stuff on there. One night Leslie and I were introducing Maggie and Jay to some of the 80's music we grew up with and listened to when we were their age. It was kind of funny to see how excited Leslie and were getting as the kids rolled their eyes.

Well, all of the sudden my memory was jarred and I couldn't wait to show the kids Michael Jackson's "Motown 25" performance. I know you remember it. It was the first time the world ever saw someone moonwalk. I remember being absolutely amazed as I watched it. So, I expected Maggie and Jay to think "wow... cool... awesome..." Here were their responses:

Jay: "Where is his other glove?"
Maggie: "What are we supposed to be looking for?"
ME: "Maggie, he just MOONWALKED!"
Maggie: "yeah... so what?"

Thoughts on cancelling church

Leadership, at times, comes with moments of very hard decisions. 10:30pm last night was one of those moments. I sat in the church parking lot, it was pitch black, and I prayed that the electricity would be restored to the grid that Bethel is on (south end of Tyler). Well, the lights didn't come on, so I prayed for wisdom. I called my elders and laid out the scenario, and by the end of the 5th call, we were all in agreement that since there was no guarantee of electricity, canceling our Sunday morning services was what we needed to do.

Now, I know what you are thinking... I was thinking the same thing. "Electricity is a fairly new invention in the scheme of things and Christians have gathered for 2000 years - most of that time without electricity." That is a true statement. The problem for us is that we have a worship room that does not have much natural lighting and no air circulation. Most of our classrooms do not have much natural light and the bathrooms are pitch black. We have a ton of children on our campus on a Sunday morning and a campus full of people and no electricity is not something we have a contingency plan for... yet!

We got the word out last night, and it traveled fast (amazing how fast... ). I met some elders and staff up at the church about 8:00 am this morning and we sat at the entrance of the property with donuts to welcome and then turn away those that did not get the message. "Sorry... we have not had electricity since about 3pm yesterday, actually, it has just come back on, but we had to make a call. Wish we would have known..." I said that too many times this morning. Lots of visitors. Many people that are new and aren't yet on the weekly E-News list. And the few people that don't wake up and immediately check their email, facebook and twitter accounts while watching tv (who are these people?).

I hated how the morning felt. I hated not gathering with the church. I missed worship. I missed preaching. I missed being with my friends. I missed meeting new people (although, I did get to meet some new people) and getting to know some others even more. It felt weird this morning. And the great thing about the weird feeling was that it wasn't from guilt or some legalistic duty of "having to be at church." It felt weird because I genuinly missed it. I genuinly longed for it. There is something mysterious and soul nourishing about corporate worship that doesn't take place anywhere else. It is not the only place or time to worship. It is not the only place of mystery in the Christian life. And the church is by no means a building or an hour. But there is a reason that the writer of Hebrews says "do not neglect to meet together... but encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25). The writer knows that there is something we need that we only find in corporate gathering.

I say that carefully... I am the guy who preaches. I also think that the preaching/teaching ministry of the church is very important. But, it is not about me. It never is... God makes sure of that. But, there is something about faithfulness to God's Word. It transcends the preacher/teacher. It transcends the worship leader. I believe it transcends our understanding many times. It is not uncommon that someone will comment on a something in a sermon that I did not say. The Holy Spirit took His word and illuminated it in a way that transcended all the human effort of the morning. I love that. I am thankful for that. I pray for that every week.

So, if you are from Bethel and reading this - I missed you. If you are not from Bethel - don't neglect to meet together... with whoever you meet with. It is vitally important.

This week we are going to begin talking about our "contingency plan," in the case of power outage. We might call it, "Church in Box" (or something... help me with a name!) - It is a morning of corporate worship in its simpliest form and needs nothing other than people. I don't know what it will look like yet, but I am praying that God would make that clear to us. So, the next time we are without power or some other "obstacle"... we will be prepared.

Tropical Storm Ike in Tyler

Here are a few pictures from our neighborhood.





I sure am glad I don't live in Albany, GA. I hear they get tropical storms every week. :)

More pictures are here.

Krauthammer to Palin's defense

Charles Krauthammer is not the guy I would want to get on the wrong side...

His defense of Sarah Palin in her interview with Charlie Gibson.

Ike hits Tyler

In all fairness... Todd would happily go and check Bethel - it is not necessary yet. I am actually looking forward to Todd Blog coverage of the storm.