3 John

 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

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“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth”. The Pulpit Commentary tells us this is greater reason to believe the previous letter was not written to a specific woman. If John named the person in this letter…why not do so in the previous letter?

Gaius was a common name so we cannot be confident this is the same Gaius mentioned four other times in the New Testament. At any rate…we certainly know this Gaius was a man devoted to TRUTH. As such, he was a man whose soul was prospering.

Ever wonder what it means that our souls are “prospering”? The Greek for "prosper" (εὐοδοῦσθαι) means exactly to "have a good career."

So…how does my soul have a “good career”?

I imagine it begins when my sin-riddled soul is washed clean by the Blood of Christ. It continues when I’m “acting faithfully in whatever [I] do for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers” (traveling missionaries); and is characterized by my “love before the church”.

Diotrephes stands in contrast to Gaius. He was more interested in being the “Alpha Male” of the congregation and sacrificed the teachings of the Apostles in pursuit of his personal aspirations. For this, John mentions…if he visits…he’ll call attention to him.

His misdeeds..?

·         Unjustly accusing the Apostles with wicked words
·         Refusal to receive the brethren and he forbidding others to do so.

Why on earth would a Christian do such things? In this case there’s an easy answer. The Apostles and the Missionaries were “rock stars” in the early church. If I wanted to be “number one” (like Diotrephes) I’d probably do a lot to demean the status of my competitors.

The contrast is clear. Gaius was a man of humility…willing to serves others. Diotrephes was arrogant and self-centered. One’s soul had a “good career” while the other’s? Not so much.

I wonder what John would write about me…

Live boldly out there today…

2 John

I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.  Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.  

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Commentaries disagree on the identity of the “Elect lady”. Many suggest she is a specific woman (along with her sister) while others suggest the term refers to a specific congregation while her sister refers to another congregation.

I believe it’s the latter…simply because the Apostle Paul uses the term “elect” several times to refer to Christians in general. Either way…the message remains the same.

When John says “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth” we are confronted with a sobering truth…that every member of a Christian congregation may not be walking in the truth.

By which we mean…obeying God’s commandments.

Already…within a generation of Jesus living among them…people who claimed to be followers were denying core truths about Him. Docetism, the belief that Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die, was emerging and affecting the Church.

The big problem…Docetism denies the Trinity…a doctrine always accepted by the apostles. So, why would anybody want to change what had been generally accepted from the beginning?

Maybe because the truth is difficult to believe?

I concede. Much of what we believe about Jesus is difficult to accept…in human terms. This, of course, is why salvation comes to us by faith…not by sight. However, our inability to stand firmly (and confidently) on faith does not privilege us to fiddle with what God has proclaimed. John tells us not to even let this teaching enter our houses. He says “anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God”. 

John reminds us. When we struggle with our faith the best response is to remain obedient to God’s Word…not well-intentioned friends and neighbors.

Live boldly out there today…

1 John 5:13-21

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

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I can’t overstate the importance of John’s statement, “ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life”. It’s critical that we understand it’s possible to “know” we have a relationship with God…through Christ.

Which is why John spoke about sin in the first chapter. We know that “no one who is born of God sins”, but we understand the construction of this statement (Present, Active, Indicative) to mean “makes a habit of constantly sinning”. We also know that he who is born of God is kept safe (by God) and the evil one does not touch him.

All of this comes to us because the “Son of God has come, and has given us understanding”…something the world does not enjoy. Most of the world will tell us we can NEVER know our salvation for sure. They’re wrong… Ἀγάπη proves it…because ἀγάπη is humanly impossible.

I’m curious about John’s following statement: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him”. So…what would a person who “loves God obediently” ask for?”

And…how could God refuse?

What we should have is, Christians constantly asking God for a more perfect obedience and God dependably granting their requests…resulting in more people coming to faith (because we know "perfect obedience" is always fruitful). This would generate a geometric progression of salvations that would easily consume all of humanity.

I can’t say I’ve noticed such a surge…probably because we’re busy asking for things that don’t lead to loving God more obediently.

So…am I part of the solution, or part of the problem? I don’t have to guess. I already know. But, guess what?  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”…right back to chapter 1! We could recycle this Epistle in our lives constantly and do quite well.

Live boldly out there today…

1 John 5:1-12

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

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“A more perfect ἀγάπη”? John says this is our “raison d’etre”…

I think I know how I’ve been going wrong. I tend to focus my ἀγάπη on those I hope to influence. John says we need to re-focus our efforts…off of sinners and unto God. Ἀγάπη doesn’t look so much like preaching, evangelizing, witnessing or other spiritual disciplines. Ἀγάπη looks like “loving God obediently”.

I think this is why Paul says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”.  The power to save is not in me…as the storyteller. It is in the story (of Christ) itself.  If I expend my energy loving God obediently the testimony will be so powerful it cannot be ignored.

Now, obedience may entail preaching, evangelizing, witnessing or other spiritual disciplines but only if our obedience to God directs us that way. I hope we understand the difference. Preaching…or, teaching, or witnessing, or evangelizing…as acts of obedience to God will always be more fruitful than preaching as an act of human devotion.

If somebody asks me why I am in the ministry my answer should be “I’m not sure…it’s where God and I ended up”. The same could be said of teaching English or flying airplanes. I understand God often sets out markers that we recognize as “His will”. I’m convinced, more often, God says “let’s take a walk and see where we end up”.

“Can two walk together unless they agree?”

I’m going to step out on a limb and suggest…if we aren’t seeing significant fruit (people coming to faith in Christ) as a result of our obedience…we’re probably being “lovingly obedient” to ourselves more than to God.

It shouldn’t be a source of discouragement. It should motivate us toward a more obedient love of God…“A more perfect ἀγάπη”…whatever that looks like.

Live boldly out there today…

1 John 4:7-21

“By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit”.

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I’ve never really contemplated it in this way: The Spirit, in Christ, that drove Him to the cross (for our salvation) is the same Spirit that God put into each of us believers.

We really can "be like Jesus".

So we could be wiser, holier and more powerful than our neighbor? Of course not. Wisdom, holiness and power may be by-products but they aren’t the point. The defining Spirit of Christ is none of these. The defining Spirit of Christ is ἀγάπη…“intentional love”. The “intention” being the redemption of lost souls.

This is the Spirit God put in us when we believed. Why would he do that? So we will love others into the Kingdom of God like Christ did.

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t suggest we can “save” people. Only the blood of Christ can do that. I am suggesting the ἀγάπη that God put in us can drive people to Christ like Jesus, Himself, was driven to the cross.

I don’t often feel that kind of spiritual presence…which can be disquieting.  But, John’s lofty words aren’t intended to create apprehension. On the contrary, "we love, because He first loved us” is so certain it’s actually a tautology…intended to stimulate pursuit of a more “perfect” ἀγάπη.

Here is the operative question for each of us. Has my ἀγάπη been the catalyst that built faith into others?

Am I letting God's Spirit drive me to that end?

Live boldly out there today…