WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.320 So, we're going to look through this Sunday evening, next Sunday evening we're going to 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:12.200 look through second John, and then for the next couple of Sundays after that, third John. 00:00:12.200 --> 00:00:21.559 So written by the Apostle John, who is by this time an old man, and he, first John reminds 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:29.039 us, if you remember anything about it, you'll remember that John really grasped the central 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:34.560 truths. If you've got time, reread it. If there's one book in the Bible I would encourage 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:39.359 you to memorize. It's not that long, it's a few chapters. It would be first John. It's 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:48.759 such a great summary of the Christian gospel. The more we understand it and live out the 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:54.840 truth of first John, the more we can be assured that we'll stay close to the very heart of 00:00:54.840 --> 00:01:00.320 the gospel in the heart of Jesus. And so it's a great book that speaks about God's light 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:08.960 and God's love and the power of His love. And even that central truth which was so significant 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:15.840 and so fresh and new to the people to whom He was writing, was in danger of being swamped 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:20.420 by false teaching. Even at that early stage, there was people who were coming into the 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:27.000 churches there and deceiving them with a false teaching and false doctrine. There was division, 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:33.640 there was power struggles. Mmm, that sounds familiar. So not just from the early church, 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:39.200 but right through history, we found these temptations within us, not just as churches, 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:47.359 but also as individuals to drift from the truth, to be attracted to some new fancy message 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:55.879 or simply to be attracted to our own sinful, selfish lives and living. So first John is 00:01:55.879 --> 00:02:03.120 a great book, and first, second and third John are great books to take together. I just 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:08.360 want to give free lessons at the beginning here by way of introduction. The first is 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:17.080 the great example of an old Christian who's a really great old Christian, John. He calls 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:23.640 himself the elder in the first introductory verses, words of the letter. Now that may 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:28.760 refer to his designation as an overseer of maybe a group of churches around Ephesus to 00:02:28.760 --> 00:02:34.840 which probably first John was written. Or it just may be simply a designation to his 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:40.640 old age and being an old man in the faith. But he'd certainly matured, and over that 00:02:40.640 --> 00:02:49.199 maturity had kept his perspective really good. So he'd kept his perspective around Christ 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:54.439 and around people. He loved Christ and he loved people. And that really comes across 00:02:54.439 --> 00:03:00.640 in these letters. They are gentle but really courageous. He has a deep love that is willing 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:08.159 to expose things that's wrong about his children and the faith. But he does so with great gentleness 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.399 and with great attractiveness in many ways. He's passionate. He's a bit like what you 00:03:13.399 --> 00:03:18.039 could imagine your favorite granddad to be like. That's the kind of character that John 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:24.560 seems to be. And he talks so beautifully to the people that he was responsible for, the 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:29.199 people that he was writing to so beautifully. It would be great if... It's a great thing 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:34.439 to learn to speak like that to whoever it might be we're speaking to. Even when we're 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:41.039 speaking, things that aren't easy to speak to them about in faith. And I think the danger 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:46.919 sometimes for us as we grow older in the faith, as we've been Christians for longer, that 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:54.639 we can become complacent or we can stop growing or we can become prayerless or middle of the 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:59.959 road kind of Christians so we're happy enough with what we've reached a certain level in 00:03:59.959 --> 00:04:03.839 it. That's okay. We'll just... We'll carry on there. And we don't allow ourselves to 00:04:03.839 --> 00:04:09.039 grow into the love of Christ as he intends us and wants us to be in the way that John 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:16.279 has done. Maybe becoming a bit cynical of the needs of others and or disinterested in them. 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:24.839 So I would always say, beware middle-agers of the faith. That middle-aged time, I know 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:29.319 some of you are much younger than that, but you may be middle-aged in your faith. I'm 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:35.959 not so much speaking about age in terms of your years as maybe age in terms of how long 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:41.799 you've been a Christian. Always take someone like John as a great example. An old man but 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:48.960 he was growing younger every day inside because he remained that... maintained that freshness 00:04:48.960 --> 00:04:55.720 of being close to Christ. First lesson. The second lesson is to remember our own forgetfulness 00:04:55.720 --> 00:05:05.080 of the basics, the fundamentals, the message of the gospel because the churches that John 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:12.839 was writing to were relatively new churches. They were church plants. They had grown through 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:17.680 conversion. People becoming Christians. It wasn't like it was... It wasn't like moving 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.319 the bits on a chessboard. It wasn't that they were Christians already, just happened to 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:27.519 move to that new church. They've become Christians. They've come to Christ, new converts. And 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:32.519 yet already they were forgetting the basics. Already they were tempted to follow another 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:37.159 path and go a different way. They were distracted. They were reverting sometimes to their old 00:05:37.159 --> 00:05:45.120 ways. And the older I get, the more I see sins grip. See, even for new Christians, there's 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:50.879 this temptation to drift from Jesus Christ. Old habits, old sins are hard to... It took 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:59.159 God the Son. It took God the Son to go to the cross as we were reminded so beautifully 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:07.360 this morning. God had to die the Son. It took that... That was the cost. That was what was 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:13.400 needed to break the strength and the power of sin in our lives. And it's easy for us 00:06:13.400 --> 00:06:19.120 to forget that sometimes and to forget how quickly we can drift from the fundamental 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:26.400 truths. You know, I think as preachers, any budding preachers here, just remember, we 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.959 think we make a huge difference in people's lives. We probably don't make very much difference 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:38.839 at all. It's amazing how little may be preaching, how little a difference preaching can make 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:43.759 in people's lives. But then I think of the disciples. We look at it in Mark's Gospel 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.639 and we think of all the disciples and how little they understood. We've been seeing 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:52.159 that over the last number of months. How little they grasped. It took the syrophoenician 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:57.520 woman to understand, wasn't it? Today we saw. And I take comfort from that because they 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:03.120 were under Christ preaching and they didn't even understand. And there's that reality, 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:11.040 isn't there, that we're quick to forget. It's not an easy thing to stay close to the important 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:16.760 truths of the gospel unless we're relying on Jesus Christ. So when we come to God's... 00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:21.120 When we come at preaching or under God's word, you know, it's important not to keep looking 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:29.759 for novel truth. Yes, we're looking for insights and we're looking for a new understanding. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:34.600 But it must come from the Spirit and it must come from our readiness to be responsive to 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:41.439 the Spirit. When you hear old truths from God's... from the pulpit, don't become weary 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.879 with that because it's very important to recognize that the old truths are the ones that John 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:51.399 keeps going back to in these letters. The message you heard from the beginning, the same 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:55.399 truths. It's not anything novel or new, he's speaking to these churches that are tempted 00:07:55.399 --> 00:08:03.199 to wander from him. And there's a great need for us to recognize the need for the Spirit 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:07.800 to take that old truth and say, what is God saying to me with that old truth from His 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:14.680 word into my life today? There's a couple of illustrations about preaching that maybe 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:18.920 it will help us, it certainly helps me. You know, I wonder if I asked any of you what 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:25.000 you ate for three weeks ago last Monday. I know these are all... they're all illustrations. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.680 I've only got old illustrations. You remember what you had for your meal three weeks ago 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:35.440 last Monday? Probably none of you would remember exactly what you had. But it would have nourished 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.440 you at the time and it was important for you to eat that meal at the time. And I think 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.519 sometimes that's true of preaching. We don't remember necessarily unless you've got particularly 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:48.879 good memory what the preachers preach. But you look for nourishment each time you come. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:54.840 You look for being spiritually fed and for it to do you good for that moment and for 00:08:54.840 --> 00:09:01.439 the weekend which you've entered. And that's significant. Or remember another preacher 00:09:01.439 --> 00:09:07.600 who one of his members came up to him after the service and said, why do you keep preaching 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:13.720 on the same text, love your neighbour as yourself or love one another as I've loved you? And 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:18.800 he returned back and said, well, once you start doing it, I'll move on to another text. 00:09:18.800 --> 00:09:24.680 And I think there's a reality of that too sometimes for us that we're looking to be 00:09:24.680 --> 00:09:31.200 moved and touched and changed under God's word. And John is in these letters, he's taking 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:37.080 them back to the fundamental message that they heard from the beginning. And it's interesting 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:43.320 too, I think the third lesson is from these three letters that we can take is there's 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:49.720 a pattern to them. It seems very much like the first letter was in a sense a round robin 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:53.840 letter that was written to a group of churches, house churches probably likely around the 00:09:53.840 --> 00:10:00.560 Ephesus area. John may well have been the overseer, spiritual overseer. Second John, 00:10:00.560 --> 00:10:06.480 which we're going to look at briefly or a bit of it, was written to a specific church. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:10.720 Some commentators think it was actually to an individual lady, the elect lady and her 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:17.759 children, to a woman and her family. But most would seem to suggest, and it fits in with 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:23.159 the whole of the letter, that that was his way of speaking about the church, the bride 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:29.120 of Christ would be similar to that, that it was a church and the children are the members 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:34.200 of that church. And first John, he speaks about the members of the churches as his children. 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:39.920 Ten times is a common way of speaking that he used. So the first letter is to the group 00:10:39.920 --> 00:10:46.759 of churches, the second letter is to an individual church, and the third letter is to an individual 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:52.440 Christian, Gaius, who he's writing to. And he's bringing the same message to all of them. 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.640 And I think there's an encouragement there for us that the Word of God that comes to 00:10:56.640 --> 00:11:02.280 us, it applies at every level. It applies to groups of churches, which we would call 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:08.079 presbyteries or affiliation of churches. It applies to the local church, the individual 00:11:08.079 --> 00:11:14.279 church like St. Columba's. It applies to us as a corporate people. So it's not just 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:19.000 a message for people out there, it's a message for St. Columba's when we hear it. And it 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:26.079 also applies to us as individuals. So we take all of these things from God's Word and we 00:11:26.079 --> 00:11:31.759 recognize the core message for the same is all. So just for a few minutes, we're going 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:36.840 to look at two of the main themes of the first six verses. We're going to look at verses 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:43.559 one to six. And the two main themes are inextricably linked and they're very simple. And it's 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:49.000 old truths again that John is speaking as he reminds them and continues to remind them 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.240 of the same truth from the first letter. And that is truth and love, the importance of 00:11:53.240 --> 00:12:00.279 truth and love. He speaks about truth five or six times in these first few verses. And 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:06.519 he's reminding them of the kind of truth that's important to elder, the elect lady and her 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:12.199 children, the chosen lady and her children. He immediately sets it in the context of the 00:12:12.199 --> 00:12:17.959 sovereign election of God, that these people are those who have been chosen by God and 00:12:17.959 --> 00:12:23.759 are elect under God. God knows them, God loves them, He will keep them. And there's a great 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:33.879 mystery in that whole amazing reality of the elect called of God, the mystery of the dynamics 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:40.639 of our deadness and the need for God to breathe life into us. And yet not only that we are 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:51.200 chosen but that we choose Jesus Christ. And yet the reality for us of that truth that 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:58.000 there is an elect people who are being called by God, encouraging for our evangelism, encouraging 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.560 for our confidence. He's bedding it in God's sovereign work, the truth of God's sovereign 00:13:03.560 --> 00:13:10.240 work. And it's truth, he says, as he's repeated throughout the first letter, it's truth that 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:16.120 is revealed. It's a message that can be known. It's a message that's been shown and given 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:26.159 to us. And he's telling this church that is in danger of welcoming in those who are preaching 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:30.320 a false gospel and being deceived by that. He's saying, you've got to go back to that 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:37.279 truth. It's not something we can make up. It's not something that we can choose to manipulate 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:46.480 or change. It is the truth of Christ, Christ and His finished work and the truth of the 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:52.360 Bible. And it's truth that lives in believers. He says, the elder, the elect lady whom I 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:57.480 love and truth not only I but also all who know the truth because the truth abides in 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:06.439 us and will be with us forever. So we recognize that this fundamental truth is not simply 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:13.800 an intellectual knowledge but is a relational truth that lives in us in the person of Jesus 00:14:13.800 --> 00:14:20.720 Christ. It's a real... the word. Jesus is called the word because He's truth revealed, 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:29.240 but yet it's a truth that lives in us relationally in Christ. So we have this knowledge of God 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:38.279 in Christ, not simply theological and intellectual knowledge. And it's a truth therefore that 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:45.279 is our unbroken companion into eternity. A truth that will be with us forever. It's 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:54.240 the permanence, the absolute solid rock of our existence that though we've grown older, 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:01.159 though we lose our lives, we simply pass on into the nearer presence of Jesus Christ 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:07.879 because the word is in us. The Spirit of God through the Holy Spirit is with us and overcomes 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:19.279 our greatest enemy, death, our greatest fear, our greatest unknown of being forgotten, of 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:25.399 being lost, of being alone. God says that we are... He is with us eternally. That is 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:31.879 the great truth that John is reminding us of here. And he explains... he describes that 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:38.079 truth and that word of Christ as grace, mercy and peace be with us from God the Father. 00:15:38.079 --> 00:15:46.959 Great benediction at the beginning of His letter. The grace of God is His help to you 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:53.560 in your helplessness. Again, it was highlighted very powerfully this morning. That's what 00:15:53.560 --> 00:15:59.440 God wants from us. He wants that sense of our own inability and our own need and our 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:08.560 own weakness and we come to Him for His grace. And mercy, His pity, His compassion on the 00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:15.920 guilty and on the undeserving. I don't have many illustrations but this is an old one that 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:21.039 I've heard but congregation changes so much. Maybe some of you haven't heard it. A soldier 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:30.799 who deserted from Napoleon's army but was caught and was to face Napoleon who was going 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:38.039 to sentence him to death for his desertion. And the soldier's mother was there and rushed 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:45.759 up to Napoleon and fell on his knees and begged for mercy for her son. And Napoleon said, 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:54.639 he doesn't deserve mercy. And she returned. If he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:59.840 And that's the reality of our position before God is that it's not something we deserve, 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:06.920 it's the compassion on the guilty that as we fall before Him we can know His acceptance 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:15.119 and His peace. That great recognition, the Old Testament shalom, the New Testament truth 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:22.679 of where we get the word, ironic from someone who's ironic is someone who promotes peace. 00:17:22.679 --> 00:17:28.199 And that's the kind of believers we become. We promote peace within the family of God, 00:17:28.199 --> 00:17:33.239 within the church of God, within the community of God, within your workplace, within wherever 00:17:33.239 --> 00:17:43.439 you study. It's a wholeness that allows us to have our discorded hearts and lives brought 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:51.000 into that sense of oneness and peace because of what God has done for us. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:57.039 And the truth and the reality for us is joy, which we sung about at the beginning of the 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:02.320 service. I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as 00:18:02.320 --> 00:18:09.880 we were commanded by the Father. And there's a great reality there of the response of truth 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:15.880 in the life of the believer. John had this great shepherd's heart. And I do think we're 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:20.480 all called to have shepherd's hearts. I know there's some that are maybe specifically gifted 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:26.000 in one way or another, leadership gifts, pastoral gifts, but we're all called to have pastoral 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:32.760 concerns and love and a desire for one another. And it's a great mark of our spiritual maturity 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:40.279 if we are able to have fine joy when we see others walking in the truth, when we see those 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:46.200 around us following Christ and coming to Christ. The greatest joy that we have is to hear someone 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:54.039 that we know and love coming to Christ and finding out and recognizing the wonder of 00:18:54.039 --> 00:19:00.559 His grace, His mercy and His peace. And that is the joy that should mark our Christian 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:06.440 lives. That's the joy that should mark our understanding of His commands for us, His 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:15.039 commandments which are so glorious and beautiful. And so our Christian lives shouldn't be marked 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:25.159 by a legalistic, critical, judgmental, doer or permanent sense of struggle. Of course 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:32.400 there's struggle, of course there's difficulties. But as we remain in Christ and as we found 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:38.720 ourselves on the basic realities of the gospel and that personal relationship with Him, we 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:45.160 recognize He is good and His Word is good and we want others to enjoy that goodness 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:52.360 and that walk with Him and we care about them and we encourage them and we say things like, 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:57.599 I'm delighted and I rejoice greatly when I see you walking in the truth. I wonder when 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:01.359 the last time we thought, we said that to anyone in our Christian life. Probably, there 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.519 were probably someone who would think you were weird if you said that, but it's a great 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:10.919 thing to do. And to be encouraged when you see someone growing in the faith, evidently 00:20:10.919 --> 00:20:16.679 growing in the faith and sharing that with them. So truth is something that John keeps 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:23.519 going back to the truth of the gospel, which he is challenging them and reminding them 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:29.720 not to drift from, not to be deceived by, not to listen to the false teachers who are 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:36.400 tempted to come in and divide the fellowship, even this young fledgling church. And then 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:44.799 of course, his great theme, the apostle of love, is love itself, truth and love. And 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.359 time is though I'm writing a new commandment, but the one we had from the beginning that 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:53.079 we love one another. And this is love that we walk according to His commandments. And 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:56.039 this is a commandment, just as you've heard from the beginning, so that you should walk 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:00.960 in it. And He uses this kind of repetitive language all the time. He's saying the same 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:04.799 things, going around them, looking at them, different perspective, but saying the same 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:10.759 thing, truth and love. And what He's saying to them, look, I'm saying, just as I've said 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:16.000 from before, there's never been another way. This has always been, this is always, from 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.680 the beginning, this has always been the way, is the way of Christ's loving sacrifice and 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:29.519 His grace that's poured out into our hearts. It's the beauty of divine love. We speak a 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:37.119 lot about love from the pulpit, don't we? And it's so hard, therefore, to make it something, 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:44.239 to recognize the uniqueness of the divine love that God promises to us. It's discovered 00:21:44.239 --> 00:21:54.879 and enjoyed only in Jesus Christ. And it's where we find true meaning and true hope. 00:21:54.879 --> 00:22:04.279 And so He encourages them as a response to false teaching and as an outworking of understanding 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:10.879 the truth that we love one another. Now in John 13, that's expressed slightly differently 00:22:10.879 --> 00:22:17.240 as a new commandment. John here says, I'm not writing you out, a new commandment is 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:21.680 an old one. But in the gospel of John, he says, it's a new commandment. I'm asking you 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:28.119 to love one another as I have loved you. So the motive is Jesus Christ and the kind of 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:34.759 love and also the gift of love that He alone can give. It's John's restatement again and 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:44.239 again that the core of His life is coming to know this love that is as different from 00:22:44.239 --> 00:22:52.759 our own disordered loves as light is from darkness. Can I say that again? It's Christ's love 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:59.160 is as different from our own understanding of love as light is from darkness. So we do 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:05.799 need to put aside our complacency when we talk about or think about love from a Christian 00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:11.759 point of view. And we need to fall on our knees and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:18.759 to see what the love of Christ will look like in my life, what it looks like in my marriage, 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:25.319 what it looks like in my home, what it looks like in my workplace, what it looks like with 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:33.200 my colleagues, what it looks like in every moment of my life. And it's what John is saying 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:37.759 again, it's what Corey was saying this morning that we need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:44.160 to unstop our deaf ears and to recognize that this is the love He gifts us that we need 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:52.279 to ask for a love for the unlovely, a love for those who are undeserving in our own eyes, 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:58.960 a love for those who maybe hate you, a love for the needy, a love that covers a multitude 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:11.600 of failings in others. It's a love that doesn't idolize human love or even brotherly love 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:18.799 or sisterly love or friendship love. There's nothing wrong with friendship love, but friendship 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:29.599 love becomes an issue when we favor friends over those who need our love or when we idolize 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:39.679 our friends or when we exclu-exclusivize our friends at the expense of those who are in 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:47.400 need, who are isolated, who are not naturally of our friendship group but who are children 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:55.720 of God or maybe who are not children of God. It recognizes not to make friendship of people 00:24:55.720 --> 00:25:03.039 in a worldly way which puts them on a pedestal and then when they let you down, that you 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:08.160 dump them because they have failed the standards that you hoped they had, that you hoped you 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:14.920 had for them. And there's that recognition of it changes the perspective and the direction 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:21.279 and the way we think about every love relationship because we understand our own hearts and the 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:28.160 sinfulness and the way we let people down and the way we prioritize wrongly and the 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:35.680 way that we choose to ignore some people's failings and then choose to highlight other 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:42.039 people's failing because it suits us. It suits our selfishness. And so it's moving selfishness 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:47.759 out of the middle of our love relationships and putting Christ in there which is a radical 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:56.000 change. It's a radical transformation. It took God, Son, to be nailed to a cross to 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:03.759 enable us to love like that. And we need to throw ourselves onto Christ. And every day 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:08.720 you say, I can't do that. I can't love like that. I don't naturally love this way. I 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:16.079 need the Spirit's help. I need my eyes to be opened. I need to be selfless and I need 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:24.000 to be committed to the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. And He says here, the 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:31.279 aid that enables us to live like this, to love one another and this is love that we 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:37.039 walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you've heard it 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:43.119 from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. So there's this interesting parallel 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:56.079 and it's kind of paradoxical because there's love and there's command. But the two come 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:02.480 together in Christ. As we walk in obedience to Christ, in His strength and in His power, 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:11.119 because we recognize the debt we owe, we find ourselves, it's a bit like, I was going to 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:15.559 say it was cori, it wasn't the cori this morning, it was the Bible verse that I was, the video 00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:19.119 that I watched from the Bible verse about the fruit of the Spirit. It's not so much 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:25.000 we work for the fruit of the Spirit to have all that fruit, but we work to be connected 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:31.640 at the root to the water of life and the fruit comes almost naturally. And the same is true 00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:40.079 with the love as we're grounded in the commands of God. We find that love is the fruit of 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:49.279 that. It's an act of our wills. It's not really an emotion simply, it includes an emotion, 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:57.319 but in our extremely expressive individualistic age where feelings are everywhere and feelings 00:27:57.319 --> 00:28:03.359 are everything. And it's more than that. It's an act of our will where we walk according 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:11.639 to God's commands in our lives and follow Him and love as an act of our will, not simply 00:28:11.639 --> 00:28:19.119 an emotion. The word for walking there is peripatio, which is the word that we get, 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:25.639 the pathetic from. So if you're a peripatetic gym teacher, it's one, you go around the different 00:28:25.639 --> 00:28:30.839 schools, you walk around the different schools, you're not based in one place. And anyone 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:37.519 who does work that peripatetic, that's what it means. And that's, it's really what John 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:43.919 is saying here is wherever you are, the walk that you're on, wherever you happen to be, 00:28:43.919 --> 00:28:48.559 that's what he's talking about, walking in His commands. Wherever we go, we're walking 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:55.159 in this way of obedience and love. Wherever we find ourselves in our lives, it's certainly 00:28:55.159 --> 00:29:01.960 not just in the church. It's in all of our lives and in all of the reality of our lives, 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:07.639 wherever we are, we're seeking to do God's will. His commands about worship, His kingdom, 00:29:07.639 --> 00:29:16.519 thankfulness, dependence on the Spirit, forgiveness, sexual purity, faithfulness, it's all inclusive. 00:29:16.519 --> 00:29:24.000 And the more obedient we are to His pathway, the more we will see our own hearts, the more 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:32.000 we'll be amazed by His grace, the humbler we become, and the more we love and bear that 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.519 out in others. John is passionate about these truths. It's central truth to him. It's not 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:45.480 peripheral. He writes these letters because they're in danger of moving from that fundamental 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:54.880 truth of truth and love together. And if we are struggling in our lives, if you're not 00:29:54.880 --> 00:30:00.799 caring about worship or church or sermons, if you don't read the Bible or pray, if you 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:10.400 have a week, it's because it's a weak foundation, maybe exposed, or you're listening to a re-imagining 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:18.200 of the truth that's maybe more acceptable to believe and follow today, whether it's 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:25.519 to do with sexuality or with political allegiance or relational idols, they say in the truth, 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:32.800 time and distance doesn't change the truth and the love that springs from it. So in conclusion 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:44.559 to the lady at St. C's and her children, let's walk with one another in God's love. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:51.319 Let's do this walk of life together. We live in a challenging and complex world and it's 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:56.799 getting more challenging and complex by the day. But the way of the cross is actually 00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:03.159 very simple even though it's profound. It's always for us far more than just this weekly 00:31:03.159 --> 00:31:09.720 gathering on a Sunday, significant and important and vital though it is. Let us always maintain 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:19.399 this ethos of supporting and loving and walking together in faith. Let us be those who move 00:31:19.399 --> 00:31:25.480 beyond as if it ever were the case that your sermon tasters are theological tourists and 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:34.400 recognize the importance of being together, importance of a radical gritty loving one 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:43.839 another walk together. But John sees that that needs to be reminded of again and again, 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:49.240 repeated on and acted on. And the interesting thing is sometimes there's an old Scottish 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:57.079 phrase that says it's better felt than tell. And that's probably quite true. We can talk 00:31:57.079 --> 00:32:03.680 about love and we can talk about the significance of Christ's love. But you know that when you 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:09.359 experience that both from Him and from one another, it's more powerful than a hundred 00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:18.680 sermons, better felt than tell. Don't let anyone change what we're striving for. Go 00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:26.320 up. I might be here for another six or seven months and we've got Corey coming and we know 00:32:26.320 --> 00:32:31.880 that Corey gets exactly what we are. And that's why we want him here as the preaching 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:40.360 elder. Let's never move from what we are. And it's the message that has been from the 00:32:40.360 --> 00:32:46.320 beginning of the church is truth and love. It's as simple as that. And that's what we 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:52.799 need to be. And that's why we're doing what we're doing. And that's why we have a succession 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:59.279 policy with someone who knows that and who will lead the elders and the whole congregation 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:10.279 towards that more and more and more. The second half of this is about bewaring of deceivers, 00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:17.440 be aware of deceivers and division. And all I can say is Corey, it's all yours because 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:22.920 he'll be doing that next week. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we thank You for Your goodness 00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:31.039 and grace. We thank You for Your love. We ask, we can only ask for forgiveness for how 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:41.159 quickly we are blinded and selfish and proud and careless of others. How little we love 00:33:41.159 --> 00:33:50.200 one another with the love of Christ sometimes. How quickly we revert to quid pro quo love. 00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:55.279 I love because they will love me back because we like each other and love each other and 00:33:55.279 --> 00:34:04.039 we're like one another. Forgive us Lord when we fail to love with the compassionate, pastoral 00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:11.039 eyes of Jesus. And when we think we can live the Christian life without prayer or without 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:18.000 dependence on the Spirit. How quickly Lord we are deceived. How quickly we're blinded. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:25.239 Forgive us we pray. And ground us in the truth. Help us to walk wherever we are, whatever 00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:32.879 part of our lives we find ourselves in, that we're walking in the truth, in the light, 00:34:32.879 --> 00:34:40.399 in the love of Christ. With the challenges that that brings and with also the beauty 00:34:40.399 --> 00:34:47.000 that that reflects from our hearts of the Christ who redeemed us. So help us in that 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:53.439 we pray and help us to help one another. It's such a battle. It's such a struggle. We live 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:58.599 in a world that really doesn't appreciate Christ and His message and their faith. So 00:34:58.599 --> 00:35:05.039 we need to encourage and build each other up, support one another and find here a Christian 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:12.599 family, children of our Father in heaven that are bound together in Greece. We ask it in 00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:25.159 Jesus' precious name. Amen.