Discerning Love

2 John 1 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, 2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 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. 4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 12 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. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

What is love? Where is love to be found? Is it only in your family or only among those who know you best, or know you at all?

John wrote in an era of itinerant preachers, when the church of Jesus Christ was in its earliest days. Those traveling preachers and teachers, (such as John himself - who was the last of the apostles who had walked with Jesus Christ - and others who were Spiritual descendants of the original disciples and the apostle Paul,) depended upon the kindness of others as they spread the Gospel throughout the known world.

In a day when there were no motels, or inns to speak of, these traveling itinerant preachers and teachers would stay in local homes, often for extended periods of time. They would be fed and sheltered by those they previously had not known, graciously.

In what Jesus had called the “greatest commandment,” He stated that, “to love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” was the first and greatest commandment, but that the second was like it, “to love your neighbor as yourself.”

At this point in his ministry life, John has personally realized how important Jesus’ commands had been to the spread of the church, and even the very life of the church. Everything the early church accomplished had to be based upon love. Not the emotional kind, but the servant kind.

On the other hand, John warns, there will also be those who will exploit that love in an attempt to undermine the true church. Be careful your love for people is informed by your love for truth, and reject those whose goal is to deceitfully destroy.

-Pastor Bill