February 20, 2023 | Be On Mission
Have Faith, Love & Obedience in Jesus
Scripture: 2 John (NIV)
1 The elder,
To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.
Devotional
Truth.
When being questioned by Pontius Pilate after His arrest, Jesus said, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). Pilate retorted, “What is truth?”
Truth has always been a controversial topic. These days, people like to say that they want to “live their truth,” as if whatever makes a person happy is truth. But Jesus had something different in mind. He wasn’t talking about a subjective form of “be true to yourself.” By contrast, He calls people to be true to Him, because He is the truth (John 14:6). He also said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
In the one chapter letter of 2 John, the apostle compares truth with deception. What do each of these phrases mean to you?
Walking in truth (v. 4)
Walking in obedience (v. 6a)
Walking in love (v. 6b)
I love the praise John lifts up in verse 4, when he writes, “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth.” Remember, this letter was written about sixty years after Jesus’ ascension and about forty years after Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, from where John was writing. By then, believing families and churches had raised up second and third generation believers. There is no greater joy for Christian parents and communities of faith than to see their young ones grow to walk in the truth of Jesus!
How is God calling you and your church to invest in the spiritual future of the next generation?
Poem
Who Is She? This Chosen Lady?
2 John 1:1-2
In scripture there are women oft’ who play important roles
A slave girl teaches captain strong, a miracle to show
A prostitute hides Israel spies, extoled for faith she shines
A foreigner becomes a bride and joins Messiah’s line
A widow dressed as prostitute secures love’s seed by choice
Surprisingly, wise judges rule with strength, feminine voice
A woman wins the war for all by spike in captain’s head
A wife of soldier, bathing, soon is swept into king’s bed
A barren wife births prophet true, an old one bears a son
A virgin girl betrothed and pure conceives anointed One
Two sisters witness Jesus raise their brother from death’s prison
A woman plagued with demons, healed, announces “Christ is risen!”
A wife, Priscilla, knows the truth, corrects misguided author
A weaver of great purple cloth starts synagogue by water
A grandma, mother, raise a boy who soon becomes a preacher
And if you check out churches now most women are the teachers
So, who is John referring to “the lady God has chosen?”
She guards the words of wisdom and delivers truth in motion
She fills the pulpit, tends the sick and keeps the kitchen hopping
When caring for the children poor, she usually does the shopping
Her prayers they rise, her tears fill bowls within great heavens coffers
Her widow’s mite, her elbow grease, her poured out nard she offers
It’s Christ himself who calls them forth, these ladies God-elected
The Spirit calls each one to tasks which he alone selected
