Friday, December 6th: Hosea 4:1-5:15, 2 John 1:1-13, Psalm 125:1-5, Proverbs 29:9-11 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hosea 4:1-5:15, 2 John 1:1-13, Psalm 125:1-5, Proverbs 29:9-11

2 John 1:5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends,[c] that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 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.  It's not optional!

Thursday, December 7th: Daniel 5-7; 2 John ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Daniel 5-7; 2 John

Daniel 5:5-6 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

I gotta say, I think that reaction is spot on, and I'm pretty sure all of us would react in the same way!  And that is nothing compared to what sinful man's reaction would be if we actually caught sight of our Holy God.  Which is one of the reasons no one has ever seen God's face - we literally would not be able to handle it.

God is so awe-inspiring, so awesome, we truly cannot even imagine or begin to grasp His greatness.  He is, quite simply, above us in absolutely every way.  

And yet, He cares for us.  He loves us.  Sinners all.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!


Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Daniel 8-10; 3 John

Sunday, December 18th: 2John 1, 3 John 1 ~ Jay

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: 2 John 1, 3 John 1

The two main themes of today's passage revolve around Truth and Love, and how Love is reflected in how we treat others.

I found vs 2 of chapter 1 John 1 interesting relative to truth.   2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: We often think of truth as an inanimate or factual verbalization, yet we are reminded that truth is a living breathing thing which lives in us and should manifest itself in our everyday lives.  Christ and his spirit are living and breathing within us and as a result our lives should manifest this.

The commands about love are present in the old testament where we are told to "love our neighbor as ourselves..", Here John is writing to the body of believers and makes specific mention that they love one another. 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. Do we truly love our fellow believers, or do we smile when we see them, yet hold a grudge for something that was once said or a wrong we felt was done against us? It is a command- Walk in Love. To be effective for Christ and be considered "walking in the truth", love for our fellow believers in critical.

The challenge for me from 3 John was with respect to love and support for those who have given up their own lives to spread the gospel (aka missionaries).  5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters,[a] even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. We are challenged to show hospitality (and support) as we are partners with them in their work.  The personal challenge for me over the holidays is to connect somehow with one of our church missionaries and help meet a need they might have. 

Truth and love are two words that we hear frequently tossed about in today's world, yet if truth and love do not originate in Christ...they are merely words.   

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Revelation 1-3

Sunday, November 1st - 2 Samuel 19-20, 2 John ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 2 Samuel 19-20; 2 John

Over and over, in both the Old and New Testaments, we read of flawed men and women who sometimes were faithful in following God, and other times were utterly faithless.  This is, quite frankly, one of the reasons the Bible is believable and credible - its "heroes" do not always come off looking that great.  And that is because the Bible is not a book about heroes of the faith. Yes, there are some "heroes", and yes, there are things we can learn from their lives in both their successes and failures.  But, ultimately, the Bible is a book about God, and we should be reading it, first and foremost, to learn more about Him, to know Him better, and to discover exactly how to obey Him because (as 2 John v6 says) our love is manifest in our obedience.

May we read the Bible to discover the Truth, to deepen our relationship with Him, and may our faith be proved genuine by our obedience.



Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 2 Samuel 21-22; 3 John

Wednesday, March 13th

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Numbers 25-26, Psalm 52, Luke 8

Today's scripture focus is 2 John 1:9-13

⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, ¹¹ for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

¹² Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

¹³ The children of your elect sister greet you.

MacArthur's sermon on this series entitled Truth: The Test of Christian Hospitality

nothing is as dangerous as deception because nothing is as precious as truth

That quote by MacArthur really hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?  Truth is absolutely precious.  If we do not know the truth of the gospel message, we will not be able to recognize false teachers when we see them and we could be led astray and we could even mistakenly endorse those false teachers and, in so doing, lead others astray!

John uses some very strong language in this text.  
do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting

First thing to note - he is not speaking about non Christians in general, he is speaking of false teachers.  He is speaking of those who claim the title of Christianity and claim to speak for God but who, in fact, do not believe in the truths of the gospel.  They could be wrong on many issues - they may not believe in salvation by grace alone, they may not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they may not believe that Jesus was also fully human, they may not believe that Jesus' death paid the penalty for our sin.  Simply put - they do not believe the truth, but they talk like they do in an effort to deceive and lead astray.  We are not deceived by Buddhists or Muslims - we know that is not the truth.  But we are always susceptible to something that sounds like the truth but really isn't.  That's why Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  A lie is so much more believable when it has a hint of the truth in it, when it sounds like it is the truth.  We have to know the truth in order to discern who those false teachers are!

He's speaking of dangerous wolves, Acts 20. He's speaking of thieves in the language of Jesus in John 10 who come to kill and destroy the flock. Any hospitality, any commendation, any acceptance of them would be dangerous exposure to antichrist influences. You can't overstate this. It would be impossible to overstate this. 

We are to love fellow believers, but not at the expense of the truth.
We are to speak the truth, but speak it in love.
We are to know the truth - study the Word!
We are to live in the truth - obey the Word!
And we are to look for the truth in those who claim Christ and who claim to speak for Christ.
And if we find false teachers, we cannot embrace them.  We cannot.  Because doing so puts the flock at risk.  Because doing so helps deception flourish.  Because doing so condones deception.  Because doing so would make us just as guilty as the false teachers themselves.

nothing is as dangerous as deception because nothing is as precious as truth

Let us not be too cowardly or too caught up in "tolerance" or the world's definition of love, to stand up for truth, to protect truth.

The truth is precious.
The gospel is precious.
We cannot stand by and allow it to be maligned or twisted.


Tomorrow's scripture focus: 3 John 1:1-8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Numbers 27-28, Psalm 53, Luke 9

Tuesday, March 12th

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Numbers 23-24, Psalm 51, Luke 7

Today's scripture focus is 2 John 1:5-8

⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. ⁷ For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

MacArthur's sermon on this passage entitled Truth: The Boundary of Love and the Test of Loyalty

We live in a world of lives, but as Christians, we are called to uphold the truth.

But not at the expense of love.

We not only live in the truth, we love in the truth...we love in the truth. While we are living in the truth there is no excuse for being so devoted to the truth as to be unloving. John is not saying here that you're supposed to become so critical and so analytical and so discerning and so skeptical that the truth literally overpowers your responsibility to love. Rather, he says, truth is always upheld in perfect balance with love....We do not use the truth as a way to be unloving, inhospitable, unkind, unmerciful, ungracious. Just the opposite, the truth is always held in love. The purest kind of truth embraces love because love is a part of that truth.

On the one hand, this is an old commandment.  Right from the OT we've been commanded to love God and to love each other.  So that's not new.

But what's new is that we've never seen Jesus, God in the flesh, showing us exactly how to love.

And not only is there a new understanding of love because of what we see in Jesus, but there's also a new understanding of love because of the Holy Spirit's work within us. The fruit of the spirit is love (and joy and peace, etc).   God the Father is love.  God the Son is love.  God the Holy Spirit is love.  And that love dwells within the heart of every believer because the Holy Spirit dwells within the heart of every believer.

There's also a difference for those of us living after the coming of the Messiah, the Light of the world.  The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of light and a Kingdom of love.  With the arrival of Jesus, the Kingdom of light and love has arrived, at least to some degree.  We do still live on earth and in the Kingdom of darkness is still battling, so we are not yet experiencing the Kingdom of light in its fullness and won't until He comes again.  We live in the overlap, experiencing a taste of what's still to come.

Love is truly the fulfillment of the law.  IF you have a true understanding of biblical love.

If you love your spouse, you don't need a law telling you not to hit them.  You won't hit them because you love them.

If you love your kids, you don't need a law telling you not to kill them.  You won't kill them, not even the unborn ones, because you love them with the perfect love of God.

We demonstrate our love for God and our love for each other by being obedient to the Word of God.

We love in the truth.

You cannot really love someone if you set the truth aside. No true love between Christians can be marked by sin and disobedience to the truth of God. Living in the truth encompasses loving according to the truth which means that our love is best expressed when we obey the Word of God. All that is directed between us and Him and us and each other. I have to love you in the way the Bible defines that love and that means that if I love you when you stumble, I'll come and pick you up. That means if I love you and you sin, I'll come and confront you. That means if I love you when you have need, I'll come and meet that need. If I love you and you're grieving, I'll come and comfort you. If I love you and you're ignorant, I'll come and instruct you. If I love you and you're disobedient, I'll come and correct you.

We are so quick to latch on to the verse "Do not judge", and the idea that because we can only change ourselves and not those around us, that we should never confront one another.  That is not love.

Yes, obviously we should, first and foremost, be concerned with our own motives, actions and words.  Yes, we should challenge ourselves, examine ourselves according to the scripture and change in every area that the Spirit and the Word convict us.

But to never challenge each other is not biblical love.  To never confront one another with the goal of reconciliation between them and God or them and us - that's not biblical love.  Oh yes, it's hard.  Really hard.  Because confrontation, even when done in love, often does not result in a positive reception, at least not at first.  But when we truly love someone, we will love the way the Bible says we are to love.  Yes, often that will mean encouraging, empathizing, comforting and simply meeting their needs.  But sometimes, that will include teaching and confrontation.  Let us not only love each other in the easy ways, but also in the difficult ways, by being loyal to the truth.

And, again, John warns about false teachers.  We cannot be deceived by them through some misguided notion of what love is.  Love does not encourage, support or endorse false teaching in any way.  Again, this does not mean that we are not to love non-Christians in general.  But we need to be extremely wary about those who claim Christ but believe and teach lies in the important matters of doctrine.  We cannot allow ourselves or those around us to welcome that into our home, or to be exposed to that.  We need to protect the truth.  More on that in tomorrow's passage!

We cannot love false teachers within the Christian church.  Doing so could undermine our testimony, lead others astray, hinder the work of God, and lessen our eternal reward in heaven.  There is a high price to pay when we sacrifice the truth.


Tomorrow's scripture focus: 2 John 1:9-13

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Numbers 25-26, Psalm 52, Luke 8

Monday, March 11 ~ by Pamela

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Numbers 21-22, Psalm 50, Luke 6 

Today's scripture focus is 2 John 1:4

"I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father."

When you are a Christian parent, your greatest desire is to see your child or children come to Christ and make a personal commitment to Him. For them to make their decision to follow God their own and not just an extension of what their parents believe is something you want for your child. For them to know the truth for them to know what God has commanded and for our child to not just know but also to obey.

Not doubt, just as we desire that today, John's generation desired the same thing for their next generation. We know that children tend to stray from what their parents would want for them. I looked for some stats regarding people identifying themselves as "Christian" and found this one which said:

America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found.

Seventy-five percent of Americans call themselves Christian, according to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1990, the figure was 86 percent.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League said he thinks a radical shift towards individualism over the last quarter-century has a lot to do it.

We do have reason to be concerned about our children walking away from the truth. In a society that preaches the importance of self as number one, it become increasingly difficult for people to submit to Christ. The article says:

"The three most dreaded words are thou shalt not," he told Lou Dobbs. "Notice they are not atheists -- they are saying I don't want to be told what to do with my life." ... 

At the same time there has been an increase in the number of people expressing no religious affiliation.

..."In an earlier time, people who would have been content to say, 'Well, I'm some kind of a Protestant,' now say 'Hell no, I won't go,'" he told CNN."

The influence of society can negatively impact our children and their desire to want to cultivate a relationship with Jesus even when they have been brought up in a Christian home and taught the truth. It's a scary thought...to think that our children would choose to live in a "realm of lies" instead of in the truth.

MacArthur says in this sermon:
The unconverted then are called, in Psalm 58:3, "Those who speak lies." They live in a realm of lies. They live in a realm of deception and falsehood. The divine indictment of all of the lost, rendered in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 says, "They exchanged the truth of God for the lie." That's how people live in the world. That's how all of us lived in the world before God opened our hearts to understand the truth. You heard it again, didn't you, in the testimonies tonight? One deception after another people pursue--one unfulfilling deception after another. Everybody in the world lives in one of these two realms. You either live in the realm of the truth, or you live in the realm of lies. The world then is divided into two groups: those who live in the truth and those who live in lies.

He adds the reason for the rejection of truth:

We have something far worse than being killed for the truth. We might be rejected by our society for the truth. We might be considered as offensive and divisive. We might be looked at as aliens. We might be vilified or even at best treated with indifference. We might be rejected by those around us. And so, in order to avoid that, we compromise or even set the truth aside that offends.

When we consider the sanctity of life and don't support abortion or euthanasia we are looked down on by a society that believes woman should have the right to choose and that some people are better off dead. When we don't support homosexual marriages because it violates God's purpose and design for marriage we are looked down on by a society that believes anything goes as long as it feels right to you. When we believe sex should only be a part of a marriage relationship society laughs calls it old fashioned ideals that do not jive with the real world's desires. (Just do it! is the mentality and the sad consequences are unwanted children, fatherless families, and sexually transmitted diseases) When we don't support a Bill that threatens to violate our religious freedoms based on "hurting people's feelings" we are called out as intolerant and out-dated. This is the society that my kids are being raised in. These issues are on tv, on the news, taught in classrooms, preached from bill boards, and saturated into their daily lives.

And yet, just as John wrote:

"I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father."

We, today, are still seeing that despite the influences on society, some children are still choosing to walk in the truth. It was Youth Sunday at our church yesterday and the entire service (including set up at 7:15 am ---that's 6:15 with the time change!). They lead the music, they played the instruments, they shared, they preached. They are choosing to walk in the truth. When society threatens to sway them, they are choosing to stand firm.

We as parents, as youth leaders, as Sunday school teachers, as day camp counsellors, as prayer warriors need to take the responsibility to support these young people as they begin a personal commitment to the truth.

MacArthur concludes that the message of John 2 is brief but important:

"This is a postcard, it really is. It's a postcard. Compared to Luke it's a postcard, but it isn't a small message. It's a big message. And the dynamite here comes in a small package, but it is dynamite. This is not just a call to recognize the truth; this is an exhortation to live in it, love in it, be loyal to it, look for it, and learn it. This is...this is filled with warnings about what will happen if you don't. And this, my friends, is at the heart of all the issues in the church. If we don't know the truth and we don't live for the truth and we aren't the pillar and ground for the truth, then the church has a deficient immune system. We lack discernment. And if we lack discernment, we'll die from a thousand illnesses. We can't have a low commitment to divine truth. We can't have an open door to those who deceive by misinterpreting and misrepresenting the truth. Of all things to be protected, the truth is most important. You lose the truth, you lose the truth about God, you lose the truth about Christ, the truth about the Holy Spirit, the truth about man, the truth about sin, the truth about salvation, the truth...when you lose the truth, you lose it all. We need to be soldiers for the truth, don't we? Guarding the truth is critical. We don't just preach the truth, we contend for it. We fight for it."

We. fight. for. it.

So important for our children . . . .  for the next generation . . . .  and for us.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: 2 John 1:5-8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Numbers 23-24, Psalm 51, Luke 7

Friday, 8 March 2013 ~ Roxie

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Numbers 15, 16; Psalm 49; Luke 5

Today's scripture focus is 2 John 1:1-3

2 John 1:1-3

The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth-- and not only I, but also all who know the truth--because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

My very first thought is: who is the lucky family to receive a letter from the very grandfatherly and wise, John? At almost 100 years old (at least according to my study Bible), John is still writing, still teaching, still encouraging. I so often think of retiring...and my thoughts tend to be incredibly selfish when I allow them to drift that way: a cabin on a lake, quiet breeze blowing, sitting, tucked into a rocker on my front porch gazing into the sunset, cradling the heat of a cup of tea between my hands...rocking...rocking.

Perhaps, this is the wrong way to think of retirement? There are still going to be people needing to know about this truth and love of which John speaks and speaks again. My study notes said something absolutely beautiful that pushed me to think beyond my far off retirement:

“This emphasis on truth shows that authentic Christian love involves more than sentimentality” (study note on 2John1:1 HCSB Apologetics Study Bible for Students)

More than sentimentality. More than light, fluffy feelings that sweep feet off the ground and thrust heads into the clouds...how do we, as Christians show this authentic Christian love? Being in a place where there is very little variety in regards to the people that I encounter, I have been noticing that I far too frequently forget what true Christian love is...that it has very, very little to do with sentimentality...and much more to do with grace for them and grace for me...a whole lot of apologizing...and even more giving my feelings back to God. 

Grace takes away guilt; mercy, misery: peace implies the abiding in grace and mercy.

(Wesley’s Explanatory Notes)

I am so very grateful that Jesus is the truth. We don’t have to wonder what He stands for. We don’t have to wonder if His standards will ever change. We do learn to love in truth. We do trust that the Truth will live inside of us forever...will never leave us...and is the source of any grace and mercy that we are able to share. 

For the chosen lady and her children, what a blessing to know Christian love as shown through John and the rest of the Christian community. What a blessing to be encouraged and blessed and educated by a friend with such an intimate relationship with the Truth, Jesus Christ.

We may not be “Apostle John’s” here on this blog, but the treasure is that we can walk in intimate relationship with Christ. We are working towards intimate knowledge of Him, of Truth by studying His Word, by encouraging and blessing each other. This is a practice that should last far beyond retirement!

Many blessings, dear friends; Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ.

Roxie

Monday's scripture focus: 2 John 1:4

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Numbers 17, 18

Saturday, December 25-guest post by Pamela

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is 1 John 4:7-5:21, 2 John 1:1-13, 3: 1-15

Scripture:

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Observation: Jesus is God's demonstration of love.

Application: Verses 7 & 8 stood out for me because of a song I learned long ago when I was a child. (I found this link on you tube but I'm not sure exactly how the photos fit in with the song ??) The lyrics hold so much more meaning as an adult. These verses hold some harsh words: "But anyone that does not love does not know God because God is love." I know that there are people in my life that are not easy to love. Yet, these verses tell me that by not loving these people I am showing that I do not know God. We are commanded to love each other. We are shown through God's plan of salvation what it means to love. He sent His son to earth as a baby who would pay for our sins with His blood. We did not do anything to deserve this demonstration of love. We did not earn it, we did not ask for it, we did not do something and this was the reward for our deeds. God freely gave His son to serve as payment for all our sins. We are not worthy of this gift and yet God gave it to us to show His unending love.

A few days ago Tammy posted this post (go read it!) and I think it really sums up that celebrating Christmas is really about celebrating God's unending love for us:

"Christmas is about the reason Jesus was born. It's about the reason He left the glory of heaven and exchanged it for 33 years on a planet full of people who had and still do reject Him. It's the reason He endured an agonizing death on the cross to pay the price that was mine to pay. What was the reason? You. Me. Love for you and me. He was the Rescuer sent by God to pay the penalty for my sin. He took on the full wrath of God in my place. In your place. Because He loves you that much! Someone needed to make a way back to God, and He was the only One who could do it. I can't do it, you can't do it. Only He can.

And so He came - born to die. But the story, thankfully, did not end there. Death did not defeat Him. God raised Him from the dead. And in the end, death will not defeat us either.

So celebrate Christmas - with one eye on the manger and the other on the cross and the empty grave! And remember the reason was love."

Prayer: Dear Lord, Today we celebrate Christmas. Not just to remember how Jesus was born, according to your perfect plan, but to remember why Jesus had to be born in the first place. Lord, we fall short and our sin separates us from You and we sometimes fail to show love to others as you would. Thank you for sending Jesus to pay for our sins and to give us an example of what it means to love first. Make it our desire to love as fully as You do and through that love, draw others to You through us. In Your name, Amen.