2 John 8 --- Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.
Thank you all for your prayers. I've finally started feeling better over the weekend. As our journey continues in 2 John, we come to verse eight and "WATCH YOURSELVES" really jumped off the page as we started.
Now, before pushing fully into verse eight, we took a minute to survey the context of the land around us. We looked back to starting off with Truth and Love, moved into being commanded to Love, from there that love is obeying God's commandments, then the pressing urgency for us to love one another. Then in verse seven, right before today's trek, we're brought to a warning that many deceivers [heretics, posing as Christians] have gone out into the world and we can discern where they are aligned by what they say about Jesus. If it doesn't line up with Jesus in/of the Bible, they are deceivers and have spirit of an anti-Christ.
Okay nice little recap/survey of the journey so far. Which makes going into today's verse interesting. As the first thing we see after being warned of deceivers/false teachers, isn't to watch out for them, but to WATCH YOURSELVES.
Watch in the Greek is blepō and here it means: To see with the mind's eye; to turn the thoughts, direct the mind to, to consider, contemplate, take heed, to look to oneself.
In Greek word blepō here in Latin is sibi cavere which means: Watch out for themselves.
Now this isn't a selfish word telling the church to go hide and lock the doors. It's a warning to look and watch your own thoughts, words, and actions. To be cautious not to stray into things you shouldn't, to stay focused on Jesus and the Word. To abide in Him and He in us. Not to go on a witch hunt for false teachers, attack them and make fun of them in memes on social media. To stop and look at yourself and make sure you are walking in Truth and Love, which only comes from abiding in Him and He in you. Now there are precautions we'll see coming up, the very first thing directed here is to direct your thoughts to yourself and watch yourself.
You see during this time period the churches were facing many different types of false teachings, some said Jesus just had a Christ-spirit and wasn't the Christ. Some said Jesus was divine but was just a spirit and not fully man. Also, during this time Christians were pushed out of the Synagogues and there was intense pressure to renounce Jesus as the Messiah/Christ so they could return to normal lives and be included in the culture.
So, in all of that there is one recurring theme in all forms of false teaching, they all revolve around changing, tweaking, revising, or editing who Jesus is in the Bible. If we change Jesus or water Him down, then you can feel okay about modifying and using a version of religionized "christiantity" to fit about anything you want and any type of culture.
Do we run for our pitchforks and torches? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT! That's not what we do. We don’t point fingers, spew hate, make fun of or belittle. That's not what Jesus did or would do!
We look to ourselves. Make sure we are not deceived in how we're walking, talking, and acting. We pull the planks and logs from our own eyes first. Then we love God with all we've got, then turn and love others as we love ourselves, and we love our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus fiercely and selflessly. This is what we do first. Then we stand on and in Truth and Love, unyielding. Yes, there is more to come in the next verses, but none of it involves hatred, mocking, scoffing, or ridiculing through memes and social media.
What would happen, Christian, if we spoke truth and loved with a love that comes only through our abiding in Him and He in us? The world wouldn't know what to do with us. Until then the course most "christians" have chosen is one that continues to affirm what the world calls and sees us as, hypocrites.
Yes, we can stand up for our beliefs and the truth of God's word in a loving way. We can stand firm in it and be unyielding and immovable with love. It doesn't mean we have to agree or affirm everything the world does either. The BIGGEST part to that is this:
WE CAN'T DO IT APART FROM HIM AND WALKING WITH HIM AND ABIDING IN HIM DAILY AND HE IN US!
We can only do it by letting Jesus be the love and truth that goes before us. By letting Him be the love and truth we stand in. Then, the world is confronted by Jesus, by Truth, by Agape Love, not by our feeble knowledge, memes, and rants against the sins of the world.
Okay I said enough for this Sunday morning. Remember you aren't alone, so if you need prayer or anything please send me a message or reach out. Until then know you are prayed over.
Comentários