Abide In His Teaching

There was a man standing on the corner waiting for a bus. It was “raining cats and dogs.” A lady was standing next to him, and he tried to make conversation with her as they waited. He said to her: “If this keeps up, we’ll all have to buy an ark!” And the lady asked: “What is an ark?”

The man answered: “You mean you have never heard about Noah and the Great Flood?” And here was her answer to him: “Mister, I have only been in town for 4 days. I hardly had time to read a paper to hear that news.”

That story may be a bit far-fetched but – it is sad that there are so many people today who know so little – or nothing at all – about the Bible.

But an encouraging story is told of a young boy was at his friend’s house often and every time he was there, he noticed that his friend’s grandmother was always studying her Bible. He was curious why she did that and asked his friend: “Why is your grandmother always reading her Bible?”

His friend answered: “I don’t know, but I think she is cramming for her final exam.”

That is one way of thinking of our need to read and study the Word of God.

It is a way that we can come into a close daily relationship with the author of the Word and know what Jesus teaches us as we read.

It is a real truth that not everyone who reads the Word, actually does what it says – doing what James says – it is like someone looking in the mirror and then forgetting what he sees (reads).

In 2 John, verses 7-11 we are told to “look”, “to watch ourselves” and to “deceivers” who might be influencing us in our walk.

2 John 7-11

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you.

2 John is a short letter as recorded in our Bibles – a total of 13 verses. And there is a reason for that – and John tells his readers why – it is because he wants to tell then more – in person when he can come to be with them and teach them further face to face.

The truth and message John is teaching here is that there are many deceivers whose aim is to lead us away from the true message of Jesus Christ!

So, we have some responsibilities so that we are not lead astray from the truth of the Gospel.

I.             Watch Ourselves

John gives us a warning if we do not watch ourselves in our own behavior and devotion, that we may lose our reward.

Think about something that you have worked hard at and then lost your enthusiasm for that work, and you never achieved what you set out to do.

There is no greater disappointment than working so hard for a long time, only to see that work come to nothing.

So, we need to watch ourselves as we navigate through the life in Christ.

What does that actually require of us?

We are to abide – that is, to stay true to the doctrine of Christ.

That includes having a solid Biblical understanding of what it means to be a Christian; to be a true and faithful follower of Jesus Christ and living daily according to that understanding.

Many people, after becoming a Christian, pretend to be faithful followers, but are simply “playing the game,” not deeply committed to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 13:5:

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you --- unless indeed you fail the test.”

Again, as John said before this is a warning if we do not watch ourselves in our own behavior and devotion, that we may lose our reward.

God’s Word clearly what the perfect and ideal person is to be.

We are to love one another in truth (as John states in the beginning of his letter) “whom I love in truth.” That love means to love one another as Jesus loves us.

That love of one another stems from the truth that God loved us so much that He was willing to send Jesus as a sacrifice for our sin.

Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to take the punishment we deserved, and to die on the cross in our place so that we may be forgiven.

That – in a word – is sacrificial - sacrificial love.

Jesus demonstrated that love for all of humankind even when we are unloving and oftentimes – unlovable.

But that love that Jesus demonstrated in His death is the kind and extend of the love He was us to show to one another.

We are changed when Jesus becomes to us our Savior and Lord – we don’t change ourselves – He changes us!

Jesus Christ is not just another “good man” who happened to have good gifts to share with others.

Many lesser men have the ability and means to be a good example of how to live. But they are not the Divine Son of God.

Jesus is – God in the flesh; He dwelt among us; He died and rose from the grave so that we may have eternal life.

And because of that – our lives should be a continuing confession of our faith in Christ Jesus.

Those of us here who are in Christ began our walk with Jim when we stood before a congregation of His people and made a profession of faith and a desire to follow Christ – saying: “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I want to live for and through Him.”

That, of course, was followed by immersion into Christ for the remission of our sins. Romans 6:4-7.

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

But that is not the end. That is only the beginning.

2. CHECK OURSELVES

From that day until today, we need to continually check ourselves so that we lose nothing in our relationship with our Lord, but that our relationship with Him increases daily.

As we keep watch on our own lives and in our relationship with Christ and other believers, we must also be aware of those who would attempt to lead us back into a life with no regard for Christ. These, we would call deceivers.”

When those deceivers come to us to attempt to lead us away from the truth we must examine their doctrine against the teaching of Jesus.

We must be on our guard so that we are not deceived and led away from our salvation in Christ.

Deceivers are those “who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” – 2 John 7

We are warned to not be deceived by any other message about Jesus.

In the day in which these words of John were written hospitality was a particularly important aspect of that culture.

But, even in that culture John says: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”

In those days, most churches met in the homes of the believers. So, they were taught here to not allow a false teacher to bring his message into the house, trying to influence the members with a false message.

Ephesians 5:11-13 says (NASB):

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

ILLUSTRATION --------------------------

So, when it comes to people who bring a new or strange message, we need to check that message to see if it agrees with what we read about Jesus in God’s Word.

It takes constant vigilance to guard our faith and stay with what is revealed in Scripture – not a book written by one misled man or men.

More and more in our current culture we often have trouble knowing where the line between what is true and what is false.

Even in the enlightened age in which we live today – people still can easily be misled by someone who tells them something different – and in error – about Jesus.

He is the perfect sacrifice – He did pay the price for your sins – He is who He says He is.

The old hymn says it like this:

No one ever cared for me like Jesus.

There’s no other friend as kind as He.

No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.

O how much He cares for me.

And Jesus does care for each of us – More than anyone else ever has – or ever will.

INVITATION