Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Most people, at some point in their lives, realize that they can’t accomplish everything that they want to accomplish. I used to want to be an actor, a professional baseball player, and a stand-up comedian. And I wanted to do those things because I thought those things would make me happy. That’s why most people do anything. We’re happy when we accomplish things or get to do certain things.

But I know that I can’t possibly accomplish all the things I want to accomplish. I can’t climb every mountain, or ford every stream, or follow every rainbow till I find my dream. But that often doesn’t keep me from trying. We often think, “If I can just practice enough self-control, I’ll get everything I want to get done, done.” Or, “I know I’ve failed at this a million times in the past, but I’m going to give it all I’ve got this time, and I’m going to do it right.”

One of my favorite apps on my iPad is my to-do list. It comforts me to know that I won’t let anything slip through the cracks. Even if I’m late in checking an item of the list, I at least know I haven’t forgotten about that task. It’s good to have a plan and be organized. But the problem is that the things we want to do often lead us in different directions. Or sometimes we think we ought to be doing something specific, but we go about those things the wrong way.

God doesn’t call us to do everything. But He does call us to love Him and obey Him. But even this task often seems too much for us. “God, how can I obey all of your commands?” While all of the commandments in God’s Word are important, God knows our need for simplification, so our text this morning tells us simply how we are to live as Christians.

Read 2 John 1:4-6

Each verse in this passage makes reference to one particular command that we’re to obey. Verse 4 says we received this command from the Father. Verse 5 says that it’s not a new commandment, but one which we’ve had from the beginning. Verse 6 says that it’s a command that we’re to walk in.

God gives us this command, and we’re to obey it. God doesn’t give divine suggestions. He is our Master, and we’re His servants.

This isn’t a new command, but one we’ve had since the beginning. It goes back not only to the ministry of Jesus, but all the way back to the Law given to Moses. Yet it’s a command we often need constant reminders to obey, but we get it wrong so often.

This command is a command we’re to walk in. It’s not just something we can just check off our to-do list. It should be a part of our daily lives for the rest of our lives.

So what is this command? Love. (v. 5) It’s not some general love. God doesn’t merely want us to love things. God wants us to love one another. This is the command which ought to define us (John 13:35). If this is the command that we’re to walk in and be defined by, I think we ought to know what it is! What is love? (v. 6)

Love is walking according to God’s commandments. Some of you may be thinking, “I thought you were going to simplify the Christian life?” God wants us to think of His Word and all of His commands as ways to show love. We might think of all of God’s commands as individual arbitrary rules. But that’s not how God intended them. God wants us to love Him and love our neighbor by practicing His word. These are the greatest commandments, and all other commands fall under these. It’s kind of like this person’s daily routine. “My daily routine: get up, be amazing, to back to bed.” Obviously, “be amazing” meant that he’d do all sort of things, but all those things weren’t the goal. The goal was to be amazing. The same can be said about how we think about love.

In a way, it seems very odd to us that God would command us to love. We often think we have love mastered. We think, “I don’t need to work on love. I already love everyone.” We think, “I don’t hate anyone. I don’t hold grudges.” But love isn’t just a feeling. It’s about putting others before ourselves. It’s about serving. It’s about pouring ourselves out for others.

Walking in God’s truth and walking in love are practically synonymous (v. 4, 6). It’s easy for us to separate the two. Walking in truth is trusting in Christ, who is the Truth. Walking in love is loving God and others by the way that we live. Theologically, we know these are different. But in practice, we should never find one without the other. As we learn God’s Word and trust Christ, we need to be practicing God’s Word. James wrote, “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!” (James 1:22)

This process is so important to the Christian life (v. 4). Many things cause us to rejoice in life. These are all great reasons to be happy! And Paul names another reason to rejoice. Paul rejoiced that some were walking in truth, which he defined as walking in love! It meant that they were practicing their faith! It meant that their faith was genuine! But Paul saw that only some were walking in the truth. This means that others were not. They had not continued in the faith. They had embraced the gospel at first with joy, but they had no root, and they immediately fell away when persecution came. We often define fruit in the Christian life as leading others to Christ. But fruit is also simply living how we ought to live. Fruit is loving one another, not just in our hearts, but with our hands. Fruit doesn’t save us, but it shows if we truly have our root in Christ.

If you’re not walking in truth and love, make sure that your root is firmly planted in Christ.