January 6, 2023 - 2 John 1:6

In this episode, Jori discusses with her listeners the Gospel writer, John's exhortation and reminder that love is walking in the LORD's commandments. 

Scripture translation used is the English Standard Version.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References:
Proverbs 3:5-6
Galatians 1:10
2 John 1:6
John 3:16
John 14:16
Ephesians 2:8
2 John 1-13
Mark 12:30-31
Exodus 20
Psalm 119:160
1 John 5:2-3
John 14:23-24
Ephesians 2:10
Ephesians 4:1
Ephesians 5:1-2
Colossians 2:6
1 Thessalonians 4:1

Email: awordforthisday@gmail.com

Podcast website:  https://awordforthisday.buzzsprout.com

A link to the transcript of this episode is found below. Please note, it is a word for word transcript of the show and will be different than if reading a book. Voice inflections, pace, etc. that are conversational in nature are lost in the transcription. Some words or phrases that may have been repeated within the audio recording may have been removed to make it easier for the reader to understand. 
AWFTD23Jan6edit.docx

Transcript

 Hello and welcome to A Word for this Day podcast. I'm Jori Shaffer, the show's host and creator, and I want to welcome you. I am so glad you are here. It is no accident that you are here, friends. And so 1s I'm just blessed beyond measure that you would want to spend this time thinking about God's Word, meditating on His Word. And I want you to know that I'm thankful for all of you regular listeners who come back day after day. I'm thankful for anyone who's listening for the first time. It's no accident that you're here, friends. There are no accidents or coincidences in God's timeline. And it just blesses my heart to know that you would want to think about His Word and how I wish we could spend time together in person and that I could get to know all of you. But for right now, that's not how the Lord has it. And so I just want you to know that I'm glad you're here. I pray for you daily. I've continued to pray for you that God would draw you closer to Him and also that you would just desire more and more to be in His Word and to know more of Him. It makes all the difference. 1s And friends, the more we spend time in his truth, the more that we abide in His Word. And we're going to talk about this later today. The more that we just meditate on His Word, hide His Word in our hearts, the easier it'll be for us to spot when things are not true. This world keeps throwing a lot of untruths at us. But God's word is truth. We know that. And we also know that for believers, 2s it is very difficult at times to walk in this world because there's a spiritual battle against us. And the Lord knows everything you're going through. He knows what you're coming out of, what you're in the middle of, what you're getting ready to go into. He sees and he knows. And he is so faithful. And we don't always understand 1s why we have to go through the things that we do. But God knows, friends, and he's right there with us. 1s Now, that old devil will lie to you and he'll tell you that because God doesn't love you, that's why you have difficulties or that's why this world is hard. But that's not true. And I'll tell you, 1s Jesus even said specifically, “in this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”. And He had difficulty, and He was God's Son. So there are things that we are not going to understand. That's just the way it is, but 1s we cannot understand those things fully. And if you try to use human wisdom, worldly wisdom, to try to figure God's ways out, you're going to fail every time. But if you trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways, acknowledge Him, he will direct your paths. He will take care of you. He will give you just what you need for each moment. He will give you the life that you need for each step along the way. And I just want to encourage you in that today I continue to pray that God will give you a hunger and a thirst for his word and a desire to know Him more. And I want to encourage you to consider sharing this podcast with your friends, family, relatives, neighbors, just anyone who you think may receive a blessing from it. You can share the podcast in your social media. You can go to the website that's listed in the show notes and share it from there. You can share it from your podcast app if you're telling someone about it. Don't assume that everyone knows how to do podcast. I didn't know very much a little over a year ago when I started this, and I've learned a lot over time. And so you may need to show someone how to pull it up on their computer or their tablet or phone. And I encourage you if you do that, hit the subscribe button or the follow button and consider if this has been a blessing to you leaving a review sometime. And that's not for me, friends. I probably won't see it. I don't know where to even find all of the reviews. And really, I'm not trying to please people. I'm trying to please the LORD. So that makes me think of what I read in Galatians, chapter one, verse ten, that says. 2s “For Am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ”. So I'm not doing this to make people happy. I'm doing this to give God the glory and to encourage you to have a closer relationship with Him. But if you do feel so led to do so, leave a review. What that does, leaving a review and following and the subscribing,. It allows people who may just be typing in a search to look for a daily Bible study or a daily devotional to be able to find this easier. The more likes, the more reviews- I don't think there's likes but the more reviews, the more follows, the more subscribers that there are on whatever platform you're on, the more it will pop it up. And then if this is an encouragement to you, it may be an encouragement to others and ultimately God's going to put it where he wants it to go. But if he puts that on your heart, please consider doing that. And as always, know that I love to hear from you. I'm so thankful for each one of you. I love it when I get a message, when I get an email or a message on messenger or something. Sometimes I'll get notes in the mail or sometimes I'll get a text and I just want you to know that that means so much to me. It's such an encouragement and it never fails that God sends it at just the right time, just when I need it most because he is so faithful to do that. 

And I want to remind you that we have Transcription available of these podcasts. Now, I'm so thankful for those who have generously felt led to support this podcast. And I do see it as a ministry, and God has put on the hearts of some of you to help with that. And I'm so thankful for you. You know who you are, and I pray that God will continue to bless you. But in doing that, for 2023, He's allowed me to have a new recording software subscription, and also the ability to do transcription. So this program takes what I say and types it out. Now, it doesn't always type exactly what I say because I have a very Southern accent and I have to go in and re spell my name on every time, but for the most part, it puts that in. And I go in and try to do a little editing, but I don't do a very detailed edit because it's about 5000 words, 4700 to 5000 words per episode. But I go in and make it a little easier to read. Just know that the transcription does not read like you're reading a devotional book. It's like I'm talking to you. So it's an exact transcription of what I say. So the benefit of that is, though, for those who may be hearing impaired and cannot hear this, so if you know of someone who is hearing impaired, 1s they can go to the podcast in the Show Notes and there will be a tab that will say Show Notes, and then there are tab that will say Transcription. Also, within the Show Notes, I have a link to the word document. Now, sometimes those don't get completed by the time that I upload the episode, but I usually will get the transcription up the next day. But anyway, I just wanted to tell you about that and remind you about that, and you can tell other folks about that if you feel so led.

 Well, our verse for the day for January 6, 2023 is from the letter of Second John. Second John, chapter one, verse six. And it reads as follows, from the English Standard version, “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”. 2s So we have not chosen as one of our focus verses for the day anything from Second John, I think either last year or this year. Of course, we're just, what, six days into this year? But this letter of Second John is very short. It's one chapter. It doesn't even officially have a chapter, it's just 13 verses. And so this is one of three of the letters that John wrote. He had 1st, second and third John, the Gospel of John and then the Book of Revelation. And I love it that we're getting to spend time in Second John, and I think we'll get to spend time in Third John as well. And it only has one chapter, and so we'll get to do that this month as well, Lord willing. But, you know, if you've been with me very long, then I think it's wise for us to get this background. 

We've been in John's writings already a couple of times this month, so I'll try not to go into quite as much detail, but we know that the Apostle John wrote these letters and he wrote, as I mentioned, the Gospel of John and Revelation. He walked daily with the Lord Jesus. He was one of the original twelve apostles. He was the brother of James and they were sons of Zebedee. Now, this was 1s thought to be a different James than the James that wrote the letter that we were in yesterday. And so John is also not the same John as John the Baptist. And we've talked about that in previous episodes and I would invite you to go back and listen on 1s the second of this month and then also on the fourth of this month, we talked a little bit more about that. But James and John, who were brothers, those sons of Zebedee were fishermen. They were working with their father and the Lord Jesus called them and they dropped everything and followed Him. 1s And James and John and Peter were three of the apostles that were kind of in Jesus’s inner circle. Those were the three men that He took up on the mount with Him when He was transfigured. And we see a lot of discussions with them throughout the Gospel, the Gospels. And we know that John, this Gospel writer, he's also known as John the Apostle and John the Revelator, was probably the longest surviving of the apostles. It seems that most of the others, based on history, were martyred much earlier for their faith. But John describes himself especially in his gospel as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And I think all of us could say that about ourselves, friends. He was not saying that to be arrogant or to think that Jesus loved Him more than anyone else. I think that he realized the weight and the mercy and the grace and started to get a glimpse of what it meant that Jesus loved Him and that Jesus came for Him and died for Him and forgave Him. And 1s he described Himself as one being loved. And if we believe what is in the Scripture, we can describe ourselves that way as well. No matter what difficulties you're walking through, no matter what how hard things can be at time or at times, or how lonely you may feel, Jesus loves you. 

We read in John, chapter three, verse 16, and you probably know this verse, that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, and friends, He loves us so He loved the ones that crucified Him. He loved the ones that blasphemed Him. He came for everyone. He died on that cross one time for all, to pay the penalty that each one of us owes. We are all sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, scripture says. But Jesus came to pay that penalty, pay that price for us, and he did it on the cross, and he paid for it with his blood. And after he died on that cross, after they crucified Him, he was placed in a tomb. He was there for three days, and then he rose again. He was resurrected in full bodily form back to life. He was seen by many, and then he ascended back to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he's coming back, friends, and we need to be ready. And so I just want to encourage you that he loves you. He loves, loves everybody. 2s But I also want to remind you not to listen to the lie of the world that says that, oh, you just have to be good, and everybody can find their own way to heaven. And there's multiple ways to heaven, and you can know about Jesus, and then you can know about Buddha and you can know about all these other things, and you just find your own way. That is a lie from the pits of hell, friend.

 There is one way to the Father. There is one way to eternal life, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's in believing in him, in asking for forgiveness, in turning away from our life of sin, in allowing Jesus to be the Lord of our life and serving God the Father and God the Son only and no one else, there is not one thing we can do to earn salvation. As far as doing an action to earn it, there's nothing that we can give in exchange for that. 1s What we do is we receive that free gift that has been offered. But if you don't receive it, if you don't accept it, that's where you miss out. But it's simple. We humans make it too hard. Jesus came to give us this and we read in Scripture that “it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of your own doing. It is a gift of God. So that no one may boast.” I paraphrased that Ephesians two eight just a little bit, but you can look it up to get the exact wording. But I just want you to know that he loves you so. But there is a response that we must give.

 But now this gospel writer, John, as we mentioned, as he got older, he was seen really as he described himself as the elder and he was seen as really one of the pillars of the church. 1s He so wanted those that he loved, which was really everybody to come to the knowledge of Christ and to believe in Christ and to be saved and to have eternal life. And you see that tone, you see that in his gospel. You see that in his three letters of first, second and third John. And you see that in the Book of Revelation. And it's such a blessing when we are in these letters. And I want to just show you how this book of second or this letter of second John opens up. It's kind of interesting. It says, “the elder”, (and that's talking about John), “to the elect lady and her children whom I love and truth, and not only I, but also who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever”. He's talking about the truth of Jesus. For him, grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's, Son in truth and love. And when we read about this, the elect lady and her children, some people think there was an actual lady who had a church in her house. And we read other examples of that throughout Scripture, especially in Paul's letters. So we know that that was a thing. It could have also just been a lady that was very well known to John and her children. And then it could have been a metaphor for the church in general. We don't know for sure. It's really hard to say. But it probably was a lady and her children that were very well known to John, because he writes this very personally. He says at the end, he says, “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. The children of your elect sister greet you.” So I really think this could have been a lady that John knew, someone that was dear to him, and then he also knew this lady's children and he knew her sister. 1s Like I said, whether that's two churches, I don't know. Only John and the Lord knows, and the people who read this in that first century. But the message is still the same.

 And so I think it's wise, though, for us to sit here and kind of try to get context about what the Apostle John may have been doing. Why was he writing to encourage? Because he was such an encourager, and I just love that. But we see that he opens up and it's like he's coming back to encourage her. In verse four, he says, leading up to our verse for the day,” I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.” So doesn't that always do good to a mama's heart when somebody says, oh, your child is doing well, or I saw your child doing this, and that's what John's doing to this lady. “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.” And then here's our verse for the day, “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.” And then he goes on to do a little more explanation. And I'll read that to help us get the full picture. “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 in the Antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 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. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. For whoever greets takes part in his wicked works.” 1s And then he says, “though I have much to write to you, I'd rather not use paper and ink.” And we've already talked about that, but he really was wanting to encourage this person stay with the commandments that the Lord Jesus gave. Walk in that and the main commandment. And we talked about this at the end of last year in Mark 12:30 and 31, when someone asked Jesus us, what is the greatest commandment? And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and the strength. And the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Walking in love, as Christ did, was the main thing. And John is saying, this is not a new commandment. This is what he's told us from the beginning. And I suspect if we had more time to talk with him, he may have said, and this is what God had said all the way from the beginning. If you look at the law and the prophets and you look at the Ten Commandments, there were examples of how you love God in the first four commandments and then how you love everybody else in the last six. And so that was just a recurring theme, this love, this putting others ahead of yourself and putting God first. And I just love that is what we see. But that's what John was telling this lady. This is love that we walk according to his commandments. And when you look down in nine, “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.”  So he's reminding her how important it is to stick with what Christ said, not what false teachers say, not what people come in and try to twist or add to or say, well, your way sounds good, but this way sounds just as good, so you can do either way and you'll be fine. No, there's one way, as I've said before, there's one truth, there's one life. God's word is truth. The sum of all of his word is truth. And we must, as believers, walk in that truth. We must not be deceived by that god of this world with a little g. I'm talking about by Satan that's his main purpose is to try to deceive us and to get us to be disobedient to God the Father. But the way that we walk with Him (God the Father) is that we follow His commandments. And I love what John wrote in first John, chapter five, verse three, he says. 2s Well, let me back up to two. “By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.” That old devil will come, and I've heard other people say it and they'll say, oh, I don't want to be a Christian, or I'm not ready to be a Christian yet, I'm not ready to follow all those rules, or I'm not ready to give up all this stuff. His commandments are not burdensome, friends. His commandments and the things that He's asked us to do are for our own good. And when we do those, when we believe in Him, when we follow Him with all that we are and we submit to Him, we have life in that and there's liberty and freedom in following Him. He is taking care of everything. 1s He's taking care of it all. And He knows what is best for you and for me. And if we try to rely on our own wisdom, we'll mess it up every time. But like we talked about yesterday in our verse for the day, we can ask God for wisdom and He will give us His Godly wisdom. But we must trust Him. We must trust that when He says something, that it's true.

 And I would like to give you just this one little snippet. And I'm not saying this to say that I know everything, because I do not. Any knowledge or wisdom that I have is from God alone. It's not anything of my own. But people will come to me, I'm a physician, and they'll ask my opinion. I will give them my best opinion based on years of practice, years of seeing different things over and over again. And many times people will argue with me and think they have a better way because of the information they got on Google or WebMD. And I think God probably thinks the same about us, or even worse, when he lays out in His Word exactly how He wants us to act, right? God just by the power of his Holy Spirit. And then we say, well, no, I don't think that's a good idea. And I mean, how crazy is that on our part? We have Someone who sees the whole picture from the beginning to the end, who did all the creating. He knows all the ins and outs. He knows every thought, every situation that we can't see. And why would we argue with Him? 

This is just and encouragement, friends, for us to be in His Word, all the more, to read God's Word, study God's Word, then live it out and share it with others. And I just want to encourage you in that today, if you're feeling that it's hard, press on, endure. Ask Him for help. And He is so faithful to give it. 2s And friends, we show that we love Him, we show that we love one another when we follow his commandments, just like our verse for the day says. 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. And I think about how we are often talk about just how important it is to be in His Word. And we see back in John's Gospel. In John, chapter 14, verse 23, “Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love Him. And we will come to Him and make our home with Him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me.”

 Jesus made it very clear that that is love. And that's how we show that we give that love back to the Father. That's how we show that we are following that greatest commandment, is that we keep His words. And that's what he says in our verse. And this is love that we walk according to his commandments. And John was saying to the elect  lady, he was saying, and this is not new meaning. This is what we've been talking about all along. And that's just so important for us to remember. And I love how he brings out here. He says 1s that this is love, that we walk according to His commandments, that we live out what we know, not that it's just head knowledge, not that it's just heart knowledge, but because of what's in our heart that affects our action. And then the latter half of this verse, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

 And John is not the only one to talk about our walk. Paul talked about our walk several times, and I love what he said in his letter to the Ephesians. He says, “for we are his workmanship”,  In Ephesians, chapter two, verse ten, “created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” And then in Ephesians four, verse one, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”. And then also down in chapter five of Ephesians, verse one, “therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”. And then I love what we see in Colossians one. I'm sorry. Chapter two, verse six. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” And friends, the way we walk in Him is that we follow His Word. And we love. We love God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit with all that we are. And we love our neighbors as ourselves. And so I just want to encourage you in that. And I will close with this exhortation from Paul, the apostle Paul to the believers at Thessalonika in First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse one, he says, and this is my exhortation for you as well, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.”  I love it.  I believe the new American Standard version says that you excel all the more. So may we walk in Him, may we love Him, and may we love others for His glory. Blessings to you, friends. Until next time.