Hello, everyone. Welcome to Scattered Groups. I'm Pastor Steve. Thank you for being a participant in today's session. I hope you have a great week, or have had a great week so far, and I'm looking forward to the church gathering and seeing each of you this coming Sunday. Let's be praying for our Missions Conference Faith Promises. We're still collecting those, and we still have a ways to go. So if you haven't yet turned a card in, please do so this Sunday to make your promise to the Lord about giving to our Missions Program. And then also, if you have given in the past and you're just thinking, I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing, if you would write it down for us so that we know on that little card, that would really help us plan for this coming year. It'd be great to add additional missionaries. So let's pray for that in just a little bit. We're gonna pray for our Sunday morning as well, and we are saving for the pavement project. We still need about $21,000, and we have it scheduled, but that way we have a placemark, the most ideal week, but we still need the funds to come in. So if you wanna pray about that, that'd be great. Let's pray together, then we'll jump right into our study in 2 John. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together in fellowship. We thank you for the encouragement that we find in interacting with others and just making friends and living life together. We pray that all the busyness of the week so far that you would set those things to the side and let us learn of you and become more like you concerning this idea of walking in truth and loving and walking with this truth in love. And so Lord, teach me, teach me more and help me to follow you. And I pray for each one participating as well for the same. We do pray for the, Different things that are going on in our church. We ask for your provision. We ask for your blessing continue to Build your church and grow us spiritually and bring others in to be a part of this local body. We pray in Jesus name. Amen Second John there's no chapter. So it's just second John our verses are going to be 3 through 6, the Apostle John was invigorated. He's the elder statesman at this point. A lot of people would come to John as he lived in Ephesus to talk to him. He was the last remaining living disciple of Jesus in his elder years or older years. And he was excited to see the elect ladies, children, walking in truth. He was excited to see, and we're excited to see, when church members are walking in truth, when they are following the Lord. And it's an exciting and a gratifying thing when church members love God and love others in word and in action. We'll kind of find that in our text here today. But I'd like to talk about Pilgrim and his progress. You can see this is a map from John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress behind me. Bunyan's pilgrim found such a haven when he arrived at the palace. Arriving at the lodge, he rang the bell and requested lodging for the night. The porter summoned an attractive young woman named Discretion, who questioned him to make sure he was really a pilgrim on his way to Mount Zion. Once she was satisfied about that, she invited him in and summoned her sisters Prudence, Piety, and Charity. Before he was invited to supper, he was asked a number of searching questions. Piety was interested in his conversion, Prudence in his progress, and Charity in his family. What had moved him to become a pilgrim? That was piety's concern. What had he learned from the interpreter? What had he learned at the cross? Who along the way had helped him or who along the way had hindered him? How did he feel about his past life? That was the interest of prudence. And was he still troubled about clinging remnants of his past life? And why was he now so eager to go to Mount Zion? But Charity asked the most probing questions of all. Did he have a family? Why had he not brought his wife and children? Had he done anything to hinder them? Then came supper, and all their talk was about the Lord of the Hill of Calvary. That night he was lodged in a large upper room with a view of the sunrise. Before he was allowed to leave the next morning, the sisters gave him a full suit of armor. Then, as a parting blessing, discretion, prudence, and piety and charity helped him on his way, bringing him safely down the dangerous slopes of the Valley of Humiliation. No wonder he was ready to meet the foul fiend Apollyon, who appeared to block the path of where he wanted to go next. You see, Sometimes this truth and love and this love and truth that John's gonna teach us about are needed because it prepares the people for their next stage of life and the next difficulty or challenge they may encounter. We'll talk more about that, Lord willing, in our next message. You see, we do not want fighting, unkindness, and uncaring attitudes to prevail in our homes and families, nor in our church or among Christians in Christianity. We want that to not prevail. We want to all walk in truth in a loving way. In our church relationships and fellowship with other believers, love should be the prevailing attitude. John talks about that a lot in 1 John, and he continues here in 2 John. So let's read verse 3. Grace be with you. Mercy and peace. from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father in truth and love. The balance of truth and love that has to be a quality in all of our interactions. And something I'm praying and hoping for in my life is that in my relationships, it would include grace, mercy, and peace. Speaking life to others like we learned in the last session. And that's something that I'm praying for. I hope that you'd have that desire as well. He continues then, I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth. Apparently, John had met some, not all, but a few of these church members, and he saw them walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. In our church, we want the prevailing attitude of love balanced with truth. Loving others is not a new command. We found this word beginning twice. We find the word command four times, or commands, it's four times here in these short few verses. Love is often defined differently depending on who you ask. So it could be I'm loving a spouse that looks different than loving a child or a parent. It's different than loving a neighbor or loving other Christians. We think of it in different terms based on the level of our relationship. Love in biblical terms is the word agape is giving, selfless, and sacrificial. Here, the elder John, he's had a lot of experience. A lot of water has gone under the bridge. He is not yet on the island of Patmos, where he receives the vision of revelation. But here he is, after 1 John, real quick after, he sends this postcard follow-up letter of 2 John, and he describes himself as an elder. I have some experience in this, I've been around a little bit. He says, I'm an elder, which presbyteros is that term there, and he's not saying I'm an apostle, like lifting himself up, he's saying I'm just like one of the regular ministry guys here at this church in Ephesus. And we talked about last time, there's probably suburbs in that town, and there are various house churches all scattered throughout. Kind of like what we're doing with our church scattered, in our scattered groups, but they had different areas. Maybe he was kind of in charge of this one little area as the local pastor. And then there's another in another area. And anyway, I'm kind of going off the topic here, but he saw himself as an elder with experience. and he's telling them some things. He's going to warn them. But before the warning, he says, now I'm going to give you some truth, but I'm telling you this in love. There must be this type of a balance. So for example, a doctor causing pain on the patient, we'd say, man, that's terrible. Nobody wants to be in pain. No one wants to be suffering like that. But You could say, in that moment, that doctor causing pain on that patient is not the loving thing to do. But once the healing's taken place and the cancer has totally been removed and it's no longer there, we realize that's the loving thing to do. Sometimes the truth hurts. But how you deliver the truth makes all the difference in the world. Not all loving actions are perceived as loving actions. And this is some of the difficult things for me. is how to have this balance. And perhaps for you as well, because the perception sometimes when you're telling the truth or speaking the truth, if you're not careful with it, is that it comes across as unloving. And let me tell you something, it negates, it really negates what you're trying to say. John was about to draw this dear sister's attention to a peril and a practice that needed to be stopped. And there's going to be some false teachers we'll look at, Lord willing, next message. Doubtless she was acting out of love and generosity of her heart, but the church and this lady had to have love that was tough as well as tender. And John, therefore, precedes his words of caution with a word of commandment, and he takes her back to the foundation. He takes the church back to the foundation principles upon which they believed and loved Jesus to begin with, and it was God's love for them. The love of God in Christ, true love, is love that shrinks from error in hypocrisy and sin. Now the idea of walking in truth indicates that truth is both what we believe and how we live. It's doctrine and duty. It's creed and conduct. Truth and action. It's not just words, but action. And sometimes that's where we have the disconnect is because it's a lot easier to say love and I love than it is to demonstrate love. Now, a lot of love is based on preference. What is love? Now, eros, love, is romantic love. Philadelphia love or phileo love is brotherly love. So relationships or love for your relatives. Agape. That's the word that John is using here. And it's deity love. It's selfless and giving love. That's the type of love that it is. So what love is to one may not be love to another. Let me give you an example. If I am offering my wife Doritos, that's unloving. If I'm offering her Cheetos, that's loving. It depends on what the preference is. Sometimes our attempts at love are erased because we don't know each other. We don't know the truth about one another. We don't know each other personally and relationally. Let me give you another example. How can we love God? if we don't know God. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. How can we love him by keeping his commandments if we don't know his commandments? So in other words, if you're gonna really show love and love is received relationally, a lot of times based on preference, if I don't know God, how can I show love to him? If I don't know his word, how can I really show love to him? If you don't know your spouse, if you don't know your parent, if you don't know your child, if you don't know others at church, you can't show love to them. Now, love in biblical terms is more absolute, it's more concrete. It's not just doing, not doing what you don't want done to somebody, but doing actively what they would prefer, what they would love. And it's why the Bible has 31 or so one another's in it, where we're preferring one another, loving one another, being kind one to another, et cetera. So love languages is a concept that I believe has valid points to it. There's some practical ways that we show love to people only when we know who they are and what they love and what they prefer. Love is preference driven. So if we do not know others, it's hard to love them. If we do not know God and his word, it's hard to love him properly. But biblical love, agape love, is defined this way in this passage. It's defined as obeying his commandments. Now, John apparently met some of these Christians, and he was pleased to see that the elect lady, the church, was passing the faith along. And this is a challenge for us that even in our families, in our church, that we'd pass the faith along to the next generation. I see your children walking in truth. I see them choosing to do the right thing. And this is a challenge for our church and for myself that we would teach our kids how to walk in the truth. And this must be done. It must be done in a loving way. It's a challenge for us to teach our kids to walk in the truth. In verses one through three, the church is called the elect lady, and we have a people here, it's people. And now the church is like a parent with her children walking in the truth. Now think back to the cause of your Christianity to begin with, and maybe somebody will want to share testimony in just a moment, but what compelled you, what drew you to believe the gospel? It was probably the love of God. God loves you. God loves me. Jesus loves me. Think about John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That word love there is that giving, selfless, sacrificial love. The start of your Christian faith is what he's talking about. It had something to do with love. It's not a new commandment. This was the love that was at the start of your faith. From the beginning of your Christian experience, God loves me, now I'm gonna love God. God loves me, now I can love others. And even as members at the church, I can love them as well. So brethren, John wrote in 1 John 2, 7. I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. That makes me just automatically think about Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 and 5, where we're told to love God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. Friends, the commandments, all the commandments, all of this book, It's summarized. The commands of God are all summarized with two things. Love God and love other people. Now, sometimes there's a disconnect in how to practically do that. But that's a summary of the entire commands of God. To love God and love others. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. I like how one person wrote, what we live is what we believe. Everything else is just religious talk. What an admonition that can be to us. Love, then, is defined by John in this passage this way. Love is walking in God's command in how to treat other people. Love is walking in God's command in how to treat other people. I'll give you three points. The loving thing to do is to speak the truth. The truthful thing to do is to share with love. And the balanced thing to do is to lovingly speak truth. Since agape love is sacrificial and giving and selfless, it's been said you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. I'll say it again. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. Now, the loving thing to do is to speak the truth. And I'm speaking to myself just as much as anybody. These things are easier said than done. But the loving thing to do is to speak the truth. Speaking the truth in this election year, think about how practical this is, in this election year. Speaking the truth is the most significant political action available to any of us, not voting, but speaking the truth. This view is based on the familiar biblical notion that the word, the word of God is central. The word is truth. The expression of the truth by human lips moves culture and history toward the government of God, not our government, but the government of God. There's no higher form of political action, nor is there one that can contribute more to the wholeness of the human community than a person who's speaking the truth, but speaking it with love. The loving thing to do is to speak the truth. Now, some people speak the truth, but they use sarcasm. That doesn't go over well. Some people will post something that's true, but it's harsh or it's even vulgar. And that's evil. Some people will post things that's just idiotic. It's just, it's just dumb. And I'm saying that in a loving way, but some things are just stupid that people post and they think that they're making a point, but listen, it's better to make the truth available to people by not using sarcasm and posting stupid stuff. by speaking the truth with love. Interactions with other Christians at church gathered Sunday mornings, how you're interacting with other people, truth with love. Whenever you are interacting in church scattered right now, whether it's gathered or scattered, sometimes people are annoying. How do you show love to those people? See how practical this can be. The loving thing to do is to speak the truth. You don't have to lay down the law or be unkind about it, but to speak the truth. Some people will put memes on, on social media, and it's just like, this is just, this is just crazy. And sometimes I unfollow people because of how ridiculous and unkind their things are. And it doesn't matter if it's truth or not, because when people are saying things that are true, but they're saying it in hateful ways, It totally erases what truth they're trying to give and to share. So then let's balance it with this. The truthful thing to do is to share with love. No sarcasm, no sarcasm. I'm not going to talk down or put down. And here's something that happens, and this is something that I want to avoid. And if I've ever done this to you, I'm so sorry. but not to speak with, like a preacher speaks with biblical authority, but he doesn't speak like I'm speaking down. And relationally, I don't wanna speak like I'm up here and you're down there, or someone else is down there. When you're talking to others, like, hey, I'm up here and they're down here. You don't want to come across that way. Speaking down or elevating yourself. That's not the loving way to speak truth. The truthful thing to do is to share with love. Now, Some people avoid sharing the truth because they don't want to offend, they don't want to hurt, or this person gets angry really quick or fast, I'm not gonna speak the truth. With God's help, this is my prayer, that I would be like what John says at the very beginning, grace, mercy, and peace. That we could speak life into those around us, and relationally with those at church, and that's the context of this, is the church, that we could speak one another in this way. Now the balance thing, point number three, the balance thing then is to lovingly speak truth. Now this includes several components. Compassion. Do you have compassion in your heart? Like this person annoys me, man, I'm going to let him have it, or I'll tell him how how much of an idiot they are. You don't want to come across that way. And sometimes you feel that way. Maybe you internalize that. Ask God to help you change your thoughts. But we need to have compassion. Like, why is this person upset? Why is this person annoying? not just to me, but what's going on in your mind. Maybe they're lonely, maybe they're hurting, maybe they've had experiences that they haven't learned to forgive yet or to move past. So we have to have compassion. We have to balance this lovingly speaking truth with care. I need to have some care for them. Now, a lot of this goes back to knowing one another. Remember that at the beginning? If we don't know God, we can't love him effectively. If we don't know those around us, we don't personally know preferences, likes and dislikes, things about them, and we can't effectively love them. So I need to have some care, care enough to know about them, and then discernment, you know, to have discernment when to speak and when not to speak. And a lot of times we need to listen more than even speaking. David Thoreau once wrote, it takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and another to listen. Make sure you're also able to listen to other people. May God help us to walk in truth in a loving way. Please take some time to answer these questions and then pray with your group.