2 John 4-6
4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 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. 6 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.
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Far too many people use the concept of love as an excuse not to pay attention to biblical doctrine and commands. People come up with their own definitions of what is loving and what is good, and they turn their backs on the word of God.
While one might think that what I just wrote would not occur in the church, with the rise of a postmodern ethic, it most certainly is occurring. Churches across our nation and around our world are departing from the scriptures for some sort of other, self-sought and self-made truth. Men who claim to be pastors, shepherds of God’s flock, are telling people that the command of scripture is not valid or binding in our culture. These men are calling people to live according to their own consciences and impulse, and they are arguing for this with the idea of being loving as their reasoning.
So, thanks be to God for the little book of 2 John. Right at the beginning of this book, we see exactly how God would have us to think about people who claim that they are living by love instead of by the scriptures. The answer is simple: there is no love without obedience to the commands of God. John rejoiced to find people walking in truth. He pointed out the command to love others. Then, in verse 6, John lets us know with no uncertainty that the way that we love one another is to live in accord with the commands of God found in the word of God.
Christians, allow me to encourage you this morning to set your heart on the word of God. If you want to be a loving person, you will not be able to change the way that God calls us to love. You cannot make up something that feels all warm and gushy and make it be love. No, there is only one way that you can love your neighbor, or family, or your spouse, that way is loving them through obedience to the clearly-given, perfectly-inspired word of God.
And one more word from a pastor. If you have a pastor who holds firm to the word of God and who refuses to teach something other than that word, affirm him and thank God for him. All of our flesh might want on occasion to hear a pastor depart from the scripture and to tell us all that we are all naturally good people who need just try our best and do what feels right; but such teaching is not love. If your pastor teaches you the word of God without compromise and without blushing and without gimmicks and with solid interpretation, then your pastor loves you (or at least is showing you love through his teaching). Thank God for such men, as they are not as common as you might think.
Pastor Travis Peterson 