Society often complains that the Church
and Christians are intolerant. (This is
today’s unforgivable sin.) It is an
interesting charge. It assumes that
there was a time that the church flung its arms wide and accepted everyone no
matter what, and that Jesus was a big softy who didn’t care about how people
lived.
The apostle John once again shows us
that faith in the truth and actions of love go hand-in-hand. Not only do we love our neighbors so as to be
kind to them, but we love them enough to speak the truth lovingly to them. We speak of God’s commands – commands and
truths that are very unpopular today. We
confess that there is no salvation apart from Jesus, although the antichrist
would try to deceive us to think there is.
We hold out that God’s Word commands holy living, marital fidelity,
protection of our neighbors reputations, sexual purity, and pure doctrine, in
the face of the antichrist’s deception that these can all be compromised and it
doesn’t matter. We speak with God’s Word
to admit that all people are sinners, including (especially!) ourselves, who do
not keep God’s commands and need forgiveness which was won by Jesus, the true
Son of God who came in the flesh to die and rise for us; this in the face of
the deceiver’s lies that you and I can be good enough to win a reward from
God.
John says, “If anyone comes to you and
does not bring this teaching (that is the teaching of Christ), do not receive
him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part
in his wicked works.” Talk about intolerant! Don’t even greet him! He says, “Watch yourselves, so that you may
not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” It is indeed possible to shipwreck our faith
with false teaching. We are called to
prayerfully use our redeemed reason and senses to hold on to Christ’s teaching –
teaching us not just about how to live, but how we can be saved only by His
death and resurrection.
The good news in this is that Jesus has
indeed come in the flesh. He bore our
sins – even sins of compromise and false doctrine – to death on the cross. He continues to call us to the truth and
generously pours out His forgiveness to all who believe in Him. His Spirit still transform us so that we can
indeed walk in the truth as He enlivens us in faith.
Holy Spirit, strengthen my faith and reason
so that I will see the antichrist’s deceptions, and let me speak the truth of
Christ. Amen.
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