2 John
"Let grace, mercy, and peace be with us in truth and love from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, Son of the Father."
Diligent in living out the truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. "Love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard and nothing has changed."
1 & 2 John are the only places in the Bible where the term "antichrist" occurs. It is a plural term: they are all over the place. Referred to those who remove humanity from Jesus, denying anything human in him at all and representing him as a purely divine figure. Denied the incarnation. The only Jesus John knew was a God in the flesh Jesus.
Loving in a dehumanized way means loving in a way that has nothing to do with meeting the real needs of people in our communities. We become lovers of ideas and feelings, lovers of ecstasy and novelty. But not lovers of God who revealed himself in human flesh and blood. Allows selective love of humans, too. Community is lived out in the midst of sin and antichrists. Antichrists as the persons who tell us Jesus wasn't human as we are. Hold to the teaching of Christ, and to the humanity of Jesus.
3 John
When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the faith visible. Don't go along with the one who won't offer hospitality. Model the good. Do God's work.
Jude
Our spiritual communities are as susceptible to disease as our physical bodies. Easier to detect what's wrong with our bodies than our worship and witness. Jude's letter is a diagnosis to an early Christian community. The primary Christian posture is , in Jude's words, "keeping your arms wide open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ."
"Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!"
Some people have infiltrated our faith who are shameless scoundrels. They want to replace the grace of God with sheer license--they want to do away with Jesus Christ.
v. 5-7 mini salvation/deliverance narrative.
God will take care of you!
These people sneer at anything they can't understand, and so they participate in their own destruction. Warts on your love feast.
Grumpers, belly-achers, grabbers for the last piece of pie, big talkers, saying what they think will get them ahead. Self-focused, they are the ones who split churches.
"Build yourselves up by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!"
Battle for life against death; for love against hate; for purity against perversion; for heaven against hell. No neutral ground. In the midst of the battle, God is saving; God is rescuing; God is blessing; God is providing; God is judging; God is healing; God is enlightening.
God is fighting for us and against everything that stands against us. Do you believe that?
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