EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/14/2025 4:22 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Living in the Truth”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 John 1-4
Message of the verses: “1 The elder to the
chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also
all who know the truth, 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will
be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God
the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I
was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we
have received commandment to do from the Father.”
“In a world of lies, the church is called to be the ‘pillar
and support of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15).
Paul’s metaphor would have been readily understood by Timothy and his
congregation at Ephesus. Located in that
city was the temple of Dianna (Artemis; Acts 19:23-28), one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple’s
immense roof was supported by 127 pillars, which rested on a massive
foundation. Just as that temple was a
monument to the lies of Satan, so the church is to be a monument to the truth
of God. The church’s mission is to
immovably, unshakably live, uphold, guard, and proclaim the truth of God’s
Word. It is to proclaim the ‘whole
purpose of God’ (acts 20:27), not merely that part of divine truth that is
inoffensive to the surrounding culture.
In the words of Martin Luther, a stalwart champion of necessary
controversy,
If I
profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the
truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil
are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing
Christ, however boldly I may be professing
Christ. Where the battle rages,
there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to the steady on all the
battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.
(D. Martin Luther’s Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel,18 vols. [Weimar: Verlag
Hermann Bohiaus Nachfolger, 1930-1985], 3:81, emphases added)
Any so-called church that
fails to exercise its stewardship of His truth faces God’s judgment—just as the
Jews did for failing to uphold and live the Old Testament truth entrusted to
them (cf. Rom. 2:23-24). But throughout
its history, the true church has clung tenaciously to the truth, despite the
storms of persecution, the sting of rejection, and the assaults of enemies both
from inside and outside its ranks (cf. Acts 20:29-30). And countless thousands have suffered
martyrdom rather than compromise or abandon the truth.
“Strategically, the final epistles of the New Testament
emphasize the priority of the truth (2 and 3 John), and the need to contend for
it in the face of apostate liars (Jude).
“John wrote his two brief letters—more postcards than
letters—to stress the importance of truth. Aletheia
(‘truth’) appears five times in this opening section of 2 John and six
times in the more brief 3 John. Though
each is a personal letter to an individual, John was writing the inspired
revelation of God that was to God’s people throughout time. Recognizing that all the readers of his
letter faced and always would face a world of lies and deceit, he wrote to call
them to live in God’s truth, to love within the bounds of truth, and to be loyal
to and look out for the truth. In the
opening verses of John reveals four features of living in the truth: the truth
unites, indwells, blesses, and controls believers.”
This entire body of this SD
is quoted from John MacArthur’s commentary on 2 John.
4/14/2025 4:47 PM
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