1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,600 Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:17,120 Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through the powerful lens of love. 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,060 In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing fresh insights and gaining 5 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:25,440 deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith in practical ways. 6 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,160 So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love and the context of the 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,480 Bible intersect to transform our lives. 8 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,280 All right. 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:36,280 Welcome back, everybody. 10 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:41,120 As you can see, we're back in our, well, you can see if you're watching the video on YouTube. 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,560 If you are listening to this, you probably can't tell just from seeing it that we are 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,400 back in our normal recording spot. 13 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:47,580 Oh yeah. 14 00:00:47,580 --> 00:00:51,080 We got hit with rain sudden and quickly and we're like, maybe we don't record around the 15 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:52,300 fire this weekend. 16 00:00:52,300 --> 00:00:57,380 So in Alaska, for those of you who don't know, you get these beautiful summers, little tiny 17 00:00:57,380 --> 00:01:00,600 snippet of fall, and then winter hits. 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:05,880 So we're in that snippet of fall and before too long it's going to be... 19 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,080 It's like summer, fall, winter. 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:09,080 Yeah, exactly. 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,080 That's what it is. 22 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:11,080 Exactly. 23 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:12,080 So, oh man. 24 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,440 So we are in week four of Little Book, Big Message. 25 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,800 Week four. 26 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,800 This week we're going to be in second, John, and then we're going to finish out next week 27 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,560 in third, John. 28 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,680 I actually was looking in the Bible that I have, it's actually literally on one page. 29 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:29,680 Both books. 30 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,040 There's small little letters. 31 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,440 So when we say little book, we're not messing around. 32 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,840 No, we are not. 33 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,480 I was, we were talking a little bit before we were talking about recording this and I 34 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:45,120 think we would do a little bit of a disservice if we immediately jumped into second, John, 35 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:47,840 without helping them understand the context of all three of these letters and where they're 36 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:49,520 being written. 37 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,160 So we're going to do that really quickly with you guys if you know this story, then just 38 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,140 pretend like you don't and hearing it for the first time. 39 00:01:56,140 --> 00:02:02,200 So this is John and while there is no definitive answer that this is definitely John that wrote 40 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,880 the Gospel of John, most consensus falls around that because of the Greek, because of the 41 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,200 way that it's written, because of the language. 42 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,700 He is called in second and third, John, he's called the Elder. 43 00:02:12,700 --> 00:02:19,440 And he is writing to a group of house churches likely in the Ephesus region. 44 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,360 And I say region because it's not going to be just in Ephesus, but it's going to be in 45 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:23,900 that whole area. 46 00:02:23,900 --> 00:02:24,900 And he's writing to them. 47 00:02:24,900 --> 00:02:28,840 He specifically first, second and third, John, he's writing them these letters because something 48 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,000 has happened that has caused a kerfuffle in the church. 49 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,040 Not that we've ever seen something like that happen, right? 50 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:37,040 Never. 51 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,160 And so the first book, what he's doing is he's reminding them of what they're going 52 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:41,160 to be called to be. 53 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,640 So in the, in first John, he has two major themes, right? 54 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:49,200 The first one is Jesus is light and you're invited to walk in this light. 55 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,900 And if you're in darkness, there's a really easy solution. 56 00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:53,900 Step into the light. 57 00:02:53,900 --> 00:02:54,900 Yep. 58 00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:55,900 Right. 59 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:56,900 I do think that it's there. 60 00:02:56,900 --> 00:02:57,960 There's some really great phrases in here. 61 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,960 And I was talking to a friend of mine this week and we were talking about how Jewish 62 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,880 people are very cut and dry in their writing. 63 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:05,880 Right. 64 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,840 If you say you love God, but you don't love your brother or sister, you're a liar. 65 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:16,640 And now that sounds harsh to us, but John is also like, but Jesus loves liars and he 66 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:18,380 will invite you right back into his kingdom. 67 00:03:18,380 --> 00:03:20,240 All you need to do is step back into the light. 68 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:21,880 You're doing something wrong. 69 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,720 You are not wrong. 70 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:24,820 What you're doing is wrong. 71 00:03:24,820 --> 00:03:26,840 Now come back to who you're supposed to be. 72 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:27,840 Right. 73 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,720 Um, so that's one of the major themes of first John. 74 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,760 The other major theme of second, uh, first John is that God is love. 75 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,560 And so both God is light and God is love are both expressed most fully through the person 76 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:41,560 of Jesus Christ. 77 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:42,560 Yeah. 78 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:47,520 Um, putting God and Jesus as synonymous, not the same person, but synonymous, um, as 79 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:54,320 far as they are the author, perfecter, um, the, the origination and the, and the propagation 80 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,280 of this light and love. 81 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:57,280 Right. 82 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,160 And so it all is coming down to Jesus. 83 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,440 The design of the father was always leading to Jesus. 84 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,160 Jesus was with God in the beginning. 85 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,560 Uh, you actually will hear that in the gospel of John in the beginning was the word. 86 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:07,560 Right. 87 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,400 And so he's, uh, the whole first letter isn't even written necessarily as a letter. 88 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:18,480 It's kind of more written as a, uh, poetic sermon to them of things that they already 89 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:19,480 know. 90 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:20,480 Yep. 91 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:21,480 He's reminding that he's not telling them new stuff. 92 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,520 He's like, Hey, by the way, we all know these things. 93 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,840 And it's really important because then in that first letter, he addresses the fact that 94 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:35,000 there are people who are going around in this region who are discrediting Jesus or Jesus 95 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,040 is not the center. 96 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,300 Jesus is, uh, you know, the conversation is whether or not Jesus was fully man, was he 97 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:42,300 fully God? 98 00:04:42,300 --> 00:04:46,640 Uh, did he actually exist physically going into some like Dota system, right? 99 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,700 And a Gnosticism and, uh, or is Jesus actually the Messiah? 100 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:55,920 And there are people going around and they're trying to go into these different house churches 101 00:04:55,920 --> 00:05:00,920 and spread this message that is not the gospel as a fact, anti gospel. 102 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:01,920 And so he gives them the sermon. 103 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,120 He sets it up in this context. 104 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:05,120 God is light. 105 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:06,120 Jesus is light. 106 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:07,520 If you dwell in the light, you walk with Jesus. 107 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:08,520 God is love. 108 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:09,520 Jesus is love. 109 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,240 If you walk in love, you walk with Jesus. 110 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,600 And that's the setting up before you get into second John. 111 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,320 And I think the reason I wanted to spend some time there is there are going to be some verses 112 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,480 that we're going to read that if you don't place them in the context of first John, you 113 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,920 can easily use them to cause division that shouldn't be there. 114 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:30,920 Yeah. 115 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:31,920 Yeah. 116 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,000 And just to touch on the authorship piece of it, there is debate whether it was John 117 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,840 the apostle or John the elder. 118 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:38,560 And those, there were two different people. 119 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:39,560 Correct. 120 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,040 There was John the apostle and John the elder. 121 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,560 And when people are like, and this is where people get kind of confused. 122 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,200 I'm just putting this out there for people to be like, okay, take it or leave it. 123 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,200 Where people get confused on like, well, is this John the apostle or John the elder? 124 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,760 Well, it doesn't really matter too much because both those individuals actually work closely 125 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:56,760 together. 126 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:57,760 Correct. 127 00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:59,360 And they worked in the same communities. 128 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:05,400 And so it'd be the equivalent of like two people named Ben working at the church we're 129 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:06,400 at, right? 130 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:07,400 Yeah. 131 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:08,400 We're working for the same message. 132 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:10,640 We're likely saying the same thing. 133 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,000 And so even whether it was John the apostle or John the elder, they are writing to the 134 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,680 same community in the same context, addressing the same issues. 135 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,640 Something similar to that, but not exactly the same is when we were reading through Jude 136 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,560 and I said, Jude and a second Peter sound very similar, right? 137 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,680 It's almost like they were in the same room writing letters at the same time. 138 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:30,680 Yeah. 139 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:31,680 Right. 140 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,600 They're the, all the, the apostles are working together, listening to the same spirit, the 141 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,480 same God, the same testimony of Jesus working through them. 142 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,560 And so while authorship is there's a conversation around it, you should hear all of these contextually 143 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:44,560 together. 144 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:45,560 Yes. 145 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:46,560 Yeah. 146 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:52,560 And, and if you, if you think, Hey, John is author of the gospel and for a second, third 147 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:53,560 John. 148 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:54,560 Great. 149 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,880 If you disagree, you should still hear echoes of the same conversation throughout that. 150 00:06:58,880 --> 00:06:59,880 Yeah. 151 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:00,880 All right. 152 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:07,680 So let's go into a second John that is located on page 657 of your Bibles. 153 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:11,440 And we're going to be in chapter one. 154 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:12,440 Yeah. 155 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,680 Some of you are going to be like, wait, go open up the Bible and be like, Oh, that's 156 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:17,680 funny Spencer. 157 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:18,680 Yeah, it's good. 158 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:19,680 Yeah, it's good. 159 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:20,680 I like it. 160 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:21,680 I chortled inside. 161 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:22,680 Yeah. 162 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:24,080 I got a little musty eyed when you said that. 163 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:25,080 Yeah, thanks. 164 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:26,080 Yeah, you're welcome. 165 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:27,080 Oh man. 166 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:28,080 All right. 167 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,120 So let's start here at the beginning. 168 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,040 It says second John, first thing says the elder. 169 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:37,320 So obviously they know who they're talking about to the lady chosen by God and to her 170 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:42,860 children whom I love in the truth and not I only, but also all who know the truth because 171 00:07:42,860 --> 00:07:45,920 of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever. 172 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,440 Once again, coming back to first John, where he's talking about what it means to actually 173 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,280 live in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace from God, the father and from Jesus Christ, the 174 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,200 father's son will be with us in truth and love. 175 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,400 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth just as 176 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,320 the father commanded us. 177 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,120 And now dear lady, I am not writing you a new command, but one we have had from the 178 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:09,120 beginning. 179 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,520 I ask that we love one another and this is love that we walk in obedience to his commands. 180 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,720 As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 181 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:19,020 Okay. 182 00:08:19,020 --> 00:08:24,200 So he's already said the context coming back to first John, it's about walking in love. 183 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:29,200 Now I think it's really easy when you see that piece of obedience for this. 184 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,560 Well, but if you really love God, you're going to obey him. 185 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:34,040 Yeah, that's true. 186 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:39,560 Well, we've conflated and combined the idea of obedience and discipline. 187 00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:40,560 Yeah. 188 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:42,680 So what I mean by that is a lot of times we'll take it. 189 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:46,240 Well, I'm going to be obedient to God, so I need to go confront this person about their 190 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,040 whatnot, right? 191 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:49,040 Right. 192 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:53,560 Well, the reality is discipline can only take place if you're putting authority over someone. 193 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:54,560 Correct. 194 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:58,720 So like a father can discipline a child because they're putting, or a mother can discipline 195 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,800 a child because they're put an authority over that child. 196 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:02,800 Right. 197 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:04,200 Or, or vice versa. 198 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:08,360 Like an employer can discipline an employee because they're putting authority over him. 199 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:09,360 Right. 200 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:10,360 Right. 201 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,520 But when it comes to like friend to friend, like when it comes to our relationship, I 202 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:16,320 have no authority to discipline you. 203 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:17,320 Yeah. 204 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:18,320 Right. 205 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:19,320 It'd be strange if you did. 206 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:20,320 Yeah. 207 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:21,320 If I want, if I want to- 208 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,640 I want to submit to you in friendship, right? 209 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:24,640 Exactly. 210 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,960 This comes back to Pastor Sarah saying you can't correct without connection. 211 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:28,960 Yeah. 212 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:29,960 Yeah. 213 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:31,920 So you kind of have to take those two ideas and you need to separate them out a little 214 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:32,920 bit. 215 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,200 Like we want to be obedient to God, a hundred percent. 216 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:36,200 Yeah. 217 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,240 Sometimes that does mean going and confronting a brother or sister about something. 218 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:40,240 Right. 219 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,240 Right. 220 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:42,240 Sometimes that does mean that. 221 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,200 But when it comes to discipline, it's really God the father who's the one who takes care 222 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:46,200 of that. 223 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:47,200 Right. 224 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:48,200 Yeah. 225 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:53,520 And I, I, I have church trauma, church hurt, if you want to call it from my past, that 226 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,240 tends to leak through and the things that I think about growing up and people that I've 227 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:04,840 dealt with that have caused damage in my life, where they, they gauge the amount that you 228 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,520 love Jesus by the amount that they think you obey him. 229 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:13,060 And, and, and I don't want to discredit that because I do think that as you love Jesus, 230 00:10:13,060 --> 00:10:16,080 you're going to do more things that please him. 231 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:22,640 But you don't do obedient things so that God loves you, you or so that you love God, you 232 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:23,640 love God. 233 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:24,640 And so you obey him. 234 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:25,640 Does that make sense? 235 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:31,040 Like it is a self feeding thing because otherwise what you end up doing is like, you're like, 236 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,520 okay, God, I'm going to do this litany of things. 237 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,800 And because I did this litany of things, I'm going to walk in your favor and love. 238 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:40,800 Yeah. 239 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:41,800 Right. 240 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,880 And that, that's a problem because that's not a relationship. 241 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,280 That's a, that's a vending machine. 242 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:47,280 Yeah. 243 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:48,280 Right. 244 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,120 And, and like, I don't want to discredit vending machines because I love getting stuff out 245 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,920 of vending machines, but your relationship with God shouldn't be a vending machine. 246 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:54,920 Yeah. 247 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,560 And, and really like, if you are talking about obedience and discipline when it comes into 248 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:02,560 your life, really discipline takes place when disobedience happens. 249 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:03,560 Yeah. 250 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:04,560 Right. 251 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:09,360 Um, we had, like, I had example, my daughter the other day, she's like brought all her 252 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:14,040 toys downstairs and like, we were just tripping over everything and we were like, Hey, you 253 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,440 need to go take all your toys back to your room. 254 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:17,440 Yep. 255 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:18,440 And she said, yes, father. 256 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:19,440 And she was like, yes, mother. 257 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:21,320 And she was like, I was like, go put this back in your room. 258 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,000 She's like, Oh, I'm going to play with that later. 259 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,560 And like starting to make up all these excuses. 260 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:26,960 Finally my wife had none of it. 261 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,280 And she was like, whatever's not in the room in 10 minutes, I'm taking to the thrift store. 262 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:33,960 That house was cleaned up so fast. 263 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:34,960 So fast. 264 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:35,960 So fast. 265 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:39,360 And I'm saying that's the best parenting strategy, that's just what happened. 266 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,360 But usually discipline comes when we're disobedient. 267 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:44,360 Right. 268 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:45,360 Right. 269 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,280 And there might be times where the Lord saying, Hey, you need to go to this person because 270 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,520 of their disobedience and have a conversation with them. 271 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:51,520 Right. 272 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,840 I've been in those moments. 273 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,680 But more often than not, I find that it's not us. 274 00:11:56,680 --> 00:12:00,040 Let me put it this way. 275 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:04,320 Oftentimes we go out looking to enact discipline on people who aren't living the quote unquote 276 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:05,320 right way. 277 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:06,320 Yeah. 278 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:11,200 That is absolutely that, that can be a characteristic of self-righteous behavior. 279 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:12,200 Yeah. 280 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,720 And so I want to, I wanted to just pause there because I mean, I do honestly believe though, 281 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:22,280 that if you say you love God, cause it's coming back to first John and yet you hate your brother 282 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:27,280 or you don't exhibit the characteristics of love, like John says, you're a liar. 283 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:34,120 So if you say you love God and yet you don't obey any of his commands, like your life actually 284 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,600 tells the truth because you're actually going to, when you're in relationship with somebody 285 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,600 that matters, you're going to do things to please them because you're in relationship 286 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:42,600 with somebody that matters. 287 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:43,600 Yeah. 288 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,440 Um, I, I, uh, a good example, and I don't, I don't think that everything that I do in 289 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,640 my relationship is stuff that I don't want to do. 290 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:50,640 Right. 291 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:51,960 But there are things that I do as a husband. 292 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:54,320 I do because I love my wife. 293 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:55,760 Right. 294 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,120 And uh, I wouldn't naturally do those things, but because I love my wife and because I know 295 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,320 what she cares about, I do these things. 296 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,060 And that's not any different than, uh, your friendships, your, your, uh, even the way 297 00:13:06,060 --> 00:13:07,560 you interact with your children. 298 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:10,240 There are things that you, I don't like laying on the ground and playing with dinosaurs, 299 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:11,760 but James does. 300 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,440 So I lay on the ground and play with dinosaurs. 301 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:14,440 Right. 302 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,880 And cause I want to connect with him and I want to, I want him to know that he's loved. 303 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:24,360 And uh, the, the problem is where you start to say, you don't love me unless you, uh, 304 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:25,360 obey. 305 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,680 I was like, even when you swing, when these things aren't actually put in context of relationship, 306 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:33,280 and they become like two, to your point, things of discipline or places where you're not actually 307 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,720 called to step into, they can be harmful. 308 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:36,720 Yeah. 309 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:37,720 Incredibly harmful. 310 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,520 And that's not the context of John's letters. 311 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:44,120 And it's not the context of the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 312 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:45,120 Yeah. 313 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:50,640 And, uh, and so I think it's really important in these little books, we found that in Jude 314 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,740 when people blow up one verse without the context of that, everything else that comes 315 00:13:53,740 --> 00:13:54,740 around it. 316 00:13:54,740 --> 00:13:55,740 Yeah. 317 00:13:55,740 --> 00:13:56,740 Right. 318 00:13:56,740 --> 00:14:00,920 And, uh, coming back to this and I got off on, I'm sorry, this is a big, uh, and this 319 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:02,160 is a massive rabbit trail. 320 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:03,760 So it was a good one. 321 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:05,960 I like, I, it was a rabbit, but it was worth following. 322 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,200 It was like one of those chocolate rabbits. 323 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:14,240 Um, so, uh, John has specified, he, he says he's talking to, to the lady chosen. 324 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,280 Now there's conversations about, is this actually a lady who's a prominent teacher in the church? 325 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:19,280 Very possible. 326 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:20,280 Right. 327 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,520 Or a prominent, uh, uh, person who opens up their home for the church to meet. 328 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,880 And so she's taught, he's talking to a specific group or is he talking to the lady chosen 329 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:33,200 by God as he's talking in, in more metaphor about the church overall. 330 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,800 I'm fine with either one of those because they both apply. 331 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,160 Could be both too. 332 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:38,160 Yeah. 333 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:40,380 Um, so he's, he just comes and he says, reminder. 334 00:14:40,380 --> 00:14:44,680 It's like, I love, um, that you're walking in the truth coming back to first John, right? 335 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,960 Just as the father commanded that we're going to live by loving one another. 336 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,720 And this is love that we walk in obedience with his commands. 337 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,160 As you have heard from the getting his command is that you walk in love. 338 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,440 So walk in obedience with his command and his command is to walk in love. 339 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,480 It's a circle, right? 340 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,120 These two things feed into each other. 341 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:01,120 Yeah. 342 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:02,120 All right. 343 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:03,400 So then let's get into the back, backside of this. 344 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:10,080 He specified love, uh, take care of people, walk in the light, be dearly love children. 345 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:11,080 Starting over seven. 346 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:12,080 Yeah. 347 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,720 I say, I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. 348 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:21,280 They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body, such person as a deceiver and, and an 349 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:28,800 anti-Christ watch out, but watch out that, that you do not lose what we have worked so 350 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:29,960 hard to achieve. 351 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,280 Be diligent so that you can receive the full reward. 352 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:40,060 Anyone who wanders from this teaching has no relationship with God, but anyone who remains 353 00:15:40,060 --> 00:15:45,720 in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the father and the son. 354 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:50,800 If anyone comes to a meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don't invite 355 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,120 that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. 356 00:15:55,120 --> 00:16:04,040 Anyone who encourages such a, uh, such people becomes a partner in their evil works. 357 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:05,360 All right. 358 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:10,200 So what is the issue that these, these, these teachers are bringing is they are actually 359 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,480 saying Jesus was never actually here in flesh. 360 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:14,480 Yeah. 361 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:18,440 Um, if you are unfamiliar with this teaching, it was that Jesus, uh, came to, to earth and 362 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:20,120 he was actually a spirit the entire time. 363 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:21,680 Now this is maybe what John was dealing with. 364 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:26,640 It might be something else because there was a lot of, of, um, mischaracterizations of 365 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,160 Jesus that popped up in the century afterwards. 366 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:31,160 Right. 367 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:36,320 Um, but they're, they're saying Jesus did not come and dwell as a human, take on the 368 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:41,600 identity of a human, walk the earth as a human, go to the cross as a human, take the sin of 369 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:48,240 the world on himself as a human and go down into, uh, death as a human to be risen by 370 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,680 the father as a human and God the entire time. 371 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,360 That's a problem. 372 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,520 If you claim Jesus as Messiah. 373 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:57,520 Yes. 374 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:01,060 Like this is not a tertiary issue. 375 00:17:01,060 --> 00:17:06,200 This is not, we're arguing about, should we do courses at church or hymns, right? 376 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,680 This isn't arguing about whether we should use, uh, we should sit in, uh, those padded 377 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,720 chairs or pews. 378 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,240 Padded chairs, padded chairs for sure. 379 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,960 They're, they're way easier to move, but some people love pews and that's like more like, 380 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:18,960 I love that for you. 381 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:19,960 Right. 382 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,520 I don't love it for my backside, but I love it for you. 383 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:23,520 Right. 384 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:24,520 What is that? 385 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:25,520 What's your phrase? 386 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:26,520 You said, I love that journey for you. 387 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:27,520 Love that journey for you. 388 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:28,520 Yeah. 389 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,080 Uh, this is not some ancillary issue. 390 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,960 This is a, this is a massive issue. 391 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:33,960 Yeah. 392 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:38,760 And I think we need to take a moment to, but talk and talk about how there are in the old 393 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:43,840 Testament in Torah in particular, there actually are a lot of metaphorical things that happen. 394 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:44,840 Right. 395 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:49,680 So like you can take a moment, see where they can get this idea that Jesus wasn't here in 396 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:55,200 flesh because in, in a Jewish mind, there will be people who can make this connection 397 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,800 without that being like quote unquote too far of a stretch form. 398 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:05,840 With that said, with that said, if we deny Jesus, Jesus coming in flesh to this world 399 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:10,940 for our sins, we actually deny the core essence of, of the need for sacrifice and the need 400 00:18:10,940 --> 00:18:13,920 for atonement and the need for restoration. 401 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:20,120 And if this is in fact, John, who was traveling with Jesus for three years, like he walked, 402 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:25,160 ate, slept, um, everything with Jesus, right? 403 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:26,740 For three and a half years. 404 00:18:26,740 --> 00:18:31,040 And not, not only that, when Jesus comes to his disciples and like, remember not the 12 405 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,280 because there's more than 12 disciples, right? 406 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,240 There's 12 that are the core, but there's more than 12 disciples of follow Jesus. 407 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:41,160 But when he comes to them and he says, I want you to put your fingers in my side and in 408 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,640 my hands where the holes were actually dug in, right? 409 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,520 So you can feel the flesh. 410 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,840 And then he spends 40 days with them. 411 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,760 Like he doesn't just like come back. 412 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,800 He he's like, he physically spends time with them for a good period of time. 413 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:02,980 Well and the things that he did when he first rose from the dead too is, uh, when he came 414 00:19:02,980 --> 00:19:09,600 to restoring Peter, um, from the denial three times, what was he doing on the beach when 415 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:10,600 Peter saw him? 416 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:11,600 He was cooking fish. 417 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:12,600 He was cooking fish. 418 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:13,600 He was like, we're going to have a meal. 419 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:15,920 We're going to have a meal and he eats, eats food. 420 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:16,920 Like he's there. 421 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:18,400 So they see him consume. 422 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,760 Now with the thing that they're talking, he's talking about here, cause I want to get into 423 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,280 a little bit where he says, don't invite them into your home. 424 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:25,280 Don't welcome them. 425 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:30,440 So you, if you remember back in, in the gospels, Jesus sends out the 12 and he also sends out 426 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:35,720 the 72 and he says that you're going to go preach the gospel, uh, preach the good news, 427 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,560 uh, drive out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead. 428 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:39,560 Yeah. 429 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:40,560 Right. 430 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,160 And he sends out demons and spirits and innocent as does. 431 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,720 And like people are going to come against you specifically religious people are going to 432 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:46,720 come against you. 433 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,880 Uh, but when you go, you speak a blessing of people invite you into their house after 434 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:50,880 you've spoken. 435 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:55,480 So after you've shared the good news, the expectation is the community, and this is 436 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,640 a very middle Eastern thing is going to invite you in and take care of you because you're 437 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,680 not going to have a place to stay or food to eat or a place to rest your head. 438 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,800 Um, they're going to invite you and they're going to take care of you. 439 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:14,400 And John is saying, I know the, the, uh, the implication or the, uh, you're going to want 440 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:19,000 to invite these people into your house, uh, to take care of them and as ministers of the 441 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,640 gospel, but that's not who they are. 442 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:23,760 They're actually preaching an anti gospel. 443 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:25,080 He says anti Christ. 444 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:30,320 You could just think it as the anti gospel, like the anti message of Jesus, um, that they 445 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,920 are actually compromising the very gospel that Jesus came to present. 446 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,000 And you shouldn't invite these people into your home to be recognized as spiritual authority 447 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,280 figures into your life. 448 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,280 Yeah. 449 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,760 Notice he also doesn't say, don't talk to them. 450 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,800 Don't, uh, he's like, don't actually intermingle your life with them. 451 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:49,800 Yeah. 452 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,720 He specifically says, uh, don't invite them in and don't encourage the teaching. 453 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:54,720 Correct. 454 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:59,960 Um, and so, uh, yeah, he says, don't invite that person into your home or give any type 455 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:04,920 of type of encouragement for anyone who encourages such people, partners in their evil work. 456 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:09,040 I think a really good example of this elsewhere in scripture where somebody dealt with this 457 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:14,520 and not somebody who was intentionally speaking incorrectly, but when Apollo originally spoke, 458 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:19,360 he had some knowledge of what was going on, but he didn't understand the baptism of the 459 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:20,360 spirit. 460 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:24,000 And so Priscilla and Aquila said, Hey, why don't you come into our house? 461 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,960 Not as a minister, not to speak into our lives, but let us speak into you and help you, you 462 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,600 find these things and find a, like the correct path, right? 463 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:34,360 What Jesus is actually doing. 464 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,240 And so that's a, that's a circumstance where they're not inviting them in to take care 465 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,160 of him as a minister, but they recognize the potential. 466 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,600 And so Priscilla and Aquila, they could have just as easily, you know, the, Oh, we're not 467 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:44,600 going to associate with Apollo. 468 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,980 No, no, we see the guy's doing something here and we want to pull that out. 469 00:21:49,980 --> 00:21:54,040 And so I think when that with this passage, it's if people are going and they're compromising 470 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,400 the person of Jesus Christ, and I want to specify, they are compromising the person of 471 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,640 Jesus Christ, not your opinion of the person of Jesus Christ. 472 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:02,640 And pause there. 473 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,840 Why is the person of Jesus Christ important? 474 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:10,600 And like big reason for that is because if in fulfillment of Torah in order for sins 475 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,960 to be atoned, you had to have a physical sacrifice. 476 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:13,960 Correct. 477 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:14,960 Right. 478 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:17,920 Like you were, you were embowing your spirit onto the animal and onto their flesh. 479 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,120 And that was going into the throne room, which in the context of Torah, which we've talked 480 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:28,080 about past seasons was actually a great act of mercy because it didn't require human 481 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:29,080 sacrifice. 482 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:30,080 Correct. 483 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:35,960 Um, and so you were able to instill, like, in bow your sins onto that animal and then 484 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,480 they would be the one sacrificed. 485 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,240 If you, if you, by the way, are wondering exactly what we're talking about, you're a 486 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:41,240 new listener. 487 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:46,160 Go back to season one in Leviticus when we're talking about the sacrificial system, but you 488 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:51,000 know, we, they cast your identity onto Jesus, who is the sacrifice and our identity goes 489 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,000 in with him. 490 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,480 And as the writer of Hebrews says, uh, we are in the throne room of God in Jesus. 491 00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:58,480 Yeah. 492 00:22:58,480 --> 00:22:59,480 So we're carried to this presence. 493 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,440 So there has to be a physical sacrifice that takes place. 494 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,440 Um, and so if Jesus did not come and flesh, there was no physical sacrifice that took 495 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:07,440 place. 496 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:08,440 Yeah. 497 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,120 Um, but the reality is, is he did. 498 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:14,320 And because of that physical sacrifice, we're able to enter into the throne room of God 499 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,120 because of the work of Christ in our lives. 500 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:21,400 And so you, so if you're like, well, Jesus didn't really come and flush, that is actually 501 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,820 a primary issue theologically that we have to address. 502 00:23:25,820 --> 00:23:31,960 So one of the, I think there is a, there is a major issue intellectually in American Christianity 503 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,660 right now where people are really combating this like conversation. 504 00:23:35,660 --> 00:23:36,960 And I want to talk about something. 505 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:38,120 It's a fancy term. 506 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:39,120 It's called the hypostatic union. 507 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:40,120 Okay. 508 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,560 In fact, there was actually a band called hypostatic union. 509 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:48,840 I don't know if you ever listened to them, but, um, so this, this idea is that, is that 510 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,560 the Bible clearly portrays Jesus as God all the time and it clearly portrays him as a 511 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,160 man all the time. 512 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,160 And both of those things are true all the time. 513 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,400 And then you, and then, uh, the reality is that none of us really understand how that 514 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:08,120 works, but there's this union of these two, like fully man and fully God, and none of 515 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,240 us completely know how it works. 516 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:15,040 Nor do we need to, nor do we need to, but there are a number of denominations, uh, that 517 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:19,160 follow Christ that will sit around and argue about these things and call it the people 518 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:24,040 heretics who do believe fully God, fully man, but they don't, they're trying to in their 519 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:29,200 head figure out how they rationalize that and following Jesus and they have disagreements. 520 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,680 This is not the same thing that John is talking about in this letter. 521 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:33,760 No. 522 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,680 Because if I am having a conversation with someone and I say, do you believe that Jesus 523 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:37,880 was fully God and fully man? 524 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,660 They said, yes, I don't know how that works, but this is what I think. 525 00:24:41,660 --> 00:24:42,660 You know what? 526 00:24:42,660 --> 00:24:43,660 We'll figure it out. 527 00:24:43,660 --> 00:24:44,660 We'll figure it out. 528 00:24:44,660 --> 00:24:52,320 Um, that is, uh, but when you're looking for something to disagree about that, that's 529 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:53,960 an easy one for people to do. 530 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:54,960 Yeah. 531 00:24:54,960 --> 00:25:01,040 And so this conversation with John is, is not an, um, it's not a small thing that they're 532 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,040 disagreeing about. 533 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,560 It is a massive thing. 534 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:04,560 Yeah. 535 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,480 And he's saying, don't encourage it. 536 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,420 Don't invite it into your home. 537 00:25:10,420 --> 00:25:13,080 But he also doesn't say, don't go redeem it. 538 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:14,080 Yeah. 539 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:15,780 But he's saying, don't encourage the teaching. 540 00:25:15,780 --> 00:25:16,880 Don't invite it into your home. 541 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:21,520 Don't elevate it in position, but it is something that you should go and take care of it. 542 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,440 Now, once again, in the, in the context of, uh, correction, he says that if somebody is 543 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,880 you have ought against somebody, you're going to go talk to them privately. 544 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,080 Then you bring somebody else. 545 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:30,520 Then you bring it before the church. 546 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,360 And if they won't, uh, won't come back at that point, you treat them like a tax collector 547 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:35,360 and sinner. 548 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:39,300 Now, what have we said on the podcast that Jesus has with tax collectors and sinners? 549 00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:43,680 He sits with them, enjoys meals with them, invites them, talks to them about the kingdom, 550 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:44,680 invites them in. 551 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,960 So it's not a license to just be done with people. 552 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:53,180 It's a license to actually invest the kingdom into those people in a different way. 553 00:25:53,180 --> 00:25:56,560 So when it comes to the sitting down and having a meal, I've, I've said this before and I'll 554 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,400 say it again and I'll probably say it a few more times. 555 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:05,400 Um, but, uh, if they do not follow Jesus or live in the way of Christ, like do not hold 556 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,880 them to that standard. 557 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,440 And because I think a lot of times I've, I've met plenty of people who follow Jesus and 558 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,120 with the best intentions, they'll sit down with someone who doesn't and they'll immediately 559 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:22,640 try to hold that person who doesn't follow Jesus to the standard of following Jesus. 560 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:24,920 But the problem is, is they don't follow Jesus yet. 561 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:25,920 Right. 562 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:26,920 Right. 563 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:32,360 Like, um, if I was to put this, to just give you an example, if I was to take my six year 564 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:37,960 old daughter and hold her to the standard of an 18 year old, it wouldn't work. 565 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:38,960 Right. 566 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,400 If I was to give her a text, if I was to give her a high school textbook that she would get 567 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,520 her senior year and said, Hey, read this, understand this. 568 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:52,720 She would be like, what she's like learning how to sound out words right now. 569 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:53,720 Yeah. 570 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:54,720 Right. 571 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,960 She would not be able to be like, okay, I can read a trigonometry textbook. 572 00:26:58,960 --> 00:26:59,960 Right. 573 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:05,440 So like there's, there's this idea of maturing in Christ, maturing in your relationship with 574 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,160 Jesus and growing in that relationship. 575 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:09,160 Right. 576 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,720 So we might be in one spot in our relationship with Jesus, but don't use that to say this 577 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,320 is what it looks like for everybody. 578 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:17,320 Correct. 579 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:18,320 Yeah. 580 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,800 So when we're having that meal with people, uh, we want to accept people where they're 581 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,080 at, love them where they're at and encourage them in their walk. 582 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,320 I was having a conversation with a person who does not follow Jesus, but they wanted 583 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,960 to talk about the Bible, which I'm always, yep, let's talk about it. 584 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:32,960 Right. 585 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:38,640 And, uh, and they said, well, I just don't know if I want to give up whatever it is. 586 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:39,640 Yeah. 587 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:41,440 And I said, I hear what you're saying. 588 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:46,440 And I said, uh, the, the issue is that you're talking about, what do I have to give up? 589 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,640 And eventually you're going to come to this point is, is Jesus worth everything? 590 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,680 In which case I'm not giving up anything. 591 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:53,680 Yeah. 592 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:56,600 I'm actually getting something far greater in return. 593 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:01,640 And uh, and I was like, but until you decided that, because you can't just add Jesus to 594 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:06,080 your life, like Jesus, you give your life to Jesus. 595 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:07,080 Yeah. 596 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,720 Which becomes his life, uh, that is that you live. 597 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:11,720 Right. 598 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,040 And, uh, so until you're ready to step into that, I'm not going to sit in judgment over 599 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,560 you over the things that you choose to do, but I will also let you know that some of 600 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:22,920 those things are going to lead to destruction in some really bad ways because sin is, is 601 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:23,920 meant to crush you. 602 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:24,920 Yeah. 603 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,960 I was like, but I'm also not going to stand in judgment of you because you live that way. 604 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:29,960 You're not choosing to follow Jesus. 605 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,300 What I am going to do is continue to invite you into this kingdom that is different than 606 00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:35,160 anything else you can imagine. 607 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:36,160 Yeah. 608 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,240 Because Jesus is a pretty cool dude. 609 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:39,240 Yeah. 610 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,400 I mean, I would just add to, and I was talking about like accepting people where they're 611 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,720 at, that doesn't mean leaving them where they're at. 612 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:46,720 Correct. 613 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:47,720 Yeah. 614 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:48,720 Right. 615 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:49,720 Right. 616 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,800 There's time you, when we enter into people's lives, we want to see change and accepting 617 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,480 them where they're at doesn't mean condoning their actions either. 618 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,240 No, it's just realizing where they add or meet and meeting them there. 619 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:00,240 Right. 620 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:01,560 Um, and not leaving them there. 621 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,520 Exa, like, well, example, our relationship, we find value in different things, right? 622 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:06,520 Uh huh. 623 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:07,520 Yeah. 624 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:08,520 Your front yard looks a lot different than mine. 625 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:09,520 It does. 626 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:10,520 Yeah. 627 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:11,520 It looks very different than yours. 628 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:12,520 Yeah. 629 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:13,520 Yeah. 630 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,040 Uh, for one thing, um, my kids leave their, uh, bikes and everything all over the place. 631 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,160 Now I know, uh, uh, your kid does too, but, um, I feel like there's a lot of them. 632 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,720 And also there's a, uh, unfinished shed that I've had there for months. 633 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,360 Um, don't worry, I'll get to it soon. 634 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:27,360 Yeah. 635 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:28,360 Right. 636 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:29,360 Right. 637 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,400 So, but like, I mean, in light and like, you can look at Ben and be like, man, you 638 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,000 got an unfinished shed. 639 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,200 It's like, we're just not going to go into what's unfinished in my yard right now. 640 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,800 The list is a lot more than just a shed. 641 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:41,800 Yeah. 642 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:46,320 But I mean, there's different things we put values on, which aren't necessarily bad, but 643 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:52,880 we need to be willing to accept each other where we're at, join in relationship where 644 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:54,400 people are at. 645 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,520 And, uh, and again, that doesn't mean leaving them there because if someone's going down 646 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,240 the wrong path, you want to try to encourage them, uh, back to the right way. 647 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,920 I, uh, we've said it on the podcast and I think it bears repeating again. 648 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,080 We don't change people's lives. 649 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,360 Jesus does coming back to this quote from first John, which is going to apply to what 650 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:13,360 we're talking about here. 651 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,200 When we're talking about moving in people's lives, if we walk in the light as he is in 652 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,760 the light, uh, we have fellowship together and the blood of Christ purifies us from all 653 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:22,760 unrighteousness. 654 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:24,200 Okay. 655 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,620 We don't get pure and then go stand in the light. 656 00:30:26,620 --> 00:30:31,480 We become pure by walking in the light, the light, which is Jesus, right? 657 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,720 We are purified by walking in love, the love that is Jesus, the things that are a part 658 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:40,800 of our lives that are garbage start to fall away because we start to actually, uh, turns 659 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,520 out when you turn on the light in a room and you see how nasty it is, you kind of want 660 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,820 to clean up a little bit, right? 661 00:30:45,820 --> 00:30:49,560 But it's not cleaning up and then coming to it's actually the relationship that purifies 662 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:50,720 us as we go. 663 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:56,640 And so we invite people to the light and allow Christ to do the work and we love people along 664 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:57,980 the journey as they're going. 665 00:30:57,980 --> 00:31:01,600 And we just trust in the Holy spirit and Jesus Christ to do the transformative work. 666 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:02,600 Yes. 667 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,720 Sometimes we have those tough conversations, but they're always saturated in love and light. 668 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:07,720 100%. 669 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:08,720 All right. 670 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:10,520 Last little thing here, because I think this is really cool. 671 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:14,920 Um, I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. 672 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,520 Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face that our joy may be complete. 673 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,200 The children of your sister who is chosen by God, send their greetings. 674 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,560 Um, this is Ben editorializing something in here in the book for sure. 675 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,440 100% this is not a, I got a gospel truth. 676 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:32,360 Stop sending text messages and writing letters. 677 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,520 Go talk to somebody. 678 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:36,600 Now some of you communicate better than rewritten word. 679 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,600 I love that for you have conversations with people because they can't read your intention 680 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:42,600 through text. 681 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:44,280 It's so true. 682 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:45,280 Yeah. 683 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:46,280 So true. 684 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:51,360 I, I absolutely despise it when people are trying to send emotional conversational pieces 685 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,000 to me via text, right? 686 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,440 Because I'm like, no, no, like this is not the way to do this because one, I don't really 687 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,880 know what's going on with you in that case. 688 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,720 Like I can be of much better service if we sit down face to face. 689 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:04,720 Right. 690 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:05,720 Right. 691 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,360 And so like a rule that my wife and I have in our relationship is that like text message 692 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:09,360 is for information. 693 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,680 Like it's informational. 694 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:17,800 Like I'm not going to send a long bloated text message about an emotional thing I'm 695 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:18,800 having. 696 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:20,400 Um, it's going to be for informational. 697 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,400 I might, I might send a text message being like, Hey, here's something I'm struggling 698 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:25,400 with today. 699 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:26,400 Just want to let you know. 700 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,400 So next time we see each other, right? 701 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:29,400 Yeah. 702 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,480 Um, might something like that, but we're not going to have emotional outbursts over text 703 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,000 because you don't know the person's intention. 704 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:42,520 Well, and I'm always going to read your message or email letter, text message, all the similar 705 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:43,520 ideas. 706 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:48,640 I'm going to read your message through my own bias and I'm not going to see your intentions 707 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,240 unless I'm face to face with you because then I can ask a question. 708 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,040 I was like, did you mean this? 709 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,160 And you're like, Nope, not at all. 710 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:56,640 Or yes, that's absolutely what I meant. 711 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:57,640 Okay. 712 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:58,640 Now I know what we need to talk about. 713 00:32:58,640 --> 00:32:59,640 Yeah. 714 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:05,640 Um, I worked with a lady years ago and she was very emotional about everything and she 715 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,920 often communicated that with me via text. 716 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:10,920 And so, and then she would get upset. 717 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:16,120 She'd be like, well, your, your text seems so dry and like, didn't seem like you cared 718 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,840 at all. 719 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,000 And so we finally, we sat down and I was like, well, I just didn't know what you were going 720 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:22,000 through. 721 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,240 Like I can't read your mind via text. 722 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,080 I can't read the emotions you're going through. 723 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:31,240 I can't, can't see the hurt you're feeling right now or how you're frustrated with me. 724 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:36,000 Um, side note, I was her boss and so she was frustrated with some stuff at work. 725 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,880 And I was like, I was like, well, I can't, I can't tell that. 726 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,880 So like, if you have a problem, you have to come talk to me face to face. 727 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:44,520 And that was something that she couldn't ever get over. 728 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,440 So she quit like three months later because I, because I had to set that boundary. 729 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,160 Like, no, if there's an issue, you gotta come talk to me face to face or set up a meeting 730 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,560 time so we can talk. 731 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:59,000 And that's the, the reality though, is that's when those things get worked out. 732 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,280 If you just try to resolve stuff over text, it just gets worse. 733 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:08,440 So what's the message of second John, we're called to walk in light. 734 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,000 We're called to walk in love. 735 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,080 If we love God, we're going to obey his commands and his commands is that we walk in love. 736 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,680 These are, are self feeding things. 737 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,960 When we run into people who compromise the person of Jesus Christ, when, when they're 738 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:26,500 compromising the very person of Jesus Christ, we should not elevate that. 739 00:34:26,500 --> 00:34:32,300 And we should not invite that into our homes, but we should go and try to redeem it. 740 00:34:32,300 --> 00:34:35,840 Like reach out as, as a, like if they're tax collectors and sinners. 741 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,480 And one good way to do that is face to face with a meal. 742 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:39,480 Oh yeah. 743 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:44,960 And don't rely so much on the written word, but actually spend some time talking to people, 744 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:49,120 having authentic conversations about faith-based life. 745 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:50,120 Amen. 746 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:51,120 Yeah. 747 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,120 Little book, big message. 748 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:54,120 Absolutely. 749 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,000 Till next time. 750 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,020 And that's a wrap for today's episode of love and context. 751 00:35:00,020 --> 00:35:03,920 We hope you enjoyed this engaging conversation and gained valuable insights into the powerful 752 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:05,920 message of love within the Bible. 753 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,040 We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. 754 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:15,400 Join us with us by sending us your questions, thoughts, and suggestions to loveandcontextatgmail.com. 755 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:20,020 We greatly appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. 756 00:35:20,020 --> 00:35:24,320 Stay connected with us on social media for updates, behind the scenes content, and additional 757 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,320 resources. 758 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:30,120 You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook at love and context. 759 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,120 Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay up to date with the latest episodes and 760 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,220 join our growing community. 761 00:35:35,220 --> 00:35:37,800 Thank you for being part of the love and context family. 762 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,600 Remember, love is at the heart of it all. 763 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:45,480 Until next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love, and living out your faith in the context 764 00:35:45,480 --> 00:36:08,720 of today's world.