SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
Commentary by Walter Albritton
2 and 3 John
Key Verse: Beloved,
follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of
God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. – 3 John 11
John Wesley echoed the wisdom of
Wesley recruited men and women who
would “walk in truth” as well as proclaim the truth. Walking in truth meant
that they got their guidance for daily living from the Holy Scriptures rather
than their culture. Faithfulness to the teaching of Christ and the apostles was
as important to Wesley as it was to the apostle John.
Like
Trustworthiness is essential
wherever people work together for a common cause. One disloyal person can
sabotage the work of many. This is especially true within the church.
As a pastor I found my work hindered
at times by persons who were neither loyal to Christian teaching nor to me as
their leader. Repeatedly, I realized the necessity of loyalty if the work of
Christ is to prosper.
As I look back now, I realize how wonderfully
God blessed my ministry through teammates, lay and clergy, whose trustworthiness
humbled me and helped us fulfill God’s mission. Together, with the strength of
Christ, a few people can do far more than one person can ever do alone. God’s
plan is for the work to be shared by “yokefellows” who are yoked to Christ and
to one another.
As a husband, I have been blessed
beyond my deserving by the faithfulness of my loving wife. Early on, we
discovered the joy of trusting each other, and that trust has become a sacred
treasure with the passing of the years. Today I am so thankful that we became
“partners” in the gospel and “one” in the service of the Master.
As a father, I have realized the joy
that
We all want our children to get a
good education and become successful. However, more than anything this world
has to offer, we want them to become faithful followers of Jesus. As Christian
parents, we are stabbed in the heart with pain to see our children fall away
from the faith. John knew this pain for some of the early believers became
deceived by false teachers whose lies led them away from the simple truth of
the gospel.
False teachers are still among us. They are
the “brilliant” people who would have us believe that the wisdom of the Bible
has been surpassed by advanced modern thinking.
No longer, they say,
must we be tethered by the archaic teaching of scripture.
One clear example of such false
teaching is the view of some that the biblical word for homosexuality does not
really mean homosexuality as we understand it. This is certainly stretching the
truth and nothing more than liberal speculation.
Another example of devious teaching
is the view held by those who believe that
God is responsible for some persons being homosexual, and others heterosexual.
Clearly, this view violates the teaching of scripture and makes God a liar, or
at the very least inconsistent.
To believe that homosexuality is
unscriptural does not give us license to abuse or hate those who practice this
lifestyle. Indeed, our church consistently reminds us that such persons are of
“sacred worth,” and deserving of our love and compassion. We simply are not at
liberty to condone homosexuality and accept it as a legitimate Christian
lifestyle.
Since our government and our public
schools now encourage the acceptance of homosexuality, it is all the more
important for the church to teach people, especially children, the truth given
us in the Word of God. To do so is to follow the advice of
Obviously, we need God’s help to do
good. Catherine, the five-year-old granddaughter of Becky and Roy Jordan, understands
this. Recently she was disciplined by her parents by being confined to her room
for a “time out.”
Her mother, standing outside the
closed door, heard little Catherine pray in a loud voice, “O God, please come
down here and help me be good – and send Jesus too!”
That, I believe, is the kind of
prayer God delights to hear – and answer, whether from adults or children! What
a precious moment that must have been for Catherine’s mother.
So perhaps we should all pray, “O
God, please come down here, where we hurt and struggle and sin, and help us
imitate what is good, and please make us aware that you have already sent Jesus
to help us remain loyal to your sacred truth!”
Amen! + + + + (Walter may be contacted at walbritton@walteralbritton.org.)