Everyone who goes on
ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever
abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
THE STUDY:
Was the one who goes ahead adding “advanced” teachings to the received
traditions from Jesus? Did they consider themselves progressives? This is the
sense of the NASB’s “goes too far” in
an alleged “advance teaching”. They failed to keep “in step with the Spirit”.
The secessionists’ separation from
those they had formerly walked with shaped the self-understanding of the believer’s
community. They had experienced this “with us or against us” mentality early by
their expulsion from the synagogues (John 9:22). Later the departure of the
secessionists from them reinforced this mentality.
Along with the potential for lost
reward (v 8) the elder warns that whoever does
not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Anyone who separated from the faith community would lose what he
or she had “worked for” (v 8). None
is exempt from the possibility of spiritual failure. To avoiding such loss one
must abide (ESV) (lit. remaining).
The image is not passive but relational, drawing on the imagery of the vine and
branches in John 15. To continue, or abide, is to intentionally stay linked to the divine life (God/Christ) and to
the like-minded (the church).[1]
WHAT WE CAN WALK
AWAY WITH ….
- We walk away with the understanding that in order to avoid spiritual failure we must/need to abide (continue) in our walk with Christ. Coasting in our relationship with Christ is just as, if not more, harmful as turning away or refusing one with Him.
CONCLUSION:
Today, I close with an illustration of
the importance of remaining in the teachings of Christ.
The vine clings to the oak during the fiercest of storms. Although the
violence of nature may uproot the oak, twining tendrils still cling to it. If
the vine is on the side of the tree opposite the wind, the great oak is its
protection: if it is on the exposed side, the storm only presses it closer to
the trunk.
What we need to be is the vine. Not one that is separated but understands
and depends upon the tree (God). The one who does this is the one who realizes
that in some of the storms of life, God intervenes and shelters us; while in
others He allows us to be exposed, so that we will be pressed more closely to
Him.
Whatever side of the tree you are on today, remember you are either being
protect or being pressed closer to the source of life: GOD!
Blessings my friends
Pastor Rod
[1]
Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3
John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary
(192–193). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.
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