How do we walk in truth so we experience the mercy, grace and peace of God?

                    

This is the question we are going to be looking at today.

 

In Verse 4 of 2 John it says,

 

“I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.”

 

John greatly rejoiced (a better translation of “very glad”) to see some of them walking in the truth, which – as we looked at last time – means they were experiencing and partaking in the mercy, grace and peace of God and the Son. 

 

This “walking” means – a state in which they were living. Its translated “so occupied”

“it signifies the whole round of the activities of the individual life.” (Vines)

 

This is immersion.  The truth so permeated them that there was nothing in their lives that was not touched, supervised or occupied by the truth.  In other words – they were in the business of the truth, and their work consumed them. 

 

How did they do it? What was required to live a life so resigned to the truth?

 

“…just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.”

 

Literally – according to the commandment we received from the Father. 

 

This is what we as believers have been charged with. To speak in military terms – these are our orders – and they need to be followed.

 

The first thing we can notice about what walking in the truth requires is –

 

obedience

 

To walk in the truth is to walk obediently. 

 

We first need to recognize that walking in truth is a command. This is not a suggestion or something only for those Christians who desire to live “a cut above.” There are no exclusions from this command. 

 

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” – Col 2:6

 

ALL who have received Christ Jesus are to walk in Him – that is to walk in Truth.  To walk in the truth requires instruction.  This is how we first learned of truth and it’s how we continue to learn.  We have been given the manual – the word of God – and we have been given a Tutor – The Spirit of God, and in Christ we have also been given the ability to respond and submit to that instruction.

 

“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” Rom 6:17

 

Being obedient is not something that comes natural to us – if that were the case, it wouldn’t require instruction. it’s not something we were or are – it’s something we became.

 

When we were saved we were made new creatures – we literally became something else. What was dead is now alive, what was rebellious is now compliant, what was a slave to sin is now a slave to righteousness, what was destined for destruction is now destined for glory. 

 

 

We need to embrace what we have become which means we need to let go of what we were.

 

If we are to be obedient to this command we cannot remain bound to our flesh. 

 

Which leads us to the second point –

 

To walk in the truth is to put aside the old self.

 

“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” – Eph 4:20-24

 

If we want to walk in the truth we need lay aside the hindrances of the flesh. Those inherent sin tendencies that were ours in the flesh no longer hold any power over us. 

 

Our old self has been crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6) as a result we are no longer to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies that we obey its lusts.  Our obedience has a new allegiance. We follow what God says, not what the flesh says. Not what our hearts tell us or the “wisdom” of this world – but the command of the Father. 

 

To “put on” means we first need to take something off.  You can’t wear both.

 

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” – James 1:21-22

 

This is how we prove ourselves doers – how we show ourselves loyal to the cause of Christ. – by putting aside ALL that remains of wickedness, and in humility RECEIVE the word implanted.

 

That’s what these people who John was writing to did.

 

It says – 

“I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have receivedcommandment to do from the Father.”

 

RECEIVED – take hold of. Accept. To claim as one’s own, take possession of. 

 

It’s the same word that’s used down in verse 10 when it is talking about these deceivers and says, “…do not receive him into your house…”

 

Those who have received the commandment from the Father to walk in truth cannot receive anything else of the contrary. There is no place for falsehood in those who have already been taken over by truth.

 

Walking in the truth protects us.  It protects us from those things that wage war against our soul, it protects us from our own hearts, our own sin struggles and it protects us from the evil one. 

One last point I want to make in regards to how we walk in truth, and that is –

 

By remembering who this commandment comes from. 

 

It comes from a Father.

 

Notice this word has been used two other times already in verses 1-3.  It is used as a description of God and of Christ’s relationship to God – as a Father.

 

But here it is used as a description of what God is to us. God has given us a command to walk in truth, and it’s not a command that is described as a decree coming from a Ruler or a King (although HE is that) But it’s described here as coming from a Father.

 

That is to say it is a command that comes from love. Which is in keeping with one of the themes of this book.  

 

We’ve noticed the example in john of the love that he shows to this lady in that he does not withhold the truth but encourages her to walk in it, and here, likewise, we see the love of the Father displayed for us in that He commands us to walk in truth.

 

Real love does not withhold such a command

 

God deals with us as with sons, (Heb 12:7) as those who belong to Him. And because He loves us so much He desires nothing less for us than a life that is preoccupied with the truth. 

 

There is no greater expression of love than to desire a life of truth.

 

 

 

-Augusta