2 John 1_ 6      Walking In Love

Rev. David Holwick  C                                   Church Covenant #2

First Baptist Church                                     

Ledgewood, New Jersey

January 15, 2006

2 John 6


WALKING IN LOVE



SERMON NOTE:  Due to a 30-hour power failure I was not able to finish this

sermon since it was locked up in my computer.  I used a draft that I had

printed up providentially.  The sermon was preached the next morning by

candlelight to parishioners in their winter coats since the church was 45

degrees Fahrenheit.


Church Covenant:

   We promise, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit,

     to walk together in Christian love;

     to strive for the advancement of this church

        in knowledge, holiness, and comfort;

     To promote its spirituality;

        to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines;



  I. What kind of church do we have?

      A. Dysfunctional churches.

          1) five signs?

              a) PARANOID CHURCHES are characterized by...

                  • leaders feel others are out to get them.

                  • hyper-alertness for problems

                  • looking for ways to confirm one's subjective suspicions

                        of others

                  • always on the lookout for enemies.


              b) COMPULSIVE CHURCHES are characterized by..

                  • Pre-occupied with trivialities;

                  • Highly rigid and well-defined set of rules;

                  • Insistence that people submit to "their way";

                  • Almost total lack of spontaneity;

                  • Everything is black and white


              c) DRAMATIC CHURCHES are characterized by...

                  • need to have positive attention from outsiders;

                  • impress others with "WOW" types of experiences;

                  • display superficiality (the "happy" mask);

                  • tendency to (over-) react to minor events;


              d) DEPRESSIVE CHURCHES have...

                  • little pride and lots of guilt;

                  • indecision and unwillingness to take risks;

                  • apathetic and inactive leadership.


              e) SCHIZOID CHURCHES are characterized by...

                  • a marked cold, unemotional detachment and isolation;

                  • a feeling that it's safer to remain distant and isolated;

                  • lack of excitement and enthusiasm;

                  • climate of suspicion and distrust;

                                                                    #1311


          2) What is our church like?

              a) Hopefully not Paranoid or Depressive.

              b) We are not overly Dramatic, either.

                    Our worship services are not the "wow" type.

                    A cartoon this week describes us better.


              The setting is the interior of a small church. 

              The pastor says, "I've misplaced my sermon notes, so I'm

                 just going to read from this devotional -- if I can

                    find it here [in my pulpit].

              While I look, maybe the choir can lead us in a hymn."


              [He glances at the choir, which has one person]

              Choir director: "We thought the service started at noon, so

                 only Mrs. Gruden is here right now."


              A parishoner leans over and whispers to a pew mate, "I love this

                 church.  I've never been much into organized religion."

                                                                        #30405


              b) But not everything here is as we would want it to be.

              c) Banks want Building Expansion committee to assess

                    who we are and where we are going as a church.

                  1> Honest assessment of our strengths and weaknesses.

                  2> What is our purpose?

                  3> How will we attain it?

                  4> Will we pay them back their money?


      B. What our church CAN be like.

          1) What kind of church do we want to have?

          2) Our Covenant gives instructions on how to maintain a good church...


II. Walk in love.

      A. Our first promise to each other in the covenant.

          1) Almost a cliche.

          2) How do we love others?


      B. Walking together - a continuous forward action.  Dynamic.

          1) How we walk reveals a lot about us.


         A tutor of one of the Oxford colleges in England walked with a limp.

            One day a well-known politician ran into him.

         The politician asked him if he wasn't the chaplain of the college at

            such a time, naming the year.

         The Doctor replied that he was. 

         The politician observed, "I knew you by your limp."


         "Well," said the Doctor, "It seemed my limping made a deeper

            impression than my preaching."

         The politician had a sharp wit and replied, "Ah, Doctor, it is the

            highest compliment we can pay a minister to say that he is known

               by his walk, rather than by his conversation."

                                                                  ##13641


      C. Problem: some people are a lot more loveable than others.

          1) I like the words of this poem:


                To dwell above with saints we love,

                  That will be grace and glory.

                To live below with saints we know;

                  Well that's another story!

                                                                    #6356

          2) Dr. Howard Satterwhite, a Methodist pastor, compares the

                 ideal of Christian love with a marriage in which the

                    romance has faded, the honeymoon is over,

                       and the relationship has become a labor of love.

             All you feel you can do is "hang in there."


             Describing his vision of Christian love at close quarters

                he says:


             "We should lose the illusions of perfection ...

              If we are looking for perfection here, we had better go

                  somewhere else.

              But no one else has perfection either.

              We need to deal with the fact that we are imperfect and

                 yet are in love as community."

                                                                   #19137


III. Strive to advance our church.

      A. in knowledge,   (doctrine)    head

      B. holiness, and                 soul

      C. comfort;                      heart


IV. Promote spirituality

      A. How can we encourage each other in our love for Jesus?

      B. Many in our society are seeking spirituality.

            Unfortunately, many think the church is the last place

               they will find it.


  V. Sustain framework...

      A. Worship.        Spiritual

      B. Ordinances.     Obedient/mystical

      C. Discipline.     Moral

      D. Doctrines.      Thinking


VI. We need God's help.

      A. Covenant's appeal to Holy Spirit.


      B. Our love walks with Jesus.


     You know the name Robert Schuller.

        You may not know the name Carol Schuller.

        Carol Schuller is Robert Schuller's daughter.


     In her early teen-age years, Carol was involved in a very serious

        motorcycle accident.

     For some time, the family didn't know if she would live or if she

        would die.

     By the grace of God, she did live.


     However, one of her legs had to be amputated.

     Fortunately she has completely recovered, and is making good use

        of an artificial leg.

     However, the artificial leg draws curiosity and questions wherever

        she goes --

     Especially because she makes no attempt to conceal it.


     On a cruise with her parents, at the age of eighteen, after a week

        or so of wearing shorts and swimming attire, she was very aware

          of how everyone on the ship seemed to be looking at her out

           of the corners of their eyes, and wondering what had happened.


     In response, Carol volunteered for the ship's talent show on

        Friday night.

     When her time came, she walked up to the microphone and said,

     "I really don't know what my talent is, but I thought this would

        be a good chance for me to give what I think I owe you all, and

          that is an explanation."

     Then she told the entire story of her accident and her recuperation.


     At the end, in spite of the secular environment, she shared this:

     "If I have one talent, I can tell you this: during that time my

        faith became very real to me.

     I look at you girls who walk without a limp, and I wish I could

        walk that way.

     I can't, but this is what I've learned, and I want to leave it with

        you:

     It's not how you walk that counts, but who walks with you and whom

        you walk with."

                                                                    #4372



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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


# 1311  "Five Types Of Organizational Dysfunction," Thomas F. Fischer,

           M.Div., M.S.A., http://www.ministryhealth.net/mh_articles/~

           025_five_types_dysfunction.html


# 4372  "Where To Find Strength, When Life Is Tough," Dr. Reford Nash,

           internet, January 11, 1998.


# 6356  "To Live Above With Saints..." Roddy Chestnut illustration

           collection.


#13641  "Known By Our Limp," Fredericksburg church of Christ

           Bible Illustrator Supplements.


#19137  "No Perfect Love In A Church," Carl L. Jech, Rev. Brett Blair's

           Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com,

           May 15, 2001.


#30405  "Unorganized Religion," Vic Lee, "Pardon My Planet" cartoon,

           Star Ledger newspaper, January 15, 2006.


These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,

absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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