Balancing Love and Truth

2 John 1:1-6

   

Often we Independent Baptists are portrayed as zealous for the truth and lacking in love and compassion.  We stand strong and firm for the fundamentals and biblical Christianity regardless of the contemporary trends among other evangelical Christians. But we really could learn a lesson about grace, love, compassion, mercy and even Christian liberty. Unfortunately, we have bought the lie that “in order to be Bible-believing, we must be ungracious.”  Zeal for truth has manifested itself in a form of general intolerance of diversity or variety. Sometimes regarding matters where God is silent allowing us to choose according to conscience, some still insist on uniformity. According to my observations, this form of ‘group think’ is somewhat pervasive in our fundamentalist movement. But as we examine the Scriptures there are no conflicts between love and truth! No war exists between grace and faith! Truthfully, there is no need to compromise either to enjoy the blessings and benefits of the other.  The Bible presents these spiritual principles in awesome balance in the very brief letter we call 2 John. We must understand God’s requirements for our church and then learn to balance our zeal for truth with that of love, patience, grace, wisdom, and submission to God-ordained authority.  

Yes, the challenge is to live in love and truth faithfully! But, these are often viewed as irreconcilable opposites eternally sworn to clash. Supposedly they are irrevocably destined to an ultimate and climatic spiritual Armageddon! Clearly controversy and verbal altercations will fill a climate that does not value both. Please note the following counsel….    

Accept Truth And Love As Complementary. Vs. 1, “whom I love in the truth”

Contradiction is not at all the case; these principles are portrayed in Scripture in harmony, agreement, symmetry, and complete tranquility. They are not merely friends or sister truths, they are Siamese twin truths wonderfully inseparable.  Once again the real problem is with our perceptions or lack of it!

Notice the Wonderful Agreement and Balance in the Scriptures Regarding Truth, Grace, and Love (2Jn. 1:1-6).   The following affords a brief characterization of these biblical guidelines living in sweet harmony (also see Eph. 5:1-21.)

They are Linked.  Vs. 1, “whom I love in the truth”

The linking of "truth" and "love" is of great importance (vs. 1). Because John's readers are in the truth! They know Jesus as the Christ, the Father's Son—they are also the recipients of God's love as it is known and manifested in the church’s faith.  And the love received by the church comes from all who know the truth. The church in love is as encompassing as the truth that is believed and lived.

Knowing the truth leaves us with an awesome responsibility to live the truth! One way the truth is lived is through love for the brethren (2Jn. 1:1-6). Thus, to claim that we have the truth links us to an obligation to live it out in love towards faithful brethren. There is not even a hint that we should compromise faith, fact, and truth to exercise biblical love toward each other.  Instead we see that we do what is good, best and right for other believers because they also have fully embraced Jesus Christ the Son of the living God.

They are Lasting.  Vs. 2-3, “shall be with us for ever.”

Love relates to the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever (vs. 2).  Because it is the truth of God, it exists forever.  Love and truth are not passing sentiments! They are not dependent on great emotional feelings or the strength of personal commitment that some believers might or might not possess. Love and truth originate in God (vs. 3). Like Him, they endure without changing, and their splendor never fades. 

Thus their emphasis and significance to a church need not fade nor change. Regardless of what other Christians are doing, we must commit ourselves to maintaining this Biblical and balanced emphasis for the duration of our lives and ministries.

They are Loaded.  Vs. 3-6—3, “in truth and love.”

They are loaded with the promise of maturity, spiritual progress, and therefore the promise of ministry preparation and fitness.  When “truth and love” are maintained in proper balance, they promise growth.

John is praying that God would grant them His grace, mercy, and peace (vs. 3), but he presents it as a promise that God's mercy, peace and grace will be ours if we truly remain in His truth and love.  Thus the grace, mercy, and peace of God and the growth of saints flourish in the life and ministry that intentionally maintains this needed balance.

They are Loyal.  Vs. 4, “walking in truth,”   Vs. 5, “that we love one another,” & Vs. 6, “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.”

According to verses 4-6 we see that to walk in the truth is to walk in love.  They are united and therefore loyal!  Since they are loyal, they are mutually supportive and correspondingly confirming. The use of the word walk denotes advancing and is a characterization of the church’s behavior corporately. Thus progress and growth for believers rests with maintaining love and truth as two foundational principles.  

We then must commit ourselves to maintaining a loyalty to the proper and balanced emphasis on them both, love and truth, in our individual and ministry life (Jn. 14:15, 21).

It is Amazing Noting Why Sincere Believers Sometimes Clash or Reject Each other! Some will even label the other as unscriptural, ungodly, and too liberal simply because the two differ on a few rather minor particulars.

A few years ago I read an interesting article from a Fundamental magazine dealing with this very issue of Balancing Grace, Zeal, and Separation.

QUOTE: It was a letter to the editor encouraging him as follows: "Your book on separation is very good, but you may want to add a section that a person must have a better church to separate to before he separates from a church. We were shocked at the liberal doctrines held by the fundamental churches in our city."—David Cloud, O Timothy Magazine

He Was In Disagreement With His Church.

What this gentleman was referring to were things in those Fundamental Baptist Churches of his city with which he disagreed. Later he wrote to the editor and shared with him more details about these issues.

He Referred to Such Things as the Following:

           1) His former pastor did not teach that women should not work outside the home, and the wife of the associate pastor worked (see 1Tim. 5:11-14; Tit. 2:3-5; Prov. 31:10-31).

           2) The church held parties or fellowships on Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas (Rom. 14:1-14).

           3) The pastor allowed a divorced person to work in the bus ministry (1Cor. 6:9-11; 15:9-10).

           4) The pastor failed to correct publicly certain erroneous statements which were given during testimony times and certain (supposed) erroneous statements which were made by visiting preachers.

           5) The pastor failed to do anything about missionaries who told jokes and stories in the pulpit.

           6) Though the church took a stand for the KJV, this man did not think there was sufficient teaching on the subject of Bible versions.

           7) The pastor "used humor to break the tension" in his preaching, whereas this gentleman felt sober-mindedness (1Tim. 3:2) forbids such levity in the pulpit.

           8) The pastor seemed to prefer to let God change people about some matters of appearance (long hair, ear rings on men, etc.) rather than approach them directly. (Cloud, D.)

He Eventually Left this Church.

This gentleman eventually wrote and said he had "separated" from this Fundamental Baptist Church and from its pastor "because of his liberal teaching on remarriage, women working outside the home and his refusal to correct error." (Cloud, D.)

In this series of articles, I will explore such issues for the purpose of finding the correct balance in the Lord. We must understand God’s requirements for our church home balancing our zeal for truth with that of love. As a result patience, grace, wisdom, and submission to God-ordained authority will create a climate where believers can grow and serve together. Balance is important to any entity in life.  Too much of anything can be unhealthy, and too little of an essential element can be devastating. Discovering and maintaining a balanced church life should actually be fundamental to the focus, emphasis, programs, and success of any church. Building a church must be balanced with battling error. Growing a church, ministry, or class numerically must be balanced with growing them spiritually. Building Christians and families doctrinally must be balanced with building them practically. A failure to achieve this equilibrium in the life of a church or and individual will result in stunted spiritual growth. It is also conceivable that unnecessary offences, ignorant zeal, overspending and overemphasis on one thing will result in substantial neglect of other equally important matters. Evangelism must be balanced with discipleship, worship must be balance with preaching, and edifying must be balanced with service.  Private devotion must be balanced with public instructions, and the special needs and interests must be balanced by corporate needs and interests.