June 11, 2023 – John’s Writings – Complex Love

Complex Love

Deuteronomy 10:12-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. ¹¹ “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

How long did Moses stay on the mountain (verse 10)?

What was not the Lord’s will (verse 10)?

Why was Moses to “Go” and “lead the people on their way” (verse 11)?

What does the Lord ask of Israel (verses 12 and 13)?

Who does “the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it” belong to (verse 14)?

How did the Lord feel about Israel’s ancestors (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how does circumcising their hearts help the Israelites not to “be stiff-necked any longer” (verse 16)?

Who is “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome” (verse 17)?

Who does the Lord love (verse 18)?

Who are the Israelites to love (verse 19)?

Who are the Israelites to fear (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

John 13:12-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

What do “those who have had a bath” need to wash (verse 10)?

Were all of those with Jesus clean (verse 10)?

What did Jesus know (verse 11)?

Who said “do you understand what I have done for you” (verse 12)?

What is Jesus (verse 13)?

What is Jesus’s command (verse 14)?

Who set the example (verse 15)?

Who is not greater than the master (verse 16)?

When will the disciples, and us, be blessed (verse 17)?

What does Jesus know (verse 18)?

Why was Jesus telling them “now before it happens” (verse 19)?

Who accepts Jesus (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, how do the words and actions of Jesus in John 13:12-20 teach us about living God’s command in Deuteronomy 10:12-20 to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees”?

2 John 4-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

⁷ I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. ⁹ Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. ¹¹ Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

What has given John “great joy” (verse 4)?

When was the commandment John is going to write given (verse 5)?

What is the commandment (verse 5)?

What is love (verse 6)?

How does John describe the many deceivers (verse 7)?

Where have the many deceivers gone (verse 7)?

What are believers to “watch out” for (verse 8)?

Who does not have God (verse 9)?

Who has “both the Father and the Son” (verse 9)?

How should believers respond to anyone who “comes to you and does not bring this teaching” (verse 10)?

Who “shares in their wicked work” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, why is the command that John shared in 2 John 4-11 simpler than the command that Moses gave in Deuteronomy 10:12-20?  Does simpler mean easier?

In your opinion, how would refusing to acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh, as the deceivers do in 2 John 4-11, undermine the power of John 13:12-20’s message?

Revelation 19:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.

What was “standing open” (verse 11)?

Who is the rider of the white horse (verse 11)?

How does He judge and wage war (verse 11)?

What are His eyes like (verse 12)?

What is His name (verse 13)?

Who was following Him (verse 14)?

What will He do with the sharp sword coming out of His mouth (verse 15)?

What does He tread (verse 15)?

Where is “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” written (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage show us about how to move from being “stiff-necked” to accepting and acknowledging Jesus?

In your opinion, how do you explain the difference in the actions of God who in Deuteronomy 10:12-20 did not want to destroy but who in Revelation 19:11-16 “judges and wages war”?

In your opinion, how do you explain the difference in the actions of Jesus who in John 13:12-20 washed everyone’s feet but who in Revelation 19:11-16 “judges and wages war”?

In your opinion, how does the prophecy of Revelation 19:11-16 that Jesus will strike down nations and rule with an iron scepter make 2 John 4-11’s instruction to “watch out” for deceivers more powerful? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, John, 2 John and Revelation teach us the about the complex love of God?

In your opinion, how does the command to love transform those who Jesus has chosen?  How does the command to love transform the world?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)