Our “set apart” lessons are quickly coming to a close.  First, in Psalm 99, we learned that God is the true and holy Set Apart One.  He alone is holy. By His holiness, we see that His desire for us is to strive to live holy lives.  Next, from Romans 6, we learned that we are set apart by Christ and for Christ to “be Jesus” to other people.  Salvation is first a coming TO Jesus.  Then, it is a sending out BY Jesus to serve Him by serving others. 

Our third lesson, from 1 Corinthians 2, showed us that as we live set apart lives, we can be assured that we are never alone…never without the Journey Companion.  Jesus is always with us by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. Last week, from Romans 12, we learned that we can have a new mind to go along with our new heart.  We must be renewed in our thinking as well as our acting…not being conformed to this world but by being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  This is not something we accomplish on our own.  God changes our thinking from the inside out as part of our growth toward sanctification. 

This Sunday we learn what being set apart means in the living of our day-to-day experiences.  We look at a 13-verse letter from the Apostle John for our instruction.  John wrote the fourth gospel.  He also penned The Revelation.  First John, Second John and Third John are precious letters written by John before he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Through all these important writings, he only mentions his own name in Revelation 1:9 and Revelation 22:8 which are the first and final chapters of this apocalyptic book.  I believe in those two places; he was making sure that he gave his name as an eyewitness of these amazing events.

John address “the chosen lady and her children” who are walking in truth.  John is encouraging them to also walk in love.  This was a major theme from the writings of John.  Some have said since the lady is not given a name that these verses were penned to the church as a whole as the bride of Christ.  The “children” of the lady would be the church family.  When we all get to heaven, we can ask John and then we will know for sure!  Until then, read the letter twice…once as the chosen lady, mother of these children and then again as though you are a member of the body of Christ…AND so you ARE! 

When John speaks of truth, he is speaking of the truth of the gospel of Jesus.  When truth is the emphasis (and it always IS with John), there is an enemy nearby.  In the first century, one enemy group was called Gnostics.  This word means “special knowledge” and they claimed they alone had it.  They said spirit and matter (or flesh) could not co-exist.  They denied the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ.  Jesus “became” deity at His baptism and gave it up at Calvary.  Go ahead and sin all you want because matter and spirit do not “touch” each other.  John (and Paul and Peter) was all writing to refute this heresy.  They wrote to prove that Jesus was God in flesh who came to BE us so that He could DIE for us. 

John’s basic argument in this letter (and in his gospel) is that we show love to God when we follow Him closely.  Along that life path, we magnify Jesus to others by the way we walk or conduct ourselves.  With this as our goal, we show love for Jesus by serving others in His name.  Our conduct is our personal reflection of Christ Who lives IN us. 

A very familiar and well-used phrase is “walk the talk” or don’t walk at all.  My granny would say: “what you DO speaks so loud I can’t hear a word you are saying!”  Our conduct is so very important.  It reveals exactly what is inside our heart of hearts.  In John’s writings, Jesus says come and see, follow Me, learn of Me, go, and tell.  If Jesus used His own personal daily walk as an example of how to live, then so should WE!  

In verse 8, scripture says look to yourselves.  Some versions read watch yourself.  We need to listen to the Holy Spirit corrections every moment we live.  Let him point out the path and lead us to the people who need Him…which is everybody!  Pay attention to your walk because nearby walkers are watching.