Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
How to Keep the Church Focused On Its Mission

How to Keep the Church Focused On Its Mission

Last updated on: March 15, 2020 at 10:20 pm by Jim Erwin

How to Keep the Church Focused On Its Mission 2020-03-15T22:20:22-05:00 Jim Erwin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How to Keep the Church Focused On Its Mission

2 John 7-13

In the video illustration, the people were playing the basketball game. The focus of the people was so much on the game that they never noticed the moonwalking bear. The announcer did a great mind trick on you by making you pay attention to what he wanted you to see first, then changing your perspective to see what you didn’t notice before. John warns about this in the second half of the letter. He warns about the danger of allowing the dancing bears to slip through our midst. The moonwalking bear becomes a distraction to the observer (that’s you and me.) But it would have been worse if the moonwalking bear had attacked the basketball players.

So while last week, we looked at growing a balanced Christian life. I want to specifically look at ways that “moonwalking bears” can distract us from doing what we are supposed to do. In the context of 2 John, and in the church today, we are called to share the love of Jesus Christ and to love one another as Christ loves us. That’s like watching the basketball game. Your focus should be on what is important. When we listen to false teachers, we are losing awareness of what we need to do. We are not paying attention to what is important.

What’s the main thing we should be doing? Balancing love with truth

“I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. So now I ask you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.” (2 John 4–5, CSB)

The “moonwalking bear” in the church is the deceiver. The deceptions that the “moonwalking bear” teach prevent you from focusing on what is important in your faith. People who prevent you from doing what you are supposed to do.

FIVE FAKE DISTRACTIONS

Fake Leaders

“Many deceivers have gone out into the world…” (2 John 7, CSB)

There are leaders who are fake They are leaders who are deceivers. They are actively against Jesus. The New Testaments warns against these kinds of leaders.

The MOTIVATION of these leaders is DECEPTIVE

“Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7, CSB)

The MESSAGE of these leaders is DETRACTIVE

These fake leaders don’t stick to the teachings of Christ. They go beyond it. By going further than Christ’s teaching, they want to detract the believer from the true nature of Jesus’s teaching. They don’t stick to the fundamentals of the faith.

“Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9, CSB)

They don’t want to stick to the Bible. They want to detract you and distract you by going further than what the Bible teaches. The reason why this message is distracting is that they have a motivation for deception. They don’t have the church’s goal in mind. They have their own goal in mind. They are not servants, but charlatans, tricksters, and manipulators. They won’t even teach about Jesus. They want to teach you something else. This is why there is a warning:

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t greet him;” (2 John 10, CSB)

The leaders are deceptive, their message is detractive because their morality is demonic.

The MORALITY of these leaders is DEMONIC.

“…This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7, CSB)

The teachings are related to the works of these leaders. They are leaders who are actively against Jesus Christ. Fake leaders don’t serve Jesus Christ. Instead, they want to replace Him.

Warning: Stay away from leaders who want to deceive the church.

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t greet him…” (2 John 10–11, CSB)

The best thing a church can do is stay away from these kinds of leaders. You have to be very careful about leaders. A true servant leader won’t have an agenda. But how can you tell if the leader is true or not? Look at what they teach. Fake leaders teach fake truth.

Fake Truth

“…they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7, CSB)

These fake leaders preach a fake truth. The word antichrist is a word that means not any against Christ. The fake teachers in John’s day taught the idea that Jesus was not a real person. Jesus appeared to be human. He was a phantom, an apparition, an illusion. He was not Word made flesh. Jesus looked human but He was not real. In essence, these teachers taught that Jesus was fake. The idea is called docetism.

This was dangerous teaching in John’s day. But we see remnants of it in Islam. Islam teaches that Jesus did not actually die on the cross, but He looked like He died.

Today, we have many leaders out there who are preaching a fake truth. They may not say they don’t think Jesus exists. Instead, they replace Christ with consumerism, communism, capitalism, commercialism.

They replace the Person of Jesus Christ in the flesh with something else.

Warning: Stay faithful to the truth of Jesus Christ

“Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.” (2 John 8, CSB)

The way to fight this is to stay faithful to the truth of Jesus Christ. Here, John warns believers to watch themselves. The reason is that it is very easy to be deceived.

Fake Believers

“Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God…” (2 John 9, CSB)

The sense here is that there will be people who profess to be Christians but when things don’t go as they want, they will walk away from Christ.

“Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God…” (2 John 9, NLT)

I know that you are saying: “Wait a minute, once saved always saved.” Yes, that is true. But there are people who say they are Christians. Yet, they don’t really follow Jesus Christ.

Have you heard these statements?

“I am spiritual but not religious”

“God is a God of love. He loves everyone”

“Love is love”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe”

“Everyone is going to Heaven”

“Don’t judge me”

These statements go beyond the exclusive claim of Jesus. Jesus was very clear that to know God, you have to believe in Jesus. Jesus made it very clear that He was God’s Son and that He is the only Son of God.

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, CSB)

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, CSB)

“Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” (John 3:18, CSB)

“This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.” (John 5:18, CSB)

“Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:57, CSB)

“Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”” (John 8:17–18, CSB)

Warning: Stay faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ

“…The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9, CSB)

The way to deal with fake believers is to stay faithful to the teaching of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus comes from both Jesus the Son and God the Father. This is the reason why we rely on the Word of God. We don’t just listen to other believers for the truth of Jesus.

We don’t worry about whether they are saved. Each person is responsible for their own salvation. At the same time, every believer needs to believe the exclusive truth about Jesus – that He is the Son of God, that God is His Father, and that eternal life is only available by believing this.

Fake Community

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t greet him;” (2 John 10, CSB)

Some leaders promote fake community. They don’t preach Jesus, and they don’t believe in the local community that Jesus designed, called the church. Instead, because they promote something other than Jesus, they will also promote a fake community.

Many of these people are selfish and only desire to promote themselves.

The early church met in the homes of believers.

“do not receive them”

Warning: Stay away from people who want to tear up the church

“…do not receive him into your home, and don’t greet him; for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.” (2 John 10–11, CSB)

Fake Connection

“Though I have many things to write to you, I don’t want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.” (2 John 12, CSB)

In John’s day, the furthest connection from two people were a letter. The closest connection was a face to face communication. Today’s generation sends an email, or a Facebook message, or communicates by video connection. These are the equivalent of paper and ink.

There is something else missing than just distance.

Warning: Stay closely connected with other true believers

“…I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister send you greetings.” (2 John 12–13, CSB)

The best way to deal with the fake connection is to get closer together. The closer you are, the less fake your relationship is going to be. It may be messier at times, but it will be real. Some people don’t want to stay closely connected to other believers because they don’t want accountability. They don’t want to get called out because they are sinning. They don’t want other people to know about the skeletons in their closet. Yet, if we are truly going to be the church that God wants us to be, we need to stop being fake and actually build true connections with other people.

I think one of the reasons why churches don’t grow is because they don’t want to reach out and have real connections with other people. Yet, if the church is going to stay focused on its mission, you have to build relationships with others.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Previous Post

February 14, 2020

How to Grow a Balanced Christian Life

Next Post

April 9, 2020 Developing Christian Goodness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Chronicles 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Kings 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Chronicles 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John Acts Advent Amos Book Review Colossians Comics Culture Watch Daniel Deuteronomy Ecclesiastes Ephesians Esther Exodus Ezekiel Ezra Galatians Genesis Guest Post Habakkuk Haggai Hebrews Hosea Humor Inspiritational Isaiah James Jeremiah Job Joel John Jonah Joshua Jude Judges Lamentations Lectionary Lent Leviticus Link Love Luke Malachi Mark Matthew Micah Movie Review Nahum Nehemiah Numbers Philippians Political Watch Prophecy Watch Proverbs Psalm Revelation Reviews Romans Ruth Science Watch Sermon Series Sermons Simple Thoughts Song of Solomon Titus Top Ten Uncategorized Video Review Zechariah Zephaniah

Select a Month May 2026 October 2025 September 2025 June 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 January 2022 June 2021 January 2021 October 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2009 June 2008 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 September 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am a coat of many colors that sparked jealousy among brothers. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The priests robe A royal garment Jacob's robe Joseph's coat