Four Loves: The Path to True Fellowship (A Sermon on 2 John)

In 2020, ESPN published a ten-part series call The Last Dance. The series followed the 1998 Chicago Bulls, the team led by Michael Jordan. This was the sixth and final championship series, the one that ended the dynasty.

As a basketball player growing up in the 1990s, this series was pure nostalgia. Every episode brought back memories and added backstories. It was the best of the old and the new. It returned me to a period of basketball glory, and it scratched a prevalent modern itch—the need to know all the details of what happened behind the scenes.

It’s funny a thing that today we live at a time when people think they need to know everything. Undercover surveillance, tell-all documentaries, and best-selling books by whistle-blowers are all uber-popular, and all of these feed the belief that we deserve all the facts.

Yet, such a god-like desire to know everything is confronted by the fallout of The Last Dance. That is to say that by bringing everything out the open, The Last Dance did untold harm. For not only did it reveal tensions and troubles from the 1990s, but it also started new fires.

Horace Grant was upset by how the video presented him, and the was true with Scottie Pippen. For now Pippen and Jordan, once fast friends, appear to be at odds because of The Last Dance.

Equally, men like Jerry Krause, the manager who built the team which won 6 championships is now seen as a villain.  So much so that this month his widow suffered the offense of an entire stadium booing her late husband. When Jerry was inducted into the Bulls’ Ring of Honor the crowd booed! And why? Because The Last Dance made Jerry Krause a one-sided opponent of Jordan.

For all the joy that fans had watching The Last Dance, it is clear that the championships that Jordan and company won were not sufficient to maintain their friendships. Indeed, while things were going well, there was a season of bliss, but under the surface, there was acrimony, accusation, and ambition. Lots of ambition.

Not surprisingly then, when the documentary came out, it brought all of this to light. And in the light, the sins, both past and present, fractured many lives.

To think of it biblically, such exposure could lead to a greater fellowship, but only if sins exposed are followed by confession, repentance, forgiveness, and fresh love. In the economy of the Bulls organization, which is merely a microcosm of our fallen world, such forgiveness is not possible, which explains the ongoing feud.

But in the church, where Christ’s death and resurrection is the cornerstone of our fellowship and his blood cleanses all unrighteousness, such restoration is possible. For, as 1 John 1:5–7 tells us,

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Indeed, fellowship that begins with God in Christ and works down to us can restore any fractured relationship.

To be sure, such fellowship depends on God’s intervening grace and our willingness to walk in his light, but when we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And by means of this shared forgiveness, fellowship can be repaired and ready to grow in truth and love. This is the hope that all Christians have when they turn their eyes towards Christ.

In this week’s sermon, this path to restored fellowship is what I explain. Looking at 2 John, I showed four aspects of love that bring restoration to fractured fellowship.

1. True Love
2. Obedient Love
3. Discerning Love
4. In-Person Love

From the thirteen verses of his Second Epistle, John teaches us to pursue loving fellowship that is based upon biblical truth and not felt needs or personal opinions. Indeed, this truth and love is what all of us need in order to enjoy ongoing fellowship with those whom we love. And whether you are a billion-dollar ball player or someone else, this restored fellowship is what cannot be found outside of Christ.

But to all who look away from themselves to Christ, there is a way to restore the fellowship fractured by sin and countless shortcomings. That is the message that I offered in this sermon and one that this entire sermon series is meant to address.

So give it a listen. And let us learn together how to make peace with one another.

Soli Deo Gloria, ds