Face to Face
Face to Face
2 John 12-13
In the Pixar movie, Inside Out, something unexpectedly expected happened, I cried. Bing Bong was the main character Riley’s happy-go-lucky imaginary pink elephant who sang a cheesy song of joy,
Who's your friend who likes to play?
Bing Bong, Bing Bong
His rocket makes you yell "Hooray!"
Bing Bong, Bing Bong
Who's the best in every way, and wants to sing this song to say
Bing Bong, Bing Bong!
In the movie, Bing Bong, a concept in Riley’s mind desperate to resurface, ends up sacrificing himself to save Joy, jumping off their weight-saddled wagon into the abyss of nothingness down the memory dump. Bing Bong was a true friend and he laid his life down for his friend. Bing Bong is also an imaginary pink elephant who faded away in a kids movie and I cried. We were in the movie theater and my wife looked over at me and bellowed, “Are you crying?” I not only was crying, but everyone in the near vicinity knew I was crying.
I am a crier. I can’t help. It is who I am. Tears at the death of the imaginary pink elephant Bing Bong was unexpected, but there are certain videos that always make me cry: surprise military family reunions. The returning soldier suddenly appears and their kid cries and instantly sprints into the arms of their mom or dad. Everyone around them is crying. And I cry. A lot. Yet I cry with joy. Reunions bring joy.
The ending of 2 John reminds me of those “soldiers returning home” videos for they picture the joy that is in the longing of the human heart and it stirs the heart with hope for our coming reunion when our victorious sacrificing soldier returns to be reunited with his family. I pray our hearts would be stirred with joy and hope as we close this short letter and look at the longing of a senior saint being reunited with those he loves.
The Limitations of the Pen & Paper Life
The New Testament is mostly composed of letters written by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ to the church or individuals. There is power in the pen, but even these powerful letters of Holy Scriptures show the limitations of written forms of communication. John writes, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink.” (2 John 12a) John has written a lot of the New Testament. He has written the Gospel of John, 3 letters, and Revelation. John enjoys writing and he is very skilled at it. The written word is a wonderful substitute when you are unable to see someone in person. The written word is great at clarifying one’s thoughts and allowing one to be precise in their wording. I am grateful that the New Testament letters were written down and preserved so we can continue to reference them again and again. And yet much of the New Testament shows how letters were less than optimal.
Romans 1:9–13
[9] For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you [10] always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. [11] For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—[12] that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. [13] I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
1 Thessalonians 3:6; 9-10
[6] But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you...[9] For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, [10] as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
2 Timothy 1:4
[4] As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.
I am thankful for the Book of Romans, 1 Thessalonians and 2 Timothy for they are gifts to the church. And yet even in them, Paul and the apostles would have rather not written to them but seen them face to face.
The written word is a great substitute but there are certain conversations that are best to be communicated face to face. John says he has much to write to the church about but would rather not use paper and ink. Our day is the opposite. I have much to write to you but I would rather use the keyboard and screen. Modern society depends more and more on written communication. Texting, tweets, and posts are wonderful for quick communication. They are great to communicate things to a large group in a short time period. And yet its greatest assets also are its greatest weaknesses. Quick communication can often be not well thought out communication. It can be misread or misinterpreted. Communication to a large group is often impersonal and does not consider all the different people included in the group thread or who will see the post. It is easier to hide behind the screen and say things about people that you would very rarely say to their face.
There are certain topics and conversations that would be best to have face to face or at least voice to voice especially involving interpersonal communication. Let me encourage you to talk with someone face to face or voice to voice with a little acronym P.E.A.C.E. Anything that is Personal, Essential, Apology, Confrontational or Explosive. There is value in texts and tweets, but there are some topics that would be most prudent and better to be discussed face to face. As a pastor, one of my greatest regrets was sending a letter when I should have had a face to face conversation. I often think how different my relationship would have been with that family if I got in my car and drove to their house in a face to face conversation. Romans 12:8, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” If you want peace in your relationships, I would work to communicate with P.E.A.C.E.
The Blessings of the Face to Face Life
John writes the letter because he could not see the church, but he desperately wanted to, 2 John 12, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.” God told Adam in the Garden, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18) We were made for community. John wanted to come to his friends, his brothers and sisters, his family, so that their joy may be complete. True, biblical “koinonia,” fellowship brings joy. John Piper defines Christian joy as “a good feeling or emotion in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.” We do not have immediate control over our emotions but if in the depth of our soul we know that we know Christ and Christ knows me joy will overflow into the day to day of our lives.
Imagine a returning military dad seeing his six year old son for the first time in a year. He enters his son’s classroom at school and his son looks up and sees his dad, their joy is complete face to face. Or a mom being released after a lengthy stay in the hospital and walks in the house, and her children bolt to meet her at the door with hugs and kisses, their joy is complete face to face. Face to face community brings deep Christian joy produced by the Holy Spirit to see the beauty of Christ in the word and the world. If you have been born again by the Holy Spirit, there should be something in you that pushes you to community. You are born again into a new family. Sunday mornings should be days of deep joy. I try to take a moment each Sunday to look around the room to see how the Holy Spirit is creating deep joyful fellowship in the body. Let me provide several ways joy is displayed in the face to face life.
Joy of Encouragement - God uses community to spur us on to love and good works as the Day of the Lord is drawing near. God commands us throughout the New Testament to encourage one another in the Lord (1 Thess. 4.18; 5:11; Hebrews 10:25). We all need encouragement and living with one another creates in a myriad of ways. And encouragement happens not only when someone is trying to encourage us, but when we see people living for Christ in the body. College students, last week your presence and pursuit of Christ gave encouragement to parents praying for their college-age child who is not walking with Christ. Seniors, your steady faithful to Jesus was an encouragement and example to other seniors to press on in Christ. Children, your joyful pursuit of Christ in song caused hearts to beam with joy. Joy happens in community by the power of the Holy Spirit each and every week and we gather. I hear often how God uses the quiet steady faithfulness of our membership to encourage others to walk with Christ.
Joy of Accountability - God uses the presence of being with one another to hold us accountable to live for Jesus. Our lives should be intermingled not only on Sunday but throughout the week. If people are in your lives, then they will serve as a natural accountability structure to keep you from sin and the evil one. If we truly care for one another, we will hold each other accountable when we step out of line. As a friend recently said we need face to face time with people so they can say, “What’s the matter with you?” or “What are you thinking?” There is true and honest joy in true and honest accountability that spurs us on to godliness.
Joy of Godliness - Accountability produces godliness and godliness produces joy. When you walk with Christ, you experience the joy of the Holy Spirit. Encouragement and accountability both push us to holiness and godliness which brings joy in the heart with a clear conscience before God and man. Godliness is one of the aims of community. God gives us each other so we can help others become like him.
There are so many benefits of the face to face life. Friendship, support, presence, love, etc. all are experienced most acutely in face to face community. I do not believe you can overestimate the benefits of living in a deep, joy filled community with one another. It has been a year since the Coronavirus has taken over our society. The Covid 19 pandemic has exposed the strength and weaknesses of our community. Many of you have gone above and beyond to serve each other during the past year with meals, cards, phone calls, drive bys, and drop offs. Others have become more isolated and retreated from the community, some intentional and others not.
I pray that we would embody the heart of the Apostle. He said, “I hope to come to you.” If he was willing, he would have been with the body. I pray that would be our heart. I pray that we would desire to be with one another face to face. Those who are watching every week at home, we want you back with us because we want our joy to be complete. Our church family is not the same without you. My joy is not complete. Your joy is not complete. If God has called us to be together as one body, then the eye cannot say to the ear, “I have no need of you.” We need each other. Come back. And I pray that we who are gathered here would go to our brothers and sisters and communicate our love. We would get in our cars, drive to our friends house, knock on their doors, and say, “We miss you and need you and love you.”
When we choose not to be with one another, we are robbing the community of joy. Do not listen to the lie that you are needed or necessary. Do not believe that watching the sermons online is sufficient for the community in which God has created you for. There are a number of untold blessings that happen each and every week when we gather that we do not even realize. God is moving and desires for his people to be face to face. Beloved, let us go deeper in community. Let’s open our homes. Let’s arrive at the gatherings early and often and make our conversations meaningful. Let’s pray for one another. Let’s be present with one another. We were made for each other.
The Hope of the Face to Face Life
God wants us to pursue one another because God has pursued us. We were running the opposite direction. We were happy living for ourselves and our pleasure, but Jesus came to be with us face to face, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14). John’s letters were written to remind the church that Jesus Christ came face to face, flesh to flesh, to be with his people to rescue them from their sin and bring them to God. Jesus came to us so we could see his face. Jesus lived and died to bring us to God. The incarnation is proof that God desires a face to face life with us. He has given us hope that one day we will see him face to face.
The Bible was written in an honor/shame culture. And in an honor/shame culture looking at one another face to face meant love and community and honor and joy while hiding one’s face and turning away meant shame and dishonor. John wrote in his first letter,
“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming...Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 2:28; 3:2)
Jesus has come in the flesh and is coming back. We do not want to turn away from him in shame and dishonor when he returns. And we do not want him to say, “Away from me. I never knew you.” If you are not a follower of Jesus, let me plead with you to turn from your sin and trust in Jesus as your Savior. He came to live for you, die in your place and be raised for your hope. Jesus came to be with you. And the only way you will be safe when he returns is if you know him. Turn to Christ and live.
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians how the gospel is an unveiling so we can see the Lord face to face.
[16] But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit….[3] And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. [4] In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came so we could live face to face with him forever. The last words of Jesus recorded in the Bible, he said to us, “Surely, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:7)
That is my hope of the face to face life. My hope is that Jesus is coming for me and for you and all who believe that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Bright and Morningstar, the glory of God who came to dwell among us face to face.
Beloved, I am a crier and one day with tears rolling down my cheeks, I will see Jesus face to face and he will wipe away every tear from my eyes and our joy, his and mine, will finally be complete. That is my hope. Is it yours?
https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Pixar-Changed-One-Inside-Out-Scene-Because-It-Was-Devastatingly-Sad-72344.html accessed 3.5.21
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-do-you-define-joy accessed 3.7.2021