Read: 2 John
Despite what we may have thought or been taught, the Bible does not put our bodies in the background of our worship. This series reminds us that the body is wonderfully made by God and highly valued by Him. Jesus’ ultimate goal is to restore and resurrect us, body and soul, to an everlasting embodied life. To live as “whole” people, we need a clear and practical theology of the body. One tension we might encounter is how technology fits into this vision. 2 John provides a helpful reminder, warning, and application for how we might guard the importance of embodiment and the command to love one another.
1. A Reminder
If you read John’s writing for any length of time, you will come away with the importance of love. In 2 John, he begins his letter by expressing joy to hear that his children were walking in the truth and challenging them to “walk in love” as they have heard “from the beginning” (v6). Love is the most important command in the Bible because love is what we are designed for. We are called into the love of God as his children by grace, but also to walk in love toward one another as the guiding principle of our being. When we come to technology, we must evaluate it and our relationship to it in light of this command of love. (See the 2nd Table of the Law and Tech graphics below).
The love we are called into is not an abstract concept or theory but an experiential movement of our whole person. Andy Crouch reminds us, “Every person is a heart-soul-mind-strength complex designed for love.” We are not a mind without a heart or a soul without a body. In how we engage technology, we must also consider how it influences our embodiment and the embodiment of others we are called to love.
2. A Warning
John pairs a beautiful reminder with a stark warning that applies to us today. In v7-8, he warns about the antichrist who doesn’t recognize that Jesus has come “in the flesh” and commands them: “Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for.” The embodiment of Jesus is so crucial that to deny it is to be an antichrist. After all, God’s love was revealed to us, not by anything other than sending His Son in the flesh to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. God’s primary medium for demonstrating His love is embodied.
This has everything to do with technology. In John’s day, some were distorting the message of Christianity as something that transcends or escapes our humanity. But Jesus came to restore our humanity and make us whole in soul, mind, and body. Anything that denies the necessity of Jesus’ embodiment or, by extension, our embodiment will be an obstacle to walking in the way of love. The way we use technology should never take away from this “love language” of God for us and others.
3. An Application
Here is the difficult balance: technology is not all bad, but neither is it all good. In fact, John uses technology to write this letter – paper and ink. In v12, he reveals that he wants to use this technology to say more, but he also desires to see them “face to face.” He longs to visit them in person and likely in their homes. In John’s time and place, the home was a place of hospitality, connection, and mutual sharing. To enter someone’s home meant opening your lives, ideas, and commitments to one another. The main application in this section (v10-11) concerns bringing the correct teaching of Jesus of embodied love into the home. The problem with letting these false teachers and their teaching into your home was that it would distort your source of community, support, and sense of belonging.
Isn’t it interesting that technology today, especially social media, uses many discipleship themes? Are you a follower, subscriber, or even a “friend”? We are being discipled by our screens, which may tragically distort our discipleship in Christ without careful discernment. Three ways to push back against this impulse may be participating in seasons of fasting from technology, establishing spaces of freedom or technology-free zones, and exercising small acts of resistance to the “everywhere” nature of the internet. Yes, technology can be used for great good, but don’t let it impede upon God's embodied love for you in Christ, or the Spirit-filled nature of community in which we walk in love “face-to-face.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
How do you engage with digital technology? Are you more of an early adopter or a late majority user? Are you more pessimistic or optimistic about its use in culture? Has your position changed over time?
Consider the “Second Table of the Law”(Commandments 5-10), which directs us how to love our neighbors. How might digital technology help you live out these commandments and deepen your love for God and others? Is there one that resonates more with you than the others? How might digital technology hinder you from loving others?
What does 2 John tell us about the teaching ascribed to the antichrist? What does this tell you about the importance of the body, both for Jesus and us? How have you given into this teaching before, even in subtle ways?
Henry David Thorough once wrote: “ Men have become tools of their tools.” How have we become tools of technology? Think of broader examples from culture and more narrow examples from your own life and family. What are some good ways you have seen technology used as a means to a greater end?
How do you protect yourself and your home from the false promises of technology? Do you resonate with any of the three applications of fasting, setting up spaces of freedom, or exercising small acts of resistance?
What are some ways you can seek to know Jesus and love others from the standpoint of “face-to-face”? What rhythms or practices come to mind? Which do you find the most difficult?