2 John - Welcoming Love and Truth
Introduction
No doubt many of you noticed John call the deceiver, “the antichrist” (v.7). The term “antichrist”is only used by the apostle John, and he only uses it 4 times. Interestingly, John doesn’t use “antichrist” to talk about the end of the world, but rather, fighters against the gospel. They do not acknowledge Jesus came in the flesh (2 John 7), nor that He came from God (1 John 4:3), they also deny the father and the son (1 John 2:22). There can be many antichrists, not just one (1 John 2:18). And apparently, what defines an antichrist is that they start out in the church, but eventually reject the faith then try to subvert it (1 John 2:19). So, when we use “antichrist” as a synonym for the beast of Revelation, the man who wrote it would disagree.
Summary of the Text
The apostle John wrote the fourth gospel, 1, 2, and 3 John as well as Revelation. In this letter, John affirms the chosen lady, Christ’s bride, the church.
In John’s introduction (vv. 1-3), he leads with the importance of truth. He loves this church in the truth (v. 1). Others who love the truth love the church (v. 1). He writes the letter for the sake of truth (v.2) and in the manner of truth and love (v. 3). So, John wants the church to know, he loves them, and he loves the truth.
In verses 4 through 6, John affirms the church’s obedience (v. 4). In verse 5 and 6, he reminds them that one of the most important commands to obey is love one another. Loving God means obedience. Obedience means loving others. Therefore, loving God means loving others.
In verses 7 through 11, John brings a reality. “Even though y’all are all about love, just know others aren’t.” He tells them that as they walk with Jesus, don’t listen to people distracting you from the path (v. 9). Those who believe in the teaching of Christ has God and Jesus on their side while those who bring different teachings aren’t of God (v. 9). Avoid these people (v.10-11). One of the major reasons for the letter was that Christians were practicing Christian charity and hospitality toward travelers. Some of these travelers were fellow Christians while some were false teachers and deceivers. These false teachers confused and crippled the churches that welcomed them. That’s why John says not to (v. 10-11). These people are against Christ and His bride, so John confidently calls them antichrist (v. 7).
John ends the letter with a desire not to write more letters but to see them face to face (v. 12). He also sends greeting from another sister church elected and chosen as well (v. 13).
Why We Forget 2 John
2 John is a small letter about hospitality, love, truth, the antichrist, and the chosen lady of Christ. John focuses mainly on ensuring the church that his friend Jesus died to save sinners. He cares for her legacy and purity. John, the elder and pastor, is Jesus’ servant caring for the betrothed fiancé before their wedding. And he sees scoundrels and violent men at the door waiting for an opportunity to hurt the bride of King Jesus. John wrote this letter as a love letter to Christ’s bride because of his deep love for Christ. We don’t realize that later pastors and elders didn’t care about Christ’s bride as much as John did. So, at some point, the scoundrels broke in, kidnapped the bride, and have spent the last century teaching her that her true home is with the scoundrels who kidnapped her. I doubt my sermon today can rescue the church from a century of worldly teaching. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Today, I just seek to clear up two truths we, the bride of Christ forgot. So, the point of 2 John is to keep on welcoming Christians to your home for supper. Keep practicing hospitality, except to antichrists and false teachers. But we ignore this teaching because we don’t even practice hospitality anymore.
Practice Hospitality
2 John falls into the whole chicken and egg debate (Obviously, Christians know the chicken came first). Which came first? Did Christians stop practicing hospitality, then we stopped reading the scriptures concerning hospitality? Or did Christians stop reading all of the Bible, and as a result, we stopped acting like Christians? I don’t know the answer to that question. But the question itself reveals that Christians should obey the Bible, and when it comes to the area of hospitality, we haven’t.
If you really want to grow as a Christian, practice Christian hospitality. This is one of the most neglected practices in our Christian heritage. Ever since I can remember, Christians have battled the reputation of being a hypocrite. In all of the sermons you’ve heard on the subject, did anyone ever talk about opening up your home for supper on Thursday nights? Keep in mind, the Bible commands hospitality to other Christians (Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9). So, if you’re thinking of excuses right now, remember that living in the truth means obeying the truth (2 John 4-6). A number of things make hospitality difficult: modern people are too busy to obey (e.g., school, work, baseball practice, work parties, church events, etc.) our families and marriages may have some rough edges (e.g., inviting guests to your home sounds impossible because you barely see your own family) . But aren’t those also the things we say we wish we could change? Deliberately practicing some kind of hospitality may welcome needed change in our lives.
Heads of households in general and husbands in particular, this is your duty to lead your family. But I can’t do the job for you. But here are some tips I’ve thought of. First, start with where you live. If you aren’t sharing time with your spouse, kids, and parents, then you will be a terrible host. Guests learn within the first few minutes whether the home is a welcoming home, a battle ground, or a graveyard. So, work hard at making the home a pleasant and joyful place to live so you actually have something worthwhile to share. Second, take baby steps and don’t bite off more than you can chew. If your family can only have people over once per month, start there. If cooking for a family of five sounds too difficult, start with inviting a single. Third, own where you are and strive for better. If you can’t cook, then start out with an invite to lunch at a restaurant. But realize that a homecooked meal is so good you can’t buy it, so strive for that. I believe the Christian influence in our country has waned for numerous reasons, but one of the saddest is Christians no longer cook and fellowship. Let’s be a church that changes that. Who knows maybe in a few years we will even start having traveling Christians stay the night with us like John said today.
Practice Discernment for Truth and Love
Truth and love are inseparable (2 John 3). Jesus is the word, the truth, and the only way (John 1:1; 14:6). He is also love (1 John 4:8). When we disobey the truth, we aren’t loving (2 John 6) and when we don’t love, we don’t have the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). Walking with Jesus means getting more acquainted with truth and love.
The Christian life means walking with Jesus where He wants you to walk. In this letter, Jesus through the apostle John, tells us some expectations of where not to go. First, we should beware of walking away from Him and His word. Notice verse 9. Some go too far (lit. “go further ahead”). Some people start in the Christian faith and end up somewhere else. They deny Jesus’ deity or humanity or both. And we know they deny the doctrine of Jesus because they no longer obey His word. So, practice discernment by practicing doctrine. Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Then live like it.
The second warning Jesus gives us is not to walk with people who ignored the first warning. You should submit to Jesus and His word because He is God. Keep in mind, not all Christian books will help you grow as a Christian. Also, remember if someone claims to be a Christian, but denies the biblical Jesus, then you should stay away from that person. But what gets in the way of obedience is our unbiblical notions of love and truth.
Don’t invite this kind of person to your house. That’s easy because most of us don’t invite anyone to our house. But we make up for this with niceness. Southern Christians throw greetings out like yesterday’s French fries. But John says do not even greet such a person. If you greet a false teacher or false prophet, you participate in their evil. Niceness can make you an accomplice, so be careful. If you’re nice to a false teacher, you aren’t loving because you aren’t loving Jesus.
So how do we obey these warnings? First, in order to not be guilty of supporting a false teacher, you must know the right teaching. You love God with your heart, soul, strength and mind (Matthew 22:37). Our church should produce saints who, as they age, can direct younger Christians away from error and toward truth. Sadly, we’ve glorified just a “small and simple faith” so much, we barely have any faith left. So, read your Bible everyday. Then after you do that for a few months, pick up a good Christian book that stretches your mind (and don’t make the excuse that you’re not a reader. Peter and John were simple fisherman and they didn’t complain they had to write part of the New Testament.). And after keep on reading the bible and you finish that book, spend the next month applying what you’ve learned. Then wash, rinse, repeat. We’ve got books on the shelf in the library room to my left. And you have a pastor who would love to give you a book to read if you were to only ask him where to start.
Second, in order to not support a false teacher, you must love more. If your child were violently attacked in front of your eyes, a loving parent would put up an honest fight. In that scenario, love looks like you holding your child in your arms while the beaten and bloody bully gasps for air at your feet. False teachers prey on churches because nice Christians allow them to. The Christians in those churches don’t put up a fight. If we truly believe eternal life comes by faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel, we would do everything in our power not to corrupt the saving gospel. Since American Christians aren’t putting up a fight, it must mean we either don’t love our Lord’s gospel or we don’t love our neighbor’s soul. Either way, you need to love more.
Conclusion
We are Christians. That means we believe Jesus is our Lord and savior. He saved us from our sins, and He calls the shots in our lives. One of the things He calls us to do is live like He did. Our Lord welcomed sinners to hear the gospel while also condemning false teachers who abused God’s law. Our Lord is gentle and lowly and mighty and fierce. As we follow Him, don’t be surprised that you notice yourself growing lower in your service of others and also stronger in your defense of them. The same hands that washed feet also turned tables and made a whip. If we are the body of Jesus, then our hands need to be strong enough to carry a crock pot of stew to our Christian brothers and sisters. And we also need the guts to call out any teacher against our Lord.