A Church of Love and Truth

2 John 1-13 - Riley Boggs

This morning, as you can tell, we are taking a quick trip out of the Gospel of Luke to look at 2 John. When we began a year ago, the first book I preached through was 1 John, and I think it is fitting for us to find ourselves here 2 John this morning. This book we call 2 John is a letter. It is a letter from the apostle John and though we call the second letters among the 3, there isn’t an apparent chronology to them. In other words, this letter doesn’t assume you’ve already read 1 John. It is a stand-alone letter that John has written to the elect lady and her children.

Now, I don’t do this very often, but raise your hand if, when you heard me read this a moment ago, you assumed that the elect lady mentioned was simply a lady. A woman, who John says is elect, and is who he is writing to. Upon first reading, it does in fact seem that way. But I think that this letter isn’t just to a woman and her children. I actually think that this letter is to a church. Here’s why. 

You all know this, but throughout Scripture the church is referred to as what? The bride of Christ. And so often throughout the Scriptures the church is referred to as “she” or “her”. I think that is what is happening here in this letter. And there’s a few different things throughout the letter that sort of que us in to see that this is in fact a church being addressed, not just a singular lady. I won’t go through them all, but I do want to draw your attention to 3 of them.

The first one is simply that it is strange that the lady would be unnamed. In John’s third letter, he immediately addresses the person who he is writing to by their name. The second reason can be seen in verse 13 where John writes, “The children of your elect sister greet you.” If you were to take the reading of this letter to be a lady and not a church, then you would have to say that John finishes the letter by saying, “Your nieces and nephews say hello.” That just doesn’t seem consistent with what is being said in the rest of the letter. Rather, I think he is saying, “Those who are a part of the church I am with currently, your sister church, sends their greetings.”

And then lastly, this letter as a whole seems to be a letter of directions for a church. The things that John is encouraging the recipient of this letter to do, seems to require a local body of believes. It doesn’t seem to fit if the letter was intended only for a mother and her children. Now, all that being said. Great theologians disagree and say that this is letter was intended for the unnamed elect lady and her children, and who knows, they might be right. 

But here’s the thing I want you to see this morning. This letter, no matter who it was intended has fallen into our very hands this morning. God, by His sovereign hand, has preserved this letter for His church. In fact, He preserved this letter throughout all of history so that we might read it and apply it this very morning. I hope you to feel the weight of that. God has been so gracious and kind to grant us such an opportunity to be in His Word. Let’s not waste the privilege that the Lord has afforded us.

Now this letter, like I said, finds it application in the church. And so, all I have for us this morning is 3 simple points for us to apply in and through the church. If you’re visiting with us this morning from another church, my encouragement to you would be to take these truths an apply them wherever it is you gather with the saints. Alright, the first thing I want us to see is this.

1.) The church must love one another

Typically when working through books of the Bible, you work from beginning to end. But for our time this morning, I want to start by drawing your attention to the middle of the letter. After writing a greeting, starting in verse 5, John writes, “And now I ask you, dear lady – not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning – that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” In this letter, there are only 3 statements that are commands. The first one is right here, and it is that the church must love one another. 

Often times we think of love as the passive response when something happens to us. A certain smell, say, freshly cut grass, comes across your nose, and you say, “I love that smell!”. Or maybe it’s a fall evening, the weather is just right, and you say, “I love this weather!” We often think of it as a response to something good that has happened to us, something that sort of works up in us, and just happens. And while that might be the case at times, that can’t be the kind of love that John is talking about here. Why? Because John is speaking of a kind of love that isn’t a passive response, but is a matter of obedience. It isn’t something that overcomes you, but rather something that you must intentionally set out to do. 

In other words, each one of you have been commanded, by God, to love the church. It really is that simple. You are to love the church globally, like John mentions in verse 1. But, more specifically, you are to love the church locally, the one that you are joined with. Now let’s be honest here and note that this assumes 2 different things. First, it assumes that you have other believers that you can show love to and can be shown love by. It’s sort of baked into this entire text that this is the case. Their response when they get this letter isn’t, “Wait, who am I supposed love?” They know exactly who John is telling them they must love, because they are living their lives alongside one another, worshipping together weekly. 

The second thing that it assumes is that there aren’t any caveats to this. John doesn’t say, “Now, make sure you love another another, just as you’ve been commanded to do from the beginning. Oh, unless the church hurts you. If that happens, you’re off the hook on this one.” He doesn’t say that. And listen, he doesn’t say that because he doesn’t think that there will ever been people hurt by others in the church. That’s not why he doesn’t say it. He doesn’t say that because no matter if someone in the church has hurt you or not, you are to love them church.

Now that isn’t to say that at times, for certain reasons, the Lord might draw you out of one congregation and to another so that you can fulfill this commandment. That might be so. But no matter what, each one of us here today, as followers of Christ, must be committed to a life-long love for the church. And not the church as this abstract thing, but the people who are the church.

But what does this look like? When John writes, “ love another”, what does he have in mind? Does he mean hug one another’s necks when you see them? I think that’s part of it. But, I think it goes further than that. Actually, I think I saw exactly what John means just yesterday within our own congregation. Logan and Alyssa’s beautiful house just got finished being built and Logan asked if people in the church would come and help them. And, like the great church that you are, those that were able, came and did that very thing. Lots of you were there, helping your brother and sister in Christ move their belongings to their new home. Is that an act of love? Well, why don’t you ask Logan and Alyssa? I can assure you that it is. After we all left, I have no doubt that what they felt was that they had been loved by the church. A very simple thing, that demonstrated the church’s love for them.

And that really is what it looks like so often for the church to love one another. It is serving one another, in very real ways. It’s watching someone’s kids for an evening, it’s supporting their new job endeavor, it’s checking in on them when you haven’t seen them in a while, it’s praying for them and letting them know you’re praying for them. It’s all of those things. It is doing the very thing that Christ did, serving. Laying down your own preferences and sacrificially loving by serving. We have no greater example that our Lord and Savior, who loved the truly unlovable, and came to serve the very ones whom He was going to the cross for.

Christ loved us, saved us, and brought us together so that we might demonstrate the very love of Christ to one another. And, by the power of the Spirit in you, we will be a church who truly does love one another. The second thing I want you to see this morning is this.

2.) The church must walk in truth

We see this a few different places in this letter. First, in the greeting John says that he loves the church in truth, and that all those who know the truth, do as well. And then he says, it is because of the truth that abides in them and will be with them forever. Then, in verse 4, he says that he rejoiced greatly to find some of those who were of that church walking in the truth.

That’s a bit tricky to follow. You can love in the truth, know the truth, have the truth abide in you, and walk in the truth. What are we to make of all this? I think, what is being laid out here, is a two-path approach. One path, the path of truth, is that which has been revealed to us in God’s Word, and anything that stands opposed to His Word, is the other path. 

And with that in mind, consider what John is saying. You can love according to God’s Word, you can know God’s Word, you can have the Word abiding in you, and you walk according to God’s Word. Okay, but now let’s take this even further. We heard it in our middle Scripture reading this morning from none another than John himself in his gospel. Jesus calls Himself the truth and He says that we have received the Spirit of truth. And then, think of the very beginning of John’s Gospel. What does he say? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace ad truth.”

Do you see what he’s doing here? It’s all wrapped up together. The truth is what God has revealed to us, what He has said. Most clearly in the person and work of Christ, who is the very Word Himself. He is the truth. And so now, consider what John is commending here. He is commending for walking in the truth, and so this morning I am encouraging us to continue to walk in this very truth.  

But what does this look like? How does a church walk in truth? First, we do what we saw in the first point, we love one another. Loving one another is putting actions to the truth you claim to believe. You say you believe that Christ died for the church and commanded you to love them, and so to walk in this truth, is to love the church. Secondly, a church who walks in the truth allows the God’s Word to guide their every step. Whatever the Bible says, they joyfully follow. And, where the Bible doesn’t give direct instruction, they seek the Lord in prayer asking that He might grant them wisdom and make clear the path of truth. A healthy church is a church that walks in truth, because a church that walks in truth, walks with God Himself. 

Now, I want to speak more on what this looks like. But I think if we want to be faithful to the text her, we need to go ahead and move on to our third point to further see what it looks like for the church to walk in truth. The third point is this.

3.) The church must reject those who oppose the truth

Starting in verse 7 the tone of this letter begins to change a bit. A warning goes out and John says that, “…many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 

Some of you might remember this from when I preached through 1 John and he addressed this same kind of false teaching, but for those of you who don’t, the kind of false teaching, or deceivers, being referred to here is called “Docetism”. Here’s what they believed and were teaching. They said that when Christ came to dwell on Earth, He didn’t really become a man, He just appeared as one. They said that God cant actually be a man, but in order to appear on Earth, He simply just made Himself seem and look like a man to everyone. And because of this, they denied that Jesus Christ actually died on the cross, saying again, that it was a kind of illusion. It was all a show for us to watch and learn, because God cannot truly take on flesh. 

Do you see the danger of this? If you don’t have a fully human Jesus, you have no true death, you have no true atonement, and there is certainly no good news. There is no provision for sins, and we are as dead in our sins as we ever have been. This is what stirs John to write concerning these deceivers and antichrists.

And what does he write about them? What does he say the church ought to do about this? Starting in verse 8 he says to, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”

There was a summer where I worked at this Christian outdoor adventure camp in New Mexico. Strange enough, several of the people in our church worked there was well. But, I worked there as a photographer and would get assigned to shoot different events. Some were fun and some were not so fun. Well, one evening I was tasked to go take pictures of a not so fun event. It was the area of camp called “Conferences” where other churches or parachurch organizations would come in with students and put on a conference themselves. They supplied the music and the teachers themselves, which meant you never really knew what it was going to be like. One week it was John McArthur, really, and one week it was like the story I’m about to tell you. So, I went over the evening session, took some pictures, and sat down for a minute to hear what the preacher was saying. 

And typically, even at the worst points, there was nothing fundamentally wrong ever shared from that stage that I heard. For that, I was thankful. Well, until that evening. I sat there and listen to this man imply that Jesus sinned. He didn’t say it outright, but he certainly implied it. And he repeated himself when he did so. I thought I was going to levitate I was so upset. But do you know why I was so upset? It wasn’t because I thought I might be convinced of what this man had just said. No, I was upset because I realized that there were thousands of kids who just heard that same statement. The thought of just one young believer being led astray by something like that hurts, and knowing that countless in the room could leave here with a completely inaccurate view of who Jesus hurt so much more.

If you have a hard time seeing the importance of what John is saying here, think of it in those terms. The terms that John uses several times throughout this letter, children. Imagine you are a part of the church that John is writing to, likely a home church. Someone shows up to town and finds their way to your home where you’re about to host church. And you know this teacher to be one who is teaching that Jesus wasn’t really a man, but just appeared as one. What should you do in that situation? Should you welcome them in, offer them a glass of water, and encourage them to meet others in the church? Of course not, why? Because you know what is at stake. There are people who could be deceived, who might fall prey to this false teaching, especially those who are younger in the faith. 

And so what is the right thing to do? What is loving? What does it look like to walk in the truth? You send them on their way. You don’t welcome them in and spend time greeting them, you tell them to leave. That’s the exact situation John has in mind, and he gives clear instructions as to what they should do, and why. 

Now what does this look like for our church? We likely won’t see a false teacher wander to our church door anytime soon. And so what is the proper application of a text like this? I think we take our cue from verse 8, we watch ourselves. This isn’t an introspective literal watching of ourselves. This is a preparedness to fend off that which is a false, and I think that’s how we apply this. 

We are thoughtful about the theology of the music we listen to, share with others, and sing at church. We are thoughtful about the kind of teaching we allow our children to sit under and hear. We don’t gauge the quality of the teacher based off of their popularity and social media following, but whether or not they teach what is true. That is what it looks like to reject those who oppose the truth. It is rarely this dramatic standoff between you and the guy who says Jesus sinned, though it almost was for me and that man in New Mexico. Rather, it is a mostly holding up the Word of God to see if whatever it is you are considering falls within it’s bounds. False teachers like to move beyond what the Bible says. That is how John describes it in verse 9, that they “go on ahead.” We are not a people who go on ahead. We a people who stand firm in the Word of the Living God. 

Love and truth go hand-in-hand. A church that walks in the truth, walks in love, and stands against those who oppose the truth. It’s a package deal. Why? Because the truth  commands us to do all the rest. If we truly believe that Christ is the Son of God slain for us and truly believe the Bible we hold in our hands is God’s Word for us, then what must we do? We must love, we must walk according to it, and we must reject that which opposes it.

And even beyond it being what is right, it a joy-filled endeavor. We see this all throughout this letter. There is rejoicing in seeing those of the church walking in faith, there is joy in face-to-face fellowship with them, and there is joy because we are in Christ, and He is in us.

To wrap up, I want you to look with me at verse 8 again. What does he say the reason we should watch ourselves is? “So that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” What does that mean? Let me first tell you what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that we stand guard so that we don’t lose our salvation. We know that because the Bible makes it abundantly clear that those whom the Lord saves, He keeps until the end. But we can actually see the reason it doesn’t mean that in this verse as well. It says, “So that you may not lose what we have worked for.” We didn’t work for our salvation. It isn’t something we merited. It was all a gracious and merciful act of God towards and on us.

So if doesn’t mean that, what does it mean? I think this the same kind of imagery that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9:24 when he says, “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” There is a prize, a reward, on the other end. Paul’s words are that we should run hard for it. John’s words are that we must keep a watchful eye for pitfalls and wrong turns, so that we don’t lose the progress we have made in the race.

And this race we are running, we are not running alone. We run with linked arms. Each of us, holding on to the next, ready to pull up our brother and sister when their legs began to give way. Holding on, knowing that it might by our own legs to give way next. Holding on, encouraging one another, caring for one another, and pressing forwards towards the celestial city. In God’s great kindness, Covenant has had linked arms for a year now. May we be a people who continue to walk in love and truth. Amen.