Yielding to Hazard

2 John 10-13 ESV

10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. 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. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

When I was growing up, especially as an early teen, I was prone to get in trouble from time to time, and it seemed like the older that I became, the more frequent those troubling times would be for me.

But I remember getting my driver’s license when I was 16 and purchasing my first car. At that point I felt as though I was entering into a new realm of personal freedom that I had never experienced before. I thought to myself, “It will be pretty hard for Mom and Dad to tell me where I can and can’t go and how long I can stay out now that I have my own car!”

But you see, most people don’t need to be told where they can and can’t go or how late they can stay out because they have enough sense to know not to go places or to go around people or situations where they will get in trouble. Furthermore, most people have enough sense to come home when it gets late.

But I, on the other hand, did not possess this kind of good common sense when I was a teenager. And because that was the case, my parents had to tell me that there were certain places that I could not go to because going there would be harmful for me.

They also had to tell me that there were certain people that I could not be around, because being around them would be harmful for me. But worst of all, they gave me a curfew.

They told me that in the Summer, I had to be home every evening at 11pm. Now, I remember complaining to my dad one day that none of the other kids my age had a curfew in the Summer, and that if they wanted to, they could stay out all night long and therefore I should receive the same treatment.

But he responded to that statement by telling me that that was because most of the other kids my age had enough sense to come home at a decent hour, so their parents didn’t need to give them a curfew. He told me that he had to give me a curfew though because of how prone I was to get in trouble.

He then challenged me by telling me to name one productive thing that I could be doing away from home after 11 o’clock. He said that if I could name one truly productive thing that I could and would actually be doing away from home after 11pm, then he would be more than willing to give me permission to do that one productive thing every single night if I wanted to.

But he also said that if I couldn’t name anything truly productive that I would be doing at that time, then I would need to continue coming home at 11. Well, needless to say, I found myself pulling into the driveway that evening at 11 o’clock.

The fact of the matter was that I didn’t have any business being out that late. Nothing good could come out of it, therefore I was told to be home at that time so that the temptation wouldn’t even be present.

Well, in the same way, as we finish out our series of messages from John’s second epistle this morning we see John issuing this same prohibition to the church that he writes to concerning those who bring a heretical gospel.

We read of this prohibition in verse 10, where it says:

2 John 10 ESV

10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,

In ancient times there were many traveling religious teachers and philosophers. They would go from place to place, house to house, city to city proclaiming whatever philosophy they held to. And because this was how these teachers operated, they were then dependent on the hospitality of those who they would bring their teaching to.

The only way that such teachers could survive would be if, after expositing their philosophy in public, a resident from that city was intrigued with what the traveling teacher presented and then let them into their home and provided them with food and shelter.

Now, obviously, the only reason why someone would let such a one into their home would be if they believed the teaching that such a teacher brought.

And of course, there were traveling teachers in those times that brought the orthodox gospel with them, proclaiming the truth. In fact, in John’s 3rd epistle, he speaks of traveling teachers who brought the truth and the Christian’s responsibility to extend hospitality to them.

But just as there were traveling orthodox teachers, there were also traveling teachers who peddled heresy. And while the Christian was to provide for traveling orthodox teachers, they were not to do the same for those who did not bring the message of orthodoxy.

As was said, the only reason why such a person would welcome a traveling teacher into their home would be if they supported the message that the teacher brought, therefore, to bring a teacher who peddles heresy into your home would signify that you support the heretical message the teacher brought. Because of this, John commands the members of this church not to take any heretical teachers into their homes.

He also tells them to not give a heretical teacher any greeting.

Now, when we think about greeting someone, we think of saying hello, giving them a smile, shaking the person’s hand, you know, being polite. In fact, doing the opposite of these things would be rude.

But John is not telling the members of this church to be rude, not even to people who peddle heresy, rather, the greeting referred to here is unlike the kind of greeting that I just described. The greeting that John refers to is acceptance and prayer for God’s blessing to be upon them.

Now if these false teachers are peddling a message that is anti-Christian, then the last thing that orthodox Christians should be doing is praying that God would bless these false teachers’ anti-Christian message that they are spreading.

And not only were they not to do that because they were Christians and the message being brought was anti-Christian, but also because of what such acceptance would signify.

John tells us what such acceptance would signify in verse 11 of our reading, when he says:

2 John 11 ESV

11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

This is an extremely dangerous reality. Supporting, and especially praying for God’s blessing to be upon a person or an establishment that peddles heresy and presents a false Christ is equal to peddling that heresy yourself.

Such teachers are in the business of deceiving others. Deceiving others is the business of the devil; therefore, such teachers are in the same business as the devil. And as John says here, anyone who supports or prays for blessings to come upon someone who is in the business of deceiving others is in fact deceiving others themselves.

As Paul tells the Corinthians, righteousness and lawlessness have no partnership, light and darkness have no fellowship, Christ has no accord with Satan, and the believer has no portion with the unbeliever.

Just like my dad told me that I had no business being out after 11pm, so does John tell the members of this church that they have no business entangling themselves with those who oppose the truth.

The heresies that they peddle may sound interesting, they may sound intriguing, they might even appear to be logical, but the legitimate Christian has no business involving himself with false teaching, and that includes supporting false teachers.

But though such teachers are harmful to us as orthodox Christians, not all teachers are heretical teachers, and not all professing Christians are heretical. And as orthodox Christians, we need the fellowship of other orthodox Christians, that’s why John closes this epistle by saying what he does in these final two verses where he says:

2 John 12-13 ESV

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. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

John says that he has much to tell those in this church, especially concerning the importance of steering clear of heretical teachers and abiding in fellowship with orthodox Christians, and he says that he could write much more, but he says that he would rather come to them and see them and tell them face to face.

And the reason that he gives as to why he desires this is because in doing that, both his and their joy would be complete.

This is that fellowship among orthodox Christians that I was just talking about. John says that when they come together, their joy will be complete. What this means is that the growth that we as individual Christians experience is most perfectly manifested when we gather together and share those spiritual gifts that God graciously gives to us.

You see, we who are legitimate Christians all receive gifts of the Spirit, but what is most important about those gifts is not the gifts themselves, but the fruit that comes from our God-given gifts. And the fruit of our God-given gifts is produced when we as orthodox Christians come together to worship the living God. That is why the coming together of saints, the weekly gathering for worship, is so vital.

It seems like the longer I serve the Lord, the more it drives me nuts when I hear people say, “Well, you know, I don’t have to go to church to be a productive Christian.”

There are a few reasons why that statement drives me nuts when I hear it. The first reason why is because God has ordained and in fact, has commanded us to come together with other believers on the Lord’s Day to worship Him. How can you say that not coming to church isn’t a big deal when God commands us to come?

The second reason why it drives me nuts is because if you are a legitimate believer, why would you not want to be around and worship with other legitimate believers? If someone claims to be a born-again believer yet wants nothing to do with other born-again believers and has all of their fellowship with people who are spiritually dead, then it should cause us to question whether or not that person really is born-again.

And the last reason why it drives me nuts is because you can’t be productive, or at least as productive as you could be as a born-again believer if you are not worshipping God the way that He commands us to worship Him.

As was said earlier, it is as we gather to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth that we produce lasting fruit. It is here where we learn, where we grow, where we share, and most of all, it is here where we come to experience the living God.

And while we are to have nothing to do with those who practice heresy and to associate only with those who practice orthodoxy, where is it that we learn what is orthodox and what is heretical? What is true and what is a lie? It is here, at the gathering of the saints.

It is here where God reveals to us that which is true, it is here where God exposes that which is false and warns us to stay away from it, it is here in the gathering of the saints that God has been pleased to make His presence manifest in a peculiar way.

Beloved, God has made the Church for His own glory, but not for His benefit, the one who it benefits is the born-again believer.

Therefore, may we not be in the habit of forsaking the assembling of ourselves, as is the manner of some. But let us exhort one another all the more as we see that great Day of the Lord approach.

Amen?