Walking in Truth and Love

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bibles to 2 John that is 2 John. It is as you might guess between 1 John and 3 John which toward the back of the NT. If you are using one of the Bibles scattered throughout the chairs you can find our passage on page 962 that is page 962.

When you hear the word “church” what comes to your mind? Perhaps you think like the hymn writer Isaac Watts and think “How sweet and aweful is this place” but maybe you don’t quite mean awful in the same way. For Watts the word aweful meant full of awe or astonishment. When Watts contemplated the church he wrote these lyrics How sweet and aweful is the place With Christ within the doors While everlasting love displays The choicest of her stores. While all our hearts and all our songs Join to admire the feast Each of us cry with thankful tongues“Lord, why was I a guest?” As you entered into the gym this morning with the sweet smell of lacquer and sweat were you filled with awe? Did you come today expecting Christ within the doors? It is here that we declare the everlasting love of God and put on display the best parts of church! Did you come this morning to sing together and join to admire the feast of grace we have in Christ? Are you thankful that you were invited to be his guest? Do you love Christ’s church? Not just the organization, not the brick and mortar, but the ransomed saints that make her? Do you love one another?

John writes to a local church in this short letter and in the midst of battling deceivers and antichrist he encourages them to walk in truth and love. His method of battle against these foes is to love one another. John loves this church and he knows that truth and love will prevail against the schemes of the devil and false teachers. Let’s learn to love the truth and to love one another as we read 2 John.

Know the Truth, Love Others v. 1- 3

2 John 1–3 “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.”

John writes and describes himself as the elder. Perhaps this is a reference to his office as a pastor or a reference to his old age at the time of writing this letter, we don’t know for sure. But it is clear that he holds a deep affection for this church and seems to have knowledge of their particular circumstances. And he opens his letter calling this church the elect lady and her children. I believe that he is in fact writing to a church and not a specific lady and her kids because of the greater context of the letter. The warnings against false teachers, the admonitions to love one another, the rejoicing to see some children walking in the truth seem to fit a church and its members better than a literal woman and her kids. So, John to writes to a church and its members aka children and he tells them he loves them “in the truth.” And not only him, but also those who know the truth and they love this church all because of the truth that abides in them and will be with them, forever!

What is this truth that causes John to love this church, that causes others who know it to love this church… this truth that will abide in them forever? It is the truth the will bring grace, mercy, and peace that is from the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son who is in truth and love. This truth is the truth of the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the flesh to live a perfect life, die a literal and sacrificial death, and raise bodily from the dead. John is saying those who know this truth, love the elect lady and all her children. That is to say that those who know that Christ died for their sin and saved them by His grace are those who love the church.

The truth of the Gospel binds us to those who believe that same Gospel. Those who repent of sin and believe in Jesus for eternal life are family. They are all children of God, adopted by the Father through the work of the Son. And when we are in the truth, when we believe the truth of the Gospel, we will receive grace, mercy, and peace. These are the sweet fruits of the Gospel, the feast the Watts wrote about and that we sing about each week we gather. Through our knowledge of the truth we become the recipients of the love of God and the love of His church. And we in turn we love God and we love His church. John is teaching us that conviction dictates affection.

Your convictions, the things you believe, will impact your affections, that things you love. When you do not love your fellow christians it is because you are not walking in the truth. That is you are not actively believing the truth of the Gospel. Those who believe that Jesus came in the flesh and died for sinners will put that belief on display through the outworking of their loves. In particular through their love of the church. 1 John 4:20–21 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you love all of those who know the truth? How much of the truth do they need to know? What if they disagree with me about baptism? What about end times theology? What about the roles of men and women in the church or home? What about the specifics on spiritual gifts? Or God’s Sovereign role in salvation? Do we love all those who know the truth? That doesn’t mean we don’t disagree on those things, and these kinds of things will impact important decisions like what church will I join, what ministry will I give money too, where will I spend greater amounts of time and energy. Of course the closer aligned we are on secondary issues the deeper we can partner together, but brothers and sisters I am sure you, like me, have people in your lives who may not be able to join Redemption Hill Church, but still know the truth that John is referring to. They know that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and died for sinners. And that salvation can only be found in his name! Do you love them? When you are at the family reunion or Thanksgiving dinner, when you are at the water cooler at work, when you are hanging out together can you recognize that you are on the same team. Can you pray together in those settings, pray for the lost around you, pray for holiness to be good Christian witnesses, encourage one another with a word from the Bible? Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Do not miss the relationships you can have with fellow Christians in secular spaces, even those who disagree with you on secondary issues. John loved this church and so did all who knew the truth. Let us know that truth that Christ save sinners! Even sinners who can’t get things baptism right… Because we know God loves sinners like us… who can’t get many things right. If God can love a sinner like me, then I can love all of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Walk in Truth, Love Others, and Obey v. 4-6

2 John 4–6 “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 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.”

John greatly rejoices to find that some of the elect lady’s children are walking in the truth. That is some of the members of this church were actively living in a way that aligned with the truth of the Gospel. Perhaps John is suggesting that some of the members are being pulled away by the false teachers he mentions later. This walking in truth, active living in the truth, is then connected to obeying the commands of the Father. The Father commanded that they walk in the truth and John writes with the authority of an apostle and tells the church to obey the old commandment given to them to love one another. 1 John 3:23 “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” As I stated in our last section conviction or belief dictates affection or our loves. The commandment from the Father is to believe in the Son and in that belief love one another. Some of the Christians in this church are doing this. They are holding fast to their belief that Jesus came in the flesh and died for sin and they are loving one another as a result of the belief, but others are perhaps struggling.

John goes to explain what it means to love one another, that to love one another we are to walk according to his commandments. You see again the connection to obedience to God’s commands. God commands that they love one another, they are to walk in it, that is actually do it, and in doing it they show that they are in fact walking in the “it”. Now what is the “it” they are walking in? The pronoun used here is feminine in greek just like the nouns used for “truth” and “love”. So, are they to walk in truth or in love? Or both? I actually think it is both, I think John is bringing together several ideas and showing us that they must go together. Our western compartmental minds don’t like this. We don’t like when ideas mix together, it is easier for us to understand things when they are easy cause and effect like a flow chart, things that are clear processes. But the Christian life isn’t really experienced that like. Human beings are not robots that follow the same processes over and over. We are just more complex than that.

In the experience of the Christian life you and I grow in obedience to God’s commands when we grow in knowledge of the truth and when we experience the love of God and His people. We also grow in the knowledge of the truth as we obey God’s commands and experience the love of God and His people. And we greater experience the love of God and His people and when we obey God’s commands and grow in knowledge of the truth. Clear as mud? It is for me too. I find these verses confusing. He seems to be saying you are walking in the truth just like you were commanded good job. But I want to ask you to obey the command to love another, which is an old commandment. And to love one another is to obey his (The Father’s) commands, which is the command to love one another, which you we already told, so that you should walk in it… but I thought I was walking in it and that’s why you were happy? What do you want me to do John!?

It would like being told good job cleaning your room! Just like your Father commanded. But I want to ask to one thing, which what I told you to do before this isn’t new… make your bed, And this is what it means to make your bed it means to obey the commands of your Father, just like I told you earlier, so that you do the things I told your good job for… I thought made my bed when I cleaned my room and you were happy… What do you want from me!

Here is what God wants… He wants you to see that if you need to grow in love from your brother than you need to grow in the knowledge of truth and obey his commands. If you need to grow obedience… grow in truth and loving others… you need to grow in truth do it by obeying his commands and loving others. Truth, love, and obedience are all interconnected. Like a traffic circle you can get to all three through and any entrance, just get in the circle. And once you are in the circle I will rejoice… But stay in the circle cause you’re prone to get out of it. It’s a never-ending sanctification feedback loop. Grow in truth results in grow in obedience and love. Grow in obedience or love will result in grow in truth and etc… Obey, and keep obeying. Believe and keep believing, love and keep loving. You obey by loving, you know the truth by loving. You love by obeying and knowing the truth. You know the truth through obedience and love. They are an interconnected trifecta, gain one and you gain them all. Lose one and you lose them all.

T/S- And why are they to remain in the trifecta of obedience, love, and truth? Why must that continue in their love, truth, and obedience? Because in is the loop, inside the sanctification process that they are safe from deceivers.

Truth, Love, and Obedience Protect from Deception v.7-10

2 John 7–10 “For 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. 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,”

There are false teachers in the world teaching people that Jesus did not come in the flesh. This is referring to 1st century Gnosticism which would teach that the material world is evil but the spiritual is good. There were false teachings that mixed this worldview with Christianity. They would teach that the Christ could not have actually come in the flesh since that would be he would have an evil material body. They would teach that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body, but that he was actually just a spiritual being. This is obviously a very serious form of heresy since if Jesus did not die in the flesh he then could not save those of us who are flesh. He physical body is a necessity for him to be Man. If he is not totally God and totally Man He cannot die for sins, nor raise from the dead. Thus, John’s problem with these deceivers. Their teaching was heresy, that is so false they were not Christians. This is different that the secondary issues I mentioned earlier this a primary issue. If you deny the physical body of Christ you deny the incarnation, He is not God wrapped in flesh to dwell among and save us from our sins. This hellish teaching is the teaching of a deceiver and the antichrist. That is literally it is against or anti- Christ.

With such a dangerous teaching going around John tells them to watch themselves lest they lose out on all he and others have worked for, that is their eternal salvation. He wants them to win their final reward, an eternity in heaven with Christ. He telling them if you fall for this lie, you cannot be saved from the wrath of God. If you believe that this falsehood, that Jesus did not come in the flesh, they you are not abiding in the teaching of Christ. And you do not have God. However, if you do abide in the teaching, that is the truth of the Gospel that Jesus did come in the flesh to die for sin, then you have both the Father and the Son.

To abide in the teaching is to believe the truth that makes John declare his love for this church at the beginning of the letter. Abiding in Christ, is to believe in His Gospel, the truth. How do we continue on in belief? Through obedience and love. When we obey God and love His people we are drawn into a deeper relationship with him and we grow in our knowledge of the truth. We abide in the teaching of Christ. It is when we disobey and do not love the people of God that we are in the most danger of falling for the ways of the deceiver and the antichrist.

When Brittany and I are exhausted on Friday or Saturday mornings (our weekend) we let our kids what animal documentaries. At least then the TV show is educational. But if you watch a documentary on any predatorial animal what are they looking for? What makes the best prey? The animal that gets separated from the herd. The baby antelope with ADHD, the sickly old water buffalo, the dumb sheep wanders off… That’s who the predator knows is the easy prey.

When we lose our love for one another we will drift from one another. Our loss of affection will result in the weakening of conviction because conviction dictates affection and affection strengthens conviction. The power of the sanctifying trifecta of obedience, truth, and love is made weak when one of the three is compromised. When do not obey, we fail to love, and we will begin to waiver in the truth. We will struggle to abide in the teaching of Christ.

This is really important when you live in a dangerous world. Which these Christians lived in and you do to. You also live in a world filled with deceivers and the antichrist. Those who would mix Christian truth with worldly falsehoods. Lies like, “Is it so intolerant to believe that only Jesus can save you. God is love and accepts everybody.” Christian truth mixed with a lie that is a heresy. Why do we need our sanctifying trifecta to combat this because we need the truth: 1 John 4:7–12 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” True loves is not the acceptance (ignoring) of sin, it is the willingness to die for sin. It is the willingness to fix our sin problem by satisfying the wrath of the God for guilty sinners so that through his death we might live! That is true love. We must believe this truth. But also obey the command, if this is true then we are to love one another, because we follow the one who loved us first. And finally, as we love one another we perhaps provide the greatest defense against a lie this. When we love one another we help one remember that we belong.

You see, those pulled away by this kind of lie rarely do it because of a good argument. They are pulled away because they want to fit in. They don’t want to be “intolerant” and seen as an outsider. We will have to endure this reality from time to time, but God gives us a home in our local church to come back to each week. Loving one another gives us an anchor to help keep us steady during the storm. Loving the Christians you meet in secular spaces provides confidence to remain in the truth as you whether the storm together. And even more so, in locking arms together and loving one another we can combat the evils of this world. John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

And as we have love for one another we are to give no quarter to these false teachers. 2 John 10 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,” Now remember, these are not simply non-Christians these are outright deceivers who are trying to convince Christians to turn away from God. He calls them the antichrist, they are blatant false teachers. And the hospitality practices of the time carried with them cultural expectations. If you received someone into your home you were vouching for them before your community. In allowing these traveling false teachers to stay in their homes they would telling their neighbors, “I approve of their teaching.” Another reality to consider is that these were probably house churches, that is churches that met in the homes of church members. So, in allowing a false teacher to stay in their home it would be like letting a false teaching stay in the church. And with the cultural expectation of approval, they would are now saying the church approves of this false teaching. This is something the John says cannot be tolerated. As we walk in the truth, obeying God and loving one another we do not want to give the impression of approval of heresy. We love all people, but we do not endorse teaching that will lead to hell.

Conclusion

John’s concern is that these children of the elect lady will lose what they have worked so hard for, and that they will not obtain their full reward of eternal life. He writes to them about a very real problem, a dangerous teaching that would send you hell and dangerous teachers who were bold enough to ask for harbor in the homes of Christians. He is clear that they are not to participate and help the false teachers along. Yet, the bulk of the letter is dedicated to the most simple of Christian ideas. There are deceivers in the world, but you know how you continue to abide in Christ in the midst of this danger? Walk in the truth, love one another, and obey the commands of the Father. This is what Christians do in the most peaceful of times as well. When there are no threats to your faith you should still walk in the truth, love one another, and obey the commands of the Father. Why is it so simple? Because these things are just that effective. They are potent, when the deceivers comes walk in the truth (the truth that Jesus died to save you), love one another, and obey the commands of God. In doing this things you will abide in the teaching of Christ and have the Father and the Son. You will win your full reward. Let’s pray.