Abiding in the Teaching of Christ

Introduction

I can’t stand 95% of the titles of the articles I see online. Most of them make over the top claims of what their articles are about and they rarely deliver on their promises. They are known as click bait, designed to get people to visit their sites. Listen to some of these examples.

When you find out what this mom did to lose weight your jaw will drop! She dieted and exercised.

Baby Ducks see water for the first time. You won’t believe what they do next. They get in.

These are the 10 most insane life hacks that will change your life! It shows you how to use a paperclip to keep a power cord in place.

You won’t believe what he found living in his garbage! A dog. A dog was living in some trash.

The most incredible article on finances you will ever read. It’s an advertisement for an investment firm.

Just because somebody makes a claim does not make it true. The same can be said of claims people make about certain teachings about Jesus. In fact there are many teachings which completely misrepresents the truth.

Our passage today comes from an entire book of the Bible, 2 John! John wrote this quick letter to a church to warn them about such false claims. So let’s turn there now and see how we can heed John’s warnings today.

John’s relationship with his readers

2 John

2 John 1–4 ESV

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. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

John writes as an elder (not in the sense of an official church office but in the sense of an elder in the faith). He writes to the elect lady and her children, which refers to the church and its members. Remember, the church is the chosen bride of Christ, so elect lady makes sense.

He loves this church in the truth, meaning his love for them is grounded in their mutual love for the truth, along with all Christians who love the truth. Turns out, Truth is a person that lives in us and will live in us forever. John of course is referring to Christ dwelling in us by his Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God in John and in fellow Christians that breeds love for the church.

John is excited about this particular church because its members are walking in the truth just as God commanded. This means they are living according to the truth of the gospel and John rejoices over that fact.

Now that John has properly greeted his audience he gets right to his main agenda in writing them.

Walk in Love

2 John 5-

2 John 5–6 ESV

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 wants to simply remind the church of the original command Jesus gave to the church, namely, to love one another. John reminds his readers what Jesus told him. If we truly love Jesus we will obey his commandments. And the main commandment that we are given is to love one another. So, John is basically calling on the church to demonstrate its love for Jesus by loving each other.

John reminds his readers what Jesus told him. If we truly love Jesus we will obey his commandments. And the main commandment that we are given is to love one another. So, John is basically calling on the church to demonstrate its love for Jesus by loving each other.

This makes sense. If you have experienced the love of Christ you cannot help but love others. You want to love Jesus because he loved you first, and so you want to love the things that he loves. And what does Jesus love? His people! So much so that he laid his life down for them.

However, this love that the church is commanded to exercise toward one another is not a blind or foolish love. As they love, John expects that the church will continue to walk in truth as well. They ought to be discerning as they love, because there are those out there that John wants to warn them about who are a threat to the love John shares with this church.

Watch for Deceivers

2 John 7–11 ESV

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

There are deceivers who are out in the world that John wants the church to watch out for. As they receive others, they must not let their guards down. The group of people John has in mind in this particular instance is a group of people who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

This group of people has denied some element of Christ’s incarnation as a human being in order to atone for man’s sins. They are denying something that is essential to the Christian faith. They are embracing a false gospel. Any person who does this is deceptive and an antichrist.

We typically think of end times world leaders when we hear that word, don’t we? But the reality is that there isn’t just one antichrist. There are many. Anyone who deceives with a false gospel fits that category. And John really does not want his readers embracing such people. He is worried that all of the hard work he and others have put in to this church will be lost if they turn and follow such people. He is jealous that they instead obtain the reward of faith in the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

So John warns them. Anyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ doesn’t have God. These deceivers, these antichrists, that have left sound doctrine do not know God. Whoever holds to the true gospel does know God. They know the Father and the Son. This makes perfect sense.

People who know me know true things about me. My friends know what movies I like and what teams I follow and what food I eat and who I am married to and where I am from and who my kids are. If someone thinks that my favorite movies are horror flicks, and that my favorite food is apple pie, and that I am from Japan, then they don’t really know me, do they?

Then John says something that doesn’t at first sound quite right to us. He says you should not receive any such person into your house or even say hello and that if you do you will be treated like them. What gives here?

Well, it will help for us to understand a bit more about hospitality during this time. People didn’t exactly stay in hotels when traveling. You would have to stay with a friend or an acquaintance or family member. Often people would carry letters of recommendation with them when visiting towns that would help vouch for them to get them a place to stay.

This was incredibly important. If you were not received into someone’s place for the night you were in effect a stranger in that town. Many of the laws protecting people in the town would not apply to you. However if you were someone’s guest, your host by taking you in was basically saying that you belonged there and were not a stranger but someone that could be trusted. The laws would then protect you.

When John tells his readers to not welcome such people in, he was telling them not to put themselves in a position to communicate that these sort of people were legitimate followers of Jesus. He was telling them to not vouch for a heretic. They could not operate in a way that would suggest to others that these people were Christ followers when in fact they were antichrists. For you to go to bat so to speak for such a person was to throw your lot in with them, not a good idea.

John’s Joy in his Readers

2 John 12

2 John 12–13 ESV

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. The children of your elect sister greet you.

John’s message to the church is brief. He intends on talking to them in person and was looking forward to seeing them. John, following Jesus’ commands himself, loved the church as well and found great joy in being with them. He closes by sending them greetings from the church he was currently staying with (their elect sister).

Application

How to kindle love for the church

How do you increase your love for fellow members of the church? We know we are called to love one another, but how can we fan the flame of joy in each other? What can I do to desire the body of Christ more fully?

I think part of the secret to doing this is found hidden in John’s greeting. John loved the church in truth, meaning he loved them because of his love for the truth of the gospel and their mutual love for the truth of the gospel. So what does that mean for us? They key to increasing in love for the church is to stoke the flames of gospel truth in your own heart and then share those flames with each other. There is something about being enthralled with Christ and then hanging out with others who are enthralled with Christ. I find whenever I talk about the greatness of Jesus with others my enjoyment and love of them increases.

When I am gripped by the gospel, that is a sure sign that the Spirit is at work in my heart. When I talk about it with fellow Christians who have the Spirit as well, they can become gripped as well. And when we are both in the Spirit enjoying Jesus the love between us flows freely.

So practically speaking, the best way to increase your enjoyment of the people of God is to talk about the majesty of Jesus together. Even if others in that moment are not initially where you are, your joy in Christ will be contagious if they have the Spirit of God as well.

Who are some antichrist deceivers today?

Who denies the truth of the gospel today that would fall into the category that John is warning about? Well, there are several cults that call themselves Christians that deny the basic truths of the gospel. For example, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses deny Jesus’ deity.

Many mainline denominational churches deny the substitutionary atonement, that Christ died for our sins in our place to make us right with God. They might argue that Jesus died as an example of faithfulness or something like that. Others deny that Jesus physically rose from the dead and say that he just rose spiritually.

Then you have prosperity gospel preachers who say that Jesus died in order to make you healthy, wealthy, and trouble free, and embrace a kind of Christian karma that says that if you suffer it is because you have a weak faith.

Now, I want to make clear who doesn’t fall into the category that John is talking about. Atheists. Muslims. Jews. Buddhists. Hindus. Why? Because they do not claim to be Christians. They do not claim to be disciples of Jesus. There is no need to be warned about their errors because they are clearly not part of us nor do they claim to be. We know them as false religions. Rather John is more concerned that the church watch out for those masquerading as sheep but are in fact wolves.

How should we treat such deceivers today?

Can we be friends with such people? Can we invite them over to our houses? Must we shun them? How do we put into practice in our day and time what John was telling the church then?

Well for starters, our practice of hospitality looks a little different today. We are no longer vouching for people by having them come over.

Here is the principle we must follow when interacting with people who are a part of these deceptive groups. We cannot in any way through our actions or speech, give off the impression that we consider them and their beliefs as legitimately Christian. So for example, I have had JWs at my door who say that they are a part of the church as well and that they believe the same things we do. I politely tell them no and ask them if Jesus is Jehovah. I shouldn’t be a jerk to them but at the same time I do not want them thinking that I believe we are on the same team.

As a church, we make it a habit of only partnering with evangelical churches when doing ministry as the church. So we are happy to partner with CCC for example, because we both hold to the gospel. But we wouldn’t want to partner as Christians with the unitarian church for example in a way that communicates we are on the same team. We aren’t.

One way that Christians wrongly vouch for these groups is by buying, watching, and promoting their books and shows. I see Christians posting clips of known heretics of the prosperity movement all the time. I have seen other Christians rave about the Shack, a deeply troubled book that presents false pictures of who God is. This is the equivalent of inviting these false teachers into you home and greeting them in John’s day. So beware.

If you aren’t sure about a particular preacher or teacher you watch, ask me. Even if I haven’t heard of them I can usually find out pretty quickly whether it is something you want to be endorsing or not.

Friends

With so many competing claims to truth out there it can be hard to know what is right. Friend if you are visiting with us and you would like to know more about what the Bible teaches on who Jesus is and what he has done and what he expects from us, I would love to share with you more about him. It is my hope that you can know how amazing the truth of Jesus Christ is and begin to be a part of his people the church and find the love that we have been talking about this morning.