The Two Basic Ingredients to Being a Christian

The Two Basic Ingredients to Being a Christian 2 John 1-13 Our second shortest book of the Bible is 2 John and it is a very special one at that, as it is the only letter in the New Testament that was written to a woman, though we are not told her name. However, the word used for her “Lady,” kuria, does tell us something about her. Kuria (the feminine noun for kurios which means master or authority) indicates, at the very least, the high regard accorded her by John and the Christian community. It may also suggest that the title kuria was used the same way the term “Mother” is used in African-American churches today―as a title of respect for a godly, older woman whose good influence extends far beyond her immediate family. What we can fairly assume is that she was a prominent leader in the Christian church. So we can gather from the letter that it was written to a mother with several children, perhaps a widow, but also the Mother of many in her local community. It appears that she had written to the Apostle John to ask his opinion about certain problems that had come up. Back in those days, of course, the New Testament was not available as it is to us. The leaders of the churches were dependent upon certain men, called prophets, you might say the second string to the Apostles, who went from place to place preaching the truth. Evidently, some of these men had come to the home of this woman, and they had raised certain doctrinal matters which disturbed her. Not knowing quite what to do, she wrote to the Apostle John and asked for his counsel. This letter is his response to her question. He also answers many of the questions we have today, especially the question of how to treat people who teach incorrectly. Then again, today, is there anything that is “incorrect?” I say that facetiously. Okay, on with the verses. The first six verses present the problem to us and give us John's approach in answering it. John is setting the stage in answer to this lady's problem. He is gathering together two things that must be taken into consideration in facing a problem of mistaken doctrine. Two outstanding words are used all through this text and his epistles. What are they again? Truth is the first, and love. Truth and love. Notice how he links these two in verse three: “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.” This ought to be the characteristic of Christians. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians (4:15) he says the same thing, that a Christian should learn to speak the truth in love. The remarkable work of a Christian life is to gather these often opposing elements together and keep 2 them in balance. Many people emphasize one at the expense of the other. We may emphasize truth and center upon doctrinal or dogmatic matters, insisting that the Scriptures, or our opinion of them, be followed carefully, but at the expense of loving the person with a contrary view. When we do this, we are rigid and cold and judgmental, sometimes even cruel in the way we say things. Even though what we say may be scripturally right, let us not defend the truth of God at the expense of love. On the other hand, there are those who make the mistake of emphasizing love at the expense of truth. They feel that we should accept everyone and everything, being tolerant in all directions. This second group reminds me of the story about the man who came to church; and on the way out, as he shook hands with the pastor one Sunday morning, he said to him, "Oh Pastor, I want to tell you what a blessing you've been to me since you've been pastor of this church. Why, when I first started here, I didn't have any regard for God or man or the devil. But since you came, I've learned to love all three." Now the problem is to keep truth and love in balance. This is what was so beautiful about Jesus; He walked in truth and love. He could deal in tenderness with the immoral sinner, the outcast from society who came to Him, while with a blistering word; He could scorch a Pharisee until he turned red with shame, as all the rottenness in that man's inner life was revealed, while also saying they were not far from the Kingdom of God. He spoke the truth and He dealt in love, and He kept them in perfect balance. John says, "When you go to handle a problem of doctrinal misunderstanding, emphasize both truth and love." A lot of people who read this letter miss these opening words; they miss the sanity of balance that pervades the letter. Now to the Lady’s question. Two things are said here that describe the basic types of Christian perversions. There are, first of all, those who are deceived about the person of the Lord Jesus. There is one sign, a one and only indication, a giveaway, of the true redeemer and savior, and that is: He is the one who came from God into the world and became man. The incarnation is an essential doctrine of Christian faith. If you can trace a person’s origin from their birth, and you know that they entered this human stream though normal reproductive faculties and they claim to be a savior, you can write them off, because they are not God's savior. And if they claim neither to believe nor to accept the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, then the person is in grave error. No matter what else 3 they may say, they are not speaking as the spokesperson of God. (John doesn’t include the resurrection here, but that is another basic truth.) All through the New Testament letters, the Apostles set the incarnation at the center of Christian theology; the Word becoming flesh, a man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Everything else gathers around that Jesus was God and man, not just man. John says if a man does not proclaim that, no matter what else he may say, he is a deceiver, and even more, an antichrist. He is against the doctrine of Jesus. Therefore, he is to be recognized for what he is, a man who is mistaken and trying to deceive others. There is another type of error, however, that gathers around a misunderstanding or false conception of the teaching of the Jesus. In verse 9 it says again, “Anyone who goes ahead [literally, goes beyond] and does not abide in the doctrine [the teaching] of Christ does not have God.” That is very revealing. That takes care of all groups that hold that the Bible is not an adequate or complete revelation of God, and that we need something more, something else, an addendum, a postscript and they have it, such as the Mormons claim. Someone with such a view may be very persuasive and sincere. They may be a very great personality, but this is the test: if they do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, then he is not of God. There are many people today who say that the teachings of the Scriptures are infantile, simple, silly even. Modern culture believes it has grown beyond all this and can no longer accept these simplistic teachings of the Bible. The modern mind must find satisfaction in more scientific or self-centered philosophies or humanistic approaches. It cannot rest upon these simple truths. Someone who goes beyond, departs from the revelation of Jesus, considering it too simple, and tries to add something to the teachings of the Word of God is not of God. Those are the two types of error: denying the incarnation and adding to the Scriptures. Now notice what the danger is. What will happen to you if you fall in with this kind of thing? “Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but (rather) may be rewarded fully.” (v. 8) What do you lose, as a Christian, if you get involved with cults and heresies and liberal approaches that are so widespread? Will you lose your salvation? No, not if you are really born again. That rests upon the work of Christ for you. You are not going to lose your place in heaven, nor your redemption, nor your part in the body of Christ. But you do lose a great deal, as John makes clear. You lose the value of your life spent here; you waste your time. You throw away precious moments by spending years involved in that which is 4 utterly worthless, and which will be displayed at last as straw and stubble, to be consumed in the fire of God's searching gaze. You will lose the fuller reward of having lived a life in abundance. Jesus says in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." In Revelation 3:11 John says, "Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." One loses the fuller life on earth and in heaven. These crowns are symbols of authority and honor which are given to those who have made themselves available to the work of God, to those who have given their lives as a living sacrifice for God to work through (Romans 12:1). If you get involved in something that is grounded upon false teaching, all your efforts are wasted. You are building nothing but a facade: it may look very good, but at the end it will crumble and find no acceptance before God. So what do you do about people like this? Let us remember what John has said about truth and love. It is so easy for us who are concerned about the doctrinal matters of Scripture to forsake the courtesy and charity that is expected of every Christian. We may interpret a passage like this to mean that we are to slam the door in the face of anyone who offers us some heretical ideas, or that we are to order them out of the house the minute they bring up some kind of dissenting teaching. If that were the case, we would probably be pretty lonely. If this is what John means, then when we discover that someone is not a Christian, we are not to let him in the house. If this were the case, we would be very offensive people, wouldn't we? We could never extend our friendship to those of another religion. We would be acting in defense of the truth, but not manifesting anything of grace or love. So what gives? He means that truth should be uttered in love, and love should be bounded by truth. In other words, our receiving someone does not necessarily imply that we are authenticating or accepting their teaching. In NT times motels did not exist, and inns were very few and far between. When these teachers traveled, they stayed in private homes. John does not rule out the need for common courtesy, or for a gracious approach to the person, or to meet some emergency needs. After all, the parable of the Good Samaritan makes very clear that if someone is in need, it does not make any difference who they are, we are to help them. As long as we can make it clear that we are treating him graciously, thoughtfully, kindly, as a fellow human being, but definitely not endorsing his wrong ideas, then it is perfectly proper for us to have some kind of contact with him, even a degree of friendship. But when they go into a home with false teaching and the person continues to open his 5 home to them, then they would be endorsing their doctrine. We are not to share in one’s false teaching; that is the idea that John sets before us. Notice how he underscores the importance of this in his closing verses. He says to her, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.” In other words, "I'm not going to write any more now, but... BUT… this matter is so important, that I have taken the time to write about this issue. There are a lot of other things I would like to discuss, but certainly I could not wait about this." Then he extends greetings from the Christian family he is evidently staying with, and thus underscores the need in Christian life for both truth and love. Let us pray that we may so speak and deal with others that we will manifest the graciousness, the gentleness of Christ. Jesus and Paul both say that if someone is overtaken in a fault, or if someone has strayed from the truth that we must be gentle and understanding. This is no encouragement to rigidity and narrowness and bigotry. Do you remember the nursery rhyme of the gingham (looks like red and white table cloth) dog and the calico cat? It goes in part like this: The gingham dog and the calico cat - side by side on the table sat; 'Twas half-past twelve, and what do you think! Not one nor t' other had slept a wink! The gingham dog went "Bow-wow-wow!" And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!" The air was littered, an hour or so, with bits of gingham and calico, The gingham dog and the calico cat wallowed this way and tumbled that, employing every tooth and every claw in the awfullest way you ever saw. Next morning, where the two had sat - they found no trace of dog or cat; and some folks think unto this day that burglars stole that pair away! But the truth about the cat and pup is this: they ate each other up! They ate each other up. I am afraid that is what happens in some churches, in their approach to one another. Let us pray never to be rigid, judgmental or scorching. We need to display love, but love must not be so tolerant that it excludes the great fact that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. No other one has come or is coming. No other Savior has been sent. He alone is the answer to humanity's hope for a fuller life, now and hereafter.