Grace, Mercy, and Peace - 2 John 3
2-3 John • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
[PRAYER]
At the time John wrote 2-3 John, the opening of letters identified the author and the readers, and then the author gave a greeting.
Usually that greeting went like this, “Greetings.” We a couple of examples in Scripture.
When the leaders of the early church sent a letter to Gentile believers, they began with…
23 and they sent this letter by them, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.
Likewise James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus, opened his letter with…
1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
That’s the normal greeting in a letter at the time of John’s writing.
But many letter writers of the NT added a Christian flavor to their greeting.
Instead the word, “Greetings,” the Apostle Paul usually wrote something close to…
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes Paul threw in some slight variation but that was his usual greeting.
In his first letter, Peter greeted his readers with…
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
In his second letter, he greeted them with…
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
And Jude uses a similar greeting…
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
Now, I gave you all that background so that you would understand that what we read here in 2 John 3 is a unique greeting.
3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
[TS] Let’s notice three FEATURES of this unique greeting…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Feature #1: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us…
Feature #1: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us…
[EXP] Grace is the unmerited or unearned favor of God toward those He has saved by faith in His Son Jesus. Grace is the foundational reason why believers in Jesus Christ come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised anointed one who takes away sin.
Matthew Henry wrote that grace is “divine favor and goodwill; the spring of all good things; it is grace indeed that any spiritual blessings should be conferred on sinful mortals.”
For by grace have we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
Mercy is God forgiving instead of condemning sinners who have rebelled against Him. Because God is merciful, He forgives sinners who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus for salvation.
To receive mercy we must trust in the sinlessness of Jesus.
To receive mercy we must trust in the death of Jesus on the cross as the sacrifice for our sin.
To receive mercy we must trust in the resurrection of Jesus as the guarantee that we are and will be saved by trusting Him alone.
Peace is the result of experiencing God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.
Matthew Henry said that peace is “tranquility of spirit and serenity of conscience in an assured reconciliation with God, together with all safe and sanctified outward prosperity.”
Jesus said…
27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
He also said…
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
[ILLUS] John was among a handful of people who witnessed a unique object lesson on the power of Jesus to bring peace.
Jesus had been teaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (which is really a big lake) when he told His disciples, “Let us got to the other side.”
As they made their way in their boat, Jesus took a nap.
Suddenly a fierce gale of wind blew up and waves were breaking over the boat, filling it up with water.
Meanwhile, Jesus was still napping.
The disciples woke Him and asked with terrified voice, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus got up and rebuked the wind, and then said to the raging sea, “Peace, be still.”
And suddenly everything became perfectly calm, completely calm.
[APP] That’s the power of Jesus to bring peace not only to a raging sea but also to…
…a heart and mind that is raging with rebellion against God…
…or a heart and mind raging with worry, anxiety, or fear…
…or a heart and mind raging with discontent or doubt…
…or a heart and mind raging with addiction.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He will bring us peace if we call on Him.
[EXP] But notice that John says this grace, mercy, and peace will be with us.
In the greetings of Paul, he says, “Grace to you…”
Peter says, “May grace and peace be yours…”
Those greetings are like prayers for or blessings on their readers, but John’s greeting to his readers is a promise— “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us…”
[APP] If we have trusted in Jesus for salvation, nothing can ever remove the grace, mercy, and peace of God from us.
These precious gifts shall be our forever.
[TS] …
Feature #2: …from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father…
Feature #2: …from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father…
[EXP] The gifts of grace, mercy, and peace come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.
God the Father is the God of all grace.
He ordained our salvation—our experience of grace, mercy, and peace in Jesus Christ—before the foundations of the world.
He sent His one and only begotten Son so that whosoever believes Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Jesus is the Christ, the promised seed of the woman who would bruise the head of Satan, the descendant of Abraham through whom all families on earth would be blessed, the descendant of David who would sit on the throne of Israel forever.
But notice that John emphasizes Jesus’s identity as “the Son of the Father.”
What does this mean?
It means that He was one with God the Father. Co-eternal. Co-equal.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). It was the Father’s good please that the fullness of deity dwell in Him (Col. 1:19).
He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature (Heb. 1:2).
Jesus being the Son of the Father also means that He was perfectly obedient to God the Father’s perfect will.
Jesus said in John 6:38-40…
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus being the Son of the Father also means that Jesus had a perfect relationship with God the Father.
This is seen in that Jesus called God “Father,” which is common for us but was almost unheard of until Jesus started doing it.
But also in John 6:46 Jesus referred to Himself as “the One who is from God,” saying…
46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
In the same way, Jesus said in Matthew 11:27…
27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Jesus being the Son of the Father might mean more than this but it certainly doesn’t mean less.
He is perfectly one with the Father.
He is perfect in obedience to the Father.
He is perfect in relationship with the Father.
[ILLUS] It might be cliche’ or trite and perhaps overused but when I stop and think about who Jesus is—and then think about God the Father sending Jesus Christ, His Son, to pay the price for our sins—I can’t help but think of the old Hallmark slogan, “When you care enough to send the very best.”
[APP] That’s who God the Father sent to save us—the very best—His Son, Jesus Christ.
That’s who God the Father sent to bring us grace, mercy, and peace—the very best—His Son, Jesus Christ.
I pray you know Jesus.
If you do, you know that He is the very best that God the Father had to give.
If you do, you know that He is the embodiment of grace, mercy, and peace.
[TS] …
Feature #3: …in truth and love.
Feature #3: …in truth and love.
[EXP] The grace, mercy, and peace that is ours and will be ours from God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, expresses itself in one way—in truth and love.
Truth and love are not two separate ways of living out the salvation that was ordained for us by God the Father and won for us by God the Son.
They are together one way of living out that salvation.
Consider that both truth and love are attributes of God.
God is truth.
God is love.
But God is not sometimes truth and at other times love.
No, He is truth all the time, and He is love all the time.
What I mean is that God cannot sacrifice one part of His essential being for another.
For example, He cannot sacrifice being truth for being love. Nor can He sacrifice being love for being truth.
He is always truth and love at the same time.
Now, consider that when God the Father saves us by His Son Jesus, He deposits His Spirit—God the Holy Spirit—in our hearts.
That means that God who is always truth and love at the same time is living in us and producing in us truth and love that is to be expressed at the same time.
Perhaps we could call this truth-love because it not one or the other, it’s both, and it’s both all the time.
The Christian is to walk in truth-love all the time.
[ILLUS] This is, however, easier said than done. There are many times when are tempted to abandon the truth to appear more loving to someone. Or we may be tempted to abandon love because we want to be sure the cold, hard truth is communicated.
Stories abound about Christian parents abandoning the truth of God’s word on sexuality because their beloved children have embraced immorality of one type or another.
In the opposite direction, some Christians tell the truth in a way that never warms the heart; its truth but without the warmth of God’s love.
[APP] Just as truth and love cannot be separated in God, it should not be separated in the life of the Christian. We must always be walking in truth and love, never sacrificing one for the other.
John Stott said, “Our love for others is not to undermine our loyalty to the truth. On the other hand, we must never champion the truth in a harsh or bitter spirit. … Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth (grows) hard if it is not softened by love.”
Let us examine ourselves.
Has our commitment to truth made us unloving to those who live in disobedience to the truth?
If you were to tell a Muslim the truth about Jesus, would their be any love for that person in your heart?
If you were to tell Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Shummer, or Joe Biden the truth about Jesus, would their be any love for them in your heart? Would their be any warmth in your voice?
Let’s answer this: Has our commitment to love made us silent when those we love live in disobedience to the truth?
If your closest friend—the one you love the most—turned from Jesus, would you say anything? Would you tell him or her the truth about rejecting Jesus?
Would your love for them lead you to tell them the truth in love? Or would your love for them prevent you from telling the truth? Would it lead to twist the truth to make them feel better?
The truth that God works in us is mixed with love, and the love that God works in mixed with truth.
Love that doesn’t contain truth isn’t the love that God gives, and truth that doesn’t contain love isn’t the truth that God gives.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
[CONTEXT] Now, as we close I want you to remember the situation that John is likely addressing. Some false teachers have gone out from this church and either they or they’re followers have returned looking for support, looking for hospitality.
Those false teachers were a trial for this church before they left and after they left. Now they are a trial again in their return visits looking for support.
John’s initial readers were likely perplexed: Do we support these people by showing them hospitality? If so, how far does that hospitality go? Do we not support them at all? And if we don’t, is that Christlike?
What what I believe John wants his readers to understand before he launches into answering those questions in v. 4 is what he writes in 2 John 3…
3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
Just as the church John wrote to was facing a trial, you are no doubt facing a trial of one type or another yourself. Perhaps it too is a trial that comes with a lot of questions, lots of questions that don’t have obvious answers.
I do believe that if we are patient in prayer and attentive to God’s word, God will make us His will known to us, but while we wait we too have this promise in 2 John 3…
3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
This grace, mercy, and peace is yours.
From God the Father, it is yours.
From Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, it is yours.
This grace, mercy, and peace will show itself in truth and love.
Even in your trial.
And I think especially in your trial.
[PRAYER]