Transcript & Slides: Walk in Truth (2 John)

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Walk in Truth (2 John)
By David Feddes

Once upon a time there was a hunter who went out into the woods, and as he made his way through the woods he came upon a large bear. The hunter raised his gun to shoot the bear, but to his surprise, the bear spoke and said, “Don’t shoot.” The hunter, kind of shocked, said, “Why not?” The bear said, “Well, we should have some conversation first. We might be able to work out an arrangement for cooperation and compromise.” So the hunter laid down his gun and said, “Tell me more.” The bear said, “Let’s first figure out what each of us is after.” The hunter said, “Well, I’m looking for a fur coat.” The bear said, “We can discuss that. You want to know what I’m looking for? I’m looking for a meal. And I think we can work out a compromise.”

A few minutes later the bear left the clearing alone, burping. He had had his meal, and the hunter was inside his fur coat.

When we think about the bear and the hunter and the consequences of compromise, that will give us some idea of what John talks about in the second letter. He’s dealing with people who are going around spreading a gospel of sorts, but it’s not a real gospel. He knows that if you start conversation and cooperation and compromise with that sort of teacher, you’ll end up inside the fur coat. So he warns and urges his readers to walk in the truth and to deal with those who don’t walk in the truth by not being infected by them, by not even associating with them.

We’re going to look at 2 John today. The first letter of John is an in-depth letter—we’ve studied that one already. It’s an in-depth letter to warn of fakes and also to assure believers. John says, “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray” (1 John 2:26), and then he also says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Those were the two main objectives of that first letter of John: to warn against the deceivers and to assure believers in Jesus Christ that they do indeed have eternal life.

Second John is a one-pager, and so is Third John. Both of them would fit on one piece of papyrus. Second John is a one-page letter to the church about staying true to Christ, and Third John is a one-page letter to a man named Gaius on supporting mission.

When you look at them in the Bible, they’re arranged neatly as 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and you might assume that First John was written first, Second John next, and Third John last. But that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes in the Bible letters are arranged not in the order in which they were written, but simply in order of length.

If you look at Paul’s letters, the first letter he wrote almost certainly was First Thessalonians, but the first of Paul’s letters in the order of the Bible is Romans, followed by First and Second Corinthians—those are the long ones—and then some of the shorter ones come later. First Thessalonians actually comes quite a ways down in the order in which you find it in the Bible.

It might be the same with First John, Second John, and Third John. We don’t know exactly what order those letters were written. Some think that Second John was the first one he wrote, and that he wrote a short letter warning about deceivers and antichrists, then later decided he needed to say more about that, so he wrote in greater depth the letter of First John. So they may have been written in a different order than we have them in the Bible.

There are also some who think they were written as a package and delivered together, in which First John was the in-depth letter, the second letter was addressed to a church (a house church), and the third letter was a kind of cover letter written to endorse the man carrying the letters—a man named Demetrius.

Whatever the case, whatever the order—whether they were sent as three different letters in three different directions or as one package—Second John is the letter we’re going to look at today.

 

2 John (ESV)

¹ 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, ² because of the truth that abidesin us and will be with us forever:

³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

⁴ I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. 

⁸ Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. ⁹ 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. 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.

Second John has a very simple outline. He opens with a greeting and declaration of blessing. Then he urges them to know, love, and obey—a trio that we’ve seen often in I John: to believe or know, to love, and to obey the commands and act as God calls us to. Then he says, “Don’t be deceived,” and goes a step further: “Don’t help deceivers.” Not only don’t fall for it, but don’t help them do their deceptive work in any way. Then he closes with that fond farewell: “I really would like to see you people soon.”

When we look at that, we start with the greeting. He says, “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.” Just from that opening hello, you get a pretty clear notion that truth matters: “I love in the truth,” “all who know the truth,” “because of the truth.”

He calls himself “the elder,” presbyteros. Some have thought that “the elder” might be a different person than the apostle John, the beloved disciple, the closest friend of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there’s not really clear or strong evidence for that, and most of the early church fathers recognized this letter as being written by John the beloved disciple, not by someone else with a similar name. So we understand again that this letter is written by John—and so are III John, the Gospel of John, and the book of Revelation.

The hints that there was an elder named John are something we can think about, but when you look at early church history there are good reasons why he might have been called “the elder.” For one thing, he was a prominent leader of the churches, and he doesn’t call himself an elder—he calls himself the elder. People seemed to know who “the elder” was. The term presbyteros can mean someone who holds a leadership position in the church, but it can also simply mean an old man. John was old, and by the time he wrote this, he was the only surviving apostle. All the others were dead, killed by persecutors. John himself had been sent into exile, but he wasn’t killed. So he was the only survivor of the original band. He may have been affectionately known as “the old man,” the only one of that generation—the only remaining apostle.

Peter, in his letter, called himself an elder. John calls himself the elder—the oldest surviving apostle, the only one left. That’s probably why he refers to himself that way in this letter.

He writes “to the elect lady.” Some think that means a chosen woman who is a believer who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s possible, but it’s not a very strong possibility. It seems much more likely that when he writes to “the elect lady,” he’s writing to a house church. The church is sometimes referred to as a woman. Peter, when he wrote I Peter, said, “She who is in Babylon greets you.” Some might think that means Mrs. Peter—possibly his wife—but most who study Peter think that he’s referring to the church in Babylon (in Rome).

Here, when John writes to “the elect lady,” he’s probably writing to a house church because he also speaks of her children. And at the end of the letter, he says, “The children of your sister greet you,” by which he’s probably referring to the church that John is part of, and the children of that lady are the members of that particular church. So it’s best to understand this letter as being written to a group of believers who meet in a house church—the “lady” being that church, and her “children” those who are in that group.

John says, “I rejoice to find some of your children walking in the truth.” So he’s met some people from that church who had been traveling or crossed paths with him, and he’s glad to see that there are people who are faithful to the truth. This letter was possibly sent back with those same people he met, because he had heard some things from them and was writing this letter to help that particular church—that elect lady—stay true to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is all about the truth. He mentions truth four times and love twice just in saying hello. From that we can see something we need always to keep in mind: truth and love go together. Sometimes truth is treated as something way over here, and love as something way over there. If you’re a champion of truth, you may talk about love as sentimental, squishy, warm, fuzzy stuff. You might say, “We want to focus on truth. We need sound doctrine.”

If you divide truth from love, some will talk about truth that way (I’m exaggerating a little). Then you get the “lovers”: “I’m a lover, not a fighter. We don’t bicker over doctrine—doctrine divides. We’re the people of love. We feel warm and fuzzy about everybody, and we wouldn’t get into an argument over anything because we’re such loving people.” Sometimes entire church traditions deviate from doctrine in the name of love, and sometimes entire church traditions are so busy bickering over the finest of the fine points of truth that they seem to have forgotten that Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). That’s part of the truth too.

When you read John’s opening statement about Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John, it says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In his greeting in this letter, truth and love go together. Love of truth inspires true love.

The apostle Paul, when he wrote that great chapter on love—1 Corinthians 13—said, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Real love loves truth because truth is good for people. Truth is good for the people you love; lies are bad for the people you love. So if you really love, truth will matter to you very much.

Truth is not just a matter of knowing the right propositions, teachings, and doctrines—though it includes that. But ultimately, we must remember that Jesus said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6). The truth is alive, personal, indwelling, eternal. The truth is the way God conveys himself to us. So truth isn’t just memorizing the right sentences, although that can help; it’s knowing the person those sentences come from, and through those sentences and truths he reveals, getting to know God in a better way.

John wants us to know the importance of truth and love belonging together. Then he makes this declaration: “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.” Notice that he’s not just giving a blessing or a good wish for them—he says this is going to happen. It’s a fact, not just a nice wish.

Also notice in this declaration how Jesus Christ is the Father’s Son. The blessing comes from the Father and the Son. I’ve said this many times in preaching on I John, but never give any heed to those who separate the Father and the Son—those who say, “Well, we all believe in the same God; they just happen not to believe in Jesus.” What in the world are you talking about? “We believe in the same God, they just have this little glitch—they don’t believe in Jesus”? Jesus is the Father’s Son and is himself true God in the person and being of the Trinity. So the Father and his Son Jesus are always together in the being of God, in the being of the Trinity.

Notice also that truth and love can’t be separated, and you can’t separate them from the reality of the living God in your life. Truth and love come packaged together with all of God’s gifts of grace, mercy, and peace, and with his own being given to us in our Lord Jesus Christ and by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

John goes on to say, “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children”—that is, the members of that house church that he met up with—“walking in the truth.” It’s probably not the case that he met a bunch of them and found that 57 percent were walking in the truth and 43 percent weren’t. The ones he met were probably all walking in the truth, and he says, “I’ve met some of your children, and they’re walking in the truth. That brought me great joy because that’s what we’re commanded to do by the Father.”

He continues, “And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we had from the beginning—that we love one another.” John loves to say that. “I’m not telling you anything new. You’ve heard it before, but I’m going to say it again: love one another.”

There’s that old story about John, when he was very old and couldn’t say much more. He’d be carried in every week into the midst of his congregation and would give a short speech: “Love one another.” Then they’d carry him out again. They’d bring him in the next week—“Love one another”—and carry him out again. After a while his friends and followers said, “Master, why don’t you say anything else?” He said, “If that’s done, that’s what’s needed.” That was really on his heart as an old man—that people would love one another in the Lord.

“This is love,” he says, “that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you heard it from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”

Now here’s a familiar trio. The words can vary slightly, but throughout I John you find tests of whether you’re born of God. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”—what you believe and know is a vital sign of being born of God. “Everyone who does what is right has been born of God”—your actions and obedience are signs of being born of God. “Everyone who loves has been born of God”—love is a sign of being born of God. And those who are doing these three things overcome the world. That’s how John writes when he expands on these ideas in I John.

You can see how they all go together: what you know and believe by faith feeds into what you obey, because how can you obey God if you don’t know what his commands are? And we know his command to love one another. So love flows out of that relationship of faith and knowledge that God calls us to. Love and obedience go together because God’s greatest command is to love him and then to love others. How do you love? You love according to the commands—how you honor God and how you do what is good for others.

So it’s, in a sense, just the same old, same old. John is not ashamed to repeat the same old truths. Much of your life, if it’s a godly life, is going to consist of abiding in the same old, same old—of knowing and sticking with the truth that you already know, and maybe growing in it and learning more, but not forsaking the truth that God has given you. Much of your life is going to come from listening to what God says and doing it—carrying it out in action, loving God, and loving others.

If you’re looking for something fancy and complicated with all sorts of frills and footnotes—well, there are depths of Christian theology that can bring you there—but really the core is to know, to obey, to love, and to do that in distinction from the world and in victory over the world.

The world has its phony version of that. Rather than knowing the truth by faith, there’s confusion. “There are lots of ideas out there about God—just pick the ones you like. We can’t really be sure about anything.” But John says, “We know, we know, we know.”

The world, rather than saying obey the commands of God, says, “We live in the 21st century.” Well, so what? We live in the 21st century. I remember Billy Graham was once accused by someone who said, “You’re setting the church back a hundred years.” He said, “Then I have failed. I was trying to set it back two thousand.”

There’s something to that. When you live in a different time, you do have to deal with the times you live in—you can’t pretend you live in another age—but has Jesus changed in the last two thousand years? “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

The world will try to confuse you. The world will try to corrupt you with disobedience and sin rather than obedience to the clear commands of God. They’ll say, “Oh, those rules—who needs rules?” Well, you do. We need to understand what God requires of us and how he guides us. Of course his Spirit leads us in applying his rules to different situations, but God’s guidance doesn’t vanish.

The world’s substitute for love is conformity—to fit in. Very often the world’s substitute isn’t that you’ll be loved and treasured and sometimes even rebuked by people who love you—it’s that you’ll fit together somehow, but always according to the world’s standards. Your friends are all drinking, so you’ve got to drink too. Your friends are behaving a certain way, so you’ve got to behave that way. You’ll find out how much they love you if you dare to behave in a godly way. You’ll find out how real some of that “love” was, because once you stop conforming, you’ll find out that the world hates you.

So in distinction from what John has said—to know, to love, and to obey—the world says: confuse, corrupt, conform. But God’s Word still tells us: know God, love God and neighbor, obey God, and in action, love your neighbor.

Why do we have to keep hearing this over and over again? Because Satan keeps an unending stream of deceivers flooding the world with different messages. Simply abiding in truth is harder than it sounds. “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.”

When John says deceivers “have gone out into the world,” what does he mean? One thing it means is that they have gone out from living fellowship with the apostles and the truth of the New Testament and have gone out into the world’s way of thinking. Another thing it means is that they’ve gone out into the world and seem to be everywhere. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15), and Satan says to his ambassadors, “Go into all the world and spread the lies.” They’ve gone out into the world.

Wherever the gospel goes, you can be sure that the counterfeits and phonies and liars are right on its heels. Wherever a great revival starts, you’ll find that soon wacky stuff starts happening that’s not of the Holy Spirit. Wacky doctrines come in. Just as people are rediscovering truths of the New Testament, a bunch of false teachings will come flooding in from various sources. The more lively the church is in advancing the gospel, very often the more the lies erupt—with greater frequency and ferocity. Many antichrists have gone out into the world.

This again is an echo—or maybe a preview—of what John wrote later in 1 John. There he said, “You have heard that the antichrist is coming, but even now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18). “Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist, denying the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). Later he says, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2). Jesus Christ, Son of God, came into the world in human flesh. Somebody who teaches that about Jesus— that teaching comes from God. Anybody who denies that is of the spirit of the antichrist.

And now he says again in this letter, “Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” The coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh—that one phrase captures a great deal of what you need to know about Jesus. “The coming” means that before he was born in a manger, he was already there as God the Son, and “in the flesh” means that he truly became human. Some denied that he existed before he was born; others denied that he ever became truly human. But either way—if you deny Jesus’ humanity or his deity—you’re doing the work of the antichrist.

In an earlier message we looked at some of the antichrists that have gone out into the world. Docetism and Gnosticism were early heresies that said Jesus only seemed to be human or that the “Christ spirit,” which had a divine source, was different from the human Jesus—it came upon him for a little while at his baptism and left before his crucifixion. Those are the kinds of heresies John is attacking directly.

Later, around the year 300, Arianism arose, saying that Jesus was the greatest of all created beings. In fact, they said he existed before the world was created, but he himself was created by God and then later came into the world. In more recent times, Jehovah’s Witnesses picked up on that idea. They say Jesus is the archangel Michael, the greatest of all created beings, and that he came into the world as a human for us. In a sense, Jehovah’s Witnesses just recycled Arianism.

Then you have Unitarians, who say, “There is one God—and Jesus isn’t it.” Jesus, they say, was a good teacher about God, but not God himself. Islam is another version of that. In Islam, Jesus isn’t God, but he is important and wonderful—the third greatest prophet. Not bad, they think. But even the Arians said Jesus was the greatest of all beings! Islam has demoted him to third among the prophets, but they still think that’s pretty high praise. Yet it’s not very high praise for someone who is himself eternal God.

Mormonism has its own ideas about God—the Father being a physical being, humans eventually attaining to the same level as Jesus, and God the Father being once a man. Pantheism says God is everything—so of course Jesus is God, but so are mosquitoes. Hinduism and Buddhism both have their own slots for Jesus. Hindus might have Jesus as one of their many millions of gods, maybe even a little statue of him on their shelf. Buddhism might say, “Jesus—he’s another Buddha, an enlightened bodhisattva.” Almost no one wants to say something really bad about Jesus—just not enough by a mile.

For our purposes, two of the biggest threats from antichrist in our time and situation come from pluralism and liberalism. Pluralism is the idea that many roads lead to God—Jesus is one of them. He works well for some people, and there are other paths that work better for others. But that’s very contrary to Jesus’ statement: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Yet pluralism is extremely common in our time.

Then there’s liberalism—not political liberalism, but theological liberalism. It’s the idea that everybody is God’s child, that we’re all brothers, and that we don’t really need a Savior. Someone once summarized liberalism as “a God without wrath bringing men without sin into a kingdom without repentance through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” Everybody’s in. You don’t need to repent. You don’t need the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.

If you think I’m talking about things that are far away or theoretical, consider this: a pastor right in our own town recently posted on his church’s website, “Jesus did not die on the cross to save people from their sins. He died as a champion of social justice. He did not die as our substitute. Substitutionary atonement is false. The idea of hell was invented by the church to control people.” Seems he missed the memo that Jesus talked about hell more than anybody else in the Bible.

And this same pastor champions certain social causes—abortion on demand up to the moment of birth and transgender ideology—as central moral issues. That’s one sample of modern liberalism. And it’s not far away—it’s five miles down the road.

When John writes 2 John, he’s not doing it because he thought, “I’ll trot off a nice little letter on one page of papyrus—I’ve got writer’s cramp anyway, so I’ll just say a few things.” And when I’m preaching from 1, 2, and 3 John, I might joke, “Oh wow, I’m very creative now—I’m out of 1 John and into 2 John.” But I wouldn’t preach on 2 John if I didn’t believe it was the Word of God—and that you need to hear it now, in our own time and situation.

When you proceed through the Word of God, paying attention closely to it and to the situation you find yourself in, you discover that it’s talking about the very circumstances you face. So we need to be aware of the danger of the antichrists—those who in their various ways have denied who Jesus is, denied what’s at stake in heaven and hell, denied that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. These are the messages of the antichrists.

John says, “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” (2 John 8–9).

Why does he say, “Watch yourselves”? For one thing, he might be speaking almost a little bit personally. He’s saying, “I’ve worked pretty hard. We apostles worked hard, suffered a lot, brought this message, wrote it down. Don’t waste our efforts!” Many of us are heirs of great apostles, martyrs, reformers, and heroes of the faith. They received God’s salvation for themselves, but they also sought to spread it to the world and to future generations. Don’t be the generation that throws it all away. Don’t waste the efforts of those who loved you and sought to bring you God’s truth.

And, of course, John says, “I want you to receive your reward—to get all the blessings God wants for you.” God has laid up eternal riches for those who belong to Christ, for those washed by his blood. Christ Jesus came into the world so that we would have joy and that our joy would be complete, so that we would have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Don’t throw away the blessings Jesus came to bring.

Then John warns against those who “go on ahead.” It’s interesting to read that in light of how people talk about the 21st century: “We’re in a different time. We’re progressive.” John says, “Oh yes—you’re running ahead, thinking you don’t need to abide.” People say, “We’ve got to run ahead, run ahead, move beyond all that old stuff.” John says, “Don’t be so progressive that you advance away from God.” Abide in the true doctrine of Christ, and then you’ll have both the Father and the Son.

A key part of walking in the truth, then, is to watch yourself—so that you don’t throw away the efforts of others who led you to salvation, so that you don’t lose your own eternal reward, and so that you’re not bragging about being so progressive that you’ve left behind the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

G. K. Chesterton once defined a “progressive” as someone who thinks Thursday is better than Wednesday because it happens to be Thursday. “It’s the 21st century!” Yes—and the previous one was the 20th. So what? Truth is truth. Don’t pride yourself on living on Thursday rather than Wednesday.

Then John addresses another issue. People who’ve been reading what he says about antichrists and abiding in the truth might wonder, “But hospitality matters a lot!” Hospitality to travelers was an extremely important value throughout the ancient world—especially among Jews and Christians. They saw hospitality to travelers as the right thing to do. There weren’t many safe or reputable inns; many were dangerous places, full of thieves or immorality. So Christians and Jews who traveled preferred to stay somewhere safer.

Various preachers traveled widely, and the early Christian house churches served as bases of operation for those preachers—giving them food, lodging, and a place to minister. All that is well and good. Be hospitable to strangers; help traveling missionaries; give them a place to stay and work.

But what if the preacher who just showed up happens to be one of those antichrists John has been warning about? What then? How should you deal with a person like that?

John says, “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” (2 John 10–11).

He’s saying, “Don’t help them. Shun them.” It’s one thing to take in a traveler who needs help—it might even be fine to take in an enemy who’s wounded and needs care—but to take in an enemy agent and say, “I’m a very hospitable person! I’m so pleased to have you here. Would you like to set up a machine gun in my kitchen so you can mow down all my friends when they come near my house?”

Would you consider that a loving or wise thing to do—taking an enemy agent right into your kitchen and arming him to destroy your loved ones? John says that’s basically what you’re doing if you take an antichrist into your house church and give him a launching pad. You’ve turned your house into an enemy barracks.

When John says, “Do not greet him,” he doesn’t mean never say hello to anyone except devoted Christians. He’s not saying, “Oh, I sinned yesterday—I said hi to a non-Christian!” What he means is: don’t speak words of blessing and encouragement to someone whose enterprise must not be blessed or encouraged.

So save your nice words for people who need them—but not for those whom you’d be helping to do evil.

Why would you shun deceivers? Their company could corrupt you. If you hang around with the wrong people long enough, bad company corrupts good character. The Bible says, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20). You invite a bad person with bad doctrine into your house church to teach for a while, and you’re going to have a disaster.

I already talked about the bear and the hunter—sometimes dialogue with the devil is not what you want. I’ve seen time and again in churches and denominations that the cutting edge of ruin is the invitation to dialogue: “Let’s talk about this a little longer. You thought you knew what the Bible said about that, but let’s reconsider.” Then, one by one, you’re shown how each text doesn’t really mean what you thought it meant, and by the end of the conversation you’ve persuaded yourself that men are women and women are men. There’s literally nothing the devil can’t persuade you of once you start a conversation with him.

So be very aware of what’s going on. As I’ve said before, aiding enemy agents is treason. It’s not kindness to help an enemy agent carry on the work of the enemy. If you had a wounded soldier and you were helping that person recover from wounds, that’s one thing. But if he’s alive, active, and bristling with machine guns—be very careful. Help the wrecked, but not the wreckers.

What do I mean by that? Be tender with captive strugglers who are held enslaved by Satan, but be tough toward enemy agents.

I’ll give you some examples. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself was known to be a friend of sinners. He would eat with prostitutes and tax collectors. But he never got into cooperation with a pimp to run a house of prostitution, even though he helped individual prostitutes out of that life. He never ran a seminar for tax collectors on how to cheat more successfully, extort others, or hire more leg-breakers to collect money. He was kind to tax collectors who were despised and marginalized, but he didn’t help them become better traitors or better rip-off artists.

He would eat with Pharisees, but he didn’t say, “Now, I want my disciples to have equal exposure to other views, so today, Mr. Pharisee, please come in and teach my disciples what it really means to follow God.” Jesus was a friend of sinners, but he did not give enemy agents the opportunity to corrupt his followers.

And yet today you’ll find teachers of theology spending more time acquainting their students with a bunch of heretical theologians than with the content of the Bible. I’m involved in theological education, and I know how it often goes. There’s a place for exposing bad theology, but not in theology class—it belongs in apologetics class, where you’re refuting lies and errors, not when you’re trying to teach the truth of the gospel.

Sometimes people have a sentimental attachment to their organization or agency. When John says, “Don’t take them in, don’t help them,” what does that mean in our setting? One thing it means is: don’t give your money for missions when the missionaries don’t believe in orthodox Christianity.

In the early 20th century, that was happening. Some believers got in trouble for saying, “We’re not sending money to that mission agency anymore, because they’re universalists. They’re over there in China just doing good works but not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Your missionaries should be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you need to be vigilant about the missionaries and agencies you support.

Some people graduate from a school and think their alma mater is still a bastion of truth. They graduated thirty-seven years ago, but things changed in those years. It’s not a bastion of truth anymore—it’s a wasp’s nest of lies. Harvard was founded to “lay Christ as the foundation.” Do you really want to add to Harvard’s multi-billion-dollar endowment because you think they’re advancing the gospel? Dream on—that was a long time ago.

Many contemporary Christian colleges still use the word “Christian” in their name and talk about being Christian, but do some due diligence before you send your money there—or your kids. Check out what’s being taught. I might get in trouble for saying this, but I’d rather send my kid to a rank pagan public university than to one that claims to be Christian and isn’t—because at least at the public school, they go in with their antenna up. They expect the world and its lies, not smooth talk from people claiming to be Christians while leading them away from truth.

When John says you’ve got to be careful, realize that the people he’s talking about are in the church. They carry the label “Christian.” There’s a danger of dismissing anyone as not a Christian just because they disagree with you on small points—that’s not what we’re talking about. But when someone denies the atonement of Jesus Christ, denies the biblical teaching on sexuality, denies heaven and hell—it’s time to say, “This is not Christian teaching. This is not Christian mission.”

So don’t send your kids there. Don’t give your money there. Find people to ally with who will walk in the truth and not spread lies.

And how do you deal with all that? As I mentioned—shun deceivers, but be tender with some people and tough with others. For example, if you have a young person reaching their later teen years who’s wrestling with same-sex attraction, do you clobber them over the head and say, “Die, heretic—you’re terrible”? No. You’re tender with a person who is himself or herself a struggler.

That’s very different from coming up against a fifty-something college professor or preacher who says, “The Bible doesn’t mean what it says about abstaining from same-sex relations—that sex is for marriage between a man and a woman for life.” When you meet an educated, mature person who is a teacher or missionary for that view, then you’ve got to be tough with them.

If you have a young woman who’s pregnant and wondering whether she should keep the baby, you need to deal with compassion and love and help her in every way you can. But if you’re dealing with someone who is a lobbyist for an abortion organization or a clergy person championing abortion, you’ve got to be tough—because now they’re in missionary mode, not struggler mode.

If you’ve got a Jehovah’s Witness neighbor and you get into some friendly conversations over the fence, you can talk with them. You don’t have to say, “I never talk to anyone who doesn’t believe in Christ.” You can converse with someone who’s curious or exploring. But when two people knock on your door, hand you a Watchtower tract, and say, “We’d like you to consider what we’re offering,” then you say, “No, thank you. Goodbye.” Don’t invite them in or try to persuade them, because they’re in missionary mode—and they’re encouraged when you open the door.

Those are examples of the difference between associating with a struggler, as Jesus did, and dealing very firmly with agents of the enemy—not with those who are enslaved, but with those who are his teachers and missionaries. So be tender. Don’t take anything from this message as saying, “I’m not going to deal with anyone who has questions or struggles anymore.” Love the struggler. Talk with the questioner. Try to provide good answers. But if someone already has all the answers—and they’re the wrong ones—and they’re not struggling but trying to win you over, don’t give them the time of day.

John ends his letter saying, “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” (2 John 12–13). You might think those are just throwaway lines, but I’d argue you don’t want to throw them away. “Face to face is better.”

Maybe we should have read 2 John a few more times in the last year and a half—face to face is better. It sounds obvious, but evidently it needs saying. It was said two thousand years ago, and it’s still true today. Full joy flows from being together.

John knows how to write—he knows how to write a really good letter—and yet he says, “I’d rather leave the paper and ink aside. I’d rather be there with you.” During the last year and a half, I thought if anyone would be comfortable with not being face to face, it would be me. I spent sixteen years in a soundproof room talking to a microphone when I was in radio, and then another decade sitting in a soundproof room talking to a video camera. I can do that—but it’s not the same. Face to face is better. Let’s get that through our heads. We all know it; let’s keep living that way.

“The children of your elect sister” are the believers from John’s church, as I mentioned earlier. Christian love includes the bond between sister congregations. We’re looking forward, Lord willing, to a combined worship service in September with some sister congregations in the area. There’s even a challenge with that, because one of those congregations is the one I mentioned earlier. I had a very frank conversation with that pastor. I told him, “What you preach is not what the rest of us pastors in town are preaching.” He said, “Well, it’s probably best that I not preach that service,” and I thought, “Yeah, probably not.” In fact, definitely not—because if that were the case, I wouldn’t be there, and neither would you.

But if we get to do the preaching and their people come, I like that arrangement. I don’t want to be crass about it, but that’s the way it is. If you’re a believer trying to spread the gospel and you have opportunities to preach where people are willing to listen, that’s one thing. But if you say, “We’re so united that we’ll hand the pulpit to someone who doesn’t believe the gospel,” that would be an impossible compromise.

So again, we must find our way to affirm Christian love and unity where that unity truly exists, and at the same time be firm in the truth—to walk in the truth and help others come to the truth. That’s our calling from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just one final word on that “face-to-face” business—it’s not only about congregations gathering together when many are told not to; it’s also about how we relate personally. I’m kind of an old codger now, but I still find it troubling when I see four people sitting in a restaurant booth and they’re all looking at their phones. Maybe put that little thing down once in a while and actually say, “Hi, I see you. Let’s talk.”

And when you’re mad at somebody, you don’t need to write fifteen texts or post something on social media about how angry you are. You might actually talk to that person. Try it sometime—it’s quite amazing.

One of my mentors, Dr. Joel Nederhood, once gave me a great piece of advice. It was a leadership principle, but it applies to life too. He said, “Dave, never put into writing something that you can settle by talking with somebody.” If there’s an issue, go to them, talk it over, see if there’s a way to work it out. Don’t start writing until you’ve first talked together.

So again, those are not throwaway lines—they’re important wisdom that we shouldn’t ignore. Face to face is best. Togetherness is best—as a congregation and with other congregations where real unity exists. And it all comes down to walking in the truth and speaking the truth in love: to know God, to love God and others, to obey God’s commands, to not be deceived, to have God’s wisdom and discernment so that we don’t help the deceivers, while seeking to help and love those struggling and trapped by deception.

It’s not always easy—that’s why we need the help of the Lord. We need the guidance, discernment, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. So let’s pray for that.

Prayer

Dear Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son, for the wonderful salvation he has given us, for rescue from hell and the inheritance of heaven on earth that you’ve promised to those who love you and await your coming. We praise you, Lord, for all your kindness and the wonders of your gospel. Help us to walk in the truth, to speak the truth in love, to live by the truth as we obey your commands.

Give us, Lord, the wisdom we need. Grant us the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord—the same Spirit who rested on Jesus and lives in us. Make his mind more and more evident in us, that we may have the mind of Christ: the mind to love, but also the mind to discern—to know what we ought to do in the particular challenges we face in our time.

Help us to be beacons of your light, not corrupted by false teachers and antichrists. We pray, Lord, for those under deception—that you will set them free. Bless and help the strugglers and give them liberty. And we pray, Lord, even for false prophets and false teachers who have been doing the devil’s work. Have mercy on them, that they may come to a knowledge of the truth, repent of their false teaching, and embrace your gospel. We ask all this, Lord, for your glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Walk in Truth (2 John)
By David Feddes
Slide Contents

John’s epistles

• 1 John: in-depth letter to warn of fakes and assure believers
• 2 John: one-page letter to a church on staying true to Christ
• 3 John: one-page letter to Gaius on supporting mission
• What order? All in a packet?

2 John (ESV)

¹ 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, ² because of the truth that abidesin us and will be with us forever:

³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

⁴ I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. 

⁸ Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. ⁹ 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. 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.

Walk in truth

Greeting and declaration (1-3)

• Know, love, obey (4-6)
• Don’t be deceived (7-9)
• Don’t help deceivers (10-11)

Fond farewell (12-13)

Greeting

¹ 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, ² because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

The elder

 Ὁ πρεσβύτερος

• John the beloved disciple, not just an elder named John
• The elder, not just an elder
• Prominent leader of churches
• Old man, the last apostle alive

The elect lady

• “Elect lady” is likely a house church.
• “Her children” are those in the group.
• John met true believers from that church and sent a letter with them.
• He helps church stay true to Christ.

The truth

... 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:

• Love of truth inspires true love.
• Believers in Christ know the Truth: alive, personal, indwelling, eternal.

Declaration

³ 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 is a fact, not just a nice wish.
• Father and Son Jesus are together.
• Truth and love come packaged together with all God’s gifts.

 
Walk in Truth

⁴ I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. 

 

 

Antichrist

⁷ 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.

Antichrists

• Docetism
• Gnosticism
• Arianism
• Jehovah’s Witnesses
• Unitarianism
• Islam
• Mormonism
• Pantheism
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Pluralism
• Liberalism

Watch yourselves

⁸ Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.  ⁹ 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. 

• Don’t waste others’ efforts for you.
• Get all the prizes God wants for you.
• Don’t be so “progressive” that you “advance” far away from God.
• Abide in true doctrine of Christ, and you will have both Father and Son.

Traveling preachers

• Jews and Christians saw hospitality to travelers as the right thing to do.
• Inns were immoral and dangerous.
• Various preachers traveled widely.
• House churches gave them a place to stay for mission headquarters.
• What if preachers were antichrists?

Shun deceivers

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.

• House becomes enemy barracks.
• Nice words encourage evil.
• Their company could corrupt you.
• Dialogue with the devil is deadly.
• Aiding enemy agents is treason.
• Help the wrecked, not the wreckers.
• Be tender with captive strugglers but tough toward enemy agents.

Fond farewell

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.

• Face to face talking is best.
• Full joy flows from togetherness.
• “The children of your elect sister” are believers from John’s church.
• Christian love includes the bond between sister congregations.

Walk in truth

Greeting and declaration (1-3)

• Know, love, obey (4-6)
• Don’t be deceived (7-9)
• Don’t help deceivers (10-11)

Fond farewell (12-13)