The Command To Love

The Truth That Abides and Is Lived Out

Well, this afternoon, we continue in our short study through this short letter of 2 John. As last week, we looked at the first three verses. This afternoon, we'll look at the second three verses. But we will, once again, read the entire book of 2 John, every word of all 13 verses, if you would please stand as we prepare ourselves.

2 John. The elder to the elect lady and her children, in whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who love 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 rejoice greatly to find some of you 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 had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. And this is the commandment, just as you've heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 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.

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.

God bless the reading. And now, Lord, go in the preaching of his word. Please be seated. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray again for your spirit to help us. We pray again for you, Father, to join with us as we look to your word, as we trust in your spirit, and as we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ by looking for instruction from this word that you've given us.

We pray again that you would bless the hearing and the preaching of your holy and sufficient and complete word. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. So let me reread just those three verses that we're going to focus on for a little bit this afternoon.

As I said, the second three verses, excuse me. The Apostle Paul writes, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, he says to the church there, remember they're in Asia Minor, maybe in Ephesus, but somewhere in Asia Minor, one of those churches.

He says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we are commanded by the Father. And I ask you, dear lady, not as though I write to 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. And this is the commandment, just as you've heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. You may recall from last week, from those first three verses, we made the point that truth does something.

God's truth should accomplish something in the believer's life. See, God's truth is more and more the ordering principle of every facet of life. It should do something. It should be that by which we live, be that by which we think, that worldview that is the sieve, the filter, that everything comes at us, and it comes through that truth, God's truth.

And the Apostle Paul rejoices when he hears, through some means, probably someone came from that church and was talking about what was going on there. And he rejoices to find that some of the children there at the church, some of the members of the church, is what he meant by children, were walking in the truth.

This truth, as he said in the first three verses, is something more than just propositional truth. It's a truth that abides with us. It's a truth that will be with us forever. It's a truth that takes up residence in us, as the Apostle Paul alludes back to Jesus.

And we talk about, I will give you the spirit of truth, and he will be with you forever. It's a truth that is with us. It abides with us. It takes up residence in the believer's life and in the believer's spirit.

The Holy Spirit of truth, as Jesus Christ calls him, the third person of the Trinity who Jesus said would be with us forever. Thus, we have not only the wellspring of truth in scripture, we also have the living ministry of the Holy Spirit who inspired it, guiding us in his own truth.

Do you see that? In our scripture, we have the word that the Holy Spirit himself inspired the prophets and the apostles to write and deliver to us, and he, that author, abides in us, abides in you, if you have Jesus Christ.

So truth. And he rejoices that the children are walking in the truth, that they're ordering their life around that truth, just as we would rejoice as pastors to see you living according to the truth that we try to proclaim to you Sunday in and Sunday out.

And he rejoices greatly. Not just, oh, that made me happy. Great rejoicing because of the truth, because of seeing these people walking in a truth that does what? Well, abides with them, not just propositions.

It's something living, like an organism almost. There's something organic about it. And growing them more and more into the image of Jesus Christ, with whom John, our author of this letter, walked for some three and a half years.

But see, there's something missing here. There's something missing here. The naked truth is that the truth by itself is naked, and its usefulness in the church is somewhat limited. Just truth alone. As we said last week with the apostle John himself as an example, truth alone can lead to harshness.

Truth alone can lead to a judgmental spirit. I made the case that John and some of the other apostles with Jesus Christ, when they saw the Samaritans' lack of hospitality, they were so outraged by it that they wanted to call down fire from heaven and consume them.

Jesus, of course, says you do not know what spirit, what kind of spirit you are of when you say things like that. I think this is what truth does, when all we have is propositional truth. That's all we're looking at is a body of knowledge and make it somewhat academic.

Truth, if it be God's truth, as it is in Jesus Christ, among the other things it does, and here is something that is John the Apostle's focus for us, it produces love. Truth must produce love. God's truth does something.

It brings forth godly love. Now it's often said, and I didn't do a count for the statement I'm going to make, but it's often said that Jesus Christ preached more about money and hell than anything else.

Have you heard this before? Look up love. Look up how often, especially in John's gospel, Jesus Christ himself speaks about love and makes it the mark of the Christian. Now this is John's point for his home church, which is somewhere in Asia Minor in the first century.

The warning against the heresies that were rampant in the day, that's going to come next, God willing, next week as we go to verse seven and the rest of this letter. Just what was it that John was fighting against, but here he's preparing them to hear what it is that they need to protect themselves from.

This is all preparation for that. But you and I, at this point in this letter, we're not prepared to guard ourselves yet. We're not ready. Not with truth alone. Not with just the truth, as the Apostle Paul wrote, and above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Don't put away your truth. Don't stop studying the Bible and understanding the propositional truths that are in it, because that's a truth that abides in you. It's a truth that is different than just going to school and learning facts.

Don't put away truth. But according to scripture, we must add to that truth something. Must add to that truth, but that truth itself will produce in you, and that's love. Excuse me. So in 2 John, verses four through six, he commends the church for those who are found to be walking in the truth.

It gave him great rejoicing. He rejoices greatly because some were doing what they're supposed to be doing. Now you might ask, why would he rejoice and do so greatly over a church, over a small church, and over just some, in what was in all likelihood a small church, just some who are doing what they're supposed to do.

Well, we always say it's not about the numbers, don't we? And it's true. It is not about the numbers. Here, the apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would rejoice greatly for those some, whatever that number is, who are walking in that truth that he seems to be the one who brought it to them.

But why would he rejoice that you're walking in the truth? Aren't you just supposed to do what God says? Isn't it enough that God commanded it, therefore you're supposed to do it? Didn't Jesus say in Luke chapter 17, remember that parable about the servants?

And I'm gonna paraphrase this thing very quickly, but he says, listen, you come in as servants, and you've done your duty, and what do you do when you're around the master's table? What happens then? He sits down, and you serve him.

You don't get any thanks for doing your work. What does he say in Luke 17 10? This is not a paraphrase. He says, you should say we are unprofitable servants having done only our duty. So if we have that kind of reasoning, why would John be rejoicing because they're doing their duty, which is to do the truth, to enact the truth, to live out the truth that Christ brought?

Well, Luke 17 was a parable. We could go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse six, and that's no parable, and what does it say there that love rejoices over the truth? Love rejoices in the truth. Love has an emotional response to God's truth.

The heart of flesh rejoices when it hears truth and sees it being lived out in others. Brethren, do you? I mean, we're supposed to pull each other along. We're supposed to help each other grow into the image of Christ, and I believe we do, but I think there's a beginning step there.

If you have a little trouble in doing that, or if you haven't before seen somebody take that step closer to Christ, you're rejoicing your spirit in it, and give them a pat on the back. Maybe we're missing this rejoicing in the truth as a whole.

Let's rejoice in God's truth, and then rejoice in seeing it lived out. It's this emotional response that we can properly have. I don't mean just bouncing off the walls and being giddy. I mean the kind of rejoicing that John is doing, where it's deep in his spirit, and he's just so glad to see God working through his word and truth in this son, in that church.

The heart of flesh that God gives the believer when it hears the truth and see it lives out in others is what we're talking about here. In the presence of God's truth, the heart leaps for joy, the way John the Baptist did from Elizabeth's womb when Jesus Christ in Mary's womb was near him.

Remember that? He'd leap for joy because he knew he was in that presence. Inside the womb, not yet born. I think this is the kind of rejoicing we should have when we come near the truth. If the truth abides in you, if the Holy Spirit himself who brings that truth is in you now, then when you're in the presence of others who bear that truth, and who live that truth, and who rejoice in that truth, should make you rejoice.

Just be glad to be in that presence, and we should recognize that presence. We should know the truth, the facts of the Bible, so that we can discern whether or not we're near the truth, but when we are, that spirit within just leaps for joy to be near truth and to see it live it out the way John does.

I think it is John here who's not quenching a smoldering wick with some somber, solemn, grave tone saying, ah, good, obedience, that's what we're supposed to do. Do God's commands, that's what you should do.

Now keep it up and don't mess up. There's nothing like that coming from John. Just his encouraging return to this church. I could see the messenger who brought him so he should have the knowledge that there's some walking truth, going back and say, John is rejoicing.

He missed dinner because he's rejoicing so much. He can't sleep because he's so glad to have heard this report from us. It's an emotional expression. And as we think of that, with John rejoicing, I want to ask as we continue here, how far is rejoicing, because John says he rejoiced greatly, how far is rejoicing from love, which is really going to be the main thing that he's pushing here?

Agape Love Rejoices in the Truth and Sees Others as Precious

Well, not far when we consider what love is. Love in 2 John in every instance is a word we're familiar with. It's agape, agape love. We all know what that means. We've heard that in many sermons. We're familiar with the term and it's used in the world quite a lot.

Agape, you see, is not just a rush of feelings. It can be that, but it's not just this rush of feelings. It's a love that does something. It's a love that does something. As when God so loved the world that he did something.

What did he do? He sent his only begotten son that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loved the world he had made. Did he look down and say, well, 33 BC, which is roughly the time we think Jesus might have been born.

He looked down and said, well, there's a great bunch of people. They're worthy of my love. I think now is the time to send my son. Well, of course not. Think back to Noah's day when a man's heart was bent upon evil continually.

Is that when he decided to love or maybe stop loving the world? Well, no, Agape is different than that. Agape is a love that does something, a love that brings service, rejoicing that emotional expression of one who loves the truth.

And then this rejoicing, I would say, is not far from love. In verse five, now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I'm writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, and here it is, that we love one another.

And once again, never forget that Jesus said, by this, they will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. And Jesus Christ said, by this, the world will know that you are my disciples.

I'm sorry, I just said that. A new command I give you, that you love one another. Truth without love is just dry knowledge, books with well-worn corners full of words that fall to the ground like stones.

Truth does something, and it produces this love. A heart of truth rejoices and loves the brethren. One man wrote that the love that agape means is to see something as infinitely precious. The object of this love is something you see as infinitely precious.

He says it's the highest and noblest form of love. And I'd love to quote and tell you who this author is. It's in my notes, and I forgot the name. I just wrote the quote, and I forgot to give myself a little footnote for it.

But this idea of this high and noble form of love that sees something infinitely precious in its object is the kind of love that agape really is or should be. It sees something precious in the focus of the love, and that's why it does something.

Now again, if we go back to God sending his son, he didn't look down and say, the world is full of good people who are worthy of my love. It is God seeing what he himself had made. And he sees creation as something precious because he's the one who spoke it into existence.

And so he does something about his condition, which is to send Jesus Christ to die for our sins and to bring us to him. So what do we add to our encyclopedic knowledge, our ready tongue? We keep that.

We learn that more and more. We walk in that truth while we rejoice to see others alongside us in the way. And we look upon those others, that's me, that's him, that man or woman next to you or behind you or in front of you, we look upon them with this high and noble view of them as infinitely precious.

Because of the quality of them? No, because of my quality? No, because of the quality of Jesus Christ. Because of the infinitely precious Christ who's in them. And the truth that is in them. They should mesh with the truth that is in you because they're the same.

And make the hearts rejoice to be so close to truth and seeing it lived out. That's the kind of love that John is speaking of here to all that knowledge. Keep the knowledge, add love. Think of Philippians 2, five through 11.

Christ Jesus, writes the apostle Paul, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

As I said, God so loved the world, he did something about it. He sent his son to the cross. He saw something as infinitely precious, not your or my quality. We must remember that as we go through this.

But God's view of the world, God's view of that people that was to be redeemed by Jesus Christ on the cross. So Philippians 5, two and for those few verses that I read to you, incredible theology and wonderful truth and so high and noble a truth that theologians over the years, over the centuries I believe have given it a name.

Have you heard this? Have you ever heard the great kenosis? He emptied himself. The Greek word behind that is keno, to empty oneself. And so they call this passage in Philippians 2, the great kenosis, what God did.

Jesus Christ himself emptied himself as his divine prerogatives. Because of God's love of the world, he emptied himself and went and accomplished that thing that God sent him to do, which was to redeem us, redeem the church.

But I read from Philippians 2, starting verse five, but I left a few verses off the beginning of verse five. I don't know if anybody caught that, but let me give you those verses that left off before the words Christ Jesus, who though is in the form and so forth, before that, at the beginning of the verse, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Have this attitude, walk according to this truth. It can hardly be reduced to a set of rules, much less to wrote obedience to the law. I'm not saying anything for or against the law here because the apostle John isn't.

We hold to that. Our confession exalts that. But that's not John's point. That's not what John has in view. The particular truth he means is something we need to delve into more next week, what this is warning against, what this is giving protection against.

What John has in mind here, and I think he would have the apostle Paul support, is his attitude, is his love of the truth that rejoices in the truth and at no time more greatly than to see others walking in it.

Imagine a church that doesn't just encourage one another along the way and build one another up, which are biblical truths and demands upon us. But if we are to begin that process, how much more would we, if we rejoiced in that truth, that we're going to help others walk in?

Rejoice to see it. Rejoice to see that man mortify that sin. Rejoice to see that woman being able to nurture and raise her children in the truth. Rejoice to see all these things as God's word is played out in life.

And then with that rejoicing as a groundwork, as a foundation, rejoicing greatly to see these things, then encourage and build up or rebuke as necessary. I think this is exactly what the apostle John has in mind.

Have this attitude. Have this attitude first. What would this kind of love do? What would it eliminate, we should ask? Would it eliminate lust? It would eliminate greed. It would eliminate jealousy. It would eliminate clamoring.

It would eliminate all sorts of things. Do you remember we quoted last week from Colossians 3? I want to remind you of this, sis. Put to death, at verse five, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which has been renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scathing, and free slave, but Christ is all in all.

Here's truth. Here's wonderful truth. Put these things away. Stop doing them. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.

And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. And here we go. And above all these things, on top of all of this, how do you bind all these things together?

Verse 14, and above all these, put on love, the exact love that the apostle John has in 2 John. Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. So can you do this? Are you able, Christian, believer in Christ Jesus, you in whom the spirit of truth dwells?

Can you do this? Don't answer no too quickly. It's just too easy to say that only by grace can I do anything good. No, I'm just a sinner and I've got to be saved by grace. And every moment, if God doesn't give me grace, all I'll do is wrong.

I mean, we need to hold to that kind of humility. I'm not making fun of it at all. We need to hold to that kind of humility that reminds us if we give into ourself, that's what's going to come out of us.

And we need to remember that only by the Holy Spirit overcoming our spirit can our sinful self keep from sinning. But too often, these become an excuse. They become a weak excuse, or excuse to not love the way John would have us to love.

And this love, as we're going to see next week, God willing, is the protection we have against great dangers to the church. So we need to put this on. And these are all true about our own inability. Without Christ, we could do no good.

But remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 4, you ought to walk and to please God. Yes, you ought to walk and to please God. And he stares at them with a harsh stare and says, why aren't you?

No, what does he say? Just as you are doing that you may do so more and more. 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, and 10. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you because you're incapable of it.

And you do a lousy job of it anyway. No, he says, you have no need for anyone to write you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that is indeed what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

1 Thessalonians 5, 11, and 12. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. You see, brother, if we have the Holy Spirit within, we can do this. Not by our own works, not by our own self, but by submission to him, by repentance for our sin, by obeying the word of God, all these things.

But remember, because of God's work in you, Ephesians 1, 19, the power of God by which God resurrected Christ from the dead is the power that he works toward you. By that power, by his power, by the grace of God.

Without Jesus, none of us, not one of us, no, not one of us could do anything good. And the apostles knew this better than anyone. But as Paul was confident that the Romans were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another, that's Romans 15, 14, so John is able to write what he wrote and tell us to love.

Walking in Christ's Commandments as the Highest Love

Finally, and this is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you've been taught from the beginning, so you should walk in it. The highest and noblest love lives according to Christ's commands.

And this love sacrifices itself for that other, for that infinitely precious other. Time and resources may well be part of that sacrifice, but can I sacrifice my self-will for others? Can I walk according to Jesus's commands, an act of agape for the sake of others?

Can I give them something to rejoice in? And then they, me, as we build one another up in this way. Well, in the next few verses, the apostle's going to be specific about the insidious dangers that this particular truth guards the church against.

John rejoiced to see that the first line of defense was there. They were walking the truth, just as God commanded. And now we add something that was there from the beginning, something important enough to fill Jesus's final discourse in John 15 through 17, that his church should walk in love.

May it be so here with all God's people. May we rejoice to see one another growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.