WWUTT 451 Love in Truth? (Intro to 2 John)

Love in Truth and the Shared Bond of the Body of Christ

We love one another in the truth, and not just each other in the same church congregation, but everybody who is a member of the body of Christ finds this common bond in a common truth when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. A joy to be with you all as today, we begin a study of the book of 2 John. Studying through 1 John took us three months. We began at the start of March and finished at the start of June, March, April, May.

Three months in 1 John, we're gonna be spending three days in 2 John. It is the second shortest book of the New Testament. The shortest is 3 John, which is 219 words. 2 John clocks in at 245 words. So only slightly longer than 3 John.

And you'll notice some familiar themes as some of the things that John talks about in this letter sound like some of the things that he mentioned in 1 John. So this is kind of a CliffsNotes version of the previous letter.

Well, it's even shorter than CliffsNotes. I mean, if you took all the footnotes out of 1 John and put them all together, it would still be longer than 2 John. Only 13 verses, and we'll be stretching out a study of this book between today, tomorrow, and Wednesday.

Let's go ahead and read our text, and then we'll come back through it and talk about who John is writing to and what the occasion is of his writing and that sort of thing. So John 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.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and in love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your 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 have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.

This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it. 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.".

Who the Elect Lady Is and Why John Is Writing to a Church

So in John's first letter, in 1 John, he was writing mostly to the churches that we consider John ministering to in the latter years of his life, toward the end of the first century. What churches would those be?

They would be the churches that we have mentioned at the start of the book of Revelation, chapters two and three. Those seven churches were primarily the churches that John ministered to. And it is said that he remained at the church at Ephesus, the same church that Paul started.

And Timothy was at one point an elder of, but likely was not an elder at the time that John was elder there. So he is writing in this case to a specific church. In 1 John, it's a letter that went to the churches and likely the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

2 John is written to one specific church because that's what we have at the beginning of the letter, the elder to the elect lady and her children. Now there are some teachers out there and some very sound teachers that will say that John is writing to a specific person, but I really don't agree.

And the reason being because at the end of the letter, he says, the children of your elect sister greet you. It seems unlikely that he would be writing on behalf of another woman to her actual biological sister.

So this is the word that he is using to describe the church very simply because the church is explained as in one of John's own writings, the book of Revelation as the bride of Christ. And we even have bridal language alluded to in the book of John also.

So John in this case is writing to a church whom he calls the elect lady, church of Jesus Christ. And by calling her that, by calling the church that, the elect lady, it's a very endearing term showing that we have been chosen by God.

God's favor is still upon you because you love Christ, you obey the commandment, you have his spirit. So therefore you have God's favor. So we have a very loving and endearing address made at the beginning of this letter, just as John used such loving and friendly language in the first letter that we read using words like beloved to address those that he was writing.

John the Elder and the Question of Authorship

When John identifies himself as the elder at the start of this letter, there are some scholars that have tried to say that this is a different John than the writer of the gospel of John, or even the writer of 1 John or the writer of the book of Revelation.

So the gospel of John, 1 John and Revelation were one author, but 2 John may have been a completely different John. And I highly doubt that because I think you could hear it just from when we read through the text, how similar this is to 1 John.

So if you're gonna say that 1 John was written by the apostle John, then you have to say that 2 John was also written by that same author. Now there are scholars that say that 1, 2 and 3 John were not written by the beloved apostle John, but by somebody else, but there is no evidence to support that fact.

You would have to really reach and stretch in order to find some understanding of there being a different John that is writing 1, 2 and 3 John. The themes as was mentioned before when we were reading in 1 John are very similar to the gospel of John, almost identical in many of the thematic elements.

And of course, the theology that is being unfolded there as well. Too many similarities to say that this is two different Johns that we're talking about. And it's not unusual for John to refer to himself as elder because we've seen Peter do the same thing.

It was in 1 Peter 5, verse one, where Peter in addressing pastors, addressing other elders and overseers of the churches, identifies himself as an elder. So he's saying, hey, I sympathize with you. I've been through the same work that you are going through.

And so John likewise is as though he's writing as a pastor from one church to a pastor of another church, although he's addressing the whole church here, the elder, John the elder to the elect lady and her children, the church, all the people that are within that particular church, whom I love in truth.

And not only I, but also all who know the truth. So it's not just I who love you, you are loved by everyone who knows the truth. As we are all rejoicing and celebrating in the same truth, the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are all sharing this love and this work with one another.

One of the things that I think has been so endearing about Paul's letters is the way that he includes everyone in this ministry work that is being done. And nobody who was reading Paul's letters had been through the kind of persecution that he was going through.

I mean, he even had to put himself in a position of boasting about how much he had been persecuted because of the false apostles that had come into the Corinthian church and had claimed themselves to be like these super apostles, is the way that Paul refers to them as.

And so then Paul has to go on talking about all of the persecutions that he's been through. Can these guys say that they've gone through what I've gone through and still persevered and prevailed for the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And so these persecutions that Paul endured, even though he went through severe things, he still meant to include his readers in this work of sharing the gospel. You're every bit a part of this work as those who are out there getting beaten on the front lines, because we know you're praying for us.

You're supporting us. You are grieving with us. If you'll remember back to Philippians, I know this was almost two years ago. We're coming up on two years of this broadcast now. But two years ago, as we were going through Philippians, we talked about how the Philippian church was very empathetic of Paul and the things that he was suffering.

In fact, they were so grieved by it that they were kind of experiencing an anxiety over this. Oh man, Paul has been arrested and he's been thrown in jail. And there are some people who are making fun of him for it.

We read that in Philippians chapter one, that there were some pastors that were even making it hard on Paul. Some of them have chosen not to associate with Paul because if he got thrown in jail, he must've done something really bad.

God would not allow one of his sermons to be thrown in prison like that. So we're not gonna associate with Paul. Well, that's not the attitude that the Philippians had. They were very bound to Paul in that they struggled in their hearts so much for him, they took up an offering to help him with his ministry in Rome, even as he was under house arrest there, still able to share the gospel, they wanted to help him in his ministry.

They wanted to show their encouragement and support. How can we do that? We can take up an offering. So they gave it to Epaphras, Epaphroditus, who went from Philippi to Rome and almost died on the way there.

And so when Paul is writing back to them, he includes them in the work of ministry that's being done and says, hey, rejoice because what has happened to me here has actually served to share the gospel even among the whole palace guard.

So we can celebrate that I've actually been in prison for the gospel of Jesus Christ because more people are coming to Christ. And he talks about Epaphroditus, your beloved fellow servant in the faith who has taken up this offering, almost died on the way to deliver it to me.

He is struggling on your behalf. So while he was there with Paul, he was even praying for them and earning earnestly for the church that he had left in order to bring that offering. And so, again, one of the things I enjoy and appreciate so much about Paul's letters is how he includes those who he is writing to in the ministry work.

And not just to say, hey, you're part of this, but also to encourage them to be part of it. You can go out and share the gospel too, and you can struggle with us daily by lifting us up in prayer. We need your prayers.

One of the things that Paul says to the church in Ephesus is pray that I would be able to deliver the gospel boldly as I am presented the opportunity to do so. And so bringing this back into John's letter here, as we have this truth that abides in us and will be with us forever, we love in truth and we love one another in this truth, and we are bound together in this truth, and we struggle with one another in this truth, and we rejoice together in this truth.

All of this is included of those who are the church, though it may not be spoken of among one congregation. Like we can celebrate hearing that the church over a town and a half away has repented of false teaching and is now teaching sound doctrine and their baptisms are up and people are coming to know Christ.

We can rejoice in that. We can rejoice in knowing that we're part of that work and more people are being added to the kingdom. And it adds to our sanctification because as we are being sanctified, the whole body of Christ is being sanctified.

We are all being purified for that day that we will be joined together with the Lord in glory. So we all share in this work. And I find it necessary to encourage you in that understanding because of how easy it is for us now, especially in a technological age when we are more in touch with one another than ever before.

And we are probably more aware of some of the ins and outs that are happening in churches than we would ordinarily be aware of. You know, at a time before there were computers and internet and being able to listen to one another sermons online and reading transcripts, reading statements of faith, reading what we believe, all of this kind of thing before churches could be so transparent through the advent of the internet.

It was not possible for us to look into so many different churches and learn so much about them unless we had some sort of personal contact there, whether we were talking to the pastor or we ourselves went to that church and got to witness it ourselves or talk to somebody who had been to that church.

That was how we could know about those churches. But now that we know so much inside and out of the churches, it's very easy for us to get really nitpicky and start to look for stuff that we don't like about that church.

Because, I mean, the church in America is in big, big trouble. It's pretty bad, the teaching here that is so awful. But there are some good sound churches and we need to be careful not to look for things as though we're trying to find something bad.

But can we celebrate together in hearing that, hey, that church is sharing the gospel and people are coming to know Christ. And we can rejoice in that. For the apostle Paul refused to even quarrel with those who were giving him a hard time.

What does it have to do with me, Paul said? Only that the gospel is being shared all the more and in that I rejoice. And so we should feel the same way. Whenever we find that interconnectedness with other churches in sharing the gospel, a love for sound doctrine, an adherence to the truth, we all know this truth and the truth abides in us and will be with us forever.

Then praise God that there are other churches out there that are sharing the truth. Don't feel like you have to be in competition with them or don't feel like that you have to find what is wrong with that church and nitpick at it.

And you're the judge, jury and executioner that is gonna determine whether or not that church is truly a church by our nitpickiness concerning these things. So we need to be more gracious in the ways that we engage.

The whole cage stage behavior, I am over it, man. Cut it out. There is no reason for you to say that my grace is better than your grace. I'm more reformed than you are. My denomination is better than yours.

I love the quote from George Whitefield where he's looking into heaven and saying, what kind of churches do you have up there? Are there Methodist churches? No, there are no Methodist here. Are there Presbyterian churches?

No, there are no Presbyterians. Are there Wesleyans? No, there are no Wesleyans. Well, what do you have up there? Just Christians, that's all we have. I don't think Wesleyans was part of that because Whitefield was friends with John and Charles Wesley.

But anyway, you get the point. There are no denominations in heaven. We're all just Christians. I remember it was either a year ago, maybe two years ago, I had mentioned that my church does a ministry reaching out to high school students with two other churches in town.

One of them is a non-denominational church and the other one is Nazarene. And when I mentioned that, I got emails from people saying, brother, I don't think you should associate with the Nazarene church and then sending me links to what the Nazarene church believes as though I would not have considered that.

Now, that's all right. If you want to test my understanding on that, I won't be offended by that. But I know what the Nazarene church believes. And and this pastor that I do ministry with, he's very Arminian in his thinking.

I am not. I'm more I lean more reformed in my soteriology. And we have discussions about that and we talk about it. But that doesn't mean that he is somehow disqualified from me being able to do ministry with.

Both of us will tell students that they are sinning and they need to repent and follow Christ or you will be destroyed on the day of judgment. He says it as well as I. And that is as much the gospel as anyone can preach.

That it is through Christ we have been saved from our sins and it is by Christ we will be delivered into his eternal kingdom forever. And so even though there are matters of soteriology that we would disagree upon.

And like I said, we talk about those things that does not in any way disqualify him from being able to do ministry with. And I think that we need to be more gracious when it comes to the ultimate goal in sharing the gospel is to win lost souls from the jaws of hell into the everlasting life granted to us in God's kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Can we share a mutual effort in that? Doctrine is important. And we should absolutely be sure that we are together on the mains, on the essential doctrines. But we are not going to agree on every other doctrine.

And if we see that as a point of division, well, it hinders the growth of the gospel. And so we need to have this gracious attitude, the same gracious attitude that Paul had concerning even those who would oppose him.

And he had every reason to say, hey, those guys are bad pastors, don't listen to them. And yet he said, I'm gonna rejoice in the fact that they're preaching the gospel. Yeah, what does it mean to me that they're making things hard on me?

You know I'm in jail, right? Things are already hard on me. So I rejoice that the gospel is being spread and it's being spread all the more. And then he rejoices with the Philippians together in talking about how the gospel is spreading to the palace guard.

So John here also says we're rejoicing together in this shared truth that we have. The truth that abides in us will be with us forever. Verse three, grace and peace and mercy. I put that in the wrong order, but you got it.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God our father and from Jesus Christ, the father's son in truth and in love. And this is John putting before this church that he is writing to the same message of assurance that he gave over and over again in the book of 1 John.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us. How? How do we know that? Because the truth abides in us and that truth will be with us forever. So therefore, because of what is guaranteed us by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can know that we have grace, undeserved favor from God.

We have mercy when what we deserve is destruction and death, yet he gives us love and life. And we have peace. The wrath of God has been satisfied by the blood, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is a peace that surpasses all understanding, as Paul said to the Philippians.

And these are the things that we have from God the father and from Jesus Christ, the father's son in truth and in love. I don't know if you're aware of it, but yesterday was Trinity Sunday. I don't know how that was designated.

I've never looked up the history of that, but nonetheless, yesterday was a Sunday, I suppose, that we're supposed to celebrate and remember the Trinity. I don't even think I mentioned that in church yesterday, but I did say something about it on Twitter.

That is the central doctrine to the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity, that we worship one God who is father, son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one. Why is that the central doctrine of the Christian faith?

Because the fact that we're monotheist simply isn't enough. Islam is monotheist, Orthodox Judaism is monotheist, Mormonism is monotheist, but only Christianity is Trinitarian. It is the only one and it distinguishes us from all other monotheistic religions.

And the gospel, by the way, the gospel is shared in our understanding of the Trinity. Just consider probably the most famous gospel verse that we share, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, God the father, so loved the world that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him, belief that is granted by the Holy Spirit will not perish, but have everlasting life, sealed in the spirit for the day of glory.

So the salvation that we are given has been given to us by the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a Trinitarian work. This is a necessary doctrine to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so there's sort of a Trinity of assurances that John even gives us here in 2 John 3, grace, mercy, and peace, with us from God the father and from Jesus Christ, the father's son, in truth and in love, which is also a statement to the Holy Spirit, as we have it said in 1 John 5, verse six, that the spirit is the one who testifies because the spirit is the truth.

So a Trinitarian address at the start of this letter. We're three verses in, we've got 10 more to cover over the next two days. So I hope you'll come back together tomorrow as we continue our study of the book of 2 John.

Our Lord Christ, we thank you so much for the grace you have shown us, for the mercy that we do not deserve, for the peace that we have with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Help us to know that we have not just been reconciled to God, but also to the people of God.

And so there is a necessary command that has been given to us that we love one another in spirit and in truth, we are showing love in the body of Christ when we love the people of God. That doesn't just include our own church congregation that we fellowship with regularly and grow in our understanding and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we share this with other bodies of believers who have the same goal, who have been one to Christ in the same truth.

And so let us celebrate in that and understand that our mission is the same, to share the gospel with the lost so they would turn from sin and be saved. I was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.

By the grace of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

This is a protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt .com.