Grace and peace. We do study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. Just lift up your hand if you’d like a paper copy, so you can follow along in the text. I also want to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online. Grateful for you. I’m glad you’re here worshiping with us today. So, this week, we are continuing our study of the letters of John. This morning, we’ll give particular focus to the second of these letters. Second John, that’s been preserved for us by the Holy Spirit. Second and Third John, which we’ll study next week, are the shortest books in the New Testament, just behind Philemon and Jude, which we studied last week. The brevity of these letters though, just to be clear, may not get us to brunch or lunch anytime sooner, if you were thinking that.
Our study of 1 John a few weeks ago was a great gift to Emily and me, my wife personally, as our family and many of our friends have been in a heavy season, some of doubt, some of grief, some getting confusing or hard medical news, not unlike many who are in here today or watching online. The apostle, the pastor, the writer: John. He writes to these people to give an anxious heart, to give a confused culture, a confused church, the grace of basic truth. That’s part of what he does in 1 John, and we’ll see here in 2 John as well. Fresh clarity for those maybe who are wandering, those who are weary, wandering. And that basic truth boils down to this:
Brothers and sisters, hear this. God loves you. How deep the Father’s love for us is true. It’s what the Apostle John wants us to know and that’s the basis for everything that we’re going to talk about here today. It’s a truth that can reorient, I think, an anxious heart, a truth meant to be shared with those who need the grace of fresh clarity, of a basic truth in a world that doesn’t even want to acknowledge that there is such a thing. If you’re an NFL fan, Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest coaches in the NFL, he would start his season with all these professional football players. He would start the season of training and he’d hold out a football and he’d say what? “Gentlemen?” Yeah. “This is a football.”
Lombardi started with basic truth, and I think the Apostle John does that. You are beloved in Christ. If that’s the only thing you take away here today, I think we’ve done our job. I hope this study has shown you that so far. You may have noticed that the walk of faith in our world has become increasingly, in many ways, I think an incline walk, an uphill pilgrimage, and our Lord, of course, told us that it would be. He told us that that would be the case, and in some ways, nothing new under the sun. But the velocity of the headwinds, and headwinds moral decay, the erosion of truth or even the concept of truth, the contagion of outrage. I actually heard this phrase, I’d never heard it before: Because of social media, because of 24/7 news, we are always in a season of “polycrisis” or crises. Many crises are always happening all at once, and outrage is the fruit, at least a part of that.
We also live in a culture that sometimes is just plain silly, doesn’t want to recognize reality, and all of those things – moral decay, confusion, even the silliness – can lead us to fear. But I think with the Apostle John here rooting us, tethering us, lashing us to the mast of God’s love; he’s telling us we don’t have to fear, and there could never be, perhaps, a more fitting moment for us to show something more beautiful. A more beautiful way to live, what John would call in his first letter, “walking in the way in which He walked,” the way our Lord Jesus walked. The Apostle John is likely the last living apostle at this point in history, and I’ll put up here an approximation of the timeline of the Apostle John’s ministry.
We don’t know with certainty his exact age, but he’s most likely in his 80s or 90s, writing about 50 or 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now what’s not shown here on this list, though, are the rulers, the Roman rulers of that time; Nero, who we’ve talked about before early in John’s ministry, and later in John’s ministry, probably while he’s writing this book, Domitian, who were violently opposed to the things of God, the followers of Christ and his ways. So, John is writing, he wasn’t only an eyewitness to Jesus, but he was an eyewitness to these folks, to this culture that was crumbling before him, to the pervasive decay of his own world. He was well acquainted with a culture turned in on itself, antagonistic to Christ and his ways.
And it’s from the rubble of that world that John the Apostle, the pastor, is writing these letters to assure his people over and over and over again of Christ’s love for them. It’s a theme he keeps going back to, clarity in a sea of chaos. Church, do we need that this morning? Put another way, my own deepening knowledge of God’s love for me, and I think the same is true for you, is perhaps the central ballast. It’s the walking stick. It’s the stability shoes. If you’re wearing some Hokas out there, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the stability sneakers that keep us treading steadily and in faithfulness one step at a time in joy, in spite of whatever’s going on around us.
Our Lord loves us, and we see it most visibly at the cross. Is your walk this morning wobbly? Maybe it’s waning. I’m glad you’re here as we come to the well to be refreshed through His word, through our brother John. So, let’s turn there to 2 John 1. Let me pray for us and we’ll get started:
Holy Spirit, we do pray that You would open up Your Word to us and open us to Your Word, that we may truly understand, and that understanding, we may believe in believing, we may walk in faithfulness and obedience. And as we walk with You, may we come to know You with such intimacy that our ears become tuned to Your voice, and keep us walking. In Jesus’ name, we all said amen.
Second John 1, I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version this morning. “The elder to the elect or the chosen 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.” What a punchy way to start this. So beautiful. A couple things. One, “will be” is a declarative statement. He’s saying that this truth that I’m talking about here will be with, and he uses the word “us”. He’s including himself with this church, this group that he’s writing to. With us forever.
Now, you’ll notice the word truth there, and it might be worth underlining all the instances of the word truth all throughout this letter. He uses it in this letter often. And I think there are varied aspects of truth. Truth is a massive concept. It’s one of the attributes of God’s character. But I think at least in this opening section here, he’s talking about Christ Jesus. In John’s Gospel, the Gospel that he wrote several years before, Jesus himself said, “I am the way,” what? “The truth and the life.” Jesus Himself called Himself the truth. Aletheia, the same word that we’re using here in 2 John. And I think John here is using the word truth because Jesus, as Colossians tells us, is the image of the invisible God.
In him, all things hold together. And here, I think John is saying, “to the elect lady and her chosen children whom I love in truth, in Christ.” Who is truth, who is the image of the invisible God, who one of His attributes of His character is truth. Verse 3, grace, which we just read about. Mercy and peace will be another declaration, will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son. In truth – aletheia, and love – agape. Truth and love cannot be separated when we’re talking about our Lord Jesus.
Grace, mercy and peace. I love this in this greeting here, this is like a super greeting. Seventeen times in the Epistles. The writers of the Epistles would say, “Grace and peace be to you.” And just a couple of times, once in the Timothy letters and here, there’s a third word. “Mercy” is at its super greeting, I think. Grace, a gift given to us. Mercy, a withholding of something meant for us, and the fruit of those who have tasted the grace and mercy, which we see most visibly at the cross, there is peace. Peace with God and the peace of God. So much here in this opening section.
John is such a wonderful pastor. So, this letter follows a familiar pattern of correspondence from that time, and it’s all not altogether different from how we do it today. A greeting which we just read, a central message which we’ll read here in a minute, and then a final salutation at the end. In this opening, John refers to himself simply as the elder, which could have a range of meaning. As I mentioned earlier, John is likely the only living apostle at this time. And at this point in history, this could be a self-reference. It could be in a self-reference to his age. “Hey, the old man is writing to you.” It’s probably more than that, but it could be in reference to his age. It could be an honorific. Again, he’s the primary elder leader likely at the church, or in the church at this time.
The Apostle Peter years before used this same self-reference in 1 Peter. Elder, presbyteros, where we get Presbyterian, an overseer. So, it seems possible to me that when he refers to himself as the elder, it’s both a respect for his leadership in the church and a respect for the wisdom that comes with age. I think we have both there. Now, here’s where I think it really gets interesting, or maybe I’m a complete nerd, I don’t know. What about the recipient of this letter? I wondered if a few of you were scratching your head. So, who is this elect lady, or this chosen lady, of some translations would say?
As you might expect, there’s been some debate from early church fathers all the way up to today. Theologians never shy away from a good argument. So, this week, I thought I would take to some of my favorite pastors, commentator, scholars, to see if I could definitively figure out who is this elect lady, or this chosen lady. And I’m actually going to give you some of the names of these scholars. These are all good folks. It could be good for your own Bible study.
So, John Stott and David Jackman who are teachers and ministers over in England, they lean towards the metaphor interpretation, where elect lady is a congregation that he’s shepherding from afar. Peter uses similar language in 1 Peter. If you remember at the end of 1 Peter, he says at that end, “She who is from Babylon greets you.” She being a church, Babylon being synonymous with Rome. So, Peter’s used language like that. The church has been called the Bride of Christ in Revelation. All right, so to John Stott and David Jackman, that makes sense. That seems reasonable. That must be what it is. Well, then I went to Leon Morris and Edmond Hebert, who I respect, and they say it’s more likely an individual woman in her household and not a metaphor. Both wonderful scholars, and some of the language in this letter that we’ll read here today does seem personal.
So, okay, well that seems reasonable. Other scholars say it’s impossible to determine. Raymond Brown, who is a scholar in New York City, he seems to lean towards this third one, that it’s an individual woman who hosts a church in her home, and this is a house church that John loves and he is writing to for encouragement and exhortation. I think Raymond Brown may be a Star Trek fan. Captain Kirk said, “I don’t believe in no-win scenarios,” and Raymond Brown also doesn’t believe in no-win scenarios. I don’t know the answer. There’s no reason for dogmatism on this point. I think this is a helpful thing for us as we study our Bibles. We don’t have to be dogmatic all the time when the text is not presented. In truth, there isn’t a wide gap, I don’t think, between the realities of a family and the realities of a church.
There is some gap, but there’s not a lot of gap. There’s a lot of overlap there. So, the principles of this letter can apply to whichever view that you take. I tend to lean towards Stott, no surprise, right, that it’s a metaphor for a local congregation. So that’s generally how I’ll refer to it throughout the study today. Did you notice that John, he frames his letter with a deep affection for these people. “I love you in truth,” and from the outset in this framing of the letter, he tethers them to something they can know, a similar theme from 1 John. John says to these believers, “I love you in the truth. Other believers who know the truth love you.” There’s a “withness” there – one of the words we use here at TVC and RDNA.
This love is rooted in truth, something real. Jesus really did come; He really did dwell among us. He died and He really walked out of a tomb on the third day, and we can say amen to that. And He really is, right now, my friends interceding for us as He was for them back then. And because of that truth, that reality, we can know with proper confidence the love of God will be with us forever. We can see it there at the end of Verse 2. “He’ll be with us forever.” That is a great establishing opening section. Love is not just a warm euphoric feeling, “luv” as we’ve often said here. It’s not just that. It can include that, but it’s far more. Genuine love is always grounded in something real, something true, something beautiful.
My wedding ring here shows the world that I’m married to my beautiful wife. But it’s my affection, it’s my faithfulness to her, it’s my actions that demonstrate genuine love. And God from the foundations of the earth has been demonstrating His love for His people and for you this morning, and for rebels like me, by sending His Son in the flesh. And that grounding, the unshakable love of the Father that we sang about earlier, is what empowers a steady walk of faith. Not perfect, but faithful. Grace and mercy and peace will be with you. My friends here who are waning or wobbly or weary – grace, mercy and peace be to you.
Dane Ortlund put it so well:
“Perhaps the notion of heavenly mercy seems abstract, but what if that mercy became something we could see, we could hear, we could touch? That is what happened in the incarnation.”
–Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly
Let’s keep reading, if you wouldn’t mind, at verse four.
“So, I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, [aletheia] just as we were commanded by the Father.” I’ll just pause here for just a second. There’s such joy emanating from this text here. John, now this older gentleman here who’s pastoring, he is full of joy when he sees someone, probably from a young age to an old age, walking in the light of Christ. And as one of your pastors, all of us on here on staff, when we see someone, especially young folks who grow up and they’re walking in faith, there is nothing more joyful than that. And John shows us that right here. “I rejoice.” In fact, the word is the same word in Greek from which we get the word “eureka.” “I rejoiced and eureka! I found some of you walking in the light of that truth.” I just love that.
Verse 5: “And now I ask you, dear lady – not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one that we have had from the beginning – that we love one another.” And I think the commandment he has in mind, here are all the teachings of Jesus, of course, but probably all the way back to God’s Law and the Old Testament and the two tables of the Ten Commandments that show us how to love God and to love one another, and he points that out here.
Verse 6: He defines love. I love this. This is great. “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.” A definition here, least in part of what love looks like, what faithfulness looks like. What is it? That we walk according to His commandments. In other words, the way that I love you, my wife, my family, my friends, and you for me as well, in part, is my obedience to Christ and His ways. Glenna Marshall, she’s an author that I really enjoy her stuff. She said it this way,
“God has designed and equipped the Christian life for perseverance that reaches beyond our own benefit. Our faithfulness isn’t just for us. It announces to the world that Jesus is worth every drop of our devotion.”
–Glenna Marshall, Everyday Faithfulness
So, part of the way that I love my neighbor, part of the way that I love you is by my steady walk of faithfulness towards Christ.
Verse 7: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world.” So now, we have someone who’s teaching an untruth, who’s going to go in the other direction here. “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.” In other words, they’re espousing lies about who Christ said He was and who He really was. That He didn’t come in the flesh. These folks are telling them, and perhaps infiltrating this church or this house church, telling them an untruth.
So, in Verse 8, he says, “Watch yourselves.” Stay alert if you will. “..so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” I don’t think John has here in mind a loss of salvation. He’s writing to believers. I think what he’s saying here is, “I don’t want you to walk backwards because of these deceivers, regress in your faith. I don’t want you to lose the joy of your first love and the Gospel.” And there is a reward for that today, and part of that is peace with God and peace of God, and there will be a reward for us in eternity as well.
Now in verse nine, he kind of flips it. He says, “Everyone who goes on ahead,” who leaves, essentially leaves the teaching of Jesus, “…and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.” And the flip side, “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.”
So, there are obviously a couple thousand years of cultural expectations that we have to bridge when we come to a text like this. It seemed to be common in the practice of the Mediterranean Aegean custom of that time that to bring a stranger into your home or community would require more than a guest simply showing up. This wasn’t an Airbnb that you could just simply purchase and come to your house and stay. To protect the safety of the household, to protect the group, the community, often letters of recommendation would be required of the potential guest. And so, if this guest was accepted, the host would be a guarantor of the guest, their character and their behaviors. This is the background of what John’s saying here.
So, with those underlying expectations, to bring a teacher into your place who is actively undermining the truth, would be to give your endorsement. It would be to wear the t-shirt, to put the bumper sticker on your car, to change your social media thumbnail, to indicate your approval of this deception. In the call to be watchful, we have to be wise and alert to what we are allowing to take residence in our minds, our hearts, our ears and our eyes, our churches, our homes, and with discernment and patience and gentleness. A faithful Christian cannot endorse what is false. We cannot celebrate what is not true.
At the same time, we need not fear. We need not fury or rage or flee every time we encounter what is false. Both can be true. Remember, our Lord sends us out into a world rebelling against the truth and He does so with the promise. Do you remember the promise at the end of the Great Commission in Matthew? “Behold, I am with you always.” So, we do not have to fear. Alistair Begg, I think he says this so well.
“We do not hate, nor do we affirm. We cannot hate, because of God’s word. And we cannot affirm, because of God’s word. We have to be prepared to say that we are unprepared to rewrite the Bible in order to accommodate a society that needs the Bible and that needs the Jesus who is the focus of the Bible.”
–Alistair Begg
A steady walk of faithfulness in the same direction. I don’t think it’s going to get us many headlines, but for many on the fringes of faith, maybe even in your sphere of influence, unbelievers who might be seeking after things, the things of God; they’re trying to understand what meaning and purpose are, what truth and beauty are. They might just see a non-anxious, faithful, joyful, steady walk in truth and ask, “What is that? How can I have that?”
“And this is love,” Verse 6 says. Set your eyes there, and this is love. Love for neighbor, love for brother and sister. This is love that we walk in His ways, to paraphrase. Faithfulness to Jesus that shows the beauty of Jesus. I love my unbelieving family, friend, neighbor, when in word and in deed I walk humbly in obedience to Christ and His Word. So, let’s remain watchful, brothers and sisters. All right, let’s finish this letter up.
Verse 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. The children of your elect sister greet you.” So, was that another woman? Is that another house church? I don’t know. I can’t wait to get to glory and ask John. “So, who was this elect lady you were writing to? Who was this really?” There’s such beauty here in Verse 12. There really is. He’s addressing, in some ways, technology, the technology of the time, paper and ink. The fact that they could send a letter in that time because of the Roman roads and the infrastructure that they had there.
So, we can give thanks for the technology that allows us to worship from home, to worship from wherever we might be. But there is something. Remember, John is so interested in reminding them that Jesus really came in the flesh. It’s really important. It’s part of how we were made, how we were created, how we were purposed. And it is important for us to meet together face to face. Yes, we should write. In fact, we are actually enjoying the fruits of the technology of paper and ink because we can read this letter here today. But as John also said, “I’d rather not use text or FaceTime. Instead, I hope to come face to face.”
So walking, we’ve been talking about walking. It’s an active metaphor. We are always walking towards something, always. It’s an image used all throughout the Scriptures. If you remember, all the way back to Genesis, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Noah and Enoch were described as those who walked with God. Do you remember Psalm 1, the first Psalm? It contrasts a person who walks in the ways of God and others who walk in the council of the wicked. The one who walks with God will be like a tree planted by streams of water.
A mixed metaphor here, but a steadiness he has in mind. The way of the wicked will perish. John’s first letter, if you remember his first letter, he contrasted walking in the light and walking in darkness. Here in John’s second letter, he describes rejoicing for those who are walking in truth. In Jeremiah the Prophet, in 6:16, I’m going to advise you to turn there just for a second. It’s one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture. And if you’re not familiar with it, just go right to the middle of your Bible and then turn to the right just a little bit. Jeremiah 6:16.
And Jeremiah the Prophet, the Lord is speaking through him to the people of Israel who have walked away from the Lord, at least in this season. And the Lord is calling to them and he says this, Jeremiah 6:16. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” In other words, when we are tempted to despair, when we’re confused, when we are hearing competing voices in the culture, the Lord says, “Stand at the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths.” That would be worth underlining in your Bible.
There is a tragedy to this text if you read on a little bit. At this point in redemption history, the people of God immediately say to the Lord, “No, we will not walk in it.” But we know the rest of this story, and the Lord God runs after them, as brother and sister, he has done for you. Now the other great theologian, Dr. Seuss puts it this way. From his character, the Lorax,
“A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”
–Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Another mixed metaphor, but simply says what John is trying to get at. Watch yourselves, pay attention to your direction and keep on walking.
In this brief letter, John has given his people and us, I think, such a pastoral and practical instruction that we can hold on to today, this afternoon and the rest of this week as we go back to work, and family and friendships. There’s certainly more, but here are three things I hope you noticed along with me in our study here today. I think we see wonder. How marvelous, how wonderful what we sang earlier, right? We see wonder, we see watchfulness, stay alert, and we see withness. So, let’s start with wonder.
John opens his letter with, “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us. A declaration, from God the Father, and from His Son, in truth and in love.” In other words, before you begin your day, when you are tempted towards despair or fear, go back and stand and wonder. Awestruck wonder at the marvelous love of God, shown most visibly at the cross in His death and His resurrection. God loves you. It’s the basic truth. This is a football. It is true. It is settled. It’s firm. It’s unshakable. Our Lord loves you, brother and sister. We sang about it earlier, how deep the Father’s love is for us. It’s a depth that we’ll never reach the end of.
And if you’ve been a believer for a long time, this might sound like material you’ve covered long ago, and it can be the same for me. I’m studying like this, and I just want to say yes, but let’s move on. God loves me, I understand that. But John doesn’t let us off the hook. In fact, I’d say the whole sweep of scripture doesn’t let us off the hook there. He is writing to believers in all three of these letters, and if you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t take his foot off the accelerator on this theme. The Psalmist puts it another way,
“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love…” [Your lovingkindness would be another way to translate that.]
“…That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”
Psalm 90:14 (ESV)
Joy is rooted in being satisfied in the love of God. Rest in that.
And using that walking metaphor, on a long walk, of course it is critical to regularly sit and rest. If we don’t sit and rest, we can never make progress. We can never keep on going. So, at the same time, in this walk of faith, we must come back to Christ, rest in that truth so that we can continue to walk steadily. Do you know the depth of His love for you this morning? Let’s talk about watchfulness. A few questions here. Where are we? Would be a good question. What direction are we going? Or as the Lorax said, “Which way are we leaning?” Are we watching? Are we paying attention to that? Is our compass, the Word of God, the old commandment, as John says, worked out in a community of God’s people who bow themselves before Jesus as both gracious Savior and Lord of all? Both.
Christopher Watkin puts it this way,
“To know oneself is above all to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against the Truth and not the other way around.”
–Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory
Put another way, watchfulness is the opposite of drifting. Friends, we do not drift into faithfulness. In this letter here, we see this in a couple of different shades. He says in Verse 8, if you look there, “Watch yourselves, stay alert, pay attention.” That’s what he’s saying. By contrast, those who are not walking in the truth have gone on ahead. They have walked ahead. That’s what that means there in Verse 9. Everyone who goes on ahead, they’re progressing beyond the teachings of Jesus, and we never want to be guilty of that.
Using Watkins language, they have measured the truth against themselves and not the other way around. So, friends, let’s stand at the roads together and ask for the ancient paths. I think we also see withness, and by withness here, we see John describing the truth abiding in us. But I also think we see us actively abiding in the truth. And not only that, it’s a community of people involved. This elect lady in her household or her house church or this congregation, we were not meant to walk alone.
What I actively abide in, and that quite literally means take residence in. What I actively abide in affects you, and what you abide in affects me. And it affects my wife and my neighbors and my whole sphere of influence. Am I first, and primarily, abiding in the Truth of our Lord and His Word to us? That’s a good question for us to chew on over lunch. Wonder, watchfulness and withness all should bring us back to Christ and what He has done for us. And then, this is so important, send us back out to walk in that Truth.
So, for those who are, this morning, you’ve come here today in the throes of despair, perhaps, you can’t even imagine walking another step. Perhaps you’ve forgotten the basic truth we’ve been talking about here today, or perhaps other voices are denying the power, the promise, the presence of Christ, and perhaps you need to rest a while abiding in that Truth. Or for dear ones who are doubting in this room today or who are watching online, we go back to the beginning.
How marvelous, how wonderful. And we abide in the Truth of the lavish love of God poured out for us on calvary, and the eternal joy given to us in the resurrection. Church, ask the Lord to satisfy you this morning in His love, as the Psalmist says. Married folks, single people, college students, seasoned saints, all should come back to the realities we find in this Truth. So, as we leave this place today, may the Truth of the unshakable love of God and Christ, keep us steady in the incline walk of faith that we are all on together, for the weary, for the waning, and for the wandering.
Like Israel, God calls to us, and actually, I’m going to put it up on the screen here. I want us to read this together. He calls to us, let’s read.
“Thus, says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”
Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV)
This is the Word of the Lord. Amen.
Let’s pray: God of grace and mercy and peace, revive and renew our hearts in such a way that we might be satisfied first in You today. May that be true in my own heart, first. For anyone here today who is weary on the walk of faith, may Your spirit speak to them, the assurance of your settled, unshakable, immeasurable love for them, in Christ. May this church here in Nashville, Tennessee and Hillsborough Village be shaped more and more into a place marked by both Your Truth and Your love. In the matchless name of Jesus, we all said. Amen.
(Edited for reading)
