Essential: Truth and Love

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:05.559 Well, if you would please turn with me and your bibles, or at 2 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:15.150 least turn your attention to second John going to be preaching from the first three 3 00:00:15.189 --> 00:00:20.510 verses of the this letter today, but I'll read the whole letter. It's 4 00:00:20.589 --> 00:00:42.609 short. Let's give our attention to God's word, the elder, to the 5 00:00:42.729 --> 00:00:47.729 elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, not only I, 6 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:51.960 but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides 7 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.119 in us and will be with US forever. Grace, mercy and peace will 8 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.920 be with us from God, the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the 9 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:08.390 Father's son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of 10 00:01:08.469 --> 00:01:12.189 your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the father. 11 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:17.310 And now I ask you, Dear Lady, not as though I were 12 00:01:17.390 --> 00:01:22.060 writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, 13 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:26.579 that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk 14 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:32.260 according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard 15 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:37.250 from the beginning, so that you should walk in it, for many deceivers 16 00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:40.689 have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of 17 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:46.689 Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 18 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.640 Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, 19 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:55.359 but may win a full reward. Every one who goes on ahead and does 20 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:00.280 not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in 21 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.349 the teaching has both the father and the son. If any one comes to 22 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:07.909 you and does not bring this teaching, if any one comes to you and 23 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:13.389 does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give 24 00:02:13.430 --> 00:02:16.659 him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. 25 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:22.060 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper 26 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:24.580 and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to 27 00:02:24.699 --> 00:02:30.289 face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect 28 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:40.129 sister greet you. May God bless his word to us. As we come 29 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:47.120 to this little letter, I want to focus on these two great themes that 30 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:53.719 are joined together in this letter, truth and love. Love and truth. 31 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.750 These themes are important not only in second John but of course throughout the scriptures, 32 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:06.710 things that are emphasized over and over again and all kinds of ways, 33 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:09.669 as we do. So, before we get to that theme, just a 34 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:15.939 little bit of introduction, just a little bit about this book. One of 35 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:20.659 the first things that we see is that this is a message for God's beloved 36 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:27.210 church. The words here elect lady and her children a likely refer to a 37 00:03:27.569 --> 00:03:31.849 mother Church and daughter churches. There are some other possible explanations, but I 38 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:38.969 think this is the most likely. That the church is personified as a woman, 39 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:43.319 is done frequently in Scriptures, both in the Old Testament and in the 40 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:47.520 new. A Isaiah refers to the church and Jerusalem as a woman. Other 41 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:54.280 prophets do as well. I'm revelation and twenty one speaks of new Jerusalem as 42 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.830 a bride, church, as a bride of Christ. We are also reminded 43 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:06.629 that the Lord loves his people as as a husband loves his wife, as 44 00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:14.740 Paul talks about in Ephesians. It's also common for this city language, for 45 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:21.459 cities rather, to be personified as a woman. Both in ancient times and 46 00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:27.769 today, we will still say we'll talk about institutions, cities and of churches 47 00:04:27.769 --> 00:04:34.089 as well as women personified in this way. Perhaps you talked about your Alma 48 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:42.959 Mater, right, your mothering institution from which you you came graduated, or 49 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:47.000 something like that. Similar language is probably being used here. Paul speaks to 50 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:51.910 the church, or John Rather speaks to the church, and that brings us 51 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:57.829 to the second thing. This message is for God's beloved church and it comes 52 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:03.269 from the Lord's Apost John. There are a few reasons that we believe that 53 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:09.420 this letter is written by John. One reason is the vast testimony that the 54 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:16.420 church has been that this letter was written by him. We also see great 55 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:23.769 similar themes and language used here and in First John and second John as well. 56 00:05:24.889 --> 00:05:30.410 I'm very early on. Early Writers ascribed this to John, people that 57 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:38.600 knew John as well, polly carp and Pappius. Pollycarp died in one hundred 58 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.079 and fifty six a D, about one hundred and fifty six a d, 59 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:46.000 and so those are those ascriptions to this being to John. Where for sure 60 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:51.870 earlier than that, so very early on in the history. We also see 61 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:57.829 in their relationship to each other, not only in these themes but the way 62 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:02.790 that these have been collected together. All that to say, when we come 63 00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:08.339 to second John, we come to the word of the Lord, the word 64 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:12.500 of the Lord to the Church, word of the Lord for us, and 65 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:15.819 it's very clear that this word is one that is meant to bless us, 66 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:20.850 instruct us, help us to grow, help us to know how we ought 67 00:06:20.889 --> 00:06:27.610 to live. Who He is, and it is a message that begins with 68 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:33.399 truth and love. Notice a few things in our text. First of all, 69 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:39.360 this is the elect lady and her children. This word, a lact 70 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:45.519 means chosen, but very likely has a little bit more a depth to it 71 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.670 than just that. It has this odds idea of being chosen in love, 72 00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:57.670 of selection. I'm just as the Lord speaks about the election of his saints 73 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:01.620 in various portions of scripture. This is an electing in in love. It's 74 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:06.500 not a random choosing. It's not the Lord doesn't sort of shake up and 75 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:11.980 then whatever happens to drop out is what gets chosen. No, there is 76 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:18.769 a love that is behind that choosing, the Lord's selecting and choosing his people. 77 00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:24.529 So right off, from the very beginning, the church is referred to 78 00:07:24.810 --> 00:07:30.519 as the elect this one that is Osen, chosen in love. But very 79 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:34.360 quickly the theme of truth is added. The elder to the elect lady and 80 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:41.319 her children, whom I love in truth. He goes on to say not 81 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.110 only I, but also all who know the truth, and this from it 82 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.790 tells us that when he says that he loves in truth, that he doesn't 83 00:07:48.910 --> 00:07:55.709 merely mean that he truly loves them, although that's true, but he means 84 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:00.220 something more than that, that they stand in the truth, they know the 85 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:05.699 truth, and something about knowing the truth, about having that knowledge, then, 86 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:16.730 is related to this love. His love is rooted in reality and something 87 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:22.089 that is objective and something that has been revealed not only him but all who 88 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.480 know the truth, and even gives a reason for this in verse two, 89 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:31.480 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. 90 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.679 I'm sometimes people want to divorce a love and truth from one another. They 91 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:43.509 want to love without any sense, and they want to give of themselves, 92 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:50.230 of their possessions, of their life, of their time, without any connection 93 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:56.139 to reality, who the person is in front of them, the context in 94 00:08:56.220 --> 00:09:00.779 which is around them, the other sort of things that are going on and, 95 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:03.899 of course, most importantly, who God is, what God desires, 96 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:11.610 what God has done. These truths ground our love, but it's also true 97 00:09:11.649 --> 00:09:16.409 that we can't really know the truth apart from love. It's very difficult to 98 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:24.799 know anything without being submissive, without being willing to deny yourself without being willing 99 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.440 to humble yourself, to listen, to respect, to pay attention. These 100 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:35.639 are all loving things. To come to know the truth requires a certain amount 101 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:43.350 of submission and trust, even kindness. And, of course, to know 102 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:48.590 the truth at all requires that God reveal these things in his love and His 103 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:54.740 grace to us. Truth and love go perfectly together. You can't go and 104 00:09:54.940 --> 00:10:00.700 pursue truth apart from love and you can't pursue love apart from truth. And 105 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:07.970 that's why John feels very freely moving in and out of these concepts and hopefully 106 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:13.129 it's a good example to us as well how we should tie these things together 107 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:16.330 in our lives, how they must be tied together, because this is how 108 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:22.679 the Lord has revealed himself to us. Because notice what it is that abides 109 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:26.799 in us, because of the truth that abides in US and will be in 110 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:33.080 US forever. God has revealed something to us, something that has changed us. 111 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:39.750 This happens in various ways and are normal everyday lives. And if you 112 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:45.230 go to your cars making a funny noise and you go to the mechanic and 113 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.230 and your mechanic tells you that you need a new engine, all of a 114 00:10:48.309 --> 00:10:52.539 sudden your life is very different. You're at least your day is different, 115 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.259 your bank accounts is different, your priorities perhaps for the rest of the week 116 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:03.259 and future decisions and all kinds of things change immediately. Upon the revelation of 117 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:11.210 your busted car, revelation that you have a problem in your body, with 118 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:18.049 your health or in a relationship, some truth comes out about who a person 119 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:24.279 is. I remember one time I was at a summer camp. I was 120 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:30.120 in junior high and I was all alone and missing my parents and and I 121 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:37.750 had one friend and my was playing video games in another room with a bunch 122 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:41.950 of other people and I walked up close to that room and I wanted to 123 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:46.220 go play and I could hear them making fun of me. All these people 124 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:48.700 like making fun of me and how I looked, what I was doing, 125 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:52.620 all this kind of stuff, and I felt really bad, of course, 126 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:58.340 and then I heard my friend stand up for me. He didn't know I 127 00:11:58.580 --> 00:12:03.169 was there. The door was closed and I saw my friend was a true 128 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:09.529 friend. It made such an impression on me. It was so encouraging. 129 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:15.250 It made me feel instantly close to him. Love Right was bound up in 130 00:12:15.330 --> 00:12:22.399 that moment because of what he did there in that moment the truth was revealed 131 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:28.639 and it affected our relationship. It affected how things went. And of course 132 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.669 the opposite could be true in a relationship if you find out something really terrible 133 00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:37.710 about someone that you thought was your friend. David talks about this in the 134 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:41.990 psalms, about someone who was close to him and then betrayed him, and 135 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:50.539 that ache and the heartache and the the great trouble that causes him. Truth 136 00:12:50.740 --> 00:13:01.490 and love, these these things go together. Was We consider what it is 137 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:05.809 God has given us in truth, it is, of course, the truth 138 00:13:05.850 --> 00:13:09.809 of his love that he's given and some of those things are mentioned explicitly in 139 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:16.519 verse three. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, just like 140 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.159 the truth. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God, 141 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.879 the father and from Jesus Christ, the Father Son in truth and love, 142 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:28.710 truth, love of truthless. Only three verses right and it's all over the 143 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:35.470 place here. These great gifts, grace and mercy and peace will be with 144 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:41.539 us. What more could you ask? What more could you want in life 145 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:45.779 than to have the grace of God, thecy of God, the peace of 146 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.820 God be with you now. If you don't think that you need anything from 147 00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:54.500 God, if you think that you can provide completely for yourself, if you 148 00:13:54.700 --> 00:14:01.169 think that you are capable of atoning for your own sins, if you think 149 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:05.570 that, in all of your sinfulness and all of the things that you've done 150 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:09.399 and all of your evil thoughts and all of the words you've spoken out of 151 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:18.360 turn and out of order, I rother have a seat. If you think 152 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:24.629 that these things can be perfectly taken care of simply by you working harder. 153 00:14:26.789 --> 00:14:35.909 We fool ourselves, brothers and sisters. But you need, more than anything, 154 00:14:35.110 --> 00:14:41.899 is grace and mercy and peace. These are the things that still our 155 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:46.500 hearts. These are things that give us confidence before God. These are the 156 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:54.730 things that make us not fearful about death, suffering trial. These are the 157 00:14:54.929 --> 00:15:01.929 things that give us confidence against the devil himself, that allows us to speak 158 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:11.080 to him as though he were a nothing, powerless to hurt us. Grace 159 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:16.840 and mercy and peace, these are the things that quiet our minds, quiet 160 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:22.990 our lives and give us joy and confidence in the things to come. What 161 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:28.190 gifts, and there forever gifts? There things that lasts. They're things that 162 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:33.389 are eternal. When God shows his love for us, when God reveals the 163 00:15:33.590 --> 00:15:39.899 Truth About himself, for us. He reveals not a momentary thing or a 164 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:43.659 thing that might change the next day, but he reveals his eternal plan for 165 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:52.889 us. This is what God does for us when Jesus comes into the world. 166 00:15:54.649 --> 00:15:58.850 This is why John, one reason why John is emphasizing that Jesus Christ 167 00:15:58.929 --> 00:16:07.120 is the father's son. I'm some a commentator's students of scripture believe that second 168 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:14.080 John might have been a cover letter to first John, and if that's true, 169 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:19.230 then the connection between these things makes a lot of sense. Even if 170 00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:26.950 it's not true, the connection between these things makes a lot of sense that 171 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:32.940 John wants us to understand that Jesus Christ as the one, as he says 172 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:36.820 later in this letter, the one of who has been revealed in the flesh, 173 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:44.340 the one who has come in the flesh to show us the truth of 174 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:48.570 God, to reveal to us the knowledge of God, to reveal to us 175 00:16:49.169 --> 00:16:56.009 the in the fullness of time, the grace that God has for sinners and, 176 00:16:56.129 --> 00:17:00.090 of course, a grace that is filled with love. This is who 177 00:17:00.129 --> 00:17:04.039 he is, this is what has been revealed and this is what God is 178 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:10.720 giving to us. In this letter. He's pulling together these themes truth and 179 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.160 love so that we might know how we ought to live in that truth, 180 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:21.710 abide in that truth and make very, very practical decisions in that truth and 181 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:30.660 in that love. With these things in mind, the truth of God revealed 182 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:36.859 in Jesus Christ, a heavenly wisdom, the love of God revealed in Jesus 183 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:41.980 Christ, a love that brings grace and mercy and peace, one that makes 184 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:48.289 us beloved in his eyes, one that makes us love one another. With 185 00:17:48.490 --> 00:17:52.490 all of those things in mind, now John is going to address, and 186 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:57.450 will get into this next time more, but he's going to address a very 187 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:07.920 difficult situation. How do you love while also being discerning about those who come 188 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:15.950 into your path? How do you be hospitable and giving and gracious and sharing 189 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:26.299 while also guarding and protecting and respecting boundaries? These are not easy things to 190 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:34.140 do. Second John, here in this letter, John Warns particularly against hospitality 191 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:42.650 to teachers who go against the teaching of the word. He says in Verse 192 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:45.609 Eight, Watch yourselves, though you may not lose what we have worked for. 193 00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:49.609 And then in verse ten he says, if anyone comes to you and 194 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:55.650 does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give 195 00:18:55.690 --> 00:19:03.559 him any greeting. He calls them to be discerning. He calls them to 196 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:10.349 know the truth, to know it so well that they can discern truth from 197 00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:15.950 error and, out of that, to know how to love, how to 198 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:22.869 act and when not to act. These are difficult things and we face this 199 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:26.900 all the time in our lives. We have constant opportunities to share, to 200 00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:33.500 give, to of the things that God has given to us, almost every 201 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:37.930 moment of every day of every year of our lives. But where do we 202 00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:41.930 place those resources? To whom do we give? How much do we give? 203 00:19:42.089 --> 00:19:47.250 Where do we share? When do we say no more? When do 204 00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:52.809 we say never in a million years? How do we make those decisions? 205 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.359 Well, those are complicated things and some which will get into next time, 206 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:06.480 but let's start here, truth and love, holding those things together. When 207 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:11.269 we hold them together, we avoid all kinds of difficult things. But we 208 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.029 have to begin with this place, and this is what I want to finish 209 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.309 with emphasizing this morning. When we hold together in truth and love, we 210 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:26.740 are holding together these sort of nebulous ideas, nebulous sort of feelings. We 211 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:32.019 are holding together things that God himself has revealed to us in his son. 212 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:40.609 You can't really know these things unless you know him. If you try to 213 00:20:40.769 --> 00:20:48.009 abstract truth or try to separate rather truth from the truth of God in Jesus 214 00:20:48.049 --> 00:20:52.920 Christ, if you try to understand love apart from the love of God in 215 00:20:52.000 --> 00:21:00.079 Jesus Christ, will always be distorted, it'll always be bent, misshapen, 216 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:07.309 even perverted, because ultimately you will be rejecting the source of these things, 217 00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:15.470 the ultimate standard for these things and the one who brings us into these things. 218 00:21:18.349 --> 00:21:22.539 Truth and love aren't these things that we kind of walk over to and 219 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:26.259 then decide to accept or not accept. There are things that we are brought 220 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:33.650 into by God. We abide in them, he says. It's not just 221 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:40.369 an objective mental trick that we do, it's not just a willpower thing that 222 00:21:40.490 --> 00:21:45.450 we go out and we check off our list. It's something we abide in. 223 00:21:45.369 --> 00:21:52.079 It's someone we abide in and when we start there, through His grace, 224 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.839 through his mercy, through his peace, there's been revealed to us on 225 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.750 the cross, then we have a starting place, a real starting place, 226 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:12.230 a helpful starting place for answering these difficult questions. So start there, seek 227 00:22:12.349 --> 00:22:18.380 to know him, to abide in him, to receive him and all that 228 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:22.140 he offers, to us in Christ. Let's pray.