A Reminder

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered during Pastor Appreciation Month, on Sunday morning, the 8th of October, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, we finished the Apostle John’s 1st letter to the early church a few weeks ago, but I’d like to return to his letters this morning.  He wrote three that we know of, with the 2nd and 3rd being fairly short, so short that they became single-chapter books in our Holy Bible.  Since they are quite brief in length, we’ll cover the 2nd letter today and the 3rd next week.

All three were very probably written in roughly the same time period – around 90 AD - and from the same location – most likely Ephesus, which played a huge role in the rise and spread of the Christian church.  Now Ephesus in Paul’s time was a major port city on the Mediterranean Sea.  It was the second largest city in the Roman Empire and considered by many to be the most important Greek city and trading center in the Mediterranean region.  And it was a hotbed of early Christian evangelism.  Today, it’s well-preserved ruins lie in the Central Aegean region of Turkey, where it remains a Christian pilgrimage destination.

But back to the topic at hand, the main thrust of John’s 2nd letter deals with walking through this life as new creations, following Christ’s teachings and commands.  And it also serves as a great reminder of what we have been told before.  So please listen and follow along as I read John’s 2nd letter to the early church from The Living Bible version of our Holy Bible…

1 This letter is from John, the elder.

I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth — as does everyone else who knows the truth — 2 because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.

3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ — the Son of the Father — will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

4 How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.

5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and He has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

7 I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. 9 Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

10 If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. 11 Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.

12 I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete.

13 Greetings from the children of your sister, chosen by God.

--2 John 1 (TLB)

Let us pray…  heavenly Father, You inspired some of Your Son’s followers to write about His life and all He did and said, and some to write letters to the young Christian church, offering encouragement and instructions on how they should live.  Thank You, Father, for allowing us to share in their insight and teachings.  Thank You for saving their words over the centuries in our Bibles.  Sadly, though, Father, there are many who will never read or hear these words.  And there are too many who refuse to believe what they have heard or read.  Please help the first group gain access to Your word, and have mercy on the second so that they may someday come to believe.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers.  Help us share Your word and Your love with them.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Please help us walk in the truth, obeying Your Son’s commands.  Keep reminding us of what we have been taught and told.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Pastor and author A. W. Tozer once lamented, “We have gotten accustomed to the blurred puffs of gray fog that pass for doctrine in churches and expect nothing better.  From some previously unimpeachable sources are now coming vague statements consisting of a milky admixture of Scripture, science, and human sentiment that is true to none of its ingredients because each one works to cancel the others out.  Little by little Christians these days are being brainwashed.  One evidence is that increasing numbers of them are becoming ashamed to be found unequivocally on the side of truth.  They say they believe, but their beliefs have been so diluted as to be impossible of clear definition.  Moral power has always accompanied definite beliefs.  Great saints have always been dogmatic.  We need a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that lives and abides forever.”

Strong words there, and quite a condemnation of the present day church.  Tozer says that Christians today are being brainwashed, and I have to agree with that.  But not all of that is coming from the church itself, from the pulpit, as he somewhat implies.

Yes, for sure there are false teachers standing in pulpits around the world who are indeed misleading their flocks.  It’s not really a new phenomenon, although it certainly has been rapidly increasing the last few decades.  The Apostle Paul warned us about this.  Paul also said that the people themselves would not abide by sound doctrine but would hire these preachers who would say what the people wanted to hear, the things that made them feel good about themselves with no regard to actual theology.  Hear what Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to his young protégé Timothy, from chapter 4 verses 2 through 4…

2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

--2 Timothy 4:2-4 (NLT)

Paul and John are firmly in agreement in this warning.

So where does the brainwashing originate?  In the popular culture, the playground of the devil.  Today, people don’t want to hear the truth.  They want to justify their chosen lifestyle, whatever it might be that makes them feel good.  Right and wrong no longer has meaning.  There is no hell, so why fear it.  God – if one even exists - loves everybody, so we’re all going to heaven.

And sadly, some preachers are more than willing to go along with this way of thinking, as long as their congregations are large and the money is flowing.  Family, this might be Pastor Appreciation Month, but not all pastors are worthy of appreciation.  I pray that you will never hear anything but the unequivocal truth – the true word of God – coming from this pulpit.

So what did you think of John’s 2nd letter?  It’s quite different, isn’t it?  One might even call it a little strange, especially in its opening and closing verses.

Who is John writing to?  I said this is a letter to the early church but who is this “chosen lady”?  Who are her children?  And who is her sister?

Well, these are questions that have been asked for many, many years, and without complete resolution.  The “chosen lady” may refer to a specific individual, so her children would thus be her actual children.  Or the term may refer to a given church, or to the church at large, in which case her “children” would be the members of that church, or all Christians in total.

But phrases John uses in the letter make it more likely that he was addressing a specific church that was located at some distance from Ephesus, and thus to the members of that church.  Part of this is implied in the opening, where John introduces himself.  Why introduce yourself if the people already know you?  And then he states that he had met some of the children, the members.  Had he actually visited that church, one would think he would have met them all, or at least most of them.  Later on he even says he hopes to visit them soon, so he hasn’t done so yet.

Adding to the confusing nature of this epistle, we have the closing, where John speaks of the chosen lady’s sister and her children.  This would be simply be a “sister” church and its members, possibly the church in Ephesus.

So put it all together, and John is writing to a sister church some distance away, warning them of the missionary efforts of false teachers, deceivers and antichrists, and the danger of welcoming them into the congregation when they arrive.  But it is also a reminder of all that we believers have been told from the beginning.  John reminds us of our commandment to love.

Now I mentioned that all three of John’s letters were likely written at the same time and from the same general location.  So it shouldn’t seem all that unusual that he would repeat key parts of his messages, especially in this 2nd letter which serves as a reminder as well as a warning.  In the 2nd chapter of his 1st letter, verses 7, 18 through 19, and 24, John wrote these words…

7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment — to love one another — is the same message you heard before.

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.

--1 John 2:7, 18-19, 24 (NLT)

Those of us fortunate enough to read all three letters can see the repeated reminders of what we have been told before.  The importance of loving one another is drilled into our heads and into our hearts, along with the warning to beware those who would try to teach us other than the truth of our Lord.  We must remain faithful to what we have been taught so that we can stay in fellowship with our Lord Jesus and our Father God.

John speaks often of the truth in this letter.  He writes to this church that he loves in the truth, just as does everyone else who knows the truth.  The truth is the Gospel message: salvation through Jesus and only through Jesus.

All who believe and abide in this truth love each other, or we should since we are commanded to do so.  If we abide in the truth, it lives in us and will be with us forever.  And even better, the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father and of Jesus His Son will also be ours.  But we must be wary, for there are many who deny the truth, who deny that God came to us as one of us.  There are many who will tell us not to worry about how we live for there really is no sin as long as we’re not hurting anyone else.

We must be careful not to be lulled into this false doctrine, not to pay heed to this message that makes a lie of the truth.  We have the truth implanted into our hearts the moment we believed and accepted Jesus as Lord.  And we have a reminder of the truth at our fingertips, in our Holy Bible.

Let us trust in the word, trust in the truth, trust in God.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God who gave of Himself to reconcile us with the Father.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for seeing to it that we are reminded time after time of Your truth.  It is critical that we understand we are to love others.  It is crucial that we know the truth that is the Gospel message, that You sent Jesus to wash away our sin by the outpouring of His own precious blood.  Thank You for providing the truth for us in our Holy Bible and for saving it throughout the ages.  Too many times, though, we just don’t take the time to read Your word and study it and take its meaning into our hearts.  Too often we lose sight of what we have been commanded to do and we fail to love as Jesus loved.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we disappoint You.  Please help us set aside those worldly attractions that rob us of the time we could spend with You and Your word.  Help us better see how obeying You is to our ultimate benefit.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others, sharing Your love, so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and grace.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You came into this world to free us from our sin, to save us from ourselves.  You allowed Your body to be broken, Your blood to be spilled, just so that we could be forgiven and washed clean in God’s eyes.  And You taught us how to love, to love God and to love others.  Thank You, Lord, for Your words and deeds that stand as an example for us to follow.  We pray, dear Lord, that we can show as much love for others as You have for us.  Please, Jesus, help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing Your story, the Gospel message, with the lost.  Help us show them Your love.  And help us endure any trials or persecution our efforts may bring.  Shield our minds and our hearts from the world’s lies and empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.

And Jesus, please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.