2John - A letter to a lady

Dear Lord and Father, Drop thy still dews of quietness. I guess many of us here this last week have not always known that peace and that serenity that should be ours through Christ Jesus. Let's just listen to that melody being played, maybe give us the flute stop.

Let's just ask God in his grace to bathe upon us his love to pour out a sense of peace and purpose and a restoration of dignity. We're going to read this morning the whole epistle of the second epistle of John. Don't get worried, it isn't all that long.

And it's a letter written to a lady. Second epistle of John. To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son will be with us in truth and love.

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world.

Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God.

Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.

Amen. But second John is a letter to a lady. And third John is a letter to a gentleman.

And I just happen to have two Sunday mornings free to look at the first aspect of this, then next Sunday the second, then Pastor Tim will be back to preach in the evening. When I was a student, many years ago now, I and a few of my colleagues were delegated by the principal of London Bible College to conduct a youth campaign at the Church of the Nazarene in the southern suburbs of London. And I well remember the pastor's wife.

She was a dumpy, lovely little lady, full of fun. And she came back from a prayer meeting, which was a sort of pre-meeting for our campaign. And she was chuckling as she returned to the manse and her beloved husband said, what's the joke? And she said, well, it's one of the prayers.

And he said, what? Well, she said, with the anticipation of this youth campaign, one of our older friends was thinking in terms of the conduct of our young people. And she said, Lord, thou knowest that in this church there are places for ladies and for gentlemen. And the pastor's wife was not thinking too spiritually in her interpretation.

But there is within the Church of Jesus Christ a place for gentle men and for gentle women. And so it's quite wonderful really to find tucked away towards the end of our Bibles two personal letters. One addressed to an anonymous lady and the other addressed to a gentle man.

And both letters are written by someone who was particularly close to our Lord Jesus. He introduces himself in both letters as the Elder. Now, there's a sense in which you can take that literally as well as ecclesiastically.

Because as you probably know, the Apostle John lived the longest of all the disciples. And the last book of the Bible comes from his hand, albeit inspired by the Holy Spirit. And he's a very old man at that point.

And with skepticism on one side, for the authorship of these letters have been contested, it seems to me irrefutable that that same hand behind the book of Revelation is also behind these two letters. Now, he wasn't the pastor of this lady or this man. But there are those, and I think this spills over to the 20th century, whose spirituality and leadership is such that it is recognized by more than one church.

For example, my good friend, the late Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, he was known in our country throughout the whole of evangelicalism as the doctor. And although he was just pastor of Westminster Chapel, there were many men, there were many churches who looked to the lead that he gave. So, if you had a note from the doctor, you knew from which hand it had come.

And it seems to me that that's a similar sort of thing that you find here, the elder. He doesn't say the Apostle John or the disciple of the Lord Jesus, just the elder. And fortunately, of the several or many letters that perhaps he wrote, we have these two short ones tucked in at the end of his longer epistle.

Now, I know, and some of you who are well-versed in Bible study will of course already have this in mind, that there are those who would perhaps contest, and maybe you would be amongst them, that this second letter of John is not so much directed to a woman as directed to a church. And what really John engages in is something that Peter does occasionally, and John also in his book of Revelation, and that is he uses a code. And some have suggested that really what you are to read in here is that John is addressing his letter to a Christian community.

He's doing it in such a fashion as to hide the identity of the community in a sort of cloak of anonymity, just in case they get into trouble should they be receiving a letter from the elder, at a time when religion, Christianity, was a religio illicita, which is the Latin for an illegal religion. Well, the commentators are split down the centuries, as often they are. And it seems to me that there is some merit in this argument.

But it also seems to me to be the point that you tend to take Scripture as it suggests itself to you at first reading, unless there are obvious reasons for you to look for another level of interpretation. So, let's, at least for this morning, accept that John is directing this to one particular Christian lady. Now, should I be wrong in his addressing it to a church? It really makes no difference in terms of its application.

John is a man who, as I say, was close to our Lord Jesus. Something that you have to bear in mind about the ministry of our Saviour is that though he never called a lady to be one of his disciples, it is not that he was without the company of the female sex. In his entourage, amongst his followers, there were always ladies from whom he drew in terms of support.

And around the cross, when our Lord was in great need, when he looked for someone to have pity on him, the only class that was present were the class of ladies. Now, John, he gives a record of our Saviour on one occasion coming to a place in Samaria where there's a well. It's an historic well.

It's the well of Jacob. And he goes there on his own. He's in advance of his disciples.

And the reason why he's there is, well, there's going to be a woman who comes out of the neighboring village. She comes at a most unusual time to have to collect some water. And our Lord engages in conversation with her.

And you read of that conversation in one of the chapters of John's Gospel. You recall also in the Gospels how our Lord, on one occasion, he arrests the attention of John. Our Lord is on the cross, and in front of him there is his mother.

John, it seems, has come on the scene somewhat later and alone amongst the disciples. And Jesus, by a nod of his head, says to John, and he directs his gaze to Mary, Behold your mother, and to Mary, behold your son. Now, I say this just in terms of introduction because it seems to me that with that sort of background it would not be unusual for John, who was so close to our Lord Jesus, to single out a woman who had done service for John and for the cause of Christ, and to direct a letter to her.

So, he says, the elder, to the chosen lady. He doesn't give us her name, although there are some who believe that actually her name is embedded within the original language here. The word chosen is eclecta.

And possibly it is suggested that that may have been her name. Or even the literal use of the word lady, which is kyria. Maybe these were, or one of these was the name of this particular woman.

What might we deduce from her if she is to be literally, if someone who is a woman is to be understood as the addressee of this letter? Well, she's a lady who is greatly honored. I mean, he says, to the chosen lady. Now, the word chosen really means elect.

And those of you who are conversant with the teaching of our Lord Jesus, and indeed the whole spectrum of the Old Testament and New Testament, you know that you came to Him as a result of His magnetic call upon your life. He brings you into a relationship with Him. So, this lady is chosen.

She is part of the elect. She has a sister who has a similar experience to herself. And it's with this sister that it seems as though the apostle has been saying, the children of your chosen sister send their greetings.

If this is to be literally understood as a woman to whom the letter is addressed, then there is more information that is an encouragement, I think, to some of us. And that is that though she is a godly woman, it seems as though there was a little bit of difficulty within her family circle as far as everyone following the Lord Jesus, the Savior, was concerned. Verse 4, It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth.

And so, you can go on and sift the record here, as you can in the third chapter, and be more convinced in the third that John is addressing a man, a literal man by the name of Gaius. Isn't it interesting, those of you who have had a peep into the third letter, that more or less the same things are said in the opening verses to both the addressee of the second letter as well as the third. John has a concern that all is going well with these recipients of his letter.

He is glad that they love the truth. And verse 12 of the second John, and towards the end of third John, he says, writing letters is okay, but I'd sure be glad to be in your company, to be able to speak to you face to face, or as it's literal here, mouth to mouth. So here is John writing to this woman, or if you're pleased, to this Christian community.

And he's so pleased to have some sort of involvement in their lives. An involvement with them because, well, they have a reason why John should love them. What is that reason? Well, look at verse 2 of second John.

Because of the truth which lives in us. In other words, this woman has embraced the same truth as John 2 has accepted. What is that truth? Well, drop down to verse 7 and you can work it out by a negative comment there.

John unhappily speaks about those who have rejected Christianity, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. But what this lady, what this gentleman have done is, they have embraced this. You see, Christianity does not present a faith where God sort of generously blankets His love upon the whole world.

There is a sense in which God loves the world. But Christianity is not wimpish. John, although he is this apostle who has such a close relationship towards the Lord Jesus, he is no wimp.

He does not say that the whole world will be saved. Indeed, as he's writing to his friends, he reminds them that there are those who have rejected the Lord Jesus and as a result of this their spiritual condition is in peril. To love the Lord Jesus is to love Him in truth.

It is to acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh. It is to acknowledge that God has revealed Himself to this world in the person of His Son. A unique revelation.

And you need therefore to admit more than just that you love God for your salvation. You have to admit to the historicity of Jesus Christ that He has come in the flesh. I mean this was remarkable in the Grecian world, this teaching, it is equally astonishing today.

That's why one of the Latin theologians said, I believe that which is ever absurd. It is incredible that this great God ever existing in the person of Father, Son and Holy Spirit should come to this world and reveal Himself as a little babe in Bethlehem's manger and eventually take upon Himself the consequences of your sin and my sin and offer an impeccable life on the cross. And as a result of His righteousness enable you to have absolution this side of eternity and on into glory.

Isn't that wonderful? But you see God requires of you more than just an acknowledgement of His love. He requires of you a recognition of the miracle of the Incarnation. Jesus was a real man.

He wept as men sometimes weep. He hungered as men sometimes get hungry. He was thirsty as men sometimes thirst.

There is more than a man. He'll still the storm, He'll walk on the water. He'll claim unblushingly to forgive sins.

Man, truly, but not man only. Now the reason this woman is so beloved of John is because there is a unity between him and her. They have this common denominator because of the truth.

They show that they love God not just because there is an emotional, warm, glowing feeling in their hearts but because both of them have acknowledged who Jesus Christ is. He has come into the world in the flesh. And so Pastor John as he writes to this lady who he calls a very dear lady it is possible to love more than one woman not in the marital sense but certainly in the Christian agape sense.

And here is John following our Lord Jesus who unblushingly says he loves her to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in the truth. And now dear lady I'm not writing to you a new commandment, no. He's already said in the previous chapter in the previous letter about the teaching of our Lord Jesus in John 15 a new commandment I give unto you.

It's not John's unique teaching here. He's recapitulating what he remembered receiving from the feet of the Lord Jesus a new commandment I give that you love one another. Ah, says John, and I love you.

And what is more you love me and the whole household of faith. You see this is to be the hallmark of the first century Christian church. I go further.

It's to be the hallmark of the 20th century church. This ability to love. To love not just in word because the Bible will never allow you to be purely Pharisaical.

If anything the Pharisees were baptized in words. But it's actions. It's not just this emotional feeling.

It's taking all your convictions about the Lord Jesus Christ and fulfilling His command loving other people that brings Him great joy and gives you credibility as His disciple. So John reminds this woman of this. I ask that we love one another and this is love.

What is love? That we walk in obedience to His commands. He who loved the unlovely. Ever thought of the forgiving nature of Jesus? He never publicly denounced the penitent unfortunate individual.

The only public denunciation that ever fell from the lips of Jesus was in terms of those hard and callous men who should have received Him but did not and who were imposing tremendous burdens upon the ordinary working class people. Jesus could not stand that. But the woman by the well the woman whose story is in John 8 he deals with these people privately.

He gets them to face their circumstances. He forgives them their sins. And He sends them off into peace with dignity restored.

Now if that was the yardstick by which Jesus conducted His affairs says John that is to be the touchstone of our behavior as you have heard from the beginning His command is that you walk in love. So the elect John reminds the chosen dear lady of what she and he already know in terms of the teaching of Jesus. But moreover demonstrating again the fact that John is no wimp he reminds this woman of the great danger that there is in getting anywhere near an intimate relationship with those who deny who Jesus Christ is the saint.

Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching both the Father and the Son if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not take him into your house or welcome him.

Now that's a difficult but an eye-opening comment to unpack. You see one of the things about Carlicia one of the things that is general to the poor and this is an extraordinary common denominator is that the poor are generally very generous. It's the affluent who by and large obviously these are sweeping generalizations who are not generous.

You go to a Middle Eastern home go to the Bedouin tribesmen take your flight to Bombay go to Calcutta go amongst the poorest of the poor as Mother Teresa calls them and you'll find that what they have they are quite prepared to share with you. It's an extraordinary thing it's a phenomenon that's worldwide almost. And the Bible puts a premium on hospitality.

You see again this is basic to the teaching of our Lord Jesus he is a hospitable man he is a generous man and here is John who reflects the teaching of Jesus and yet he is saying to this woman but there are certain circumstances in which you should not even open your door to someone and give them hospitality. You should not act in the traditional Bedouin, Semitic fashion in this instance. What does he have in mind? Well you see he is so committed to the importance of embracing who Jesus is the truth of Jesus.

Now remember if this woman the addressee is taken as a literal lady it does seem as though her family is split. I mean by that some of your children walk in the truth. Now I can only be hypothetical here but why not all? You see one of the things that the devil was doing from the beginning of the ministry of Jesus and on into the 20th century was to try to dislodge truth especially from the minds of young boys and girls brought up in Christian families.

Vrba called me the other day and I was outside to call him back which was a bit of a painful experience as it's always the other end of the world. Now when he George Vrba first came to this country he was very much helped by some business people in South London. One of them unfortunately either one or two of their children got involved with the children of God.

I think their heresy has lessened over the years but in those days they were very very much displaced from in their understanding of the teaching of Jesus. A child who was brought up in a Christian home and he finds himself under the influence of someone who is a pseudo-Christian. To use the strong language of the Apostle John if a man or a woman purveys any other truth that suggests Jesus Christ is not the Lord is not the Son of God is not the only way whereby your sins are forgiven that man that woman stands for Antichrist.

So you see how important it is you folk who are privileged to be mothers and fathers to check the influences of your children to the degree that you can. I know you can't put up a 100% smokescreen but you are called to a very responsible ministry. You say does this mean then that when a Jehovah's Witness knocks at my door I shouldn't invite them in? I would say it means this that when you have any confrontation with a member of the sect you should recognize that you are engaged in a spiritual warfare and you need to done the whole penalty the whole armour of God.

I do not think that it means that you must not necessarily have any relationship with these people or else how would they ever be one for Christ. But what it does mean is that at a personal fellowship basis you always need to have particular regard not only to yourself and your own pure faith but also the influence that might rub off on other children younger children. You see one of the problems that we've had in missions today in the 20th century is this and one of the blessings let's take the blessings first the whole of Eastern Europe has opened to the gospel it's incredible.

I have instances on record of people from Muslim villages in the eastern part of the Soviet Union coming to the western part of the Soviet Union asking for Christians to go and explain the gospel that's marvellous. The Jesus film is in demand throughout the whole of the Soviet bloc to the extent they can't produce enough films. But also going into the Soviet bloc are the pornographers and the sects.

And great teaching great concern has to be given to the existing Christian church and those who are evangelising to be able to teach Christian people to distinguish between the truth and heresy. And it seems to me that this is what John is saying to this woman. Have great care there have been deceivers in no way dear respected lady in no way have truck with any who might influence your family away from the teaching of Christ.

Now let's just extend on this point for a moment as time is just a little bit on my side. You see it's not just your Jehovah's Witness who knocks at the door who's your problem is it? What about your television? You see I would argue that greater harm can be done through the influence of television today which in its turn can become it has become an agent of the antichrist. Don't misunderstand me I'm not saying that everything that's on there is wrong.

What I'm saying is that it is a vehicle into your home which can transmit stuff which is alien to the cause of this gospel to the cause of the gospel of Christ. And so Christian people when they read the injunctions of the apostle John here who speaks about evil influences must not only just interpret this in terms of the first century but ask themselves what is the evil influence today? What is the antichrist? And take steps to put up that sieve to put on the whole armour and as best as you ever can to guard the minds of your kids which is an incredibly difficult task. If anyone comes to you who does not bring this teaching do not take him into your house or welcome him anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

In his wicked work. Well this letter comes to its conclusion. And John says and he really is a wonderful man you've got to take this as a literal lady it makes the letter much more exciting actually.

He says I have much more to write to you don't you often feel like that? I mean some of you it's a dredge to write isn't it? I mean to talk it's no problem but to take out a pen and write this stuff I mean with email and laptops and heaven knows what today there's nothing better than a good old chinwag is there? A mouth to mouth eyeball to eyeball conversation and John is happy to say look I've sent you all this advice but I'm looking forward to having fellowship face to face. And when fellowship with Christian people is intact and engaged in at its highest level it's joyful so that our joy may be complete. Let's run the summary.

Let's go to Queen Victoria. She always seems to me to be quite miserable whenever I see her statues or pictures I don't know about you but she was quite fascinated by or let's put it the other way around there's a Prime Minister by the name of John not Major Disraeli Freudian slip there Disraeli and Queen Victoria have quite a strong relationship with one another and he used to write her letters and I remember some years ago listening maybe not that many years ago listening to a program on the BBC and it was highlighting the letters of Disraeli to Queen Victoria and they always started Dear and Gracious Lady Dear and Gracious Lady Here is John writing to a dear and a gracious person or if you please a dear and a gracious church and he identifies with this individual with this community as as one who is a sort of senior Christian statesman and he brings together the things that they have in common and he puts up because he's a good pastor he puts up not only the positives but also the negatives and then he says at the end I long to be with you I long to have fellowship brothers and sisters we've got a lot in common haven't we in Worthington I don't just mean the building and the fact that it's part of a local we're part of a local church but what we have in common in Jesus let's love one another as he loved one another let's sometimes admonish one another in love as John had to give some qualified advice to this lady and let's enjoy one another's fellowship and through our corporate efforts advance the cause of the kingdom whether it's in Kailisha or Calcutta around the world for people must know it's the only message of hope that Jesus Christ is Lord and up with salvation and he's coming one day to reign in eternal splendor Amen What a beautiful hymn to follow our meditation but stand What kind of love is this that is meant for me I am the only one that you need We don't have any kind of need We don't need any kind of need We don't need any kind of need We don't need any kind of need We don't need Despite God's great love he sometimes allows contradictory things to happen The Arab world ministries are a family a church family meeting with the AWM part of the AWM family around the world They had the horrific news of the home call of their very gifted American director, a man who was only in his 40s, late 40s, died of a heart attack just a couple of days ago. Dr. Tolman and others have flown to the funeral.

We'll remember them and others who are in need. Father, we thank you that there is a love that goes beyond death and secures us both sides of eternity. We praise you for that.

We thank you for the loving nature of the Apostle John and what we see of our Lord Jesus reflected in the letters that he writes to this gentle man and to this gentle woman. Now we pray for one another. We pray for the lady in the States whom we don't know who's been so savagely bereaved.

Be with her and may she know your consolations. We pray for all of us here who've known bereavement in recent days and ask your blessings too. We commit our Tad diaspora family to you, those working in Pakistan and Turkey and elsewhere.

Lord, hear us on their behalf. We thank you for one another. Forgive us, great God, our many sins.

Help us to show the love of God to each other in a way that reflects the fashion in which Jesus deals with us. May we see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly all our lives, amen. Let's stand.

♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪