Sermon Tone Analysis

One Chapter Wonders!

Rediscovering 2 John

Grace Church at Willow Valley - April 22, 2018

Intro:

Read ---- Pray!

Context: No one ever sits downt to write a note, email, text message, etc in a vacuum.

There is always a context in which the message is written.

And so it is with the very brief NT letter before us (along with 3 John the shortest of all the 21 NT letters).

Context: No one ever sits downt to write a note, email, text message, etc in a vacuum.

There is always a context in which the message is written.

And so it is with the very brief NT letter before us (along with 3 John the shortest of all the 21 NT letters).

Let’s begin with who wrote this letter and to whom it was written:

Author: Traditionally, the Apostle John, also the author of the Gospel of John, 1 John, 3 John and the book of Revelation.

Now I am not going to offer up the strong evidence for this view for sake of time .... just suffice to say the attempts to disprove the author to be John the Apostle have fallen short!

Author: Traditionally, the Apostle John, also the author of the Gospel of John, 1 John, 3 John and the book of Revelation.

Now I am not going to offer up the strong evidence for this view for sake of time .... just suffice to say the attempts to disprove the author to be John the Apostle have fallen short!

Author’s use of the term “The Elder” --- the fact the writer does not refer to his name (true of the gospel of John and the three letters ascribed to him) would be consistent with John the Apostle being the writer of this letter.

Why “the Elder” and not the Apostle?

--- well, most likely because he had pastoral oversight of the group of people to whom he was writing.

Some also suggest that since John was the last living from among the orignial apostles … and he was writing this toward the end of his long life … that he was using it in the sense of “the old man” or “the aged one.”

Now we might wince at that since we live in a culture that celebrates youth and degrades old age … yet in the ancient near eastern culture of the Bible … older people were highly respected … and often the older the more the respect.

(we in the church could learn something from this!)

Receipients: “the chosen lady and her children”

Now here is where it gets a bit sticky .... Is John writing to a literal woman who had a number of children?

OR is he using a metaphor here … and speaking of a church and its members?

ESV Study Bible - The elect lady and her children probably refers to a local congregation and its members.

MacArthur Study Bible - the elect lady and her children.

Some think that this phrase refers metaphorically to a particular local church, while “her children” would refer to members of the congregation.

The more natural understanding in context, however, is that it refers to a particular woman and her children (i.e., offspring) who were well known to John.

I read numerous commentaries on this issue … and I believe it is best … though not certain … that the ESV study Bible’s view is to be preferred.

In the words of a former pastor of mine:

“While the matter is probably incapable of a final solution within the limits of our present knowledge, the balance of probability seems to be on the side of the corporate (church congregation) interpretation.”

(James Montgomery Boice)

So most likely John is writing to a church he shepherded … refer to the church as a chosen (elect) lady … appropriate given the NT meaphor of the church being the bride of Christ

Now … what compelled him to write this very short and pointed letter?

After all .... remember what he said at the end of this letter ...

2 John

So something was so heavy on his heart that he did not want to wait until he was able to see them face to face … John decided to fire off this short letter to this group of Christians whom he cared for deeply!

Two catalysts which sparked John’s need to write ...

Apparently John had encountered some from this church and was thrilled to see them walking in truth … and so he wanted to write and commend the church for their faithful obedience to the truth!

2 John

The second catalyst arises from a common occurence in John’s day.

Since Christians could not go onto Amazon to order the latest and newest translation of the New Testament … nor could they make a quick stop at Lifeway Christian store to buy a copy … (all because the NT was still in process of being written and compiled) … traveling missionaries (Bible teachers, evangelists) … would go from town to town and teach the fundamentals of Christianity.

Since there was no travelocity or expedia in those days to use to book hotel rooms (as there were none - and what few inns that did exist ....

“Inns were notoriously dirty and flea-infested’, while ‘innkeepers were notoriously rapacious”(Willia Barclay).

Therefore, Christians would open their homes to provide for these teachers while they were teaching in their own local church.

But as one writer pointed out .... “Not all these roving reverends were worthy of the warm hospitality of hot meal and a warm bed.”

Even ancient secular writers noted this abuse:

“Lucian, the Greek writer drew the picture of a man who had found the easiest possible way to make a living without working … traveling round the various communities of Christians and living luxuriously at their expense.”

(Willam Barclay)

This absuse became such a problem that the ancient Didache (“The Teaching”)… the earliest book of church order, dating from the early 2nd century (so not very long after the writing of 2 John) … addressed this problem:

“Let everyone that comes in the name of the Lord be received… If he is minded to settle among you, and be a craftsman, let him work and eat.

But, if he has no trade, according to your understanding, provide that he shall not the idol among you, being a Christian.

But if you will not do this, he is a Christmonger: of such men beware beware.”

(The Didache)

A Christmonger is someone who sells Christ.

-

Now perhaps this group of people from this church whom John had encountered had spoken to him about how the church was providing hospitality for some supsect traveling missionaries .... and so John writes …

2 John

So what we have in the STRUCTURE of this brief letter:

John’s Greeting (vv 1-3)

John’s Warm Commendation (vv.

4-6)

John’s Stern Caution: (vv.

7-11)

John’s Good-bye (12-13)

John’s Greeting

2 john 1-3

What word does John use 4 times in this greeting?

TRUTH! (he also uses it once more in v. 4)

Truth was an important concept to John, and this can be seen with how often he uses the word in his writings!

For example: Matthew, Mark, and Luke each use the word ONCE in their gospels.

John in his gospel uses the word 23 times!

And in his three letters (and remeber his second and third letters are the shortest letters in the NT) … he uses the word another 17 times!

In fact, across the course of the entire NT … 43% of the uses of the word “truth” occurs in the books written by John!

Now how relevant is this for us today???

In our culture .... absolute truth is considered by many to be non-existent!

ILL — 57% of American adults believe knowing right or wrong is a matter of personal experience; 74% of Millenials agree strongly or somewhat with the statment, “Whateveris right for your life or works best for you is the only truth you can know.”

Well … John would certainly disagree with this as he quoted Jesus in his trial before the Roman Governor Ponitous Pilate:

Now with this background in hand … let’s look at what God through John is communicating to us today … and it is something that we need to hear and heed just as much as his readers in his day needed to hear and heed!

a recent Barna survey reveals that according to 57 percent of adults in America, knowing what is right or wrong is a matter of personal experience .... and among Millenials 74 percent agree strongly or somewhat with the statement, ‘Whatever is right for your life or works best for you is the only truth you can know.

John 18:

Jesus came to bear witness to THE TRUTH!

The objective body of truth which exists apart from whether I choose to believe it or not!

ILL —> Abraham Lincoln wanted to make a point about the nature of truth and so he asked a friend this question: “If you have a goat and call one of its leg a tail, how many legs does the goat have?”

The friend answered, “Three!” “Wrong!”

Lincoln quickly replied.

“Just becuase you call a leg a tail does not make is so!”

Listen my friends, if there is no such thing as aboslute truth, we might as well close our Bibles, turn off the lights, and go home.

But … this book, the Bible is, because it is the word of the Creator himself, it is absolute truth.

And we have a responsiblity to it which we will see in a moment.

But notice also v. 3

Where would we be without God’s grace and mercy .... grace giving us what we in no way deserve and mercy witholding what we most certainly do deserve .... only because God is gracious and merciful beyond belief .. can we experience peace (peace with God … peace with one another .... peace with our lot in life!

John’s Warm Commendation

Just as “truth” is predominate in this letter … so is the word “love” which has already occured in vv. 1 and 3 and now occurs three more times in vv.

4-6

Just as “truth” is a theme of John’s writing … so is love!

Matthew - 11 times; times; times; John 39 times

And in his three letters - 33 times

AND IN ADDITION … note that in this commendation … the concept of walking is predominate!

So … John is commending this group of believers walking in the truth as they kept a command received from the Father … and the command John had in mind was that we are to love one another!

And note what John states is LOVE --- that we walk according to the commands!

And the command most central … most foundational … is the command to walk in love!

This linking of love and obedience is something John wrote about in his first letter ....