Together in the Truth (Part One) (2 John 1:1-13)
“We believe…in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of the same substance with the Father. By whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation, was incarnate and was made man. He suffered, and the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven. From there, he shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
These words about Jesus are from the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith from 325 AD that we sometimes recite in our services. This year is the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. In church history, Christians often used creeds to affirm and clarify what they believe. Drafted by a council of Christian leaders in a place called Nicea (in modern-day Turkey), the Nicene Creed addressed a controversy about the nature of Jesus Christ.
A man named Arius taught that Jesus was not divine in the same way as God the Father. He claimed Jesus was only of a similar substance or being to the Father, but not the same in terms of being fully God. The Council of Nicea rejected Arius’ teachings and re-affirmed the truth that Jesus is “very God of very God… of the same substance with the Father”. Thanks to the faithfulness of those who have gone before, the truth about Jesus has been preserved for us today. Despite its great age, we continue to affirm the truths summarised in the Nicene Creed. The truth matters. Genuine Christian unity means being together in the truth. We do not have to live the Christian life on our own. The truth creates community by joining believers to one another. The truth must shape our life together as a church. The truth unites us, not our plans, programmes, or personalities. If you are not a Christian, I am glad you are here with us on this first Sunday. I hope you will believe the truth about Jesus and so be joined to Him and His church.
What does it mean to be together in the truth? We will start the new year by hearing from two of the shortest books in the New Testament: 2 John and 3 John. They may be brief, but they have much to teach us about how we are to live as God’s people. May what we learn from these two letters shape our relationships with one another. May it also shape our partnerships with other churches, as well as our thoughts about planting a church.
Keep walking in the truth together.
Who wrote these letters? The author simply refers to himself as “the elder” (2 John 1:1). From the earliest times in church history, the letters 1, 2 and 3 John have been attributed to the Apostle John, who also wrote one of the four Gospels and the book of Revelation. What prompted the apostle to write 2 John? False teachers were going around spreading false teaching about Jesus. So, John writes to warn Christians about the danger, as well as to encourage them to press on in the truth. This is the big idea of 2 John: Keep walking in the truth together. We will unpack this in four points.
Keep walking in the truth because of who we are (2 John 1:1-3)
Iain started secondary school the past week. His orientation programme culminated in a badge-pinning ceremony. This rite of passage is meant to give the new students a sense of identity and belonging. It’s important for them to know who they are. Our identity matters, because it shapes how we live. In 2 John 1:1-3, John reminds his readers of who they are to encourage them to walk in the truth. Second John is addressed to “the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1:1). “The lady” most likely refers to a local church. The Bible sometimes uses feminine nouns, such as a daughter or a bride, to describe God’s people. “Her children” are the members of that local church. We are God’s children, adopted in Christ. So, 2 John begins by reminding us of our privileged position in Christ. God has chosen us in Christ to belong to his spiritual family. John may be recallingJesus’ words to the disciples in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”
Love grows in the soil of truth. Knowing the truth in Jesus will lead us to love others who are also in the truth.
Christians are also those who “know the truth” (2 John 1:1). We must know the truth about Jesus in order to become a Christian. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6). Notice the connection between truth and love? All who know the truth will also “love in truth”. John isn’t the only one who loves in truth, other believers too. Biblical truth and love are inseparable. Those who know the true God who is love will also love others as God has loved them. Love grows in the soil of truth. Knowing the truth in Jesus will lead us to love others who are also in the truth. So, if you believe in Jesus, then join a church community where you can practically love in truth. How do we know if we really know the truth? The proof is in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially in the local church. How do we know if we really love one another? Our love will reflect the truth of the gospel and God’s word.
How are we able to love in this way? Look at 2 John 1:2. It is “because of the truth that abides in us… forever”. If we believe the truth about Jesus, we can be assured he will always be with us to help us love one another. Jesus gives us the Spirit, who lives in us and empowers us. Jesus says in John 15: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John continues to encourage us in 2 John 1:3. Through believing the gospel, we can be assured that “grace, mercy, and peace will be with us” (2 John 1:3). God the Father has lavished his generous grace, giving us what we could never earn. He has shown us boundless mercy, rescuing us from what our sins deserve. He given us peace, forgiving our sins and removing His wrath from us. It is through Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in the truth of the gospel and the love of God. Jesus is the Christ—the promised King and Saviour. He is the Son of God — equal with the Father in being fully God. Jesus has come in the flesh to save us through His life, death, and resurrection.
Brothers and sisters, we are not merely defined by what we do. Thanks to God, our identity is more fundamentally shaped by what He has done for us. So, who are we? We have been chosen by God to know the truth of the gospel. Through Jesus, we have received from the Father grace, mercy, and peace. Therefore, keep walking in the truth because of who we are in Christ.
Keep walking in the truth by loving one another (2 John 1:4-6)
The church John is writing to is doing well. He rejoices that at least some of its members are walking in the truth, as God commanded. But John does not want them to become weary or complacent, so he encourages them to keep going. It is like what Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians: “Just as you are doing… do so more and more.” Many of us have faithfully run the race of the Christian life in 2024, let’s keep running in the new year. What we have been doing, do so more and more.
What does it look like in practice to keep walking in the truth? John tells us in 2 John 1:5: “And now I ask you, dear lady… that we love one another.” This call to love is not a new commandment, but one that these Christians received from the beginning, when they first believed in Jesus. To grow as a Christian, do not forget the fundamentals but press on in them. The commandment to love goes back to Leviticus 19:18 in the Old Testament: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.” But Jesus imbues this commandment greater significance in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This is what’s new: Now that Jesus has come, not only are we commanded to love, but we also have a perfect example to follow. Jesus, by laying down His life for sinners, shows us what it means to love sacrificially.
Love is not merely an emotion we feel. It is an intentional, Christ-like commitment to humbly serve one another.
Love is not merely an emotion we feel. It is an intentional, Christ-like commitment to humbly serve one another. The Lord washed His disciples’ feet to give us an example to follow. 1 John 3:16-18: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees His brother in need, yet closes His heart against Him, how does God’s love abide in Him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
Let us find practical ways to love and serve one another. Some of you have visited the sick. Some have prepared meals for others. Some have given others a ride to church, to help them gather with God’s people. Some of you have walked with the discouraged and downcast, by offering a listening ear and by simply being present. Some of you have comforted the grieving. Some have put aside envy to rejoice with those who rejoice. Some have reached out to visitors and newcomers to make them feel welcome to the church. Some of you have helped care for children, to give tired parents a break. Some have befriended the lonely and awkward. Some have stepped out of comfort zones to build relationships with those who are different from them. Some of you have opened up your homes to provide others with a place of refuge and rest. Some of you have patiently pursued those who have strayed away, exhorting them to return to the Lord. I could go on. Beloved, what you have been doing, do so more and more. Keep walking in the truth by loving one another.
In 2 John 1:6, John tells us what love is: that we walk according to His commandments. Love is not vague sentimentalism or emotionalism. The truth gives definition and shape to love. Love and truth are inseparable. Love means submitting to God’s truth and conforming our lives to His will for us. Notice also the shift from “commandment” in the singular (2 John 1:5) to “commandments” in the plural (2 John 1:6). If we obey God’s commandment to love, we should also obey the rest of His commandments. Why? Because love is the fulfilling of God’s law. The greatest commandments is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. The second greatest is to love our neighbour, as Christ has loved us. Jesus’ love was shaped by His obedience to the Father. He loved us by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Understanding this is the key to how we can grow in love for one another. What will help us love our parents, our spouse, our children, our friends and colleagues, and our fellow church members? How do we love the ones who drive us crazy? It is not by gritting our teeth and forcing ourselves to feel more love out of a mere sense of duty. Rather, it is by considering the grace we have received from God the Father through His Son. Do not look within or even to the person we are supposed to love. Instead, look to the God who is love. He loved undeserving sinners like us in this way: He gave His only Son for us, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to save us from our sins. We love because He first loved us. Beloved, read, study, speak of, and meditate on the glorious truths of the gospel. Only the fire of the gospel can enflame and enliven cold, hard hearts. Do we find it hard to love others because we have forgotten the gospel? “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 Jn. 4:11)
The gospel shows us how truth and love are inseparable. Nowadays, to hold to objective truth is regarded as intolerant. We are told it is unloving to say this is right and that is wrong, or this is true and that is false. The world has redefined love to mean affirmation. But mere acceptance is not love. Sometimes, we will have to tell someone they are wrong because we love them and desire their good. At the same time, we must avoid the opposite error of being unloving with the truth. Knowing the truth is one thing, but do we also speak it and live it out in love? If we are harsh, impatient, abrasive, prickly, arrogant, self-righteous, and critical of others, then can we truly claim to know the truth about Jesus?
Keep walking in the truth by guarding the gospel (2 John 1:7-11)
Truth and love are inseparable in the Christian life. And it is imperative that we keep walking in both truth and love because of the spiritual dangers we face. Look at 2 John 1:7. John tells us why we must walk in obedience to the love commandment: “for (because) many deceivers have gone out into the world”. Just as missionaries were sent out to preach the gospel, so there were also false teachers who went out to spread false teaching. Therefore, believers must walk in truth and love because this is how we distinguish ourselves from the false teachers. They neither hold to the truth nor love God’s people. Some false teachers had left the church. 1 John 2 says this of them: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” These false teachers did not want to be a part of Christian community. I cannot claim to love you if I do not want to meet with you. Meeting with one another is a practical way of loving one another. This is one of the reasons why we gather regularly as a church for worship. Make it a priority in 2025 to love our brothers and sisters in Christ by gathering regularly with them. Some of us, for various reasons, struggle to do so. Let us encourage one another to be here on Sundays (and on time, as Thian Chye reminded us of last week). Some members need rides to help them get to church regularly. Speak to Pastor Thian Chye if you are able to help.
The false teachers denied the incarnation. They “do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh” (2 John 1:7). Without the incarnation, we lose the gospel. The good news is that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. By believing in Him, we can have eternal life. How can we know the Father, unless the Son has come to reveal God’s glory to us? How can our sins be forgiven unless the Son has suffered and died for sinners, bearing our sins in His body on the tree? If Jesus is not fully God and fully man, we will not have a mediator between us and God. How will the Christ represent us to God if He does not become human? Hear what Hebrews 2 says about God’s Son, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things… he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to atone for the sins of the people.”
If we deny the incarnation, then what assurance do we have that God truly cares? The life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son is the greatest evidence of the Father’s love for sinners. The incarnation assures us that God is not far from us, for He has drawn near to us in His Son. Although we are sinful and broken, Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. The incarnation proves this. The Son of God humbled Himself, laid aside His glory to identify with us in our weakness, sorrow, and pain. The incarnation assures us that God knows and He cares.
Therefore, the one who denies the incarnation is the deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 1:7). He is opposed to Christ and the gospel. What sort of false teaching do we face today? There are those who deny Jesus is fully God. Some say He is just a prophet, not the Lord. Some say Jesus became a god, but He is not the God. Some deny the Trinity, rejecting the truth that we worship one God in three distinct Persons — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Some say Jesus is just a good teacher or moral example.
False teaching diminishes the person of Christ. False teaching also diminishes His work. Some teach that faith alone in Christ alone is not enough for salvation. It needs to be supplemented with religious rituals, so-called spiritual experiences, man-made traditions and customs, or good works. Others add to the gospel worldly wisdom, human philosophies, or self-help strategies and methods. Some deny Jesus is the only way, teaching that all will be saved, regardless of our religious beliefs. Some teach that Jesus’ death is supposed to make us healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in the world. So, they downplay sin and suffering. Some empty the cross of its saving power, saying it is unloving for God to have his Son bear his wrath against sinners. Some deny Jesus’ bodily resurrection. Some deny he is returning in person to judge and to save. Some deny Jesus’ words are trustworthy and without error.
Watch ourselves and watch out.
I could go on, but John’s focus is not on the false teaching per se, but on urging believers to walk in the truth by guarding the gospel. How? By doing two things: Watch ourselves and watch out. Look at 2 John 1:8-9. Watch ourselves, for the consequences of turning away from the true gospel are serious. John and others have worked hard for the spiritual good of his readers. What a tragedy to have all their efforts go to waste! But even more tragic is to not have God because we have turned away from the truth of Christ. “Full reward” refers to eternal life in Christ. To persevere to the end, we must watch ourselves.
The culture around us likes novelty. We tend to think new is better. Old is obsolete and outdated. C. S. Lewis called this “chronological snobbery”. We may be tempted to think likewise in spiritual matters. We get bored hearing the same truths. We grow tired of the “old, old story, of Jesus and his love”. The gospel is not usually lost due to sudden apostasy, but gradual neglect. It gathers dust in our hearts and minds, until it is quietly forgotten and forsaken. But we are too distracted to realise, because we have gone on ahead to what is new, exciting, trendy, and more in keeping with the times. For example, some have turned away from the gospel because it has not “progressed” along with the world’s views on gender and sexuality. So, watch ourselves, lest we lose the gospel. Maybe the false teachers thought they were making “progress”. But they went so far ahead that they left God behind. The Christian life is not about being “progressive”, but about being faithful to abide in the truth of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, watch out. Look at 2 John 1:10-11. Do not be naïve to the spiritual danger posed by false teachers. In New Testament times, there was a cultural expectation to be hospitable to strangers. Yes, by all means show hospitality, but be discerning. Truth and love go together. Biblical love does not compromise the truth. Now, John is not saying do not be hospitable to unbelievers or to believers who may be wrong about certain doctrines. After all, even Jesus himself ate with sinners. Rather, John says we must not do anything that affirms, supports, or endorses false teachers and their teaching. To do so is to “take part in (the false teacher’s) wicked works”.
So, be careful about who we invite to teach in our churches, who we appoint as leaders, what books we read, what videos we watch, what messages we listen to. For example, if we forward a link to false teaching, we become a false teacher’s co-worker. Guarding the gospel may make us unpopular, but do we love the world’s approval more than we love God and his people? Therefore, abide in the teaching of Christ. Read the Bible to gain a deeper understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Pay attention to the preaching of the gospel. Meet up with other members to study and apply God’s word, one-to-one as well as in Care Groups. Attend the Wednesday Bible Study and Sunday EQUIP classes. All these help us to know and grow in the gospel.
Keep walking in the truth for our joy (2 John 1:4a, 12-13)
We grow our joy by helping others follow Jesus.
Finally, and more briefly, notice John’s joy. Look at 2 John 1:4. He rejoices greatly that some of his readers are walking in the truth. Look also at 2 John 1L12. John longs to meet these Christians face-to-face “so that our joy may be complete”. How do we have joy? It is by walking in the truth together. John models for us what it means seek one another’s spiritual good in Christ and to find our joy in one another’s joy in the Lord. We may be inclined to compare ourselves with others. We may even take secret delight when they stumble, because it makes us feel better about ourselves. May God help us repent of our selfishness. We grow our joy by helping others follow Jesus.
Therefore, keep walking in the truth for our shared joy in the Lord. Help one another to faithfully press on in Jesus, amid trials and temptations. Complete our joy by gathering regularly with other Christians. Meeting as a church on Sundays is not merely a duty, it is for our delight.
We ought also to rejoice in the health of other local churches. Look at 2 John 1:13. As an elder of a sister church, John writes to convey that church’s concern for his readers. Like John, we should be generous and big-hearted, not territorial and small-minded. For this reason, we regularly pray for other churches in our services. This reminds us that God’s kingdom is bigger than our local church. We seek to equip and affirm Christians for ministry, and to send out our best to serve and strengthen other churches. Will we miss them and feel the loss? Of course. But this is what it means to love sacrificially, for the good of the gospel.
We also plan on hosting another Weekender this year. We hope church leaders from Singapore and Asia can spend a long weekend with us learning together, observing how we do church, and encouraging one another. Will this cost us? Yes, in terms of time, manpower, money, and inconvenience. Will this benefit us? Probably not directly. So, why do it? Because we rejoice to see other faithful churches thriving. We rejoice when we can partner with other churches in the work of the gospel.
This is also a reason why we hope to plant a church. A church plant will cost us, because we hope to send out those among us who are ministry-minded and fervent for the gospel. We will feel the loss of people and resources. So, why do it? Because we rejoice when the gospel grows through the multiplication of healthy local churches.
Beloved, don’t pursue joy as a private project. Think “we, not me”. John helps us see that our joy is found in one another’s joy in the Lord. So, keep walking in the truth and love together. May this bring us great joy this year.