From: John the Apostle2nd & 3rd John Outline for Jan. 16, 2011

Sovereign Grace Fellowshipc\o Little Children

P. O. Box 3078235 High StreetBoscawen, N. H.03303-3078

1

2

2Jn 1:1-13 The Elder: To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth--and not only I, but also all who have come to know the truth-- (2) because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever. (3) Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (4) I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. (5) So now I urge you, lady--not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning--that we love one another. (6) And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love. (7) Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. (8) Watch yourselves so that you don't lose what we have worked for, but you may receive a full reward. (9) Anyone who does not remain in the teaching about Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. (10) If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don't say, "Welcome," to him; (11) for the one who says, "Welcome," to him shares in his evil works. (12) Though I have many things to write to you, I don't want to do so with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to be with you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. (13) The children of your elect sister send you greetings.

3

Outline 2nd John

Salutation 1–3The commandment of the Father 4–6Walking in the truth 4–11The message of the deceivers 7–11Conclusion 12, 13

4

2 John 1:1-3 [NASB] The Salutation

I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a

command we have received from the Father. (5) So now I urge you, lady--not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning--that we love one another. (6)

And this is love: that we walk according to His

commands. This is the command as you have

heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.

5

THIS IS LOVE

2 John 4–6

How does God quantify LOVE?

In verse 6 John gives the disciple of Christ a shorthand description of love. He wrote;

And this is love: that we walk according to His commands.

On the surface this sounds rather simple but is it? Let’s find out and unpack John’s thought by examining some of the commands of Christ as we hear them through our Lord and his New Covenant ministers.

6

What does love include?

Once again words are extremely important.

For instance, some Christians have the habit of praying in a very vague manner; what does ‘Lord, bless me’ really mean, if we fail to be specific about the blessings we really desire?

The command to ‘love one another’ could be viewed as being just as vague.

But God in his word has given us many commandments concerning our behaviour towards one another. These are in general terms the opposite of biting, devouring and consuming one another. The sough after effect is in total contrast……

7

PEACE Jesus said to his disciples, 'Have peace with one another' (Mark 9:50).

HARMONY Paul told the Romans, 'Be of the same mind toward one another' (Rom. 12:16) and 'be like-minded toward one another' (Rom. 15:5).

CARE Paul taught another church 'that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another' (1 Cor. 12:25).

EDIFICATION Paul again summarizes: 'Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another' (Rom. 14:19).

CONSIDERATE THOUGHTS The right attitude to foster could be summed up in the words 'submitting to one another in the fear of God' (Eph. 5:15-21).

8

HUMILITY Peter said, 'be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility' (1 Peter 5:5).

FORBEARANCE If we are humble and think better of others than of ourselves, we will be ready to put up with one another when others hurt us. A worthy Christian walk will involve 'bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' (Eph. 4:2-3).

FORGIVENESS If in turn we are prepared to put up with one another, the next step goes almost without saying; we will be well on the road to forgiving one another. 'And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you' (Eph. 4:32).

COMFORTING WORDS Just as wrong attitudes lead to wrong words, right attitudes will lead to right speech. Christians should encourage one another. The academic exercise of using our minds to see how we can improve one another is futile unless we also use our mouths to edify one another. Paul wrote, 'Therefore comfort each other and edify one another' (1 Thes. 5:11).

9

COMFORTING WORDS ….continuedWords are necessary for this. Towards the very end of the Old Testament it is recorded that 'those who feared the LORD spoke to one another' (Mal. 3:16) and the same should be true of us today. There are various ways of achieving this... Such as....

GREETING 2nd John ends on a note of greeting sent by other believers. 'Greet one another with a holy kiss' is an instruction found towards the end of other New Testament letters (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12-see also 1 Peter 5:14).

The 'holy kiss' itself may not be characteristic of all societies and in many of our immoral cultures today a 'holy kiss' may easily be misinterpreted as an unholy kiss, but that is no excuse for ignoring safer forms of greeting such as a handshake or saying 'hello'! But even that seems to be asking too much in some of our churches, where fellow-members pass each other in a frosty silence!

10

TEACHING When Christians meet together they should be 'teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs' (Col. 3:16); all of this should of course be based on a knowledge of God's word, otherwise it will be no better than a pooling of ignorance. We should be 'able also to admonish one another' (Rom. 15:14).

Teaching and admonishing can take various forms and will need to be administered in different ways in different situations.

EXHORTING We need to encourage one another in the very practical matter of fighting temptation, but how often do we do this? The Bible says it should be on a daily basis-'exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin' (Heb. 3:13).

11

COMFORTING Thoughts cannot achieve this, but words can: 'comfort one another with these words', counsels the apostle Paul (1 Thes. 4:18). He is probably teaching the same thing when he tells us to 'Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2).

Christians can be faced with many kinds of burdens, but in the context Paul is addressing some who have the difficult task of seeking to restore those who have been overtaken by sin (v. 1). But they can only do so much; there must be some response …

CONFESSING 'Confess your trespasses to one another' (James 5:16). While a man calling himself a priest has no power to forgive those who go to him to confess their sins, it can be valuable for Christians to confess their sins openly to one another as part of the ongoing battle against temptation and sin.

12

PRAYING James does not stop at the confession of sin. He adds, 'pray for one another' (James 5:16) and this is exactly what John was doing for Gaius in 3 John 2.

Prayer is the highest form of speech we can employ on behalf of one another. Even when we fall short in teaching, exhorting and comforting one another, we can still resort to praying to the one who can meet every need:

Have we trials and temptations?Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged:Take it to the Lord in prayer.

13

CARING ACTIONS Mutual Christian love can be expressed in so many ways by word of mouth, but still more is necessary. John says, 'let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth' (1 John 3:18). To be genuine, love has to be seen in action; Christians should always seek to do good to one another.

The New Covenant does not only tell us to 'love one another', but to help us achieve this goal also gives us a number of pen-portraits, depicting love in action.

The behaviour of Gaius, the man to whom 3 John was written, is as good an illustration of what is expected as any.

14