Herodotus, the Greek historian, tells this story from ancient
history. Hestiaeus wanted Aristagorus to revolt, but could not get a
message to him because the roads were guarded. So he took one of
the most trusted slaves and shaved all the hair off his head, and then
scratched letters into the skin of his scalp. Then he waited until the
hair was grown in again, and he was dispatched to Miletus. All he
had to do was ask Aristagorus to shave his head, and see the
message to revolt.
And we thought body language was something new. They had a
head start on us. But clever as it was, this method of sending a letter
never really caught on. In spite of its many limitations, however, it
had this great virtue: It forced the writer to be brief and to the
point. We need to learn this lesson, a few words of concern is of
infinitely more value than silence. How often we do not write
because we have little to say, when the fact is, it is little that we
should say.
The great preacher of the last century, T. DeWitt Tallmage,
considered the introduction of the post card a national blessing
because it forced people to learn brevity. It got to be a custom to
spend the first page of a letter in flowery introduction, and the last
page in putting on the brakes trying to stop. The post card forces
the writer to use an economy of words, and get right to the message.
Tallmage was convinced if all used the post card it would add
several years to a mans life. The telegraph made it even better. A
son sent this message home from college: "No mon, no fun, son."
The father got the point and responded, "To bad, so sad, dad."
That is what you call brief communication.
History has proven that a letter does not have to be long to have a
lasting impact on lives. Back in 1850, Harriet Beecher Stove
received a letter from her sister. In it she told of the fugitive slave
law, and the attempt to enforce it. Then she wrote, "Now, Hattie, if
I could use a pen as you can, I would write something that would
make this entire nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is!" This
simple sentence challenge was like the message on the slaves head. It
said "revolt," and Harriet responded to that message. She put her
life-blood and prayers into the writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She
hoped to earn enough to buy a new silk dress, but instead, she
became rich. Her books sold like wild fire. Three paper mills
needed to run consistently to supply the paper for this book that
changed history, and made her one of the most prominent women in
the world. It was translated into many languages, and was a key
tool in ridding the world of slavery. And it all started with a letter.
C.S. Lewis wrote over 100 letters to a widow in America. She
was four years older than he was. They never met, but wrote each
other for years. He never dreamed his letters would be published.
They were just short notes he could dash off in a few minutes, but
they now are a book for the enjoyment and edification of the whole
Christian world. These letters give us deep insight into this man of
God.
Never underestimate the power of a letter. God certainly did not.
21 out of the 27 books of the New Testament are letters, and parts of
the other six are also letters. God must have inspired the idea of the
postal system, for it was basic for His whole plan for mankind, and it
still is today. Letters are a key method of communication, and every
day the will of God is being fulfilled through letter writing. Some
have a gift for letter writing, and can do much good through it.
This morning we want to focus again on this little letter of II
John. III John is even smaller in size, but you can only tell this by
counting the Greek words. John, in this letter to a sweet, lovable,
and loving lady, seeks to enlist her in the battle for truth. Many
deceivers have gone out into the world says John, and they are a
threat to the advancement to the Kingdom of God. John urges her
to stand fast in the truth, and to repel these attackers of the truth,
and refuse to support them.
In so doing John acknowledges the important role that women
play in the battle for truth. In the war of good and evil both sides
have recognized that women are vital for victory. That side which
can enlist the support of women is the side most likely to win. That
is why Satan went after Eve in the temptation. We can rejoice that
there has always been, and likely will always be, more female
Christians than male Christians. That is no sign of weakness, but
rather of strength. Begin to lose the women, and you begin to lose
the war.
I have read much of the history of women in warfare, both
physical and spiritual, and I am amazed at the number of women
who have been conquerors. Numerous women have led armies and
won victories, just as Deborah in the Old Testament. Numerous
women have faced the forces of evil with faith in Christ, and they
have by that faith driven the darkness from the field. Never
underestimate the power of a letter or the power of a lady. We have
both here in II John.
This letter adds nothing new to Christian theology. Everything
here is in I John. There is no reference to the cross or the
resurrection. It is of little value in witnessing. It's value is in the
realm of the practical, as it stresses the importance of balance in the
two basic values of love and truth. An army needs to do two things.
They need to advance to conquer, and they need to abide and secure
the area they have won. This same two-fold strategy is vital in the
spiritual fight against darkness. John in enlisting his lady friend in
the battle for light, begs her to follow this strategy by advancing in
love, and by abiding in truth. Let's look at the need for each of
these. First-
I. ADVANCE IN LOVE.
If you want to make progress in the Christian life, it will come as
you learn to love more effectively. Thirteen times in the New
Testament we are told to love one another. Ten of these come from
the pen of John. He not only preached it, he practiced it, and this
letter is itself an act of love for this elect lady.
Opposites attract, and this is the basis for romantic love. But
likenesses also attract, and this is the basis for Christian love for one
another. I am not saying I know John had no romantic attachment
to this woman. For all I know, the reason he longed to see her face
to face was to propose to her, and win her for his wife. There is no
hint of this kind of love, however. What we see here is a love of a
male and female that is based on their common love for the truth:
The truth here being Jesus Christ.
This has come to be called Platonic love. It is often joked about,
because in our sex-saturated society it is assumed that no
male-female relationship can be non-sexual. But it is, in fact, a very
real and precious human experience. It is one of the great joys of
life that males and females can enjoy each other without romantic
commitments. Jesus had this kind of relationship to a number of
women. Mary and Martha and Mary Magdalene stand out, but
doubtless, there were many others. Paul had Lydia, Phoebe, and
Pricilla, and quite a number of close female relationships, some of
whom are named in Romans 16. When the Bible says love one
another, it does not mean for men to love men, and for women to
love women. We are to love the opposite sex in Christ.
This is a road all Christians are to travel, but no road is so
hazard free that you can be careless, and that is the case here as
well. A good many Christians have gotten their lives messed up by
letting their love in the truth develop into a romantic attachment.
This is just fine for people who are free to be romantically involved,
but all to often it happens to those who are not free.
I bring this issue up because one of the purposes of John in
writing this letter was to help this loving lady see that there are
limitations even to love. It must be kept under the control of truth,
or it can lead you astray. Her problem was in her indiscriminate
love of traveling preachers, and in her not finding out what they
were preaching. John is saying love has to be examined. Many
Christians have learned to their sorrow that just as God can bring
good out of evil, so Satan can bring evil out of good. If love is given
free reign without evaluation of the mind, the Christian is led by his
emotions into every form of folly. This is not mere theory, for the
record of history reveals that godly people can fall into every human
vice, if they do not have truth balancing their love.
This is not a put down of love, but a simple recognition that even
the best of human emotions needs the guidance of truth to avoid
extremes that lead to evil. The Christian needs to be wise in love.
You ought to be suspicious of your love if you notice that you are
more concerned about what you are getting out of a relationship
than about what you are giving. When love begins to turn
self-centered it is ceasing to be the agape love that John is writing
about here. Only agape love will take you forward in the Christian
life. Agape is a social kind of love that reaches out to lift and
encourage others.
John does not want to give this loving lady a wrong impression by
being critical of her zeal in being hospitable to even heretics, and so
he stresses, even to her, one who is loved by all, that she is to press
on in loving and keeping this basic commandment. It is a sensitive
issue to try and get a person to put a limitation on their love without
turning them off to love altogether. The worst thing John could do
would be to turn a loving persons love in on themselves so they cease
to be loving to others.
Karl Menninger in his book, Love Against Hate says, Love that
ceases to flow out to others, and instead, turns inward, leads to
serious mental problems. He tells of patients in mental institutions
who will walk ten miles for exercise, but who will not lift a finger to
help set up a table for the pleasure of others. The reason they are
there is because they love only themselves, and the paradox is that
total self-love is the worst form of hate, for you make yourself
worthless to all others, and thus, unloved by all others. What a sad
epitaph this is:
Here lies a miser who lived for himself,
And cared for nothing but gathering pelf.
Now where he is or how he fares,
Nobody knows and nobody cares.
Agape love is the sharing of one's self for the sake of others. This
always leads to advancement in the one loving, if not in the one
loved.
Agape love is a loan from the heart of God, and God expects it to
bear interest. It is not a loan He wants paid back, but one He wants
passed on. As you have freely received, so freely give. In loving one
another you become a channel of God's grace. Agape love is doing
what needs to be done, and what God wants done for others; not
because you like them and have positive feelings for them, but
because it is God's will. To serve only those you like is not agape
love, but self-centered love.
Jesus did not like the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, nor the
priest for the robbing of the people, but He did love them, for He
died for them, and prayed for them to be forgiven. That is agape
love, for it is not love that is deserved, but love that is needed. The
Christian must do a lot of things in life, not because he wants to or
likes to, but because it should be done. It is great when you can
enjoy what you do for others, but enjoy it or not, if you do what
needs to be done, that is love. John, no doubt, does not like having
to warn this good friend of the danger of her very kindness, but he
knows love demands it, and so we see him stressing the second point
we want to focus on which is-
II. ABIDE IN TRUTH.
This sounds sort of contradictory. We are to be ever advancing in
love, yet ever abiding in truth. We are to be marching forward, and
yet standing fast. These are both a part of Christian warfare. Life
that is balanced will be both progressive and conservative. Like any
army we need to move forward and take enemy territory, but we
need to hold it as well. It does no good to conquer a territory if you
let it slip away later. We need to hold fast to that which we have
gained.
Truth is one of John's key words. The Greek is alethia. In Matt.,
Mark, Luke, and Acts, the word is used only nine times. But when
we come to John it is used 22 times, and in I John it is used 9 times,
and in II John it is used 5 times, and in III John it is used 4 times, for
a total of 40 times. Only Paul can beat John when it comes to the
use of this word, for in all of his Epistles he uses it 45 times. These
two master generals recognize that to be Christ-centered you must
be truth-centered, for Christ said I am the truth. If we are to live by
every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, here is one of the
most juicy and tender of them all. It is a feast for the soul.
There's nothing that gives an army motivation like the assurance
that they are fighting for what is good, just, and true. Even evil
causes must try to persuade their fighting forces they are fighting
for what is right and true. The truth that John urges this female
soldier of the cross to abide in is Jesus Christ, and the Biblical
revelation concerning him. In other words, the truth in this context
must be seen as historical and doctrinal.
The deceivers believed in Jesus also, but they denied the
historical fact of the incarnation-that Jesus the Son of God actually
became flesh. They said he only appeared as a man, but never really
became a man, for they felt flesh was evil and God would never
become a part of evil. They let their theology and philosophy
determine how they interpreted God's word. The Christian is to let
the revelation of God determine his theology. The Christian says if
God came in the flesh, then it is not true that flesh is evil. The flesh
can be good, and God intends it to be as it was
when He saw all that He had made and said it was good.
The truth is objective historical revelation concerning the Person
and Words of Jesus Christ. This is the fortress of the true
Christian. The Christian can be tolerant and flexible in many areas
of life, but here he rests on an absolute foundation of truth. No
matter how corrupt the church has become in history, it has never
forsaken this foundation of the Incarnation, atoning death, and
glorious resurrection of Christ. To cease to abide in these truths is
to cease to be Christian.
You can differ on how you baptize, in how you worship, in how you
govern your church, and in many other ways, and still be Christian.
But nobody can be a Christian who denies the truth that Jesus
Christ is God incarnate in human flesh.
This was the big issue of that day. The Gnostics denied the
incarnation and rejected the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is the same
yesterday, today and forever. The way you discover who is the true
Christian and who is the deceiver is by finding out where they stand
concerning Jesus. If they deny any of the basic truth concerning
who He is and what He has done, then you know you are dealing
with what is not Christian, no matter how good and clever they are.
If people do not deny these basic truths they are Christians even if
you disagree with them on many other issues.
What is true is not necessarily truth. Truth is permanent, but
what is true may be only passing. If I look out the window and say it
is raining, that would be true, if it was raining, but it would not be
the truth because five minutes later that same statement may not be
true. It is certainly not true for all people for all time in all places.
What is true may be very limited in time and place, but what is truth
is the same for all time, all places, and all people. The truth in
Christ does not vary with the centuries or the cultures. Methods
and forms may vary greatly, but the truth in Christ does not vary at
all. Christians need to make this distinction so they can see
where they can be flexible and where they need to take an absolute
stand and abide in truth.
Differences are legitimate even in the way we use language to
convey the truth. John does not use the word Lord to convey the
Lordship of Christ. On the other hand, Paul always refers to Jesus
as Lord. But then, Paul does not describe the experience of
salvation as being born again. John loves this concept and refers
frequently to being born of God. That is not Paul's way of describing
what he prefers to call being justified by faith.
Bible authors have many different ways of expressing the truth, but they
all agree on the truth in Christ in which they abide. The truth in this
letter is the foundation for John's love of this lady. The truth in
Christ has been the atmosphere in which his love for her has grown.
The truth, like God, is triune in nature. It is objective, subjective,
and relational. By objective we mean it is outside of us as a reality.
It is out there in the world and in history. It is truth that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh, that He died for our sin, that He rose
again the third day. That is true whether or not you believe it or
not. But when we do believe it, and accept Christ as Savior, He then
becomes the subjective truth, for He is then as true within us as He
is true without us in history. Now, it is true for us, and we walk in
the truth. Next comes the impact on our lives because this objective
truth has become subjective, and the eternal has invaded time. It
affects how we relate to other people. This truth now determines
our relationship to others. Those who are likewise walking in truth
become a part of our family, and they are loved in the truth. Those
who seek to undermine the truth in Christ, become our enemies.
The truth then becomes the determining force in our relationships to
other people.
John loves this lady too much to let her be deceived, and so he
warns her of her danger. He has to get tough and tell her of the
risks and loss of reward if she does not evaluate those to whom she
shows hospitality. This was not a pleasant thing for John to have to
do, but it was a necessary thing if this lady was to be spared being
deceived by clever men.
In many practical ways this tough love-that is love that is guided
by loyalty to the truth-is so important for the church and the cause
of Christ. But the fact is, it is hard. Eugenia Price had to tell
Christian writers if there manuscripts were of no value. I would
probably beat around the bush and say this has potential, or, not
bad for a beginner. Who wants to tell a struggling author nobody
will care to read what they have written? But if you do not tell
people the truth they will spend their lives following dreams they are
not gifted to achieve. Price says, "Nothing could be more cruel than
to give false hope." Love for people compels you to be truthful with
them and not lead them astray. This is tough love, and may even be
resented, but the fact is, it is what they need.
The spirit and method of telling the truth are key evidences that it
is motivated by love. John begins and ends his letter with a positive
note of love and warm personal affection. This wall of security
surrounds his tough remarks about her danger of blowing it. Tough
love can only be effective when it is preceded and followed by tender
love. The positive must always dominate if the negative is to be
effective.
If you really do not love and care deeply about a person, it is not
likely you can be effective in constructive criticism. You had best
not be the person giving them warning or advice, for there is a good
chance you will do more harm than good. Truth without love will
seem cruel. If you feel compelled to set people straight that you
really don't care for, you need to examine yourself and see if you are
being motivated by a desire to hurt rather than to help. Benjamin
Franklin said, "Truth and sincerity have a certain distinguishing
native luster about them which cannot be perfectly counterfeited;
they are fire and flame that cannot be painted." If you can't speak
the truth in love, why speak at all? John could do it, and that is why
we have this love letter to a loving lady.
