2 John Walking in the Truth

I learned some truth this past week, kids are getting faster and bigger every year and I’m not as good at hockey as I thought I was. Sometimes truth is uncomfortable because confessing to the truth may mean that either our pride takes a hit, or people might look at us differently. We have seen this in our leaders in Ottawa this past week where a scandal is unfolding. There were no laws broken, but there was inappropriate pressure applied because of political reasons and the appearance of justice being done was tainted, something that never helps a nation that prides itself on being a place where justice is valued.

This letter of John to the lady chosen by God, a church he has a close relationship with, is a letter that bothers many Christians in our country today because it unashamedly points to Jesus as the truth and warns us against accepting anything that contradicts Jesus and the about who Jesus is. This isn’t a politically correct letter and there’s no tolerance for those teaching anything different than the truth of who Jesus is. 5 times in the first 4 verses John uses the word truth. He starts off by telling them that he loves them in the truth, because their relationship is centered on Jesus who is the truth. John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus told the disciples in John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John’s reassuring the church that they know what truth is because they know Jesus. Our culture doesn’t accept that truth can be found in a person, yet that is at the heart of our faith. If you want to know truth about life, about what’s important and not so important, about what will help you grow as a person and become all that you can be, about healthy values and principles that will build a strong flourishing society, you find this truth in Jesus. As John Franke writes in Christianity Today, “Truth is not finally to be found in abstract notions or theories, but rather in the person of Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God and the living embodiment of truth. From this perspective, knowing truth depends on being in proper relationship to this one person who is divine truth. Jesus is categorically different from all other prophets, witnesses, and messengers from God. Jesus is all of these things, yet more. Along with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus himself is God.”

The amazing thing about this truth according to John, is that this truth lives in us, it’s accessible to us all the time, we don’t have to search for it because it will be with us forever. John is referring to the Holy Spirit that has made our hearts its home, the Spirit that keeps pointing us to Jesus, that guides us in the truth that is found in Jesus, and comforts us when life gets complicated and hard at times. When you walk in something, like a lake, you are completely surrounded and embraced by the water, and it’s the same thing walking in the truth of Jesus, it’s like being completely surrounded and embraced by the presence of Jesus.

John’s writing to a church being pressured by false teachers who were denying that Jesus was human like us. They were teaching that Jesus was divine, but denied that his humanity, instead Jesus just looked like a human. But John pushes back against them when they deny that Jesus is human, “I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world,” calling them deceivers, or liars.

You might say that this isn’t that important because they’re still acknowledging Jesus as God, but Jesus’ humanity is just as important. Because of the fall of humanity into sin, you and I don’t measure up to God’s perfect standard. He set the punishment for disobedience as death and yet we constantly disobey God. But God is righteous and just, meaning we need to be held accountable for our sin, but doing good works doesn’t save us. Yet God is also merciful and he loves us, so he provides Jesus as a substitute for us: perfectly God so that he can take the sin of the world on himself and perfectly human so that the punishment Jesus took on himself can be applied to us. Humans sin, so a human had to bear the punishment, but that human had to also be God to take all sin in himself, this is why teaching Jesus wasn’t human takes away all the comfort and hope that we have in life, takes away any reason to live as Jesus calls us to live. If Jesus isn’t human, then his death on the cross is meaningless for us. Because of his humanity, Jesus offers us new life shaped by the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life and a call to live a life that shows our thankfulness to him so that others can be won over to Jesus.

John doesn’t want the people to lose their hope and strength that comes from knowing we are forgiven by God because of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. John’s prayer is that the church will trust in the truth that is Jesus, will not let go of what Jesus taught and modeled in his life while here on earth. Truth in Jesus is closely connected with love, the love Jesus taught and modeled, loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and loving our neighbours as ourselves. When we follow these commands of Jesus, we know we’re living in truth, in Jesus. Truth is connected to integrity of character rooted in the love of truth, in the love of Jesus.

John’s warning us not to allow anything that is opposed to the truth, opposed to who Jesus is and what he taught, into our lives or hearts. He goes so far as to say, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, that Jesus is both fully divine and human, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.” In John’s time, hospitality was a huge value, almost sacred in practice. Time and again, God calls us to be a welcoming people, generous in our hospitality and now John is saying that offering hospitality to those who teach something different than Jesus makes us partners in their wicked work. How can this be?

John states that we cannot be hospitable to truth and error at the same time. How far does this go? Can we associate with those who believe differently than us about LGBTQ issues, or how about working with Muslims and other faiths on social issues in our communities, or how about those who don’t accept that there is any God, can we learn from them and work with them? Is this what John is getting at in this letter? Truth and love are closely tied together in Jesus and in all John’s writings and Jesus himself often expressed love to those who didn’t accept him as the Messiah. Working together with others on social and justice causes is part of working out God’s will here in earth. We can work with others that don't believe in Jesus as we do for the sake of the common good in order to create healthy communities.

John is more concerned here with teachers already in the church, who call themselves followers of Jesus and yet deny parts of Jesus’ teachings, especially about who he is. Today we need to be aware of those who follow Jesus as a good teacher but reject his claims to being God, allowing them to pick and choose what they will accept from Jesus and reject Jesus’ call to obey all his commandments. We are called to reject their teaching and if they continue to teach against Jesus, we need to be clear that they are wrong and not welcome. This is a hard call into today’s culture because we are told that we need to be tolerant of everyone and they need to find their own truth. But Jesus calls himself the truth and that if we want to know truth, we need to know him. Truth is not something we create, it is found in the person of Jesus and in his teachings and revelation of who God is.

And is this also more personal, can we watch any television show, visit any website, read any novel we want because what we take into our minds and hearts either leads us towards Jesus and becoming who God has created us to be, or it leads us away from Jesus, which is what John is concerned about here. We are called to continue in the teaching of Jesus, and anyone who contradicts the teaching of the Bible about who Jesus really is cannot be in the teaching of Jesus, but neither can those who live inconsistent lives, not obeying Jesus’ call on our lives and his commands.