Baptisms have been the source of many laughs over the years. A story is told about a young minister who was performing his first baptismal service. He was nervous about conducting a baptism for the first time, and in his nervousness, he confused some words pertaining to the Lord’s Supper with some words pertaining to baptism. So he said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” then as he was lowering the baptismal candidate into the water, he said, “And now drink ye all of it.”1
Baptism has also caused its share of confusion and misunderstanding. A story is told about St. Patrick, who evangelized Ireland. One day, he was baptizing a convert, and as he was in the water he was bracing himself with a walking staff that had a rather sharp point at the end. At some point during the baptism, St. Patrick accidentally stabbed the man in the foot with his walking staff, and after the baptism he noticed that the man was bleeding and asked him why he didn’t say anything. The man replied, “I thought it was part of the ritual!”2
Anytime we go through one of the traditions or rituals that we practice in the church—such as baptism or the Lord’s Supper—its important that we understand what we are doing—not just the precise steps of the ritual, but the meaning behind it. This morning as we celebrate with the young ladies who will be baptized, I want to talk about the meaning of baptism, and we’ll look at it from the perspective of a passage that has caused some debate over this ritual. Would you turn with me please to 1 Peter 3? We’re going to look specifically at v. 21, but I’m going to read vv. 8–22 so we can get a good look at the context of this verse.
As you’re turning in your Bible, let me set the stage for our discussion about baptism. After Jesus rose from the grave and just before He returned to heaven, he told the men we know as the apostles to “go…and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). So we can see that Jesus wants those who follow Him to be baptized, and that’s because baptism is a public declaration of our faith in Him. You see, when you accept Christ as your Savior, that’s a decision that you make in your heart, and other people won’t necessarily know that you’ve made that decision unless you tell them. So baptism is a formal and public way of telling other people that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.
Now when Peter wrote this letter that we are about to read from, it seems that at least some of the Christians that he was writing to had not yet been baptized—perhaps out of fear of being persecuted as a follower of Christ. But Peter wants them to know that baptism plays an important role in our lives as Christians, so let’s read what he has written [READ 3:8–22].
There are some interesting questions that come up about “spirits in prison” when you look at vv. 18–20, but those questions will have to wait for another sermon. Instead, let’s get right to the heart of today’s focus, which is v. 21, where Peter makes the very interesting statement that “baptism…saves you.” Now what does Peter mean by that statement? This is where some debate has taken place over the years. Is Peter saying that baptism saves you from your sins? In other words, is he saying that baptism provides you with forgiveness from God and entrance into heaven, so that if you were not baptized you would not be allowed into heaven?
I don’t believe that’s what Peter was saying, but ultimately it doesn’t matter what I think or what anyone else thinks—all that matters is what the words of Scripture teach in their context. So let’s take a closer look at what Peter says and the context in which he says it.
Let me give you a rule of thumb to follow when you’re reading the Bible. Whenever you come across a word like “saves” or “saved,” you should ask the question, “Saved from what?” You see, most of the time when we read words like “saved” or “salvation,” our thoughts automatically turn toward the idea of salvation from hell—or in other words, entrance into heaven. So we find ourselves automatically thinking, “Oh—he’s talking about what I have to do to gain entrance into heaven.”
But we can’t simply jump to that conclusion, because while words like “saved” and “salvation” talk about being rescued from some kind of danger, those words don’t specify what the danger is. That has to be determined from the context of the verse. So the main question we need to answer is, “What kind of danger is Peter talking about in this context?” Once we answer that question, then we will know what it is that baptism saves us from.
So what kind of danger is Peter talking about? Well, if we start at the beginning of this section in v. 8, notice the theme that develops around the idea of doing evil:
• v. 9—Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling
• v. 10—Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil
• v. 11—let him turn away from evil
• v. 12—the face of the Lord is against those who do evil
• v. 17—it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil
I think v. 17 sums up the danger that Peter has in mind—it is the danger of suffering as a result of doing evil. Specifically, if we look at vv. 9 and 14, I think Peter was talking about doing evil to those who were persecuting them. Peter’s basic message in this section is that these Christians should not respond with evil behavior toward those who were persecuting them, but rather they should be willing to suffer as Christ did and thus serve as a witness for Christ.
So the danger that Peter has in mind is that of suffering as an evildoer. And v. 17 makes it clear that he is thinking of some kind of suffering in this life; some kind of suffering that we could go through right now. In v. 17 he says, “it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” Now when he talks about suffering for doing good, the rest of the book makes it clear that Peter is thinking of things like being insulted, being lied about, being slandered, and even suffering physical harm. All of those things could come from doing evil as well, but Peter says that baptism will save us from suffering the negative consequences of evil behavior.
We can also see this in the connection that Peter makes between baptism and the flood experience that Noah went through in the ark. He makes a fascinating comparison here—he says that baptism is for us what the ark experience was for Noah. And what was the ark experience for Noah? It wasn’t something that gained him entrance into heaven or forgiveness of his sins. Remember—Noah already had forgiveness for his sins; he already had a relationship with God. That’s why God chose him to build the ark—so that he could be saved from suffering in the flood like the wicked people around him. The ark saved Noah from suffering like an evildoer, and Peter says that baptism will do the same for us.
But how exactly can baptism do this for us? Well, as Peter emphasizes in v. 21, the answer is not in the physical act of getting wet but in the attitude that is expressed by the person who submits to baptism. He writes, “baptism…now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.” Your translation might say “a pledge to God for a good conscience” or something to that effect, but the idea is easy to grasp. When you submit to baptism, you are identifying yourself and associating yourself with Jesus. You are saying, “I died with Him, and now I’ve been raised with Him to walk in a new way of life.” And as that attitude works itself out in your life, it will give you a good conscience before God as you act in Christlike ways rather than evil ways.
So what you need to understand, friends, is this—the attitude that you express when you choose to be baptized is precisely the attitude that will help you be a faithful follower of Jesus. It is the willingness to stand up and say, “I believe in Jesus, I am His follower, and I’m not ashamed to say it.” That attitude will help you make godly choices in life, which will save you from suffering the consequences of evil behavior. That’s why baptism is such an important step of obedience, and that’s why we rejoice today with those who have decided to make this declaration.
1From Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) . Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville.
2From Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) . Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
What's the Connection Between the Lord's Supper and the Jewish Feast of Passover?--Understanding the Lord's Supper series
Recently, some people in our area had the opportunity to re-live a bit of the past at an old-fashioned harvest that used antique farming equipment and techniques. There is something special about re-living scenes from the past, whether it’s a Civil War re-enactment, a Renaissance festival, or an antique harvest.
Every time we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are re-living a scene from the past. We are re-enacting something that our Lord Himself did with His disciples, but our observance also has a connection to another ancient, biblical meal—the Passover Feast of the Old Testament. The gospel accounts tell us that when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he did so during a Passover meal. He was re-interpreting the Passover Feast and applying its picture of sacrifice and salvation to His own upcoming death, which was a sacrifice for our sins.
So today we’re going to answer the question, “What’s the connection between the Lord’s Supper and the Jewish Feast of Passover?” The elements of that feast foreshadowed the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus, and we can draw some amazing parallels by looking at it.
We’re going to look at the instructions that God gave to the Jewish people for the very first Passover meal, which they ate on the night that God set them free from their slavery in Egypt. Turn with me to Exodus 12, and follow with me as I read the first 13 verses [READ Ex. 12:1–13].
Let’s look at some ways that this meal points toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Its primary place in the Jewish calendar (vv. 1–2)
While the Jews were slaves in Egypt, they probably didn’t have the freedom to follow a calendar of their own or to set their own schedule in any sense. But when God spoke these words, He was about to make the children of Israel a free people—free to govern themselves and to organize themselves as a nation. As part of their freedom, God said they were going to have a new calendar—their own calendar, their own way of keeping track of time.
God told them that this month in which the Passover was going to take place would be the first month for their new calendar. Its like God was saying, “I’m about to give you a new history as a people, and you need a new calendar to mark the occasion.” And the focal point of their new history would be their deliverance from Egypt. It would be the basis for their new lives, all the way down to the way that they organized their calendar.
There are some obvious parallels for our lives in this observation. Today, through Jesus Christ, we celebrate our deliverance from our spiritual slavery to sin, and even though our society doesn’t base its calendar on Good Friday and Easter, our lives are to be based on those events. As Paul says in Colossians 3, we are to think of ourselves as having died and risen with Christ, so that we are now supposed to live a whole new kind of life. We have a new history thanks to the freedom from our sins that we enjoy in Jesus Christ.
II. The selection of a Passover sacrifice (vv. 3–6)
Verses 3–6 describe the process of selecting an animal to serve as the Passover sacrifice. The people were to select a year-old male animal—either a lamb or a goat—and this animal would then be sacrificed and put to two uses—its body would be eaten to provide nourishment for the family, and its blood would be used to provide deliverance for the family. We’ll talk more about the blood in just a moment, but for now let’s focus on the animal’s body.
Verse 4 says that the animal should be “without blemish,” which means that by all appearances, it was to be perfect. It was to be strong and healthy rather than sick or weak; it was to be without any sort of physical defect such as blindness or a deformed limb. It was to be perfect because it was being offered to the Lord, and its blood would provide deliverance for the family.
Likewise, our Lord Jesus was a perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sins. In the New Testament, Peter reminds us that we were not ransomed with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18–19). So Jesus was like a Passover lamb for us—He was a perfect sacrifice, and thus His blood was able to deliver us from the wrath of God.
The Passover sacrifice also provided nourishment for the family as they ate it, and likewise, Jesus provides spiritual nourishment for us so that our spiritual needs are met. Just listen to the following statements from Jesus Himself:
• John 4:13–14—“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
• John 6:35—“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
• John 6:51a–b—“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
• Matthew 11:28—“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Just as the Passover sacrifice provided physical nourishment for those who ate it, so our Lord provides spiritual nourishment through His sacrifice for those who accept Him.
III. The unleavened bread (v. 8)
Unleavened bread is bread that has no yeast in it, and so the bread would not rise during baking—it would remain flat. The traditional unleavened bread that the Jews baked is similar to a saltine cracker in its appearance and texture. The reason that they were to use unleavened bread in this meal is because on that Passover night in Egypt, they would be leaving immediately after God struck down the firstborn of every family in Egypt; they wouldn’t have time to wait for their bread to rise. That’s also why God told them to eat with their belts on, their sandals on, and a walking staff in their hands—they were going to eat and run, because God was about to set them free!
So in the original Passover Feast, the significance of the unleavened bread was that the Jews’ salvation from slavery was going to be sudden and dramatic. Jesus didn’t quite emphasize that same idea in the Lord’s Supper; instead, He used the bread to represent His body, which would be offered as a sacrifice for us. But it is safe to say that His sacrifice provided salvation for us in a dramatic fashion.
You may remember that at the moment that Jesus passed away on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn in two, which revealed that mankind no longer had to be separated from God. Jesus’ sacrifice for us removed the barrier of sin that created a separation between God and man, and we no longer had to be held captive in our slavery to sin. So Jesus’ sacrificial death in our place did provide a dramatic deliverance!
IV. The blood of the Passover sacrifice (v. 7, 13)
Perhaps the most significant element of the Passover observance was the blood of the sacrifice. It was the blood that provided salvation from the wrath of God that was expressed in this final plague that killed every firstborn man and animal in Egypt. God told the children of Israel to put some of the blood from the sacrifice on the top and on the two sides of the doorframe of the door that led into their homes, and He said that the plague would pass over every home where the blood had been applied; the families in those homes would be spared from losing their firstborn. When the people put the blood on their homes as God had said, it was obviously an expression of their faith in God; it demonstrated that they believed His promise.
The authors of the New Testament unanimously and repeatedly state that it is the blood of Christ that provides salvation for us from our sins:
• Peter—1 Peter 1:18–19
• Paul
o Acts 20:28—“the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
o Eph. 1:7—“In [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses”
• John
o 1 John 1:7—“the blood of Jesus…cleanses us from all sin”
o Rev. 1:5—“to [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
• The author of Hebrews
o Heb. 9:11–12—“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come…he entered once for all into the holy places…by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus used a cup of wine to represent His blood. Now back in Exodus 12, the people weren’t commanded to have a cup of wine with this meal, but most likely they did, just as we always have something to drink with our meals, whether we are enjoying a banquet or eating a bologna sandwich! But by the time that Jesus was on the earth, a cup of wine had become a formal part of the Passover Feast through Jewish tradition, so Jesus used the dark red color of the wine as a very natural symbol for His blood.
And so, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, we are remembering—and in a small way re-living—these events of sacred history that remind us of the sweet salvation that we enjoy through Christ. Just as the children of Israel were saved from their slavery in Egypt, we have been saved from our slavery to sin. Just as the Passover was the start of a new life for Israel, so our salvation is the start of a new life for us lived in light of the death and resurrection of Christ. Just as the Passover lamb was a perfect sacrifice, without any blemish, so Jesus was a sinless, perfect sacrifice for us. Just as the bread meant a dramatic deliverance for the Jews, so the sacrifice of Jesus’ body means a dramatic salvation for us. And just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved the people from the wrath of God that was poured out in that plague, so the blood of Jesus saves us from the wrath of God that has been aroused by our sins. So as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we join a crowd of saints from across the centuries who have celebrated God’s salvation with a sacred meal.
Every time we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are re-living a scene from the past. We are re-enacting something that our Lord Himself did with His disciples, but our observance also has a connection to another ancient, biblical meal—the Passover Feast of the Old Testament. The gospel accounts tell us that when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he did so during a Passover meal. He was re-interpreting the Passover Feast and applying its picture of sacrifice and salvation to His own upcoming death, which was a sacrifice for our sins.
So today we’re going to answer the question, “What’s the connection between the Lord’s Supper and the Jewish Feast of Passover?” The elements of that feast foreshadowed the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus, and we can draw some amazing parallels by looking at it.
We’re going to look at the instructions that God gave to the Jewish people for the very first Passover meal, which they ate on the night that God set them free from their slavery in Egypt. Turn with me to Exodus 12, and follow with me as I read the first 13 verses [READ Ex. 12:1–13].
Let’s look at some ways that this meal points toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Its primary place in the Jewish calendar (vv. 1–2)
While the Jews were slaves in Egypt, they probably didn’t have the freedom to follow a calendar of their own or to set their own schedule in any sense. But when God spoke these words, He was about to make the children of Israel a free people—free to govern themselves and to organize themselves as a nation. As part of their freedom, God said they were going to have a new calendar—their own calendar, their own way of keeping track of time.
God told them that this month in which the Passover was going to take place would be the first month for their new calendar. Its like God was saying, “I’m about to give you a new history as a people, and you need a new calendar to mark the occasion.” And the focal point of their new history would be their deliverance from Egypt. It would be the basis for their new lives, all the way down to the way that they organized their calendar.
There are some obvious parallels for our lives in this observation. Today, through Jesus Christ, we celebrate our deliverance from our spiritual slavery to sin, and even though our society doesn’t base its calendar on Good Friday and Easter, our lives are to be based on those events. As Paul says in Colossians 3, we are to think of ourselves as having died and risen with Christ, so that we are now supposed to live a whole new kind of life. We have a new history thanks to the freedom from our sins that we enjoy in Jesus Christ.
II. The selection of a Passover sacrifice (vv. 3–6)
Verses 3–6 describe the process of selecting an animal to serve as the Passover sacrifice. The people were to select a year-old male animal—either a lamb or a goat—and this animal would then be sacrificed and put to two uses—its body would be eaten to provide nourishment for the family, and its blood would be used to provide deliverance for the family. We’ll talk more about the blood in just a moment, but for now let’s focus on the animal’s body.
Verse 4 says that the animal should be “without blemish,” which means that by all appearances, it was to be perfect. It was to be strong and healthy rather than sick or weak; it was to be without any sort of physical defect such as blindness or a deformed limb. It was to be perfect because it was being offered to the Lord, and its blood would provide deliverance for the family.
Likewise, our Lord Jesus was a perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sins. In the New Testament, Peter reminds us that we were not ransomed with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18–19). So Jesus was like a Passover lamb for us—He was a perfect sacrifice, and thus His blood was able to deliver us from the wrath of God.
The Passover sacrifice also provided nourishment for the family as they ate it, and likewise, Jesus provides spiritual nourishment for us so that our spiritual needs are met. Just listen to the following statements from Jesus Himself:
• John 4:13–14—“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
• John 6:35—“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
• John 6:51a–b—“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
• Matthew 11:28—“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Just as the Passover sacrifice provided physical nourishment for those who ate it, so our Lord provides spiritual nourishment through His sacrifice for those who accept Him.
III. The unleavened bread (v. 8)
Unleavened bread is bread that has no yeast in it, and so the bread would not rise during baking—it would remain flat. The traditional unleavened bread that the Jews baked is similar to a saltine cracker in its appearance and texture. The reason that they were to use unleavened bread in this meal is because on that Passover night in Egypt, they would be leaving immediately after God struck down the firstborn of every family in Egypt; they wouldn’t have time to wait for their bread to rise. That’s also why God told them to eat with their belts on, their sandals on, and a walking staff in their hands—they were going to eat and run, because God was about to set them free!
So in the original Passover Feast, the significance of the unleavened bread was that the Jews’ salvation from slavery was going to be sudden and dramatic. Jesus didn’t quite emphasize that same idea in the Lord’s Supper; instead, He used the bread to represent His body, which would be offered as a sacrifice for us. But it is safe to say that His sacrifice provided salvation for us in a dramatic fashion.
You may remember that at the moment that Jesus passed away on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn in two, which revealed that mankind no longer had to be separated from God. Jesus’ sacrifice for us removed the barrier of sin that created a separation between God and man, and we no longer had to be held captive in our slavery to sin. So Jesus’ sacrificial death in our place did provide a dramatic deliverance!
IV. The blood of the Passover sacrifice (v. 7, 13)
Perhaps the most significant element of the Passover observance was the blood of the sacrifice. It was the blood that provided salvation from the wrath of God that was expressed in this final plague that killed every firstborn man and animal in Egypt. God told the children of Israel to put some of the blood from the sacrifice on the top and on the two sides of the doorframe of the door that led into their homes, and He said that the plague would pass over every home where the blood had been applied; the families in those homes would be spared from losing their firstborn. When the people put the blood on their homes as God had said, it was obviously an expression of their faith in God; it demonstrated that they believed His promise.
The authors of the New Testament unanimously and repeatedly state that it is the blood of Christ that provides salvation for us from our sins:
• Peter—1 Peter 1:18–19
• Paul
o Acts 20:28—“the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
o Eph. 1:7—“In [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses”
• John
o 1 John 1:7—“the blood of Jesus…cleanses us from all sin”
o Rev. 1:5—“to [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
• The author of Hebrews
o Heb. 9:11–12—“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come…he entered once for all into the holy places…by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus used a cup of wine to represent His blood. Now back in Exodus 12, the people weren’t commanded to have a cup of wine with this meal, but most likely they did, just as we always have something to drink with our meals, whether we are enjoying a banquet or eating a bologna sandwich! But by the time that Jesus was on the earth, a cup of wine had become a formal part of the Passover Feast through Jewish tradition, so Jesus used the dark red color of the wine as a very natural symbol for His blood.
And so, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, we are remembering—and in a small way re-living—these events of sacred history that remind us of the sweet salvation that we enjoy through Christ. Just as the children of Israel were saved from their slavery in Egypt, we have been saved from our slavery to sin. Just as the Passover was the start of a new life for Israel, so our salvation is the start of a new life for us lived in light of the death and resurrection of Christ. Just as the Passover lamb was a perfect sacrifice, without any blemish, so Jesus was a sinless, perfect sacrifice for us. Just as the bread meant a dramatic deliverance for the Jews, so the sacrifice of Jesus’ body means a dramatic salvation for us. And just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved the people from the wrath of God that was poured out in that plague, so the blood of Jesus saves us from the wrath of God that has been aroused by our sins. So as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we join a crowd of saints from across the centuries who have celebrated God’s salvation with a sacred meal.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A Government of the People--Fourth of July Sermon
As you all know, tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of our nation—July 4, 1776, the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed by the members of the Continental Congress. On that day, our nation declared its freedom from Great Britain, and freedom has been the main characteristic of our nation ever since. We have not always been perfect in our expression of it or in applying it to all people within our country, but freedom has been the driving force behind our nation since its earliest days.
One of the rights that we have enjoyed in our freedom is the right to participate in our own government. We get to vote to select our own elected officials; we can even campaign to become an elected official if we want. Sometimes we also get to vote on amendments to our constitution, or new taxes, or other points of law. It is a tremendous privilege to be involved in our own government in these ways, and we should not take it for granted.
But today I want to talk about another government in which we have the opportunity to participate—that is, the government that Jesus will set up in this world after He returns. The future kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world is a major theme of Scripture, yet you may not know that you and I, as children of God, have the opportunity to serve in the government that Jesus will establish.
I. The Reality of the Kingdom
But before we get much further into this matter, we need to pause for a moment and remind ourselves of a truth from Scripture that rarely receives the attention it deserves. The Bible tells us that there is a glorious future in store for this world, because after Jesus returns to the earth, He will set up a kingdom on this planet that will be characterized by peace and godliness. Jesus will bind Satan to prevent him from doing anything in this world during the duration of this kingdom, and He will remove the curse that God placed upon the earth after the Fall of Man way back in Genesis 3.
This is an amazing truth of Scripture and it gives us so much to look forward to, but we don’t always talk about this future kingdom very much, perhaps because we’re a little hesitant to talk confidently about the Bible’s predictions of the future. When we read the portions of the Bible that tell us about the future—like the Book of Revelation—they seem very difficult for us to understand, so we may feel hesitant to talk confidently about what will happen in the future. But while the details in these predictions may not always be clear, it is not hard to get the basic outline of what God says will happen in the future, so we don’t need to ignore what the Bible teaches on this subject.
One thing that is very important for us to remember about the future kingdom of Jesus Christ is that it will be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth—just as real as the United States exists as a nation today. Sometimes people talk about the kingdom only as some kind of spiritual thing, or we talk about the church today as “the kingdom.” But we must realize that the future kingdom of Jesus Christ will be a literal, physical kingdom, and Jesus will reign from Jerusalem as king over the entire world.
Let me read just a few of the passages that predict this future kingdom. In Daniel 7, we find one prediction that became the source for the title “Son of Man,” which Jesus used for himself many different times. In Dan. 7:13–14, Daniel speaks of a vision that he had in a dream [READ Dan. 7:13–14].
Next, let me just summarize Zechariah 14 for you. That chapter describes a climactic battle in which many different nations will come against Jerusalem to destroy the Jewish people. But during that battle, the Lord will come to earth and defeat these armies. He will then set up a kingdom over all the earth, and all of the people in His kingdom will come to Jerusalem year after year to worship Him.
Finally, let me read from Revelation 20. Revelation 19 describes the return of Christ and the battle that I just mentioned to you from Zechariah 14, and then in Rev. 20:1–4 it says [READ vv. 1–4].
So this is the glorious future that will come to pass in this world—Jesus will return and set up a kingdom for a thousand years. There will be days of tribulation and hardship between now and then, as the Bible says, but we can look forward to Christ’s kingdom with great anticipation. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior will live with Him in this kingdom, and what’s more, the Bible tells us that we actually have the opportunity to serve under Him in His government.
II. The Reign of the Saints in the Kingdom
a. The Reality of the Reign
Let me read a few verses that talk about this reality. First, Jesus mentions this possibility a couple of times as promises to the apostles. In Matt. 19:27–28, Peter said to Jesus, “‘See we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Then on another occasion, Jesus made the same point again. In Luke 22:28–30 He says, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you a kingdom, as my Father assigned to me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Now those statements were both made to the twelve apostles, but Paul shows us that the privilege of reigning with Jesus in His kingdom is open to everyone in the church. In Romans 8:16–17, Paul writes, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Notice that Paul says we can be “fellow heirs with Christ,” which means that we can share in the authority that Christ will receive from God during His kingdom.
Then, in 1 Cor. 6:1–2, Paul writes, “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Notice the thought—the saints will have a position of authority to judge the world. Then in 2 Tim. 2:11–12, Paul states, “This saying is trustworthy, for: ‘if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.’”
Finally, we find a clear promise in Revelation 2:26–27 where Jesus says, “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”
What an amazing thought—that Jesus will share His authority with us in His kingdom; that He will allow us to serve in His government! So one of us may be the governor of Kansas someday during Jesus’ kingdom! I don’t know exactly how all of that will play out, but in some way, we can share in a part of Christ’s authority.
b. The Condition for the Reign
Now you may have noticed that several of those verses I just read had conditions attached to them. Jesus told the disciples that they would rule because they had left everything to follow Him and had been with Him through trials. Paul wrote that we would be fellow heirs with Christ provided that we suffer with Him and if we endure in serving Him. And in Revelation, Jesus said He would give authority to the one who keeps His works until the end.
These conditions tell us that serving in Jesus’ government is not a guarantee for all Christians. We will all live in the kingdom to be sure, but ruling in the kingdom is a reward for obedience to Christ in this life. Think of when a new president is elected in our country. Usually the president rewards his most loyal supporters with some kind of role in his government. Apparently, Jesus will do a similar thing when He sets up His government in this world.
I believe this truth is described well in a parable that Jesus told in Luke 19:11–27. Why don’t you turn there with me? This parable gives us an idea of how Christ will set up His kingdom after He returns. Let’s read through it, and I’ll offer some explanation as we go.
[READ v. 11]
Here we find the reason that Jesus told this parable—His followers thought He was getting ready to set up the kingdom immediately, but as Jesus would teach them through this parable, there was going to be some time yet before He set up the kingdom, and the way that they lived during that time would have important consequences.
[READ vv. 12–14]
Now apparently, Jesus was using an actual event from history as the background for His parable. A very similar event had taken place just a few decades before Jesus’ spoke this words when one of Herod the Great’s sons—named Herod Archelaus—had gone to Rome to seek approval to rule over a portion of Israel. Some of the people who lived in that area followed Herod Archelaus to protest his rule over them. But, for our study today, the important thing to note is that the master gave his servants a task to accomplish while he was away.
[READ vv. 15–19]
The first two servants that we encounter had both faithfully served their master while he was away—the first one had more to show for his efforts, but they were both faithful. As a result, they were both rewarded accordingly with positions of authority and leadership in their master’s new kingdom. They were given the right to rule over a number of cities as the representatives of their master.
[READ vv. 20–23]
Now we can see that Jesus did not intend for the master in this parable to be an exact description of Himself. Remember—He was using an actual historical event to make a comparison about what His kingdom will be like when He establishes it. Notice what happens to the unfaithful servant…
[READ vv. 24–26]
This unfaithful servant had been given the same amount of money as the two faithful servants, which means that he had the same opportunity to serve the Master as they did. That money represented an opportunity to have authority over a small part of the Master’s possessions, but he did nothing with his opportunity. As a result, in his master’s new kingdom, he would not be given the opportunity to have authority over any portion of his master’s territory. That’s the meaning of v. 26—those who have been faithful in their opportunities to serve will receive more and greater opportunities to serve, but those who have not been faithful will have their opportunities to serve taken away from them.
Now please notice that this unfaithful servant was not thrown out of the kingdom or beaten or executed or anything like that. He simply lost the opportunity to reign over a portion of his master’s kingdom. And when we remember that this parable was meant to describe what Jesus’ kingdom will be like, this should be a very sobering lesson for us. If you and I are not faithful to serve Jesus today, we will lose opportunities to serve Him in His kingdom! What a terrible loss! This is very much like what Moses experienced when he was not allowed to go into the Promised Land—because he was unfaithful in something that God asked him to do, he lost the opportunity to lead Israel into the Promised Land.
Now we may be tempted to think, “What’s the big deal? I’m still saved; I’ll still live in the kingdom even if I’m not reigning with Jesus.” My friends, how dare we cheapen something that Jesus considers to be a precious reward! How dare we take it so lightly! The Lord Jesus holds out to us the opportunity to play a role in His government over this world; if we treat that as an insignificant opportunity, we do so to our own loss.
As Paul wrote in Romans 8:16–17, we are children of God, and as such we have an inheritance from Him—we have a place in His Son’s kingdom and in the new heavens and the new earth following that. But we also have the possibility of being rewarded with a greater inheritance—the opportunity to share in Christ’s authority over this world. How sad it will be if our opportunities to serve the Lord in His kingdom are taken from us because we are unfaithful to Him in this life. So let us strive to be faithful, that we might receive greater opportunities for faithfulness in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
One of the rights that we have enjoyed in our freedom is the right to participate in our own government. We get to vote to select our own elected officials; we can even campaign to become an elected official if we want. Sometimes we also get to vote on amendments to our constitution, or new taxes, or other points of law. It is a tremendous privilege to be involved in our own government in these ways, and we should not take it for granted.
But today I want to talk about another government in which we have the opportunity to participate—that is, the government that Jesus will set up in this world after He returns. The future kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world is a major theme of Scripture, yet you may not know that you and I, as children of God, have the opportunity to serve in the government that Jesus will establish.
I. The Reality of the Kingdom
But before we get much further into this matter, we need to pause for a moment and remind ourselves of a truth from Scripture that rarely receives the attention it deserves. The Bible tells us that there is a glorious future in store for this world, because after Jesus returns to the earth, He will set up a kingdom on this planet that will be characterized by peace and godliness. Jesus will bind Satan to prevent him from doing anything in this world during the duration of this kingdom, and He will remove the curse that God placed upon the earth after the Fall of Man way back in Genesis 3.
This is an amazing truth of Scripture and it gives us so much to look forward to, but we don’t always talk about this future kingdom very much, perhaps because we’re a little hesitant to talk confidently about the Bible’s predictions of the future. When we read the portions of the Bible that tell us about the future—like the Book of Revelation—they seem very difficult for us to understand, so we may feel hesitant to talk confidently about what will happen in the future. But while the details in these predictions may not always be clear, it is not hard to get the basic outline of what God says will happen in the future, so we don’t need to ignore what the Bible teaches on this subject.
One thing that is very important for us to remember about the future kingdom of Jesus Christ is that it will be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth—just as real as the United States exists as a nation today. Sometimes people talk about the kingdom only as some kind of spiritual thing, or we talk about the church today as “the kingdom.” But we must realize that the future kingdom of Jesus Christ will be a literal, physical kingdom, and Jesus will reign from Jerusalem as king over the entire world.
Let me read just a few of the passages that predict this future kingdom. In Daniel 7, we find one prediction that became the source for the title “Son of Man,” which Jesus used for himself many different times. In Dan. 7:13–14, Daniel speaks of a vision that he had in a dream [READ Dan. 7:13–14].
Next, let me just summarize Zechariah 14 for you. That chapter describes a climactic battle in which many different nations will come against Jerusalem to destroy the Jewish people. But during that battle, the Lord will come to earth and defeat these armies. He will then set up a kingdom over all the earth, and all of the people in His kingdom will come to Jerusalem year after year to worship Him.
Finally, let me read from Revelation 20. Revelation 19 describes the return of Christ and the battle that I just mentioned to you from Zechariah 14, and then in Rev. 20:1–4 it says [READ vv. 1–4].
So this is the glorious future that will come to pass in this world—Jesus will return and set up a kingdom for a thousand years. There will be days of tribulation and hardship between now and then, as the Bible says, but we can look forward to Christ’s kingdom with great anticipation. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior will live with Him in this kingdom, and what’s more, the Bible tells us that we actually have the opportunity to serve under Him in His government.
II. The Reign of the Saints in the Kingdom
a. The Reality of the Reign
Let me read a few verses that talk about this reality. First, Jesus mentions this possibility a couple of times as promises to the apostles. In Matt. 19:27–28, Peter said to Jesus, “‘See we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Then on another occasion, Jesus made the same point again. In Luke 22:28–30 He says, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you a kingdom, as my Father assigned to me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Now those statements were both made to the twelve apostles, but Paul shows us that the privilege of reigning with Jesus in His kingdom is open to everyone in the church. In Romans 8:16–17, Paul writes, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Notice that Paul says we can be “fellow heirs with Christ,” which means that we can share in the authority that Christ will receive from God during His kingdom.
Then, in 1 Cor. 6:1–2, Paul writes, “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Notice the thought—the saints will have a position of authority to judge the world. Then in 2 Tim. 2:11–12, Paul states, “This saying is trustworthy, for: ‘if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.’”
Finally, we find a clear promise in Revelation 2:26–27 where Jesus says, “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”
What an amazing thought—that Jesus will share His authority with us in His kingdom; that He will allow us to serve in His government! So one of us may be the governor of Kansas someday during Jesus’ kingdom! I don’t know exactly how all of that will play out, but in some way, we can share in a part of Christ’s authority.
b. The Condition for the Reign
Now you may have noticed that several of those verses I just read had conditions attached to them. Jesus told the disciples that they would rule because they had left everything to follow Him and had been with Him through trials. Paul wrote that we would be fellow heirs with Christ provided that we suffer with Him and if we endure in serving Him. And in Revelation, Jesus said He would give authority to the one who keeps His works until the end.
These conditions tell us that serving in Jesus’ government is not a guarantee for all Christians. We will all live in the kingdom to be sure, but ruling in the kingdom is a reward for obedience to Christ in this life. Think of when a new president is elected in our country. Usually the president rewards his most loyal supporters with some kind of role in his government. Apparently, Jesus will do a similar thing when He sets up His government in this world.
I believe this truth is described well in a parable that Jesus told in Luke 19:11–27. Why don’t you turn there with me? This parable gives us an idea of how Christ will set up His kingdom after He returns. Let’s read through it, and I’ll offer some explanation as we go.
[READ v. 11]
Here we find the reason that Jesus told this parable—His followers thought He was getting ready to set up the kingdom immediately, but as Jesus would teach them through this parable, there was going to be some time yet before He set up the kingdom, and the way that they lived during that time would have important consequences.
[READ vv. 12–14]
Now apparently, Jesus was using an actual event from history as the background for His parable. A very similar event had taken place just a few decades before Jesus’ spoke this words when one of Herod the Great’s sons—named Herod Archelaus—had gone to Rome to seek approval to rule over a portion of Israel. Some of the people who lived in that area followed Herod Archelaus to protest his rule over them. But, for our study today, the important thing to note is that the master gave his servants a task to accomplish while he was away.
[READ vv. 15–19]
The first two servants that we encounter had both faithfully served their master while he was away—the first one had more to show for his efforts, but they were both faithful. As a result, they were both rewarded accordingly with positions of authority and leadership in their master’s new kingdom. They were given the right to rule over a number of cities as the representatives of their master.
[READ vv. 20–23]
Now we can see that Jesus did not intend for the master in this parable to be an exact description of Himself. Remember—He was using an actual historical event to make a comparison about what His kingdom will be like when He establishes it. Notice what happens to the unfaithful servant…
[READ vv. 24–26]
This unfaithful servant had been given the same amount of money as the two faithful servants, which means that he had the same opportunity to serve the Master as they did. That money represented an opportunity to have authority over a small part of the Master’s possessions, but he did nothing with his opportunity. As a result, in his master’s new kingdom, he would not be given the opportunity to have authority over any portion of his master’s territory. That’s the meaning of v. 26—those who have been faithful in their opportunities to serve will receive more and greater opportunities to serve, but those who have not been faithful will have their opportunities to serve taken away from them.
Now please notice that this unfaithful servant was not thrown out of the kingdom or beaten or executed or anything like that. He simply lost the opportunity to reign over a portion of his master’s kingdom. And when we remember that this parable was meant to describe what Jesus’ kingdom will be like, this should be a very sobering lesson for us. If you and I are not faithful to serve Jesus today, we will lose opportunities to serve Him in His kingdom! What a terrible loss! This is very much like what Moses experienced when he was not allowed to go into the Promised Land—because he was unfaithful in something that God asked him to do, he lost the opportunity to lead Israel into the Promised Land.
Now we may be tempted to think, “What’s the big deal? I’m still saved; I’ll still live in the kingdom even if I’m not reigning with Jesus.” My friends, how dare we cheapen something that Jesus considers to be a precious reward! How dare we take it so lightly! The Lord Jesus holds out to us the opportunity to play a role in His government over this world; if we treat that as an insignificant opportunity, we do so to our own loss.
As Paul wrote in Romans 8:16–17, we are children of God, and as such we have an inheritance from Him—we have a place in His Son’s kingdom and in the new heavens and the new earth following that. But we also have the possibility of being rewarded with a greater inheritance—the opportunity to share in Christ’s authority over this world. How sad it will be if our opportunities to serve the Lord in His kingdom are taken from us because we are unfaithful to Him in this life. So let us strive to be faithful, that we might receive greater opportunities for faithfulness in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Dodging Deception--2 John Series
I have always enjoyed watching a good magician perform his tricks. When I was a kid, I even wanted to learn how to do some magic tricks myself, so I found a catalog from a company that sold supplies for magic tricks and I bought some things—a deck of cards that was rigged for a certain trick, a rod with jewels on it that supposedly changed colors, and some other things. I tried for awhile to really master those tricks so I could amaze people with my magical abilities, but I never got very good at it.
Now, in order to enjoy a magic show, you have to allow yourself to be deceived a little bit. No matter what your eyes tell you, you know that the magician’s assistant wasn’t really sawn in half, but you go along with it to enjoy the entertainment value of the show. We do the same thing when we read fairy tales or watch movies about superheroes—we allow ourselves to be deceived just a little bit in order to let our imagination go.
This is okay when we’re talking about entertainment, but when we think of our beliefs about God and His Word, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived. As we learned when we studied the first part of 2 John, the truth of God is the foundation for the Christian community. It is the tie that binds us, the foundation upon which our fellowship as a church is built, so if the foundation of truth starts to crumble, the church will suffer and our service for God in this world will be weakened and compromised.
The truth of Christianity has always been under attack from those outside of the faith who want nothing to do with it. But an even greater danger has existed from those who want to be called followers of Christ and yet deny some of the central truths about who He is. The apostle John is going to turn our attention toward such false teachers in the last part of his letter, and we are going to find two commands that will help us dodge deception. Let’s read these verses, and then we will look at these two commands [READ 2 John 1:7–13].
We find the first command in vv. 7–9…
I. Guard yourself against deception (vv. 7–9)
When we looked at v. 6 in our previous study, we saw that John had emphasized the need to follow the command to love each other “just as you have heard from the beginning.” Now why did John stress that this was something which they had heard from the beginning? Well, because as he says in v. 7, “for many deceivers have gone out into the world.” These deceivers or false teachers might lead the people astray from the truth that they had been taught from the beginning of the church, and as we read a moment ago, John is going to warn his readers about these false teachers.
Now in the last part of v. 7, John mentions the error that the deceivers’ false teaching revolved around. He says they “do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” From the writings of church leaders around this point in history, we know that John was talking about a heresy called Docetism. Docetism had its roots in Greek philosophy, and this teaching was basically a denial that Jesus was a real human being. According to some Greek philosophers, the human body was the epitome of corruption and evil; it was literally the embodiment of all evil desires. And so with this background in Greek philosophy, these false teachers thought, “Wait a minute—God living in a human body is like putting a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn’t fit! God is pure, and the human body is evil, so if Jesus was really from God, then He must not have been a real human being—He must have only looked like a human being, but He couldn’t have had a real physical body.”
And so as John says, they denied the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. That was their hang-up with orthodox Christianity—they were apparently willing to say that Jesus had come from God, but they weren’t willing to say that He had a real human body. But of course, if Jesus wasn’t a real human being—if he was just some kind of ghost or something like that—then He couldn’t have actually died on the cross, and He couldn’t have actually risen from the dead. So you can see how various doctrines start to topple over like a line of dominoes once you embrace this false idea.
So John has some pretty stern words for these false teachers. He says, “such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” Now when we hear the word “antichrist,” we probably think immediately of the world ruler of the end times who is predicted in the Bible. But as John wrote over in 1 John 4:3, the spirit of antichrist is already in the world, because ultimately Satan is behind all of this—he is behind false teaching, and he will be behind the rebellion that the antichrist will lead in the end times.
So with such characters roaming around trying to promote false doctrine, its no surprise that John writes in v. 8, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” John clearly wants them to be on guard so that they are not deceived by these false teachers. Otherwise, the service that they had been doing for the Lord would be hindered, and they would not receive the full reward from God that they otherwise would receive. They might not hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” if their ministry was derailed by these false teachers.
In v. 9, we see that John clearly wants them to understand that this teaching is not from God [READ v. 9]. What the false teachers were teaching may have sounded very good and very spiritual, but it was wrong, and it did not have God’s approval.
So if there is anything that comes through loud and clear in these verses, it is that doctrine matters; what you believe matters, and it makes a difference. As the old saying goes, “ideas have consequences.” Let me give you a rather silly example to illustrate this. Suppose you wanted to have younger-looking skin, and you came to believe that smearing Crisco all over your face would help you achieve that. Now if you acted out on that belief, it would probably have some consequences for your skin!
Now the thing about doctrine is that the consequences of what you believe are far more subtle, but that really makes them all the more dangerous because they can have an effect on your life that you don’t immediately recognize. So we must take great care to assess the things we believe about God, and we must make sure that we don’t become deceived by someone who is teaching falsehoods about the essentials of the faith.
Now in the next few verses, John is going to instruct us about protecting both ourselves and others from false teachers.
II. Do nothing to help false teachers in their efforts (vv. 10–11)
Let’s read vv. 10–11 [READ vv. 10–11]. Now these verses could have some very direct application for us today. I imagine that most of us from time to time receive visits from Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses as they go door-to-door through town. I don’t know how familiar you are with the beliefs of these groups, but their beliefs have twisted the truth of Christianity in such a way that would put them in the same category as the false teachers that John is writing about in this letter. Their beliefs aren’t quite the same as what is described in v. 7, but John’s teaching would apply to them as well.
So John says if someone comes to us and they are not teaching the truth, we should not receive them into our homes or give them any greeting. What does John mean by these statements? Let’s look at them each in turn.
First, John says “do not receive him into your house.” What does this mean for us? When we receive visits from Mormons of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they generally ask if they can come in and talk to us for a while. Is John saying that we shouldn’t let them in the door? Well, perhaps, but we should keep one thing in mind from the history of that time. When this letter was written, it was not unusual for evangelists and teachers to travel around among various churches—much like we have missionaries or conference speakers or music groups that come through our church today. But at that time, there wasn’t a Motel 6 in every town that people could stay at, and many of the hotels that did exist doubled as brothels, so the only good option for housing these traveling teachers was to have them stay in the homes of people from the church. So church members would provide housing and food for these teachers while they ministered at their church.
So at a minimum, I think John was telling his readers not to provide lodging to any false teachers that came around. Its obvious to see how this would provide assistance to these false teachers, so that even if you did not accept their false teaching, you would be enabling them to reach out to others, and we would not want to be involved in that.
Now in our day and age of tolerance and political correctness, its kind of a shock to our ears to hear words like “false teachers” or “deceivers” or “antichrist,” but this is just another example of why we must let the Bible shape our thinking and not the culture. Perhaps it seems hateful or bigoted or intolerant to even talk like this, but that’s largely because our culture doesn’t take religious beliefs seriously anymore. People don’t think religious beliefs matter, so to talk about someone as being a “false teacher” or a “deceiver” simply because they have a different religious belief seems crazy—but not if we look at doctrine and truth the way John does! Remember, for John, truth is the foundation of the Christian community, so if the truth is compromised—if the foundation crumbles—then we cannot accomplish what God wants us to do in this world.
So again, at a minimum, I think John was telling his readers not to provide lodging to false teachers, but was he saying more than that? Was he telling them not to even allow them in their home for a conversation? Would he tell us today not to allow Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses in our door for a conversation. Well, that is a possible interpretation of John’s words, but I’m not convinced that it’s the correct one. However, it could be a good application for your family based on your circumstances. If you feel knowledgeable enough in the Scriptures that you could really give them something to think about, then it could be beneficial to sit down and have a conversation with them. I personally know some Mormons who began to doubt their religion during the time that they served as missionaries because Christians had conversations with them and challenged their beliefs. But if you don’t feel like you’re capable of that, I don’t think you need to feel obligated to have a conversation with them—and I think this verse would provide some justification for that.
John also goes on to say that we shouldn’t even greet such people. Is he saying that we must not even say “hello” to them? We should note here that the Greek word translated “greeting” seems to speak of words of encouragement. A very literal translation would be, “do not say to him ‘rejoice!’.” To us, that would be like saying “have a great day” or “God bless you” or something like that.
So according to John, we are not supposed to give even casual words of encouragement to someone who is actively trying to spread false teachings about Jesus. Keep in mind that we are not talking about Christians who may have slightly different doctrinal views than us. Most of you probably know that genuine Christians do not agree on every last point of doctrine—that’s part of the reason that we have different denominations and churches. It is a sad reality, but it is reality nonetheless. We might disagree on precisely how Christ’s return will play out or whether its appropriate to speak in tongues today, but those are not the kind of differences that John is talking about. He is talking about individuals who teach false beliefs about the identity of Jesus Christ. That is what we must guard against, because if you believe false claims about Christ, Christianity crumbles because its all about Christ! Our faith is all about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
So, my friends, we must realize that doctrine matters, and thus we must protect ourselves from false doctrine that would cut the heart out of our faith. What that means for us is that we must become so familiar with true doctrine that we can spot false teaching a mile away!
I worked at a bank for a short time while I was in seminary, and during my training when they spoke to me about spotting counterfeit bills, they didn’t show me a bunch of examples of counterfeit money. They simply took real bills—the true currency—and they pointed out the features that would tell me it was real. They mentioned the magnetic strip that you can see when you hold a bill up to the light, and the watermark image of the president’s face that appears over to the side. And they pointed out the gold lettering and the foil stamp that changes colors as you turn the bill. They taught me about all the features of the real thing so that I would know when something false came my way.
We must treat our doctrinal beliefs in the same way—we must know the truth so that we are not deceived by error. That’s why we must put in time on our own to study the Word, and we must take advantage of the learning opportunities here at the church in Sunday School and our services and our Bible studies. Doctrine matters, so we must protect it in our own lives and do nothing to support those who teach false doctrines.
Now, in order to enjoy a magic show, you have to allow yourself to be deceived a little bit. No matter what your eyes tell you, you know that the magician’s assistant wasn’t really sawn in half, but you go along with it to enjoy the entertainment value of the show. We do the same thing when we read fairy tales or watch movies about superheroes—we allow ourselves to be deceived just a little bit in order to let our imagination go.
This is okay when we’re talking about entertainment, but when we think of our beliefs about God and His Word, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived. As we learned when we studied the first part of 2 John, the truth of God is the foundation for the Christian community. It is the tie that binds us, the foundation upon which our fellowship as a church is built, so if the foundation of truth starts to crumble, the church will suffer and our service for God in this world will be weakened and compromised.
The truth of Christianity has always been under attack from those outside of the faith who want nothing to do with it. But an even greater danger has existed from those who want to be called followers of Christ and yet deny some of the central truths about who He is. The apostle John is going to turn our attention toward such false teachers in the last part of his letter, and we are going to find two commands that will help us dodge deception. Let’s read these verses, and then we will look at these two commands [READ 2 John 1:7–13].
We find the first command in vv. 7–9…
I. Guard yourself against deception (vv. 7–9)
When we looked at v. 6 in our previous study, we saw that John had emphasized the need to follow the command to love each other “just as you have heard from the beginning.” Now why did John stress that this was something which they had heard from the beginning? Well, because as he says in v. 7, “for many deceivers have gone out into the world.” These deceivers or false teachers might lead the people astray from the truth that they had been taught from the beginning of the church, and as we read a moment ago, John is going to warn his readers about these false teachers.
Now in the last part of v. 7, John mentions the error that the deceivers’ false teaching revolved around. He says they “do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” From the writings of church leaders around this point in history, we know that John was talking about a heresy called Docetism. Docetism had its roots in Greek philosophy, and this teaching was basically a denial that Jesus was a real human being. According to some Greek philosophers, the human body was the epitome of corruption and evil; it was literally the embodiment of all evil desires. And so with this background in Greek philosophy, these false teachers thought, “Wait a minute—God living in a human body is like putting a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn’t fit! God is pure, and the human body is evil, so if Jesus was really from God, then He must not have been a real human being—He must have only looked like a human being, but He couldn’t have had a real physical body.”
And so as John says, they denied the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. That was their hang-up with orthodox Christianity—they were apparently willing to say that Jesus had come from God, but they weren’t willing to say that He had a real human body. But of course, if Jesus wasn’t a real human being—if he was just some kind of ghost or something like that—then He couldn’t have actually died on the cross, and He couldn’t have actually risen from the dead. So you can see how various doctrines start to topple over like a line of dominoes once you embrace this false idea.
So John has some pretty stern words for these false teachers. He says, “such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” Now when we hear the word “antichrist,” we probably think immediately of the world ruler of the end times who is predicted in the Bible. But as John wrote over in 1 John 4:3, the spirit of antichrist is already in the world, because ultimately Satan is behind all of this—he is behind false teaching, and he will be behind the rebellion that the antichrist will lead in the end times.
So with such characters roaming around trying to promote false doctrine, its no surprise that John writes in v. 8, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” John clearly wants them to be on guard so that they are not deceived by these false teachers. Otherwise, the service that they had been doing for the Lord would be hindered, and they would not receive the full reward from God that they otherwise would receive. They might not hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” if their ministry was derailed by these false teachers.
In v. 9, we see that John clearly wants them to understand that this teaching is not from God [READ v. 9]. What the false teachers were teaching may have sounded very good and very spiritual, but it was wrong, and it did not have God’s approval.
So if there is anything that comes through loud and clear in these verses, it is that doctrine matters; what you believe matters, and it makes a difference. As the old saying goes, “ideas have consequences.” Let me give you a rather silly example to illustrate this. Suppose you wanted to have younger-looking skin, and you came to believe that smearing Crisco all over your face would help you achieve that. Now if you acted out on that belief, it would probably have some consequences for your skin!
Now the thing about doctrine is that the consequences of what you believe are far more subtle, but that really makes them all the more dangerous because they can have an effect on your life that you don’t immediately recognize. So we must take great care to assess the things we believe about God, and we must make sure that we don’t become deceived by someone who is teaching falsehoods about the essentials of the faith.
Now in the next few verses, John is going to instruct us about protecting both ourselves and others from false teachers.
II. Do nothing to help false teachers in their efforts (vv. 10–11)
Let’s read vv. 10–11 [READ vv. 10–11]. Now these verses could have some very direct application for us today. I imagine that most of us from time to time receive visits from Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses as they go door-to-door through town. I don’t know how familiar you are with the beliefs of these groups, but their beliefs have twisted the truth of Christianity in such a way that would put them in the same category as the false teachers that John is writing about in this letter. Their beliefs aren’t quite the same as what is described in v. 7, but John’s teaching would apply to them as well.
So John says if someone comes to us and they are not teaching the truth, we should not receive them into our homes or give them any greeting. What does John mean by these statements? Let’s look at them each in turn.
First, John says “do not receive him into your house.” What does this mean for us? When we receive visits from Mormons of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they generally ask if they can come in and talk to us for a while. Is John saying that we shouldn’t let them in the door? Well, perhaps, but we should keep one thing in mind from the history of that time. When this letter was written, it was not unusual for evangelists and teachers to travel around among various churches—much like we have missionaries or conference speakers or music groups that come through our church today. But at that time, there wasn’t a Motel 6 in every town that people could stay at, and many of the hotels that did exist doubled as brothels, so the only good option for housing these traveling teachers was to have them stay in the homes of people from the church. So church members would provide housing and food for these teachers while they ministered at their church.
So at a minimum, I think John was telling his readers not to provide lodging to any false teachers that came around. Its obvious to see how this would provide assistance to these false teachers, so that even if you did not accept their false teaching, you would be enabling them to reach out to others, and we would not want to be involved in that.
Now in our day and age of tolerance and political correctness, its kind of a shock to our ears to hear words like “false teachers” or “deceivers” or “antichrist,” but this is just another example of why we must let the Bible shape our thinking and not the culture. Perhaps it seems hateful or bigoted or intolerant to even talk like this, but that’s largely because our culture doesn’t take religious beliefs seriously anymore. People don’t think religious beliefs matter, so to talk about someone as being a “false teacher” or a “deceiver” simply because they have a different religious belief seems crazy—but not if we look at doctrine and truth the way John does! Remember, for John, truth is the foundation of the Christian community, so if the truth is compromised—if the foundation crumbles—then we cannot accomplish what God wants us to do in this world.
So again, at a minimum, I think John was telling his readers not to provide lodging to false teachers, but was he saying more than that? Was he telling them not to even allow them in their home for a conversation? Would he tell us today not to allow Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses in our door for a conversation. Well, that is a possible interpretation of John’s words, but I’m not convinced that it’s the correct one. However, it could be a good application for your family based on your circumstances. If you feel knowledgeable enough in the Scriptures that you could really give them something to think about, then it could be beneficial to sit down and have a conversation with them. I personally know some Mormons who began to doubt their religion during the time that they served as missionaries because Christians had conversations with them and challenged their beliefs. But if you don’t feel like you’re capable of that, I don’t think you need to feel obligated to have a conversation with them—and I think this verse would provide some justification for that.
John also goes on to say that we shouldn’t even greet such people. Is he saying that we must not even say “hello” to them? We should note here that the Greek word translated “greeting” seems to speak of words of encouragement. A very literal translation would be, “do not say to him ‘rejoice!’.” To us, that would be like saying “have a great day” or “God bless you” or something like that.
So according to John, we are not supposed to give even casual words of encouragement to someone who is actively trying to spread false teachings about Jesus. Keep in mind that we are not talking about Christians who may have slightly different doctrinal views than us. Most of you probably know that genuine Christians do not agree on every last point of doctrine—that’s part of the reason that we have different denominations and churches. It is a sad reality, but it is reality nonetheless. We might disagree on precisely how Christ’s return will play out or whether its appropriate to speak in tongues today, but those are not the kind of differences that John is talking about. He is talking about individuals who teach false beliefs about the identity of Jesus Christ. That is what we must guard against, because if you believe false claims about Christ, Christianity crumbles because its all about Christ! Our faith is all about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
So, my friends, we must realize that doctrine matters, and thus we must protect ourselves from false doctrine that would cut the heart out of our faith. What that means for us is that we must become so familiar with true doctrine that we can spot false teaching a mile away!
I worked at a bank for a short time while I was in seminary, and during my training when they spoke to me about spotting counterfeit bills, they didn’t show me a bunch of examples of counterfeit money. They simply took real bills—the true currency—and they pointed out the features that would tell me it was real. They mentioned the magnetic strip that you can see when you hold a bill up to the light, and the watermark image of the president’s face that appears over to the side. And they pointed out the gold lettering and the foil stamp that changes colors as you turn the bill. They taught me about all the features of the real thing so that I would know when something false came my way.
We must treat our doctrinal beliefs in the same way—we must know the truth so that we are not deceived by error. That’s why we must put in time on our own to study the Word, and we must take advantage of the learning opportunities here at the church in Sunday School and our services and our Bible studies. Doctrine matters, so we must protect it in our own lives and do nothing to support those who teach false doctrines.
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