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John’s second letter is not long, and this is the biggest and arguably most important chunk of the lot:

‘I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.’ (2 John 1:4-11)

Background information

Some parts of this passage are important enough to warrant deep analysis, but we’ve already looked at them in previous weeks (i.e. the children of ‘the lady’, the new commandment, and the antichrist). Therefore I’d encourage you to look into them if you’ve only just joined us, but we’ll ignore them for the moment.

Reward

John’s instruction to his readers here is to watch yourselves so as to win the full reward. Now, this sounds like the heretical prosperity gospel: ‘Try hard enough, and you’ll be a winner! Have enough faith, and everything will go well for you!’ But that’s not what John’s pushing at. When you look that this comes immediately after John’s mention of the new commandment and the antichrist, it’s clear that he’s talking about the real reward of eternity with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That’s why he immediately moves on to talking about ‘having God’. This brings with it a challenge.

Challenge one: the reward We have generally been brought up to think that being good is its own reward. We like to think that doing something we don’t enjoy just because it’s good somehow makes it better than doing something good because we like it, but that’s not the Bible’s teaching. When we think about doing the will of God I don’t think the first thing that comes into our minds is ‘what a great reward!’ but that’s how John presents it here, and that is therefore how we must perceive it. Simply stated, having God in our lives should make us happier than absolutely anything else, full stop. Or, if you’re American, ‘period’. If anything makes you happier than having God, get rid of it from your mind right now, because you’re committing idolatry.

Challenge two: the battle The problem with this, however, is that of course everything else then must become secondary. I like playing on my games console, but it shouldn’t make me happier than having God. That’s straightforward. I also like not being beaten up, but that also shouldn’t make me happier than having God. While being beaten up I should still be fundamentally happy in God. You could use any horrific example here, and I’m sure you can come up with something that would resonate well with you. Linking this to the previous summary, even the worst forms of suffering should not distract us from the true happiness we receive from knowing God. In fact, they can often help, as our suffering is normally the absence of something we are using to make ourselves happier (like good health, or money). In times of suffering we are to ask ourselves: (1) What have I lost which is making me unhappy? and (2) Why does having God not overrule the loss of that insignificant thing? I’m not saying it’s simple – that’s why it’s a challenge. But let’s rise to the challenge.

Do not give him any greeting

John ends this passage in another challenging way – we shouldn’t be welcoming people who aren’t rising to the challenges above. Now, I don’t think this means that we shouldn’t, for example, welcome non-Christians into our homes for a meal. This links to something that the apostle Paul raised in his second letter to the Corinthians: ‘Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?’ (2 Corinthians 6:14) Paul’s point is the same as John’s – God doesn’t want us to be badly affected by false teaching. If we spend all our time hanging around Christians with bad doctrine, or non-Christians, our opinions will slip and become like them. We should maintain our biblical convictions, and the best way to protect against that is to not expose ourselves to bad teaching. So, absolutely, evangelise! But make sure you’re getting your relaxing time with good, Bible-believing, inspiring Christians.

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

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