Love God In Truth | 2 John 10-13
Good morning, Main Street Church. Welcome in. You may have a seat. I’m sure you all have enjoyed the past week just listening to all the Seahawks Super Bowl podcasts and tv shows. It's been awesome. I truly hope that all of you can experience what it is like to be a Super Bowl Champion someday. It's really special.
Anyway, enough about that. We are going to wrap up the short letter of 2 John today, and I want to quickly review the 3 previous sections of this book we discussed. We talked about how this letter aligns with the mission of our church to Love God, Love Others, and Make disciples: the first was Walking in truth, and how knowing our God helps us love him more. The second was loving others in truth and love, and last week was his warning not to be deceived and to remain faithful to Jesus when others are trying to take us off the path. Now, today, this final section builds on everything we’ve already seen. Again, this is a small letter, but hopefully we have seen that it is full of wisdom for a healthy church.
Scholars often note that, while short, 2 John is strategically written. This book addresses a real crisis in the early church. The community is being pressured by false teaching and division, and John’s goal is not to strike fear into this church but to encourage them to be faithful to the real Jesus.
John ends this book with the call to multiply. We will see that a healthy church does not just protect itself; it also makes disciples. And Disciple-making takes effort from all of us.
Last week, John warned the church about a counterfeit Jesus.
But this week, John shows what a faithful church does next.
Discernment is not the end goal. Making Disciples is.
We see Jesus say this in his great commission in Matthew 28
Go therefore 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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus didn’t leave the church with a mission to merely defend itself, but to multiply. Discernment protects the gospel, but the Great Commission pushes the gospel outward. We guard the truth so we can go with the truth.
A church that guards everything and keeps nothing outside becomes fearful.
A church that teaches the real Jesus and makes disciples produces fruit.
I think there are a decent number of people in this room who play fantasy football or at least know what it is. My friends and I are in a dynasty league: you keep the same players year after year instead of drafting a new team each season, and we love it because it feels more like we are managing a real team. We all care about this league so much; there is a bunch of trash talk, and it’s really fun.
We started this tradition where every year around christmas time we draw names across the league and we have to get that person an NFL jersey but usually it has to be a player from their team and if you know anything about NFL jerseys it’s that they are very expensive, a new NFL jersey on the official team store runs you about $150 so instead of that we scour ebay or some of the sketchy overseas website that you don’t feel great about putting your card information on.
And one of the funniest things about this tradition has become seeing whether the jersey you order looks anything like a normal jersey. Sometimes the colors are wrong, the numbers are off, and the logos are different. I believe someone ordered a jersey for Cole that was the correct number, but it was for the completely wrong player. It was hilarious.
But these counterfeit things are everywhere in our world today. A.I. videos are getting so good online that you can’t really tell if that video of a grizzly bear doing backflips on the trampoline is real or fake. Or I even remember when I first got a cell phone, getting those calls that said something like, “Congratulations, you won the contest for a $1,000, you just need to give us your social security number and credit card info, and we will send that right over!”
And here’s what’s scary about counterfeits: they’re designed to fool you.
And that’s exactly what John has been warning the church about in this letter.
False teachers weren’t showing up saying, “Reject Jesus.”
They were showing up saying, “Here’s a different version of Jesus.”
A Jesus that was more comfortable and fit my needs, but not the real Jesus.
Paul warns us of this in 2 Corinthians 11:3–4
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:3–4
Paul says it’s possible to preach a Jesus who is not the true Jesus. The church must not assume that every message is gospel. The enemy’s strategy is often substitution, not atheism.
And John knows:
If the church loses the real Jesus, it loses the gospel.
And if it loses the gospel, it can’t make disciples.
As John closes this letter, he shows us that a healthy church doesn’t just protect itself from counterfeits…
A healthy church multiplies disciples of the real Jesus.
And that’s where John takes us in these final verses.
He shows us three marks of a church that make disciples:
Truth must be guarded.
Presence must be prioritized.
And joy is found in disciple-making community.
Let's start with a continuation of last week.
Truth Must Be Guarded (2 John 10–11)
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 10-11
And John draws a clear line from the start. But it’s important to remember that not every disagreement is heresy. The church has always had room for differences on second- and third-order issues, but John is addressing first-order issues here, like when someone denies the real Jesus… Jesus’ birth, His death, His resurrection, the Gospel, and the true identity of Jesus. To those things, John says: “Do not receive him,” “Do not greet him.”
One of the earliest heresies, prevalent mainly in the first and second centuries, was Docetism. The claim was that Jesus only seemed human. He appeared in flesh, but didn’t really take on flesh. That Jesus was fully God but not fully man. Why does this matter?
If there was:
No real humanity → no real suffering
No real suffering → no real cross
No real cross → no real salvation
I read this last week, too, but Colossians 2:8–9 is just such a great verse for this; it says
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Colossians 2:8–9
Jesus did not merely appear human; God came in the flesh. Our faith stands or falls on this: the real Jesus, in a real body, saving real sinners.
While it might seem like John is being harsh when he says, " Don’t receive him and don’t greet him. He is really trying to help us and warn us that you cannot disciple people into a Jesus that cannot save.
One theologian says that Christian love is never separated from Christian truth. That love without truth is sad, truth without love is harsh, but John holds them together.
John builds on verses 7–9, where false teachers denied that Jesus came in the flesh.
We see in Acts 20:28–30
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Acts 20:28–30
Paul warned these elders that false teaching isn’t theoretical; it’s inevitable. The danger isn’t always obvious persecution, but subtle distractions. The church must stay alert because wolves often sound like shepherds.
This is central to the gospel: it is believed and taught that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Two natures, one person
The early church recognized that if you lose this, you lose salvation. If Jesus is not truly human, he cannot truly represent us. If Jesus is not truly God, he cannot save us.
John’s gospel emphasizes this clearly. We see in John 1:14:
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John 1:14
Jesus coming into the flesh to save us is not an optional doctrine, and in fact, it is the dividing line between Christianity and hearsay. To deny Jesus’ humanity is to deny the gospel itself.
Now John’s focus here in these verses is on Hospitality because in those days, less so today, Hospitality meant partnership.
In that culture, receiving someone into your house meant supporting their ministry, providing resources, and endorsing their message. Hospitality was one of the main ways traveling teachers survived because inns were rare and unsafe, contrary to popular belief, and so Christian homes became ministry bases.
So John commands separation from false teachers, not being rude, but discernment, one theologian put it, “Have no religious connection with him” (Clarke). John is guarding the church’s witness.
Let's go to verse 11. Why does John give such a strong warning?
Whoever greets him shares in his wicked works.
2 John 11
This is where I think it is tempting for us to hear this and guard ourselves too much.
This does not mean you cannot say hello in public, or that you must be hostile or rude. What it does mean: Do not support, Do not promote, and Do not assist false gospels.
The church must always be open to sinners… but never open to false gospels.
To offer hospitality was to partner in their mission. Neutrality was not possible when the gospel was at stake. I was personally guilty of this, especially in high school. Maybe some of you have felt this tension in your lives before, but I definitely did and still do. How and when to best love my neighbors while also protecting the gospel.
How do I make sure I am being loving and showing the love of Jesus to my friends who don’t know him, without falling into that trap myself?
Paul gives the same warning in Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:8
There are some important clarifications.
John is not talking about all errors, every misunderstanding, or ordinary believers trapped in confusion.
John is talking about teachers spreading fundamental Christ-denying doctrine and those actively promoting false versions of Jesus.
Point 2: Presence Must Be Prioritized (2 John 12)
As John gets to his closing, he says
Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
2 John 12
John is making it clear here that he prefers a personal relationship over a distance one.
As someone who is now marrying someone after a year of long-distance, I can confidently say that I agree: being in the same town is much better than long-distance.
I want to focus on him saying, “Though I have much to write… I hope to come to you…”
Now, John was a prolific writer; he wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John, and Revelation. Yet he says: "Writing is not enough; presence matters."
The early Christians relied heavily on relationships… This is how the gospel was spread! Through embodied community.
Face-to-face discipleship is essential
The Greek phrase that is used here literally means “mouth to mouth.”
John is trying to get us to understand what we need: direct communication, no barriers, and personal closeness. Our faith is not meant to be remote.
One of the most beautiful things about our faith is that God has always worked through presence. He did not save us from a distance. He did not shout redemption from heaven and leave us to figure it out. Instead, He came near. The incarnation itself is God’s ultimate statement that presence matters — Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us. And in the same way, disciple-making is not meant to happen from afar, but through shared life. God forms His people through ordinary, embodied relationships: conversations, meals, prayer, encouragement, and even correction. The Christian life was never designed to be a solo journey, but a family walk. That’s why the author of Hebrews gives this command to the church:
Hebrews 10:24–25 says:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together… but encouraging one another.
Hebrews 10:24–25
Presence is how we stir one another up, how we endure, and how we grow into maturity in Jesus.
There was an article on AI this week that went viral, explaining that it has improved exponentially over the past couple of years and how it will affect the tech world moving forward. So, even in this digital age, formation and discipleship require face-to-face interaction. Just as Jesus came near to us, Discipleship requires closeness among us.
Disciples are formed through closeness
Not primarily through content, but through community
It’s not the same to watch a YouTube sermon or to listen to a podcast. As it is to live and be part of a church family, to be known, and to be held accountable.
And this is exactly why the local church matters so much.
The local church is not just a weekly event we attend when it’s convenient; it is God’s chosen context for discipleship. It is where believers are known, cared for, corrected, encouraged, and built up over time. Christianity was never meant to be lived alone or at a distance. Jesus didn’t save us into isolation, He saved us in a body. The local church is the ordinary, messy, beautiful place where the gospel is protected, where faith is passed down, and where disciples are actually formed.
Disciples are not mass-produced through content. They are formed through presence, through sharing meals, praying together, correcting each other, and encouraging one another.
I have been lucky enough to have many examples of this from people in my life over the years who have discipled me face-to-face. I think a great example has been my parents, ever since I was a little kid. Teaching me and living out what it means to walk with the Lord daily, as well as my grandparents. My brothers, it’s been fun to watch our relationships grow as we have gotten older and encouraged each other in our walks with the Lord. Two of my best friends growing up, Brock and Sam, were there for each other during junior high and high school when things were hard. My cousin Eli, a lot of people wander from their faith in college, and God was gracious enough to give me Eli as a great friend during that time, and for the rest of our lives. Ryan and John Mitchell have been a huge help and encouragement to me as I have gone into full-time ministry after college, always being there to answer questions and help me. Kyle Morgan, Mike Rippee, and Luke Vandehoof, we meet together every Thursday morning, and I cannot encourage you all enough to meet regularly with people you can talk with about what is going on in your life.
Think about some of those relationships in your life right now…
Something that I don’t think we do often enough is tell those people how much they have meant to you, so if you had some people that popped into your mind just then, I challenge you this week, maybe today, to tell them that you are thankful for them and your relationships.
I love how 1 Thessalonians 2:8 puts it.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
This is discipleship: not just content, but life-on-life. Paul didn’t merely preach sermons; he poured himself out. The gospel travels best through relationships, not just information.
Back to our passage, the people to whom John is writing this, the early Christians, needed this in their lives to preserve and pass down the gospel.
Disciple-making requires presence:
Showing up
Eating together
Praying together
Encouraging and correcting
Walking through life side by side
Application
Presence must be prioritized.
Disciples are not made in isolation.
The Christian life cannot be reduced to information transfer.
The local church, a body of believers living in community, is crucial.
Point 3: Joy Is Found in Disciple-Making Community (2 John 12–13)
Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you.
2 John 12-13
“…that our joy may be complete.”
John connects joy to: Fellowship, Shared life, and Community.
We see that joy in the New Testament is rarely individualistic; rather, it is communal joy found in Christ.
We see in Philippians 1:3–5
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Philippians 1:3–5
Joy grows when believers labor together for the gospel. Full joy isn’t found in isolation, but in shared mission and shared life. Isolation shrinks joy, but community multiplies it. God designed the church so that joy would be shared, not hoarded.
John actually says this same thing in another letter in 1 John 1:3–4
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
1 John 1:3–4
Joy is completed through shared fellowship in Christ. Joy isn’t just an internal feeling; it’s something that becomes full when believers walk together in the truth. Christianity is a family joy, not a private joy.
And we also see in Romans 12:15–16 that joy is shared in the body.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 12:15–16
That’s the picture of the church: we don’t just experience joy alone, we share it. We celebrate together, we suffer together, we walk through life side by side. Joy grows when the body of Christ is truly a body. Joy is not rooted in circumstances, but in communion, communion with Christ and communion with His body.
Joy is found in shared life around the real Jesus.
Some of my most joyful moments have come from just taking a moment, sitting back, and watching people in community enjoy being present with each other.
The church BBQ
Carols at the Depot
House at the youth camp, watching everyone play games and the escape room.
John shows us in these closing verses that the church is a spiritual family (v.13)
“The children of your elect sister greet you…”
“Children” = believers with John, “Elect sister” = likely a local church; John uses family language intentionally. The church is not an organization; it is a household, a family.
The pattern John shows us
When the truth is guarded → community is strengthened. As the community is strengthened → joy is found!!
I think too often we view Disciple-making as a duty, but we need to be delighted in the fact that we get to be a part of multiplying God’s people! It is where joy becomes full. Joy is always tied to shared faith, and Joy grows where the gospel is protected and passed on.
Joy as a mark of the Kingdom
And this is one of the ways we know Christianity is fundamentally different from the world. The world chases joy through comfort, success, or entertainment, but Scripture shows that true joy is a kingdom reality. Joy is one of the defining marks of God’s presence among His people.
Paul says in Romans 14:17:
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:17
In other words, joy is not a side effect of easy circumstances; joy is evidence that the Spirit of God is at work. The church becomes a place where joy can exist even in hardship, because Jesus is present and His people are walking together.
This is why disciple-making and joy are always connected. When the gospel is protected, when believers are gathered, when faith is passed down, joy grows. Discipleship is not merely transferring information; it is sharing life in the Spirit.
That’s why Paul could say to the Thessalonian church:
“You are our glory and joy.”
People were his joy. Spiritual children were his joy. The community formed by the gospel was his joy. Because the deepest joy of the Christian life is not found in isolation, but in seeing Christ formed in one another.
Conclusion: A Church That Makes Disciples
In these final verses, John shows what a multiplying church looks like:
Guarding the truth
Prioritizing presence
Experiencing full joy in our spiritual family
The call and application that John leaves for this church and for us are very clear. He says: " Protect the gospel, stay close to one another, and pass the faith on.
Because the church doesn’t multiply counterfeits. We make disciples of the real Jesus. A healthy church does not merely survive; it reproduces and makes disciples.
And I want to come back to that story from the beginning about the jerseys.
Every year, we laugh when those counterfeit jerseys show up. The colors are off. The stitching is wrong. The name doesn’t match the number. And it’s funny because it’s just football.
But what John is telling us is this: when it comes to Jesus, counterfeits are not funny.
A counterfeit Christ cannot save.
A counterfeit gospel cannot give life.
A counterfeit church cannot make disciples.
And the enemy doesn’t usually show up saying, “Reject Christianity.”
He shows up saying, “Here’s a version.”
A version of Jesus that’s comfortable.
A version of Jesus that never confronts sin.
A version of Jesus that doesn’t require a cross.
A version of Jesus that sounds close… but isn’t the real thing.
And John says: Don’t welcome that into the church. Don’t partner with it. Don’t build on it.
Guard the truth.
But John also shows us that guarding isn’t the finish line.
Discernment is not the end goal.
Making disciples is.
A church that only guards and keeps everything inside becomes fearful.
But a church that teaches the real Jesus and makes disciples produces fruit.
So, Main Street Church, this is our call.
And this work belongs to all of us. It is not reserved for the elders, pastors, or super-mature Christians; this is what we are all called to do!
So ask yourself:
Who are you discipling?
Who are you inviting into your life?
Who are you helping walk in truth?
This doesn't have to look like anything crazy; it can be as simple as
Inviting someone to coffee, joining a small group, reading the Bible with your kids, or encouraging a younger believer.
I want to leave us again with the 3 things that God is giving us here through, 3 P’s for this week.
Protect the gospel you believe.
Prioritize presence with God’s people.
Pass the faith on to someone else.
A healthy church not only rejects counterfeits but it reproduces the real thing.
John’s burden is simple:
Don’t give your life to an imitation of Jesus.
Don’t build the church on a counterfeit gospel.
Make disciples of the real Christ, together, until joy is full.
And Main Street, the reason this matters so much is that the real Jesus is not just a doctrine to defend; He is a Savior to trust.
The real Jesus truly came in the flesh.
The real Jesus truly lived without sin.
The real Jesus truly went to the cross for sinners like us.
The real Jesus truly rose again in victory.
And right now, He is not offering you an idea… He is offering you Himself.
So if you are here this morning and you realize that you’ve been around Christianity, you’ve heard the language, you’ve known the label, but you have never truly come to the real Christ, hear this clearly:
Jesus is not a counterfeit. He is the Son of God.
And He came to seek and save the lost.
He does not ask you to clean yourself up first.
He does not ask you to earn your way in.
He simply says, “Come to me.”
Turn from sin. Trust in Him. Receive the real Jesus.
And for those of us who do know Him, this is our mission:
Protect the gospel.
Prioritize presence.
Pass the faith on.
Because a healthy church does not merely survive.
It reproduces.
It makes disciples of the real Jesus… until the day we see Him face to face, and our joy is finally, forever complete.
Response
I am going to ask the band to come back up here, and I am just going to leave these up here for a minute or so, and I have all of us think about what we need to be reminded of this week and what steps we can practically take in the next week.
Preparing the Table
If you are a believer and follower of Christ, we invite you to grab the communion elements up front or at either of the stations in the back over the next 2 songs.
If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, many people in this room would love to talk to you about what that looks like, so feel free to talk to me or anyone around you about it.
Parents, feel free to go grab your children at the ramp out in the hallway.
We will take communion after the next 2 songs.
Communion
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he sat with his disciples, and he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
Pray
Benediction
Numbers 6:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace.
