01-24-2021 – Christian Hospitality – Part One
01-24-2021
"Christian Hospitality – Part One"
2 John
2John was written about the same time as 1&3John, sometime between A.D. 90-95, while John was serving the church in Ephesus; sometime before his arrest and excommunication to the island of Patmos.
John was elderly at this writing, but he writes as one with spiritual authority, expecting his listeners to accept and apply his instruction.
Read 2John 1-6
“1 The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth which remains in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received a commandment to do from the Father. 5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.”
John is writing to a Christian woman and her children, someone he was no doubt, close to; most likely she was well known in the church. John is commending this woman for doing that which pleases God, while living as an example of Christ in this world.
John knows this woman desires to obey and serve the Lord, and so he makes it clear, that what he is instructing her (and all who receive his letter), is not a new command, but is wrapped up in the most fundamental truth of love and obedience
(John 14:15
“15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:21
“21 The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.””
It would appear that John has a special love and respect for this woman, and he reminds her that our love for God, is synonymous with our obedience to live out the fundamentals of our faith: the what, why, where, when, and how we live, should display our obedience to God’s Word and our love toward others.
John is reminding this saintly woman (and all his readers), that those who belong to God should live out the same attitude exemplified by Christ (Philippians 2:6-8).
Philippians 2:6-8
“6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”
Read 2John 7-11
“7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
John describes these deceivers as, “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh,” they are moved by the spirit of the antichrist and they seek to destroy the work of God, especially in the lives of those who belong to Christ.
Christians must be on guard against false teachers and false doctrine, for they are many and very deceptive, just as Paul warns us.
2Corinthians 11:13-15
“13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.”
Galatians 1:8-9
“8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”
Galatians 1:11-12
“11 For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
And one of the clearest exhortations in the New Testament, concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ is found in 1Corinthians 15:1-8.
1Corinthians 15:1-8
“Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”
The Biblical record proclaims that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man; any teaching to the contrary is heresy, and anyone who teaches such heresy is not to be shown Christian hospitality.
Please turn to Romans 1:1-4
“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, [called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a [descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the [Spirit of holiness [by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” [cf. Romans 10:9-10].
Romans 10:9-10
“9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
God expects us to be hospitable to those who are truly in need (if we can), as we are to care for the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden, and for the widows and orphans who are without immediate family support.
Christians are to show hospitality to those in need, if at all possible, for that is what Christ would do (Matthew 25:31-40).
Matthew 25:31-40
“31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’”
1John 2:4-6
“4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.”
Colossians 3:23-24,
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
Yes, we are to do good, to treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves, but we must discriminate to whom we show Christian hospitality, for it is God we are serving. John warns us not to show hospitality to false teachers.
John is not talking about those with whom we have minor disagreements, but with those who teach falsely about the combined divinity and humanity of Christ [Incarnation]. We are not to associate with such deceivers, and we are not to welcome them into our homes, for in so doing so, we do evil (see 3John 11).
3John 11
“11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does what is good is of God; the one who does what is evil has not seen God.”
There are two main religious cults who promote false doctrine in our area (the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses); they send out their disciples to knock on our doors, with the desire to not only gain entrance into your home, but into your heart/mind with their deceptive and godless teachings.
When they come to your door, and you tell them, you are a Christian, they may same something like: “We are students of the Bible, just like you.” “We believe in Jesus, just like you.” But is that the truth? No!
Mormon doctrine Teaches that Jesus is a spirit child of Elohim, and is also a brother to Satan; but, through obedience and devotion Jesus obtained Godhood. They teach that there are many God’s, all of whom were once mortals like us, until they attained Godhood, through the teachings of Mormonism.
Jehovah’s Witness doctrine teaches that Jesus is not God, nor is He the Creator; but that He is none other than Michael the archangel, the very first creation of God.
So is John saying that you shouldn’t show hospitality to false teachers? Yes, I believe that is exactly what he is saying; but, and please understand, if you are equipped to authoritatively reprove these deceivers in reference to what God’s Word says in the areas where their cult has lied to them, and they will listen to you... go for it!
2Timothy 2:15,
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
If you aren’t equipped to handle the Word of God accurately, or if those who are deceived won’t listen (but only promote their own false teachings), you must turn them away. You are not to show them hospitality.
Read 2John 12-13
“12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made complete. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.”
John’s desire is to speak “face to face” [up close and in person], to this woman and those who are part of the fellowship to which she belongs.
John writes a greeting to this woman from her sister, her nieces and nephews, who all appear to be believers. Perhaps John is experiencing Christian hospitality with them, as he writes this letter to her.
There were in John’s day, just as there are today, many false teachers who roam about, for the purpose of planting doubt, propagating falsehoods and deceptive doctrines in the minds and hearts of susceptible people, attempting to lead them away from the One True God.
2Timothy 3:12-13,
“12 Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
We must always submit to sound biblical doctrine, exposing any teaching about Christ that does not acknowledge and confess that He is God: the Creator, Sustainer, Lord, Savior, and Judge over All.
Jesus is God in the flesh, He conquered sin, death and judgment forever, so that all who repent of sin, believing in and following Him, receive eternal life.
Our hospitality to others must be Holy, i.e., it must conform to that which pleases God; and so, we are not to help, in anyway, those who promote false teachings about the divinity and humanity of Christ.
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we above all people on the earth should be hospitable to each other, and those who need to be shown hospitality.
1Peter 4:7-9,
“7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”
Pastor Mike Hale
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