Do Not Lose Out

I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father... For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God... If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him... (2 John 1:4–13)

John's strong warnings remind us that walking in the truth is the only sure path to receiving all that God has provided.

A New Word: Deconversion

There is a new word and concept that has entered the vernacular of our culture. I know it is new because when I typed it into my notes this week, my computer underlined it in red—it isn't even in the dictionary yet.

For many decades, evangelistically oriented Christians—people who believe what the Bible teaches and feel called by God to share it—have focused on the concept of conversion: a person puts their trust in Jesus and moves from darkness to light, from death to life, from blind to seeing, from lost to found. That whole experience is called conversion. Now our culture, highly influenced throughout its history by Protestant Christianity, is speaking not of conversion but of deconversion.

Whether or not it is theologically possible for someone who experienced a conversion to then experience a deconversion is a discussion for another time. There are those who would question whether that is even a reality. That is not my focus today.

Testimonies and Deconversion Testimonies

I grew up in this church, and in the youth group we were encouraged to write out our testimony—our story of conversion. Growing up here, I always felt I didn't have much of a testimony compared to people like Raul Ries, who has a radical testimony of intending to kill his family and himself before he saw Chuck Smith on TV and gave his life to Jesus. My testimony is like the Disney Channel by comparison—thanks, Mom!

But now there are those sharing a deconversion testimony. Three weeks ago the Christian Post tweeted that they were seeking "reconversion or deconversion testimonies"—asking people who fell away from evangelical Christianity to email them. There are whole YouTube channels of people sharing their deconversion stories.

Fascinating Times

We are living in fascinating times. Allow me to step on some spiritual toes—not as a political jab, just an observation. A few weeks ago, well-known TV preacher and peddler of prosperity theology Benny Hinn apparently renounced prosperity theology, to the point that other prosperity teachers are calling him a heretic. When the prosperity teachers call you a heretic, you're doing something right. I'll take a wait-and-see approach, but it appears he's now preaching a genuine gospel.

One of the leading voices seeking the Democratic nomination for next year's presidential election is a homosexual married man who chastises Christians for being unfaithful to Scripture. And three years ago, 81 percent of those who identify as evangelical Christians pulled the lever for a man who has had five children and three marriages, two of which ended by adultery. We're living in fascinating times.

According to Pew Research, the fastest-growing religious group in America today is the non-religious—the "nones" (n-o-n-e-s). From 2012 to 2017, those who consider themselves spiritual and religious dropped from 59 percent to 48 percent. During the same period, those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious rose from 19 to 27 percent. You probably know people who would say, "I'm spiritual but not religious."

Where Did the Deceivers Come From?

John writes in verse 7, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world." Quick question: where did these deceivers go out from? John answers in his previous book.

Do not love the world or the things in the world... Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (1 John 2:15–19)

They went out from us. Are you saying, John, that there were deconversions in the first century? That what we are seeing is not new or unprecedented—that this was happening 2,000 years ago when one of the apostles who walked with Jesus and saw the risen Christ was still alive? Yes.

Warnings Foretold in Ephesus

When John wrote this letter, he was very likely living in Ephesus, in modern-day southwest Turkey—then called Asia Minor. Ephesus was central to the New Testament storyline. Paul planted the church there (Acts 18–19), and at the end of his third missionary journey, on his way to arrest and near-death in Jerusalem, he stopped to meet with the Ephesian elders—about 35 to 40 years before John wrote 2 John. Paul said:

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. (Acts 20:29–30)

Savage wolves—exactly as Jesus predicted. John was there in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15). And in Matthew 24:24, "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand."

Point one: Do not be surprised by deceptive anti-christs who depart from Jesus and deny his coming. It should not be surprising to us.

Discipline and Responsibility

Some of you are already composing your question for the questions podcast about eternal security—once saved, always saved. Send it in; we'll talk about it. But as you do, consider: is it possible that we in American Christianity, by our insistence on eternal security, have become lazy about the importance of the gospel? Lethargic about church discipline? Sluggish about obedience, faith, and endurance—the very things John, Paul, James, and Peter encouraged Christians to be committed to?

I'll be candid: by nature I am incredibly lazy. If I can find ways to justify my laziness, I'll do it. What's the cure? At least two things: discipline and responsibility—words that are not exactly fashionable in 2019. We hear a lot about rights and liberty; we don't hear much about responsibility. Viktor Frankl, who survived Auschwitz, wrote in Man's Search for Meaning that America needs not just the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast but a statue of responsibility on the West Coast. There's a lot of truth to that.

Look at verse 8: "Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward." That is the language of discipline and responsibility.

A Personal Illustration: Running the Race

I don't often talk about myself—I'm a Bible guy—but for the sake of illustration, indulge me. In 74 days I'll be 40 years old. When you get to double digits before a birthday like that, you get contemplative. At 20 years old, working here as a junior high pastor, I weighed 300 pounds, maybe more. Three and a half years later I weighed 175. What happened? Some discipline and some responsibility.

What really happened was a passage of Scripture being driven home to me:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)

When I read that at 20, it was as if the Holy Spirit gave me a kick in the rear. I was a junior high pastor preaching to others, and it was as if God said, "I need you to discipline yourself, because you're lazy. Take responsibility, lest when you have preached to others you become disqualified." I don't share that picture to boast—God did the work. But God was working in me to will and to do, and I still had to take responsibility. It did not happen without discipline.

The NIV renders 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Wrestling with the Warning

You can spend a lot of time arguing the finer points of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility—people have done so for 500 years. On one end, God works all and does all; on the other, man bears responsibility. Wherever you align on that spectrum, you still have to wrestle with passages like 1 Corinthians 9:27 and 2 John 7–8. I would love to justify my laziness in favor of God doing everything, but verses like these remind me—point two: I must beware that I do not lose my reward in Christ.

During John's time, some within the early church had departed from Christ. They denied the fullness of who he is—God in the flesh—and they were leading others into the same departure. This is the same John who, a few years before, penned the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In its final chapter Jesus says:

Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12)

The same word for "reward" in 2 John 8 appears here. Who completed the work of salvation? Jesus. But he has a reward to give to those who do the work of salvation.

What Is the Reward We Might Lose?

What is it John cautions us we might lose? How you answer depends on the theological commitments you bring to the text. One commitment many hold is "you cannot lose your salvation," and that brings great comfort. There's much in the teaching of eternal security that I say "yes and amen" to. Yet Scripture is full of warnings, and warnings are meant to make us uncomfortable.

One commentator writes: "Some scholars believe the loss John is speaking about is salvation. Others believe the danger is a loss of reward in eternity in the context of Christian service." He adds, "It does seem clear that for John, perseverance is the proof of possession. To stay with Christ gives the clearest evidence that one belongs to Christ; to cling to him and him alone is the surest and only path to receiving all that God has provided."

Here is something interesting from church history: every time the church has seen an increase in commitment to eternal security, there has been a decrease in commitment to mission engagement. I did a class this semester on 600 years of Baptist history, and you can almost graph it—when there's a strong commitment to eternal security, there's a loss of fervor in gospel proclamation. These things are connected, and we're seeing it in our own culture, with deconversion testimonies all over YouTube.

At Cross Connection there are people strongly committed to eternal security and others at the opposite end. That's good—we can have conversations and disagreements and show from Scripture why we hold our positions. We're looking for unity, not uniformity. But however you view this, the potential for loss—even just a loss of reward in eternity—should compel disciplined responsibility.

Work Out Your Salvation

This is why Paul tells the Philippians, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." God gave me the desire not to be 300 pounds anymore, but I had to work it out. It would have been great if it had just happened—but that's called meth, it's illegal, and it'll kill you.

Peter, John's close friend, wrote: "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure; for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:10–11).

These words become clearer in verse 9: "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son." As the commentator said, perseverance is proof of possession. Point three: Departure from the teaching of Christ is a transgression and a forfeiture of God. I don't see any other way to read that verse.

The Joy of Walking in Truth

Remember John's heart: his desire is to see people walk in truth. "I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth" (verse 4). Some of you sitting here have children who are no longer walking in truth, and it burdens your heart; it's in your prayer requests every week. In the next book John writes, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 4). Here's the point: if you walk in the truth, there is no fear of loss. John says you don't want to lose out—and if you walk in the truth, there's no fear of loss.

Make No Room for Deceivers

John's strong exhortations continue: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds" (verses 10–11). In 3 John, which we'll study next week, John will urge the church to welcome and be hospitable to traveling missionaries. But here he says the opposite: if someone shows up no longer carrying the doctrine of Christ, do not bring them into your home.

He opened this book saying we are to love one another, and this might seem unloving. But we are to walk in love and in truth, and sometimes walking in truth means taking a stand for it when people have rejected it. When we walk in love and maintain the truth, we cannot receive and bless those who walk contrary to the truth. Point four: Make no room in your heart or home for deceivers who transgress the doctrine of Christ.

The obvious question: how should I respond when someone from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—a 17-year-old "Elder Joe"—or the Jehovah's Witnesses knocks on my door Saturday morning? Respond in love, with kindness and grace, sharing the truth of the gospel. You don't have to be mean or pretend you're not home; they know you're home. But recognize you cannot have Christ-centered, genuine fellowship—what the Bible calls koinonia—with someone who rejects the teaching of Jesus. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness?

Fullness of Joy

Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen. (2 John 12–13)

Point five: True fellowship within the family of faith brings fullness of joy. In John 15 and 16, Jesus says, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." In 1 John 1:4, John writes, "These things we write to you that your joy may be full." Jesus desires your fullness of joy.

There is an expanding of that joy as people come into the family of faith. This is why it is so important to take the gospel—the truth and love of God—to a world that needs it, so that they would be added to the family and our joy would be full forever. In God's presence is fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

So we want to increase the number of people in the family of faith. Will God sovereignly do that? Yes. But how shall they hear without a preacher? God calls all of us. We have freely received the gospel, and we ought freely to give. One day we will give an account for how we have carried it—"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me." Take responsibility for what God has commissioned us to do, because this culture—the United States, the Western world, the whole world—needs Jesus.

Closing Prayer

God, I thank you for your word; it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Passages like this have a way of cutting deep and exposing areas of our lethargy and sluggishness. Would you stir our hearts and compel us by your love to carry your love to other people? Represented here are literally thousands of people who need you. Stir our hearts to share the truth of the good news of the gospel—your salvation from sin and death—with a world that is full of sin and dying.

As we remember your love demonstrated for us, may we carry the good news and run the race with endurance, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Lord, you experienced victory on our behalf; help us to follow your example. Work in us both to will and to do your good pleasure this week, and stir us to take responsibility for the truth of the gospel being extended to others. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those who agree said, Amen.