2 John - Drifting

Message Notes:

Opening Statement: “One of the great and grave dangers to our soul is not always one large disobedience. More-often-than-not, it is a series of micro-rebellions (that may not even seem to be “rebellious” at all) that represent the greater threat to our spiritual well-being.”

Similar statement by D.A. Carson: “People do not ‘accidentally’ drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith.…we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

Theme for today: “Spiritual Drifting”

•Powerful Biblical example — Solomon in 1 Kings

•Chapters 1-10 describe Solomon’s string of successes.

•Chapter 11 is the “pivot point” in his story of drifting away from God.

Solomon’s drift points:

•he married pagan wives

•he married “many” of them

•he multiplied horses, chariots, gold, silver

•he worshiped YHWH at the wrong places

•he built pagan places of worship for wives

•he, too, worshiped those pagan gods 

•he pulled away from YHWH

•All of the above took years to accomplish - slow and gradual; almost imperceptible

In 2 John — one of the unique messages relates to “warnings about drifting”

•(v.7) warnings about false teachers

•(v.8) warnings to keep watch of oneself and beware of losing one’s reward

•(v.9) contains warnings to not wander from the teachings about Christ — and that such wandering indicates a loss of relationship with God

Quote from Eugene Peterson: “The Christian faith needs continuous maintenance. It requires attending to. ‘If you leave a thing alone, you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone, it will eventually be a moldy and mildewed post.’”

Discussion Questions:

Read the two opening quotes from Byron’s sermon. 

•Do you agree or disagree?

•What are some examples of “large sins” that are destructive to people’s soul’s?

•Describe some “micro-rebellion” examples that could be damaging to our Christian life over time.

•Spend some time discussing Carson’s notion that we do not “accidentally drift” into holiness. Discuss his meaning of “grace-driven effort.”

Read 1 Kings 11:1-13 to gain a picture of the series of spiritual compromises made by Solomon.

•Talk about his life as a case study in spiritual drifting.

•As you think about Solomon, which component of his life do you think was the most harmful for him? Why?

Now, turn to 2 John. Read all 13 verses. You will notice many similarities with 1 John. For the purpose of this study, I would like for you to focus on verses 7-9. This is where the language of 2 John reveals concern for the problem of drifting.

•(v.7) How do false teachers and false teaching contribute to spiritual drifting?

•(v.8) How would a Christian “watch themselves?” What does that mean? What do you think John is worried about “losing” in verse 8? What does he mean by “reward?”

•(v.9) What does it mean to “wander away from the teaching of Christ?” Does John mean that a person can lose one’s salvation — is that the meaning of “has no relationship with God?”

Can anyone describe a time when you drifted from God?

•What did it look like for you?

•What can we do to bring the greatest security for our souls against drifting?