Our cars are listening for our instructions.  And our screens are spying on our preferences.  Our watches count our steps, our heartbeats and even our breaths as we sleep.  Then tell us how we could have done better.  We have other specialized devices that monitor our vitals and alert the world if we take a tumble.  We have doorbells that double as FBI surveillance collection devices.  And many who work at home must install systems that monitor their keystrokes to make sure they are really working.  

Everyone is watching us.  Monitoring us.  Assessing us.  From our online habits to our biometrics, to our movements from place to place the surveillance state is here.  Going ‘off grid’ or ‘under the radar’ is becoming less and less possible. 

But for all the eyes that are watching us, how careful are we to watch ourselves?  Are we watching the metrics that are most important? Are we taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ?  Are we seeking first the kingdom of God and letting everything else get added afterwards?  Are we exercising self-control in our desires?  Are we walking in the truth?

Both as individuals and as churches we are called to be watchful.  Paul warned the Corinthians and us, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”  Peter cautions, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  And John’s caution in 2 John 1:7-8 is every bit is needful today than it was in the first century.

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.

In John’s first letter to the churches of Asia Minor he wrote to restore confidence and assurance of faith to believers whose assurance had been shaken by false teachers. These anti-Christs scoffed at the authority of the Word of God, rejected the incarnation of Jesus, denied the presence of sin and boasted that their own knowledge and experience was all that was needed to have fellowship with God. 

But beyond merely refuting the deceivers who have brought division to the churches, John writes a second letter to warn the churches to be on their guard to hold fast to God’s Word and to actively refuse aid or comfort or support to false teachers who seek to gain a hearing  among them. 

The short letter of 2 John is a pointed warning to churches to take seriously the call to ‘watch ourselves,’ that we are walking in the truth and rejecting those who reject the faith once for all delivered to the saints.   

Join us as we examine 2 John 1:1-13 and consider the warning that the church must be on guard against false teaching and false teachers. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.