Good morning and welcome to another beautiful day in the Lord. I trust that you can be honest and excited about that statement. That you can be energized about the people and the opportunities that the Lord will put in front of you today. You never know what God has in store for you today.
Last week, I was working with a team of students and one of the team members approached me and asked if we could talk after the meeting. “Absolutely, I’m here to help in any way I can.” There had been some friction within the team and her feelings had been hurt. Her question? What to do with these feelings and what to do with this personal conflict? I’ve learned that what people most want is to be listened to. Everybody loves to talk but so few love to listen. I’m working on being a good listener. A listener that really focuses on the face and the eyes and ‘simply listens.’ I sat and listened to her for almost 2 hours. It’s pretty amazing what people will tell you if you simply sit and listen. Her story was quite amazing and yet absolutely heart breaking. The suffering and despair of life can take us places we never thought we could go. As I listened quietly, I prayed for her. I prayed that God would present an opportunity for me to share about His comfort. I have never seen or witnessed a problem in someone’s life that Jesus was not the answer to. It’s just a matter of whether or not the individual knows of the solution and then is willing to pick up the solution that has been placed at their feet. Our job as we walk this planet for God? Tell others about the joy, peace and hope of Jesus Christ. I’ve often noticed that the more people are hurting, the more they are willing to hear. Praise be to God, not only did He open a door for me to share the Gospel, but He peaked an interest in her and she wouldn’t stop asking questions! 3 hours later we finally bid goodbyes. Now I pray. I pray for the Holy Spirit to water and grow those seeds that were sown. I had no idea that God had that encounter in store for me, but He did. When you serve a mighty God, are prepared to serve Him, and are steeped in His Word, He will use you. It will be a beautiful day in the Lord today, let’s rejoice and be glad in it and pray that He will put someone in our path today that needs to hear about the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Today we will be finishing the 3rd and last letter of John, 3 John. The three Johns are great little power packed books, and each has a strength of it’s own. I read of a preacher that said anytime he starts pastoring at a new church the first book he takes the congregation through is 1 John, the book of love. We’re told in 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” If the brothers and sisters in Christ truly love each other, that church body can and will do great things for Christ.
Out of the 5 books that John wrote in the New Testament, he wrote these 3 short letters at the end of his life when he was nearing 100. 3 John was the last letter John wrote and is believed to even be the last book written in the entire bible. So what we see here today is a man’s last words and possibly the last words to be included in scripture. So what is the message of a man’s last words? Let’s take a look.
“1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.
We saw that 1 John was the book of love with John using the word love 77 times in a short 5 chapters and even using it a whopping 27 times in chapter 4 alone. John wanted us to know the importance of loving fellow believers. 2 John (which we studied yesterday) is the book of truth. John says that without truth how can you truly have love. And today in 3 John we will once again hear much about truth. At the end of John’s life it seems he had really focused on truth. The importance of pure truth in our lives. The need to base your life on truth. The ability to walk in the truth. The truth of Jesus Christ.
John starts out this letter much different than the first two. It’s very personal. It’s the only one addressed to a specific person, Gaius. Gaius was a fine Godly man and John says He “loves him in truth.” They have a love based on Jesus Christ. I’ve noticed something about love based in and provided by Jesus. When I get together with a brother or sister and our goal is to work for the Lord, there is a connection that is undeniably from God. A special love and harmony between believers that God allows in order to get His work done. That is what John is saying about Gaius. They had sweet blessed fellowship and it was based in serving alongside each other in the Lord.
He greets Gaius by praying 3 things for him. That he is healthy, that he is growing Spiritually in the Lord and that he is prospering financially. What a prayer! Do we pray that for others today? Do you pray that others are literally “growing in God?” Not just going to church or attending Bible studies but that they are growing each day spiritually in Christ? Oh, how I could use some prayers like that! What about health? This one seems like a given. In fact, in SS class that’s all I hear. Prayer requests for heath concerns. It’s not that these aren’t important but where are the prayer requests for a brother or sister to be growing in God? I never hear them. In fact, it’s kind of ironic that you can have one and not the other. You can be spiritually healthy and be physically sick. You can also have physical health but be spiritually sick. The older I get the more I realize these are often inversely related. When you’re young and extremely healthy, there’s never a need to pray about your health. It seems to result in young people that don’t need God in this area of their lives. But when you get to be older, your temple begins to wear out. These bodies were never meant to last forever. As our health fails, we have no choice but to cry out to God. We might be physically waning but as a result our prayers to the Father abound. Lastly John prays for Gaius to prosper, to do well financially. When was the last time you prayed for somebody to prosper financially? Folks, I have sat through a lot of church, bible studies and prayer meetings and I have never heard this prayer from one Christian to another. In fact, why in the world would I pray that for somebody? If I did God might just do it! And guess what? Then they might have more than me! Why in the world would I want that? I mean isn’t life a game to see who can get the most points (ie money)? Again, for me in this area, a little age and ALOT of God’s Word has helped me to understand this on another level. God gifts us all in many different spiritual ways. With these gifts we are to serve Him and serve the body of Christ. A ‘local’ body of believers. By the way, if you’re not a member of a ‘local’ body of believers, you should be. The key word here is local. You should be able to drive there in 10-15 minutes. This is not Dan’s opinion, it’s from God’s Word. I know people who only like a certain preacher and they drive an hour to church. But guess what? It’s so far they only go once a month. When the body needs some quick help, they can't go, “it’s too far.” You see if it’s hard, we do it less. Find a church that is close, plug in and serve God not when its convenient, but all the time. Marge and I are blessed to be 5 minutes from our church and as a result we are up there numerous times a week. It easy to get there and hence, easy to serve God.
Back to the spiritual giftings God gives us. In Romans, 1 Corinthians and Ephesians Paul gives us a host of spiritual gifts. It can be teaching, preaching, leadership, service, prayer, hospitality, evangelism and yes even giving. What? Giving is a spiritual gift? Yep. I’ve seen these people that are gifted with giving within the church and I bet you have to. No matter what the need, they step up during a time of need and they give financially. But think about this. If God has given them the spiritual gift of giving do you think He will supply them with something to give? Absolutely. God will supply them with the money IN ORDER that they can then give it away. I’ve seen this amazing testimony time and time again. People that treat money very differently than society at large. Money is something to be given away, not stored up. It’s a beautiful thing to see and this apparently was a gifting for Gaius. He was generous to the body and also generous to travelling preachers that would pass through town offering them lodging and even travelling money. (V 4-6) John prayed that God would continue to bless him financially so that he could keep on using it to fund the needs of God. I’m thankful God included such a positive role model as Gaius for us to read about today.
But on the flip side, John also personally mentions someone that is not walking in truth and love, Diotrephes. (v 9-10) Here is an individual that is serving himself instead of serving others. In leadership and management there are 2 primary models, servanthood and command. Servant leadership is of course based in serving others before yourself. It is based upon the glorious model of Jesus Christ. He was the Son of God but “He came to serve not be served.” (Matt 20:28) He put others first in His leadership. Command leaders are just the opposite. They gain authority through their own efforts and they wield their authority like a weapon. They are fearful of losing their authority over others and out of this fear they control. Control others, control emotions, control outcomes. We see the dichotomy of the two leadership models right here in 3 John. We just saw the servant leadership of Gaius and now we see the command leadership of Diotrephes. We’re told Diotrophes puts himself first, does not acknowledge the authority of the church elders, talks wicked nonsense against the church elders, does not welcome visiting preachers and finally does not even allow others to welcome visiting preachers without threatening to throw them out of the church. This is a textbook definition of command leadership and oh, how ugly it is. It is firmly rooted in pride and self-glory. How terrible that this man goes down in the history of God’s Word as a selfish dictator within the church. John says “if I come I’ll bring up what he is doing.” Folks, I would not want to be sitting in on that meeting when the rough ol’ fisherman John got ahold of arrogant ol’ Diotrephes! Talk about a come to Jesus meeting!
Within the first 4 verses, John mentions “walking in the truth” twice. What do you think it means to “walk in the truth.” This hits close to home for me because I love to walk. I have a little 3 mile circuit around my neighborhood and if the weather permits, I walk it at least 5 times a week. When I walk I walk IN the weather. It takes me about 42 minutes to cover the 3 miles and if its sunny I get to walk in the sun. Every glorious step is bathed in beautiful, warm sunshine. I walk IN the sun. If it’s windy I walk IN the wind. Depending on the direction of the wind, it either helps or hinders every step. It’s not very fun to walk in high wind. If it’s cold outside sometimes I will bundle up and walk anyway. This is not a fun time at all. Every step of the walk is one of hardship. My face is cold, my hands are cold and it seems like the walk stretches from 3 miles to 6. Walking in the cold is not gratifying at all. So the point? When you walk in something you are completely exposed to it. You cannot walk in the cold and not be cold. You cannot walk in the wind and not get blown around. You cannot walk in the sun and not be warmed. So think about this analogy now and compare it to “walking in the truth.” To walk in the truth is absolute. It surrounds you and you are completely exposed to it as you walk. Also, as you walk you cover ground, you move around. The truth goes with you as you walk. You cannot ever outpace it or distance yourself from it, you are walking IN it. I love this picture and it’s something we should all be striving for daily. To be walking in the truth of Jesus Christ. What a lovely walk it will be with Jesus as our companion.
What a beautiful look at 3 John and what a great study of the John trio. Tomorrow we will look at the great little book of Jude and then Thursday we will start the tremendous book of prophecy from John that reveals the ultimate plan of Jesus, Revelation. How exciting to be at this great juncture. I love God’s Word and I love studying it. I pray that you too are joyfully engaging in a personal study of God’s Word. As you spend time in God’s Word you can feel God drawing close. It is His desire that we spend time with Him in His Word. It’s said that we speak to God through prayer, but He speaks to us through His Word. I pray that God is speaking into your life today.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8
