We are now beginning the Third Letter of John. Our overall title was “Truth, Love, and Faithfulness’’ and we saw those themes all over 2 John. We will once again deal with them as Truth or true is used seven times in the 14 verses of 3 John. Third John is the shortest book of the Bible and it and Second John could have fit on a single sheet of paper.
There are notable similarities in the two letters. Danny Aking gives 8:
1. The author describes himself as “the elder” (2 John 1; 3 John 1).
2. The recipients are those whom he “loves in the truth” (2 John 1; 3 John 1).
3. The recipients are the occasion of “great rejoicing” (2 John 4; 3 John 3).
4. The recipients “walk in the truth” (2 John 4; 3 John 3).
5. The elder has received good reports about both (2 John 4; 3 John 3, 5).
6. Both letters contain a warning (2 John 8; 3 John 9).
7. The elder desires to see both face to face (2 John 12; 3 John 14).
8. Others sent their greetings (2 John 13; 3 John 14).
One of the major differences is that this letter is addressed to an individual, Gaius, and he is discussing Gaius’ testimony and two other individuals in the local church: Diotrephes and Demetrius, one a trouble maker and the other to be trusted. Let’s look at the first eight verses.
1. The Joy of Christian Kinship (vv. 1-4)
John again introduces himself as The Elder- the Presbyter and it had some specific meanings: Age, Position, and Apostleship (see Part 1 of this series for more detail). He addresses the letter to Gaius. We are not given much background information about the recipient of this letter. There are several Gaius mentioned in the New Testament, however, there is nothing to link this to a specific one.
While we do not know much about Gaius’ background, we are given much of his character, as we will see. Here in the greeting though, we are given a glimpse of the deep love that John has for this brother in Christ.
This should be the mark of Christians who serve together in the Lord. We are called to love our neighbor, we are called to have a great Love for the Church universal as we saw in 2 John, but there is something special about the dear brother or sister that we know personally and serve God together with. Listen to the words John uses: “Beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth” “Beloved, I pray for you” “I rejoice to hear of you”. John leaves no doubt to the reader of his deep affection for his brother.
I want to spend a moment in the prayer that John gives. It was a common practice of the day to include a prayer at the beginning of a letter. John writes “I pray that you may prosper”. This word literally means “to have a safe journey” but it is used figuratively here to mean I want things to be going well for you.
He prays for the health of Gaius. Prayer for health was very common in the day because the lifespans were short and healthcare was inadequate. Listen to the qualifier of the prayer: health to prosper as your soul. Can that be said of me? If my body was as healthy as my soul, would my health increase or decrease?
How would our church be if this is how we spoke to and of each other?
2. A Visible Testimony of Love (vv. 3-6)
John has challenged us to this point to have a deep love for one another. Over these next few verses, he challenges us to live in a way that makes it easy for our brothers to love us. Now, if you heard that sentence and thought, “Yes, these people I have a hard time loving need to make it easier for me to love them” then you missed the point of what I said.
Gaius gives each of us an example of a heart living for the Lord and challenges us to live the same. This is why I asked, what would my health look like if people prayed that my physical health was as good as my spiritual health? Listen to the praises John says of Gaius:
- Brethren testified of the truth that is in him. He lived the Gospel so that all saw it in him. His life was a testimony of God’s Truth
- He walked in this truth
- You do faithful ministry for the brethren and for strangers. He served the Christian and the outcast. He showed no partiality.
- His ministry was so great that those he served bore witness of his love.
These acclamations give us a sort of checklist, a rubric if you will, for our lives:
- Do I boldly live out the Gospel that saved my soul?
- Is this Gospel visible when I am interacting with the people I come across in my life? Do I walk in this truth?
- Am I faithful in my ministry? Am I impartial in my service for the Lord?
And lastly, but most importantly, would people testify these things? It is one thing for you and me to nod our heads in agreement when we are asked if we serve the Lord with gladness. It is entirely another for others to see that in us.
3. The Ministry of Blessing and Sending (vv. 5-8)
John challenges us in the last verses of this section to send and receive the Godly around us. When we think of this verse, we must think of the itinerant missionaries of the day, such as Paul. As we move forward in time, we think of the old days when pastors would travel and be housed and fed. Perhaps the missionaries overseas come to mind.
Gaius is personally doing what he can to send them forward, to allow them to continue their mission. There will be a needle in most of our lives that points to one of these sides of the coin: Are we the senders? Or are we the ones being sent?
There are those whom God has placed a special calling upon and they are meant to go. These are our missionaries, our pastors, our age group ministers, our worship leaders. God has placed a service call upon their lives.
There are also those whom God has planted. Our deacons, our Sunday school teachers, our church body. God has called them to a place. Gaius appears to be a sender and he is doing his best to bless the ones who are sent.
Now, none of us have our needles completely one direction. We are all, to some degree called to go for His Name’s Sake and we are called to bless for His Name’s Sake. But whichever we are, we share the same reward (Mat 10:40-42)!
Sermon for this entry: https://youtu.be/IaBfJFlqWBc
Speak These Things- Titus 2:15 