3 John

It's great to be together however you are joining us, whether at one of our campuses or you're watching or listening, grateful to be together, we have been journeying through the last few weeks, these short books that maybe you and I maybe perhaps would be inclined to kind of gloss over because of their length. But there's profound truth to be found in these short books. And so we're wrapping up this series with the book of 3 John, and it is actually the shortest book by word count in the original language in your Bible. So you and I could perhaps call 3 John Little John, but we shouldn't and we won't do that this morning. But just over 200 words in the Greek language is the book of 3 John, and there's a theme. And it carries actually over from 2 John. It's a theme of this idea of walking in truth. And if this message had a title, it would be church people who walk in the truth, church people who walk in the truth. Now, I kind of use church people tongue in cheek because if you track with us here at The Chapel, if you've been tracking with us for some time, you know that we believe that the church is not a building, but it is a people. So in some ways, church people is kind of the same thing 'cause people, the people of God are the church. It's kind of like if you were in certain parts of the world, if you ordered a chai tea, you would in a way be ordering a tea tea because in Hindi the word chai means tea. I learned that from the latest, "Spider-Man" movie. I cross-referenced that with the translate app on my phone. So, we can thank that. But church people who walk in the truth in what John, who identifies himself as the elder is doing is he's talking about some people who are in this local church and we see who they are and some of them are walking in the truth, one of them is not. And you and I, we can learn from this. So let's read the first few verses together in this letter. The elder to my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you even as your soul is getting along well. Notice how the elder John, how he parallels physical health with spiritual health. See what the scriptures teach is that you and I have a soul. And that our souls can be healthy just like you and I can be physically healthy, and there's a benefit to that. So you and I should pay attention to that because we are souls with a physical body. But he says, it gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth telling how you continue to walk in it. What's he walking in? The truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. This concept, this idea of being in the truth is all over the elder John's heart. We see it 11 times in 2 and 3 John. And I just can't help but think a verse that Pastor Jerry quoted last week, verse John 14:6 when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now John would've heard that from Jesus in person as it's recorded for us in the Gospel of John, when he was a young person. Many scholars believe he was perhaps even in his teenage years, not much older than 20 or 21. Now when he's writing this letter, 3 John, many scholars believe he's either in his 80s or maybe even perhaps his 90s. You ever hear something when you were younger in your life and it just stuck with you? And like you've forgotten so many things, all the subjects you've studied in school, you've forgotten a number of things, but just some things they've just, they've tracked with you. You've held on to 'em for some reason. Well, John has held on to this, this idea of the truth and who the truth is and how the truth is singular. And for over a half a century, John has been living in that and he's encouraged because he's an elder now. He knows he's close to being with his Savior and he sees his friends, or even his spiritual children as he calls them, maybe perhaps people he has led to Christ. He sees them walking in the truth. It gives him great joy. Now, what is Gaius doing that is walking in the truth. How is he a demonstration of walking in the truth? We just continue in the letter and we read about it. Starting in verse five: "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love." Notice how John ties love, not only to truth, but also to action. What he's doing for his brothers and sisters is love. Love is tied to action. "You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the name that they went out receiving no help from the pagans." Now pagans literally means just people who are not connected to God through Jesus Christ. They just don't know God. And we'll get back, we'll come back to that later. But Gaius is walking in the truth because he sees that everything that is being done in terms of through the church is for the sake of the name. And he wants to engage in that. He wants to partner in that, he wants to help out even people who are strangers, brothers and sisters who he doesn't know. He wants to do it for the sake of the name. This encourages John that he sees Gaius, that he gets the point that it's all about a name. If you were here at the CrossPoint campus, we've been singing about that for the last half hour. That name, the name that is worthy. As I was studying this letter and spending time with God, praying over what God might have for us today, I just couldn't help but think of the name, the name. Recently, I heard a comedian and I didn't hear his whole bit. I'm sure it was actually probably inappropriate. I heard a clip of it on a social media platform, and I won't even tell you which platform it was 'cause you'll judge me and I probably deserve that judgment. So, but he was trying to make a joke and he said, I was told that I should model my life after Jesus, as if that's easy, right? He's kind of making a point of like, I was told to live like Jesus, you that's like kind of near impossible. But he actually had a Bible on him, he pulls that out and he's like, "Yeah, so they gave me this book." And we're like, "Yeah, so read about Jesus." And then he kind of pulled out his Bible and he just kind of drew a chunk of pages that you and I would know as the four gospels perhaps. And he was like, "Yeah, but this is how much Jesus is in this book." And I was like, "Oh no." You know, I kind of went kind of in my mind, the kind of Bible nerd on that. I was like, "Oh, no, no, no, he doesn't understand, he doesn't get it." Because what Jesus says is that if you and I really truly understand the scriptures, the volume of this piece of literature, you and I have a sense of Bible literacy that you would see that that name is woven in and throughout all of it. That that name, that word that was in the beginning, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, right? And so that's why you and I, we can go to Isaiah 700 years before baby Jesus was born in a manger and read about that name in Isaiah chapter nine. It's a verse that maybe is more familiar during Christmas time for us, but maybe some of us just celebrated Christmas in July. And if you're asking me if the Hallmark channel was on at my house this past week, my answer is no comment. And it's about 147 sleeps until Christmas, okay? All right. Isaiah 9: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end." Catch that, there's a lot of weight to this name, a lot of weight. He will be called Wonderful Counselor. If you're looking for advice in your life, if you're looking for some direction, if you're looking for some therapy, He is a Wonderful Counselor, this name, if you're looking for strength, he is a Mighty God. If you're wondering where the strength can come from to either deal with today or the problems that are coming tomorrow, there is strength found in this name. If you're looking for a Father, if you're looking for that protection or that assurance, if you perhaps didn't have, if you don't have that on this side of heaven or you haven't experienced or you had it for a time, but it's gone now, he can be that Father. If you're looking for peace in your life if you're unsettled, you're anxious, you're uncertain, you're struggling in your own thoughts, He can be that peace. This is the name. There is no name like Him. I'm praying and hoping, I don't know what you came for looking for this morning. I don't know why you're listening, I have no idea. But I believe that God arranged the details of your life to know that whatever you're looking for in life, it's found in this name. And then Paul gives us a glimpse of the future of this name in the book of Philippians. "Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." He's the forever reigning King of the never ending kingdom. His rule knows no end. We are talking about a name. There is no other name like Him. That's why we sing it. That's why we proclaim it. John is so encouraged that he sees that Gaius is living for it, that everything he's doing is for the sake of the name. Now your heart and my heart, there's only one throne and only room for one King, and so the question you and I have to ask is, who are we living for? But that name is also the name that brings salvation. And that's why I can't help but think of Acts 4:12: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." There's just something about that name. There's no name like it. It's the only name that is worthy. I'm praying that you know that name. And if you're here at any on any of our campuses today, at the end of our service, we'll have prayer partners. And you can know this God, He is a person. We're not following a set of rules or regulations of trying to live up to some moral standard. No, we're trying to follow a person and allow that person, that name, to produce a transformation in our lives that will bring an abundancy, true completeness in our lives. But that brings us to our first teaching point and our time together with walking in the truth. And walking in the truth is this, it means living for the name and on mission. It means living for the name and on mission. Because here's the deal. This King, one day every knee shall bow. This King, He didn't sit on his throne and say, we need a rescue plan for humanity and send somebody else. No this name, He got up off His throne. He did it himself. And if a verse can sum up Christianity, Luke 19:10 does a great job. It's this: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." That name came to seek and to save the lost, that is Christianity summed up, that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. But then he invited those. Those who've responded to Him, those who've stepped into relationship with the name, He invited them on that very mission. And this is what John, the elder who wrote 3 John, these are the last words he heard from Jesus before he ascended to heaven. The recorded for us in Matthew 28: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." John sees guy is doing this and he's encouraging him. You're walking in the truth because you're living for the name and you're living on mission. And while this letter was written for Gaius, it was also, or to Gaius, it was also written for us. And so the question we have to ask ourselves is, are we living for the name, are we living for the mission? 'Cause John's heartbeat was that the name of Christ would be magnified to the ends of the earth throughout all the ages. That it would be, that Christ would be magnified because of what comes with that name. The hope that is found in Jesus. Walking in truth means living for the name and on mission, but it also means this. Walking in the truth means being generous and hospitable for the mission. Gaius, a church leader at a local church. And what is he doing? He's living open-handed, he's being generous and hospitable. Corrie Ten Boom says it this way, "I have learned to hold all things loosely, so that God does not have to pry them out of my hands." Wow, what a quote. Gaius is doing that, his church is doing that. It's almost like an outpost of sending out. I can't help but reminded of what we attempt to do here at The Chapel. What we effort towards. When I stepped into a position here at The Chapel, even as an intern, the executive pastor was Daryl Largis. And God put on his heart this idea of kingdom come. That we as a church, that we can be more about just the efforts that we see that are just in close in proximity, that we want to partner, right? That we wanna partner with other organizations and ministries that we want to be part of planning churches. And we want to do it both locally and regionally. And then we want to take it even bigger and do it nationally and on a global scale. That is our Kingdom Come efforts here, arm of The Chapel. And when you give there, there's the dropdown menu and you can give to the Kingdom Come kind of line item. And all of that goes to partner for the mission because we want to be a church that is generous. But my question to you is, are you as a church person generous towards the mission? Now I know I start talking about money, we perhaps will get a little uncomfortable. You might even, accuse me of maybe turning the air conditioning off right now, feeling like a couple degrees, a little warmer. Oh no, guy on stage is gonna talk about money. But here's the deal. You are generous with what matters most to you. You are generous whether it comes with your resources and tangible things. So I'm even talking beyond just swiping or scratching a check. But you are generous with what matters most to you. And if to walk in truth is to live for the name and the mission, then our generosity reflects that. And so the question I have to you is, are you generous with the gospel? Are you generous towards the mission? Now, I don't wanna stand up here and pretend like I'm a poster child of generosity, but I do have a few stories and experiences that I have in relation to both being part of and experiencing the generosity of the church or church people. When I stepped into an internship here at The Chapel, I was finishing up my undergrad, I was at Buff State. And to take on the internship here, I really felt led to do that. But to take it on here and what my class load, I didn't know if I could work enough to cover my living expenses. I was living in a house with three other guys and I just, I didn't know if I could afford to take on an internship here at The Chapel. And so, I wondered if I should take it. And it was kind of a step of faith for me to do that. But I was like, maybe I can pick up, maybe I can landscape. I mean, look at me. I don't really like getting that dirty, but maybe I can do it. Here's the deal. I gotta check, and it was anonymous. To this day, I don't know who wrote it or if it was a group of people or if it was an individual, but they gave it through The Chapel. So The Chapel, it was a check from The Chapel, but it wasn't written out of like The Chapel's budget. It was given through The Chapel. And that check covered all of my living expenses. So we're just, we're not talking about social expenses, we're talking about my living expenses from September to May of that academic year. That's me experiencing the generosity of church people. Now, I got another story to share. It was like an evening in February and someone comes up to me on a ministry night here at The Chapel and they hand me an envelope. And it was an envelope of cash. And I was like, "Whoa." And this gentleman said to me, he said, "Jay, every so often God just tells me to put away some money, so this is what I do. And then God will tell me what to do with it. And God told me to give you this envelope." I'm like, "Oh gosh." So, you know what I mean? I'm like, I almost feel like it's kind of like a deal at church. I'm like putting this in my pocket. I don't know, like this stuff gonna be flying out. I'm kind of a little nervous. Like, I had no idea. So I'm like, "Oh my gosh, what do I do with this?" And of course look at me, my first thought is maybe God wants me to get a wardrobe update. You know what I mean? Let me get some fresh Js. Or I was like, "No, I can't do that." That's like some heavy justification right there. Now, here's the deal. I didn't know what to do with that sum of money. So first I was like, "Oh gosh, something bad's gonna happen," right? Like something's gonna break on my car. Like inevitably, like that's what this is for. But I just didn't know that envelope went on the top of my drawer, top drawer of my dresser. I didn't know what to do with it. I was like, and so I just kind of sat on it and I was kind of nervous about the parable with the talents about the guy who kind of buried his talent. I'm like, "Should I be investing this money or should I be doing this?" And I was like, "No, I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna forget about it. I wanna put it in my bank account and forget about it." Anyways, I sat on that. That summer I participated basically in a summer mission. I was helping to rebuild kind of a center where youth would be gathered, they'd hear the gospel, we're doing a cleanup project, and so they had water damage on kind of this like suspended ceiling, suspended tiles. And they're like, "Man, we would love to just kind of replace this. It's got all these stains, it looks old, it looks..." And they're like, "We'd love to do it. We don't have the money to do it." And so in conversation or whatnot, well, with the leader there, I was like, "Well, about how much do you think it would cost?" And so when, and God is my witness, the amount that that cost was the amount that was in the envelope that was sitting in my top drawer. And so I didn't know what I was supposed to do with that. But what did I do? I postured my heart towards generosity. I positioned myself to be generous. And I just allowed God to do what God wants to do in His kingdom. That builds your faith. That builds up your faith, brothers and sisters. But we have to position ourselves to be generous. That summer I participated basically in a summer mission. I was helping to rebuild kind of a center where youth would be gathered, they'd hear the gospel, we're doing a cleanup project. And so they had water damage on kind of this like suspended ceiling, suspended tiles. And they're like, "Man, we would love to just kind of replace this." It's got all these stains, it looks old, it looks, and they're like, "We'd love to do it. We just, we don't have the money to do it." And so in conversation or whatnot, well, with the leader there, I was like, "Well, about how much do you think it would cost?" And so, and God is my witness, the amount that that cost was the amount that was in the envelope that was sitting in my top drawer. And so, I didn't know what I was supposed to do with that. But what did I do? I postured my heart towards generosity. I positioned myself to be generous. And I just allow God to do what God wants to do in His kingdom. That builds your faith. That builds up your faith, brothers and sisters. But we have to position ourselves to be generous. His generosity is also seen in His hospitality. And John encourages him in that by reminding that him, in verse eight he says this: "We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth." That's an echo of what we read. Paul was doing the same thing to Christians in Rome. In Romans chapter 12, this is what we read: "Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." But you and I need to remember what hospitality is 'cause I do think at times us Westerners, us living in Western culture that at times we struggle with this idea of hospitality. Sometimes we think, "Oh, hospitality is me having like a summer barbecue or me having like my community group over for Monday Night Football where we're gonna watch the Bills crush the Jet's dreams 'cause too many people are drinking the green Kool-Aid. And you know what, like Aaron Rogers is 40 plus. Like just watch out." Now, don't get me wrong, I like chicken wing dip, I love barbecues. And here's the deal, it's Sunday. So if you're making a Sunday sauce and you want to have me over, I mean I'll go get the French bread, I'll get the Italian bread. If we're going gluten-free, I do not discriminate noodles. If your sauce is like a seven out of 10, like, I'm there, okay? When we're talking about this idea of hospitality, I'm talking about more than that because in our western culture sometimes we just kind of fall into that. The idea of like, hey, we want some more space, right? We wanna get a new house 'cause we want a bigger yard. I want some space, right? Us here in Western culture, we like our tall fences, our dining room tables tend to be a little smaller. When I think of hospitality, I can't help but think of men and women that I've met that have opened up their homes. Whether it's crisis pregnancies or people are looking to get back on their feet. People are open handed with, "Oh hey, you really need that" You know what, I haven't been using that for a while. Just take mine. I'll figure it out later." Talking about this idea of hospitality, of being open handed of true hospitality. That's what Gaius and this church was looking to do for the sake of the name and the mission. True hospitality. So walking in the truth means being generous and hospitable for the mission. It also means this. Walking in the truth means being humble in striving for unity. Now what you and I don't get in this letter is an example of humility and unity. What we do is we get a warning, an example of someone who is not doing that. And so if you and I can look at Gaius and we can look to be that Gaius, we don't want to be Diotrephes. Diotrephes is in this letter and you and I, we don't wanna imitate him as we read about in verses 11 and 12. But let's read about him in verses nine and 10: "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first." I'm just telling you this is a warning. That's a warning for us right there. "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first." This is pride. We'll talk about that in a second. Although this is not a message on pride, we're gonna talk about it in a second. "He loves to be first, and so therefore he will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing." What is Diotrephes doing? He's spreading malicious nonsense about us. It's a pride that leads him to divide. He's spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. Remember how John early in the letter was referring to the pagans who do not welcome people, who are not hospitable? He is contrasting Diotrephes to a pagan. Even though Diotrephes seems to be some sort of leader in that local church. Now, I don't know if he has an official title. I dunno if he's a leader, just because he's got some charisma, whatever it might be. He's not walking in truth because he's not being humble and he's not striving for unity. He's got a pride that leads him to divide. I thought instead of looking at some verses that encourage pride, I would go to some verses that warn us because Diotrephes is a warning to us. Let's look at some scriptures that warn us about the dangers of those as well. "In his pride the wicked man does not seek him, in all his thoughts, there is no room for God." See, pride puffs up and leaves no room for God. It's why it's one of the systems of this world that oppose Christ in His kingdom. The lust of the eyes, the lust of flesh, the pride of life. See the prouder you are, the further you fall from God, the prouder you and I are, the further you and I fall from God. Now, the pride that we see Diotrephes exhibiting here is pretty much the pride of I'm better than you. And let's face it, many of us would never say that. That's kind of gross, right? People don't really walk around saying, "Yeah, you know what? I'm just better than everybody." But at times, our actions and they kind of indicate that, that we're wrestling with that in our hearts. And quite often that comes in a critical spirit. When even in the church you look at others and go, "Oh, can you believe so-and-so did that? Or I can't believe they're doing it that way. He or she does it that way. I could do that better." Or critical heart that sees the imperfections, maybe even in church. Oh, they don't do that the best way. Of course, we're not doing things perfectly, we're imperfect people coming together, so of course we're not gonna do everything perfectly. But it's a pride that leads him to divide, and so he's spreading malicious nonsense. And we get a warning about that in Proverbs. It's this: "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community." The Lord detests even hates them. I was in a missions conference and I heard the speaker say something. He said, do you know that that God loves math? That God loves mathematics. And you know what His favorite form of math is? Multiplication. Disciples who multiply disciples, who multiply disciples who multiply disciples. And I thought to myself, "Oh, that's kind of cheesy," but I actually remember it now, so it did its job and it worked. So, maybe jokes on Jay. But if multiplication is God's favorite form of math, most certainly the math He hates is division. His least favorite is division. And we see Diotrephes who's spreading malicious nonsense and he's looking to divide. And I just can't help but think of the culture and world we live in right now. How much a unified church can magnify the name of Christ and His mission. I just can't help but think of that. In a world that is polarized and divided, we have so many reasons to disagree or so many ways to disagree. I just can't help but think a church, a diverse group of people, but for the sake of the name and the mission are unified. I can't help but think how bright that light would be, how Christ would be magnified in our lives in and through our church. And then he commends Demetrius in verse 12: "Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true." Demetrius had a good reputation. He had a public testimony of Jesus. And I can't help but think it was fueled by a private relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and being led by God the Spirit. A private relationship that led to a public testimony. So walking in the truth means that I publicly display Christ. And it does. At the risk of sounding like I'm telling you to be a people pleaser, only live for the approval of others. What I mean by that is when you and I allow the Spirit of God to do a work in our hearts, and then we walk in that and we're people of truth and integrity, people are trustworthy, who have godly character. It strengthens the church community and it publicly displays Christ not only to a brothers and sisters, but to an unbelieving world. So yes, your reputation matters. Your reputation at work, your reputation here matters. And it's always for the sake of the name when you're walking in truth, when you're walking in the truth. So in relation to your generosity or the hospitality in your life or the humility in the unity or your public testimony, your reputation, are you looking to walk in the truth by living for the name and on mission? But statement for us in our time together is this, when church people walk in the truth, Christ and His mission are magnified. When you and I walk in the truth, Christ and His mission are magnified. So my question to you is, are you walking in the truth? If you are as the theme of last week in 2 John, keep walking in that truth. Keep walking in the truth. If you're not, if you've gone wayward, John even says it in 1 John, just step back in the light. Just come back in the light. You'll have true fellowship with your brothers and sisters. You'll have fellowship with God. Step back in the light, so that you can magnify Christ and His mission. If you would please, let's bow our heads. What I want to do here is, I wanna pause for a moment because in a few we're gonna sing a song together. Let's think about living it and then let's sing about it together. Let's sing about this idea of Christ being magnified in us. But wherever you find yourself here today, at any of our campuses, do you know the name of Jesus? Do you know Him? He has a name. Because you can know Him, you can have a relationship with them. At the end of our service, please talk with a prayer partner. Anything and everything you hope to find in this life is found in Jesus. And then in terms of walking in the truth, what do you need to do to walk in the truth? I'm not sure what it is for you, but even as I was studying for this message, God revealed to me what I needed to do to walk in the truth. I pray that it is the same for you. God, I just pray that as we think about it, that as we sing about it in just a moment, that we would then live it as we go our separate ways. God, thank you for the hope that we have in Jesus. Thank you for the name of Christ, what it has done, what it offers. God, thank you for the truth that you give us in 3 John. Help us to walk in it. In Jesus' name, I pray.