3rd John
“The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that
thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren
came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as
thou walkest in truth. I
have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk
in truth. Beloved,
thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren,
and to strangers; which have borne witness of thy charity
before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their
journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well; Because
that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking
nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that
we might be fellow-helpers to the truth. I
wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have
the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore,
if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating
against us with malicious words: and not content therewith,
neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved,
follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that
doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius
hath good report of all men,
and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear
record; and ye know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will
not with ink and pen write unto thee: but I trust I shall
shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends
salute thee. Greet
the friends by name” (verses
1-14).
“Good
morning. Great to be with you again. I don’t know if I’ve ever
missed so many Sundays, but the Lord of course is the ultimate
shepherd of this church. But it’s great to be back with you. Turn in your Bibles to 3rd John….On
November, I’m sure you’re going to be itching
to go to a men’s retreat, and this year we have Larry
with us from southern California. He pastors a Wesleyan church, he used
to be part of this denomination in the early years, was at
our headquarters church when we were there, he headed up
the school of evangelism. And the Wesleyan church, it was interesting,
you know a lot of great movements historically, you know,
God does a great work, and then because of the hearts of
men and women, whatever, it seems that people start to get
traditional and start to forget the basic things of the spirit. The
Wesleyan Church has tremendous history, but in many instances,
and this isn’t all, there are some churches that are
Wesleyan that are just very, you know what I’m saying,
they’re not where they used to be, and that’s
not a criticism. In fact, I believe the Wesleyan denomination
would testify to that in some cases. But
anyway, interesting, the Wesleyan denomination was watching
our denomination in southern California and came to us and
said “We have a Wesleyan church in San Diego that we
would like one of your pastors to come and pastor our church,
because we want to see a renewal of life in our denomination.” So Larry is an example of that, he’s
pastoring a Wesleyan church, kind of a neat experience. So he’ll be with us….Let’s
say a word of prayer. 3rd John,
chapter 1, there’s only one chapter. Let’s
say a word of prayer and prepare our hearts, as we already
have, but just to let God speak to our hearts. ‘Lord
we thank you that we can consider your Scripture this morning. Amazing, these words that are written
here, most of us believe they are inspired by God, so these
are words from heaven to us as individuals. Of
course they were written specifically initially to one individual
about different individuals. But
it’s a message to your Church, and that means it’s
a message to us as Christians. So incredible, you speak to us. Of course, we don’t want our time
here to be in vain, we don’t want it to be that we’re
thinking about what we’re going to do next today, or
about other things. We
want to hear you. I
mean, it’s amazing, the Creator of the heavens and
the universe, you God, want to speak to us. And man, that’s a person that I
want to hear from, is from you Lord. So
open our eyes and our hearts now even Holy Spirit, be upon
all of us and upon myself even now as we go through your
Word, in Jesus name, Amen.’
Two kinds of people
As we look at
this 3rd Epistle we’re going to consider
three different men. You’ll note that John references
three different men by name. And
the apostle John, of course true to his personality, true
to his writing style, he has strong words to say about each
one of these men. And what he says about these guys has
everything to do with their witness. Their
witness before God, their witness in testimony before other
people. Their
testimony has been seen and has been heard by the very things
that they say and do, and so he’s going to say some
strong things about their witness. Now
it’s true, every one of us here, born-again believers
in Jesus Christ, we are witnesses before others, we’re
a witness before God, a testimony before God, but also we’re
a witness before other people. When you and I leave this sanctuary today,
when we go to wherever we’re going to go, we’re
going to be a witness for Jesus Christ in one way or another. And
that’s whether or not we want to be a witness, we
will be a witness. For some of us, God is going to use our
Christ-like character as we go out today and throughout this
week, he’s going to use our Christ-like life to powerfully
draw others to Christ, to touch their hearts, he’s
going to use us as an instrument to encourage others in their
faith, and to convict hearts of the need for salvation, simply
by the way that we live. But
then for some of us, for others of us, and this is true of
every church, as we go out this week, rather than being a
instrument in the hands of God for good, we’re going
to be used maybe to hinder the Gospel. And
by the things that we say and by the things that we do, by
the carnal lives that we live, by the selfishness that is
in us, we’re going to go out, and though we call ourselves
a Christian [or Messianic believer in Yeshua], we’re
certainly not going to be giving glory to God. And
that certainly is true in many instances, the things that
we say and the things that we do will be even a shame, even
an affront to the Gospel. Well maybe you’ve had this experience,
I’ve had this experience a number of times, talking
with a non-believer in the community. And
the conversation turns to the church, you know, the church
I attend, the church I am a part of, and maybe you’ve
had this experience where that happens. And
the individual says, ‘Oh I’ve heard of that church,
in fact I know so and so who goes there.’ Now
depending on who they say, you know, ‘So and so’,
you have a different experience. There are times when they say ‘so
and so’, you’re like ‘ughh’, and
now you want to change the subject to something else, you
don’t want to talk about the church anymore. Right? It’s
true, you’ve had those experiences. Why? It’s
because the way that person lives. It’s
an affront to the Gospel to call themselves a Christian,
but that individual knows them, and now you’re like ‘I
need to apologize’. That’s
what you feel. But
then there are other times where you’re speaking to
a non-believer, and the church comes up, and they say ‘I
know so and so’, and you’re like, ‘Man,
now I really have a basis to share Christ.’ They’ve
been watching this person’s life. And
that person lives passionately for Jesus Christ [or Yeshua
haMeshiach], and because of that, I know God’s been
using this individual in that person’s life. So you’re ready to share the love
of Jesus Christ with them. We’ve
had that kind of experience, I’m sure many of us often
times.
Three kinds of witnesses,
Our first witness, ‘Gaius
the Generous’
So today, let’s
begin with a series of questions. What
sort of witness will you be this week?---before your families,
before your co-workers, before other believers, before other
non-believers, people who are watching you who desperately
need to hear about Jesus Christ and the Gospel? They need to see it lived out in you,
so that they can understand that they need Jesus as the Savior
of their life. What kind of witness are we going to be
this week? And
let’s consider three witnesses here that John references
in his letter. Starting
with verses 1-4, “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom
I love in truth. Beloved I pray that you may prosper in
all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came
and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk
in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that
my children walk in truth.” Well
“the elder”, just like 2nd John, this
is the apostle John. He refers to himself as “the elder”. You can go back and review our study
in 2nd John if you want to know all the reasons
why it’s John. But it’s pretty clearly the apostle
John. This is
a short book, just like 2nd John. We
noted in our study of 2nd John that it’s
the shortest book of New Testament. But if you actually look at the original
Greek, 3rd John is shorter, in the original Greek
language it is the shortest of all the letters. Similar
to 2nd John too, we assume this is probably written
between 85 and 95AD, we don’t know for sure, but that’s
probably a really good guess. Well he writes initially, he writes this
letter and he initially addresses this Gaius. And
that brings us to our first witness. And
I’m going to call him ‘Gaius the Generous’,
or if you want, ‘Gaius the godly’, and this man
is a tremendous man of God. And either one is a good description of
his life and his testimony. This
man is full of a love for God, and as you can see in these
verses that even the apostle John, he has a special heart
for this man, because he is a godly man. He’s a tremendous witness, he has
a real affection for him, especially for those reasons. And as the result of that, as you already
see in the couple of verses I read, but four times in these
short verses, 14 verses, he refers to this man as “beloved”,
four times in just a short time, “beloved, beloved”. In
fact, if you have the King James Version with you, the way
he says “beloved”
in verse 1, the King James translates it “Well-beloved”,
and there’s that possibility in the Greek, “well-beloved”. So
he really has an affection and an affinity, a love for this
man Gaius. Now
we don’t know for sure who Gaius is. If
you are a good studier of the New Testament, you probably
know there’s a number of Gaius’s in the New Testament,
and he could be any one of them, or maybe not. There
is Gaius from Macedonia. Remember
Paul when he goes into Ephesus, this man is with him, if
you remember there’s a riot that gets started in Ephesus
in the Book of Acts. They
go into the stadium, and this crowd is out of control, and
one of the men that is there with Paul who’s brought
forth into the theater is this man Gaius from Macedonia. There’s
also in the Book of Acts a Gaius of Derby that’s noted. And then Paul in his Letter to the Church
in Corinth, his first letter, he refers to another Gaius. He says “I thank God that I baptized
none of you except Crispus and Gaius.” So
there seems to be, even in the New Testament, multiple guys
that have this name. Is he one of the three? We don’t know for sure. There is an early church tradition that
says that this man was sent by John to be the overseer of
the Church in Perganum, which isn’t
too far from Ephesus. So
that might be something that’s true, it’s a tradition,
we don’t know for sure. Now, like in 2nd John when
John writes to this “elect lady”, he says “whom
I love in truth”, same phrase here, “whom I love
in truth.” Of
course, John very clearly, we studied this, love and truth
to him go hand in hand, that yes you can speak the truth
and still be expressing a sincere love for somebody. And that would mean that you could also
reject somebody’s behavior and still have a heart of
love towards them. So for John it isn’t a ‘hate
crime’ to say that certain behavior is sin. You
can actually say that in love, according to John. And
if it’s said with a right heart, you can say ‘Hey,
this is wrong, you need to change this in your life, and
I say that because I love you.’ Right? Love
and truth, they go together. We
see that consistently with John.
Verse 2, he greets him with these words,
and this Scripture is sometimes taken out of context, but
he says, “Beloved I pray that you may prosper
in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Now what is he saying here? Is he endorsing the doctrine of health
and prosperity that is a very prominent doctrine today that
you hear from the televisions [and some notorious televangelists],
and you hear around the Church this type of doctrine. Personally
I would say ‘no way’, you know, emphatically
no, he’s not endorsing it at all. In fact, those that teach this health and prosperity doctrine, which
I believe is a false teaching, will take this verse and try
to use it to endorse their teaching. But
I believe they’re pulling it out of context. You
remember that anything, any verse that you interpret in the
Bible has to balance with all the other verses of the Bible. So
if I take this out and say ‘Well look, he’s praying
that he’ll prosper, he’ll be healthy, and that
must mean that God promises that all the time in all our
lives, and it’s just a matter of our faith, if we have
enough faith God will do that in our lives. And
if I have that interpretation, then it has to balance with
the rest of Scripture. And the deal is, is that it doesn’t
balance with the rest of Scripture. In
fact, it doesn’t even balance with the rest of John’s
Epistles. 1st John, you remember what
John said so emphatically in chapter 2, verses 15-17, he
says “Do not love the world, neither the things in
the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life
is not of the Father, but is of the world. And
the world is passing away, and the lusts of it, but he who
does the will of God abides forever.” He says, ‘Don’t love the world.’ Don’t be trapped with a passion
for the things of the world, because it’s only temporary. The Bible’s clear, have an eternal
perspective, be focused on those things, and not focused
on the horizontal, the physical things. Well,
understand too, he writes to a man, when he says this, he
writes to a man, you’ll see this especially as we go
on, this man is a committed servant of God [Gaius]. He’s committed to Jesus Christ. Without a doubt, he’s one whose
seeking first the kingdom of God, that is his priority. ‘I
want to live for you, Lord. I
want to be used to further your kingdom.’ So,
with that in mind, I mean, especially John can say it to
him. ‘Hey, man, I pray that God blesses
your life, even materially, even with good health’,
knowing that that isn’t going to distract this man
from his course. This
man has set his eyes on God’s kingdom, no doubt about
it. Seek first the kingdom of God, that is
where he’s at. [cf.
Matthew 6:19-34.] He’s not going to get distracted
too much with the things of the world. Well
with that, the great difference between what John is saying
here and the health and wealth, prosperity doctrine,
is the emphasis on the heart. That’s
the real difference. You
can say something like this, and emphasize it in a different
way, with a different heart. And the difference makes all the difference
in the world. When
John says these things to him, he’s just speaking to
a man that loves the Lord, and he’s not in any way
trying to get him to start praying for a Mercedes and praying
for the biggest house in the neighborhood, that’s just
not his intent. His intent is that things would just go
well. Note first
that he says, “just as your soul prospers”. So
this man is prospering spiritually. So
just as you’re growing and being used of God, I pray
God just continues to bring resources and blessing into your
life, that all the more you can be freed up just to serve
him. And of course,
this man would do that. I’m
sure anything that came into his life, he’d be using
it for the glory of God. Well, that’s just this point we
can make before going on. But
you know, at the same time this verse also helps keep us
a little balanced, because you don’t want to go from
one side to the other side. Right? And
it doesn’t mean that, the Bible doesn’t say to
be poor is to be godly, either, you know. You can have a lot and still be very godly. It’s
just the heart. The heart of a godly person is to be content
in all things at all times, regardless. You
got a lot, you’ve got a little, whatever tomorrow brings
I am content in Jesus Christ. So
that’s the heart of the Scripture. Now,
some have suggested that this is a common greeting of the
day too. It basically is saying this ‘Beloved,
concerning all things, I hope you’re having a good
journey through life, in all things.’ It’s
just a common, ‘Man, I hope things are going well,
and I pray things are going well for you’
kind of deal.
Well
now in verse 3 John notes again how his heart is warmed greatly,
when he hears and considers what is going on in Gaius’s
life. This man
has a great testimony and witness. Various people have come to John and they’ve
reported about Gaius and they’ve said ‘This guy
has a strong walk with the Lord.’ And
that really blesses the heart of John. Now
if you are able to look at the Greek here and examine it
closely, there is an indication in the Greek that it’s
constantly happening, that John is often having people come
his way that are saying ‘You know that guy Gaius, hey
I was at his house, and hey I was at his church’, often
he’s hearing things, he’s constantly hearing
great feedback about this guy, that’s kind of the tense
of the Greek. And man it just blesses his heart to hear
it. In fact,
the word “to hear” in verse 4, “I have
no greater joy than to hear”, that word “to
hear” is in the present indicative, which implies that
he’s regularly hearing, not just occasionally, but
regularly hearing. So
people would come to John, based on their conversations with
Gaius, based on the time they spent with him observing his
lifestyle, they could only have good things to say. That’s
all they would have to say: ‘This
man loves God, this man loves the truth. This
man feared God, this man stuck to sound doctrine.’ So,
how about you today? How
about you today? What
are your family members saying about your life? What
are your family members saying about your lifestyle, your
living witness? What are your co-workers thinking about
Jesus Christ? The
people who work with you and watch you? Or
the people at school that are attending classes with you,
what are they thinking about Jesus Christ after spending
time with you, watching your life and being around your life? Is there a sweet aroma that’s coming
forth from your life, from your home, into your neighborhood,
from your cubicle at work into your workplace? Is
there an aroma that’s speaking to people of the love
of Jesus Christ, and the need to follow Jesus Christ and
to turn to him? What
is your reputation like? Gaius
spent everything, when it comes from Christians to John, ‘this
guy is sold out to Jesus, man.’ So
what are people saying? That’s
interesting to consider. There are a lot of leaders and servants
in the Church who had heard great things about Gaius, and
as John says, “I have no greater joy.” Man, when I hear stuff like that, there
is nothing more that moves my heart. And
I think we can relate to that in one way or another
Now verse
4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth.” I
know, it’s interesting, whenever I go back to the
West Coast to the church there, it’s been a repeated
pattern the last few years, I mean, large church, multiple
services on Sunday, and each time I go I run into a couple
families every time. And
they are families that used to be in our home fellowship
back in this same church. And one of those families, I remember
then, were really struggling, just getting going with the
Lord, really struggling with issues in their lives. But
every year I go back, it’s like a little reminder,
you know. They’re doing great in Jesus, they’re
serving the Lord, and I run into them every time. You
know, thousands of people [now in this church congregation],
hey, there they are shaking my hand again, ‘How is
it? I hear great reports.’ And it’s just kind of cool, maybe
I did something right nine years ago, maybe I did. But
then there are times too, I hear reports through them of
others that were in our home Bible study, in some instances
struggling, and not doing so well in the Lord, maybe have
gotten off on a road, you know, that’s kind of destructive,
and those [reports] are always sad to hear. And so John says “I have no greater
joy” because I’m living for eternity,
and that’s what I got my eyes glued on, and ‘to
hear that you’re walking with God. Man
it just blesses my heart.’
We should be a giving church, a
giving people
Now, verses 5-8, “Beloved you do faithfully
whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who
have borne witness of your love before the church. If
you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy
of God, you will do well. Because they went forth for his name sake,
taking nothing from the Gentiles. We
therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow-workers
for the truth.” So
here we go again, “beloved”, “beloved”,
already three times in four verses, five verses, he says “beloved,
beloved.” And
I know, we can all agree I’m sure, that man, I like
when my brothers and sisters look at me that way, and see
me that way, and have that kind of compassion. I was with Randy Cahill two Monday nights
ago, you know, before I went to France, I was supposed
to go to a huddle in New England, we have every year a
huddle with the pastors of New England, and we always bring
a lot of leaders from our church, just to go and be blessed
and be exposed to some of the teaching. And
leaving on Tuesday morning now for France, huddle starts
on Monday, I just went up for Monday night to be part of
a little bit there of the sessions. But it was a good time for me, and I think
it was God ordered and ordained time. But
after the sessions ended, Randy Cahill wanted to speak
to me. Randy had taught earlier at our church. And he had some matters he wanted to discuss
with me, and we kind of went through it. But
you know, it really blessed me as we were talking, and
I hear this from him multiple, multiple times, but he says
to me “Tom, I really like you and your wife.” This
time he says, I’m with him and we’re talking,
he says, “Man, I want you to know, Sheryl and I really
love you and Grace.” And
I mean, he actually said it, I mean he had a tear in his
eye. And I’m looking at him, going, wow,
thank you Jesus. Because
personally I respect him a lot. And
I know you guys here me say that. I
look to him as a leader. God has raised him up as a leader in New
England in this denomination. And
I love the man. And
the fact that God has put my wife and I on his heart, I
say, good deal. I
say it’s a good deal for the church too, to have
affection towards us in that way. And
I’m sure Gaius is reading this (in 3rd John)
going ‘Good deal’, I mean, hearing this from the apostle
John. Of
course, John the apostle of love loves everybody, but he’s
making a point, man, ‘You just bless my socks off
man’, that’s what he’s saying. ‘I
just love you, man.’ So,
we can relate to that. His
heart really goes out to this guy, ‘Gaius the generous’, ‘Gaius
the giver’, I think that’s how we can describe
it pretty well here, in these verses, 5 to 8. John says that this man is given much
to hospitality, he’s a hospitable man. You
come into his neighborhood, his town, and you know as the
culture then, often they would wait at the city gate. Right? Waiting
for a place to stay. Because
notoriously, the inns at the time, the places that you
could rent for a night, were notorious at that time, not
very nice. It
wasn’t like here where you’ve got a Best Western,
you’ve got a Sheraton, you’ve got these hotels
you can go pick. It
was like you’ve got these really raunchy places if
you have to go there. And there’s stuff that would go
on that wasn’t very nice either, so it was important
for the Church to open their homes to other believers that
were passing through, especially missionaries and leaders
and pastors and music groups that would going through. It was important for them to be hospitable. And
the manner in which he did it is noteworthy, because John
says, ‘Man, I mean, people stay with you, and they’re
just blessed. You
just love them, and you’re so good to them, and so
kind to them, and that’s just cool.’ And
that’s the way he’s noted it here, and I think
he can be described here as
‘Gaius the generous, the giver.’ Now,
as the people would pass through, some of them he would know,
some of them he wouldn’t know, as you can see there. It
says “Whatever you do for the brethren, and for strangers”,
some of the believers he knew, some of them he didn’t
know. But it
didn’t matter, whatever, whoever, if they were especially
serving the Lord, man, he would reach out to them and bless
them. So because of that, verse 6, these people
would go back. It
says, “Who have borne witness of your love
[King James: “charitableness”]” They
come back just testifying, ‘You are a loving, hospitable,
very kind man.’ You know, I thank God to be part of this
church with you guys. And
I see in this congregation a tremendous amount of generosity,
a tremendous amount of giving, and it just blesses my heart. And
I believe that we as a body, I mean we have somewhat of a
witness around the world. Because
I pick up on little vibes, I mean, the world is big, and
there’s only so many people that know us. Yet
the world is small, I can tell you the small world stories
too. I had one
recently, but I won’t go there. But
there’s a witness, there’s a witness coming from
this congregation about being a giving church. There
are missionaries that are talking about your faithfulness
in supporting them and being a blessing to them and upholding
them. And I think
that’s cool, although we can’t get conceited
about it. We can’t even get confident about
it. Because, all the more, all the more, man,
lay down our lives, serving one another, serving those that
are laying down their lives in other parts of the world. So
that’s what’s happening here, word keeps coming
back about this man, maybe he’s even a pastor of a
church, some believe that, and they’re just reaching
out and loving servants of the Lord, especially. I
remember last year, if you were here in November when Dave
Sylvester came and he taught at our church, if you remember
that experience, that was the first missionary we started
to support. And
to be honest with you, we support that church significantly
in various ways. I
mean, from offering scholarships for students to paying for
all the cost of the missions house, we’ve completely
paid for it, and so that people can stay there. And we help support ministry in other
ways. But anyway, remember, we started supporting him five
years ago, the church at that time in York, England was very
small. But a
year or so ago he was spending some time, the way he described
it,
“I was walking along,” he said “and I was
thinking on all that God has done in the last five years,
look at all these things, look at the college, look at the
seminary, look at church, look at all these people.” And then he says he thought of us, and
he says he wanted to come here, and update us, and just thank
us, but also to say “Look at what God has done. Look
at what we’re doing together.” And
that’s the kind of deal. And
man, all the more, I think that’s cool. All
the more, man. Verse
6, He says “if
you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy
of God you will do well.” So he makes it clear that a church
that does that, does well. An
individual that does that, does well. Right? It’s good to give. It’s good to give sacrificially. You know, I wrestle at times here, we
have a building project [trying to get their sanctuary finished
in the massive old mill-factory building they’ve leased]. You
know when I talked to Randy Cahill, we talked, and at the
end of the conversation he said, “I have one criticism”,
and of course, you’ve got criticism, oh man….and
he says “your church isn’t carpeted yet.” And he says “I don’t think
you’re representing Christ. I
mean, you’ve had plywood on the floor, and you’ve
had it for awhile.” And you know, I gave him a list of excuses
[laughter], I tried to do this song and dance. But
I walked away, man, ‘this is a man, God, that you put
in my life, and I look to him, and I believe you are saying
something to me.’ So I’ve been praying, and I’m
thinking, January 1st, man, Lord, carpet, carpet,
churches have carpet. It isn’t that big of a deal. Right? But
in order to have carpet, we’ve got to paint, basically,
is what we’ve got to do. And
then it would be great to have carpet. But
we want to represent Christ. And
that was a criticism. The
man had a lot of great things to say, but he had that criticism. And,
ah, why am I saying that? That’s
a good question, too. [I
think what is coming out of this, is churches should use
balance, giving both to overseas missions, while not neglecting
their own essential building projects, balance in all things. Look
at it this way. The
first priority of spending should be for the church building
or hall rental because that is where the members congregation
to be nourished spiritually (as well as to pay for the pastor). Without
that weekly spiritual nourishment the congregation would
soon shrink down to nothing, and there’d be no money
for missions. So
there’s a balance. But
missions and their support is extremely important for the
body of Christ to be doing.]] But anyway, ‘If you send them forward
on a journey, you do well if you give.’ Well,
here’s the point, but after that, maybe we shouldn’t
give so much to missions. Maybe that’s the issue here. And of course, I went to India with Bob
Caldwell, and Bob Caldwell told me repeatedly, he said, “We
always give to India first, and then God built our buildings,
every time, he built our churches.” And
I’ve always believed that. And
I came back to what Randy said going, ‘Lord, what am
I supposed to do, are we supposed to cut back on this and
that.’ I
just felt even through this study here in this text, God
says, ‘No, man, you can’t out-give me.’ But at the same time we need to be faithful,
and trust the Lord. Well,
one writer put it this way, “We are never more Godlike
than when we are sacrificing to serve others.” I
mean, that’s the life. Right? Sacrificing
to serve others. Remember
Jesus’
words, he said “He who receives you receives me, and
he who receives him who sent me. He
who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
mans reward.” When
you reach out and bless a prophet and a righteous man, you
get a reward in return as the Scripture says, Jesus says
that. Well he
gives us a number of reasons that we should be a giving church. Let’s
just note them real quick. For
one, he says “these folks, verse 7, “Because they went forth for
his name’s sake”, there, joining God in his
work. And we want to be part of God’s
work, so when you’re supporting somebody else who’s
part of God’s work, you’re just joining God in
his work, for his name’s sake, what a thrill. At the same time, in many cases, missionaries
are making great personal sacrifices in order to go to some
of the places that they go to join God in his work. So
there’s a great need. So
we get the blessing of joining them, by providing bodies
sometimes, sometimes physical relief and financial support. You
know, not to toot our horn again, but just coming back from
one of the trips recently and having a message again, so
often we get messages Warez, Mexico, these guys are just
blessed by you guys. They’re
always in communication with us, I get calls from Mexico,
Warez Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and they are just blessed by
how you give and help. They’re very poor. A group of us, 15 of us went. And some of you individually support them. And
they are blessed, and so they are calling all the time, keeping
us updated. But
yet they have need, that’s why we do it, they have
great need, that’s for sure. They’re
very poor. But also, he says, “taking nothing from the Gentiles”, when he says Gentiles
here, meaning those that are non-believers. And
of course it is the Church’s responsibility to support
those that are ministering, the servants of the Lord. It
certainly isn’t the world’s responsibility. In fact, I think it’s a lousy witness
when the world has to step in. In
fact, I don’t even think it’s healthy for a church
or for us to be looking to the world for monies. Now
there’s some governmental legislation that’s
come down where churches today in America, you can actually
apply for grants to get money from the government. So I get conference literature all the
time,
‘Come to this conference, and we guarantee just about
100 percent, we’ll help you apply for one of these
grants, you’ll get money for your homeless ministry,
you’ll get money from the government for this ministry’,
and I grieve when I get it, to be honest with you. I
toss it in the trash can, because I don’t believe that’s
God’s order. [George Mueller didn’t believe in
accepting money from wealthy non-believers for his Christian
orphanages either, he was dead set against it.] In fact….when we get money from
the world, the world later will go, you know, the State,
Senate, or whatever will say “Such and such church,
that great homeless ministry, but hey, we’ve had a
part in it, we’ve given money” and hey, I don’t
want to share the glory with God, and we certainly don’t
want the world taking part in trying to take some of God’s
glory. And so
I don’t believe it’s God’s order. We
don’t in any way pursue monies from the world, and
if people offer it, it’s highly unlikely we’ll
receive it, like Abraham, that is from non-believers, because
it’s the Church, it’s our responsibility to be
giving, be giving, blessing and investing in the community
and around the world. [that
is exactly what George Mueller’s policy was.] And
if that hasn’t got you thinking, it says “therefore we ought to receive such”, the word “receive” there
means to “uphold and support”. It
isn’t just like you just had them in your home, but
that you’re reaching out and helping in providing their
needs. And so
he says “We
ought to”, I mean it’s essentially a command. God
says “Go and do”, and so that’s why we
do it, “that
we may become fellow-workers for the truth.” [This website highlights a very special
orphanage in India, which does not receive very much in the
way of offerings from churches outside their own area. And
those churches in their area are very poor. So this orphanage operates on a financial
shoe-string. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/sisterchurches/BlessiOrphanHome.htm. I have noticed that American Christians
and the Christian churches they attend are loathe to give
to poor missions overseas, for whatever reason. Unlike
the church denomination this pastor is from whose giving
this sermon, most of the body of Christ in America take a
fractionalized view of missions and the body of Christ, instead
of a unified view, instead of a view that projects a “we’re
all in this together” outlook. This
fractionalized view is most definitely hurting missions overseas,
and seriously hindering the growth of the body of Christ
around the world. I would have to admit that this fractionalized
view, which states “overseas missions in poor countries
should be self-supporting, getting the support they need
from their own areas”, is more of Satan than of Christ. This
website also proposes an easy to follow giving plan that
covers three of the major overseas or international missions
organizations, for it is often difficult to know who to give
to. See the site’s
Mission Statement at http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm ] When
we were on the West Coast there was a group of leaders from
this church, and one of the missionaries we support, I just
think this family is so cool, I can never pronounce their
last name, but I love these people. These
guys are cool, man. This
family, three daughters, husband and wife, they live the
book of Acts, they went into Greece, and they sought to plant
a church. And
I didn’t know them then, so I don’t how all that
worked out. We’ve only known them since they’ve
been in Germany. We
met them in a huddle in southern California. They
left Greece, they were done there, they went to Germany,
they planted a church in Germany, it’s now a church
I believe larger than this church [400+]. Got a letter one day, he says, “I
feel led to turn this church over to someone else and we’re
going to go and plant a church somewhere else, so we’re
not going to take any more salary from the church, we’re
just moving on as missionaries, going off to plant another
church.” And now they’re going to Spain. Well I just think they’re cool. And I was with him when he was at the
huddle, and I made sure, I said ‘Hey listen, can we
have you at our dinner table, I’d love you to talk
to other leaders in the church’, just to get to know
him, ‘because I am just blessed, I am so blessed by
what you do.’ ‘I think it’s a thrill, every
time I see a check go through that’s going to you guys,
man, what a thrill, the way you guys are just laying your
lives down.’ And
next year they’re getting kind of geared up, doing
trips to Spain, they intend to plant a church in Spain, and
I hope we’re a part of it. Man, I hope we’re a part of it.
[One of those three major international evangelistic groups
mentioned on this site’s Mission Statement has been
responsible for planting more Christian churches in 3rd world
nations than I would say any other international evangelistic
organization or denomination has been in the 20th century. Be sure to log onto the Mission Statement
to check it out.] Just
what he says here, “that we may become fellow-workers”---joined
together, partaking in the same deal.
Second witness, ‘Diotrephes
the Defiant’
or
“Do not touch my anointed
ones, and do my prophet no harm”,
or
What comes out of our mouths matters
Verse 9, “I wrote unto the church:
but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among
them, receiveth us not. Wherefore,
if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating
against us with malicious words: and not content therewith,
neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would, and casteth them out
of the church. Beloved,
follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He
that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath
not God” (KJV). Now
what a difference. Right? Gaius,
Gaius, tremendous godly man. We
get to the second guy, Diotrephes, and the way I would
describe him as Diotrephes the Defiant. He
says “I wrote to the church”, but this guy
Diotrephes is just making my life hard, but “I wrote
to the church”. He
may be referring to, some commentators say he’s referring
to a second letter, we’ve already studied, maybe
that’s the letter, maybe our “elect lady” is
this church that these guys are a part of. It’s
a possibility. Although
at that time traveling ministers would also carry a recommendation
from a ministry they came from, and they would bring that
to the body, and I think that probably really well fits
the context here. That
the people who went to this congregation that Diotrephes
is overseeing came with a letter from John, like a recommendation. But
he says this guy, Diotrephes, “who loves to have
the preeminence among them.” He
loves to have the preeminence, the attitude here, is that
in the Greek, he likes to consistently promote himself,
it’s his constant attitude. And
it’s interesting when it says “preeminence” there,
you might remember from your study in the Bible, that word
only comes up one other time, the Greek word. And
it’s in Colossians chapter 1, verse 18, referring
to Jesus, “and he is the head of the Body, the Church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things he may have the preeminence.” Jesus
is the preeminence. But
certainly it’s in the hearts of men, this man loved
to be the one that has the preeminence. Same word, same word. “He
loves to have the preeminence, and does not receive us.” Amazing, he doesn’t receive
the apostle John. Isn’t
that amazing, when you read that? Early
Church, there are twelve disciples with Jesus, twelve that
actually as part of a witness those three and a half years
with Jesus. I
mean, I would, there would be a holy fear in my heart when
I was with these twelve, you know. But
this man, because of the ugliness in his heart does not
even recognize the apostle John. It’s incredible. The Greek word there for “receive” actually
includes, you’ve got the word “epi” and epi means
“upon”. So it has a sense of being “on top
of”, he does not “see John’s authority
above him”. [The
Greek word is: epidechomai,
Strongs #1926: “to admit (as a guest or teacher):--receive.”] And in that, he sees himself above the
apostle John. Amazing. And in a sense, Paul dealt with this too. You
remember the church in Corinth, these guys who see themselves
as super-apostles. He’s above the apostle John (in
his own eyes). He
sees himself as far as authority, he doesn’t recognize
John’s authority. Well verse
10 he says, “Therefore
if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does.” That
means in the Greek, actually it’s suggested he’s
going to do it publicly, and the “deeds he does”,
it’s consistently, it’s in the present tense,
it’s consistently, this is the way he lives. So basically he’s going to expose
his character. [To
say nothing of being exposed for all eternity in the Word
of God.] And
by exposing his character, he’s going to say ‘Hey,
look at these things that he does, this is this man’s
character.’ He’s going to come and he’s
going to deal with it. That
includes his prating, “prating against us with malicious
words.” He’s
got a malicious heart. And
out of the heart the mouth speaks. Right? He’s got criticalness, bitterness. He’s got malicious words. And he’s ripping on John. And that’s pretty ugly, man. The Greek means to talk idly or falsely,
to prattle, to speak nonsense, doesn’t even know what
he’s talking about. It’s amazing, we do it. But being a leader now I’m sometimes
on the other end, people will say things, in criticalness
of me, and I’m like,
‘they weren’t a part of any of those meetings,
they don’t have any part of the phone calls, they know
very little about what they’re talking about. You know what I mean? Yet they go “Stab!”, with
a knife. They have no idea what they’re talking
about. And that’s the kind of thing he’s
doing, he doesn’t even know what he’s talking
about, just this bitterness coming from his heart, speaking
nonsense. Well,
you read that, and if it’s describing him that way,
we know we don’t want to be like that. Right? John’s pretty tough in what he says. We want to be careful what we say about
others. We want
to be careful when they’re not around, especially,
but also when they’re around. We want to be careful what we say, because
they’re children of the Lord, and they’re God’s
sheep, man. You’ve got to give an account to
him when you speak negatively and harshly about one of his
own, that’s for sure. He loves his Bride, man. And you talk negatively about anybody’s
bride, and you’re critical about some buck guy’s
bride, man, you’d better watch out. And
the Church is God’s Bride, that’s just the truth
[cf. Revelation 19:8-9a]. We
need to be careful what we say about people in leadership. Psalm
105 says “Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my
prophet no harm.” And
man, if you ever hear me say something negative about Randy
Cahill, Ken Graves, two leaders God’s raised up in
New England, Mike McIntosh, I don’t know, I really
seek to speak positively of my pastor. And
sure, there will be times when I don’t agree with him,
but he’s my pastor. You know what I’m saying? So I want to speak good of him. If I don’t agree, I’ll pray
about it, pray for him. And
if there’s something about me, I’ll talk to him
about it. But
I want to be real careful, because he’s my pastor,
and I fear God, and I just recognize that God has got him
in my life, and why do I want to speak against him, because
I’m speaking against God. People
do it, because there’s an issue in their heart. Malicious words, from a malicious heart,
pride and bitterness. When
you got pride and bitterness, you have division, right, eventually,
discord. This guy is so prideful that he’s
speaking badly, he won’t receive John, he won’t
receive anybody associated with John, ‘and if you want
to be associated with John or anyone associated with him,
you’re outa the church man, because I’m the guy’ is
what basically his attitude is, ‘and I’m not
going to recognize’ somebody who clearly has been put
in authority above me,’ i.e. the apostle John. Man,
that is an ugly heart. So
we got Diotrephes the Defiant, and man, keep a tight lip,
that’s always good. Pray. You
know, it’s amazing to me, sometimes I’ll even
receive letters, and this is just part of being a leader,
you know. I’ll
receive letters where somebody will just drill me, like a
machinegun, and they don’t even attend the church [laughter],
and this has happened, they don’t even attend the church,
and then they start attending the church. I
mean, you just said I had horns and a tail, and you’re
going to come and attend the church? [chuckles]. Isn’t
that strange? Malicious
prating, people often condemn themselves when they do it. You know what I’m saying? To be critical of a church leader, and
then to be under their leadership and remain under it by
choice, is to condemn yourself. Isn’t
that true? You know, if I don’t respect the
leadership, I’m just going to move on. You
know what I’m saying? But
if I don’t respect you, and I’m going to come
and listen to you, you’re condemning yourself is what
you’re doing. So,
I say that because it happens so often. Well,
not content just speaking, man, he is representative of just
incredible discord, and I tell you what, man, what does the
Proverb say? Solomon
wrote, there’s a few things that God hates, this is
a list of what God hates, and the chief on the list is “Those
who sow discord among brethren.” God
says “I absolutely despise and hate it.” And
I pray for this church that there’s harmony in this
church. Because when there’s discord, God
does not bless. And
there’s generally only discord because there’s
an issue in a person’s heart. It’s maliciousness, pride ultimately. There’s a way to deal with things
when you don’t agree with them, and that is you just
go to the leaders, and you talk to them, and you pray with
them. And if
you can’t agree, and it’s significant to you,
you just leave quietly. [And that is just exactly what I did when
I could no longer agree with the new Worldwide Church of
God. I didn’t sow discord. I love the brethren. But their doctrines were changing in such
a way that I could no longer walk in harmony with them. So I left quietly, not making a stir whatsoever. That is the only way to handle such things.] There’s
plenty of other churches in this day and age to be a part
of. But to be
malicious and to speak about somebody, ah, you’re accountable
for your words before God, and so am I, and when I speak
too. Well, he says in verse 11, “Beloved,
do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He
who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen
God.” When he says good and evil here, when he’s
talking about imitating good, he’s not just saying
occasionally going out and doing a good deed. The
words in the Greek mean that it’s your lifestyle, it’s
a lifestyle of being good and being benevolent, your very
person, you personify Christ, the benevolence of God, the
charity, the love of God. “Beloved
do not imitate what is evil”, live a life that is good,
don’t live a life like this guy Diotrephes, don’t
be that type of testimony or witness. “He
who does good is of God”, it’s just that
clear, “but he who does not has not seen God.” When
he says “has not seen God”, he means, it’s
a figurative way to mean you’re not experiencing God,
you’re not walking with God, you’re not in a
relationship with God, you don’t know his character. Some commentators say that Diotrephes
isn’t even a born-again believer. Maybe
he is or is not. Maybe
he has really gotten trapped up by Satan, been hooked like
in 1st Timothy, hooked by pride like Satan was. But,
wow. “He
who does good is of God”, if you’re really
a godly person, man, you’re life just shows it very
simply. “But he who does evil has not seen
God.”
Third witness, Demetrius the Devoted
Verse 12, last witness, we have “Demetrius the Devoted”. “Demetrius
has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know
that our testimony is true.” He
says he has a good testimony. And
it’s in the Greek tense again that it’s ongoing,
it’s continuing, this guy has consistently got a
good testimony. It’s
funny, he goes from Gaius to Diotrephes, and right back
to Demetrius. It’s possible Demetrius has been
effected by Diotrephes. Maybe
because Demetrius has been associated with John, Diotrephes
has started kind of nailing him, and shooting at him, and
now he just says to Gaius, ‘this guy [Demetrius]
is just a great man. He’s
been ridiculed and ripped up and shredded.’ You
know, you have to be careful what you hear about people
in leadership. Often what you hear [if it’s negative]
isn’t even true. It
just isn’t. If you have questions about me or other
leaders in this church, about the worship team or anybody,
just come and ask. You
know what I’m saying? You’ll be amazed that some things
you hear are not even true. It’s
just something that the enemy’s up to. [And
don’t fail to notice that all this is talking place
within the leadership structure, where one or two have
to endure under the influence of a leader who apparently
has turned south, or may never have been born-again, but
nonetheless somehow worked his way into a leadership position
in this particular congregation. I have witnessed this type of thing within
the denomination I spent 30 years in. And
the ones who faithfully kept serving God, and kept their
mouths shut, God vindicated in the end. Not
all those in the sheepfold are sheep, some are wolves in
sheep’s clothing. But God is faithful, and expects us to
act accordingly.] Well, “but this man has a good testimony from all.” When he says “from all” we
would assume the church. Of
course we wouldn’t necessarily assume the world. He
might have a good testimony with some of the world, but
generally if you’re living a godly life, you’re
going to tick some people off in the world too. Remember Jesus said “Beware when
everybody speaks well of you.” So
when he says “all” here, he’s referring
I would say especially to the church. Demetrius. That
name’s special to me when I was in college. Young believer, I know Jesus was in my
heart, man. But
for a couple years I didn’t go to church, I lived
a pretty secular college-20-year-old male kind of life,
and I wish I hadn’t, and I wasn’t living for
God, I was a pretty lousy witness. I
can tell you stories about that, but I’ll
save that. But
there was a guy named Demetrius that loved Jesus, man,
at the campus at Boston University, and I was just kind
of in my knuckle-head stage, and I would come across him
now and then. In
fact, God had it when I first stayed at Boston University,
this guy was sitting next to me on a bus that kind of took
us to some place and I got to know him a little bit. And then I would run into him, and every
time I would see him---in fact I think he sometimes would
seek me out, I’m pretty sure he did, he’d invite
me to this on-campus Bible study. And I thank God for Demetrius, I thank
God for him. The
Lord used him in my life. And
my life has been going in a different direction, thank
God for him. Good
testimony, good witness. You
can be used by God today. You
can be used by God this week in a way that God uses you
to powerfully impact other people’s lives. And
they’ll be eternally thankful that they knew you
and they crossed your path. Man, Demetrius the Devoted, that’s
cool.
Last
two verses, verses
13-14, “I
had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you
with pen and ink, but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall
speak face to face. Peace to you, our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.” Look at 2nd John, man it’s
almost identical. ‘I
have many things to write, don’t want to put it all
in pen, I want to do it face to face. I’d just like to hang out with you.
And man, I hope to see you.’ Like
in 2nd John, John notes that being together, the
glory and the joy of fellowship,
“that our joy may
be full” he told the “elect lady” there
at the end of the 2nd letter. “Peace
to you, our friends greet you. Greet
the friends by name.” Wow,
man. Too bad we’re done with these Epistles,
I’ve enjoyed them. Good
stuff. What a blessing to study the Word of God. [transcript
of a sermon given somewhere in New England.]
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