3rd John

As we continue our study of the one chapter books in the New Testament, we spend this week in 3 John.  This is another personal letter written by John to a friend of his, with encouragement and admonition to help and support those who speak the truth. It has great application for us today in those same areas, who to emulate and who not to as well. Join us as we study this great book together. 

Transcript

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 Thank you for listening to Cultivating Growth. We are in the third week of this month where we have been spending some time specifically on the one-chapter books in the pages of the New Testament. Philemon, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, 2 John that we talked about last week, the Book of Jude we'll talk about next week, and this week we'll spend some time in the Book of 3 John. You, you'll hear some similar things that we talked about last week, written by the same person written with relatively similar things in mind, but written to a different audience. And so we'll talk a little bit about that, and I'm looking forward to this conversation, so let's get to it Jeremy, you mentioned that this book, 3 John, it, it begins very similarly, nearly identically to how 2 John began. It begins by saying, "The elder," to, in this case, "The beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth." A very similar introduction to what we talked about last week in 2 John, and some similar themes in this short book to what we talked about last week with 2 John. But there's a couple of things at the beginning that I think maybe slight recap from last week Number one, it's widely assumed and accepted that John is the author of these letters even though his name is not directly used. He certainly seems to be the author of these, and partially because the themes in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, even the Gospel of John, Revela- there's so many similarities- in the writing style and themes and those types of things that the consensus seems pretty solid that John is in fact the writer of these letters. And also, he's writing these to people that he knows very well. And whether they worship together or live in the same area, whatever the situation may have been, these are people that he cares for. It says at the very beginning of this letter that Gaius is someone who he loves in truth. They, they are friends, they are people who have known each other for some time, and he has a lot of care and concern for these people, which is what's leading him to write these letters. Yeah, so I think, sometimes we can take these intros for granted a little bit. And I know it's easy to just skip over those. But it is heartwarming to just think about the fact that the Apostle John cared so much for these people, and he loved them so dearly, and he wanted to help them and support them and encourage them in any way that he could. Yeah, a- again, very similar to the way 2 John began, 3 John begins in almost the exact same way. Coincidentally enough, and we'll talk about it maybe at the, they end almost the exact same- Yeah, yeah ... way as well. We talked about last week, you had John writing to this elect lady. He makes mention and lifts up her children, and he's excited a- and just, super he's overjoyed by how well they're doing, and that seems to be the case here with Gaius. He makes mention of him right away. He's rejoicing with him in verse 3. He's got no greater joy, than to hear that his children or certainly friends of his, as Gaius seems to be, i- is walking this way. Before we get into the meat of, the the letter, before we leave the introduction, verse 2 of 3 John is one verse that I've thought l- loads about. And you're right, sometimes we miss certain things in introductions because we move very quickly over them. We're like, "All right, let's get this thing- ... going." But it says in verse 2, "I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health Just as your soul prosper. I, I've thought about that verse for a long, long time, and in essence, what he's saying is, I, I'm hoping Gaius that you prosper physically as you are prospering spiritually. Now, from this letter, it seems that spiritually Gaius is, is doing very, very well- Yeah ... so this would be an incredible prayer to have someone pray. But I've always thought what an interesting way to phrase that, but then the power behind it of saying, would I want someone or John praying that for me? Yeah. That I prosper physically- ... and even in my health as I am prospering spiritually. Yeah. I think that's an interesting question probably for all of us to take just a second and be able to answer. Yeah. You, a- ask yourself the question, if that were the case, if there were physical manifestations of how you were doing spiritually, would everybody look at you and say, "Man, he's in the best health, the best shape ever"? Or, would you be in your sick bed all day long? And that's a, that's a challenging question to ask, but it is an interesting phrase that, that John uses there. And as you said, it certainly seems that from John's perspective, Gaius is someone who's thriving spiritually. And so that is a, a, a saying that is to be taken very well by Gaius. He, he is encouraged by what John has to say because John sees him as someone who is doing quite well, and that's why John wants to encourage him, because there are some challenges that he's going to have to face. But he go- he does say a, a couple more things about Gaius that really sets up then the contrast. We talked last week that in 2 John, John does a bit of contrasting. He's gonna do the same here, and he's going to talk about how Gaius is someone Who has received those who are faithfully working in the Kingdom of God. They are, are being welcomed by him and supported by him and, and those kinds of things. And he's gonna draw a contrast between someone who is supporting those who are doing good work, and someone who is hindering the furtherance of the gospel by s- someone else who is there in the church named Diotrephes. And so I think it's, again, when we talk about the similar styles that we see, one of those styles that we're seeing similar to 2 John is the contrast that he's going to use here. Yeah, and really, 2 John and 3 John even themselves carry i- incredible contrasts, as you made mention. He, he, he's going to make the point in 2 John, the people who are deceivers y- y- don't receive them. Don't, don't receive them into your house. If you do you're t- you're even taking part i- in those kinds of things. And so on the flip side of that, those who are helping along, not as we talked last week, anti-Christ- ... or against Christ, but those who are for Christ, how, how do we deal with those folks? Those who are furtherance of the gospel. Where he says, verse eight specifically, "You ought to receive such-" "that we may become fellow workers for the truth." And so you have- You know, those two contrasts, and you're right, even in the book itself here in 3 John, he's gonna move to someone that I think is interesting that he names- Yeah ... specifically. I, I, I, I think that's quite interesting that he's going to say almost "Unlike this guy that we all know." Yeah. And i- it's really, it, it puts into perspective those who are laboring for, in the kingdom, how they are to be received. Yeah. And, and I think this is a big picture of that. It reminds me almost of when Jesus is sending out his disciples, or he sends out- ... the limited commission in some way, and, and he makes mention of how it is that they can be received or taken. Very similar kinds of thoughts right here. Yeah, that, that is an interesting thought. I had not necessarily considered that, where perhaps John had been involved in that in the past, and he had been on the receiving end of someone's hospitality and generosity as he was seeking to take the gospel to, to other families and other places, and now he is seeing someone do the same for perhaps people he is sending or perhaps people he knows. Someone is doing that good work. H- there would be an, an extra layer of connection between them if, if he had been on the receiving end of that, which then also probably would have made the, the contrast to that even more hurtful to John when he sees someone like Diotrephes who is actively seeking to hinder the good work that people like Gaius are doing. Diotrephes is someone who, as John says in verse nine, loves to have the preeminence among them. He's someone who likes to see himself as important and have influence among the brethren, and he is prohibiting people from helping The godly men who are trying to take the gospel into different communities, he is prohibiting people from trying to help these people and support these people in the work that they are doing, and John is gonna have no patience for that. No. That is something that he sees as extremely detrimental to the work that these men are trying to do in the kingdom. He calls it out as evil. It, it, he doesn't mix words at any capacity after giving specifically his name in verse nine, and then specifically what he's doing in verse 10. He'll close that out with the admonition, "Hey, don't imitate what is evil," making reference to Diotrephes, "but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God." And that's very similar language that we see in 1 John in a lot of ways- Yeah ... of, those extremes, that there's no middle ground, when it comes, to your relationship with God those kinds of, extremes. And he says, "Listen, i- if you do evil, you don't have an okay relationship with God." Yeah. "It's as if you've never even seen him." That is what, that is what it is, and so he's drawing these massive contrasts between these two things an- and he says, "Listen, there's a choice to be made." "You're gonna imitate evil or you're gonna imitate good." Yeah. And you have this incredible admonition to imitate good. I think the, the practical application to this i- is an interesting one for me. When I think about the role that Diotrephes is playing in the church and, and the, the difficulty that he's creating for these people who are seeking to do good there, there's a couple of things that stand out to me that I think we have to watch out for. Number one, if someone is actively seeking preeminence among the brethren, meaning they, they enjoy the idea of having influence and lording that influence over people, even regardless of how they may use that influence, that should be a red flag to us. And I think the fact that John calls that out even before he tells us what exactly he's doing, he calls out the fact that he loves to have the preeminence among them. If we begin to see that in people, or if we begin to see it in ourselves, that is a major red flag. God speaks so frequently about how as Christians we are to be humble, we're to be submissive to one another, we're to strive for unity. A- and someone who is seeking and loving preeminence and places of importance among a group is working actively against everything that God wants His church to be. And so I think that's something that we need to watch out for, and I love the fact that John, as you said, calls this man out by name- ... and points to this first as something, this is why this man is dangerous. He loves to have this position of influence and power, and we have to be careful if we begin to see that in people. Listen, we, we have influence to the people around us. There, there's no question about that. And people around us, they have influence upon us. And so he, he's saying there in verse 11, "Hey, don't, don't imitate this guy. Don't, don't be like him." Yeah. "Don't, don't be like him." A- and he doesn't just leave it at that. When he gets into verse 12, even though we don't get huge specifics about Demetrius as we did with Diotrephes, the, the point is still there. Yeah. He's "Hey, don't imitate this guy. He operates with evil." When he says, you need to imitate what's good," and he gives us Demetrius. Here is someone who has a good testimony- Yep and has got a good testimony from everybody. His reputation is good, and his reputation not just with men, but also with the truth itself is good. And so we have this picture of, listen, h- here's somebody to spend your time with. A- and, to be around. Diotrephes, leave him be. We learn that in 2 John. But here, Demetrius, here's someone to be around. Yeah, and, and the, the potential for someone like Diotrephes to go unchecked is there. It's a reality. And I think there's the reality that that could still happen in churches today because when someone loves that position of influence and power, they oftentimes get it. A- and if they are allowed to carry on in that role- That's why it can be so dangerous, and that's, I think you're right, that's why John then calls our attention to someone who is doing a, a good job in this. Someone who has a good testimony from all, and someone who, who loves the truth. A- a- and those are the people, they're not going to actively desire and seek positions of power and importance. You need to lift them up, because they're the kinds of people who would be good for the Lord's body. They're the kinds of people who can lead a- and can do exactly what he was talking about earlier. They can see, hey, these are good men seeking to do good work in the kingdom. Let's support them and encourage them. You need to lift these people up into places of power, places of influence for good, a- and remove Diotrephes from a position like that because of the danger that he presents to the body. And so I get, I, at the end of the day, what John is really talking about here is the preservation and the importance of the body of Christ, and how we have to work with the individuals within it to make sure that that body is protected. Yeah, in one way, it, it is, it, it is again walking in truth and love. Yeah. That's what Second and Third John both are. Really First John as well, it's just much longer. But it is walking in truth and love, and how those things really go together. I wanted to kinda end the, our, our two weeks now in Second and Third John, to go all the way back to First John. And these are not necessarily part one, part two, part three letters, and I don't, certainly want, don't want to indicate that. But given the fact that as we've talked about, likely written by the same person, I think it's interesting that John concludes First John, in First John 5:13, m- by giving us the reason for why he wrote that epistle. And I think the reason that he gives us for why he wrote First John is a reason that carries over in different ways in Second and Third John. And so I wanted to leave us with these words as we conclude our study of Third John. This is in First John 5:13. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast. Whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk again next week.