Mark Weisner: Evening.
Mark Weisner: Hi, Jenny.
Mark Weisner: I've been asked to uh give an overview, as uh Pastor Doug said, of three John.
Mark Weisner: Uh but before I do, uh let's go in prayer just one more time.
Mark Weisner: Oh Father, what a what a joy you've provided for us.
Mark Weisner: We gather here tonight with our fellow believers uh to study and learn your word, and what a precious gift that is.
Mark Weisner: Thank you, Father.
Mark Weisner: And may all who are here tonight hear your voice and not mine.
Mark Weisner: And may you give us a glimpse of your glory that will buoy our souls right through this week, and and may your word take root in us, and and may we be as you have purposed us to be, and may we glorify you.
Mark Weisner: Amen.
Mark Weisner: Well, 3 John.
Mark Weisner: Uh I when I looked at it, I a question popped into my head.
Mark Weisner: And the question that popped into my head is why is Third John in the Bible?
Mark Weisner: And I wasn't being disrespectful, but I mean, it's just a short little book.
Mark Weisner: In fact, it's the shortest book in the Bible.
Mark Weisner: It's one chapter, it's barely half a page, it's just 219 Greek words.
Mark Weisner: I mean, what could be established in such a short little letter that would require it to be in the Bible?
Mark Weisner: Why is it here?
Mark Weisner: There's no big theological treaties, it's not written to a church for instruction or warning.
Mark Weisner: It's written to one guy, Gaius.
Mark Weisner: It's a personal letter.
Mark Weisner: Not even a letter, it's really more like a quick note.
Mark Weisner: So, so why is three John in the Bible?
Mark Weisner: Well, I have three reasons why it's in the Bible.
Mark Weisner: The first one is that it's written by the apostle John, and that's a pretty big deal.
Mark Weisner: John wasn't an elite apostle, you could say.
Mark Weisner: He was part of Jesus's inner circle.
Mark Weisner: Peter, James, and thank you.
Mark Weisner: John was with Peter and James.
Mark Weisner: They were the only ones Jesus allowed at his transfiguration to see that.
Mark Weisner: They were the only ones that Jesus asked to go deeper into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with him.
Mark Weisner: John was the apostle who rested on Jesus' chest during the Last Supper.
Mark Weisner: And Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John at the cross.
Mark Weisner: So when someone this close to Jesus writes something, it's worth considering.
Mark Weisner: The early church fathers in charge of the canon of the Bible, putting the Bible together, selecting the books, they placed very strong emphasis on writings that could be traced directly to the apostles.
Mark Weisner: So that's one reason.
Mark Weisner: The second reason was it was included in the canon of the Bible because it was read and used in the early church as scripture as far back as the second century.
Mark Weisner: So this little letter was revered, it was passed around from church to church, and it was read as scripture.
Mark Weisner: And finally, the third reason it's in the Bible is because it contains themes consistent with Christianity teaching.
Mark Weisner: It deals with hospitality and support for traveling missionaries.
Mark Weisner: Uh, there's warning against pride and divisiveness, and it encourages faithfulness and love within the church.
Mark Weisner: Therefore, we should be diligent to consider it as well.
Mark Weisner: So, what do you say?
Mark Weisner: We open up our Bibles.
Mark Weisner: If you got the Pew Bible, it's on 1087.
Mark Weisner: And let's read this uh letter.
Mark Weisner: The elder, my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth, dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.
Mark Weisner: For I was very glad when fellow believers came and testified to your fidelity to the truth, how you are walking in the truth.
Mark Weisner: I have no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.
Mark Weisner: They have testified to your love before the church.
Mark Weisner: You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, since they set out, since they sent set out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from pagans.
Mark Weisner: Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: I wrote something to the church, but Diatrophes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.
Mark Weisner: This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words, and he is not satisfied with that.
Mark Weisner: He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.
Mark Weisner: Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.
Mark Weisner: The one who does good is of God, the one who does evil has not seen God.
Mark Weisner: Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, even the truth itself, and we also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Mark Weisner: I have many things to write you, but I don't want to write to you with pen and ink.
Mark Weisner: I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Mark Weisner: Peace to you.
Mark Weisner: The friends send your send you greetings.
Mark Weisner: Greet the friends by name.
Mark Weisner: So, a short little letter, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope I don't run over in time.
Mark Weisner: So here we go.
Mark Weisner: Before jumping into the text, though, I'd like to establish something before we do that.
Mark Weisner: Uh, I'd like to get a little bit of the context of the letter.
Mark Weisner: Um, the major theme here in John, as you can kind of tell, is hospitality.
Mark Weisner: And I want us to look at why that was such a big thing.
Mark Weisner: Why was John so concerned about hospitality?
Mark Weisner: What was happening in the first century that made hospitality so critical?
Mark Weisner: Well, hospitality was the necessary ingredient that propelled the proclamation of the gospel.
Mark Weisner: How did it do that?
Mark Weisner: How did hospitality propel the spread of the gospel?
Mark Weisner: Very much as you might imagine.
Mark Weisner: First thing is, keep in mind that in the mid to late first century, a large populace of the Roman Empire had not even heard of Christianity yet.
Mark Weisner: And there was large swaths of territory that were oblivious to Christianity.
Mark Weisner: Those areas needed to be evangelized, and there was this sense of urgency to proclaiming the Christian message because there was a widespread belief that Christ's return was imminent.
Mark Weisner: So they wanted to get out there before Christ came back, and people didn't get the chance to hear this gospel.
Mark Weisner: So, secondly, there were Christian, the Christian communities that did exist at that time, they were in their very early formative stages.
Mark Weisner: Christian doctrine was actually kind of being formed as they went along here.
Mark Weisner: And it was still a few centuries away from established creeds that laid out all the key tenets of Christianity.
Mark Weisner: Therefore, as you can imagine, a church was susceptible to incorrect or false teaching.
Mark Weisner: Who was propagating the truth, who was not?
Mark Weisner: So there weren't established formal doctrinal statements and other apostolic letters.
Mark Weisner: So two things that propagated the gospel.
Mark Weisner: One were missionaries, or they call them sometimes itinerant preachers.
Mark Weisner: They were sent out to areas where the gospel hadn't been heard.
Mark Weisner: And secondly, there were these emissaries or representatives who were under apostolic authority.
Mark Weisner: They were sent out to the early developing churches to establish key doctrine.
Mark Weisner: Sometimes we don't think about those people as much.
Mark Weisner: We think about, you know, the itinerant preachers going out and preaching.
Mark Weisner: Um, and sometimes they were one and the same preachers and these emissaries that were um bringing this doctrine to some of these early churches.
Mark Weisner: There is a great example of uh sending emissaries to establish correct doctrine in the book of Acts, chapter 15.
Mark Weisner: If you want to turn in your in your Bible, if you have it there, to Acts chapter 15.
Mark Weisner: And we're going to start in verse 23.
Mark Weisner: But as you're getting there, I want to just give you, again, kind of the background of what was going on.
Mark Weisner: This is an account of the first church council.
Mark Weisner: And from that council, the first letter, the first official document stating a doctrine.
Mark Weisner: It was a set of beliefs.
Mark Weisner: And what's happening in Acts 15 is that there is a big disagreement going on in the church in Antioch.
Mark Weisner: What happened was Judaizers from Jerusalem came to Antioch and they were teaching that unless you're circumcised, you cannot be saved.
Mark Weisner: Well, as you can imagine, Paul and Barnabas had exception with that.
Mark Weisner: And they got into a big argument about this.
Mark Weisner: So the church peoples decided, hey, let's send Paul and Barnabas and some of the others to the elders and the apostles in Jerusalem, and let's get a decision on this disagreement.
Mark Weisner: After a big discussion in Jerusalem, James, the head of the church in Jerusalem, he decides to release a letter, a decree, a church statement on doctrine that is to be carried to the other churches by these emissaries to standardize the doctrine.
Mark Weisner: So look at verse 23 with me.
Mark Weisner: They wrote, From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings.
Mark Weisner: Since we have heard that some of them without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts, we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark Weisner: Therefore, we have sent Judas and Silas who will personally report the same things by word of mouth, for it was the Holy Spirit's decision and ours not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements, that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.
Mark Weisner: You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things.
Mark Weisner: Farewell.
Mark Weisner: So, Paul, Barnabas, Judas, and Silas, just to name a few, they would travel around with this letter, and they would read it to the churches to establish doctrine.
Mark Weisner: And that's exactly what happened.
Mark Weisner: Just turn over, since you're in Acts 15, if you are, just turn over to chapter 16, and you'll see this happening.
Mark Weisner: Look at verse 4.
Mark Weisner: As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.
Mark Weisner: As they traveled through the towns.
Mark Weisner: So now, back to three, John.
Mark Weisner: So you got these emissaries out there, you've got these evangelists out there spreading the gospel.
Mark Weisner: These preachers and teachers, they had to travel.
Mark Weisner: And having to travel, they had to make arrangements, and they needed to find homes where believers would welcome them.
Mark Weisner: And they depended upon Christian friends, Christian acquaintances, and sometimes Christians they hadn't met, strangers.
Mark Weisner: And they needed to be provided with lodging, food, and possibly some financial support.
Mark Weisner: And without hospitable believers, the gospel would have stalled in its spread.
Mark Weisner: And early churches without traveling emissaries might have struggled more than they did with incorrect doctrine and false teachers.
Mark Weisner: These travelers couldn't rely on staying at inns.
Mark Weisner: You know, it was difficult to make like reservations like we do today.
Mark Weisner: You know, I'm coming to this town, you know, can you slow, you know, they got there and they had to search for a room, kind of like, you know, Joseph and Mary did.
Mark Weisner: They they they couldn't uh make arrangements always ahead of time.
Mark Weisner: And inns would drain their funding anyway if they would have to always stay at an inn.
Mark Weisner: And most inns were really glorified brothels, dangerous places with criminals and disease.
Mark Weisner: So it was critical that people would make themselves, their homes, their resources available to these itinerant preachers.
Mark Weisner: You know who else was an itinerant preacher?
Mark Weisner: Jesus was an itinerant preacher, right?
Mark Weisner: He was not a permanent resident of Jerusalem, but he needed a place to stay when he came to Jerusalem for those feasts.
Mark Weisner: And the Bible records that Jesus stayed in a town less than two miles from Jerusalem in Bethany at Martha, Mary, and Lazarus's house.
Mark Weisner: This was his home away from home, his home away from Capernaum.
Mark Weisner: Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are the early examples of this kind of hospitality.
Mark Weisner: They opened their homes to Jesus.
Mark Weisner: Luke 10, 38 writes, While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
Mark Weisner: How about Lydia being hospitable to Paul in Acts 16, 15?
Mark Weisner: It says, After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house, and she persuaded us.
Mark Weisner: How about Peter when he stayed with Simon the Tanner in Joppa?
Mark Weisner: How about Jason welcoming Paul and his crew when they came to Thessalonica?
Mark Weisner: Acts 16, 6, it says, When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them.
Mark Weisner: Many times this act of kindness was not only extended to acquaintances, but to strangers.
Mark Weisner: And these strangers had to be vouched for by a reliable source, because it was dangerous just to take in a stranger with no credentials.
Mark Weisner: And that's what John is doing for Demetrius in 3 John and verse 12.
Mark Weisner: He is vouching for Demetrius.
Mark Weisner: Verse 12 reads, Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, even the truth itself, and we also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Mark Weisner: So hospitality was extended to preachers and teachers by believers.
Mark Weisner: It was essential for the proclamation and the achievement of the gospel in the early church.
Mark Weisner: And that's why hospitality in the Bible is given as a commandment.
Mark Weisner: It's not just referred to as a spiritual gift someone receives.
Mark Weisner: Believers from a spirit-led heart would make their resources available to missionaries and emissaries of Christianity.
Mark Weisner: So Christians were commanded to be hospitable.
Mark Weisner: And you find this type of encouragement throughout the New Testament.
Mark Weisner: In Romans 12, starting in verse 9, Paul begins a list of Christian ethics, how a Christian is to conduct himself.
Mark Weisner: And number 12 on that list comes in verse 13.
Mark Weisner: Share with the saints in their needs, pursue hospitality.
Mark Weisner: Pursue means to go after, chase, always be looking for opportunity to be hospitable.
Mark Weisner: 1 Timothy 3, verse 2.
Mark Weisner: Paul is telling Timothy the qualification for elders.
Mark Weisner: He says, An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.
Mark Weisner: 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 7 through 9.
Mark Weisner: And this is interesting.
Mark Weisner: Peter here is warning that the end is near, that the end of the world is coming.
Mark Weisner: And he's telling him how Christians should be acting when the Lord appears.
Mark Weisner: And one of the things he stresses is for us to be found by Christ being hospitable.
Mark Weisner: The end of all things is near.
Mark Weisner: Therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer.
Mark Weisner: Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Mark Weisner: Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
Mark Weisner: And then Hebrews.
Mark Weisner: Hebrews chapter 13, verses 1 and 2.
Mark Weisner: Let brotherly love continue.
Mark Weisner: Don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this, some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.
Mark Weisner: Yet the early church leaders warned that you shouldn't be hospitable to everybody.
Mark Weisner: We learned this in 2 John.
Mark Weisner: You have to be very careful who you welcome.
Mark Weisner: Remember?
Mark Weisner: 2 John verses 10 and 11.
Mark Weisner: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home and do not greet him, for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.
Mark Weisner: So those who went beyond the teachings of Christ, or those who added to the teachings of Christ, do not greet them, because they are teaching false doctrine.
Mark Weisner: And if you're giving support to them, you are aiding and abetting false teaching.
Mark Weisner: So that's the context I wanted us to look at for 3 John.
Mark Weisner: Hospitality.
Mark Weisner: So now let's get into the text.
Mark Weisner: Verse 1.
Mark Weisner: So our CSB and the NIV translation says in verse 1, the elder to my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
Mark Weisner: And the ESV and the NASB translation says, Gaius, the beloved, whom I love in truth.
Mark Weisner: I kind of prefer the NASB because it says Gaius, the beloved, instead of Gaius, my dear friend.
Mark Weisner: It's like John has given him a title, the beloved.
Mark Weisner: It indicates to me, anyway, that the church loved him, the church community.
Mark Weisner: He was the beloved Gaius.
Mark Weisner: Secondly, I also like the NASB translation at the end of that first verse, whom I love in truth rather than whom I love in the truth.
Mark Weisner: I know it's a small difference, and it's ostensibly it means the same thing, but I don't know, Gaius, the beloved whom I love in truth, just sounds more noble, more exceptional.
Mark Weisner: And it seems that that word truth is pretty important in this short one-chapter letter.
Mark Weisner: John uses it seven times.
Mark Weisner: Verse 1, whom I love in truth.
Mark Weisner: Verse 3, fidelity to the truth, and walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: Verse 4, again, walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: Verse 8, co-walkers, co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: Verse 12, the truth itself speaks well of Demetrius, and our testimony is true.
Mark Weisner: So what does truth mean here in John's letters?
Mark Weisner: What is he talking about?
Mark Weisner: What is the definition of truth in this context?
Mark Weisner: Well, truth here encompasses more than just being true or not being false.
Mark Weisner: This word truth encompasses a message, a message that produces a way of thinking, but not just a way of thinking.
Mark Weisner: Here, truth expresses an announcement of what God has done, which then calls for a response.
Mark Weisner: So truth is really synonymous with the gospel.
Mark Weisner: I think if you look at Colossians chapter 1, I think it provides a pretty good understanding of the truth/slash gospel that we believe.
Mark Weisner: So in verses 4 and 5 of Colossians 1, it introduces this truth.
Mark Weisner: It says, For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love you have for all the saints, because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.
Mark Weisner: You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel.
Mark Weisner: So all those things listed there at the beginning, you have heard of your faith in Christ, you have the love you have for all the saints, the hope reserved for you in heaven.
Mark Weisner: That's the truth.
Mark Weisner: That's what we believe in.
Mark Weisner: And I think that's what John is talking about when he talks about the truth.
Mark Weisner: And then in verses 12 and 14 of that same chapter, it describes what that truth looks like: giving thanks to the Father, number one, who has enabled you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light.
Mark Weisner: Number two, he's rescued us from the domain of darkness, and he's transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
Mark Weisner: And number three, in him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Mark Weisner: So when John says in verse one, Gaius, the beloved, whom I love in truth, what is he conveying?
Mark Weisner: John's love for Gaius is based on a connection through a mutual understanding of who God is and what he has done.
Mark Weisner: That truth about God, which is shared by John and Gaius, is what creates that bond.
Mark Weisner: It is that truth which unites them and us.
Mark Weisner: That is to say, all believers are linked together by a common knowledge of and belief in the truth.
Mark Weisner: The true view of God, the true view of Christ, the true view of our salvation, and the means of that salvation.
Mark Weisner: True believers are linked by a common knowledge and belief in the actual gospel.
Mark Weisner: I'm sure you extra, I bet you ladies experience that this weekend.
Mark Weisner: You experience this from time to time when you meet a believer.
Mark Weisner: You go into another environment, you maybe go to another city, another gathering, you get together with other believers in Christ, and there's this immediate, profound affection.
Mark Weisner: There's like a longing, there's a knitting together of our hearts around the truth.
Mark Weisner: Many of you here, I think, each September go to a conference on the Jersey Shore, right?
Mark Weisner: In Ocean City, right?
Mark Weisner: And you go to listen to great preaching and you go sing great hymns and you walk along the beach at sunrise.
Mark Weisner: But isn't it a glorious feeling to spend uninterrupted time with other believers?
Mark Weisner: United in a common knowledge of the great things our Savior has done.
Mark Weisner: What an act of benevolence by our God who's granted that to us.
Mark Weisner: He's given you a little taste of heaven, giving you a little glimpse of what he's prepared for those who love him.
Mark Weisner: Well, it was that truth that bound John to Gaius.
Mark Weisner: John then is motivated to offer up a beautiful prayer for Gaius in verse 2.
Mark Weisner: Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health.
Mark Weisner: And then he makes a comparison.
Mark Weisner: Just as your whole life is going well, the NIV translated this way, even as your soul is going along well, and ESV is similar, even as it goes well with your soul.
Mark Weisner: And the NASB says, just as your soul prospers, that's a great prayer.
Mark Weisner: That's a great sentiment, isn't it?
Mark Weisner: Gayus, I pray that your physical health would be as good as your spiritual life.
Mark Weisner: How often do we pray for somebody to get healed?
Mark Weisner: Or how often do we pray for someone to get relief from some problem?
Mark Weisner: Health, loneliness, heartache, provisions they need.
Mark Weisner: I mean, and we should, and that's and that's what we do, and those prayers do get answered.
Mark Weisner: But how often do we pray that our friend's spiritual health would be well?
Mark Weisner: I mean, I've had people ask me, you know, Mark, could you pray for my nephew?
Mark Weisner: His ankle, you know, he's twisted it and it's hurt and it's no, you know, he needs, he needs healing.
Mark Weisner: And I say, well, sure, of course, we'll we'll pray for him.
Mark Weisner: But I also want to say, well, how is he spiritually?
Mark Weisner: Because I don't want him, God forbid, he ends up in hell and he goes, yeah, Mark prayed for my ankle, but hey, nobody prayed for my spiritual health.
Mark Weisner: So coming out of that bond, which is grounded in truth, is John's prayer that Gaius be blessed in health and prosperity as much as he's blessed in spiritual life.
Mark Weisner: Now, how did John know that Gaius' spiritual life was prospering?
Mark Weisner: Well, verse 3 says that the brethren, believers, they came and said that Gael was faithful.
Mark Weisner: Gaius was faithful to the truth, he showed fidelity to the truth, that he was acting in accordance with the truth, that he was walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: And verse 4 says that John is most joyful to hear that Gaius is walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: What is this walking in truth?
Mark Weisner: What does that mean?
Mark Weisner: And how can we do this?
Mark Weisner: How do we walk in truth?
Mark Weisner: Well, let's look to the Bible to see if it gives us a picture of what it means to walk in truth.
Mark Weisner: And there's some in the Old Testament, particularly 1st and 2 Kings.
Mark Weisner: So let me just read you a couple, and I think it clearly tells us what it means to be walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: So 1 Kings chapter 2, verse 4 says this.
Mark Weisner: And so that the Lord will fulfill his promise that he made to me, if your sons take care to walk faithfully before me with all their heart and all their soul.
Mark Weisner: Staying in 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 6 says, And Solomon replied, You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity.
Mark Weisner: And then 2 Kings chapter 20.
Mark Weisner: This is Hezekiah.
Mark Weisner: This is when he was mortally ill and he was praying to be saved from dying.
Mark Weisner: He says, Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what pleases you.
Mark Weisner: That's walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: Now in Galatians chapter 2, we get the negative of walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: What is it like to not walk in truth?
Mark Weisner: That helps also define what it means to walk in truth.
Mark Weisner: And that says, But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Mark Weisner: So John is never more happy, more joyful than when he hears that his children are walking in truth.
Mark Weisner: What else did the brethren report about Gaius?
Mark Weisner: Besides he's being faithful and he's walking in truth, he's hospitable to the brothers and sisters, not just his service to the brothers and sisters he's familiar with, but it says, especially when they are strangers.
Mark Weisner: Verse 5, dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.
Mark Weisner: Gaius had a special place in his heart to serve the brothers and sisters that were strangers.
Mark Weisner: He had a special compassion for them.
Mark Weisner: And John was told by these congregates in verse 5 that Gaius loves those in the church, especially when they are strangers.
Mark Weisner: Man, that's so convicting to me.
Mark Weisner: I thought about that.
Mark Weisner: The Spirit had me examine my hospitality.
Mark Weisner: And I thought about it.
Mark Weisner: So Gaius loved those missionaries or teachers that he hadn't met.
Mark Weisner: Even when they would show up to wreck his weekend.
Mark Weisner: Right?
Mark Weisner: You didn't know when they were coming in the first century.
Mark Weisner: They could just show up at any time.
Mark Weisner: But he would open up his own home to them, he would give them food, he would give them supplies, he'd give them a place to rest.
Mark Weisner: And today, when we talk about hospitality, I think we think of about a different type of hospitality.
Mark Weisner: Today, when we talk about hospitality, it's like, well, let's invite some friends to our home.
Mark Weisner: Let's clean up the place, shine up the china, have some good food, make a nice presentation of the food, so that when we usher them out of the house before bedtime, we'll hope that they'll reflect and say, wow, that was a nice spread.
Mark Weisner: They really sacrificed a lot for us and we're hospitable.
Mark Weisner: You know, that's kind of our definition of hospitable these days.
Mark Weisner: But I think the meaning of hospital, hosp hospitality in the first century was quite different.
Mark Weisner: And this far too often is not me.
Mark Weisner: I have trouble being hospitable to the people that I know, let alone strangers.
Mark Weisner: And I don't want to be inconvenienced.
Mark Weisner: I just want to be left alone on the weekend, or most other days of the week.
Mark Weisner: But not gayest.
Mark Weisner: No, no.
Mark Weisner: He loved helping the missionaries that were out trying to proclaim the gospel, and he especially liked it when they were strangers.
Mark Weisner: God helped me to be less selfish and more hospitable, like they were in the first century.
Mark Weisner: Well, the second half of verse 6, John encourages Gaius to continue to serve them.
Mark Weisner: He even says to that send them on their journey in a man in a manner worthy of God.
Mark Weisner: Send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
Mark Weisner: Because he says, provide for them, help them, comfort them, and support them as God would.
Mark Weisner: Because it says they are not accepting anything from pagans.
Mark Weisner: That's in verse 7.
Mark Weisner: These missionaries are dependent on the hospitality of believers, they're not looking for support from non-believers.
Mark Weisner: Uh, you know what, this reminds me of the instructions Christ gave the apostles when he sent them out in Mark chapter six.
Mark Weisner: Verse 7, he said, He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
Mark Weisner: He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff, no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on an extra shirt.
Mark Weisner: He said to them, Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.
Mark Weisner: If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.
Mark Weisner: So John says to Gaius, those strangers that you're providing for, when you send them out, send them out in a way that is worthy of God.
Mark Weisner: That's what we're supposed to do.
Mark Weisner: That's the hospitality we are to show to those who are evangelizing, to those who might be strangers and are out trying to advance the proclamation of the gospel.
Mark Weisner: We're to send them out worthy of God to provide for them in that way.
Mark Weisner: We are to provide for them as if God were visiting us.
Mark Weisner: That's the way I took it.
Mark Weisner: I'm reminded of the very first account of hospitality in the Bible.
Mark Weisner: The very first time hospitality is presented in the Bible.
Mark Weisner: Of course, we need to go to Genesis.
Mark Weisner: So turn with me to Genesis.
Mark Weisner: Take a look at this very familiar story.
Mark Weisner: The very first book of the Bible.
Mark Weisner: It's a wonderful example of how we are to be hospitable.
Mark Weisner: It starts in verse one.
Mark Weisner: Genesis, I'm sorry, 15.
Mark Weisner: No, eighteen.
Mark Weisner: Sorry.
Mark Weisner: Can I get an amen when you're there?
Mark Weisner: Verse one.
Mark Weisner: The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.
Mark Weisner: Verse 2, he looked up, and he saw three men standing near him.
Mark Weisner: When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them.
Mark Weisner: He didn't wait for them to come to him.
Mark Weisner: He ran to them.
Mark Weisner: He bowed to the ground, which is showing respect, and humbled himself.
Mark Weisner: Verse three says, And said, My Lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant.
Mark Weisner: He implored them so that he would he could serve them.
Mark Weisner: Verse four Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
Mark Weisner: Verse five, I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves.
Mark Weisner: This is why you have passed your servant today this way.
Mark Weisner: The purpose of this encounter for Abraham was so that he could serve these people.
Mark Weisner: This is why you have passed your servant's way.
Mark Weisner: It goes on and says later, you can continue on.
Mark Weisner: Yes, they replied, Do as you have said.
Mark Weisner: Verse 6.
Mark Weisner: So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, Quick, need three measures of the flour and make bread.
Mark Weisner: Abraham wasn't reluctant to serve, but was quick to serve.
Mark Weisner: Verse 7.
Mark Weisner: Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender choice calf.
Mark Weisner: Abraham didn't serve leftovers, right?
Mark Weisner: He served the best.
Mark Weisner: He gave it to a young man who hurried to prepare it.
Mark Weisner: Do you hear the verbs?
Mark Weisner: He ran to meet them.
Mark Weisner: He hurried into the tent.
Mark Weisner: Abraham ran to the man.
Mark Weisner: The young men hurried to prepare it.
Mark Weisner: There was no reluctant, no reluctancy to be hospitable.
Mark Weisner: Verse 8.
Mark Weisner: Then Abraham took curds and milk as well as the calf that he had prepared and set them before the men.
Mark Weisner: He served them as they ate under the tree.
Mark Weisner: What a picture of hospitality.
Mark Weisner: Abraham stood at the ready to serve as the men ate.
Mark Weisner: A beautiful picture of hospitality.
Mark Weisner: One more thing.
Mark Weisner: Look down to verse 16 of this same chapter.
Mark Weisner: At the end of the meal.
Mark Weisner: The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
Mark Weisner: That kind of thing happened a lot in ancient Near East.
Mark Weisner: The goodbyes were long and they were heartfilled.
Mark Weisner: This was an important act of hospitality.
Mark Weisner: They would not only walk until you, you know, were out of the edges of town, but sometimes they would walk a mile or two with them to see them off.
Mark Weisner: Today we might linger at the door front, you know, saying our farewells, or if we're really fond of them, maybe we'll step out onto the porch and and send them off.
Mark Weisner: That's how we are to be hospitable.
Mark Weisner: Maybe, maybe you you offer to drive them to the train station or you pick them up at the airport, something.
Mark Weisner: Anyway, that's what I thought about when he says send them off in a manner that's worthy of God.
Mark Weisner: So we're to do this not only because it's an act of kindness, but we're to do it because it is in a it is to assist in the advancement of the gospel.
Mark Weisner: Look at verse 8 now, back in 3 John.
Mark Weisner: So we're to do this not just for the kindness, but to assist in the advancement of the gospel.
Mark Weisner: Verse 8 says, Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: That's the main reason, so that we can be co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: You know, we got to get in the game.
Mark Weisner: We just can't sit back, come to church on Sunday, sit under great preaching, sing some hymns, slap a few backs after service, go home, watch the football game, and I'll see you next week.
Mark Weisner: We got to give back.
Mark Weisner: We are called to be co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: Not just co-partakers of the truth, but co-workers with the truth.
Mark Weisner: Because we are the body of Christ here on earth.
Mark Weisner: We are to be his instruments in the advancement of the Great Commission.
Mark Weisner: He won't say at the end of our life, Well done, my good and faithful partaker.
Mark Weisner: He'll say, Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Mark Weisner: So we got to get in the game even when it's uncomfortable.
Mark Weisner: I do like the King James version of verse 8.
Mark Weisner: We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.
Mark Weisner: That's the idea.
Mark Weisner: We do this to be fellow helpers to the truth.
Mark Weisner: And that word receive there in the King's in the King James Version and the word support in the CSB version is from the Greek word upolumbano.
Mark Weisner: It means to take up and carry away.
Mark Weisner: It literally means physically lifting up and taking up.
Mark Weisner: And I think that's the picture.
Mark Weisner: Getting under these people, as it were, lifting them up, carrying them along, taking the weight off of them.
Mark Weisner: So Gaius, who is beloved, John's dear friend, and is in good spiritual health, has been attested to by believers that he's faithful to the truth, that he is walking in the truth, that he is faithfully serving the brethren, advancing the gospel by his hospitality, especially to strangers.
Mark Weisner: That's who we are to imitate.
Mark Weisner: Gaius.
Mark Weisner: The next section of the letter is who we are not to imitate.
Mark Weisner: Diatrophes.
Mark Weisner: This guy is a complete contrast to Gaius.
Mark Weisner: In verses 9 and 10, John calls him out by name.
Mark Weisner: Diatrophes, he says, loves to have the first place among them, not a humble guy.
Mark Weisner: Wants to be the head guy, doesn't want anyone else to mature and grow beyond himself.
Mark Weisner: No wonder he refuses John's authority.
Mark Weisner: Look at verse 9.
Mark Weisner: I wrote something to the church, but Diotrophes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.
Mark Weisner: In verse 10, John says, Diatrophes is slandering us with malicious words.
Mark Weisner: Diatrophes slanders those in authority with malicious words, intending to do harm.
Mark Weisner: He's being spiteful.
Mark Weisner: He's saying mean and harmful things about those in authority.
Mark Weisner: He's saying mean and harmful things about John.
Mark Weisner: He's the one in authority to the Apostle John, who is one of the closest to Jesus.
Mark Weisner: Wow, that's pretty bold.
Mark Weisner: Bold defiance.
Mark Weisner: And you know the Bible is very clear on how we are to honor those in authority, especially those over the sheep of the church.
Mark Weisner: And this is a good reminder for us how we should honor our pastors and our church elders.
Mark Weisner: Look at Hebrews 13, chapter 13, and verse 17.
Mark Weisner: It says, Obey your teachers and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.
Mark Weisner: Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Mark Weisner: 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 12 and 13.
Mark Weisner: We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love, because of their work.
Mark Weisner: Be at peace among yourselves.
Mark Weisner: 1 Timothy 5, verse 17.
Mark Weisner: The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
Mark Weisner: Now, if that wasn't bad enough, that Diotrophes was not submitting to authority, he was talking maliciously about them, he also didn't stop there.
Mark Weisner: He doesn't welcome believers.
Mark Weisner: He's rude to visiting believers.
Mark Weisner: He's not hospitable, but unpleasant to them.
Mark Weisner: And John goes on to tell us about Diotrophes and says, not only is he unwelcoming to the believers, he stops and expels those from the church who want to be welcoming to them.
Mark Weisner: What a spiteful man! Doesn't want anyone to get credit for being hospitable.
Mark Weisner: So he tries to eliminate them from the church.
Mark Weisner: Then the first part of verse 11 is for us.
Mark Weisner: Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.
Mark Weisner: The one who does good is of God, the one who does evil has not seen God.
Mark Weisner: That's an interesting way that John says that.
Mark Weisner: The one who does evil has not seen God.
Mark Weisner: He doesn't say the one who does evil is not of God.
Mark Weisner: No, he says he has not seen God.
Mark Weisner: But we know that no one has ever seen God.
Mark Weisner: So what is John talking about when he says that the one who does evil has not seen God?
Mark Weisner: Well, I think seeing God here is not about physical sight, it's about spiritual fellowship through a right knowledge of God.
Mark Weisner: John explains this analogy of seeing and not seeing God in 1 John chapter 4, verses 12 and 13.
Mark Weisner: And he says this no one has ever seen God.
Mark Weisner: If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.
Mark Weisner: This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us.
Mark Weisner: He has given us of his spirit.
Mark Weisner: So to see God then is to live in alignment with his character.
Mark Weisner: Living in alignment with his character is not accomplished because we set our minds out to do it.
Mark Weisner: It is because he has given us his spirit, which then enables us to live like we've seen God.
Mark Weisner: To not see God is to be blind to his nature.
Mark Weisner: One's conduct will reveal there's this absence of divine fellowship.
Mark Weisner: In John chapter 5, verses 37 and 38, Jesus says this the Father who sent me has himself testified about me.
Mark Weisner: You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven't seen his form.
Mark Weisner: Why?
Mark Weisner: Verse 38.
Mark Weisner: You don't have his word residing in you because you don't believe the one he sent.
Mark Weisner: This concept or analogy about seeing God or not seeing God is replete throughout the whole Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Mark Weisner: So when John says the truth in verse 12, he says, everyone speaks well of Demetrius, even the truth itself.
Mark Weisner: It's another interesting statement.
Mark Weisner: How does the truth speak well of Demetrius?
Mark Weisner: What is John saying?
Mark Weisner: Demetrius has a good reputation, not only among the people, but his life is consistent with the truth of the gospel.
Mark Weisner: So when John says the truth itself speaks well of him, he's using what is called a personification, picturing the truth as if it could testify, like if truth was a person.
Mark Weisner: In essence, Demetrius, Demetrius's life is so aligned with the truth of the gospel that the truth itself, if it could, would bear witness to his character.
Mark Weisner: It's like saying his life is a living testimony of what the truth produces in a person.
Mark Weisner: The closing, in verses 13 to 15.
Mark Weisner: Well, in these verses we see again what a personal, warm letter this is from John to his dear friend Gaius.
Mark Weisner: John says, I have so much more to say to you.
Mark Weisner: I don't want to write everything that's on my heart in this letter in verse 13.
Mark Weisner: I want to see you face to face.
Mark Weisner: I'd like for us to sit down and talk.
Mark Weisner: I want to see your face in response to all that I have to say to you.
Mark Weisner: Because I can't anticipate it when I write a letter.
Mark Weisner: I can't anticipate how my words might be impacting you.
Mark Weisner: I can't sense it.
Mark Weisner: I want to see you gaze, and I have a long, uninterrupted interrupted visit with you.
Mark Weisner: Verse 15, John keeps it personal.
Mark Weisner: All your friends send you greetings and say hi to all my friends there.
Mark Weisner: So it's a short letter.
Mark Weisner: But it packs a powerful punch.
Mark Weisner: I really can't believe so much is there.
Mark Weisner: I mean, I know now how Jesus fed the 5,000 with just a little.
Mark Weisner: Look at how much we get out of this little letter, half a page.
Mark Weisner: What a great example of how we should think about serving in the church.
Mark Weisner: How we should think about other believers we haven't met, to be as hospitable as Gaius, to go outside of ourselves, outside of our comfort zone to serve, so that we might be co-helpers of the truth.
Mark Weisner: Listen, it's great to relish in the truth.
Mark Weisner: It's great to rest and contemplate our salvation, but we are the body of Christ on earth to serve as our Lord served.
Mark Weisner: We kind of got to get down there and wash some dirty feet.
Mark Weisner: Got to get in the game.
Mark Weisner: Even if it's uncomfortable, especially when it's uncomfortable.
Mark Weisner: And let's not forget those outside of Christ, those who might be self-serving, always wanting to be first, malicious gossips, unwelcoming, trying to hinder those who want to do good.
Mark Weisner: Remember, they haven't seen God yet.
Mark Weisner: Show them God.
Mark Weisner: Let them see Christ in you as you support those who proclaim the gospel.
Mark Weisner: This is our vital partnership in God's work.
Mark Weisner: Let's pray.
Mark Weisner: Father, I I see more clearly now how your son was able to feed those 5,000 with just five barley loaves and two fish.
Mark Weisner: This short little letter has so much to feed on and to preach.
Mark Weisner: And you are so generous, and your word is so amazing.
Mark Weisner: It's an endless well of spiritual water for our souls.
Mark Weisner: Father, help us to be more like Gaius, who was a believer that in his hospitality he reflected the glory of your son Jesus Christ, who committed the greatest act of service his entire life.
Mark Weisner: I did not come to be served, but to serve.
Mark Weisner: Help us to be willing servers.
Mark Weisner: Help us to be like Paul, bond slaves of Jesus Christ.
Mark Weisner: And we ask this in your son's name.
Mark Weisner: Amen.