There is something about brevity that makes a message all that more emphatic. I was pacing up and down a hallway outside a delivery room on April 16, 1976. I was trying to be calm and collected, but I acted more like a caged lion. Suddenly a big door swung open and a gowned nurse was holding this tiny human being. All she said was, “It’s a girl!” Brief, to the point, and life-changing--things have not been the same for me since that day.
3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. In the original Greek language it is less than two hundred words. Though its message is brief, it is life changing. 3 John is the only New Testament book that does not use the name of Christ, though He is referenced in verse 7. The main concern of the letter is John’s push for a Christian named Gaius to remain faithful to the truth. The letter introduced Gaius to a believer named Demetrius. John recommended Demetrius and requested that Gaius provide for his needs. John also mentioned another man named Diotrephes, who was not remaining faithful to the truth and was hindering the advancement of the Gospel. If Gaius were wavering in his faithfulness, 3 John called him back to the truth. John did this by giving Gaius a bad example in Diotrephes and a good example in Demetrius.
Like Gaius we are to love and live the truth. 3 John gives us instruction on how to respond in order to love and live the truth. First, we are to love and live the truth by supporting the truth.
I. LOVE AND LIVE THE TRUTH BY SUPPORTING THE TRUTH (3 JOHN 2-8)
A. Support the truth in your lifestyle (v. 1-4)
(1) The Elder:
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in truth. (2) Dear friend, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. (3) For I was very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth—how you are walking in the truth. (4) I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
John’s love for Gaius was genuine. Three of the first eleven words in the Greek language refer to love. When John said he loved Gaius “in the truth,” he did not mean sincerely. John was not saying, “Truly, I love you.” When we use the word “truth” we often are referring to facts. Truth is something that can be known and proven or disproved. But for John truth is something that goes beyond just the facts. It is something God reveals about Himself and mankind through the coming of Jesus Christ. Since it is something God has shown us because we would never have known on our own, it demands that we live according to that truth. John loves Gaius with God’s kind of loved as revealed through the life and death of Jesus Christ. That is real love!
It was typical in that day for letters to express good wishes for a friend. Christians turned this part of letters into a prayer for the recipient as we see in verse 2; his would be a good practice to adopt in our correspondence. John prayed for Gaius’ health. Maybe Gaius was in bad health or maybe it was something they prayed often for one another in a day when they did not have an aspirins or antibiotics. John may have prayed for Gaius to continue to experience robust health. Whatever Gaius’ actual health condition, John knew Gaius was spiritually healthy. Listen to this: John prayed that Gaius’ physical health would mirror his spiritual health! What would your physical health be if it reflected your spiritual health? The good news is you can be strong in your relationship with God despite your physical health.
The reason John knew Gaius’ lifestyle was devoted to living out the truth of God was because of several testimonies of others who had been with Gaius, as we see in verse 3. In that time it was not easy or convenient to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The churches were being attacked on all sides by false teachers and persecutors. But Gaius ha withstood all of that and remained faithful to live for Christ. This is what John had heard, and as a pastor, nothing gave John more joy than to see Christians being faithful to live the Christian life.
When I was a student at Oklahoma Baptist University one of the assignments for a religion class was to interview four pastors. I still remember details of those four interviews. I asked all four men, “What is the greatest joy of being a pastor?” My pastor, Bailey Smith, said it was seeing someone come to faith in Christ, grow as a Christian, and see them reproducing themselves in others coming to Christ. Two other pastors said basically the same thing and I can tell you they understated that joy. Sometimes that is the only reason a guy sticks with the calling to the pastorate. You look back at someone you helped bring to Christ and grow in Christ. You see how the Holy Spirit has written an entirely new history for them. Maybe, you think, you have not wasted your time and life. That is a great joy for a pastor, and it is a great joy for a parent or a Sunday School teacher to see their children or class members reflecting a devotion to Christ.
What about you? Is your lifestyle causing joy or concern in someone’s heart? When they pray for you do they pray for you to come back to living for Christ or do they give thanks to God you are living for Christ? Gaius caused joy in John because his lifestyle supported the truth.
We love and live the truth by supporting the truth in our lifestyle. We love and live the truth by supporting the truth in its advancement.
B. Support the truth in its advancement (vv. 5-8)
(5) Dear friend, you are showing your faith by whatever you do for the brothers, and this you are doing for strangers; (6) they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, (7) since they set out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from pagans. (8) Therefore, we ought to support such men, so that we can be co-workers with the truth.
John stated the purpose of his writing to Gaius, which was to show hospitality to Demetrius. Today you would call ahead or send an email to request a place to stay before you arrived. The Romans did have a postal system, but it was for government business, so people would write a letter of introduction to be given to the host that vouched for the visitor and requested provision and lodging for this person. Imagine answering a knock at the door to meet a perfect stranger with a note from a friend asking you to feed and provide a bed for this person for a week! This was something Gaius did regularly and graciously. Gaius did not do it just for the people he knew; he provided for those he did not know.
This was risky for Gaius. In that culture when you took a stranger under your roof, you transformed them from a stranger to a guest of the community. They received your social standing in the community thus placing your reputation at risk. The letter of introduction was to put the host’s mind at ease and to avoid people from abusing the church’s generosity.
We see in the first part of verse 6 that John says these acts of hospitality are expressions of love. Gaius was asked to do what he had a reputation for doing: extend generous hospitality. He was to do it in a manner of which God would approve. These traveling teachers had left the safety and comfort of their homes to serve the church for the sake of Christ. His hospitality was to reflect the gracious and generous character of the God he worshiped.
The reason for Christians to be generous is because they, not the pagans, are responsible to support the work of God. Over the years of my pastorate I have been approached by well-meaning members to do various things to raise money for the church. Bean suppers, cake walks, or selling everything from light bulbs to candy have been some of the proposals; we have not done those things. We do not need the lost world to finance God’s work. No church has a money problem; they have a giving problem. When a church is short of funds to do the ministry God has called it to perform, it is because of a lack of generosity of the members. Those other approaches remove the responsibility of the members to be good stewards. Your giving and service in this church is to reflect the grace and generosity God has shown toward you. When this happens the ministries of the church will be funded.
According to verse 8, when we support the workers and the work of God’s servants, the result is we share in the work of the Gospel. John said we “ought” to do this. It is a moral obligation to support the Lord’s work. We are scared of the words “ought” and “should.” The stability of a society, a family, or a church requires some binding obligations. The one qualification John gave for the church to support this person is they teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many good things to support that build a good community, but a Christian ought to support his church that is seeking to win a lost generation to Christ and help Christians grow in Christ. This kind of support reveals that the Christian is a fellow worker in the Gospel.
The movie--Schindler’s List--is about Oskar Schindler, a wealthy German industrialist who saved more than 1,200 Jews from extermination by paying off a German officer to not send them to Auschwitz, but to allow them to work in his factory. In essence he bought them and then protected and cared for them.
The movie ends when the war is over and the Jews are liberated. As Schindler prepares to leave those he had saved, he turns, looks at them, and weeps. He says, “I could have bought more. If I had only made more money, I could have bought more….”
“If I just hadn’t wasted so much,” (He loved the high life.) Then he looked at his expensive automobile he had enjoyed for years and said, with sobs, “If I had just sold my car I could have bought ten more.”
When we come to the end of our lives, the important thing will be not how much money we made but how much we gave. It is not how much we saved, but how much we wasted. The thing that will matter is how many people we helped, how many we saved.
We all support something; you can see it in our lifestyles. There is something we want to see advanced. Gaius loved and lived the truth. How do we know? He supported it generously and graciously.
Like Gaius we love and live for the truth of God. How are we to respond to the truth in order to love and live the truth? First, we are to love and live the truth by supporting the truth. Secondly, we are to love and live the truth by promoting the truth.
II. LOVE AND LIVE THE TRUTH BY PROMOTING THE TRUTH (3 JOHN 9-10)
The reason John wanted to ensure that Gaius would care for Demetrius’ needs is because there was an influential church leader in the area who was refusing to be hospitable and punished everyone who disagreed with him.
(9) I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive us. (10) 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! He not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church. (11) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
A. Attitude that hinders the truth (v. 9)
Apparently Diotrephes squelched previous letters of recommendation for other visiting preachers and evangelists being read or acted upon. Why would he do this? He loved to have first place. This is the only place this phrase occurs in the New Testament. The sense is he loved to lead by controlling others. It is in direct contrast to when Jesus said the one who wishes to be first must be the servant of all (Matt. 20:27; Mark 9:35, 10:44). Anytime the motivation for leading in the church is because a person has a need to be in control, it will always be destructive. To reject John’s recommendation letter of a visiting teacher was to reject John’s authority as an apostle.
Dr. A.T. Robertson, one of the Southern Baptist’s leading Greek scholars in a past generation, wrote an article on Diotrephes for a religious publication. He labeled Diotrephes the church boss and provided a contemporary account of his character. Dr. Robertson later reported as having said in jest that twenty deacons had written the editor of the publication cancelling their subscriptions because they considered the article a personal attack!
Church growth consultant Ron Lewis calls them “turf shepherds.” This attitude shows up in the Sunday School class that refuses to move to another room to make better use of the space. It iis theattitude of the church treasurer who has held that position for years and would be insulted if another person were to take over that job; it is the attitude of the pastor who bullies or deceives the church to get his way; it is an attitude which hinders the church in its efforts and effectiveness because of personal matters.
Diotrephes’ attitude led to actions that hinder the truth.
B. Actions that hinder the truth (v. 10).
This man’s arrogant, self-centered attitude led to four actions. They were written in a verbal tense which means they were still going on. First, he accused people with slanderous words. Second, he showed no hospitality visiting missionaries. Third, he forbade others to be hospitable. Fourth, if someone disagreed with him, they would be thrown out of the church. For some reason he resented the intrusion of other ministers and felt threatened.
I am not so sure that when God calls a halt to time and He weighs on one side of the scales the damage done by heresy to advancing the Gospel and on the other side the damage done by mean-spirited, self-centered Christians, that the greater damage will be done by unloving, selfish Christians who had to have their way. When was the last time you heard someone say, “I’m not going down to that church. They teach assurance of your salvation”? Probably you heard something like, “They are all hypocrites” or “They cheated me to make a buck.” The biggest enemy to the church is not secularism or liberalism or conservatism or the like; The biggest enemy is egotism.
Martin Luther, the great Reformer, was brilliant and mightily used of God. So was his contemporary Ulrich Zwingli. They agreed on almost every doctrine with the exception of the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Martin Luther could be little and petty. He repeatedly and intentionally misspelled the name of the other great reformer Zwingli. One translator of German refused to translate into English what Luther said about Zwingli because it was so vicious and vulgar. His attitude and actions harmed and hindered the full impact of the Reformation.
Diotrephes began by speaking wicked words about John. This progressed until he openly defied John’s apostolic authority.
The sovereignty of the self causes so much trouble in churches and lives. One of the most difficult things the church has to struggle against is the egotism of members and leaders. If you think I am exaggerating, take this test which was first proposed by the Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. He proposed the following choice for every person: you can create amazing works of art that would last forever, but only anonymously; or you can have your name live on in legend, even though your works would be totally forgotten. Which would you pick to survive: anonymous beauty or a legendary, famous name?
Practicing the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, church attendance, and witnessing will benefit our life, but the primary reason for spiritual disciplines is not for our benefit. The primary benefit of spiritual disciplines is to set aside our egotism that we might know God.
As far as a baby is concerned, it is the center of the universe. Its cry is the way it communicates that it has a need that must be met now; that is acceptable at 3 months, but it is sickening in a grown man. Diotrephes represents those who promote their welfare above the welfare of God’s kingdom and fellow Christians; their welfare above that of their wife and children; their welfare above those they serve. May God convict us and move us to repent of the spirit of Diotrephes. We cannot imagine the damage it is doing to God’s work and others.
John called Gaius to love and live the truth. How are we to respond to the truth in order to love and live the truth? We are to love and live the truth by supporting it with a godly lifestyle. We are to love and live the truth by attitudes and actions that promote the truth. Third, we are to love and live the truth by practicing the truth.
III. LOVE AND LIVE THE TRUTH BY PRACTICING THE TRUTH (3 JOHN 11-12)
Demetrius is the opposite of Diotrephes. He serves God and God’s people instead of himself. What he is doing is costly, dangerous, and focused on others rather than his own life. He loves and lives the truth; he is an example for Gaius to emulate. John says of Demetrius in verse 11:
(11) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (12) Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. And we also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.
A. To practice the truth means to model the truth (v. 11)
We do not know why but Diotrephes has power and authority in the church. Because Diotrephes’ heart was wrong, he destroyed the unity of the church, spread lies about those he designated as enemies, flaunted his authority, cut off other Christians who did not agree with him, and made up his own rules to safeguard his position. John cautioned Gaius not to follow that man’s example. John recognized humans are imitators by nature.
Don Baylor and Curt Gibson were professional baseball players. Teams would sign them to contracts as free agents though they were past their best playing days. In the case of Curt Gibson, his back was so bad he could barely swing a bat, yet teams would still sign him.
Why were teams so interested in these old players? Because between the two men were five World Series. They knew what it took to win. Teams would sign them to just be on the bench or in the locker room because they set a positive example to be better. To play with Don Baylor or Curt Gibson, you had to raise your game to their level. Teams actually turned around by the pressure of their example.
It is not a matter of if we will be influenced; the real question is whether we will follow a good example or a bad example. That is one of the powerful benefits of a Sunday School class: it has the potential of becoming a peer group which could influence everyone in the class to be a better follower of Jesus through fellowship, Bible study, and ministry to one another and to others. When life takes you away from consistent church attendance, a group of people notice and love you back to faithfulness. When you look back on the progress you have made in your Christian walk, it is not surprising that it is associated with some person or persons who were a positive influence on you. The opposite is true, too.
The first command in 3 John appears in verse 11. John pointed to two men and said, “Do not do evil, do good.” A person’s consistent behavior reveals his relationship with God.
To practice the truth means to model the truth. To practice the truth means to embody the truth.
B. To practice the truth means to embody the truth (v. 12).
John pointed to Diotrephes and warned Gaius to be aware of which model he followed. He pointed to Demetrius as a concrete example of someone who practiced the truth. Demetrius received an impressive three-fold witness. Firstly, he was a good testimony to the community. Secondly, the truth itself bore witness of his character; it was obvious Demetrius was a man of God. Lastly, John said he was a good man. Even if Gaius did not know about the first two witnesses, John’s word was enough for Gaius to receive him and provide for his needs because Demetrius’ life was a clear and obvious testimony of a Christian.
Years ago, a pastor in London got on a trolley. He bought his ticket, and the trolley driver gave him back an exorbitant amount of change. The pastor went and sat down in his chair, looked at the change, and realized what happened. Maybe he thought, “Praise the Lord. God has provided!” But after he sat there for awhile, he thought, “Can my gain be another man’s loss?” He went forward and said to the driver, “You gave me too much money; I’m sorry.”
The trolley driver looked at him and said, “I knew I gave you too much money. I was in your church last Sunday, and I heard you preaching on honesty. I just wanted to see if you were for real.”
People who embody the truth in practice are in short supply today. For example, a mechanic was recommended to me recently as an “honest mechanic.” If it does not need to be fixed, he will tell you. The repair bill will be fair. (I can give you that name after church.) How about a “truthful politician”? Many people feel that is an oxymoron. I read about a couple in a cemetery reading epitaphs on tombstones. One read, “Here lays a lawyer and an honest man.” The man said, “They must be burying them two to a grave.”
Demetrius’ wife, if he was married, respected him. He worshiped Christ on Sunday and treated her with respect the other six days of the week. If he was a father, his children honored him. He lived at home what he lived at church. This world is weary of hypocrites. The world is like Diogenes who carried a candle in Athens looking for an honest man.
Of course, there is only one man who ever perfectly loved and lived the truth: the Lord Jesus Christ. He has called us to follow His example in the power of the Holy Spirit to model and embody His life.
CONCLUSION
There is a difference between great people and famous people. O.J. Simpson is famous and infamous, but he is not a great person. Most people would put Gandhi on their top ten list of great people, even though many could not explain why he is considered great, though they know he lived for something higher than wealth or fame. Mother Teresa is considered great because she lived for the nobility of the image of God in every person. Abraham Lincoln remained committed to the abolition of slavery despite the enormous cost to our nation and his own life. Johann Gutenberg was named the most influential man of the last millennium. Why? He was the inventor of the printing press. His life was committed to disseminating knowledge; particularly the Bible.
John called Gaius, and us, to live a life of greatness. We do so when we make it a priority to live and love the truth about Jesus Christ and His work of salvation for sinners.
1. Exegetical Commentary on the N.T., Karen H. Jobes, p. 69.
2. Ibid, p. 303.
3. Taking the Stew Out of Stewardship, Paul W. Powell, p. 162.
4. The Three Hardest Words. Leonard Sweet, p. 68.
5. Jobes, p. 326.
6. The 12 Essentials of Godly Success, Tommy Nelson, p. 49.
