Tweets from God: 3 John
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 6/5/2016
A few weeks ago I began a series I’m calling Tweets from God. What we’re doing is going through the five shortest books of the Bible. Each of these books is a single chapter and can be read in less than three minutes. Similar to a tweet on Twitter, these bite-size books of the Bible are short, to-the-point, messages from God to his followers.
The first of these brief books is Obadiah. If we summarized the book of Obadiah in one tweetable sentence, I think it would be this: God always sticks up for his children! Furthermore, the book of Philemon could be summed up: Faith in Jesus leads to true freedom! Finally, the second epistle of John—which we looked at last week—can be summarized: Walking in truth, love and obedience leads to a happier holier life.
That brings us to 3rd John. At just 219 words, this little letter is the shortest book in the entire Bible. 3rd John gives us a glimpse into an ancient church, its people, and its problems. As you read this brief letter, you might find yourself saying, “Not much has changed!” We still have similar people and similar problems.
Because the church consists of people from every walk of life, the church is filled with a variety of personalities—some good and some not so good. In this letter John introduces us to three different people—Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius. Even though none of them live in our community, you’re likely to meet people with similar personalities in any church you might attend.
So here we have three people you might meet at church. The first is Gaius, who was a joy!
• A JOY
Gaius is the one to whom this letter is addressed and it’s evident that the Apostle John dearly loved this brother in Christ. Here’s what John says:
“I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth. Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.” (3 John 1-4 NLT)
Gaius brought John great joy for a couple of reasons. First, as we can see here, Gaius was learning and living the truth of God’s Word. In his previous letter, John emphasized the importance of walking in truth and walking in obedience; here’s someone who was doing just that. Gaius was the kind of guy who listened to God’s Word and lived God’s Word.
I cannot overstate the value of getting into God’s word—whether that’s in a Sunday School class here at the Grove or in a small group that meets throughout the week. We always learn from others truths we would never learn on our own. Other people will help you see insights you would miss and help you apply God’s truth in a practical way.
I also hope that some of you are making use of the church’s subscription to Right Now Media. There are thousands of video Bible studies that you can watch and absorb from the comfort of your couch. But at some point we have to get off the couch and put what we’ve learned into practice. We must become “doers of the word” (James 1:22).
This is a hard step, because Satan fights it so intensely. He doesn’t mind you going to Bible studies as long as you don’t do anything with what you learn.
Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24 NIV). Jesus also pointed out that God’s blessing comes from obeying the truth, not just knowing it. He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17 NIV). That’s what Gaius did.
And one of the ways he did that was by supporting and encouraging traveling missionaries. John continues, saying: “Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.” (3 John 5-8 NLT).
Gaius joyfully opened his home and his wallet to these missionaries and, in so doing, joined them in their work for the Lord!
Wouldn’t you know it; we have the opportunity to open our homes to some travelers, just like Gaius. On Friday, June 24, Ozark Christian’s traveling choir, Highest Praise, will be coming to the Grove. While they’re here, they’ll use music and song to encourage and uplift, and even share the gospel. There will be roughly 70 students, and we still need to find host families for some of them.
I just love that we have the opportunity to follow in Gaius’ footsteps—to open our hearts and homes to strangers traveling for the Lord. And my prayer is that they would do just what those traveling teachers did—they’ll go home and tell everyone of your loving friendship. They’ll go back of Ozark and they’ll say, “I can’t wait to back there next year. Those people were so kind, and loving and friendly.” The best part is—when we support their ministry, we get to be part of the impact they have everywhere they travel.
Because of his commitment to walking in the truth and encouraging his fellow Christians, Gaius was a joy to John and everyone else who knew him. Let’s strive to be more like him. However, not everyone you meet in church is a joy.
Next, we meet Diotrephes, who was a jerk!
• A JERK
Sadly, not everyone is like Gaius. Here’s what John has to say about Diotrephes:
“I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church. Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you.” (3 John 9-11 NLT).
Power-hungry and prideful, Diotrephes is stirring up strife in Gaius’ church. He’s rejecting John’s authority, making accusations against the aging apostle, and even excommunicating church members who don’t fall in line. Why did Diotrephes reject John? The obvious reason seems to be that John challenged the man’s right to be dictator in the church. John was a threat to Diotrephes because he had apostolic authority. Satan was working through Diotrephes and left unchecked, he’d eventually bring the whole church crashing down.
Sadly, Diotrephes isn’t the only jerk around. It seems like many churches have members who insist on “being boss” and having their way. Sometimes it’s a pastor who abuses his position and forgets that the word “minister” means servant. Other times it’s a church board member or perhaps a longtime member of the church who thinks he or she has “seniority right.”
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts back in the 1950s, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and skipping lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was hungry. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line. “Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?”
The woman kindly responded, “Sorry, but I’m only supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.”
“I’m really famished,” the governor said.
“Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a customer.”
Governor Herter was generally a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state.”
Without batting an eye the woman retorted, “Do you know who I am? I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, Governor!”
It almost seems like human nature to want to be in charge, to throw our weight around, and try to get our way. When we do that, though, we usually end up looking like a pompous jerk. That’s what Diotrephes was. He was controlling, manipulative, and self-centered. He said, in essence, “This is my church and we’re going to do things my way!” Just like Governor Herter, though, Diotrephes was about to learn that he’s not the one in charge. Unfortunately, I think there’s a little bit of Diotrephes in each of us.
We all need to accept that we’re not the ones in charge. It’s Christ’s church and ultimately, he’s the one in charge! He’s given us elders, deacons, and ministers to lead his church his way! I’m not always going to get my way. I may not always like the decisions our church board makes. I may not like the color of the carpet, or the ratio or hymns to contemporary songs, or the fact that we’ve got a mixture of pink and blue chairs in the fellowship hall. But it’s not about me. It’s about Him. So we all work together to make much of Christ and not ourselves!
The world has enough jerks already. We run into them everywhere—on the road, in the check line, at work. Let’s not add more of them in the church.
Finally, in addition to a joy and jerk, we meet Demetrius, who was a jewel!
• A JEWEL
Demetrius was most likely John’s mailman. He delivered this little letter to Gaius and so John briefly introduces him. The writes, “Everyone says good things about Demetrius, and the truth agrees with what they say. We also speak well of him, and you know what we say is true” (3 John 12 NCV).
Demetrius was admired and appreciated by everyone. All the members knew him, loved him, and thanked God for his life and ministry. Even though this passage doesn’t tell us much about Demetrius, it actually says a lot when all the believers in a local church can agree to commend your life and testimony. Not only that but John himself commended Demetrius and “the truth itself” agreed. In other words, if truth could speak, it would speak well of Demetrius.
Harriet, the church gossip and self-appointed supervisor of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business. Several residents were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked all afternoon in front of the town’s only bar. She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know that he was an alcoholic. George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and then just walked away. He said nothing. Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Harriet’s house and left it there all night.
George didn’t care what other people thought of him, but the truth is—despite people like Harriet, we should care. In fact, the Bible says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” (Proverbs 22:1 NIV). What’s the status of your name? When people hear it, what do they think? The Bible says that having a good reputation—being esteemed—is better than riches. Better than all the money in the world is what people think when your name comes up. When Demetrius’s name came up, everyone had something good to say.
I think we could use more people like Demetrius, don’t you? It takes a long time to build a good name. It takes honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, encouragement, patience, and Christlikeness. The love of God was evident in Demetrius’s life. We want it to be evident in our lives as well.
Conclusion
So here are three people you meet in church:
• Gaius was a joy because he lived God’s word and loved God’s people.
• Diotrephes was jerk because he was selfish and scheming.
• Demetrius was jewel because he gave everyone a reason to speak well of him.
You’ll meet all kinds of people in church, don’t you? Some of them will be a blessing, while others will be burden. Let’s just do our best to ensure there’s more of the former. If we chiseled 3rd John down to a single tweetable sentence, I think it would be: “Holiness, hospitality and humility make a happy church family!”
Invitation
Next week, we’ll examine the last bite-sized book of the Bible—Jude. In the meantime, maybe you need some help getting into God’s word and putting it into practice. Maybe you need to work on showing hospitality. Or maybe you’ve got some control issues of your own and you need to learn to let God be the one in charge. In any case, if there is something I can help you with, please talk with me as we stand and sing.
