There is nothing quite so destructive as a lie. No one wants to be lied to. It is nothing short of betrayal. And no one wants to be lied about. It is an ugly and contemptuous act. The Bible traces our worst problems back to a lie. The serpent, remember, asked the woman whether it was true what he had heard, that she and the man could not eat the fruit growing on the trees in the garden. “Oh, we may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden,” she told him, “but God said, ‘you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden…, lest you die.”
To which the serpent said…what? “You will not…die” (Gen. 3:2-4). It was a lie. And it ruined everything. And that is exactly what Satan wants to do—he wants to ruin everything. And his most powerful weapon is the lie. In fact, Jesus calls Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Now, it would be the height of folly—would it not?—to build our lives on a lie, and yet many people do just that. They believe any and every thing except what God says is true. Why? Because the truth can be inconvenient. It can be unpleasant. Children are born thinking they are the center of the universe. They don’t know any better. But they soon learn that it isn’t so. And if they don’t learn that—if they persist in believing the lie—they will be miserable, and they will make others miserable. And, sadly, many people live under a version of that lie all through life.
But God calls us to build our lives on a foundation of truth. You see that in our passage today from the little book of 3 John. The word truth or true occurs seven times in the short space of fifteen verses. There is testimony to the truth. There is walking in the truth. There is working in the truth. There is even love in truth. And joy.
Some weeks ago, we began looking at core commitments for Christian living, and we have focused on four of them: What we have said is that, if we truly want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we must (1) abide in the Word, (2) we must pray our hearts out, (3) we must be killing sin, and (4) we must give our lives away. Today, what I want to do is put all that together by emphasizing what is true in “true discipleship.”
So, what does it mean to be truly a disciple? It means it’s the thing itself. A true disciple is a disciple not in name only but a disciple in fact. It means that, as followers of Him who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), we walk in the way in which He walked. We walk in the truth.
So, how do we do that? Here in 3 John we see that we walk in the truth (1) when what we think is anchored in the truth, (2) when what we do is anchored in the truth, and (3) when what we are is anchored in the truth.
WHAT WE THINK IS ANCHORED IN THE TRUTH
(3 John 1-4)
So, first of all, we are authentic disciples—we walk in the truth—when what we think is anchored in the truth. Our faith isn’t just about what’s in our heads, but the cranium is not negligible either when it comes to faith. Presbyterians have always known that we need to fill our minds with truth—truth about God, truth about Jesus, truth about sin, truth about ourselves. In fact, nothing of value in Christian discipleship can be sustained without being confident of what is true.
There Can Be No Love without the Truth (vv. 1-2)
Take love, for instance. There can be no love without the truth. In verse 1, John is writing to Gaius, a friend and fellow believer, and he says, “To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.” He could have said simply, “whom I love,” but he didn’t. He added those important words “in truth.” All healthy love is based on trust, and trust relies on truth. And so, we see that there can be no love without truth—at least, no healthy, sustainable love. If you tell me you love me and I entrust myself to your love—and then you betray me—my trust dissolves and I no longer believe you are telling me the truth. Trust can be restored, but it requires hard work over a long stretch of time. And it is always vigilant regarding truth. There can be no love without the truth.
There Can Be No Joy without the Truth (vv. 3-4)
And there can be no joy without the truth. Look at verses 3 and 4. John says, “I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
It’s true, isn’t it? Our children bring us joy no matter what, but there is “no greater joy” than knowing that they have embraced the truth about Jesus Christ and His way of life. That’s why we baptize them. That’s why bring them to worship. That’s why we want them to be involved in the life of the church. We’re not just looking for ways to occupy their time or get them off our hands. We want them to be around people who know the truth about Jesus and embrace and embody that truth. We want them to catch on to that truth. And it brings us joy when they do.
Have you yourself embraced the truth and do you know what you believe? The apostle Paul wrote, “Stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us” (2 Thess. 2:15), and Jude urges us to “contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). It’s important that we know what the Bible says about God and how He makes Himself known to us and what it says about humanity, how we are creatures made in the image of God but at the same time fallen and sinful. Which means we need to know what Scripture tells us about sin and the Savior—who He is and what He has done—and what it says about salvation, the Holy Spirit, the church, and the future. If we are to be true disciples, what we think must be anchored in the truth.
WHAT WE DO IS ANCHORED IN THE TRUTH
(3 John 5-10)
And here in 3 John we also see that we are true disciples when what we do is anchored in the truth. John gives us two examples of this in verses 5 through 10. The first example is a positive one, and the second is negative.
We Must Seek to Be Faithful in What We Do (vv. 5-8)
If we consider the positive example first, we learn that it has to do with a group of people whom John calls “the brothers” (vv. 3, 10; cf. v. 5). These were traveling church planters—not unlike the apostle Paul—who went from town to town spreading the gospel and planting churches wherever they went. And they relied on the hospitality of fellow believers. Gaius had gone to a great deal of effort to make “these brothers” feel welcome, “strangers as they [were].” John says “we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth” (v. 8). And what do we know about “these brothers”? John says “they have gone out for the sake of the name”—that is, they have gone out for the sake of Jesus. They are faithful in what they do, and we must be faithful in what we do.
We Must Avoid Being Unfaithful in What We Do (vv. 9-10)
Which means we must avoid being unfaithful in what we do. In verses 9 and 10 we find the second example, a negative one, an instance of unfaithfulness. There is a fellow in the church, a leader apparently, named Diotrephes, and notice what John has to say about him. In verse 9 we are told he “likes to put himself first”—that pretty much tells us everything, doesn’t it?—and he “does not acknowledge” the authority of John or the other apostles. And, in verse 10, we learn “what he is doing:” he is “talking wicked nonsense against” John and refusing “to welcome the brothers,” even stopping those who want to show them hospitality and putting such people out of the church.
Again, we cannot reduce our faith to deeds any more that we can limit it to a set of beliefs, but no one disputes the importance of deeds. The Bible certainly gives them a high profile in the life of authentic discipleship. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says that “we are created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
Knowing the truth is essential, but it is not enough. We must act in alignment with the truth we know. It’s important what we believe, but how we behave must also ring true. We must do the truth. How might that look?
John Calvin helped us to see that one of the uses of the Law of God—the Ten Commandments, if you like—is to see them as a map, a guide that helps us to walk in truth. What would happen if, periodically, you reviewed the Ten Commandments and asked yourself how you see yourself being guided by this “map”? Do you worship God alone, or are there other things that have taken priority? Do you worship Him humbly? Do you think and speak of Him reverently? Do you observe the Sabbath as He commands? Do you give honor to those set in authority over you? Do you replace anger, resentment, and bitterness with gentleness, kindness, and peace? Do you remain chaste in thought, speech, and action? Do you exercise faithful stewardship of the things God has given you, and do you show generosity to others? Do you pursue truth even when it is costly and defend it when it is challenged? And do you resist the pull of envy and greed and cultivate a spirit of contentment? What if you were to go over this list from time to time and work on anchoring what you do in the truth of God? It may be something you want to try.
WHAT WE ARE IN ANCHORED IN THE TRUTH
(3 John 11-15)
How can we truly be disciples of Jesus Christ? John has shown us in this little letter—really, more like a post card—that he wrote to Gaius that we are true disciples when what we think is anchored in the truth and when what we do is anchored in the truth. And there is one more way he describes that we can be true disciples. It’s when what we are is anchored in the truth. It has to do with character.
This is really the most important aspect of authenticity. And I say that because what we think and do can reveal false character. That is, we are not on the inside what we claim to be on the outside. And, in like manner, what we think and do can reveal true character. Again, our character is true when our actions reveal our hearts.
What We Do Can Reveal False Character (v. 11)
In verse 11, John shows us that what we do can reveal false character. He writes, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God.” You see, it’s a matter of character. Either we are “from God” or we’re not. And “whoever does evil has not seen God.” That is, they have not been changed within by God. Their character is not godly.
What We Do Can Reveal True Character (vv. 12-15)
By contrast, while what we do can reveal false character, what we do can also reveal true character. Verse 12 provides us with a case in point. John introduces us to a brother named Demetrius, and he says of him that he “has received a good testimony from everyone.” But more important than that, he has received a good testimony “from the truth itself.” And, of course, what that means is that he is what he appears to be. His inside matches his outside. What he does reveals the truth about his character.
I believe it is important to work on our interior life, our character, by nurturing in ourselves the virtues the Bible lifts up as commendable. The Apostle Peter says that we are to “make every effort to supplement [our] faith with virtue (2 Pet. 1:5). Paul says to Timothy, “Keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Tim. 4:16). That’s not bad advice. We, too, need to keep watch on ourselves. As we listen in on one of David’s prayers, we hear him say to God, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being” (Ps. 51:6). Character matters.
So, what are we after in our discipleship? What do we want? We want to walk in the truth, don’t we? And we do that when what we think and what we do and what we are—when each of those aspects of our life is anchored in the truth, when our beliefs, our behavior, and our very being are all of one piece, when we are solidly grounded in Him who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
