Those Who Walked In Faith

INTRO

As we move into 3 John, that means we have for the first time three paintings that work together, a triptych. The red tulips in the first painting represent the blood of Christ and His Perfect Love for us. The Bible in the second painting represents the Truth that is in Christ. The third painting points to the Perfect Example of Christ and how to live out our faith. The painting shows three pairs of legs to represent walking out faith as Christ did. In 3 John, several people were used as examples of how to walk in the Lord: Gaius and Demetrius. In 1 John 2:6, John stated, “The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.” The flowers in the painting represent the unity and fellowship of believers.

The book of 3 John is another short epistle written later in John’s life. The apostle John wrote five books in the Bible: the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation. Look at how the letters of John progress:

2 John was written to the elect lady and her children, which could have been a congregation and its members or a lady and her children.

There were 18 common names during the first century, and Gaius was one of them.¹ The name means “to rejoice.” Little is known about Gaius except that he was a member of one of the churches John had been involved with. Acts 19:29 refers to one of Paul’s traveling companions as Gaius, but he was not the Gaius that John addressed in this book. Acts 20:4 refers to another Gaius from Derby. MacArthur describes Gaius as “a beloved friend of the apostle and faithful adherent to the truth” who “extended the correct standard of Christian hospitality to itinerant ministers.”²

John compared the worthy actions of Gaius to those of Diotrephes, a false teacher (vv. 6–10). Once again, John addressed the standard of hospitality—this time in the example of Gaius.

TEACHING

3 John 1-2: John again used the term “The Elder” in his greeting to his dear friend Gaius, who he loved “in the truth” (v. 1). Gaius was known as having an incredible walk with Jesus. John prayed that Gaius’s physical health would be as good as his spiritual health (v. 2) (1 Timothy 4:6-7). This instruction was for Gaius to train physically as he had already trained spiritually. John encouraged Gaius to “prosper in every way.”

Honestly, I struggle with this personally. My time at night and in the mornings is literally used to study. There is no time, in this season of my life, to go work out. But when I work out, I feel better, and I can be a more effective witness. There is truth in John’s statement to keep balance in life. Physical health impacts our witness and our ability to be a witness.

Additionally, we need to be working out in Scripture every day as well. Second Corinthians 4:16 states: “Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.” Part of growing in the Lord is learning to rest in Him. My challenge for you is to look at your life and see what is out of balance in your life—spiritually or physically—and focus on bringing your life back into balance.

3 John 3–8: John points out his joy, that people testified to him about Gaius’s faithfulness to the truth (vv. 3–4). John addressed Gaius again as his dear friend and recognized Gaius’s faithfulness in his actions for his brothers in Christ and for strangers (v. 5). Gaius opened up his home to strangers—men of God who were traveling preachers—and they too had testified of Gaius’s love for Christ and for the church (v. 6). MacArthur points out that the phrase, “in a manner worthy of God,” has “the connotation of treating people as God would treat them (Matthew 10:40), and becomes the key manner in which hospitality should be practiced (Matthew 25:40–45).”³

In verse 7 John explains that Gaius’s actions were not for false teachers but were for those who traveled teaching the truth of Christ—“since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans.” John celebrated Gaius’s actions of supporting these strangers as “coworkers with the truth” (v. 8).

3 John 9–11: John moved from celebrating Gaius’s walk in the Lord to condemning the actions of Diotrephes. John referred to a lost letter he wrote earlier that possibly Diotrephes, a leader in the church, had not shared with the congregation. He described Diotrephes as being prideful, wanting to be the predominant leader, and who actually refused to receive those John sent in ministry (v. 9). John added that Diotrephes had slandered him, refused to welcome brothers in Christ, stopped others from doing so, and even kicked these brothers out of the church (v. 10). In verse 11 John divided Gaius and Diotrephes into good and evil—Gaius did good that came from God, and Diotrephes did evil that showed he had never even seen God.

3 John 12–14: John then provided another good example with Demetrius, who received a good testimony from those who knew him and who upheld the truth of Christ. John also testified personally of Demetrius’s faith (v. 12). John began his conclusion stating he had more to tell them that he didn’t want to put down on paper (v. 13). John then stated he hoped to be with them soon so they could talk face-to-face. John loved this congregation and wished them the peace of Christ. John concluded by giving greetings from his friends.

CLOSING

It still surprises me that two books of the Bible (2 and 3 John) speak on Christian hospitality. Both books give standards of how to do that. The most important is to open your home to those who come with the truth of the Lord and not those who are false teachers.

Some of you need to clean up your house—either physically, spiritually, or personally––so you’ll be able to be used by God through hospitality to those who advance the gospel

• 1 John was written to a group of congregations scattered throughout Asia Minor.