So as we come this evening, , so we come to 3 John, so it is the last of our personal epistles that we are gonna be looking at. So who here has studied 3 John deeply? Who here has read it more than once in passing? Okay, so you've read it in your Bible reading plan probably. You should. You should have at some point. You remember the fine details of what transpires in this text. So again, it is one of those that it is one of the shortest books in the New Testament. Again, it is a personal letter. , so even while reading is opening up this text, , let's begin by reading the whole text that's before us. Again, not long. We're looking at 15 verses. , so let us begin in the Word. "The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For 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. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers with, for the truth. I've written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.
So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone. And from the truth itself, we also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name." Thus the letter of 3 John to us. And so as we read this, as I read it, it really quickly reminded me, take me back to elementary school.
We're gonna go back in time, back when we actually had to learn how to write letters. Again, I'm looking at a generation that all probably understands this. Maybe not Isaac. Isaac's like, "We didn't have to learn how to do this. We had computers." But I was still partially in that, that part of my elementary school. In fifth grade, we had to learn how to write informal letters, formal letters, how to properly address the fir, the title, the introduction, the content, how to have a proper conclusion, how your, not benediction, but how your signature was, all of those pieces. And so we had to write different letters for different occasions. Again, 10 years later, who knew that was absolutely useless. But it's a helpful thing. But again, so there are different ways that you write letters.
There's more formal and there's more informal, okay? So it's all seen in the content, and knowing your situation, you write accordingly. So in the book that we have before us, this is very much what is before us is a technically a formal letter. This is a formal Roman letter, okay? The Book of 3 John, as we cover some basics of the overview before we dive into our section, is actually considered the most secular letter in the New Testament. So secular meaning it follows a very structured Roman letter, okay? It has very much a basic introduction. It's gonna have a basic greeting. It's gonna have basic charge or purpose of the letter and a very clear, "Peace be with you." There's no benediction. It actually is the letter with the least theological introductions and conclusion.
There isn't a long, , benediction at the end. There isn't a long theological greeting at the beginning, okay? You'll see a certain name is not mentioned once. What name is not in this text? Jesus. Jesus and Christ are not mentioned in our text. So this becomes a sticking point for some, like this just doesn't feel, 'cause we're all about vibes in our history , like it doesn't feel very theological. But yet while reading it, it is extremely theological, 'cause in it it's the personal theology that we're seeing. We're seeing the relationship of the apostle to another brother in Christ. So very similar to s- what we saw in Philemon. There's no new theology being presented in 3 John. If you create a new theology out of 3 John, you're a heretic.
We'll cover someone who did create an entire theology System out of Third John in a moment. So it doesn't create new theologies, but it highlights the theme ultimately of true hospitality. So what we'll see in the coming weeks, especially the third week, is ultimately the abuse and the recovery of the end of Second John. So at the end of Second John, we had that theology of hospitality and welcoming and separating from the non-believers. In this, we'll see the abuse of that, where the true believers are being exiled while false teachers are embraced through Diotrephes. So we'll unpack a little bit of that in the third week as you see John's teaching get abused and twisted for people's own ends. So how false teachers can abuse true doctrine.
So those are all some of the elements that we will unpack in this text. Now, history clearly associates this book with John. There is no debate of John's writing. The letter's language, structure, content all follows with Second John, First John, and has the same language that we see in the epistle or in the Gospel of John. So no one questions the authorship. Everything flows very similar. It just has a different Roman structure, which is a little different, but the content still follows his same language, his same illustrations, his same use of Greek terms. Okay? The only weird nuance is this is the only time that the word ecclesia appears in a Johannine literature. Random note for you. Um, so he will use other terms instead of the called out ones.
So this is the one time that he uses that specific phrase. Um, but these are all, again, important parts of setting the tone for what is going on, as what we have here is this personal letter encouraging a brother to stand firm in the faith, to keep doing what he's doing, and to stand in the midst of those who are doing the opposite. Okay, so we're gonna see a man who is great in hospitality being forced to see those who are not great in hospitality towards the brothers, and being encouraged to continue to do the very thing you're doing. So again, not a complex book, but a lot of depth of how we can see the work of the Lord through this short fifteen verses. So this week we will follow that flow of the letter. So we'll look at the introduction and greeting tonight.
We will look at verses one through four. Next week we're gonna look at that encouragement that we have to Gaius in verses five through eight, and then we'll conclude with nine through fifteen, the charge, okay? The uplifting of, , Demetrius, and then the condemnation of Diotrephes. So that will be our final week. So as we dive into this text, we begin here, of course, with an introduction. "So the elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth." So again, we open with John using his title, The Elder, okay? Not directly calling himself John, but The Elder, how he has been known. Same thing we saw in Second John, "The elder to the elect lady." Now it is the elder to Gaius, the beloved Gaius. Now again, part of this goes with our understanding that some will say that this highlights, and there are some nuances in the letter, that John may not have a depth of relationship with Gaius.
Okay? That they're not buddies. They don't hang out, if you will. They are probably compatriots in that they are both believers, and that John has received this wonderful news of who-- what Gaius is doing and wants to encourage him all the more to keep doing that. So they may have a passing acquaintance, either they know similar people or very much they may have met a long life and it's like, "Oh, I'm hearing he's doing well. Let me keep encouraging him." So they don't seem to have a very, like, buddy-buddy relationship, which is usually the highlight that he uses his title rather than his personal I, John the Apostle, or John the Elder. He uses a very formal title. So again, writing a professional letter, you use a formal title, not a personal one.
So he even begins in that way with a very formal address, "The elder to the beloved Gaius." And so then we come across the recipient of this letter, Gaius. Now, Gaius is a very common name in Greek-- Greco-Roman society in the first century. This is Bill. This is John. This is William. Like, this is James. This is just another name. There's nothing that sets it apart. There isn't anything that really historically you can be like, "Oh, it's this one." In the New Testament, besides this reference to Gaius, there are three Gaiuses in the New Testament. Okay, we have three up to this point. Does anyone know the three randomly? Probably not. I had to look them up because I don't remember them. So two in the book of Acts. Okay, so the first one we have in Acts 19 was in Ephesus, but he's called Gaius of Macedonia, so he's part of the time that Paul is in Ephesus.
The second, in Acts 20, we have Gaius of Derbe. Okay? Completely different. And then the third one, who's the most popular, who if people want to pick a Gaius, they pick the third one. It is Gaius of Corinth. So we find him in one Corinthians 1:14, okay, that he only... This is who was baptized by Paul. So again, that's why you, if you wanna pick one, you wanna pick the guy that was baptized by Paul. So when Paul lists his, like, "I didn't baptize anyone. Okay, except for Gaius, I did baptize him. But everyone else, nobody has claim to me." So Gaius in one Corinthians fif- or one Corinthians 1:14, and it's the same Gaius that then is repeated in Paul's benediction or the closing of his letter in Romans. So Romans 16, he'll highlight, "I stayed with Gaius in Corinth." So he highlights that connection again.
So Gaius... These are the three distinct Gaiuses that exist in the New Testament. So again, is there any definitive one that place one of these as John's recipient of the letter? Not really. Again, we're, we're now 30, 20 to 30 years in the future. Could it be one of the three? Absolutely. Is there anything in scripture history that says it is? No. So the only thing that we have historically is that in the 300s, the Apostolic Confession Church history will say that this is Gaius the, , the Elder in Pergamum. Again, is there any connection historically that lists it? No. But somehow 400 years from... 300 years from now, they'll just say he's the, this is going to Pergamum. 'Cause history's fun that way. Sometimes people like to add and embellish.
But there's nothing in the text that gives us who Gaius is, and part of that, again, I think is an encouragement to us because, again, it highlights the fact that it's not just about the big names. It's not just the big name apostles that are doing the work. It's showing the fact that it is everyday believers living out the faith well in the midst of hostility. And even this is who the apostles are reaching out to. John isn't just writing to the church that we saw in Second, but he's also writing to personal believers that are doing well and encouraging them to keep doing well. Okay? So there's a pastoral lesson even in here for us, that it's not just about writing to the whole, but to the personal. So it is the, it is the individuals in the church and the church as a whole that are to be encouraged, and so John here is giving us a beautiful example of that.
There's nothing that lists Gaius as a leader of a church, that he runs a church, but rather that he is just hospitable to believers as they come along the way. So we'll unpack that here in a bit. So all of these are parts of what we have in this wonderful introduction. Who is Gaius? We don't know, but he is a beloved brother. And again, right there we have John doing what John does. Beloved. So right back to his use of language. We talked about a lot. Pastor Adam unpacked it in Second John. Again, the word used often about himself in the gospel is the same word he then often recites to all believers. Okay? Beloved is one of John's favorite terms for a believer, is that they are beloved. Okay? Again, we highlight the fact it's one of Sam Knox's favorite phrases when he's preaching.
He, you've, if you've heard Sam preach, if you hear from... Sam will say, "Beloved" when he addresses the church. The beloved, those who are loved by God. Okay? This is where we have it. John's phrase, "Those who are loved by God." And again, it's rooting it in this reality. It is those who are loved by God that are beloved. Okay? So it begins most often connected to 1 John, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." So that love that God has for us is for one another, and thus those who love God are loved by God and are loved by each other. Is that a fun way to look at that in a big circle? So we should love one another as God has loved us, and therefore we use even that same word of, "You who are loved by God are equally loved by me." So that's what John is communicating.
"Whom I love in truth." Okay? So this is all what John is bringing into this introduction. So again, while it is a very f- formal Roman introduction, it is still packed with great depth. Okay, "Beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth." So John's connecting again that love that exists within brothers and sisters, whether they know each other or don't, there is a commonality because Of Christ that bounds their lives in love. That it's not about anything but the gospel that unites them in this truth. And again, in truth, not a passing just love in general towards all Christians. Like, we are bound together in the truth that we share. The truth that we have experienced has bound us together. And so he's communicating that. He's encouraging him. Okay, again, just imagining for a moment receiving this letter in the midst of whatever trial is going on where you have this Diop- Diotrephes and what he's doing, and you're in a different spot, and you're like, "Well, these guys aren't doing well," and you just get this letter from one of the apostles just encouraging you.
And this is how he greets you. Like, that's an encouragement. We should, we should encourage each other in similar ways. As we see one another doing things that are admirable in the faith, encourage in that direction. This is what John begins to do. And so in this, he addresses him, "I love in truth." Again, that truth in love playing itself out that we saw a lot in 2 John, again, echoes again here. And then he transitions to the second part. So he has the basic introduction, who it's from, who it's to, and then his opening lines. So again, this is still part of a basic Greco-Roman introduction. Okay. "Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul." This phrase is often very commonly found in Roman literature, though John, as we will see, is adding a theological depth here in a minute.
But he uses a very common introduction in a very deep theological way. I pray... Okay, the Greco-Roman one was, I wish or I uphold for you. Okay, so a little bit different. He will add the prayer rather than a simple, I'm wishing you good things. Or our, our Great Amer- I'm thinking good thoughts, positive thoughts. Our, our modern American weird hippie whatever that is. But good vibes, good vibes. Good vibes to you and to all of your family, whatever that means anymore. But that like... There's still the rec- I'm praying for you. There is a reality of John's prayer. Okay, this is where the only heretical teaching that I have found in church history pulls from John's letter. So 3 John, this is where the prosperity gospel began, if you will.
This is the text that, , Palmer Roberts pulled from. Or Oral Roberts, not Palmer Roberts. Oral Roberts, when in the midst of great sickness, read 3 John, heard the epistle or the apostle's prayer that all will go well for you, that you will be in good health as your soul, to reflect on the fact that your soul must be in good health for you to have a healthy body, so you must be living righteously to experience a righteous physical body. Again, that's a, that's a twist on that text, but that's how he interpreted it. Thus, prayers were always for good health and that if your health is failing, it's because your spirit is failing. Clearly a twist on the text, but that is where he created that... If you were ever wondering where that prosperity gospel health, wealth began, right there in 3 John 1:2.
It's amazing how you can twist some scripture sometimes. But this is clearly not what John is doing. Again, all the more as history says this is a very common introduction. Very much like, "I hope everything is well with you and your family." That's usually a very common way you start a conver- How's the family? Doing good. I hope they're doing good. I hope everyone's well. Like, the... It's very much what he's doing, but highlight- In fact, I'm praying that it is well, not simply a wishing, a pra- But I pray dearly that your life is going well. I hope that your family is not sick. These are good things. We should pray for each other. Okay? We pray for the physical well-being of another. Okay, you're in good health. Okay? And he does have this, "As it goes with your soul." And so what we have, the word soul here is the word psyche.
It's a great word. Many of you may be familiar with it. We get psychology, brain, being. Okay, it's not... It's where soul becomes kind of a weird choice. It's not a bad choice, it's just can be limiting. So the way John uses the word psyche, this Greek word, is whole being, your spirit, body, mind, all encompassing. Your whole being. Okay? So that you are stable. So I hope that your health reflects, okay, that you may be in good health and it goes well with your whole being. So all of life. Okay, so yes, your spiritual well-being, your physical well-being, your daily well-being, all of who you are is going well. Okay That you're lacking in nothing is ultimately John's prayer. So I'm praying that life is good. I'm praying that you do not have struggles, that you're theologically and biblically sound, that you are full in who you are.
Okay? And it's a strong encouragement. If you're gonna walk through trials, if you're gonna walk through having to deal with what we have as an opposition here apparently in the weeks to come, like, are-- I pray you are grounded to experience that well, to not see it as a strike against you, but rather the Lord at work in these moments. So he's praying for his whole being, so good health and full being. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. And so this prayer begins to echo these wonderful testaments of what he has been doing. So what is John responding to? He's responding to the message he's been told. The brothers came to me. Okay? Brothers came to me from wherever, so they clearly passed through your home, and they gave me this report of how you are living, and I rejoiced greatly when they came and told me of your truth.
Now, again, this isn't using our modern vernacular. Again, in our everyone has their own truth, and this idea that John's like, "I like your truth. Your truth is great. I was so great when I heard your truth. Unlike that guy's truth, which is very way off, but, you know, he's got his truth, you've got your truth, and I like your truth." That is, that is not what John is highlighting. Okay? When John uses the-- that I rejoiced in your truth is the idea that you are walking in the truth. It is the reflection that you are living in the same truth. Okay? The truth of the gospel. So it's echoing the same thing. Whom I love in truth, so I rejoiced in your truth, that you are in the truth. Okay? So they don't have a weird hippie everyone's got their own relativistic view.
It's not even a Roman thought at that day, so it's a very modern thought. Okay? Same here. So he's rejoicing greatly in this test. They're testifying of your truth, of all that you've done. Okay? So again, even this isn't just your truth in what you've said, but your truth in how you live. Okay? That his truth isn't just in words spoken, but in actions done, 'cause they're rejoicing in how he cared for them. That's not just like he preached the truth, but he welcomes them in truth. He is-- gives of himself for these brothers. Again, as we get into later, that-- he's like, "That you didn't even know. Christians showed up to your house one day who are strangers to you, but as brothers you welcome them in." So again, it's not just he knew the words of God, believed them, but he put them into action, that a stranger in the faith is welcomed into his home as a family member.
Okay? That's putting the theology into action. Okay? So I rejoice not only that you believe it, but that you do it. Okay? Again, if we go back all the way to our Philemon, that's ultimately what Paul was encouraging him to do, not just to hear the words, but to do them. John here is going, "You hear them, and you do them, and I rejoice in that truth." I'm excited to hear, okay, when people live out the faith well. I think we can all echo that. We should-- When you receive reports of believers living out the faith well, it should encourage you. It should bring you joy, okay, maybe to write them a letter. Especially when we hear from our missionaries of things going on around the world, of how the Lord is using them, to be encouraged, but also then to encourage them to continue to do that all the more.
Okay? It's easy to do the right thing. Sometimes it's helpful to be encouraged to keep doing the right thing. Okay? It can be a lonely thing when you do the things of God by yourself, or it feels like it. And again, some of our missionaries who are on the field can feel lonely at times when they're doing the hard labors for the gospel. So when we hear these good reports, it's helpful to encourage them to keep doing it well, keep doing in the midst of what appears hard. And again, we have great Barnabas teams who do this work. So if you're interested in being a part of a Barnabas team which cares for our missionaries, we do have that. It's available. You should join one. Leanne and Isaac are part of the one for Tori. , myself, my wife, several others are a part of the one for the Abbotses.
Great opportunities to encourage the ministries as they are going. You hear reports, you encourage them to continue and help them along the way. It's very much what the apostle here is doing. He's encouraging them. I've heard this truth, and I'm so excited for it. I rejoiced greatly when they came and testified, for you are walking in Truth. You're doing the right thing. Keep your-- keep walking in this truth. And so he encourages him all the more, keep pursuing God in this way. And then he has this, "For I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." And so this ties us back to we saw this, he said the same thing to the church in question mark, the elect lady, church of unknown destination. But that same thing, he had no greater joy than hearing his children were walking in the truth.
Same thing he said in second, he now echoes to Gaius, that there is a joy in hearing the work of the Lord being accomplished, and it brings him great joy. And so this is the other end, not just in hearing that believers are, but people connected to your ministry. So again, this is the question whether or not he directly knows Gaius. Is this a passing relationship or connected through ministry? But he groups him with one of my children. So connected through his ministry is Gaius, and he is overjoyed to hear how he has progressed or how this progression of this man is going. So maybe some of you probably, hopefully I would connect with you with this. If you've been in the faith a long time, you've been a part of the church for a long time, you've probably ministered with and to people, hopefully.
That the-- over the scope of your life, you can look back at people that you rejoice when you hear what the Lord is doing five, 10, 15, 20 years later since you've talked to them. Like it brings you joy to hear of how the Lord uses them even today. Okay, I'm reminded of, I gotta go way back here. We're gonna go back 36 years. Dun, dun, dun, dun. Now if anyone wanna guess how old I was? No? Okay, that's fine. Good, don't. But, so I'll give you a guess. It's called Sparky's. Does anyone know what Sparky's is? There we go. There's my Awana crew. So I was an Awana kid. So F- Sparky's is kindergarten, so it's, it's, I was five years old. So I was a five-year-old Sparky, and so I invited at that time my best friend Jono. We were gonna go. He-- we were on baseball team.
We were f- so he came, came, started coming to our little independent Baptist church there in Clarkston, Michigan. So Jono actually came to faith through there couple years later when we were about seven. So we started in Sparky's. His parents kept... He is actually a youth minister in the United Methodist Church today. He's been a part of ministry ever since then, grew up in the church after that. Even after my family left, they kept going and being a part of ministry. , came to faith, and the Lord has done a lot with him throughout the years. Um, so it's again, those are just little things. And now we have Facebook, so everyone sees everything. Everyone does. It's just kind of how the Lord has worked in those relationships. Again, seeing other friends since seminary, different people that ministered to, ministered with, or was ministered by, and just how the Lord continues to use them.
It brings joy. It brings encouragement. Again, so hopefully you have those relationships and those reminders of the work that the Lord has done through you. Again, there's always, we can go back to our Christian music days. We liked a little thank you for giving to the Lord. I was a life that was changed. Anyone? Anyone? We got a few. Got a few head bows, yes. It is on my Christian playlist. It still exists. It still gets you a little bit. It gets a little, little teary. Sorry, Isaac, you don't know the tears of... I couldn't remember the name of the guys, guy right now, but it's a thank you for giving to the Lord. And it's that, again, encouragement of how the Lord uses the ministry of others, again, to encourage the saints to keep going. And we have those little reminders in here.
We have a similar reminder that it's great joy hearing people continue to walk in the truth. And there's just those little moments that they're little blessings from God to us to give us encouragement, to see how He is doing with His work that you were a part of, that we were a part of God's eternal work. And so John is encouraging him again, how great a joy is to hear walking in the truth, pursuing the truth, that your life is transformed by the gospel and you continue to live this out. This begins John's encouragement to Gaius that, again, next week we'll begin to unpack some of the personal stuff. We'll get into a little bit of that, what that love looks like, what the missionary support looks like. So we have a lot of little nuances that we'll unpack as we get into the meat of the letter over the next two weeks, but this is our introduction to John's letter to Gaius.
He's been a part of ministry ever since then, grew up in the church after that. Even after my family left, they kept going and being a part of ministry. , came to faith, and the Lord has done a lot with him throughout the years. Um, so it's again, those are just little things. And now we have Facebook, so everyone sees everything. Everyone does. It's just kind of how the Lord has worked in those relationships. Again, seeing other friends since seminary, different people that ministered to, ministered with, or was ministered by, and just how the Lord continues to use them. It brings joy. It brings encouragement. Again, so hopefully you have those relationships and those reminders of the work that the Lord has done through you. Again, there's always, we can go back to our Christian music days.
We liked a little thank you for giving to the Lord. I was a life that was changed. Anyone? Anyone? We got a few. Got a few head bows, yes. It is on my Christian playlist. It still exists. It still gets you a little bit. It gets a little, little teary. Sorry, Isaac, you don't know the tears of... I couldn't remember the name of the guys, guy right now, but it's a thank you for giving to the Lord. And it's that, again, encouragement of how the Lord uses the ministry of others, again, to encourage the saints to keep going. And we have those little reminders in here. We have a similar reminder that it's great joy hearing people continue to walk in the truth. And there's just those little moments that they're little blessings from God to us to give us encouragement, to see how He is doing with His work that you were a part of, that we were a part of God's eternal work.
And so John is encouraging him again, how great a joy is to hear walking in the truth, pursuing the truth, that your life is transformed by the gospel and you continue to live this out. This begins John's encouragement to Gaius that, again, next week we'll begin to unpack some of the personal stuff. We'll get into a little bit of that, what that love looks like, what the missionary support looks like. So we have a lot of little nuances that we'll unpack as we get into the meat of the letter over the next two weeks, but this is our introduction to John's letter to Gaius.
