Sermon transcript, edited for reading
As we have done throughout our series, we begin by reading the whole text. It is not a long letter, but it helps to see all of it before us.
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 testified 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 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 have 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.
This is the letter of the Apostle John to Gaius. Today we come to the idea of missions and hospitality: the idea of receiving and sending.
I have always found hospitality an interesting subject, the idea of welcoming people into your home as part of the family. When I was in high school, two women come to mind who were very good at this.
The first was Doreen Greer. Her son was one of our friend group, and we practically lived at their house every single weekend. Back when getting a car meant you could finally hang out with your friends, that's where we were. She would make us food. There were four of us, four teenage boys, and every Saturday we'd get a Stouffer's mac and cheese platter. Sometimes it was two. Double it. We would eat the whole thing. I was not as big then as I am now, but we were still a lot to feed. She always had food. We could go over to their house whether or not her son was home, and she would welcome us in. She'd feed us, hang out with us, and talk with us. She always had an open home for us, and she was always there when we needed her. It was a wonderful motherly compassion. She opened her home to her son's friends.
The second was what we called our group mom, Tanya. She was not much older than us. I was about 18, our group was 18 and 19 year olds, and she was 26. But she was so much more mature than we were that she felt much older. Anything we did, she made sure we stayed safe and did not hurt ourselves, and she always brought food. If we were going to play flag football, which became tackle, which became bad choices, she was the one making sure we brought water. She would bring water just to hang out and watch us and make sure everything was going well. If anyone needed a place to stay, she took in the women of the church. She ran a Papa John's and owned her own house, so she always had extra room, and she had lots of women staying with her while they dealt with different life situations. These were people with a spirit of caring for others, and I was a minor recipient of some of those graces.
It reminds me of the importance of hospitality as we dive into this text. One of the things talked about most in the Christian faith is care for one another: the love of the brotherhood, the love for the members of the church. This is where the Apostle John encourages Gaius in what Gaius is doing.
We talked about this last week. Did Gaius have a personal relationship with John? Was this a passing relationship? Or had John simply heard about Gaius and wanted to encourage him? We're not sure, and we'll unpack some of that tonight. But no matter what, what is being encouraged is the spirit of hospitality Gaius is showing, and John wants to commend it.
As we see, this personal letter did not stay with Gaius. It was not written only for him. He read it, folded it up, and it went on. It was shared with the churches. So this personal letter, one of the personal epistles, became a church letter, read by the churches as an encouragement to do likewise. That is the encouragement: this should be the spirit of believers and the attitude Christians exhibit. It's not just, "Oh, that's nice, good job, guys." Rather, all of us are seeing what the Lord commends, and we'll unpack that from Luke in a moment.
Verses 5–6: The Faithful Believer
Beloved. John's favorite term of endearment for the saints. We unpacked this before. It is John's reminder of the unity we have in Christ. John is the beloved in the Gospel of John, but all who are associated with the gospel are called beloved, and we are all sharing in the love of God in this truth.
"Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God." Let's begin with verses 5 and 6. Here we see Gaius's welcome, the efforts he puts forward before these brothers. He's faithful in this. He's faithfully welcoming people into his home, bringing them in off the streets.
Hospitality was very important in Roman society. If you were traveling, where were you going to stay? The first century was when commercial inns began to form. They weren't the hotels we think of today, but they were starting to become more of a thing. Inns became more popular thanks to Roman road development. It became safer to travel. Roman citizens, by the nature of being citizens, had protection while traveling, which made travel more appealing. Before that, most people didn't leave their town unless they were merchants who had to, and even then they came with protection. The advancement of travel, as we think of it today, is part of why the gospel went so far in the first century.
We've highlighted this when we study the churches. The technological advancements of Greco-Roman society, through the sovereign work of God, allowed the gospel to spread quickly. Part of that was a center of hospitality. While inns were starting to pop up, the proclamation of the gospel ultimately depended on Christians welcoming Christians into their homes. A Christian traveling through town needed a safe place to stay, and it was not uncommon for people to bring strangers into their homes. But there was a set of guidelines. Usually there was a written contract about what a guest would do and would not do, very similar to what we have today. When you check into a hotel, you sign all the things you're not going to do, or they'll charge your credit card a lot of money. They didn't charge your credit card back then, but the idea was the same: you are a guest in this house.
The difference is that Christians, as is highlighted here, don't just take you as a guest. They take you as family. You're strangers who become family, so you become one with the household. In this, you build a good reputation. You become known as a hospitable person. Your house had a kind of banner over it that others would take note of and tell others: this is where you need to go.
In many Roman provinces, if you stayed at someone's house and were a good guest, think Airbnb with a good review, you carried that reputation with you. If someone else was going to travel, you would write them a letter that said, in effect, "I stayed at your house. You remember who I was. This person is reputable. You should let them stay at your house." They would carry that letter from house to house. That is how hospitality worked, and we see Christians using a similar system.
Gaius is known as one who makes every effort. He doesn't pass this off on someone else. He takes it as a joy to be a hospitable homeowner. He brings the brothers in, and if they are in need, he supplies it. He goes out of his way, it seems. He's not just letting them in, but going above and beyond to make them feel at home, cared for, and not a burden. It is a joy to him. He is not feeling the weight of some anxiety, but using the joy the Lord has put on him: this love. He is the beloved. He is loved by God and loved by the church, and he shares that love with the church.
So through his life, Gaius lays out a faithful testimony toward these brothers, and even more striking, they are strangers. This is the point most will highlight. He probably has no actual connection to these Christian preachers, these evangelists. They probably came with a word that Gaius was someone they could go to. Here's his address, go hang out. And Gaius has a reputation, so he brings them in, overwhelmingly, greeting them and giving them all they need.
Jesus will say that such a person is a man of peace, and we'll get to that in a moment. But this is a picture of one who offers himself for the good of those around him. In doing so, his love is testified before the church. His name is well known. He has built a name for himself, whether he realizes it or not, and that is what the text is saying. They come back from spending time with him, and all they talk about is how gracious he is. They testify to his love for the church and for the saints. It is always encouraging.
I think of missionaries who come and talk about the different places they go and the love they receive from other Christians. How we receive some of our missionaries, the graciousness of hosting them when they're in town. How many of you go out of your way to offer your home, your car, being overly hospitable to the needs of those who come across our path. We know these missionaries, the ones we support, and we hopefully take advantage of the opportunities to be hospitable and gracious to them. We've had members who are snowbirds open their condo to welcome in missionaries. Others have a house that's available, open, free range: enjoy our home, use it well for those who are workers of the gospel. That is very similar to what we have here with Gaius.
This becomes a joy in the faithful work of the saints, which is what we are called to do. We testify. We hear the testimony. We're encouraged by it, day by day. We should be encouraged to hear the stories of what the Lord is doing as he builds these connections. It also highlights the unity that comes from the Christian faith: they can be strangers and yet family. I think there's a deeper bond here than simply the Roman hospitality ethic. Someone says, "Come, welcome to my home," and Gaius goes above and beyond. I think it really is the love he has for the saints, the love we are all called to have, and it is greater than any citizenship we have. Our bond in Christ creates a new family. We are closer, familially and eternally, to our brothers and sisters in Uganda than to the non-Christian next door, or even the non-Christian in your own family. You have a deeper, eternal spiritual bond, because what unites you is eternal. It is a true and lasting family that does not end at death.
Gaius has that understanding. Even toward the stranger who is a believer, he is more compassionate and more hospitable than he might be toward a non-believer, even if his heart would be hospitable to anyone. This love he pours out gains him a great testimony.
This text also shows us the positive fulfillment of 2 John. As Pastor Adam concluded in 2 John, verses 10 and 11 gave a warning to the elect lady: if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, meaning orthodox biblical teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. Whoever greets him takes part in his wickedness.
This is the opposite. Gaius, being discerning, sees that these men are of the faith. They are not wicked men; they are orthodox preachers of the gospel. If you are to shun false teachers, you are then called to do the opposite. We see this with the Ten Commandments: if there's a negative, there's clearly a positive you're supposed to do. So rejecting false teachers means welcoming in orthodox teachers. Welcome them, greet them, give them a home. Rather than Gaius having to reject false teachers, he is called to bring in orthodox teachers. We'll see how that plays out in a false sense next week.
For now, we see Gaius as an example of living out the faith that John himself commended to the elect lady in the church in, wherever that is. Whether Gaius is part of that church is an open question, and there's lots of debate. Some will say yes, because he follows it. Others will say it's a common teaching. Historically, we don't know, and we don't have any evidence. But we do clearly see that he understands that teaching, and that is why I think he's an example for us. We can see that outworking, putting it into practice. It's one thing to hear the testimony of Scripture. It's different when you see it in person, or see it played out in Scripture.
Gaius is putting into practice the bringing in of those who are sound in the faith. He uses discernment, hears their gospel, sees the truth, brings them in, and provides for them. He becomes a central example of hospitality. What we have is a faithful man in Gaius who upholds the truth and then lives out the faithful mission.
Verse 6b-8 The Faithful; Mission:
Three Aspects of Mission Work
This is where we see three aspects of mission work highlighted for the church. We'll unpack three things the church is called to do when it comes to those who are called to spread the good news. What, then, is our role, as we mirror what Gaius is called to do and what we see in Scripture? As this section of our text concludes: "Who testified 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 for the truth."
There are lots of echoes here of the Gospel of Luke. Two texts in Luke's Gospel are highlighted here, and they are back to back. Does anyone know what they are? In chapter 9, Jesus sends out the twelve and gives them commands on how to go: not to take anything, but to trust God in what they do. Then in chapter 10, he sends out seventy-two. So we have two commissions, and they highlight that there were more disciples than just the twelve.
The seventy-two have a much longer description. The twelve is very short, and there is no follow-up on the twelve. They just get sent, and at some point they came back. We're going to follow the seventy-two, because there's a lot more to go with. In Luke 10, verses 1 through 12, we read:
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way. Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' And if the son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in it, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town."
Luke presents the teaching of Christ in the sending of the seventy-two, which follows the sending of the twelve. This involves going in and proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand, but it also requires being received. They were not told to make their own money. This wasn't fundraising in advance. You were trusting in the Lord. You went to a house to proclaim peace and prayed that the Lord would give you peace and a place to stay. If they didn't receive you, you shook off the dust, condemned it, and moved on, trusting the Lord to bring you to a place of hospitality: those who would bring you in, feed you, clothe you, and take care of you for the sake of the gospel. That gospel peace and gospel proclamation was what bound them together.
In many ways, John is echoing this event. His teaching is continually reminding them of how Christ commissioned them in those early days. I know we usually love to lean into Matthew 28 and the Great Commission, and it's great. But there are other commissions in the gospels. Luke has two of them.
1. Going for the Name
That brings us to the first thing we see: why do they go? They go for the name. We highlighted this last week. Jesus' name is never mentioned in 3 John. We do not have Jesus named, and we do not have Christ named. All we have is "the name." But it is clearly obvious what is meant. This is not simply a generic god. This is Christ himself. The name of the Lord is before them.
That is why we support godly missionaries: it is the reason they go. The heart behind the mission is not self-indulgence or building oneself up, but going with a purpose of making much of the name. Not their name, his name. It's making much of the cause of Christ. It is the same reason the seventy-two were sent: to proclaim the kingdom, to proclaim the coming Christ, that the kingdom of God is near. Christ is coming. He is walking behind them, coming to present the gospel in its fullness.
So we have the same picture here of these teachers of the word who came to Gaius and have now returned to the church where John is, proclaiming how hospitable he was. John adds an admonition: keep doing this. This is a good work. We don't want people to stop doing the good work, and you're doing it ultimately for the name of the Lord.
There's also an echo of Matthew 25, where sheep and goats are divided by what they do. What is the motivation? Is it for self, or for the good of God? Why are you doing the things you're doing? What is the true motive behind the actions? If you truly understand it's for Christ, you will do these things. When you don't see the name of Christ, you are more often left to not do them. "I didn't know to offer you water. I didn't know to be hospitable," because you don't see Christ in those actions. Here he is highlighting that for the sake of the name, you should act. These are people bringing good teaching and the truth of Scripture, and therefore you are encouraged to keep doing this for the right motivation. They have gone out for the sake of the name. Because of their commitment to the gospel, we welcome them in, we care for them, and we encourage them on the mission.
2. Not Relying on the World
It's not only why they go, but how they go. The means of their journey is that they took nothing from unbelievers. They took nothing from those who reject the faith. Here John uses the word Gentiles again, the picture of those who have rejected Christ and are not of the church. They are not trusting in the world to provide for their needs. They are trusting in the saints, and ultimately in God, to provide. So the admonition to Gaius is to provide for their needs. You are the means by which God provides for these strangers, and the means by which God provides for the mission work. It's the same reason we give to our missionaries: we give so that the gospel will go.
We're not going. Gaius isn't going. He has his house. He is taking care of his family and has things to do here, and that's not wrong. John is not telling him that he should sell all his stuff and head off somewhere else. God has blessed you to be a blessing, to help those who are called by the name. All that you're doing, keep doing it, and do more with what God has given you.
So the missionaries cannot rely on unbelievers, and they're not supposed to. This again echoes what the Lord commissioned. The seventy-two were not to take anything from unbelievers, but to trust the Lord to provide. So it is up to us as believers, as the church, to care for those who are going with the gospel. There is a level of discernment in this. Gaius discerned that they were true and orthodox, that they were faithful, heeding John's warning. He saw that they were going for the sake of the name and for the truth. So he provided for them.
And lastly, there is one point that's probably often forgotten. In bringing them in and providing for their needs, Gaius also reaps the benefit. Therefore we support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth, so that you may ultimately be partakers in that mission. It's an encouragement to be part of what God is doing. So how are you part of what God is doing globally? It's by being engaged with, and supporting, the missionary effort.
John may be doing a little FOMO here, trying to make the men feel that they don't want to miss out on what God is doing. Give money to it. I don't think that's the main point, and I don't think John is laying on the pressure. But if you have a fear-of-missing-out mentality, let's lean into that a little. If you're missing out, don't miss out on what God is doing. Support it and give.
That is a great work to be a part of, the work of the gospel. You may not be able to go physically, but that doesn't mean you have no opportunity to be part of the mission. Just because I can't go doesn't mean I can't be part of the going. That is very much what John is encouraging. By giving, and by bringing them into your home, you are partaking in the mission. You are furthering the gospel and its work. That is an amazing part to play: you become a fellow worker for the truth. You're not passive, and you're not ignoring it. You are actively partaking in what God is doing, and that going is simply by receiving. So we go by bringing.
It is a beautiful picture of God's blessed work toward the saints. He gives the joy of being part of the kingdom work without having to go overseas or all around the world, but through partnering with the work. So this is what Gaius receives. He receives a good name, but more than that, he receives the privilege of being part of God's eternal mission.
3. Partnering Today
We'll hear from Tim when he's here in a month, about all that has been going on with his time in Thailand and the changes that have transpired. We've supported them since they left in 2000. Just seeing the beauty of the gospel, we get to be part of that in small ways. And there are new opportunities like the Abitz’s in Liberia, or Tory in Togo, and all these different opportunities to see the gospel and be part of that work. Not passive, but active. These are great opportunities God gives us.
Ultimately, John's letter is a command to be part of this work. I think the key, where I want to end and wrap this up, is that yes, we are commended to be workers in it. And the joy ultimately ends in Luke 10:17–20. This is one of the texts that probably hit me when I started learning about pastoral ministry in college. My pastoral ministry professor, Chris Curtis, had us read this text every single day when we started class, and he asked us for one observation: what's really striking and encouraging here? It took us all thirteen weeks to get to the observation he was looking for. We'll see if we can do better today.
In verses 17 through 20, the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." What is the most striking part of that text? Someone got it in the first week: that your names are written in the book of life.
So Jesus lists the missionary call and all the cool things God does. God does miraculous work, all the saving. But ultimately, the most important and wonderful truth is that God has saved sinners, and that includes you. That is ultimately your joy. Yes, God can do all sorts of things through ministry, and he does, even through these missionary endeavors. But if you find your satisfaction in all the stuff and not in the Savior, you've lost your source of hope. So even as they find all these cool things and report, "Look at all the cool things God did through us," this is the only thing that really mattered at the end of the day: your name is written in the book of life. You have been saved by Christ's work, and because of that, you get the joy to do all the rest. That is what fuels it, not the other way around.
That is what brings it home, I hope for you as it did for me: the heart John is encouraging Gaius to continue to have. We see he already has it, and John is encouraging him to grow in it and further it.
