Introduction: The shortest books in the New Testament are 2 and 3 John. Both epistles, in the original Greek language, within which they were written, contained less than 300 words, and each could have been written on a single sheet of papyrus, just as they can easily be printed in our Bibles today on a single page.
All three of John’s epistles deal, to some degree or another, with the topic of church fellowship. His first epistle focuses on the prerequisites of church fellowship. His second epistle focuses on protecting church fellowship. And John’s third epistle focuses on the practicalities of church fellowship.
In 2 John, we are taught that Christian hospitality is discriminatory, that neither the doors to our church houses nor to our Christian homes should ever be opened to those going around preaching a false gospel. However, in 3 John we are taught that the doors to our church houses and Christian homes should always be opened to those going around preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In this, John’s third and final epistle, he commends a beloved Christian named Gaius and condemns a conceited church leader named Diotrephes. Gaius is commended for his love of the truth and his hospitality to its itinerate preachers, while Diotrephes is condemned for being jealous of and inhospitable to these same itinerate preachers, as well as to the Apostle John, who the prideful Diotrephes feared would preempt his preeminence.
3 John 1:1 — We love all of our brothers in Christ, who believe as we do the truth about Christ, but there are also some “well-beloved” brothers in Christ, who most exemplify the truth of Christ and best exhort us to emulate it.
There are at least three, and possibly four, other men named Gaius in the New Testament. One who hosted Paul and a house church in his home in Rome (Romans 16:23). One who Paul baptized in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:14). And one who accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey, who may or may not be the same Gaius who was seized at Ephesus, during the riot caused by Demetrius the silversmith (Acts 19:29; 20:4). Whether John’s “well-beloved” Gaius is one and the same with any of these mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament we do not know.
3 John 1:2 — It should be our heartfelt and wholehearted desire for our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ to prosper materially, physically, and spiritually, but most of all spiritually, since spiritual prosperity, not material or physical, is of paramount importance.
If many modern-day Christians prospered as poorly materially and physically as they do spiritually, they would be physically infirmed and financially impoverished.
3 John 1:3 — The best testimony that one has the truth within is that he or she is walking it out.
Others must witness us walking in the truth before they can testify to the truth within us.
3 John 1:4 — The heart of a true pastor is more thrilled by his converts walking in truth than by a throng attending his church.
The pastor’s job is not to draw crowds to his church, but to make disciples of Christ.
3 John 1:5 — We are being faithful to Christ whenever we are faithfully doing for others, even for strangers, whatever Christ would have us to do.
When we do whatever Christ would have us to do for others, we are also doing it for Christ. (Matthew 25:34-40)
3 John 1:6-8 — As Christians, we are partners with our missionaries and partakers in their mission work when we so charitably support them that our help is all they need and they have no other need of help apart from ours.
Notice, just as John teaches, in 2 John 1:10-11, that by being cordial to those preaching false gospels we become “partakers” of their “evil deeds,” he teaches us here that by being charitable to those preaching the true Gospel we become “fellow—helpers” with them in the propagation of “the truth.”
3 John 1:9 — To love the preeminence is to be guilty of the sin of Lucifer. Therefore, any church that has a pastor who longs to preempt Christ’s preeminence in the church and to usurp Christ’s place in the hearts of the congregation is a church that has a devil in its pulpit!
A picture of Christ on the cross was hung on the wall behind a church pulpit. When the minister rose to speak one Sunday morning, a little boy asked his mother, “Mother, who is this man who stands up every Sunday so that we can’t see Jesus?”
Every preacher of Christ should pray to be hidden behind the cross before stepping into a pulpit, so that he’ll be concealed and Christ alone revealed.
3 John 1:10 — A pastor who insists upon being given preeminence will not only prater against his peers for fear they'll overshadow him, but also put out of his church anyone seen as a threat to him being the sole preoccupation of his whole congregation.
Many a modern-day Diotrephes is found in a contemporary pulpit, a clergymen who attempts to transform a church into his own fan club.
3 John 1:11 — It is not the evil example of a conceited and inhospitable Diotrephes, but the good example of a charitable and hospitable Gaius, that is followed by those who know and follow God.
Evil is always a frightening sight to anyone who has seen God, so much so that they can neither fixate on it or follow after it. Although they may catch a glimpse of evil and fall into it, they cannot gaze at it or follow it.
3 John 1:12 — Demetrius had, as all Christians should, not just a good testimony for how he lived among others, but also, and more importantly, for how he lived according to the truth.
If you live up to the truth, the truth itself will vouch and testify for you.
3 John 1:13-14 — John’s inspired pen stopped writing when his divine inspiration ran out. Although he had much more to say, the Spirit didn’t, so the apostle put his pen down.
Although John had more to say personally to the recipients of his epistle, he hoped to soon say it to them face to face, but since the Spirit had no more to say to posterity through John’s divinely inspired pen, he put it down, in accordance with his own divinely inspired admonition, not to add anything to the Scriptures. (Revelation 22:18)
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