3 John
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   AT special invitation or with a surprise knock, company arrives and with them comes the promise of soiled floors, extra laundry, dirty dishes, altered schedules, personal expense, and inconvenience. From sharing a meal to providing a bed, hospitality costs. . . .in time, energy, and money. But how we treat others reflects our true values, what is really important to us. Do we see people as objects or inconveniences, or as unique creatures of a loving God? And which is more important to God, a person or a carpet? Perhaps the most effective ways to demonstrate God’s values and Christ’s love to others is to invite and welcome guests into our homes.
   For Gaius, hospitality was a habit, and his reputation for friendship and generosity, especially to traveling teachers and missionaries, had spread. To affirm and thank Gaius for his Christian life-style, and to encourage him in his faith, John wrote this personal note.
   John’s format for this letter centers around three men - Gaius, the example of one who follows Christ and loves others, Diotrephes, the self-proclaimed church leader who does not reflect God’s values; and Demetrius, who also follows the truth. John encourages Gaius to practice hospitality, continue to walk in the truth, and do what is right.
   Although this is a personal letter, we can "look over the shoulder" of Gaius and apply its lessons to our lives. As you read 3John, which man do you identify? Are you a Gaius, generously giving to others? A Demetrius, loving the truth? Or a Diotrephes, looking out for yourself and your "things." Determine to reflect Christ’s values in your relationships, opening your home and touching others with his love.

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VITAL STATISTICS

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Purpose:
To commend Gaius for his hospitality and to encourage him in his Christian life

Author:
The apostle John

To Whom Written:
Gaius, a prominent Christian in one of the churches known to John, and all Christians

Date Written:
About A.D. 90, from Ephesus

Setting:
Church leaders traveled from town to town helping to establish new congregations. They depended on the hospitality of fellow believers. Gaius was one who welcomed these leaders into his home.

Key Verse:
"Dear friends, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you" (verse 5).

Key People:
John, Gaius, Diotrephes, Demetrius

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1) God’s children live by the standards of the gospel (1-12)
2) John’s final words (13-15)

   John wrote to commend Gaius, who was taking care of traveling teachers and missionaries, and to warn against people like Diotrephes, who was proud and refused to listen to spiritual leaders in authority. If we are to live in the truth of the gospel, we must look for ways to support pastors, Christian workers, and missionaries today. All Christians should work together to support God’s work, both at home and around the world.

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THEME: 
Hospitality

EXPLANATION:
John wrote to encourage those who were kind to others. Genuine hospitality for traveling Christian workers was needed then and is still important today.

IMPORTANCE:
Faithful Christian teachers and missionaries need our support. Whenever you can extend hospitality to others, it will make you a partner in their ministry.

THEME: 
Pride

EXPLANATION:
Diotrephes not only refused to offer hospitality, but he set himself up as a church boss. Pride disqualified him from being a real leader.

IMPORTANCE:
Christian leaders must shun pride and its effects on them. Be careful not to misuse your position of leadership.

THEME: 
Faithfulness

EXPLANATION:
Gaius and Demetrius were commended for their faithful work in the church. They were held up as examples of faithful, selfless servants.

IMPORTANCE:
Don’t take for granted Christian workers who serve faithfully. Be sure to encourage them so they won’t grow weary of serving.

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John's Profile

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   Being loved is the most powerful motivation in the world! Our ability to love is often shaped by our experience of love. We usually love others as we have been loved.
   Some of the greatest statements about God's loving nature were written by a man who experienced God's love in a unique way. John, Jesus= disciple, expressed his relationship to the Son of God by calling himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved@ (John 21:20). Although Jesus= love is clearly communicated in all the Gospels, in John's Gospel it is a central theme. Because his own experience of Jesus= love was so strong and personal, John was sensitive to those words and actions of Jesus that illustrated how the One who is love loved others.
   Jesus knew John fully and loved him fully. He gave John and his brother James the nickname "Sons of Thunder,@ perhaps from an occasion when the brothers asked Jesus for permission to "call fire down from heaven@ (Luke 9:54) on a village that had refused to welcome Jesus and the other disciples. In John's Gospel and letters, we see the great God of love, while the thunder of God's justice bursts from the pages of Revelation.
   Jesus confronts each of us as he confronted John. We cannot know the depth of Jesus= love unless we are willing to face the fact that he knows us completely. Otherwise we are fooled into believing he must love people we pretend to be, not the sinners we actually are. John and all the disciples convince us that God is able and willing to accept us as we are. Being aware of God's love is a great motivator for change. His love is not given in exchange for our efforts; his love frees us to really live. Have you accepted that love?

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John's Strengths and Accomplishments

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1) Before following Jesus, one of John the Baptist's disciples
2) One of the 12 disciples and, with Peter and James, one of the inner three, closest to Jesus
3) Wrote five New Testament books: the Gospel of John; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John; and Revelation

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John's Weaknesses and Mistakes

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1) Along with James, shared a tendency to outbursts of selfishness and anger
2) Asked for a special position in Jesus= kingdom

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Lessons from John's Life

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1) Those who realize how much they are loved are able to love much
2) When God changes a life, he does not take away personality characteristics, but puts them to effective use in his service

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John's Vital Statistics

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1) Occupations: Fisherman, disciple
2) Relatives: Father: Zebedee. Mother: Salome. Brother: James
3) Contemporaries: Jesus, Pilate, Herod

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Key Verses

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"Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining@ (1st John 2:7, 8).

John's story is told throughout the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation.

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(1) God’s children live by the standards of the gospel

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   This Letter gives us an important glimpse into the life of the early church. Third John, addressed to Gaius, is about the need for showing hospitality to traveling preachers and other believers. It also warns against a would-be-church dictator.
   The "elder" is John, one of Jesus' 12 disciples and the writer of the Gospel of John, three letters, and the book of Revelation. We have no further information about Gaius, but he is someone whom John loved dearly. Perhaps Gaius had shared his home and hospitality with John at some time during John's travels. If so, John would have appreciated his actions, because traveling preachers depended on expressions of hospitality to survive (see Matthew 10:11-16).
   John was concerned for Gaius’s physical and spiritual well-being. This was the opposite of the popular heresy that taught the separation of Spirit and matter and the physical side of life.
   Today, many people still fall into this way of thinking. This non-Christian attitude logically leads to one of two responses: neglect of the body and physical health, or indulgence of the body’s sinful desires. God is concerned for both your body and your soul. As a responsible Christian, you should neither neglect nor indulge yourself, but care for your physical needs and discipline your body so that you are at your best for God’s service.

2) What did John say has given him much joy, and what did John say he has no greater joy than?

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   Traveling missionaries and evangelists probably swelled the ranks of those who moved back and forth. Yet it is too much to read into the term "brothers" an exclusive reference to them. There was obviously a lively flow of persons between the church where Gaius was a member and the elder's community. Moreover, these men appear to be reporting to the elder as a normal and expected activity. They tell him about Gaius's faithfulness to Christian truth as well as about his sincerity and faithfulness in his daily living.
   John now comments on his reaction to Gaius's stand for the truth. There is no more important news he can receive, no greater joy he can experience, than that his own "children" (i.e., his own converts to the faith) are living in faithfulness "to the truth." The word "children" could, of course, designate any for whom John feels pastoral responsibility (cf. 1John 2:13a). (taken from The NIV Bible Commentary, Zondervan Publishers)

3) What was Gaius faithful in even though they are strangers, what have these brothers told the church about Gaius, and in what manner would Gaius do well to send them on their way?

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   In the church’s early days, traveling prophets, evangelists, and teachers ("the brothers") were helped on their way by people like Gaius who housed and fed them.
   Hospitality is a lost art in many churches today. We would do well to invite young people for meals-fellow church members, young people, traveling missionaries, those in need, visitors. This is an active and much appreciated way to show your love. In fact it is possibly more important today. Because of our individualistic, self-centered society, there are many lonely people who wonder if anyone cares whether they live or die. If you find such a lonely person, show him or her that you care!

4) For whose sake were the missionaries sent out, whom did they receive no help from, and why should we show hospitality to such men (missionaries)?

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   The traveling missionaries neither asked for nor accepted anything from nonbelievers because they didn’t want any one questioning their motives for preaching. God’s true preachers do not preach to make money but to express their love for God.
   It is the church’s responsibility to care for Christian workers: this should never be left to nonbelievers.
   When you help someone who is spreading the gospel, you are in a very real way a partner
in the ministry. This is the other side of the principle in 2John. Not everyone should go to the mission field; those who work for Christ at home are vital to the ministry of those who go and who need support. We can support missionaries by praying for them and by giving them our money, hospitality, and time.

5) Who did John write to the church about, what does he love to do, what did John say he will call attention to (what Diotrephes is doing), what does Diotrephes refuses to do, and who does he stop and puts them out of the church?

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   All we know about Diotrephes is that he wanted to control the church. John denounced (1) his refusal to have anything to do with other spiritual leaders, (2) his slander of the leaders, (3) his bad example in refusing to welcome any gospel teachers, and (4) his attempt to excommunicate those who opposed his leadership. Sins such as pride, jealousy, and slander are still present in the church, and when a leader makes a habit of encouraging sin and discouraging right actions, he must be stopped. If no one speaks up, great harm can come to the church. We must confront sin in the church; if we try to avoid it, it will continue to grow. A true Christian leader is a servant, not an autocrat!

6) What does John tell the church not to imitate, who are from God, who has not seen God, who is well spoken of by everyone, and what did John say their testimony is?

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   Why does the elder appeal to those who "imitate"? Because it is the nature of God's revelation that truth (verses 1, 3), love (verse 6), and righteousness (verse 11) have been modeled first in Jesus Christ and then by those who are faithful to his commandments. We do not have innately a dependable standard by which to judge ourselves. We must always measure our understanding and actions by God himself, for whom love, truth, and righteousness are absolute attributes. In Christ these same attributes have become available to all who love God and desire to obey his commands. To show them forth in our lives proves that we are "from God." All goodness proceeds from him; our perseverance in goodness demonstrates that in Jesus Christ we have seen God.
   The elder now commends Demetrius, of whom we know no more than what is said of him here. For some reason John felt it important for Gaius to know and trust him. Apparently he was also one of John's supporters. He may have been the bearer of this letter or traveling missionary. John honors him with a threefold tribute: (1) He "is well spoken of by everyone." (2) He is well spoken of "by the truth itself." (3) The elder also "speaks well of him." This strong backing of Demetrius leads us to think he had been given a special mission that required unusual trust, but one that the elder did not choose to describe here. What does John mean that "the truth" speaks well of Demetrius? It is the truth of the Gospel in Demetrius's life that the elder is referring to. Like Gaius, Demetrius is "walking in the truth." His life matches his confession. (taken from The NIV Bible Commentary, Zondervan Publishers)

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(2) John's final words

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7) How did John want to talk to the church, who did John say sends their greetings, and how did John say to greet the friends there?

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   Whereas 2John emphasizes the need to refuse hospitality to false teachers, 3John urges continued hospitality to those who teach the truth. Hospitality is a strong sign of support for people and their work. It means giving them of your resources so their stay will be comfortable and their work and travel easier. Actively look for creative ways to show hospitality to God's workers. It may be in the form of a letter of encouragement, a gift, financial support, an open home, or prayer.

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Answers to 3John

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1) the elder...Gaius...that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you...your soul
2) to have some brothers come and tell me about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth...to hear that my children are walking in the truth
3) what you are doing for the brothers...about your love...worthy of God
4) the Name (Christ Jesus)...the pagans...so that we may work together for the truth
5) Diotrephes...to be first...what he is doing, gossiping, maliciously about us...to welcome the brothers...those who want to do so (welcome the brothers)
6) what is evil...anyone who does good...anyone who does what is evil...Demetrius...true
7) face to face...the friends here...by name

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