Walking in the Truth - 3 John

                                   

We live in a very different culture than when John writes this letter, and yet people are not really all that different, no matter when or where we live. The early church historian Eusebius dates this letter from John to after John’s exile to the island of Patmos, where John wrote the last letter of the Bible Revelation. After his exile, John went on a missionary journey, visiting various churches and even went into areas not yet evangelized, offering encouragement and wisdom to the churches already established and sharing the gospel of Jesus with those who hadn’t heard about Jesus yet. This was a time of travelling missionaries; John himself is one of these travelling missionaries.

John likely writes this letter from Ephesus, where he spent some time with the church there. Both this letter and 2 John are about travelling missionaries, but for different reasons. In 2 John, John warns the churches about false teachers. These false teachers may respect Jesus as a great prophet, but they don’t recognize him as the Son of God and promised Messiah. John’s warning them against supporting Gnostic teachers. In John’s time, Gnosticism was just beginning to develop as a belief system. Gnostic teachers believed that people could only be saved through revealed knowledge, or γνῶσις. Gnostics held a negative view of the physical world; salvation was only about the soul. Early church fathers, such as Irenaeus, considered Gnosticism heretical because only those who had access to special knowledge were saved. John urges wisdom about supporting these teachers who taught heresy rather than the gospel of Jesus. He even tells them that anyone who welcomes these false teachers’ is sharing in their work. In a culture where hospitality was extremely important, this is a powerful call to the churches about the extreme danger false teachers were. That danger is still present today, especially with the growth of social media.

A recent study shows that approximately 50% of Christians today turn to social media for spiritual growth; the study also acknowledges many people today no longer have the ability to discern truth from falsehood. Satan often disguises himself as an angel of light; this is why it’s becoming important in the church and our homes today to teach Scripture and learn how to recognize what’s true and what’s false. If someone is making Jesus less and humanity more, be careful. Satan often uses a little bit of truth to entice us into beliefs that are false, leading us away from Jesus rather than towards Jesus. This is why faith formation is so important, why we focus on Scripture reading, prayer, and worship as a church family to equip our homes, not social media. The center of forming our faith comes through reading the Bible as a family, praying together, and worshipping the Lord in everything we do: our work, our play, our rest are all shaped by who God is and our relationship with him. Discipling our children in Jesus is the first and most important job we have.

In 3 John, John encourages the church, through Gaius, to welcome in travelling teachers and missionaries who have dedicated themselves to teaching the gospel news of Jesus and helping the churches grow deeper in their faith. John’s older now, which you hear in the tone of his letters. He sees Gaius as a dear friend, calling him ‘beloved.” John mentions how he received a wonderful report about Gaius’ faithfulness to the truth, how he walks in the truth; how Gaius is walking in the way of Jesus, faithfully following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This flows into his joy in hearing how Gaius is taking care of the visiting teachers and evangelists who were travelling through, and staying to do ministry in the city and area. These brothers in the faith were so impressed by Gaius’ hospitality that they made special mention of it when they reported their experiences at a church where John was attending.

Hospitality, the willingness to invite people into your life, making sure that the foreigner and stranger are looked after, was important during this time in history. The Old Testament presents hospitality as both a practical necessity and a religious command rooted in God’s character. In a world without inns or hostels, hospitality was crucial for travellers, business people, prophets, and the vulnerable; providing food, a place to stay, and protection. Yet hospitality was about more than just survival; at its core are both religious and social features; hospitality serves as a response to God’s own kindness toward Israel. Most travellers relied on the hospitality and generosity of strangers when travelling. This was especially true for the early missionaries and teachers that John’s talking about here who’ve dedicated themselves to sharing the gospel news of Jesus without a church or structure in place to support them financially. Many of these missionaries would receive some help from already established home churches, but it was often limited and sporadic. They needed to rely on local support wherever the Lord led them. John’s main point here is that Gaius and the church should help and support those who are working for Jesus, working together for the truth. Even today, as we share the truth of who is Jesus locally, we’re fellow workers with those who are called to share the gospel of Jesus elsewhere.

Hospitality has always been one of the key marks of the Jewish people and their faith. Its roots lie in the experience of how Abraham and Sarah act with generosity in their hospitality, reflecting an early expectation that once a traveller made himself known, generous hospitality was expected, with the hosts offering rest, refreshment, and a meal. The importance of hospitality appears latter on again in Lot’s welcome of visitors in Sodom and Gomorrah and how this led to his family being spared the destruction of the cities. The writer of Hebrews is thinking of these stories when he writes, Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

Hospitality isn’t just a way of life for followers of Jesus; it’s commanded by God. Leviticus 19:33–34, “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” God gives this command because the people of Israel were foreigners themselves in Egypt, and at least at first, were treated with hospitality and grace in the time of Joseph. Later on, Israel was commanded to leave grain and grapes for the poor and foreigners so they could eat. Hospitality is not just for the stranger, it’s also to be extended to your neighbour.

Israel is commanded to show hospitality to foreigners because God loves them too. God clearly commanded Israel to care for the widow, orphan, and stranger and sent prophets to remind Israel over and over again of the importance of hospitality. Jesus shows how hospitality is central to who God is when he tells his followers in Matthew 25, that those who extend radical hospitality by giving water to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and prisoner, are actually serving him. How a person received guests, by providing water for dusty feet, think of Jesus washing his disciple’s feet, revealed the host’s character and commitment to honouring God. As one commentary writes, “From a social perspective, hospitality created networks of human interdependence designed to secure basic necessities for those at disadvantage, especially the poor and landless. Ultimately, hospitality represented Israel’s response to both divine love and human need.” Through the early church’s hospitality, the gospel news spread to all corners of the Roman empire, including the heart of the empire, the palace of the emperor himself.

Yet, the church’s history is filled with those who’ve loved power over servanthood; at the heart of hospitality is a generous servant heart. We don’t know what Diotrephes’ beliefs were, whether he was gnostic or simply power-hungry, but he was willing to use his power to deny hosting travelling missionaries, and even kicking those who did help them out of the church. This is such a departure from Jesus’ teaching on servanthood for leaders.

So how does John’s letter to Gaius fit for today? We support our missionaries both on the field and during their home service; servants like Selena, Margaret, the VanderMeers, and other missionaries we’ve committed to helping. We support local missionaries such as Nikki and CAYU, in a similar way, the Broomtree serves a mission field with mission workers. Supporting these workers and organizations are ways of living out the call to hospitality as we work together for the truth.

But it’s even applicable closer to home, pastors and all those working full-time in the church trust that God will encourage his people to provide for their needs as they do their work for Jesus and the church. It’s better that we err on the side of generosity than on the side of stinginess so that those who work for the church to equip us to grow deeper in our faith, our love of Jesus, and to invite our community to repent and believe in Jesus, can do their work without worrying about how to provide for their families. Hospitality is more than financial support; it’s also about relationship. Often within a church, staff are known for what they do, not for who they are. We have an interesting staff, some chuckle if you mention 42 or the importance of a towel, some are old souls who love old devotionals, some like quadding and camping, others love learning new things, while some enjoy sports and Taco Tuesdays. Hospitality’s about inviting people into your lives and hearts, what do you know about our staff as people?

Jesus reveals the kingdom of heaven as a place of generous hospitality, where the king’s servants go into the hi-ways and byways to bring people into the banquet, where those who are last shall be first, where the unseen are seen, the broken find healing, where the hopeless find hope because our God is more generous and hospitable than we could ever imagine, welcoming sinners into his family at his own cost, even the cost of his only beloved son Jesus. Go, shaped by the generosity of God; supporting his kingdom’s workers.