QT 2/14/2025 3 John 5-15, The danger of straying from the word

3 John 5–15 (ESV) —

5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 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.

11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 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.

13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

 

NOTE: Churches can be wrong. John wrote something to this church that was apparently intercepted by Diotrephes and was squashed. Diotrephes is what I would call a bird, one of the ones that nestle in the large tree (parable of the mustard seed), and take away the word from those who might hear (parable of the 4 soils). I am probably stretching those parables a bit, but every church has false teachers and some rise pretty high, as is the case at this Gaius' church.

 

What do you do if you have a false teacher in the church? First, take any concern to the elders. Second, do not gossip, leave it to God, pray. Third, if you do not see any action taking place, it is not wrong to seek another place of worship.

 

A more difficult question is, how do I know that I am not the false teacher? I can't give a good answer except to say that if you are in the word of God every day and are memorizing scripture, reading the bible, and studying the bible, my opinion is that God will protect you from becoming a false teacher.

 

PONDER:

Where do I get my source of information about God and life? If not from the bible, there is an exceedingly great danger that I am a false teacher (and an antichrist).

 

PRAYER: Father, I pray for your protection so that I am not lured into false doctrine or teach things that are opposed to the truth. Continue to fill me with the word of God, the only standard of truth that mankind knows or has.

QT 2/13/2025 3 Jn 1-4, The importance of the word of God in protecting you from evil

 

3 John 1–4 (ESV) —

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 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. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

 

NOTE: John opens up his short personal letter to Gaius with a prayer. It is certainly a prayer for him physically and spiritually. In some versions, the word prosper is used, but I don't think it is a prayer for financial success (as some want to interpret it). The root words that make up eudoo are eu and hodos. The root word eu means well or well done. The root word hodos means way or journey (referring to a traveler). John was praying that in his journey in life as a believer, things would go well. It is not that God is against financial success; Abraham, Job, Joseph, David, Solomon, and others are examples of very wealthy men. But Jesus makes it clear, that for most people, money can become a god, and you cannot serve two masters. So, God provides what we need, usually not what we want.

 

I agree that there are few joys in life that compare to seeing people you have helped spiritually grow deep in their faith. It is one of the most satisfying feelings one can experience in life. One the other hand, it is quite discouraging to hear of people you have helped spiritually abandon God's word for an idol (God made into an image of what they want to believe rather than what the scripture teaches). This latter group believe they are still following God, but they are not.

 

Many are falling into the "deconstructionist" movement today. If you are not going to the word of God for answers, you are being deceived by Satan. You must walk in truth. Our culture is controlled by the evil one and he is laying traps to pull you away from the faith. Don't fall for his lies! He promises freedom but you will ultimately only experience captivity to sin.

 

PONDER:

1. Are you in a "deconstructionist" phase of your faith? Leave it now if it doesn't focus on God's word. You are in great danger.
2. Have you ever experienced the joy of seeing someone come to the faith and grow in faith? Why or why not? Maybe your faith is not worth following.

 

PRAYER: Father, bring us back to the word of God. We may not like all that it says, but it is truth. Your word will always be more true than anything else I can believe. Protect from the evil one's schemes, he has been a liar from the beginning.

QT 12/17/2020 3 John 12, Writing a new end story

 

QT 12/16/2020 3 John 11, We are the salt of the world

 

QT 12/15/2020 3 John 7-8, Hospitality for the kingdom

 

QT 12/14/2020 3 John 4, Seeing our "children" grow

 

QT 28 Nov 14, 3 Jn 1-4, The greatest joy is not health or a good life, but to walk in truth

3 John 1-4 (ESV) The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 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. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

NOTE: Sometimes I get annoyed by prayers that focus on sickness and health. I know that is not right; and I never express my annoyance (at least that I am aware). But in this passage, John is saying that he prays for the two things that I usually don't see as important, and two other things that I consider of paramount importance. John prays that things would go well for Gaius and that Gaius health would be good. That is a little like praying, "Bless Gaius." They are not very specific, and it could be that John's prayers are much more specific--it is just that in this short letter he does not go into detail and instead summarizes two areas of prayer for Gaius. So, one could hardly make a principle on the basis of a short note. The two other areas, also written generally and possibly prayed more specifically are that things go well for Gaius' soul and (inferred) that Gaius walks in truth. And John does state that he has not greater joy than to hear that his spiritual children walk in truth. Health and things going well are nice, but the greatest joy is walking in truth. That is my prayer for my children (spiritual and physical). I just don't want life to go nice, although that can be good. My greater joy is to hear that my children walk in truth. There is no greater joy.