Well, good morning. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Pray with me. Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords, mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. All right, see if you can tell what these names have in common. Marcian, Sibelius, Arius, Pelagius, Sosinus. Hey, good job, heretics. Now see if you can recognize these names. Tertullian, Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. If you've been in the church for long, you've heard these names and you probably recognize them to have been the most vehement opponents of those heretics that we listed just before this. Now here's a shameless plug for our Sunday school class coming up next week, Know Your Heretics. But for now, I want to highlight that the names of the teachers We remember the heretics because they had gained enough of the footing in the church that the entire church had to rise up and condemn them as fundamentally opposed to Christianity. And as such, these teachers and their followers were doomed to eternal destruction. You see, orthodox means right teaching or teaching that conforms to apostolic teaching, and heterodox, from which we get heresy, means crooked teaching or teaching that deforms and departs from apostolic teaching. To be orthodox means that you have fellowship with the apostles and the triune God. And to be heterodox means that you've departed from that fellowship and therefore are without hope. Now, Often is the case we think those are the only two categories. You are either orthodox or you're a heretic. But there's this third kind of teaching that gets lumped in with heresy but isn't actually heresy as such. It's a third kind of teaching that isn't entirely orthodox. It's not entirely conforming to the apostolic teaching, but it's also not so dangerous that it puts someone outside of the faith. So it's not heretical, but it's also not orthodox. And so it's simply called unorthodox. Maybe it'll help if we have actual categories. For example, if someone is Trinitarian, They are orthodox. If they claim that Jesus is the eternal son of God, both God and man, then they have fellowship with the apostles and they're safe. Now, if someone like the heretics we listed above denies either of those teachings, they are not merely unorthodox, they're heretical. They have left the apostolic faith and they do not have life. Those issues are life and death issues, in or out issues, and they must be treated as such. An example of unorthodox teaching that isn't necessarily heretical might be teaching that is, it is still the normal Christian experience to speak in tongues. or that a person dying outside of Christ will not be in hell forever, but they will instead cease to exist after a time. Now the historical church would reject both of those views, and yet people that embrace them aren't necessarily heretical, even if they're teaching something that doesn't conform to the way the church has historically interpreted God's word. Now, why on earth did I jump into the deep end so fast and speak in such grave categories? We're gonna hear three names. in our texts today. Two men will be named for their faithfulness, for their reception of orthodoxy, right teaching, and their orthopraxy, right living, while one will be condemned as not belonging to the apostolic faith. I want us to look at how the Apostle John refers to each of them so that we might be on guard against actual heretics. Recognize faithful teachers and abide with their testimony so that we too might share with them and one another life eternal. So saints of Reformation Covenant Church, if you're willing and able, I invite you to please stand to honor the reading of God's holy word from 3 John, where we will see one last time from the apostle. He wants you to know who to follow. Hear God's word. The Presbyterian 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've 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 have 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's doing. talking wicked nonsense against us and not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also puts 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 had much to write you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon and we'll talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends each by name. This is the word of the Lord. May God add his blessing to the reading and the hearing and the preaching of his word, and may he grant us all the grace to trust and obey him and all the church said. Amen, please be seated. Well, here we are in our final Johannine text until 2023. I'm not sure if you picked up on it, but he begins this last letter by calling himself the Presbyterian. which we translate elder. And while I mainly said that to poke at our non-Presbyterian brothers, there is some truth to the concept of Presbyterianism that we see in John's letters. After all, in his first letter, he wrote to multiple churches, likely those that were connected geographically. In his second letter, he wrote to a specific local church that was connected to the other churches. And in this, his last letter, John, as an elder of elders, writes to what many believe to be another elder, Gaius. And as has been his constant MO in addressing the family of God, John expresses his love to Gaius. And what's more, John's love is more than just a positive emotion directed toward another person. John's love for Gaius is actually a unique kind of love. All Christians love one another. In fact, John has said that is the primary indicator that you're in the family of God, is that you love one another. So yes, John loves his brother, Gaius, in this way. And John, as an authority over Gaius, loves him as anyone who's been tasked with loving God's children loves them. You see this beloved language over and over again from church leaders to those who are under their care. So yes, John loves Gaius in this way too, as someone who is under his care. But I think John's love for Gaius is still more unique than that. John, as an elder, is writing to a fellow elder. And while there's deep love among the family of God and a deep love of shepherds for sheep, there is a love that one faithful pastor has for another that's more unique still. John knows what it's like to pastor. He knows that there are dangers at every turn for the people of God. He knows what it's like to have to strain to feed the sheep faithfully. He knows how much energy it takes to pour into the weak. How exhausting it is to bring healing to the sick, how heart wrenching it is to tend to the injured. How disheartening it feels to continue to pursue people who insist on having their own way. And he knows how much it's strength it takes to keep doing all of that every day, every night for years without force or harshness. So much like it takes becoming a parent to understand the depth of love one can have for a child, and much like it takes becoming a soldier to understand the love that one soldier has for another, so too when John, as an elder, writes to his beloved Gaius, whom he loves in truth, there is a depth to that kind of love that can only be understood pastor to pastor. And this is the kind of love I, an elder, feel for your elders. the beloved Gary, the beloved Matt, the beloved Michael, the beloved Roger, and the beloved Devin. We see the bags under one another's eyes. We hear the love mixed with grief in one another's voices as we try to figure out how to best love and lead you, and we cringe when we remember we didn't do the thing we were supposed to do after the last session meeting. And thankfully in this pastoral love, we always do what John says that he's doing for his beloved Gaius in verse two. He says that he prays all may go well with Gaius, body and soul. You see, John knows that all the work and the stress and the fatigue takes its toll on a man. And so he prays and desires that Gaius be in good health so that his body might be as healthy as his soul. Now, this is true for all people, but especially pastors. They do well to pay attention to their physical health if they are to sustain the calling to which they've been called. And that doesn't mean pastors have to be extreme crossfitters. They don't have to obsess over macros like Calvin probably would have. But if a pastor is so gnostic that he completely ignores his physical health, and he has to sit on a stool because he can't stand in a pulpit for 30 minutes without having a heart attack, then he's not able to fulfill his pastoral duties. Not as much as he could if he paid attention to what he eats. how much he sleeps and if he gets regular exercise. And so John wants Gaius in the ministry for the long haul. He wants him to continue to walk in truth and he wants Gaius to continue to minister to all of God's children so that they too might continue in truth. And so he prays for and implicitly encourages Gaius to take care of his body and his soul. Gaius is a minister after John's own heart. And that brings the apostle joy, which if you remember way back from the first letter, his own joy is actually one of the reasons John wrote his letters to the churches. John said he wrote his first letter so that the family of God would know that they know the one true God. And that in staying in fellowship with one another and the apostles teaching, they would bring him joy. John wrote so that they would know love and not hate, so that they would walk in the new creation light and not in the darkness of the old world, and so that they would embrace life over lawlessness. And if they received his teaching and they heeded his instruction, John said the apostle's joy would be full. And so when John says he has no greater joy than to hear his children and God's children are walking in the truth. We know that the church, Gaius was over, had done those very things. Gaius was a faithful minister. His people were filled with light and life and love. And John knows that because as fellow Christians had passed through and spent some time with them, they testified to their experience. Beloved, I have seen with my own eyes that this is true of you. You have received and you stand in the apostles testimony and you're filled with life and light and love. And I pray it'll continue to be so. As strangers have wandered in here over the last few months, I continually hear them praise your love and your warmth. And as more strangers continue to wander in here, I encourage you to excel still more. The hospitality of the saints in 3 John was such that these travelers, upon reaching their destination, testified and bore witness to John of the love with which they were loved. Again, evidence that these saints knew the God of love. I've heard many of you rejoice in that we're able to be a breath of life, a glimmer of light and a spirit of love during what feels like a dry, dark, and cold time. And you remark about how many faces you see that you don't recognize. And what's better, I've gotten to experience some of John's joy because I hear from these visitors about how many of you are loving them well. I hear of your reaching out to them and feeding them in your homes. And to know that they're being invited into your life and to know that you who are mature in the faith are coming alongside the newbies brings your elders an apostolic joy. It's no coincidence that many of these folks who were once strangers are now falling in love with you. And they're deciding to stick around and become. part of the family, but even if they don't stay forever and they're able to return to their respective houses of worship, let them go back singing the praises of God because they were loved well by Him and through you during this time. Now I trust you will. I look forward to participating in that joy even more that John expressed and undoubtedly felt by Gaius as he heard this encouraging report. Rooted and grounded in orthodoxy, Gaius' folks lived it out in their lives. Truth led to love, as it always must. But Gaius isn't the only name mentioned in John, is it? Gaius isn't the only church leader to whom John speaks. Apparently, as we learn in verse 9, John has also written to a man named Diotrephes. But unlike Gaius, Diotrephes did not heed the apostles' counsel. Now, many of us have been wondering for months, who are these secessionists? Who are these antichrists? Who are these men who claim to be Christians but rejected the apostolic teaching about the Christ? Who were the men who refused to be patient and wait for the apostolic commission and went out self-ordaining and self-commissioning? Who were these men that had not only gone out from the church, but were beginning to draw God's children after them? Now we don't know all their names, but we know one, Diotrephes. And John says the root of Diotrephi's problem is he likes to put himself first. He wants to be the man. He wants to find his life without losing it. He wants the crown without the cross. He wants the fame without the shame and the glory without paying the price. That is not the life of an under-shepherd who follows the apostles who follow Jesus. But to be fair, who wouldn't want all of the good and none of the bad? That's what was tempting God's people to go after these false teachers was those promises. And if you remember, before Jesus turned the world upside down, John himself wanted to be a leader like all of the other leaders in the world. So perhaps it was with a wince and maybe a sick feeling in his stomach that John rebuked Diotrephes for the exact same behavior that he himself had displayed when arguing with the apostles over who was going to be the greatest. If you remember, it was John who wanted to be first. It was John who had his mommy go ask Jesus if he and his brother could sit at his right and left hand in the kingdom. Now we don't know for sure what John wrote to Diotrephes, but you can imagine him retelling his own story of how he too struggled with wanting glory. You can imagine him telling Diotrephes how the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest when Jesus rebuked them, and he took a little child in his arms. He said, those such as these are mine. In my kingdom, these little ones don't need to become like you, strong, wise in your own eyes, and independent. You need to become like them, meek, humble, and loyal. And then you can imagine John Fleshing kingdom leadership out even more when Jesus told John's mother, she didn't know what she was asking, in asking that her sons could sit on his right and left hand. You see, Diatrephes, in Jesus's kingdom, rulers don't sit on a throne before they carry a cross. And if Jesus had granted my mother's request I would have been hanging next to him in humiliation, not seated next to him in exaltation. But that wasn't the plan. They couldn't drink that cup, Jesus said. They couldn't bear the actual cross. And those places on his right and on his left were already reserved for two other men. And John, having seen his glorious Lord crucified, dead, buried before his exaltation, transformed not only John's, but all of Christ's followers' understanding of leadership. Diotrephes, I know you want to be first, but you must become last. After all, this was the example of our Lord, Diotrephes. I should know, I was there. But Diotrephes has rejected this gospel way. He has rejected Christ-like leadership and therefore Christ-like lordship. And his rejection of John's apostolic authority is evidence of Diotrephes' root motives. Diotrephes shows that his desire is not to pour his life out for others. And he doesn't display a sacrificial love that lays down his life for his friends, and therefore he proves that he doesn't know the God of love. He hates the brethren. And he shows it when he slanders the apostles and refuses to harbor anyone who's on their team. What's more, he excommunicates anyone who would dare challenge his authority by appealing to theirs. Theotrophes leads like the rulers of this earth, and he proves that he's walking in the darkness of the old creation. And his insistence on the good life here and now reveals that his final destination is not eternal life. He's departed from the road and he's on one that leads to eternal death. And so in true sons of thunder fashion, John foreshadows the great Wyatt Earp in writing to Gaius, you tell him I'm coming and hell's coming with me. John is the apostle of love when it comes to the people of God. And he uses the crook of his shepherd staff to lift them out of harm's way. But when it comes to the wolves, his staff becomes a rod for the back of fools. And he's telling Gaius to beware of this false teacher and not to imitate him. Now I confess, when I was first trying to figure out what does it mean, what does it look like to be a pastor? Look out at these huge, churches where all the cool people would go. And they had the cool buildings and they had a program for every life stage. And I was tempted to follow that mold. I mean, they're obviously successful, right? God's obviously with them, right? People looked up to them and listened to them. And if I wanted to have that kind of influence, then I needed to assemble an awesome worship team. I needed to appeal to the broadest crowd possible, so I couldn't emphasize doctrine. And because young people are the movers and the shakers and the influencers, I needed to distance myself from anything that looked or sounded old, and I needed a vibrant youth ministry. If I could have those things, if we could get enough people, then I would have a successful church and I would get to influence people for Jesus. Or so all the church planting manuals said. Thankfully, God prevented me from going into ministry at my first inkling to do so. Instead, it took several painful years, and the longer I watched, the more these really cool, popular, successful preachers fell into scandal. or the church embraced some unorthodox teaching that brought with it all sorts of trouble for their people. I saw the pain and I saw the disenfranchisement these men left in their wake, and I heard the name of God blasphemed among the Gentiles because of them, and it terrified me. One thing that kept pricking me, kept sticking with me is that I knew men, I knew men who would, when I would sing the praises of these guys, would warn me that they're gonna destroy themselves and they're gonna destroy God's people. And what's more, they were almost always right. Now these were men that no one had ever or will ever hear of. They weren't even movers and shakers in our little bitty presbytery. But they've been faithful pastors for decades. often in the same places, never putting themselves first. They were faithful, their people were faithful and their children and their children's children were faithful. Yes, they were usually pastors of small churches that spoke highly of the apostolic faith and recited the creeds. They baptized and married and buried their people And they even knew each of them by name. Their churches were definitely not the cool places to be, but they were doing justice. They were loving mercy. They were walking humbly with their God, walking in the truth for the sake of the name. Perhaps an even better testimony is that the love with which their people loved was always on display if you had your cross-shaped glasses on. You see, what I didn't realize at the time was that I, like Gaius and every other minister, and really every other Christian, was being faced with two ways. The way of Diotrephes or the way of the apostles. John says that he and his commandant Demetrius had received two reports, a report of Gaius and a report of Diotrephes, a report of selfless love and truth and a report of selfish glory in the life of falsehood. The ministry of Gaius was praiseworthy and noble and true, and the ministry of Diotrephes was condemnable and shameful and false. John encourages young Gaius to continue to walk in the truth. Do not imitate Diotrephes. His way is evil. Rather, continue to imitate Him. Imitate John who is from God and does good. This is the temptation that all young men and women have and will face with wrestling through how to serve Christ and His church. And this is the temptation that many of you younger folks are wrestling through right now. Are you going to go down the streets paved with fool's gold? and follow the dynamic catalysts who re-synergize the gospel, even if they never tell you what that gospel actually is? Are you gonna follow the old, lonely, dusty, cross-shaped road? It's the road less traveled, but it's the road your Savior took. It's the road his apostles took, and it's the road that all of his faithful ministers take, regardless of church size. You see, it wasn't the size or the kind of places or even the name recognition that was the problem. Gaius and Diotrephes both had enough followers to have a reputation. And so the issue isn't with the size of the following or that people know their names. The issue is who are they living for? The issue is what road are they taking? What road are they guiding others down? And it's those two roads before you today. One road is aware of and steps on rocks and snakes and wolves. that would injure or devour you and all of God's people, one road promises comfort and life, but it only leads to suffering and death. The other road promises suffering and death, but it leads to life. Beloved, while it's true that John is speaking to a young minister, so too, I encourage you to choose carefully which road you choose and which teachers you follow. Many of these shiny new roads offer an easier way, a funner ride, and a more glorious life, but it's one that's not cross-shaped, and it doesn't cost you everything. Do not follow after the vainglorious diatrophies of this world. Do not imitate their way of thinking and loving and living. Instead, though it feels slow, wait for it. If it appears aged and dull, filled with suffering and splinters, continue to follow the road of the truly glorious one, Jesus the Christ. Follow and imitate Him. Follow and imitate the apostles who followed and imitated Him. And follow and imitate the teachers who follow and imitate them who followed and imitated Him. For as John says, only one testimony is true, and you know which one that is, amen? Amen, let's pray. All praise to you, dear Father in heaven, for you have opened up to us the way to eternal life and the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We give you thanks for all those who have gone before us in the faith and now rest from their labors. Keep us in this same faith, and embolden us by your resurrection to be fearless in the face of disease, chaos, loneliness, and every sorrow of this world. Give us, with our Father Job, the solemn expectation to cheer us, that our Redeemer lives. And we too hope and long that we will be resurrected and glorified to live with our resurrected Lord, who lives and reigns now with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.