3 John. You say, what chapter, Pastor? 3 John. Just find your place there. 3 John is one of four books in the New Testament that only has one chapter, along with Philemon, 2 John, and Jude. You never measure a book by the size or the length of its pages, but by the strength of its message. Wouldn't we agree with that? We've been looking at the fascinating lives of forgotten people. We've learned that a forgotten life doesn't mean that it's an insignificant life, that there's significance to every life. Every person that God has recorded in the pages of God's Word has something to say to our lives. We can learn something from them. When I began to think about where I was going to go with this, the Lord began to bring to my mind this book and those that are named in this book, and it sort of came to me. A little question. What kind of church would my church be if every member was just like me? What kind of church would Calvary Baptist Church be if every member was just like you? Well, when you come to 3 John, you're going to meet three church members. You're going to find two of them have examples, lives that we're to follow. There's lessons that we can learn that will help us in our own spiritual lives, but one of them is an example to be avoided. You're going to find 3 John as a letter written by the Apostle John. We're going to see it. Look at verse number 1, the Elder. That's a reference to the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Apostle John. He actually is the writer of four New Testament books. The Human Penman, the Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and then the book of the Revelation. The Elder under the well-beloved Gaius, he's writing to a friend. But yet not just a friend, he's a friend in the Lord. But yet he's not just a friend, he's a member in the local church. He's writing to a man about his church. And the entire book revolves around three lives. A man by the name of Gaius. I underlined his name in verse number one. The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius. He's going to talk about Gaius about eight verses. He's got some truths to teach us. Then you're going to come to verse 9, and you're going to meet another individual, a man by the name of Diotrephes. We meet him in verse number 9 and he's going to talk about diatrophies all the way down to verse number 11 and then he's going to end his letter concerning a man by the name of Demetrius. You find that down in verse number 12. Look what he says in verse 9. I wrote unto the church but diatrophies. Do you get the idea that's not the guy? that were to follow. I wrote a letter about that. Then you come over to verse 12. Demetrius hath a good report. Gaius was well beloved. Demetrius hath a good report. But when it comes to diatrophies, there's a great big but in front of his life. I believe He's getting ready to tell us that He doesn't want us to be diatrophies. So I want to look tonight as we look at fascinating lives of forgotten people, three men and a church. Let's pray together and we're going to ask God to speak to our hearts from these three men. Lord, I pray that tonight that You'll speak to us. Lord, that You'll speak into our lives because many of us, if not all of us, would call ourselves church members. We're a part of a local church. We belong to it. And Lord, I find in the Bible, You have something to say to us about how we're to live our lives, how we're to conduct our lives as members of Your church. And I pray, Lord, that we would learn lessons tonight that would teach us, and Lord, would grow us, and also, Lord, would keep us from hindering the work of God. And we'll thank You for what You do for us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Well, we're going to look at three fascinating lives of forgotten men. Three men in a local church, and the Apostle John is writing to them. And first of all, he's going to talk about commendable Gaius. Commendable Gaius. Look again at verse number 1. He said, The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. He said, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. And so we know that John is writing a letter to this man by the name of Gaius. He loves him. Four times John is going to call him beloved. There was a special place in the heart of John for this particular individual. He even went so far as to say, listen, I want you to know, Gaius, I love you in the truth. Have you ever noticed that love in the Bible is not some kind of mushy, sentimental thing? You ever notice that? You know, the world uses the word love and you don't even know what it means anymore. I mean, it can mean anything and everything. And they've taken, and actually even a wonderful gift of God, which is this matter of loving and being loved, and they perverted that today to a level that's beyond even our comprehension. And it's interesting, he comes to Gaius and he said, I just want you to know, I love you in the truth. Can I help you to know that valid love is love that is rooted in truth. God's love flows between the banks of truth. Our love, even love that we're to have for one another as Christians, love that we're to have as husbands and wives, love that we're to have for friends and things of that nature, it ought to be based on and rooted in the truth. John said, I love you in truth. It's a love letter. written from a Christian pastor to a commendable Christian man. And he's going to talk to us about some things in his life. First of all, he's going to talk about his walk with God. Look at verse 2, I recognize that evidently Gaius had some health problems. Look at what he said, Beloved, I wish above all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. And so, when I think about John and writing to Gaius and love welding up in his heart, his heart is moved as he thinks about the physical ailment, the health problem. And John's prayer is, and his desire for his beloved friend Gaius was that his physical health would be as good as his spiritual health. He said, I want you to be as well off on the outside as you are on the inside. He was sick in body, but he's well in his soul. John was praying for his restored health. I thought about something. I wonder what kind of shape you and I would be in tonight if our physical health matched our spiritual health. I wonder if there would be some Christians tonight if their physical health matched their spiritual health, if they wouldn't be in a spiritual wheelchair. or maybe on some spiritual crutches, or maybe have to be carried in, or maybe some, there's probably even some Christians, if their spiritual health matched their physical health, they might be on life support tonight. I believe what God is saying is that He desires that we are a people who grow spiritually. This may be a man that was ailing. He was physically struggling on the outside, but inwardly he was growing in the Lord. Can I help us to understand? We don't have to be well embodied to be well in soul. Isn't that interesting? Well, that sure is a blow to the prosperity gospel people today, isn't it? The health and wealth group. That God wants you to always be healthy, and God wants you to always be wealthy, and if you have enough faith, you know you're going to have this and that, and you're not going to have any health problems. You know, I don't find that to be in the Bible, do you? I find words like, through much tribulation you'll enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus said in the world you're going to have tribulation. Job said that man is born to is a man that's born of womb, is a few days in full of trouble. Listen, as long as we live on planet earth, we're going to have physical problems and difficulty and hardship and trials. But can I help us understand that does not mean that you and I cannot prosper in our lives spiritually regardless of what may be going on on the outside. We can be well on the inside. How's your spiritual health tonight? We come to verse number 3. He's a man who's walking with God. Evidently some folks had come from the church there. They had met Gaius. They gave a report to John and said, I just want you to know that he's walking with God. He's walking in the truth. He's living out His truth. I mean, you just have to see this man Gaius and the spiritual development in his life. I see that in verse number 3. He said, For I rejoiced greatly. John said, You are a blessing to my heart. When the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. Verse 4, I have no greater joy, nothing delights my heart more than to hear that my children walk in truth. And so evidently word comes to John. And John hears about the spiritual life of Gaius. And he had heard about how he walked with God and how he lived and walked in truth. And can I tell you that nothing delights the heart of a pastor more than seeing the people that he leads and preaches to and loves and pray for living out Bible truth in their everyday lives. Nothing brings greater joy. Watching people who profess faith in Jesus Christ to go on in their Christian walk with Him. I believe that Gaius' spiritual vitality was a love for the truth. He loved the Bible, and he wanted to live out its truths in his everyday life. If we're going to prosper spiritually, then we need to be people who love the Bible. We need to make it our business every day of our lives to walk with God. And John said, I just want you to know God's best in your life. And can I tell you, that's my heart for each of you. To see you develop and be the person that God saved you and designed for you to be. To live to the full and not to miss anything that God has for your life. He's a man who walked with God. You think maybe that's something we ought to emulate? Notice, not only did he walk for God, but he worked for God. He had a servant's heart. He was a man who served. Look at verse number 5. Beloved, here he is again saying, a word of endearment. You're dear to my heart, Gaius. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers." Now, let me help you understand that word strangers there is not somebody that was strange to God. It may have been strange to Gaius. He may not have known them, but God knew them. These were not people outside the body of Christ, people that were not saved. These were itinerant preachers that were unknown to Gaius. But they were known to the Lord. They were known to the Apostle John. They traveled from town to town, place to place, ministering the Word of God. Today we would call them evangelists. We'd call them missionaries. That's what we'd call them. And they had itinerant ministries. They weren't localized in one church. They were a member of a local church. They were accountable to a local church. But their ministry was to many churches, and so they traveled about ministering in the many churches. And he said, I want you to keep doing faithfully what you've already been doing. And he said, while they were familiar to the elder John, the pastor John, they weren't familiar to Gaius. And he's commending him for his generosity in meeting the needs of the Lord's servants. Now you say, preacher, why is that important? Look what he says in verse 6, Which have borne witness, they've given testimony of thy charity, your godly love before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well." God says that is a good thing to do. Now you say, Preacher, why is that so important? Because in John's day there wasn't a Hardee's, and there wasn't a McDonald's, and there wasn't a Burger King, and there definitely wasn't a Chick-fil-A across from the church. There were some ends. You remember that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, but they were more like taverns. In the Gentile world, they were havens for thieves and prostitution. Not really a good place for a missionary and his family to stay. Gaius opened his heart, and he opened his home, and he opened his hand, and he provided for the physical needs of God's servants. He said they've borne testimony. They've been talking about your church, and you, and your generosity, and how you cared for them. Can I tell you, church, I believe there's a lesson for us tonight, how we ought to take care of the men of God that comes our way, that we ought to bring them forward on their journey after a godly sort. Every missionary that comes through Calvary Baptist Church, we do not necessarily support them monthly. We don't do that. But you know what? Just allowing them to come through and maybe present their work, or hand them a love offering, or provide a hotel room, or feed them a meal, or put gas in their tank, it furthers the work of God. It shows our hospitality as a church. John's saying, Gaius, what you and the church is doing is good. You need to keep it up. You know what, I believe Gaius was the person that when the missionary had his display table out, he always went by and spoke to him. I'll never forget one of our missionaries went to a particular church that you wouldn't think this happened. He was basically that night invited, but yet ignored. He said, I want to put my display, you can put it out over there. Never even brought him a table, he set it on the floor. Nobody even came by to speak to Him. Let that not be said of us. Whether a missionary moves you or doesn't move you, whether you're interested in what they're doing or not interested in what they're doing, we ought to go by and love on them, thank them for coming, encourage them. Take a prayer card. Listen to them for a moment. Go by and visit the display table. Show some type of interest in them simply because you'll be an encouragement. God said when you do that, you do well. Every time that you and I faithfully give to the Lord, whether it's our tithe, our offering, our missions giving, it enables us as a church to help God's men and God's servants as they come through, to bring them forward, to escort them, to aid them in their travel in the work of God. What we're doing is we're moving the work of God forward. Can I help us to understand? A church that exists for itself is not a New Testament church. We're not being the church God wants us to be when it's all about us. Notice he said that he received them. That's what he said. That you received them. In verse number 8, look what he says, verse 8, We therefore ought to receive them, receive such that we might be fellow helpers of truth. That means to welcome them. We ought to welcome them. To bring them in, to provide for them. It carries the idea of getting underneath them, lifting them up, supporting them. I'll never forget, never forget, in a church that I was in, we were doing certain things and one of the missionary's children had some expensive tennis shoes on. And a statement was made, I can't believe that missionaries' kids are wearing shoes that expensive. Can I tell you something? They're going to leave grandma and grandpa. They're going to leave friends. Those children are going to be uprooted into a strange land where they can't even at the beginning speak the language many times. They're going to spend years before they come back and see any family, any friends, attend a school where they have friends and can involve themselves in athletics. Don't you think it's alright if God blessed their family and those kids had a few expensive tennis shoes? Don't you think that's alright? You never know. It may be that some person gave them the money to buy shoes for their kids. Don't you think that's okay if God does that? Why do we have to? If not careful, we're going to quit being a Gaius when we have those kinds of mindset and we'll start being a Diocrates because we're going to meet him in just a moment. And he's the exact opposite of man by the name of Gaius. And if I don't hurry and get through Gaius, we're never going to get to Diocrates tonight, are we? God said we're doing it in a God-like way. You know, God meets our needs and you know what? God gives to us so that we can give to others. That our lives are a conduit to be a blessing to other people. God doesn't just give me the power to get wealth so that I can have. God gives me the power to get wealth so that I can learn to give. Notice verse 7. Here's why. because that for His name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. God never intended the unsaved world to fund His work. I cringe. I cringe every time I ride by a church and I see something yard sale for missions. I cringe. Bake sale for evangelism. God never told us to go to the unsaved to get money to evangelize them. God never said that. God expects His people to support His work. We ought to love God and we ought to love souls enough that we'd be willing to give so that people can take the Gospel. We should. God never intended us to fund His work through bake sales and barbecues and fish fries and rum. He never intended all that. And I still haven't figured out what a bazaar is. I see them all over the place around here. Bazaar for missions. What is that? Oh, thank you, brother. A high-class yard sale. Well, I can't go there. I probably can't afford it. I just want you to know they can't go if we don't give. Remember what Romans 10 and 14 says, how then shall they call on him, believe it's in your notes, how then shall they call on him of whom they have not believed? You can't call on somebody you've not believed on. How can you believe in somebody you've never heard of? Well, that means you can't call on somebody you've never believed in, you can't believe in somebody you've never heard of, and how shall they hear without a preacher? And listen, somebody to go and to tell, and how shall they preach? Hey, it's our job, it's our mission, It's our ministry. It's our privilege to give so that others can go, so that people can hear the Gospel. We're debtors to the world. We're debtors to the world. Our missions revival is going to come up here just in about a month, and we're going to renew our grace-giving promises so that we as a church can increase what we're doing in this matter of world evangelism and reaching the world with the Gospel. And I believe that's exactly what he's commending Gaius for. You are moving the Gospel forward. And folks, can I tell you, when you and I give and we encourage and we pray and we're a blessing to God's people, then what happens is we're moving the Gospel and it pleases the heart of God. Thou shalt do well, God says. Wow! And then take it a step further. Look at verse number 8. He said, We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Do you know what that means? That means I'm investing in their ministry and their fruit becomes my fruit. You don't know how much fruit you have. When you give to this matter of missions, when you give to the work of God, when you are encouraging and supporting the men of God, when you're praying for the servants of God, when you're doing those things, everybody, all the fruit that they have is your fruit. You're a fellow helper. You're a partner. You're investing with them in the work of God. And God said, what I'm doing is any fruit that comes from their labors, I'm adding that to your account. Do you know what? Every time you put together a Bible in our John and Romans ministry, every time you hand out a gospel track, every time you invite somebody to church, every time you give so that others might go, every time that you made a blessing to a missionary that comes through our doors to love on them, to encourage them, a preacher that God sends our way, evangelist, whatever it is, Listen, when you encourage your pastor and our pastoral staff, God's saying, every time that I give fruit to them, that's just a crown, that's just a reward for you. Do you realize that you're laying up treasure in heaven every time you do what Gaius did? Isn't that amazing? Makes me feel like I might have a crown in heaven after all, from giving to missions. We're fellow helpers to the truth. Oh, we ought to get involved in the greatest task in all the world, and that's reaching the lost for Christ. Amen. But we're going to move from a commendable gaius to a cantankerous. You say, preacher, are there church members that are cantankerous? None at Calvary Baptist Church. I'm just going to go ahead and say that right now. Now, there might be a cantankerous pastor or preacher around here, but not a church member, surely. I think what God's saying is, I don't want you to be the next guy. Notice what he says, verse number 9, I wrote unto the church, I wrote you a letter, but diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receive of this not. I was getting ready to say something I probably shouldn't have. He tore up the letter. So it reminds me, somebody tore up a speech, never mind, I wasn't going to go there. You know at the, you remember that? That's that kind of spirit. He gets that letter from John and throws it away. He's cantankerous. He was a man that had some personal ambition. You know, Diotrephes was a rare name. It was. It was a pagan name. It was associated with the Greek aristocracy. Diotrephes is probably, in his mind, a cut above everybody else. I mean, he had a little bit of means, he had a little bit of education, probably had a little bit of charm and charisma, and people were sort of drawn to him. You have to think about a church in the first century. You've got all kinds of people in that church, and some of them are even slaves. I mean, they're genuine slaves. Here's what's interesting. On Sunday, the slave might be the pastor and the master might be the church member. Very much so. Then it flipped on Sunday, I mean on Monday. Then the master became the master again and the pastor became his slave. It was a total different mindset and dynamic than what we have here in America today in the 21st century. And so here this Dodrys, there may have been slaves in that church. There was probably people of poverty in that church. There were probably some people that maybe had a little bit of means. But evidently, this guy had a whole lot of means, and he liked it, and he liked himself, and he liked to have the preeminence. Do you know that word, who loveth to have the preeminence? The word preeminence is only used two times in all the New Testament. It's used here of Diotrephes and it's used of Jesus in Colossians 1.18, that in all things He might have the preeminence. Here was a guy who wanted what only belongs to Jesus. He sort of had a me first attitude. He was fond of being first. Gaius was selfless. Diotrephes was selfish. Gaius served. He was a servant. He served Deatrophis. He was probably a master. He loved to be served. There's no indication that he wasn't a saved man. Can I tell you, every cantankerous church member, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't know the Lord. Every cantankerous pastor. I know some. I hope I'm not one. Am I? Okay, she said I'm not. I'm okay. Listen, I know some preachers... I hear this all the time. They have a little bit of problem with maybe a member in their church. Well, they must not know the Lord. Well, that's not true. They probably do know the Lord. They're probably just not walking with God like Gaius was. And that's where Diotrephes was. He wasn't surrendered to the Lord. Matter of fact, instead of helping the work of God, he hindered it. Instead of putting the Savior first, he was first. And instead of Christ being the head of church, Diotrephes wanted to usurp that. He wanted to be the head. He loved to be in charge. That's what it was. He had an agenda, but it wasn't God's agenda. Preacher, how do I avoid being a Diotrephes? Making sure that God's agenda is our agenda. That's how we do that. He had personal ambition. Boy, we ought to be careful of personal ambition, of just wanting to be important. Here's what I've been praying all the while I was in Guyana, South America. Here's what I told him. I had 800 people underneath the tent, maybe more. And I told him, I said, I want you to know, and I probably have said this, and I said it, just pretend like you've never heard it. You've heard it for the very first time, okay? Because this is the hard attitude that I'm asking God to help me to have. I told him, I said, I want you to know, what God's doing here is not because a preacher came from America. It's because you as a church are working to reach others with the gospel. That that happened down there was not my fruit. That was their fruit. They're the ones who had been week in and week out going from house to house to house, handing out invitations, running vans, bringing hundreds of people, a thousand different new visitors to church. I didn't do that. Our team didn't do that. They did that. And we got in on it. They did that. I just happened to get the privilege to get to preach, to see their fruit of their labor and their hard work, and our team got to get on that, and it blessed all of our lives, didn't it, team? It's not what we did, it's what they did, and we got to get in on it. Here's what John the Baptist said. You want to not be a diatrophist? Here's what John the Baptist said. He said, he must increase, I must decrease. You want to be the right kind of Christian, then Jesus needs to be ever increasing in our lives and we need to ever be decreasing in our lives. That means He's getting larger and we're becoming less. He's in the forefront, we're in the background. He's increasing, I am decreasing. More of Him, less of me. That's where it's at. But that's not a life of diatrophies. It was more of diatrophies and less of Christ. That was personal ambition. Let her be his priflex. I'm just going to stop. I'm going to deal with something. I probably shouldn't, but I'm going to anyway. Because he's my personal friend. Used to be. There was an independent Baptist evangelist that came through that many people had much thought of. who actually wrote a book, Blinded by Benny, now he's blinded to Benny Hinn. Greg Locke. Greg Locke used to preach everything I preached. You say, preacher, how did Greg Locke wind up in a deliverance ministry casting out demons, sitting beside Benny Hinn and embracing him? How did that happen? I'm going to tell you how it happened. It's called personal ambition. And every young preacher in this room, you better hear what I'm getting ready to tell you. You have to check your personal ambition at the door if you're going to be God's servant. Because if you don't, that what you desire will become more important than what God desires in your life. And that ought to be true for every Christian. And we ought to everyone say amen right there. I've said it. He was a man of personal ambition. And if I get a call from him, I'll tell him the same thing. He wouldn't take my calls anymore. Be his prideful actions. Look if you would at verse number 9. He said, I wrote in the church, but I ought to feast who love to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I'll remember his deeds, which he doeth prating against us. Malicious words. Could you imagine falsely accusing and speaking malicious words about the Apostle John? Could you imagine that? And that's what he was doing. He was running down the disciple whom Jesus loved. And not, look what he said, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, these itinerant preachers. He's not receiving, he's not welcoming, he's not meeting their needs, and forbids them that would, and even throws them out of the church. Can you imagine that? Look at verse 11. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. That's our lesson from Diocrates. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. They don't understand the God that they know. Do you know the sad part of it is? There are Christians that have such attitudes that they don't reflect God. They don't know God well enough to reflect and show who God really is. They don't reflect the nature of God. Isn't that something? I'm running out of time. You know what I'm just trying to say? I don't think God wants us to be a cantankerous diatrophes, do you? I think that's the significance of his life. God said, don't be this guy. Follow not that which is evil. God said, listen, what he's doing is not just wrong, it's evil. Whenever we stand in the way of God's work, it's evil. And then number three, a consistent Demetrius. Look at verse number 12. Demetrius. Aren't you glad he ends it on a good note? I'm glad he doesn't stop with old diatrophies, don't you? Demetrius hath a good report of all men. You know what he's got? He's got a good testimony. He's talking about testimony that he had. The Bible says, A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Young person, don't you listen to me. Better than gaining great wealth is having a good name. Not everybody's wealth has a good name. Not everybody that desires wealth and doesn't have it has a good name. God said a good name is better. If you've got to have one or the other, take the good name. Let me give you another one. I just want to say this. Our testimony matters, church. Let me give you a verse. I think it's in your notes. Proverbs 10, 7. The memory of the just is blessed. You know, when I think of the apostle John, do you have good thoughts? Now that you've met Gaius, do you have good thoughts about Gaius? Let me ask you about diatrophies. What does that make you feel like? They don't give me good vibes, does it you? They don't really do much for me. And you know what he's saying? The memory of the just is blessed. You remember good people and godly people and it blesses you, but the name of the wicked shall rot. It means it decays. The shame that's attached to it. You know what? I know we don't name our kids Gaius today. I understand that, but it wouldn't be a bad name. But we do name our sons John. Don't we? But it's sort of like Delilah. I think somebody told me the other day they knew somebody that named their kid Delilah. I don't know anybody named their kid Diotrephes. What about you? Honey, what do you want to name? I think Diotrephes is a really sweet name, don't you? No, we don't think that. And then don't you see the truth that he lived? He hath a good report of all men. Everybody talks about Demetrius. And then of the truth itself. He's a man who the truth he lived. He didn't just have a good name. He had a godly name. Let me ask you a question and I'm done. When your name's mentioned in your absence, what do you think people think? Now I know we're sat back and saying, I don't care what anybody thinks. Well, we should. We should care. When my name's mentioned, I hope that there's good thoughts and good things that can be said. But the only way that can be true of my life is if my testimony reflects that. And what God's saying is, I want you to be a Demetrius. Just have a good testimony so that when your name's mentioned, good things are said. That's what He said. He has a good report. That means whenever somebody mentions, oh yeah, I know Demetrius. Boy, isn't he a good Christian? He's a good Christian. Boy, I appreciate his stand for the Lord. Oh, he's a man that lives the truth. That's what I want. Is that what you want? I believe that will be the desire of our hearts, shouldn't it? Three men and a church. God said, I want you to be like Gaius. I want you to be like him. Oh, he's pleasing to me, what he does. I want you to be like a Demetrius. He's got a good report. Gaius, well-pleasing. Demetrius, good report. Deatrophies, don't follow that. That's evil. Boy, what a lesson. Do you see it? forgotten lives with a significant truth for all of us to learn. Amen.