I'll be reading 1 Peter 4, verses 8, 9, and 10. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Please bow in prayer with me. Lord Jesus, thank You that we can come together on an absolutely gorgeous Sunday as a corporate body of believers and worship You and take communion together and hear Your Word. Please speak through Boyd as he brings the message and just help us in everything to love more as You would have us love. In Your name I pray, Amen. Turn with me to the book of 3 John. Today we're beginning the last of the three letters of John. We'll cover verses 1 through 8 this week and Lord willing we'll finish out this book next week. 3 John. Follow along as I read through the first eight verses of this very, very short book of the Bible. In fact, it's the shortest book in the entire Bible. Beginning with verse one, the elder, unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou dost faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. because that for his name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth." We've covered the first eight verses here and we're going to, as this unfolds for us today, we're going to really see the richness of these eight verses that John has written and we're going to look at each one and I'm sure, I just want to kind of get a perspective here of what we're dealing with. And maybe this has happened to some of you folks. I know it's happened to us every once in a while. But the person who delivers our mail will occasionally put someone else's mail in our mailbox, obviously not intentionally. And it's rare, but where we live now, it's happened a couple of times. And we'll get some of our neighbors' mail. Usually it's someone who lives actually a street over. And I remember one time I just grabbed the mail and just started opening things up, and all of a sudden opened up something, I started reading, I go, oh, wow, this isn't mine. I noticed it, and I was like, this is not, I just was not, I was just going through the mail opening and realized it was someone else's. And so I looked on the front of the envelope, which I probably should have done at first, and sure enough, it was for someone else. But just in that little bit, I kind of felt like I had invaded someone's privacy. I was like, it wasn't intentional, but I was reading something that was not intended for my eyes. And thankfully, it wasn't something that was like a personal letter, but I had looked at someone else's mail, and I was uncomfortable doing that. Now today, what we have the privilege of doing with Third John is we get to intentionally, on purpose, read someone else's mail. This is John's letter to Gaius. This was a personal letter. This was not a business letter. This was a personal letter and it wasn't to the whole church It was just to this man and yet God has saw fit to put this in the canon of scripture and here we today as a church body 2,000 some years later we get to read someone else's mail and so we look here at the first eight verses and God is warning us to read this letter and And this letter is written to Gaius, which brings us to some questions we're going to look at today. The first question is, who is Gaius? Now, there are several people by this name mentioned in the New Testament. There's one mentioned in, there's a Gaius mentioned in Acts 19, Acts 20, Romans 16, I'm not sure. Honestly, if this is the same person or if this is one of those three that I just mentioned, then in the other parts of the New Testament, because this name was a very, very common name in the Roman Empire. In fact, many scholars believe it was the most common name in the Roman Empire. So there were a lot of people by this name. And just like, for instance, in America, James is the most number one common name in America. And in case you're wondering, Boyd is 487th as far as I had to look it up. So I was like, I'm curious now, let's see where I am in the list. But James is first in America, and then John is second in America. And here, Gaius was probably number one in the Roman Empire. So it's a very common name. And so, but what's more important than actually remembering the name of this man is the example and the character that we read about regarding Gaius. The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Here is a man who is well loved and he is committed to serving others. And John also expresses his love for him. He's really an example. A faithful man who is walking in the truth. So we gotta just step back and go, let's see what this man, the character, the life of this man as it unfolds as we read this short letter of 3 John. Gaius is a very well-loved man, faithful to Christ, and a man of great character. And so John has written to him, this man named Gaius. Now let's look at verse 2, and I actually didn't realize this until I was reading over it later this morning, but I think I left this out of your outline, which is the second question. Following verse 2, it says, So the second question that should be there in your outline is, what makes our soul prosper? Because this is what John is saying to Gaius. He says, Our soul prosper. What does that really mean? Well, your soul prospers by being committed to Christ. It's having Christ and His Word deeply rooted in your hearts because you are walking in the truth. And so, when we look here at Gaius, Notice what John says to him. He admits that his soul, he sees that his soul has prospered. John is seeing that. He says, Gaius, I wish that your soul, where it is, I wish that your physical life would catch up to where your soul is. because it's obvious that your soul has prospered. He admits that his soul has prospered, but he wishes that physically he would also prosper as well, just like his soul has. Now, I don't know if that means that he knew that maybe Gaius was suffering physically, or maybe he just said, listen, you are so far along in your walk, it is obvious that your health, it would be nice if your health was just like your soul. But so he's writing to this man, acknowledging that it is very obvious that his soul has prospered. And I find it interesting that John knows this, that he is spiritually healthy, and he's just wishing that his physical life would catch up to that, because his soul is doing so well in Christ Jesus. Now think about that, is that a prayer that you pray for yourself, or that you pray for others, or that you pray for your children? Do you pray that spiritually you would be where you need to be? Do you pray for that more fervently than you pray for your physical life, for your finances, for your health, for those types of things? Is your greater concern more for your physical well-being than for your soul? Are you more consumed with how you're walking spiritually with the Lord than you are, than how you're doing physically, or the world around you. Think about that for a minute. It's a really, a convicting verse, it's a convicting thought. We should all be more concerned about our spiritual status than our physical status. In Matthew 10, 28, Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. See back there in Matthew, Jesus was reminding us that it's really when it comes to your soul and when it comes to your body, the greater concern should always be your soul. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, for bodily exercise profit is little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that is now and of that which is to come. Again, a reminder, it is more important to be spiritually minded regarding your health than it is to be physically minded regarding your health. And John's really given a very, I guess a compliment to Gaius. It's obvious that his soul is in great shape because he is walking with the Lord. He's walking in truth and he's walking in love. And in addition to that, John is hoping that his physical life would be going just as well as his spiritual life. But either it's not or he's unaware of it, he's just saying, I wish that this was the case, that your physical life was in as good a shape as your spiritual life. But how often do we worry about the physical more than we worry about the spiritual? We pray for our day to go well, we pray for things to work out that are on our schedule, and we pray for our health, and we pray for our loved one's health, and not that you shouldn't pray for those things, but the pattern we see in Scripture is that we should be more consumed about the spiritual things in our life, our soul prospering, more so than our physical life. Let's look at verse three. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. And then verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Our next question is, is your testimony, and you can put in your outline my, make it very personal, is my testimony a testimony of walking in the truth? Now, we just finished the second letter of John, and he said something very similar to that sister in Christ, the lady that he was writing to. He said in second John, I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And so, he's already acknowledged this in second John, the same thing, that he's rejoicing that he has found that her children are walking in the truth. And it's a common theme, we see this in 2 John and we see it here in 3 John, regarding the sister in 2 John and regarding Gaius here in 3 John, that they are both walking in the truth. They are both grounded in Christ Jesus. Because there is a difference, there is a great difference between knowing the truth and walking in the truth. There are many who profess to know the truth. But God is calling us to walk in what we know, to live it out. To go from being just someone who hears to being someone who hears and does. Because what you believe, it ultimately reveals itself in the way that you live. I told this story a few years ago, but I had a childhood friend who his parents separated and his dad just went the way of the world. Left the church, left his family, went and just kind of lived it up in the world and a few years ago he died and at the church service or the funeral service, someone got up and spoke and And they said, I'm going to say something about Robert that may surprise you, and that is that he was a Christian. Well, I think that did surprise everybody there, that this man would say that. Because this man was not known for his faith. This man was not known for his belief. He was known for a lot of other things. But this man who was preaching at his funeral was trying to convince everyone that he was saved because of a prayer he said when he was a little boy. But there was no evidence of him walking in the truth for the last 30 years. He'd gone completely the way of the world. Because what happens is, is your life reveals what it is that you're really walking in. Do you walk in the truth? Or do you walk in the way of the world? Does what you actually do match up with what you're saying? Because you can say one thing and completely live another way. Do you walk in the truth of Jesus Christ and his word, or do you walk in a life that really tries to please you? That does what you want to do? That seeks your way? See, your lifestyle, how you live, it really reveals your identity in Christ, whether or not you're consumed with your soul prospering or whether or not you're consumed with your physical life prospering. And here in 3 John, the way Gaius lived identified that he was clearly walking in the truth. What he professed matched up with how he lived. Now this man wasn't perfect, Gaius wasn't sinless, but he walked in the truth. And here's what I love about, especially these two letters here of 2 and 3 John. This was by all appearances just what we would call a normal guy. The Scriptures do not refer to him as a church leader, an apostle, a pastor, evangelist, a city leader, a socially popular guy in that sense. This was just your day-to-day normal Christian. But he walked in the truth, which is what God calls every single believer to do, to walk in the truth. I'm so thankful. to come upon passages that are like this. And especially those of you who are younger in here, it shows us that you can just be an everyday guy or girl and make a huge impact in the kingdom of God. In 2 John, we read about a widow. She was ministering to others, she was opening her home, she was being hospitable. I'm sure that widow, it never entered her mind that 2,000 years later we'd still be talking about her. Now think about that for a minute. When she was serving others, when she was ministering, and here she is, she's not leading a church or anything, she's just doing the work of the Lord there through her home, She wasn't thinking, wow, they're going to be talking about me for millenniums. And that wasn't part of her understanding. She was just faithfully serving the Lord, going about her love for the Lord, walking in the truth, and doing it day by day by day. And I'm sure the same for Gaius, as we read here. Here is a man who is walking in the truth, and for all he knew, that he was just getting this very loving, appreciative letter from the Apostle John. It wasn't on Gaius's radar that someday a church in Hope Mills would be preaching about his testimony, especially since he probably had no idea what a radar was. But he wasn't thinking that 2,000 years from now, people are still going to be talking about this. You have to understand, these were normal, everyday people who made an impact in the kingdom of God by just being faithful at the small things, and I say small because that tends to be our perspective, but from our perspective, it seems to be a small thing, just opening up your home and having people in, but these people were very faithful at what they were doing, and they made this huge impact in the kingdom of God by being faithful in opening their home, and this should be a great encouragement for us. Because I know a lot of times, I remember growing up, and I grew up, there was never a time I remember not being in church. I mean, it was from the day I was born. And then a lot of times we would hear of, you know, we'd hear of the Billy Grahams and those kind of people, and you think, wow, you know, maybe someday God can use me like that. But the mindset was, is this guy to be huge, and yet, What we see here in second john and third john just the everyday believer the church-going believer who's faithful In their little town just doing what god has called him to do makes an impact on the kingdom of god And here we have these average day christians being faithful to jesus in doing just that their hope Was in the lord their commitment to him was forever and even today they continue To be an example to us in 2016 this widow of second john Gaius that we read about here in 3 John. So for any of you in here that think that, and again, especially this often happens with the younger generation, but if you feel that you have to be popular to impact the kingdom of God, you're wrong. For any of you that think you have to be in church leadership to get the notice of heaven, you're wrong. For any of you that think that you have to be an adult before you can serve the Lord, you're wrong. Or that you have to have a seminary degree or higher education before you can do great things for the kingdom of God, you're wrong. None of those are requirements for faithfulness. None of those are requirements for impacting the kingdom of God. I want you to see the pattern here. These were ordinary, average, normal, and I use that just because of the terms we understand, faithful believers and their testimony and their walking in the truth was an enormous display. of how we can impact God's kingdom just by opening our homes. They were faithful where they were called. They walked in the truth, they kept their eyes on Jesus, and God never forgot their deeds. He never forgot what they did. And what else did walking in the truth do for the kingdom? The example of these two that we read here, It brought joy to those who knew about their life. Joy was a fruit that others got to enjoy because they knew how they were faithful in the kingdom. From the elect sister who walked in the truth to Gaius who was walking in the truth. We looked at this just a couple of weeks ago, but John brings it up here again. I want you to know that your obedience And this includes us here today, that your obedience brings joy to other believers. Don't fall for these two extreme lies that we often believe. Many times we believe that our sin, especially our very private sin, only affects us. Well, that's not true. That's a lie. And many times we believe that quietly obeying and walking in the truth is something that only God gets the joy of. But that's not true either because we've seen two letters so far that the obedience of normal, average, everyday believers has brought joy to the life of others. Walking in the truth brings joy to others who are also walking in the truth. Now I will say for believers, When you meet someone who professes to walk in the truth, but they're really not, and you are, you're probably bringing conviction to their life, probably not joy. But for those who are walking in the truth, it brings joy. It did that for John. It did that for the local church that we see here, in both letters. Benefited greatly, and these people were well loved because they were faithful, they loved Jesus, they walked in the truth, they walked in love. It brought joy to others. And this brings us to our last question, based on, especially both of these books, but particularly verses five through eight, does your testimony, or put my, does my testimony include hospitality? We'll finish out our text, look at verses five through eight. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou will bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth." Let me explain what's happening here. John was telling Gaius that He was being faithful to the Lord when he was being hospitable to other believers, even if it was believers that he did not know. He said, you are being faithful to the Lord and opening up your home, especially considering there are some of these people you didn't even know. All you knew is they were believers. And these fellow believers who were passing through, when they would speak to the church family, They would share to the church family about Gaius and his love and his care for them. And now we see how it would spread that joy of seeing this brother do what he has done with his home. And John here was exhorting him to continue, don't stop doing this, continue to do this, Gaius, because these fellow believers, and many of these were those who were teaching and preaching as they traveled, They were not going to the unbelievers for help. That's what he refers to the Gentiles here. He's saying we don't need the support of the pagans to help with the work of the Lord. We as a church, we as a body of Christ can do that. We should be supporting one another. And he's saying, what you have done, Gaius, is you have picked up the slack here, in a sense. You have opened up your home as a brother in Christ to those, even those that you didn't even know their name. Because for the sake of the name, for the sake of Jesus' name, these people are preaching the gospel, and here you are, you've opened up your home. You've been faithful here. So John was telling Gaius that this was the, you have done the right thing in supporting these believers. You have done the right thing in opening up your home. He literally says, regarding Gaius, that he was being a fellow helper of the truth. A fellow helper of the truth. I heard, I believe it was Paul Washer, but I heard an illustration regarding, and I think the context was missions, but he said something along the lines of being supportive of the work of God. He said that if you're not down in the well doing, I guess, sort of the work of the front lines, at least be somebody at the top who's holding the rope. Which is kind of what John is reminding Gaius about. See see gas may not be the one who's actually traveling from city to city and preaching and teaching and He may not be the one who's doing that But he is doing his part He is doing a part where he is opening up his home where he is being a helper of the truth It's it really even though it appears to be a small thing. It's a big thing that he's doing and He's being hospitable. He's opened his home to fellow believers, even to those that he doesn't know. Now the same is true for us today. We may not have what we think is a big part, but we can have our part. There's a pattern in our society, and unfortunately, some can even view ministry this way. when it comes to serving the Lord is, and that is, and maybe you've heard the phrase, either go big or go home. In other words, what you're doing better be big and grand or don't do anything. It's an all or nothing type of mentality. And some of us have believed that lie. We say, well, you go to a foreign country, that's big, but going across the street to your neighbor, well, that's not so big. And so we don't. Or ministering to an orphanage, that's big. But raising your own kids for the glory of God, well, that's not quite as big. Preaching to thousands, well, that's big. But having just a small little Bible study at work with four other people, man, that's not really that big. See, those are lies. I want you to understand what I'm saying here. Every single thing I just mentioned is an opportunity impact, whether it's a missionary in a foreign country or whether it's walking across the street to your neighbor. And what we have to realize is that God has called all of us to all kinds of different things. It's just like the body. And it's just like our physical bodies. There are some parts of our bodies that are more noticeable that we may personally say, listen, I couldn't imagine living without being able to hear or to be able to see. And those are big deals, but they're just as part of the body as your pinky or your little toe is. No one here wants to give up those things either. And so we look here at doing the work of God, and again, especially those of you who are younger, because I say this because I think a lot of times we go forward in our Christian faith thinking, that lie that it's got to be a huge type of ministry or it's not going to be really worth anything. The pattern we see here is that it is a great impact in the kingdom of God if you just open up your front door. All kinds of opportunities can impact the kingdom of God. But neither is more important or more valuable than the other. So whether you're a foreign missionary or a stay-at-home mom, you can impact the kingdom. And I look at the lives here of this sister in 2 John and the life of Gaius here in 3 John, and neither of these are what we would call big ministries. But look, each one of them has their own book in the Bible addressed to them. It was big. They just opened up their homes to others. And if you read through the entire Bible, here is one thing that you'll learn pretty quickly, and that is this. God does not measure things like man measures them. See, God's ways are not our ways. His ways are higher than our ways. God's economy is so different. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Whoever finds his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for his sake will find it. It's so backwards. Growing up, we said finders, keepers, losers, weepers. That's what we played growing up. We found something, we'd say that. Finders, keepers, losers, weepers. But in God's kingdom, it's losers, finders, keepers, weepers. It's completely opposite. You got to find your life. You got to lose it. It's completely backwards from the world So this means there's no such thing as little ministry There is no such thing as a little ministry Which is one reason that hospitality is so important and both of these letters Addressed to what we would say. These are just ordinary Christians We see the ministry of hospitality being displayed and it's a pattern we see over and over in the Gospels and in the first entry church people sharing meals together, people hosting those, traveling for the sake of the gospel, families opening their homes up to brothers and sisters in Christ, and we see it in the Old and the New Testament. I mean, I was blessed, and I say that word intentionally, I was really blessed that I came from a home where my parents were hospitable. There were many conversations my parents would have with other adults in my home, and they ministered to them. There were families that were cared for in our home, people felt welcome there, and we did not have a lot of money. My dad worked two jobs all of my life until the day he died. We weren't wealthy. I mean, a little three bedroom, one bath, 1200 square foot home, and it's still the same one my mom lives in. We were not wealthy. And I say this because wealth is not a requirement for hospitality. And a lot of people want to use that. A lot of Christians say, well, if I just had more money, I'd be more hospitable. I do remember there being a comfort level that people had in my home when they would visit. And there are people, and that's one reason my mom refuses to move after 40 something years in the same house. She refuses to move because she says when people come out of town, I want them to know where I am. And they do. People will stop by. And I look back and I'm grateful that I had parents who opened up their home. And even my dad who's been dead for 20 years, my mom still to this day opens up her home and practices hospitality. I was truly blessed to have parents who did this who were an example for me. And I can't explain it, but there is something that is spiritual that you experience when you have other believers in your home, sharing with them. And the reason is, is we have the same spirit, the Holy Spirit of God within us, a unity we enjoy. Because over and over in the New Testament, we see hospitality being taught and we see it being lived out. And let me back this up and remind you of what we've seen in both of these last two letters of John. We are to walk in two things. We are to walk in truth and we are to walk in what? love. You can't separate them. You cannot separate truth and love. And one practical way to demonstrate love is to open your home to believers and even to the lost, to share a meal together, to fellowship. to encourage, to pray, to laugh, to build community. All of these things occur naturally within the setting of a home, not so much in the setting of a building. And one of the greatest means, one of the greatest things we see of the gospel spreading and building unity within the local church and meeting the needs of others is through the ministry of hospitality. You don't need a seminary degree to do that. You don't need to be wealthy to do that. You don't need to be in church leadership to do that. But the Bible commands it. And that itself should be enough. Here's what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, the scriptures teach that elders would be hospitable. In 1 Peter 4 he says, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. And then we have the story, and think about this, we have the story in Matthew's gospel of the two on the road to Emmaus and they encounter Jesus and what was their natural response? Why don't you come to our house and eat with us? Little did they know. Little did they know. What a blessing they would have missed out on had they not opened up their door to Jesus. And I think, what blessings do we miss out when we keep our front doors closed to those that are outside of our immediate family? James 2 speaks of the relationship between faith and works. If you look at the life of Gaius or the life of this widow in 2 John, we see a life of faith and works. And the works testified of their faith. Here's what it comes down to, being hospitable really isn't about opening your front doors to others, it's really about opening up your heart. That's the issue here. It's not so much the physical opening of your front doors. It's about opening up your heart. Because hospitality is a sign of love. It's faith in action. It's generosity. It's brotherly love and caring for others. And here's the part I don't want us to forget. Look at the last part of verse 8 here. The very last part of verse 8 says that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Think about that. Many Christians say, well, what can I do for the kingdom of God? What can I do to advance the gospel? What can I do to build up the local church? Well, one of the easiest ways you can do that is to open up your home to others, to share a meal, share testimonies, to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others. Because think about this, and it never dawned on me until I was actually concluding, typing out my sermon here, But by worldly standards, what is the most valuable asset that most of us own? It is our house. Physically speaking, the most valuable asset that most of us own, I know some people rent, but most of us, when it comes to something, the most expensive thing we own is our home. And what does hospitality require? The opening of the most expensive thing that we own. Our homes, our valuable earthly asset. But God did not give us our homes to seclude ourselves or to isolate ourselves from others. Instead, we need to be like Gaius and the widow of 2 John and use our homes to advance the kingdom to be, as John says, fellow helpers to the truth. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the life of Gaius, a man that You know, when you think of heroes of the faith, we think of the apostles, and Lord, we think of some of the Old Testament men who just did some mighty things, and seldom does the name Gaius pop up when we think of heroes of the faith, but Lord, here was a man who John thought of was very important, to write to him and thank him and to encourage him to continue to be a fellow helper in the truth. Lord, I pray that we would never take lightly the opportunity we have to open up our homes to missionaries, to lost neighbors, to extended family, to church family, to coworkers. Lord, there is just something that, and I believe we have just, especially in the type of materialistic society we live in, Lord, We have missed so many opportunities in truly getting to know people through the use of our own homes. Lord, I thank you for the provision of a roof over our heads and heat and AC in the summer and just things like that. But Lord, may we realize that the pattern we see in the New Testament is our homes are a vessel for ministry. And Lord, I pray that you would work in our hearts to understand that this is a big part of ministry. There is nothing small about hospitality. And Lord, I thank you for the life of Gaius and the widow that we read about in 2 John and their faithfulness to you. Lord, may we realize that we can be fellow helpers of the truth. Thank you for your love and thank you for the life of Gaius. A man that did mighty things, things that the world would never see as important, and yet look how much it impacted the Kingdom of God. Father, thank you for your economy being so upside down compared to the world's. And Lord, I pray that there are many young men who grow up to have a life like Gaius. They may never speak before thousands or lead a huge ministry, but they're someday going to have homes that are opened up to people, and they will minister through their homes. Help us all to be like that. Work in our hearts, Lord, and just pray that you would continue to convict us and encourage us. Thank you for, again, the truth of your word today. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.