Good morning to everyone. It's been a little hot lately. Tough going out there working on the farm. It was hot yesterday, but we're enjoying this warm weather in the fall and it's not gonna last so you better enjoy it. I saw a high of 45 Friday. We're in 3rd John this morning, starting 3rd John. We've studied through the epistles of 1st and 2nd John, and we're gonna be looking today at the example of Gaius, the beloved of John, the fellowship, the rejoicing they had together because he not only knew the truth but he applied the truth in his life. So we're gonna be looking at that today.

We're moving into this third epistle, a very personal letter to the beloved Gaius. We saw in John's gospel at chapter 20 and verse 31 that John's intent in writing his gospel was that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and believing that we might have life in his name. When we began our study of the first epistle of John, we noted in chapter 5 at verse 13 that the intent of that letter was to assure those who do believe that they have eternal life. John wrote the first epistle of John to give assurance of salvation to those who believe and secondarily, you'll remember, to warn of false teachers who were attempting to draw the believers away, telling them they needed something more than Jesus.

In the second epistle of John, we saw the negative admonition given to the elect lady to not let false teachers into her home, not to give them a Christian greeting or affirm their ministries, for if they do not bring the doctrines of Christ, then they are anti-Christ and should be rejected. And now as we come to the third and final epistle, we see the positive admonition to Gaius that he should continue to minister to those teachers who do bring the gospel, who do teach the doctrines of Christ, and that he should readily welcome them into his home and bid them Godspeed and help them in any way that he can.

Notice what John says down in verses 6 and 7 of our text. He says, "If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God you will do well because they went forth for his name's sake." For his name's sake. They are ministers of Christ teaching and preaching the truth of who he is and what he has done. And then we see the important truth in verse 8. "We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers in the truth." That's the title of our message, fellow workers in the truth. By encouraging, assisting, affirming, financing true ministers of the gospel, we become fellow workers with them for the truth.

So if 2nd John is a warning to be discerning about false teachers and false teaching, then 3rd John is an exhortation to wholeheartedly, zealously give of ourselves and our resources to further the ministry of those who do teach the truth about who Jesus is and what he has accomplished. Let's look at our text in verse 1. 3rd John verse 1. "The elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth." Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you just as you walk in the truth. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 

Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. "If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well because they went forth for his name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles." We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

I've given you three points on your outline this morning for our text. First, we're going to see that we need to love in truth. Second, we need to walk in truth. And third, we need to become fellow workers for the truth. 

Well first we see in our text the fellowship that John had with Gaius. The bond of love that they shared in truth. We looked last time in second John at the admonition to the chosen lady to not give a greeting to those who came to her and did not bring the doctrines of Christ. The word translated greeting, you'll remember, means a rejoicing together. But it constituted an affirmation of their ministries. It showed that they had a common shared faith in Christ and purpose in furthering the gospel. John told her not to give this greeting to those false teachers lest she share in their evil deeds, lest she further their false doctrine and their nefarious intent.

But here in third John, we see John greeting Gaius, rejoicing with him in their common faith and fellowship in truth. "The elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth." Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. John keeps calling him beloved. He has an affection for him. He wants what is best for him. He wants him to prosper in what he is doing in all things because his soul prospers. Because he believes Jesus and lives for him and wants most of all to glorify him and to bring others to him. 

Gaius is living his life, giving his time and resources to assist, to take part in furthering the gospel, furthering the truth. And John wants him to know how much he loves him, how they share a common faith and purpose, that he loves him in truth. 

You know, when we bought our farm up in Irwin Township about 11 years ago, we bought 59 acres. And at the time, my brother wanted to build a cabin or stay up in this area and spend the summers here. So we sold him 15 acres of our land for that purpose. We logged some huge spruce trees off of our hunting land over in Pence and we sawed them into rectangular shaped logs and we built a dovetail cabin for my brother. It turned out to be quite a nice home with hardwood floors and big windows and that really cool finished dovetail log construction.

But things didn't work out for my brother's retirement and he called me this spring and he told me that he was going to sell the cabin and the property. I wasn't super pleased to hear this, but I understood his situation. However, we became quite nervous about what kind of neighbor we would get because we've never had neighbors. And with our burgeoning farm right next to the cabin, we were concerned about what might come. You know, if we happen to get some city slicker move in there or something.

Well, a young man recently bought the place and he's so excited. He moved up from the Madison area a couple of years ago and is working for Scandinavian Log Homes up on Highway 2. I met this young man and his family at a farmer's market last summer and I'd sold them some meat here and there. And here's the thing: the young man is a fervent Christian. I've met with him and talked with him quite a bit recently. He even attended our Bible study this last Thursday night. 

And it's so encouraging to talk to a young man who has such a heart for the Lord, is so concerned with truth, and he's not only concerned with truth, he's concerned with applying that truth for holy living for the Lord. We have a fellowship, a bond, a common faith and purpose, and my fears of a problematic neighbor have been replaced by a joy and rejoicing in having a believer, a Christian friend and brother, a fellow worker for the truth living next to us.

You see, my brothers and sisters, this is the contrast between 2nd John and 3rd John. In 2nd John, the situation is a lack of discernment in applying the command of love in the area of hospitality. It's a grave concern about false teachers coming into the church and to individual believers' homes and causing problems through false teaching in the body of the church. But in 3rd John, it's the positive admonition concerning hospitality that clearly becomes the topic, becomes the issue in this little epistle. 

Look at verse 5. "Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well." Because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. "We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers in the truth." 

Gaius was a faithful brother exercising agape love in the area of hospitality. You see, John had a bond, a fellowship, a love for Gaius in the truth because Gaius was walking in the truth, manifesting his heart, his love for the truth. This is so important for us to see. It's not just that we know the truth and that we have a love for the truth. This is paramount. This is essential to know and believe the truth. But this is not the end. This is not God's purpose and will for us in and of itself. We must apply the truth. We must exercise love and give freely to the cause of the gospel. And this is what Gaius was known for, was focused on, and was carrying out in his life and ministry. 

In the context here, we're talking about Gaius ministering to the believers and teachers who were traveling through, who were preaching and teaching the truth. He was taking care of them. He was exercising the love of hospitality and supporting and affirming them in their ministry in any way he could. Sending them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, as John puts it. You see, Gaius was not only a believer in Jesus Christ, a true believer, he was not only one who had a love for the truth, a passion for the gospel and furthering the kingdom, he was one who made manifest his heart and his faith by applying the truth — by exercising love continually whenever he had the opportunity. And this was manifest to all who knew him. They gave testimony to it in the churches. 

It reminded me of Barnabas. You remember Barnabas, Paul's friend? His name meant son of encouragement. He was an encourager. He was always helping. He was always encouraging the believers. My friends, this is why John was rejoicing so over Gaius, with Gaius. This is why he had such a love for him — because this is the kind of life that John wanted for all his children. This is the kind of life that God wants for every believer. 

Look at verse 3. "For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." At Living Hope Church, it is our philosophy of ministry. It's our heart and passion for believers to know the truth. We believe that God intends for the local body of believers, the fellowship, the gathering of believers, to be a time for worship, for singing and contemplating the truth, the word in worship. And it's a time for preaching and teaching the word, proclaiming the truth from this pulpit.

We believe in a systematic teaching of the Word of God verse by verse, book by book, for the purpose of building up the believers and growing in truth and love as we are knit together in faith and purpose, being sanctified by the truth, by the Word of God. We believe that it's absolutely essential that believers know the truth, know the doctrines of Christ as revealed in the Word of God, and that we continually renew our minds to these truths in a verse-by-verse study, through the Word, cutting the pieces straight, fitting them together, and forming our theology, our thinking, our beliefs, not by a man-made system, but by the truth of God's Word. 

This is our commitment and our method for growth of the body, as God has prescribed. These are what we would call the indicatives, the truths, the doctrines of Christ according to His Word. But, my brothers and sisters, knowing the truth is not the endgame here. This is not some academic exercise we are engaged in. Knowing the truth, understanding the indicatives, the teachings of the Word of God, is foundational for living these truths, for applying these truths in our lives, and bearing fruit for the glory of God. But simply knowing the truth without applying it is a fruitless exercise.

It's interesting to me to see that all of the New Testament epistles are organized this way. If you study these epistles, you will see the authors laying down the indicatives, the foundational truths in the first part of the letters. Then you will see an exhortation, a call to apply these truths, to live in light of them in the latter part of the epistle. I'd like for you to see this. Let's look at the book of Ephesians for a clear example. 

Ephesians chapter 1. And I'd like for you just to bask with me in the glory of the truth concerning our salvation in Ephesians 1. Just listen, take in these words, and enjoy the truth of who we are and what we have because we are in Christ by faith. 

Ephesians 1.3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory."

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

What amazing truth, my friends, concerning our salvation in Christ. In Ephesians 2, Paul goes on to explain the truth of our condition in Adam, that we were dead in sin, dominated by indwelling sin, without hope, without God. But God who is rich in mercy saved us by grace through faith in Jesus alone, not by work. Salvation is a gift of God through faith. He goes on in chapter 3 to explain the mystery of the church, of the new covenant gospel available to all men who believe, Jew and Gentile, and how God has planned to bring salvation to all men through faith, and how He Himself indwells us and empowers us through His Spirit and the person of Jesus Christ living in us, that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever think or ask for His glory in the church. 

My brothers and sisters, do you see the amazing profound truth, the doctrines of Christ, our salvation in Him laid out in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians? This is true of all the epistles, all the Word of God. It's all about Jesus. It's all about truth. It's all about God's salvation plan and His plan for His people who believe Him. But it does not end with knowing the truth. Look at Ephesians 4.1 with me, please. When we get to chapter 4, Paul begins to ask us to apply these truths in our lives. Ephesians 4.1: "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Paul spent three chapters teaching us, encouraging us concerning the truth of our salvation in Christ, the great calling with which we have been called. But the purpose is found here in the last three chapters, beginning in 4.1. I beseech you, my brothers and sisters, Paul says, I beg you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. We must apply these truths. We must live out who we are in Christ. We must walk with an equal weight to the truth of who we are in Christ in a way that is consistent with our salvation. 

What does that mean? Paul says, "with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." These are what we call imperatives, commands, exhortations. What we need to understand is that the imperatives are based on the indicatives. We cannot have one without the other. The pagans, false Christian religions, have the commands. They have the imperatives. They have the law. They're told to be good, to do good. But they don't have salvation. They don't have truth. They don't have Christ's life in them as a foundation, as a sweet reasonableness for carrying out these imperatives.

We must know the truth, and that truth must be a basis for the commands, for the application for how we live. We cannot tell a lost man, a man in Adam, to exercise agape love. He cannot. He's controlled, dominated by indwelling sin, under the law, destined for death. You see, it's the truth of our salvation, the truth that we died to sin with Christ, that we were buried with Christ, we were raised with Christ to a new kind of life. It's the truth that we died to the law, that we're free from that bondage to death that held us all our lifetime. It's the truth that God Himself lives in us and empowers us, that we no longer live by the letter but by the Spirit. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

We have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. These are all the truths that we must know, that we must believe, that we must reckon, and these are the truths that we must apply in our lives. They serve as a foundation, as a basis for a life of love toward God and toward man, especially toward the brethren and for the furtherance of the gospel. 

But we must make that application. We must live in light of these truths, and this comes by a one day at a time, one moment at a time, reckoning, affirming the truth of God's Word, abiding in Christ, His words abiding in us through faith, and yielding to His life and His power in us so that He can produce fruit through us for His glory. My friends, we must know the truth, but we must apply that truth by believing Jesus and loving one another. That's why God says the new covenant commands in 1 John that we looked at before in chapter 3 are to believe Jesus and love one another. 

We must walk in it, my brothers and sisters, and that's what Gaius was doing so faithfully. And that's why John was rejoicing so greatly. Please don't let our faithful study together week after week, our preaching and teaching of the Word of God, our verse by verse commitment to the truth, our mid-week Bible study together, your daily reading of the Word, don't let all this be reduced to an academic exercise, a gaining of knowledge without any practical application. Colossians 3.16 says, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 

But listen to verse 17: "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." John makes an amazing statement in verse 4 of our text. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." The greatest joy of a father is not that his children know the truth. This is vital and important. But the greatest joy of a father is that his children walk in the truth. 

This is true for our natural children, but also for our spiritual children. Those who we lead to faith in Christ, who we spend our time discipling, who we pray for, minister to, make ourselves available to. We long for, we greatly desire that they should walk in the truth. And you know, the converse of this is true as well. There's no greater pain than to have your children forsake the truth, to walk after the ways of the world, to live in sin, not walking in the truth but walking in darkness. But our greatest joy, our greatest rejoicing is what John is experiencing here with his beloved Gaius, a spiritual son, not only knowing and believing the truth, but applying it and walking in it. 

And this is God's great pleasure and joy. And my friends, this is God's intent for you, for every believer, to walk in the truth. So we see that we must love the truth, love in truth. We see the importance of walking in truth, applying doctrine in our daily living. And last this morning, we see that when we exercise agape love, when we know and apply the truth in how we live, then we become fellow workers for the truth.

Look at verse 5 again, please, in our text. "Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well." Because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. "We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth." 

You know, we've gone back several times to that passage in Ephesians 4, but I find it so instructive for our understanding concerning the body, how the church is supposed to function, what it's supposed to be doing and how it's supposed to be doing. And in Ephesians 4, it says that Jesus gave gifts to the church. He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. The saints are to be equipped, to be built up, to be growing, to go out and do the work of ministry.

In verse 16 of that passage, He says, "...from whom the whole body, joined and knit together, by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." Every part does its share. Every part of the body is participating, exercising the gifts they have been given, seizing the opportunities that God gives them to become a fellow worker in the gospel, to do one's share in building up and encouraging and equipping that the body might grow, be edified in love. 

In 3 John, Gaius' share, his part, was hospitality, was encouragement. That's what God called him to do and gave him the opportunity to do. And he was faithful. He was doing his share. He was looking for opportunities to encourage the brethren, to minister their needs, to provide for their journey, to send them away filled and warmed and equipped to carry on the good work of the gospel. He was doing his share. That's why John is rejoicing. 

I wonder, my brother, my sister, what is your share in the body, in the church? What has God given you opportunity to do in order to edify your fellow believers, to minister to them, to equip them, to encourage them? Some have the part of preaching or teaching. Some have the part of encouragement. Some are able to give financially and the resources of their time. My friend, we all need to be growing together, ministering together, teaching and admonishing one another, and seeking to encourage one another and pointing each other to Christ continually. 

We need each other. And the effectiveness of our little church here in the Northwoods is dependent on steady growth, being built up and equipped through these means that God has given so that we might be knit together and growing in love. We are fellow workers for the truth. We're all in this together and we each have a share. We want to be about the work of the gospel. That's our passion. 

I know that this is a witnessing church. This is a church that's committed to supporting missionaries, to handing out tracts, to bringing the gospel to those in our lives. We want to support missionaries abroad and we want to encourage one another to be missionaries right here in our communities. We have a God-given passion for the furtherance of the gospel, for the glory of God and for the salvation of men. 

We have God's agape love poured out into our hearts and it's our desire to pour that love back to God and out to others so that men might be saved, so that believers might be built up and encouraged, so that God might be glorified. This is what our lives are really about. If you search deep down in your heart, this is what you really want. 

I met a man yesterday. He and his family came to our home to see some sheep that they're buying from us. They'd driven all the way from the Mackinac Bridge across the UP with three little children to come and see the sheep and to visit with us. And I was talking to this man and they're a Christian family and she's staying at home with her children and he's working and they're trying to make it. And he was telling me a story about a young guy that he works with, an 18-year-old young man who he's been seeking to witness to. He said he's a really hard guy to talk to, a hard guy to witness to. But he says, "I want to share the gospel with him. I want to see him saved. I want that for him," is what he said to me.

That's our heart, my friends. That's our deep desire, to see men saved. And the message of 2 John is that we must be discerning concerning doctrine, concerning false teachers, lest we be tossed to and fro and taken captive, rendered useless by their heresies. And we must guard the truth for the sake of the church. But 3 John is the positive side of that message that for those who are true believers, truth teachers who bring the doctrines of Christ, we need to minister to them. We need to encourage them. We need to give to them to meet their needs and affirm them in their ministries wherever we have influence. 

We need to do that for each other so that, for the very purpose that we might become fellow workers in the gospel of Jesus Christ for the truth, for the salvation of souls and for the glory of God. This is the message of 3 John. This is the example of Gaius. And this is the joy and rejoicing that we can experience together when we walk in the truth. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that You keep teaching us the truth. And I just pray that You would help us to apply that truth in our lives by Your life in us, by Your grace and power, as we just trust You, as we trust Jesus and look to Him and believe Him every day. Help us to produce fruit, Lord. Help us to be witnesses, to preach the gospel clearly as we ought and give us opportunity. And help us to bring You glory in all that we do. In Jesus' name we pray.