The sermon 'The Commendation Regarding Christian Hospitality' by David Green, based on 3rd John 1-8, delves into themes of Christian hospitality and the importance of walking in truth. John, referred to as the elder, writes to Gaius, commending him for his faithful actions and hospitality toward fellow believers and strangers. The sermon emphasizes that true joy comes from seeing spiritual children walking in truth and highlights the significance of supporting missionaries who go out for the sake of Christ's name. Hospitality is encouraged, especially towards those with pure motives and not in ministry for personal gain, as it aligns with being fellow workers with the truth. The sermon also addresses the broader implications of 3rd John for the church, emphasizing the role of hospitality in New Testament missionary operations and the dangers of church decisions that violate fundamental New Testament law.

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My phone number is 912-215-3144. Right now we're in 3rd John. 3rd John. We're going to take our text from verses 1 through 8. The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

Beloved I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers. For I rejoice greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth. That is how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers and are doing this though they are strangers.

And they bore witness to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth. John, of course, is the writer of this epistle, and he writes this letter to the well-beloved Gaius, but he addresses himself only as the elder.

This is something that we had seen before in Second John as he wrote to the lady. And this title, Elder, may have had referenced him being a pastor. Sometimes we read of pastors being elders in the scriptures, but it also could have had something to do with his advanced age. We've seen how that, of course I made reference a minute ago, he used this title in 2 John verse 1, the elder to the lady and her children. But even Peter, Peter the apostle used the term in 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 and verse 1 he says, Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder, witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed." And so Peter, Peter the apostle, just like John used this title of elder as well. Sometimes we find that in the scriptures. And that's the way it is. One who understands this biblically understands that a pastor is an elder and elder is a pastor. Whether he was referring himself as elder as meaning pastor or elder as an old man either way, it definitely fit and and we see that here.

There are so many similarities between 1st, 2nd, John, 3rd John, the the the Gospel of John. There's so many similarities in the writing styles. There's never any doubt as to who this elder is in this text. And so it's generally accepted by all that John wrote all three, although I'm sure you could probably find someone somewhere who questions it. I mean after all, as we go through Genesis on Tuesday night, It should be without question that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible.

Jesus even said that these were the writings of Moses, and it was accepted by the New Testament writers throughout and all of that but there are some who say well Moses couldn't have written the first five books of the Bible. Why do they do that? Because there's some there's some wild fellows out there who think they're smarter than the Bible, but That's just not the case and then there's some who come along in 2, 000 years of church history and they think they think that after 2, 000 years of church history that somehow some way that there's some new revelation some new discovery some new whatever that now all of a sudden they've become more enlightened than everybody else. That's just not gonna happen. It's not, it's not.

And so, so, Third John is generally accepted that John wrote it and that's what we accept as well. This letter was written to the well-beloved Gaius and we looked at that in the introductory lesson last week, but now I want to quote from B.H. Carroll. He says, though this was written to an individual about local matters concerning a particular church, it is of paramount kingdom value because of the light it throws on New Testament missionary operations And because of its revelation of the subjection of a New Testament church to the evil domination of one ambitious and unscrupulous man, a prototype of thousands since his day. There cannot be a clear teaching on the evil possible to a particular church under bossism and on the invalidity of church decisions which violate fundamental New Testament law.

This is at least one clear authoritative apostolic decision that such outrageous church action is entitled to no respect within the kingdom." End quote. And so that's what B.H. Carroll brings out about this. Now in verse 2, as we look at this, he says, Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers. John gets very personal with his letters.

We saw that in his letter to the lady and her children, and we see that here to his letter to Gaius. He's praying that his physical health will match his spiritual vigor. The personal nature of this letter indicates that originally this letter was not intended to be seen beyond anybody but John and Gaius. That this was a very personal letter, that this was a private letter, that it was never intended to be read aloud in any church. There should have been something between two individuals.

But whatever intent that John and Gaius may have had on their private matter that they were writing about, and that they were discussing, whatever the intention that they may have had on that level, the Holy Spirit had other plans. Because as we're reminded time and time again, we can ask ourselves, well, who wrote this letter? Well, John did, that's the earthly writer, but there was also an author, an unseen author, and this is God's Word. And so, if John, if John, maybe on the, on the level of John de Gaius, I'm sure he wrote other letters to other people. Those letters were never seen.

Those letters were never preserved. Those letters were never read to the churches. But this letter is the God-breathed Word of God. And so, the Holy Spirit has preserved it for us. Because this is the Word of God.

And so if I quiz you and I say who wrote third John, if you say John you are correct, but if you say the Holy Spirit or God, God wrote it, you are absolutely correct in that as well. And we see both elements in this, especially when we consider the personal aspect. We see John's writing style, but we also see that it wouldn't have been the intention of John or Gaius for this letter to get out, but it did. It's been preserved for us. Verse 3, for I rejoice greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth, that is how you are walking in truth and so not only does he get personal he says to Gaius you know hey I'm praying that you'll prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers you know you've got great spiritual vigor I pray that your your physical health will be in the same way.

I pray that you keep up physically. We've all known men like that. Men, even men that are up in years are men that have, their bodies have taken a toll and, you know, maybe even some who are dead now, even to the very end, spiritually, they could have kept going, but their bodies just wore out. And then as he goes on, he says, I rejoice greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth, and that is how you're walking in the truth. Remember John is an old man by now, the last living of the apostles.

Some men when they get old they become senile and angry and bitter, but other men become emotional and they become very sentimental, lovers of the truth and great for the Kingdom of Christ, and the benefit of the church, and great warriors for God and His Word. John was that way. He's a very emotional warrior for the Lord in his old age, and I love him for that. It's the kind of man I want to be. He says, I rejoice greatly when the brothers came.

Presumably these were brothers who came from where Gaius was to where John was and bore witness to your truth." He was rejoicing, he was rejoicing that Gaius that Gaius was walking in the truth. We get kind of shallow with our conversations in our time, don't we? How's the weather? You just came back from a trip. How was the weather where you were?

How was how was your trip? Did you have a good flight? Was the traffic bad? Those sorts of things. We don't get very deep like we should.

Maybe was the fishing good where you were? Did they, Did they treat you well down there? That sort of, but do we have conversations about the truth. Paul put it this way in Romans 1 and verse 8. He says, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world." He said, there's people talking about you Romans.

Church, there's people talking about you and when they talk about you they're talking about your faith. That's quite a different story than what he said about the church at Corinth. You remember that don't you? I mean we're going through Corinthians and here in a little bit we'll be back in there but but if you remember If you remember what he said about the church at Corinth, he said, he said, when, when, and I didn't write down the text, but, let's see if I can find it real quick here. Well, I don't find it right off, but he wrote there and he said that he'd heard from the House of Chloe, the household of Chloe, that there were divisions in the church.

In the church. That's what he was hearing from the, about the church at Corinth. He wasn't hearing about their faith. He wasn't hearing about them walking in the truth. He wasn't rejoicing about what he was hearing about Corinth.

But in the early churches people were talking about these things and when they heard about the faith and the truth and that people were walking in, they rejoiced in it. And in And in verse four of our text there in 3rd John, he says, I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than this than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Think about this for a moment. This is John, the apostle, the apostle that Jesus loved. John, the one who wrote the Gospel of John, He was part of Jesus' inner circle.

John, who got to be there for our Lord's earthly ministry, Our Lord's earthly ministry. He got to see Jesus. Not only see Him, but to be there at the Mount of Transfiguration, to be with him at the Last Supper, to be witness of the resurrected Lord. Resurrected Lord. This is the John who is given divine revelation.

It's given divine revelation. I mean, we're talking about the Apostle John. And he says, I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth. There's so many things that could have brought him joy in life, things that we can't even fathom. And he says, I have no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the church.

I mean the man got to lay his head on Jesus, the Savior of the world. What is your joy in life? Oh how fleeting is much of what brings us joy or happiness in this life. In this life. Truly, we'd do well to go back and read Ecclesiastes, learn what the Ecclesiastes learn what the things of life really are, vain.

In Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24, or verse, let's start with verse Let's start with verse 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for the reward. By faith he left Egypt, now fearing the rage of the king, for he endured seeing him who is unseen." You see, he said by faith Moses chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Far too many people go through life from one thing to another thing to another thing, never finding true joy.

And John in this time of his, as he's getting older and everything, he says, I have no greater joy, no greater my children and to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Excuse me. You think that's why he wrote to the late lady and her children and he wrote there in verse 4 of 2nd John and he said, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we received commandment from the Father." You think that's why he was so focused on the positive there. I rejoiced, greatly to find some of your children walking in truth. You see, in his older years, he didn't know how much time he had left, but he knew this.

He knew this. There's not much in this life that brings joy. And none of it brings lasting joy. But to know our children. And here in 3 John he's referring to his spiritual children, to know that they are walking in the truth.

Christianity is to be multi-generational. One of these days, One of these days John will be dead. One of these days I will be dead. One of these days the older generation is gone. Conferences, fellowships, friendships, meals, even buildings, even great church buildings, all of these things are temporary.

They don't last. But to know, to know that my children are walking in truth. No greater joy. To know that When I'm gone, the work continues. Not that John wanted to make a name for himself.

No preacher, pastor, missionary, no apostle wanted that. Going all the way back to the beginning, none of them wanted that. It was all about the work of Christ and His kingdom. I have no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the truth. As you get older, as you become more and more mature in the Christian life, you begin to realize the things that matter.

It's not houses or lands. It's not names or legacies except for the truth. The truth of God's Word. I have no greater joy than this. To hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Verse 5, Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers and are doing this, though they are strangers." So Gaius is one of his children in the faith, one of his spiritual children. And so he commends Gaius specifically since this letter is to him. Yes, he is walking in the truth. Here's evidence of it. He is practicing hospitality to brothers and to strangers alike.

You know, again, sometimes we're very shallow in our thinking. We look at it and say, oh well, so and so was at church today, check, he's walking in the truth. Well that's only part of it. And I'm thankful for those who are able to be at church. That is an expectation of a child of God, but understand something, that's not it.

That's not all. That's the bare minimum. Unless you're providentially hindered, and by that I mean unless you're sick or somehow unable to be assembling with the saints on the Lord's Day, you ought to be at church. But what about the rest of the week? What about evidences of walking in the truth?

What does he say about Gaius? Well, he commends him for his hospitality. This was the reason for the letter and we're going to get more into this. And by the way, the... Excuse me, I don't even think I gave the title of this.

The title of the lesson is the commendation regarding Christian hospitality. And we see that here in verse 5. Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers that are doing this, though they are strangers. Where the rubber meets the road so to speak. Anybody can go to church, Any old hypocrite can show up, go to church, shake somebody's hand and go home.

But what about hospitality? And this had to do with the traveling preachers who came through, the missionaries especially who came through. And here's how it worked. Even if Gaius didn't know them, he was aiding them on their journey. You see back during the days of early Christianity, there was no Comfort Inn.

There was no, there was no Best Western. There was no Howard Johnson. There was no place for a person to stay if they were traveling through. And so people were traveling through the Roman Empire and they needed a place to stay. And so often, there was a network of Christians they could stay at.

Now here's the deal, Not everybody knew everybody else. And so they would hear, oh, yeah, there's this one gays in such and such a place. You can go to his house and he'll take you in. There's no Facebook, no internet, no telephone. But all of a sudden you're about to sit down for dinner and there's a knock on the door and you open it up and there's a man there, or maybe a man and some others were traveling and they say, hey, we're traveling through, we're doing work for, you know, whatever, and we just need a place to stay.

Maybe they identify themselves immediately as Christians. Maybe they don't. What do you do? So, well, we just sat down to eat. We don't have time for y'all.

I'll come back another time. Or check down the road there. No, Gaius was the type of person, even though they were strangers, he practiced hospitality to brothers and to strangers alike. Now there was a problem within the Roman Empire, especially in times of persecution, and that is it became very risky because in times of persecution you didn't know whether that person at the door was a spy, or whether that person at the door might come in, and maybe he wasn't a spy, but maybe he was a pretend Christian, or no Christian at all, and now he's in your house, and now he sees that you're a Christian now he goes and tells the authorities and now all of a sudden you've invited trouble into your house. We talked about that We talked about that some before.

But the Bible is very clear that we're to be hospitable people. People. And Gaius is an example of one who was very hospitable not only to brothers but also to strangers. So there in our text in third John. John.

Verse 6, not only was he hospitable to these people, it says, and this is how John knew about this, he says, and they bore witness to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God." They bore witness to your love before the church. What John knew of Gaius was not hearsay, it was not rumor, It was not assumption. This was by the mouth of witnesses, eyewitnesses. The Bible is very, very clear throughout Scripture.

God is not interested anywhere in his economy, not in the New Testament nor in the Old Testament about your witnesses, but eyewitnesses. Be careful of where you get your information from. You see, John got his information directly from people who had seen it. These people who had come from Gaius' house, they saw, they experienced it. And this is what he wrote about.

They bore witness of your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. In a manner worthy of God. This is what hospitality looks like. This has an idea behind it of treating people the way that God would treat them.

This is commended for these things. As we think about this though, go with me to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 verses 40 through 42. When we think about the reward of service, Jesus said this, he who receives you, receives me. He who receives me, receives him who sent me.

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward." So Jesus taught that true hospitality and service is in a manner worthy of God receiving you receives me you see how that wording is over in chapter 25 of Matthew Matthew chapter 25 and beginning of verse 40. The king will answer and say to them truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine even the least of them you did it to me then he will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father and inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.

Naked and you clothe me, I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?

And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you to the extent you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on his left, apart from me accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, do not invite me in naked, you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, did not visit me." And they themselves will also will answer saying, Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison or did not take care of you? Then he will answer them saying truly I say to you or to the extent that you did it not to the least of these, you did not do it to me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

This is talking about the final judgment, certainly much to be thought of about about hospitality there, but but also much to be considered there when it comes to eternal punishment, eternal life, whatever Kirk Cameron has to say about hell, he's wrong because the Bible is very clear about eternal punishment there. Nonetheless, verses 7 there. Nonetheless, verses seven and eight. So we go back to our text here. So we kind of bring this to a close.

He says, they went out for the sake of the name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that they may be fellow workers with the truth. Fellow workers with the truth." Now in this in this text we find that John gives several grounds for practicing hospitality in a manner worthy of God. I just want to go through this relatively quickly, but first of all we find that one must show hospitality to those who have pure motives and this is a requirement. These missionaries, these traveling preachers, they went out for the sake of the name.

This is something that you might have missed if you're reading the King James version, but something that sticks out very, very clearly in the legacy standard Bible and in other modern translations that name, that word name is capitalized for the sake of the name. This is something that we brought out in some of my other lessons, but just to kind of look at some other passages here in Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. And verse 21. Sorry, I verse 21, sorry, X5 and 41, So they went on their way from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been worthy to suffer shame for the name.

And so we see that the apostles had been, they'd gotten into trouble. They were persecuted for the name, the name being the name of Christ. And again, over in John 15 and verse 21. John 15 and verse 21. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because they do not know the one who sent me." The followers of Jesus in the early days of Christianity, they weren't known as Baptist.

They weren't known by specific titles except they were known as followers of the name. And we see that being indicated in various passages in the scriptures. Romans chapter 1 in verse 5, through whom we receive grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name. Was all about the name of Christ. The name of Christ.

These missionaries that were told that Gaius was given hospitality to, They went out for the sake of the name. They were doing ministry for God's glory and not their own. So we get that there from the text. And certainly this is an example, that they were, they went out for the sake of the name receiving nothing from the Gentiles. They weren't in it for money, and so that's the second point.

We're primarily wanting to do hospitality for those who are not in the ministry for money. These folks, their primary means of support was the church. But thirdly, we see that these were that these were those who were genuine teachers of the truth. Verse eight, he says, "'Therefore we ought to support such men, "'so we may be fellow workers with the truth. As we looked at second John and saw the the hospitality and the way that John wrote to the lady there.

We noticed that there were the behavior of hospitality walking in love and the truth, but also there were limits to Christian hospitality insofar as those who weren't in the truth. Our primary focus is those who are in truth. And so this is what he's applauding Gaius for, because these missionaries were men that he would want to be fellow workers with in the truth. We don't want to open our homes or churches up to two false teachers, because in doing so we are sharing in the deeds of those who we receive. And so we want to be very, very, very aware of how we are hospitable as individuals and as churches.

And so I ask you as we kind of bring this to a close, I ask you as an individual and we can apply it to the church, we may not get commendation from anybody in this life, but what will it be said of us? Are we practicing hospitality in a manner worthy of God? Would it be said of us like it said of Gaius here? Certainly we have to think about these things and certainly we have to think about as well what brings us great joy in this life. Are we thinking of the next generation?