Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Foreign.
[00:00:08] This is Pastor Chuck Allen, and welcome back to another weekday podcast. And today I want to talk about the greatest joy, and we're going to use Third John and the first eight verses.
[00:00:20] So welcome again to the weekday podcast.
[00:00:24] There's a letter in your Bible so short you really can miss it. It's 15 verses. That's it. You can read the whole thing while the coffee finishes pouring.
[00:00:35] And just. Just an old pastor writing to a friend. That's what's going on here. And somehow this little letter still tells the truth about church. It's called Third John.
[00:00:46] John doesn't start with a title or a resume. He starts with affection. He says, this letter is from John the Elder.
[00:00:55] I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.
[00:01:00] That's Third John one, straight from the New Living. When you stop right there, not only do is he saying, I love you in theory, and not just I love you when you're useful, but I love you in the truth.
[00:01:17] Truth, for John is never a cold idea you win in an argument.
[00:01:22] Truth is a way that you walk. It's a way that you treat people. It's a way that love actually shows up.
[00:01:28] Then he prays something. I wish we said each other more often. He says in verse two.
[00:01:34] Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.
[00:01:42] John wants his friend Gaius well on the inside and well on the outside, soul and body, strength and health. Not a shiny life, but a whole life.
[00:01:55] Then the traveling teachers come back with a report, and John lights up. He says, in verses three and four, some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you were living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.
[00:02:17] No greater joy.
[00:02:20] Not that the church got bigger, not that the brand got louder, not that Gaius became impressive, but that he was faithful, that he was living according to the truth. The deepest joy is not that they admired you. It is that they kept walking toward Jesus when nobody was watching.
[00:02:39] Then John gets very practical, because truth, when real, has to land somewhere, and it lands at a door.
[00:02:48] So in verses five through eight, he says, dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they're strangers to you.
[00:03:00] They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God, for they are traveling for the Lord and they accept Nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.
[00:03:21] Do you hear what John's doing in that text?
[00:03:24] He's taking this huge word, truth, and placing it on a front porch.
[00:03:30] Gaius is opening his home to people he doesn't even know, people carrying the name of Jesus from town to town, people who will not take money from those who do not believe because they do not want the message to look like a sales pitch.
[00:03:46] And John says, when you care for them, you're being faithful to God, because faithfulness is not only what you believe.
[00:03:54] Faithfulness, my friend, is what you make room for.
[00:03:58] Gaius, he doesn't get a pulpit in this letter. He gets a table. He gets a spare room. He gets a reputation for loving kindness and friendship. And John says that kind of ordinary welcome makes you a partner in the truth.
[00:04:16] I love that word.
[00:04:17] A partner.
[00:04:19] You may never preach the sermon. You may never cross the ocean. You may never have your name on anything. But if you support the people who go, if you feed them, if you pray them out the door, if you give them a place to rest, you're in the work with them. So what does that look like for you today?
[00:04:36] Maybe it looks like the guest room you keep already. Maybe it looks like the meal you take or the gift you send or the text that you send to someone so somebody serving Jesus. Jesus doesn't wonder if anyone's behind them. Maybe it looks like the text that says, you have a place here if you need it. The church doesn't stay alive because a few gifted people perform, y'. All. The church stays alive because ordinary people keep opening the door and doing the work. So here's the question I want to leave with you. Who's trying to pass through your life right now? Who needs a partner more than they need an opinion?
[00:05:14] And what would it look like today to provide for them in a manner that pleases the Lord God? Not someday, but today?
[00:05:23] Thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast. Tomorrow we'll stay in third John and meet two more names. One who loved me first and one whose life told the truth. Until then, walk in truth and keep the door open. God bless you, friend. Have a great day.
