Exploring the Depths of Fellowship: Insights from Third John

Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Well, we have been going through first, second, and Third John, and this evening we come to Third John, the third epistle of John here, and we're in verse number five, but it's been a few weeks, so I want to remind you where we are and where we've come from.

So in First John, the theme was fellowship with God, fellowship through faith.

And so with faith in God comes fellowship with God.

And how we walk with God is really in accordance to how much we trust in Him.

And if we trust in him, we obey him.

And if we obey him, we love him.

And if we love him, what does it say in First John that we'll love others.

And so our fellowship with God is connected to our fellowship with others.

And so for a believer to say, I have fellowship with God, but I don't have fellowship with my fellow brother or sister in Christ means to contradict the word of God.

We can't walk in in that way to say, I'm living for God, but I'm not living for loving my brother.

But then we get to Second John, and Second John was all about speaking the truth in love, living out the truth in love.

And so, yes, we are to love people.

But in the.

In the midst of our love for people, we don't sacrifice the truth.

But at the same time, when we're preaching truth to people, we don't preach it with anger, we don't preach it with bitterness, or we preach it with the heart of love, the heart to lead someone to Christ.

Every.

Every reaction that we have, any interaction that we have should be thought about from a few different angles.

So if I'm talking to an unsaved person, there's conflict or there's confusion, or maybe there's even questions.

The goal for that interaction should be to lead that person to Christ.

So think of it this way.

Evangelism.

Evangelism is preaching the gospel to someone with the hope and the prayer that they come to Christ in faith.

But then if I'm talking to a saved person, if I'm talking to a brother or sister, and there's that same interaction, we're not leading them to Christ in the concept of salvation, but what we do want to do is lead them to a place of edification, right?

We want to disciple them, we want to build them up, we want to encourage them, we want to exhort them.

So every relationship has that focus.

And so Second John's all about how we can live speaking and teaching the truth in love at the same time.

And remember, Second John was the Apostle John writing to a lady within the church there.

And that was an interesting study.

Then we're here in Third John, and we just went through the first four verses last two weeks ago.

And remember, it's the Apostle John writing to a guy named Gaius.

And essentially, what does he say here?

He says, I love you, and I love you in the truth.

That's verse number one.

So he says, the reason I love you is not because of what you've done for me.

The reason why I love you is not because of your support.

Even though he's thankful for the support, he loves this individual because of their common bond in Christ.

And that's a beautiful thing.

What a wonderful thing it is when Christians can come together, maybe from different backgrounds, maybe from different social classes, maybe even from different countries, and we can come together and we can love one another.

Why?

Because we have that common bond of truth.

And that truth being that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

And when I trust in him, we are then indwelled by that same spirit.

But then he says, Verse 2, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.

And so remember, he says, I'm praying for your physical health, and I'm praying for your spiritual health.

And the assumption would be that if he's walking with Christ, his soul is already prospering.

So.

So if there's a Christian who has the security of salvation in Jesus Christ, we already know what their outcome is going to be, spiritually speaking.

But at the same time, we pray for different physical things that they might be dealing with.

And then he says in verse three, for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth.

And so he says this.

I'm so excited to hear your testimony about your faithfulness in walking in the truth.

And that's really the theme here in 3 John is walking in the truth.

And we're going to see a good example of walking in the truth.

And we're going to see an example of someone who is not walking in the truth.

And so really, Third John is about a good example and a bad example and the fact that we should follow the good examples in accordance to Scripture and reject and turn.

Turn away from the bad example and not follow that.

And then we saw verse four.

He says this.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

And.

And again, we use that verse sometimes with our children that are within our homes.

And that is a truth.

Like, I am excited if my children follow God.

And that's an.

That's a blessing.

But at the same time, I think that this has a greater teaching in the concept of who we disciple, who we lead to Christ and who we teach in the truth, and who we shepherd and who we come alongside of that.

The greatest joy is when that person walks in truth.

And that's a picture of discipleship.

I want you at Middletown Baptist Church to maybe not get tired of it, but you should hear the word discipleship so much.

Why?

Because that should be our ultimate goal.

Because discipleship is leading someone to Christ in salvation and leading people in Christ in sanctification or their spiritual growth.

Everything that we do should be discipleship within the church.

Really, we could think about it this way.

The word disciple really means follower or learner.

And so discipleship is teaching others how to follow Christ.

And that's really what the Great Commission is.

If you go to Matthew, chapter 28, it's about making disciples, teaching them how to follow Jesus.

Going alongside of them.

And alongside of them means to exhort them.

It doesn't mean to judge them.

It doesn't mean to condemn them.

It doesn't mean to forget about them.

It doesn't mean to turn a blind eye to their sin.

It's a very nuanced process in discipleship because there's going to be some times where we need to lift a brother or sister up.

There's going to be other times where we need to challenge and confront a brother and sister in their sin.

But we do that again with truth and love.

And so he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

I'm going to tell you, there is no greater joy for a believer, or at least this should be the case, to lead someone to Christ.

That's an amazing.

An amazing experience.

Now, it's not us.

We don't take the credit for it.

We don't say, like, wow, look at me, look how many people I saved.

No, that's not what we're talking about here.

But it's such a joy, really, almost to the point where it's overwhelming joy to have the opportunity to be a part of that process of telling someone the truth of Jesus Christ and then for them to believe and then as it says here, for them to walk in truth.

Because so many times for, for so long, what's happened is, is that we've had these big services and we've had people come forward and maybe even repeat a prayer.

And that's a wonderful thing.

But where is that process of the follow up?

Where's that process of shepherding?

Where's that process of teaching?

We've got so many people that are babies in Christ, meaning this.

The Bible actually says that when we're saved, we are, as John 3 says, we are newly born, freshly born, like a newborn baby.

We would never, never, hopefully, if you're in your right mind and you're a sane person and you're a loving person, you would never leave a newborn baby out on their own.

Just figure this out.

No, what we would do is we would nurture that child.

We would take care of them to the point where they are strong enough, they are secure enough to be able to do that themselves.

That's the same process of discipleship within the church.

We lead someone to Christ, praise God, there's a new life there.

John 3, if you have time, if you haven't read it, I'm sure most of you have read that discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus.

It's a beautiful, beautiful story.

But at the end of the day, we don't leave that person there, newly born, newly saved, and say, well, figure it out on your own.

No, we come alongside.

And so that's the joy to see people growing.

I'll be honest with you, as a pastor, I'm, I'm overwhelmed.

This, this past Sunday, you know, pastor appreciation and, and people saying good things about you.

That gets almost to the point of being embarrassed.

You know, I don't, it's like, wow, don't, don't say those things.

You know, I want Jesus to be praised.

I want God to be praised.

But at the same time, you know what, what a pastor appreciates the most?

To see people walking in the truth, to see people that are, that are starting Sunday school classes, that are starting Bible studies, that are shepherding other people, that are inviting people to church.

That's the greatest joy we could ever have because that's the multiplication process.

God asks us to be, you know, in Genesis, be fruitful and multiply.

Well, we know that's speaking of biologically, but I think in the concept of the new Testament, we are to be fruitful and multiply when it comes to leading people to Christ.

We're to see that happening within the church.

And for many years, what the problem has been with many churches is that we just say, okay, this church is growing just because this church over here is closed and we just absorb these Christians.

And that's going to happen.

At some point in time, people leave churches, and there's good reasons for that sometimes.

But what, what an amazing thing it would be if the church would grow that way, but also grow with new converts, people coming from different backgrounds.

Maybe an atheist coming to Christ, maybe someone who is religious but not trusting in Jesus Christ as savior.

Coming to Christ, that's the exciting thing.

And that's what that song was all about.

I love to tell the story.

You don't have to have a PhD or a master's of divinity to tell people about Jesus Christ.

A child can tell someone about Jesus Christ.

Sometimes children are the best gospel witnesses because they simplify the process.

They don't overthink it.

They don't have the fear.

They just say, hey, you know what?

This is what I believe in.

And I love that.

And that's exciting to see.

So we're going to move forward.

We're going to look at a good example, an example of somebody who we should follow within the church.

And.

And it is the example of Gaius here in verse five, he says, beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers.

So he says, here we can learn from the example of Gaius.

He's a good example.

He's a good example of how a Christian should live.

And John praises him for his, specifically in this case, his hospitality to the brethren and to strangers.

And so John says, hey, you're doing a good job.

You're.

You're showing the love of Christ in a proper manner.

And we might think, well, what is he doing?

He's showing hospitality.

That's not that great.

Well, the Bible actually says that that's a spiritual gift.

The Bible says that that's how we're supposed to treat everybody.

And so this is important, and this is an important practical outworking of the love of God to the love of others.

This is really what God is saying in the New Testament, is this.

If you understand my love, if you understand my forgiveness, if you understand my grace, then you're going to be able to show that to other people.

And so when we give Christian hospitality to other people, when we care for other people, when we give to other people, when we provide for other people.

When we take care of other people with spiritual matters and physical matters and emotional needs, hey, at the end of the day, that's not because we're trying to do that to make people's lives better, even though that is a product of that.

All we're doing is we're doing what God told us to reciprocate that love that he has given us to other people.

We want to treat people as God has treated us.

We want to treat people as we would want to be treated.

And so he says, beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest.

So often we under emphasize the importance of faithfulness.

We like to see sometimes big drastic changes.

Revolutionary thinkers, visionaries.

But at the end of the day, what does God praise?

God praises the servant who is faithful.

Think about what Matthew says.

He says at one point, when someone gets to heaven and God is looking at their life, what does he say?

Well done, thou good and successful servant.

No, it's faithful, well done, thou good and faithful.

First Corinthians, chapter 4.

What is a steward supposed to be?

Well, that he is found faithful.

Faithfulness is not always the most attractive thing because faithfulness is taking little decisions in our life and making those decisions on the day to day basis and eventually building that as a testimony to help other Christians around us.

You know, if, if sometimes we see someone come in and, and, and they're on fire for the Lord and they're excited for what God is doing, but when excitement and service for the Lord is a trend and then eventually that trend is going to go down, that's not true service.

That's not true faithfulness.

Faithfulness is trying to stay as level headed and as focused as we can on the mission ahead.

If I'm serving God for the today, I'm missing the bigger picture.

What am I serving God for?

I'm serving God for eternity.

When I became pastor of Middletown Baptist Church, there's always questions about what are you going to change?

Are you going to take away this?

Are you going to add this?

Are you going to make this?

The truth of the matter is, is at that time my whole mindset was I'm playing the, I'm in the long game.

I want this to be a generational ministry.

And so if I make a decision today, that might affect today, but the process of discipleship, the process of hospitality, the process of loving others and giving, should be thinking long term, focusing on eternity.

But he gives him a compliment.

He says whatever you do, that's what he's saying.

In verse five, he says, whatever you do, you are faithful.

Thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest.

That's probably the greatest compliment that anyone could give someone.

It's like, whatever you do, you're faithful.

I don't care if it's working outside.

I don't care if it's, you know, picking up trash in the church parking lot or teaching a class or serving in a setup meeting or a committee or whatever it is, whatever is done at the church, you do it to the best of your ability.

I think about that verse that says, whatsoever that hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.

Sometimes we think about the big picture ministry things and, well, that's an upfront ministry or that's a ministry that gets a lot of praise.

You know what?

Every ministry, every act of service, every example of hospitality, whether people know it or not, matter in the big picture of the kingdom of God.

So he says, whatever you do, you're doing it faithfully.

Not just when people are looking, not just when I'm there, not just when someone else is there, but when God is looking and maybe no one else is looking.

He says, do it to the brethren and to strangers.

So he says, you're not just doing it for people that you know, but you're doing it for people that maybe you don't even know.

And that's an important thing to notice because sometimes we can be on a certain demeanor if we're around certain people.

Like we know we're supposed to impress these people.

So I, sometimes I'm just gonna be honest.

Sometimes this happens with me as when people find out I'm a pastor, they're like, oh.

And you get a few reactions when, when people find out that you're a pastor, they either try to over spiritualize everything that they say or they get quiet and afraid and think you're going to judge them and they just don't talk anymore.

The truth is, is that we are supposed to treat everybody the same, whoever they are.

The book of James talks about that.

The book of James talks about, well, someone comes in and torn up clothing and, and they don't look very wealthy and they actually look like they, they might be like stinky.

Well, we want to put them way away from us.

We don't want them to sit anywhere near the front because back then the important people sat in the front.

Which makes me question whether or not that was a Baptist church or not, because no one says up front, well, our church is pretty good with that.

But you know, Baptist churches usually Fill from the back and move forward.

But the idea would be this.

Then the book of James says, there's this guy that comes in and he's wearing gold and he's wearing these nice clothes.

And they say, hey, come on up here.

You sit in the great seat.

You sit in the seat of honor.

We're going to honor you.

See, that's, that's a, that's a miscommunication of God's love.

Because God love, He's not a respecter of person, which means this.

He doesn't look at someone and go, well, you're valuable to me.

I'm going to love you more.

You're going to bring more to me, so I'm going to, I'm going to going to give you more blessing.

No, the truth is, is that God loves all.

And when he extends that gift of grace to all, he's not a chooser of that person bringing this talent to me or this person bringing this talent to me.

Because by the way, all the talents that we have in our life, all the gifts that we have in our life are given to us by God.

And therefore he could take those away.

It's a gift of God that we're able to do anything.

Every good gift comes from God.

That's James, chapter one.

So he says this.

Furthermore, verse six, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church.

He says this.

Basically, he says, hey, it's obvious that you have been loving those within the church.

Your love is evident.

Your, your love is clear for those who have traveled there and witnessed you, he says, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sword, thou shalt do well.

Which means this.

At this time frame, there were people that were traveling and ministering in different places, and it was common practice to give them hospitality as they would come into that city.

And that's essentially what he's saying here.

He says, you are showing that type of love, you're showing that type of hospitality to people.

And so he says, whatever God gives you, you're faithful.

And ultimately you are projecting the love of Christ to those in need.

And so he says, hey, you're doing a good job.

You're showing hospitality.

You're giving things to people, even if you don't think that they're going to give anything back.

Then he says, because that for his name's sake, they went forth.

He says, the reason why you took care of them was not necessarily because of the fact that they were going to do something for you.

What it says that they were doing it for the sake of the Lord, for his name's sake.

They went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles.

Because back then, what it really was is that the early church was filled with missionaries and.

And filled with preachers and.

And ultimately what would happen is that John is telling him here, he says, hey, they're not taking anything from the Gentiles.

They're not accepting anything from the unsaved people.

They're not accepting anything from these people that are in rejection to him.

Instead, they're getting the support from the.

The church there.

And so he's.

He's doing it in a manner that's worthy to the Lord.

And so verse eight, he says, we ought.

We therefore ought to receive such that we might pre.

My.

That we might be fellow helpers to the truth.

Meaning this.

Sometimes when we think that indirectly we're helping someone, that it's not an impact.

He says this.

He says that though you might not be initially the one up front, you are the one that's helping these other people preach the truth.

Therefore, you're part of the process.

So there's always these people that are part of the process that can support and that ultimately we can see that everyone's part of this.

Like, so, like, I would say it this way.

Next year, Lord willing, we're going to send a team to Rwanda.

And I know the reality is that.

That the vast majority of people in our church aren't going to be able.

We know that.

We understand that.

That's.

That's.

That's reality.

But what we don't want to have happen is this.

Okay, we have like eight people going to Rwanda, so that's their mission strip.

And then everyone at the church is like, okay, well, you know, what's our thing we're doing?

The reality is, is that even though there's only maybe, let's say eight people going on the trip, everybody at Middletown Baptist can be a part of that ministry project.

Why?

Because I can give, I can pray, I can provide, and I. I can communicate.

I can.

I can send whatever I can do there and help them there.

And there's other ways to be a part of that.

And so I think a lot of times people think, well, I have to do an upfront ministry or I have to.

I have to give a certain amount of money or I have to be able to be talented in this area to serve.

No.

God has gifted us with various talents so we can find opportunities to serve where God has us.

And so for this individual, it says, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.

And so the idea would be this.

We all can be fellow helpers to the truth of God.

We're all part of the Gospel message.

I'm going to tell you that it would be confusing if 200 people on Sunday morning got up and tried to preach from the pulpit.

Okay?

That would be mass chaos.

Okay.

The reality is, is that that wouldn't, that God is not the author of confusion.

And that would be confusing to have that.

It would be confusing to have four or five people up there preaching at the same time.

Right.

But at the same time I'm going to tell you, like, okay, I, I'm, I might be the one behind the pulpit or someone else might be behind the pulpit, Pastor Carlos, or whatever.

The truth is is that all of you that pray, all of you that encourage are part of the process of that message.

And it's not like, oh, I'm using sermon analogies from people's lives.

No, that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the idea that every time we encourage another brother or sister in Christ to serve God, we are part of that as well.

And likewise, people should help us, people should encourage us.

And so what does he say here?

He says, Gaius is a good example of someone who is supporting other Christians for the sake of the Gospel.

That would be a great message of why we should send money to missionaries.

How many of you have the opportunity to go to 31 different mission fields?

None of us.

We could only go to one, maybe two if we split our time.

But we have 31 missionaries at Middletown Baptist Church that we can directly support to be a part as a fellow helper to the ministry of the gospel being preached in Brazil, being preached in South America, being preached in South Africa, being preached all over the world.

Right?

So that's the exciting part of being a Christian, is that we're on the team.

So it's not a one man show.

If, if, if something in the church for the gospel becomes a one man show.

It's a whole mistake.

I should not be doing all the work at the church.

I should not be the only one preaching the gospel.

We, we should.

You, you should not be the only person leading your ministry, even though you might be the direct point point person for that ministry.

It's a team effort.

Why?

Because if we put all the weight on one person other than the Lord, there will be a failure, there will be a collapse.

There will be burnout.

So what we need to do is we need to build up one another, and that's what he's talking about here.

So part of discipleship is teaching the truth.

Part of discipleship is encouraging one another in the truth.

But what we would say is this part of discipleship is lifting one another up in the midst of service, whether we know it or not.

Sometimes we think of discipleship as we got a book and we're going to sit down at a table and pastor's going to teach us a class.

Okay, that is a class.

That is not discipleship.

I'm just going to tell you that.

That's teaching someone the truths of the Bible.

But discipleship is more than that.

Discipleship is lifting up one another.

Discipleship is the call in the middle of the night when someone's broken over something in their life and we get on the phone and we talk through it, and we meet up for coffee first thing in the morning and say, hey, we're going to deal with this.

We're going to walk through this together.

Discipleship is literally this doing life together.

And as Christians, we can't just sit here and go, well, we have a Sunday school class offered for people to learn about the Bible.

That's enough discipleship.

No, it's got to be so much more.

The early church.

Think about the book of Acts.

Acts, chapter two.

They didn't say, like, okay, well, they had their, their monthly class that they went to and they met and they went home.

No, it was dayto day.

It was in the homes.

And, and I know this is, this isn't common teaching.

This isn't something that we're comfortable with in our society today because we've become a very segmented society.

Christianity has become something of an individualistic effort.

Like, you've heard people say this, right?

Well, my religion is my personal thing.

And like, I, I keep to myself on that.

Well, that's really not anything in scripture.

Scripture is all about sharing this experience together with one another.

It's lifting each other up.

It's, it's what Gaius did here.

It's.

He's providing hospitality for people.

He.

He's being a fellow helper to the truth.

And so I think a lot of times what happens within our church culture is that we come in and we want to portray to everybody that, hey, I'm okay.

I'm super spiritual.

I'm, I'm, I'm great.

I don't need any help.

But at the end of the day, we're going, I, I'VE been here, guys.

I've been here.

I've come to church and smiled at everybody and I got in my car and I, I wept because I was, I was hurting for whatever reason, say, well, you do that.

Yeah, I've done that before.

I, I'm just going to be honest with you.

Why, and why was I not willing to share that with someone?

Because I don't want anyone to think that I have a weakness.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm struggling.

But the truth is, is that true biblical discipleship is coming alongside of one another and strengthening one another.

And that's what we see here in the life of Gaius.

His generosity is commended, his hospitality is commended.

And ultimately we know that in the teachings of Matthew, chapter 10.

I think this is so interesting.

Matthew 10:40, 41 says, he that receiveth you, receiveth me.

And he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of the prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.

And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

Meaning this.

We have these joint efforts that we come together with, and the blessing can be bigger than just, hey, look, Pastor got up and preached a message today.

Well, we can come together and we can say, no.

I want to be a part of ministry.

I want to find some avenue of service within the church.

I want to lead someone to Christ.

Folks, there, there, there isn't anything that holds back any church member from being a part of leading someone to Christ, teaching a class, doing church together with one another.

And I encourage you to think about that.

I encourage you to think about that from a serious perspective.

How many, how many of us?

I, I.

You ever wonder?

I do this all the time.

Maybe I'm the only person that does this.

You ever wonder what would happen if, like, Paul had a time machine and he could come back and see the church today?

Or Peter or John, he could come back and he could look and see what we're doing?

I've, I've thought about that.

I've said, I wonder what he would say.

I wonder, I wonder what aspects of the church today they would celebrate.

And I wonder what aspects would they say, what are you guys doing?

You guys, miss, are missing the point.

And I'm not saying that anything we're doing is wrong.

What I'm actually saying is I think that there is more that we can do when it comes to the church.

And sometimes that's uncomfortable because it's like, don't.

Don't pry into my life.

I don't want you to know about me.

But at the end of the day, we see that there is this total difference in this dichotomy of, well, I have church life and I have home life, and then I have work life.

That's not what we see here in Scripture.

We see that it's all church life and everything that I do, it's all spiritual.

So then we go farther and we see this other guy and.

And he says, Verse 9, I wrote unto the church.

And then we see a transition.

We see a bad example.

He says, but diotrepies.

So he says, g, you are characterized by hospitality.

And with that hospice, you gotta be humble, right?

So he says, your humble hospitality characterizes you as a good servant.

But Diotrephes is different.

He says, diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

So Gaius.

Gaius received them with humble hospitality.

The Atrophies met them with pride and preeminence, and he did not receive them.

Why did the atrophies not receive them?

Because he wanted to be the man.

He wanted to be the focus.

And when people like the Apostle John and other folks came in, he was not willing to defer to their authority.

He says, no, I'm the one.

I'm the one that has the spotlight.

And he says here that he received us not.

So I want you to think about the comparison.

Here you have Gaius, who is the humble, hospitable servant.

Then you have Diotrephes, who is the prideful person with wanting preeminence.

And so verse 10, it says, wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith, Neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the church.

Now, verse 10, this is, we're going to spend the rest of our time and where we're going to pick up next week because there is so much here in verse 10 that identifies to us Diotrephes problem.

Now, at the core of it, it's pride.

But I'm going to tell you this in love here this evening that we have many people within the church at large.

I'm not saying our church, but I'm saying Christianity today that are displaying more of the example of diotropies instead of Gaius.

It's the idea that, hey, we are first our needs are first.

My ego is first.

My reputation is the most important thing.

And he says here, wherefore I come, I will remember his deeds.

Now, what's the atre's deeds?

Well, what did he do?

It says here, praying against us with malicious words.

That's some strong language.

What is.

What is he saying here?

Well, he's saying this.

The atrepies not only failed to receive John and the other apostles, but then he spoke against them.

And it says here, parading against us with malicious words.

The.

The original Greek here means this.

It's like destructive speech almost to the point of where it's.

It's slanderous.

Some would even say gossiping.

So he says the atrophies.

What happens is, is that the apostle John and some of the other apostles come in and diotrephy starts going, hey, you know, these guys aren't really who they say they are.

They're probably hypocritical.

Who, whatever it is, he's spreading malicious words, praying words that when we know what malice is, right?

What, what is malice?

Malice is more than hate.

Hatred is.

I just don't like that person.

Malice is further.

Malice is wishing evil on that person when I hate them.

And so what's happening here is he's speaking evil words against a person that has good intentions.

How often within the church do we see that someone trying to do what's right for the Lord, trying to be different.

And someone speaks against that.

And almost think about it.

The picture that I have is someone's burning with fire for the Lord.

The Bible says to be fervent in the spirit serving the Lord.

That word fervent in the Bible says, speaks of a boiling.

A boiling pot or a fire that's just out of control.

We should be on fire for the Lord.

But the picture that I see is that someone comes along like the atrophies and pours water on top of the fire and tries to squelch that.

That excitement for the Lord.

That's exactly what we see him doing here.

Says he's doing this with malicious words and not content therewith.

Meaning he's not going to ever be content with his life because of the place that he's there with the Lord in his pride.

And that's really the outcome of pride.

Pride leads to a place of discontentment because we're never going to feel like we're getting enough.

We're never going to feel like people are honoring us enough.

If you think about it from that perspective, think about it with someone who has a Heart of pride.

Let's say 20 people come up to them and give them a good word.

Why didn't 30 people come up to me?

Right.

Pride is a never ending pit that keeps taking away and keeps taking away and will never satisfy the atrophies.

Here is, it says here is not content therewith.

Neither doth he himself receive the brethren.

So he, he's not receiving other Christians.

He's not receiving people that are coming in and needing hospitality.

He not only failed to receive John and the other apostles, he speaks against them, he has malicious gossip.

And ultimately what we can see here is that he rejects them and the opportunity for service.

But then it says this is crazy and forbiddeth them that would meaning this.

He gets mad at other people within the church that are being kind to other.

So it's kind of like the guilty by association situation.

Like I'm not mad at you, but you like someone that I'm mad at, so I'm going to be mad at you.

Now you ever seen that happen within the church?

Like I, I, I have no problem with you, but since you're close to this person, I, I can't talk to you anymore.

That's what the Atre was doing.

He was like, I'm not going to accept them and when you accept them, I'm going to reject you.

And then he goes further and says this and cast and, and not even, not even that.

He just doesn't like those people.

But then it says and casteth them out of the church, which means he wanted to get rid of them.

So, so he not only didn't like the people that wanted to be kind to other Christians, specifically the apostles, but then at that point he wanted to reject them and then get rid of them.

And really that's what pride does.

Pride tries to get rid of anyone who gets in the way.

And we'll stop there because we're going to come back more next week and we're going to look at what John's response is to these examples.

He says, look, you've got the good example in Gaius.

Remember, Humbled, hospitable.

And then you have on the other side the atrophes.

Who's as it says here, he was characterized by pride and preeminence, meaning he wanted to be the focus.

And anytime we're serving in the ministry, if our desire, if our motivation is preeminence, we've got the wrong motivation and it eventually lead to the outcome here.

And, and really what we see think about diotrephy as the Atrophies is division, right?

He causes division because of his pride.

And you see how man.

This is just so it's jumping off the page.

You see how diotrephy's here.

His pride has now made him reject these Christians, get mad at these Christians that want to receive them, and then eventually kick them out.

You see how just one man's pride has caused basically a bomb that's exploded within the church because of one man's pride that says, well, you know what?

I want to be first.

Well, now these people are affected.

Now, we don't know the amount of people that this affected, but it doesn't seem like it's just an isolated event.

It sounds like this.

Essentially, it sounds like this church is splitting because of the atrophies's decisions.

And so he says in verse 11, beloved, follow, follow not that which is evil.

He says, the atrophy's evil.

Don't follow that example, but that which is good.

He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

So he says, you really have two options.

You can follow the path of Gaius, or you can follow the path of diotropies.

He says, don't follow the path of the atrophies.

That's the path of evil.

Follow the path of God.

And essentially, what did he say here?

He says this.

If you've experienced God, he says, he that doeth good is of God, and he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Meaning have not.

Has not experienced the grace of God.

I'm not saying that someone who is prideful is not a Christian.

But what I am saying is that somebody who cannot extend grace, cannot extend forgiveness, cannot extend hospitality, is not willing to, and is stuck in his or her pride, has not truly understood what God has done, or not willing to admit what God has done and willing to submit to that.

That.

And so what I would say is that that's something that I think all of us should inspect in our own lives is like, what.

How far am I willing to go to get to a place where I can be focused on disciples?

Well, I.

This is.

This is the American.

Let's not say American, because I don't want to pound on America, but just kind of Western church is this.

I will disciple when it's convenient for me, if it fits into my schedule, if it fits into my calendar, if it.

If it makes sense for me, if it doesn't drain my resources.

But that's not biblical discipleship.

Biblical discipleship is where Can I sacrifice to help someone else?

I'll leave you with one last verse.

Jesus is our greatest example in everything.

Okay.

Jesus is our greatest example in how to love, how to forgive, how to serve, how to, how to disciple.

And think about how Jesus came.

Think about this from, from this perspective.

Matthew, chapter 20.

And I'm just going to read through Matthew, chapter 20, verse 20.

Let's see, verse 25.

Okay.

Now Jesus is going to explain how we deal with other people.

And he says, how does the world deal with people?

So, so are we going to disciple from a worldly perspective?

Are we going to disciple from Jesus's perspective?

Well, here's the worldly perspective, verse 25 of Matthew 20.

But Jesus called them unto him and said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, meaning control them, try to show their power, try to, try to get them to submit to them.

He says, that's, that's the way the princes of the Gentiles exercise their leadership.

They.

They exercise by the iron fist the power.

And they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you.

But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant and his.

This is verse 28.

This is what I want you to see here.

Even as the Son of man, that's Jesus came not to be ministered unto, meaning Jesus didn't come for people to serve him, even though that's what we think.

Ultimately we are supposed to serve Jesus, but his ultimate goal was not to come for that.

People would just keep serving him.

It says, but to minister, that's service, and to give his life a ransom.

For many that sacrifice, the way that we do anything in the example of Jesus is service and sacrifice.

How can I serve?

How can I sacrifice?

That's discipleship.

That's evangelism, that's service within the church.

How can I serve?

How can I sacrifice?

It's something that I'm working on in my life, something that I think about and I'm praying through.

It's how, how can I.

How can I deal with this relationship, whether it's husband and wife, father to child, worker to co worker, a neighbor to neighbor.

How can I demonstrate Matthew 20, service and sacrifice?

And I guarantee if that's, that's a prayer that you ask God to give new clarity on, he will give you clarity on that.

It's kind of like the prayer of, lord, give me an opportunity to give the gospel out Today, that's one that he loves to answer.

So if you.

This is it.

What's that one show?

It's like, this is your mission, if you so choose to take it.

I don't know how it goes, but like, basically this.

Yeah, it's basically this.

Are you ready to ask God, Lord, give me an opportunity where I can serve and sacrifice for somebody.

He's going to give it to you.

But are you willing to take it?

That's the question.

I know it's a tough.

It's a tough commitment and I'm not saying to take it lightly, but what I am saying is make a desire in your heart to want that.

That's my prayer right now.

My prayer is to the Lord that Lord, just give me a desire to want to sacrifice.

Because sometimes what happens now is we sacrifice.

And it's like, I gotta be so inconvenienced to do this.

I gotta go out of my way for this person.

But like, may we ask the Lord to say, lord, give me a heart to be.

Wake up in the morning, say, where can I serve?

Who can I sacrifice?

That's, that's, that's a change that I think all of us hopefully can, can desire in our life if God gives us the strength to do so.

Well, we'll come back next week and we'll conclude, conclude Third John.

It's a short book, but I think there's so much there.

We'll conclude Third John and then we'll get right into our next Bible study, which many people are asking where we're going and still praying about that.

But we're going to get there.

And I can guarantee you two things.

I can guarantee you that it'll be a book of the Bible and I can guarantee you we're going to go verse by verse through it.

It'll take some time, but we're going to do it.

And I'm excited to do that with you.

Well, let's go ahead.

And I know that was long.

I took so much of your time and I apologize for that.

But Lord really pressed that upon my heart this evening.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for, for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.