Sermon Tone Analysis
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3 John is another book of encouragement, somewhat similar to 2 John
He will be exhorting his recipient to really stay strong in the faith, even though others aren’t
“the elder” - he called himself this in 2nd John
“beloved/whom I love in the truth” - this is the first thing that he says
often you can see where priorities are by “first things” - first thing he says is beloved..
this is the Christian message, love
a look into the word “love” used here
ἀγαπάω - to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish.
to have high esteem for or satisfaction with something.
to practice/express love, prove one’s love
there are different words used for love in the new testament.
this one is for a warm brotherly love and is the most often used
we see that John is in the right mindset and where his priorities are
this is the mindset that we should try to achieve, a “loving” first mindset
it’s our responsibility to show love to the world, we’re to be a mirror of God’s love
We are God’s agents on earth, sent from Him to do a mission
Christ’s message was based on love, His mission was also based on love
we’re to be conformed to His image
the word “Gospel” means good news, so we are good news spreaders to the earth
the gospel gives life, it lifts up the downtrodden
Jesus often talked to the poor, oppressed, and downtrodden
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“be in health, even as thy soul...”
John not only cares about about the physical health of Gaius, but also about his soul’s health
we should be more concerned about our spiritual health than anything
sometimes it’s hard to truly apply this like we should, but this is the thinking that we need to have
the spiritual world is very real, and it’s always going on around us and in the background
so we see here what is happening “behind the scenes” if you will
essentially, we have been given new life by Christ, not only here but in the hereafter
this life is MUCH more valuable than our physical life.
God has blessed us with this by His grace and mercy, we don’t want to just put it on the shelf
We see that Gaius not only has inward light as a believer, but it’s also coming out of him, people can see that he has a good testimony
not only is he putting on a good testimony for the Lord, but he is also helping people at the same time
so he is being a doer, and not just a sayer
his light is shining, he’s reflecting God’s love onto the world, he’s taking it seriously
“i have no greater joy...” - that is a strong statement, think about it
like we talked about last week, John is truly concerned about the spiritual state of those whom he knows
because John realizes how important these things are
he loved people genuinely therefore he doesn’t want to see them eternally damned to hell
we should strive to see people in this way, we should try to see someone and say “poor soul, i hope they’re not on their way to perishing and to living their life full of destructive sin”
“walk in the truth”
“Gaius is walking in the truth because he is following the gospel in all its pure simplicity.”
we need simplicity of heart and soul
this means to not be double minded, just simple in our approach to follow Christ’s commands and that’s it
We see that Gaius is faithful in not being a respector of persons or anything like that
what is going on here is that whether or not a visit to gaius was from a believing stranger, or someone he knew
we know it’s talking about believers because they were talking about his good testimony
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the end of the verse is telling gaius that he’d be doing good by sending them on their way in a Godly way
so these people had set out in the name of Christ, John says.
John tells Gaius that he should take care of them, not only as fellow brothers, but as supporters of the cause
we can help “the church” in many ways, we can do something at the building itself, we can go out and spread the gospel, we could take care of the people in some way, we can support others who are going on mission trips, etc
so we need not think, “oh there is nothing that I’m able to do”, almost anyone can do some sort of something, right?
John wants to be part of the spreading of the gospel.
He was likely really old at the time he was writing this letter, so it’s not as if he could walk
but what we see from him was providing some leadership in his local church, sending out letters of encouragement to some, helping missionaries as they go on their journey, and likely more
what we see is that this diotrephes is the leader of a church that John tried to write to
however, he didn’t want John or people associated with him coming around to his church
diotrephes has let what bit of power he had go to his head
we’ve all probably heard the phrase, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
this is what satan desired, right? he wanted to be on top, wanted to be number one, it’s a powerful temptation to some
He’s not only let the power go to his head, but he’s lording it over people, abusing his power
he’s started actually thinking he’s above everyone, when we are called to be humble as Christians
Christ talked about being humble a lot, about being a servant to others.
“the greatest among you will the servant of all”
diotrephes was in bad shape, imagine, he wouldn’t even receive an apostle or the apostle’s people! it goes to show how much he really cared about that stuff at that point
power got to his head, and totally flipped what he cared about.
look at many of the rich and powerful in the world, the “elite”, power has gotten to many of their heads badly
Diotrephes has been prating (talking nonsense/disparaging) against John and the believers around him.
he is essentially rebelling against the church, not just a single church, but true beliving
that is not a place you want to be, rebelling against true belief, the church, the bride of Christ
“malicious words” - anyone remember where we’ve heard about this before?
JAMES
James basically makes the point that it’s amazing how such a small thing, such a little thing, like the tongue, can cause so much damage
think about how damage can be done by someone spreading a rumor, spreading a lie, disparaging someone’s reputation, gossiping about people in a negative way, etc.
the silverlining here is that the tongue can be a double-edged sword, after all, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
we can use the tongue to spread the gospel, to build people up, to spread light to a dark world
Jesus used the tongue to spread the gospel, right?
look what a world changing thing that was!
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“neither doth he receive the brethren” - so not only is he talking about people, but he will not receive belivers.
and not only that...
“and forbitteth them that would...” - now that is a bad place to be spiritually
could you imagine trying to prevent someone from finding God? from coming to church?
diotrephes has totally strayed from the course in a huge way
what John is saying is that those who truly are following God and want to know God will be trying to do good and repent when they are in error
they have seen what Christ has done for us, they have seen how much He loves us, and once you’ve seen it, it’s hard to go back
once you fully understand and see what the gospel is all about
John isnt’ saying that if you are a believer who sins once in a while that you’re not of God, it has to do with you’re walk and if you’re repenting
Someone who is doing evil and who doesn’t repent or care about their evils and wrongdoings, they have not really seen God
so we see a new character, Demetrius, who is perhaps one of the people sent out by John
John says that he bears record, and that gaius knows that his record is true
this is because John has a habit of telling the truth and that John obviously knows and is following the true gospel
we should strive to have this kind of testimony, one where people know that our word is true and that we’re coming from the right place.
like the end of 2 John, we likely see a reminder of the persecution that the early Christians went through.
there must have been a lot going on for John to not want to write things down, you have to be being incredibly cautious or the romans were really hunting Christians
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