The Christian Duty of Hospitality to the Strange Brother

We need to remember this morning John is writing to a brother who he loves dearly. This is still a word of encouragement that we should keep in mind!

Read 3 John 5-8

These four verses praise Gaius on the way that he has treated strangers that are brothers. This describes fellow Christians who the members of this church don’t actually know. As we will learn later in verse 7, these strange brothers are missionaries who have taken the words of Jesus in Matthew 28 to heart. Verse 7 identifies them as those who have “gone out for the sake of the name.”

I want to be clear with you this morning that this message is centered on the gospel. Those who have gone out for the sake of the gospel have done so with great intention. The same language of going out is found in 2 John 7. There is a purpose and intention found in going out and in this case it is that the world might know who Jesus Christ is. John focuses on the treatment of these travelers and begins with the fact that

Showing hospitality is a faithful action

There are efforts made mention of here that point to faithfulness but we need to ask who this faithfulness is to. It is faithfulness to God. And this is the sort of faithfulness that shows itself in action. When a person is faithful to God, it comes across in what they do rather than what they simply say.

The reason that this is something that is being commended is because this isn’t the easy thing to do. It would not be normal to welcome in a stranger but because of the love that they have for them based on union in Christ, Gaius put for an effort that was quite notable.

It is important to remember that there is to be an evaluation regarding who to show hospitality to. In fact, yesterday, there were missionaries walking through my neighborhood. I knew what they were representing and they didn’t show up but planned to ask them if they did come up with two questions: what do you believe about Jesus Christ and what do you believe about the scriptures. We should be careful about who we bring into our homes and into our lives. But once we have determined that we are of the same line of belief, this is the thing that we ought to do out of faithfulness to God. We will get to what is included in showing this sort of hospitality in a moment but can clearly see that John praises the faithfulness of Gaius. Next we see that

Showing hospitality will be testified about

Verse 6 speaks to the testimony of the love that has been testified before the church. Notice that hospitality is first described as efforts and then just described as love. The action of love here is something that others will know about. This is Christian love and comes with a certain reputation.

John specifies here that it would be good to send these strange brothers on their journey “in a manner worthy of God.” This is truly the way that we ought to do everything as our lives are an act of worship to God according to Romans 12:1. To love another person in a manner that is worthy of God is the only way that we ought to interact with other people. When our actions are done in a manner worthy of God, our reputation will be built on them.

Showing hospitality leaves the missionary better than you found them

So, because we host others in a manner that is worthy of God, we know the how but what exactly is included in these efforts of love that are manifested in hospitality? When it comes to missionaries, we ought to open our homes to them as they pass through. They should be allowed to rest from their journey. They should be well fed. They should come away from the trip with more money than it costed them.They ought come away overall encouraged regarding their mission to spread the gospel.

And when this happens, those who have experienced love expressed through hospitality will speak of the love that they experienced with you to all of those that they journey to at a later point. This faithful action will be testified about because they are placed in a better place. This is the context but verse 7 and 8 both point to the fact that

Showing hospitality is a Christian obligation

We have already covered that these strange brothers have gone out for the sake of the name but now we learn that they accept nothing from the Gentiles. It should be clear that this is not just those who are not Jews but rather would be better understood as pagans.

It is not that they don’t accept money or hospitality from these who don’t believe but rather they don’t solicit them because there would be no reason for them to show hospitality.

If the world is not going to support those who are going out for the sake of the name, then who is going to do it? The Christian has an obligation to provide support to the missionary. We ought to do everything in our power to support them and John says as much in verse 8. It is because they are unsupported, “we ought to support people like these” Not should. Not possibly. But ought to.

There is an obligation from the disciples of Jesus to support those who have uprooted their lives in order to spread the gospel of Jesus!

Finally,

Showing hospitality joins you in working for the truth

John refers back to the reason why they love these strangers. We are bonded to them because of the truth that we share. We have become fellow workers in the gospel. These people are pulling in the same direction with us.

I want to close this morning by challenging you to consider whether you are pulling in the same direction as those who have committed their lives to the spread of the gospel.

Faithfulness to God

Action in a manner worthy of God

Hospitality leaves them better than we found them

This is a necessary obligation