“What Are We Reflecting? Part I”

Welcome to the first Sunday worship service at First Baptist Devine in 2025! 2025… When I was a kid and heard people talking about 2025, it sounded so distant, but here we are. Have y’all thought about what the movies have said would happen by 2025? When I was a kid, so many movies dreamed that by 2025 we would have flying cars…Hollywood missed on that one, but there are a chain of movies from my childhood that looked to the future suggested that the computer systems that humanity developed would become autonomous and command robots to wage war against the human race. Doesn’t seem too far-fetched in 2025, does it? I mean, there are many companies who are integrating artificial intelligence into everything and they’re not being transparent about how they’re implementing AI. And, Elon Musk, who owns X, Space X, and Tesla, has a prototype of robots that will do our laundry, clean our kitchens, and mow our grass.

The future is becoming our present. How many of y’all have heard that a group of scientists, doing stuff with DNA, anticipate that they’ll have resurrected the long-extinct woolly mammoth by 2027? The little boy in me gets so excited by that, but when I was a kid, I also saw the chain of movies about resurrecting long-extinct creatures, and I think I’ll pass!

Of course, movies like the ones I’ve made passing references to are just stories being told. And in story-telling, the future is a concept or a device used by story tellers that opens the door to endless possibilities and similarly in story-telling, mirrors are devices that story tellers use to hone the audience in on the subject of self-perception or ego or the illusion of reality. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall… Who is the fairest of them all?” asked the vain Evil Queen of Snow White. It’s a mirror that Alice steps through in the sequel to “Alice in Wonderland” called “Alice Through the Looking Glass” where she is transported to an altogether different place. And Michael Jackson, the great poet from the last century, when looking out on the world, seeing that there are “kids in the streets with not enough to eat” and that ”there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan,” wanted to bring change in the world and realized that in order for there to be such change, it must start with “the man in the mirror.”

I know that with the start of a new year, it’s customary for us to focus on the man or the woman staring back at us in the mirror. And maybe with what we see in that mirror, we might be motivated to see change in our physical appearance, right? But diets don’t start until Monday, amen? And maybe with what we see in a mirror, we are motivated to change something about our thoughts or our actions. And as far as our individual interests go, I hope that you’re successful in addressing whatever you’re motivated to as you are met by what stares back at you in the mirror. And for whatever good that might bring, I want to move our thoughts from thinking as we often do about I and me. Rather, I want us to think about we and us. Because God’s message to us this morning challenges us as a community of Christians to collectively ask, what is it that we are reflecting as a church?

What are we reflecting?

In thinking about a mirror, when you and I stare into one, we see what is the combination of our actions and decisions. We see what we’ve done. When we’re looking into a mirror as individuals with concern for our physical appearance, if we look into it and see a trim and chiseled physique, we see the combination of actions and decisions that contributed to that appearance. So when we look into the mirror together, we can only see the combination of actions and decisions that we’ve made together.

This is a two-part message, so you’ll want to make sure to join us next week to hear it all. As John writes to Gaius in this short letter, he’s going to tell us about some very important actions and decisions that Gaius made that are what I will call commendable or good things that we should hope to see staring back at us when we look into the mirror together. Next week, we’ll hear about some things that we should hope are not staring at us in the mirror and will need to be dealt with.

So, here’s the first thing that John tells us that we should see when we all look into the mirror

Modeling Missionary Hospitality

Let’s look again at the first two verses of this morning’s text:

3 John 5–6 ESV

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.

If you weren’t able to join us last week when we studied the first few verses of this letter, let me just briefly fill you in on some important details that will give us some context to this letter. We look at 3 John 1 and we can see that it is the Elder who is writing to a man named Gaius and we said that the Elder is the same John as the namesake of the gospel earlier in the New Testament and the three letters of John as well as the final book of the Bible, the Revelation.

When writing these letters, John is in the latter years of his life and he has planted and pastored many churches and these letters are each written in the midst of some significant conflict in those churches. The conflict has to do with people coming to speak in the churches who say that Jesus was not actually a human being who walked in the flesh and also, people within the churches lost sight of how the Christian community is supposed to demonstrate the love of God for one another. So things are pretty tense when, in this little letter, John writes to a man named Gaius who was a member of one of these churches.

It’s in these two verses where we can see why John was even motivated to write Gaius. At some point, some Christians came through Gaius’ town and now those same Christians gave a testimony about how Gaius treated themf. And what did those people say about how Gaius treated them? With love. And who were these people to Gaius when they came to his town? High school class mates? Business partners? None of the above. They were strangers. And Gaius welcomed them, hosted them, served them, provided for them, and John says that for all of Gaius’ efforts, it is a faithful thing he did for those brothers.

Now, it’s one thing to be hospitable, but notice that John also adds in 3 John 6 that what Gaius has done is “in a manner worthy of God.” Hospitality was huge in all the cultures of people in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And when I say all, I mean all, even the people who didn’t believe in the One, True God. Hospitality was expected. It seems that these days, hospitality is conditional. For example, if you and I lived in the past and strangers came to us, we would give them shelter and food and would do everything we could to meet their needs. In Genesis 18, it tells us that Abraham saw three men heading towards his tent and Abraham rolled out the red carpet to welcome those strangers. That’s a far cry from today when there’s a knock at the door of our homes and we check our doorbell cameras to see if it’s someone worth getting up to open the door for.

Now, hospitality was expected across the board, but I want to draw a distinction from the hospitality of everyone and the hospitality that is “in a manner worthy of God.” When John says this, he’s connecting to the Old Testament Israel’s deep sense of God’s hospitality towards sinners. In the Old Testament, when the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they viewed themselves as strangers in a foreign land, but even as strangers, God hosted them by providing for their every need. When they finally entered the Promised Land, they did not forget that the land was actually God’s and they were still just travelers in God’s eyes. When God’s people looked forward to eternity, they talked about it in the sense that God would provide a perpetual feast like what we read earlier in Isaiah 25:6-8.

As Christians, we are no different. We have been invited to feast with the King at his banquet table. We are travelers and exiles as Peter describes the Christian in 1 Peter and our great host has placed us in Devine and in Texas and in the United States as his way of providing for you and I, but make no mistake, we are just passing through and headed toward that sweet, Beulah land. And we need to be as hospitable as Gaius, my friends, because how we demonstrate hospitality towards others is going to influence what people will think is God’s hospitality towards sinners. We cannot talk about Jesus being so welcoming and we ourselves be cold and shuttered up.

Let’s talk about hospitality here in church. I want to give three small hospitality changes that everyone can put in to practice that will lead us to reflect the hospitality of Jesus.

I’m going to lead off with what I know some may think is the pastor just meddling, but it needs to be said… If we want to show hospitality towards strangers, if you’re a regular here and you’re not mobility challenged, you need to sit in the front. Think about it… You know our schedule. You’re probably here ten to fifteen minutes before the service. A newcomer is trying to figure out getting to church for our service and they’re very likely arriving right at the start and the very last thing someone new wants to do is march down ten rows to find a seat in the front. Reflecting Jesus’ hospitality is sitting in the front, not in the back.

Reflecting Jesus’ hospitality is initiating a conversation with the people around you. Maybe it’s happened this very morning where we have some newcomers here at church and they’re sitting in your vicinity. You’re not reflecting Jesus’ hospitality when you try to give the appearance that you’re studying the weekly bulletin like there’s a one hundred question quiz coming from it to justify not saying “Hello.” Oh, but when your friend comes, you can’t hardly contain yourself in conversation.

Reflecting Jesus’ hospitality is inviting people to share a meal. Invite the person or the family near you to grab lunch after church. It doesn’t have to break a budget. It can be Dutch treat if you go to a restaurant. The goal should be to accomplish introductions, share about your Christian walk, and answer questions about church as best you can.

Here’s another thing that we should see when we look in the mirror:

Partnering in the Gospel

It’s the sense of partnership that we can see springing forth from 3 John 7-8. It’s in 3 John 7 that John tells us something about these missionaries that Gaius welcomed in a manner worthy of God.

3 John 7–8 ESV

For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

There are three reasons in these two verses why John says that it was appropriate for Gaius to send these missionaries on their way in a manner worthy of God.

The first is that these were faithful missionaries. These were people who sensed a call to ministry and left the comforts of home to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. I mentioned briefly last week that the churches that John had planted had been caught up in conflict because there were other people passing through who were preaching that Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh. In other words, there were deceivers who were saying that there is no Christmas story. That what we in this church just got done reflecting on, the advent of God in the flesh, was not true. But Gaius sent them on in a manner worthy of God because they were faithful gospel proclaimers. What made them faithful? They were preaching that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

The second reason that Gaius sent these missionaries on in a manner worthy of God is that they had received no support from non-believing people. As these missionaries traveled from town to town and home to home, they were dependent upon the hospitality and support of Christians, because they accepted none from the people who rejected Jesus Christ. They were never going to place themselves in a position that they would have to compromise the gospel just to get by. Some may think that stubborn, but

Compromise must always be impossible where the truth is essential and fundamental.

Charles Spurgeon

The third reason that Gaius sent these missionaries on in a manner worthy of God is because it is how Christians can be fellow workers in the truth. In contrast, John writes in 2 John 11 that whoever welcomes and provides hospitality to false teachers “takes part in his wicked works.” When Gaius showed hospitality to these faithful missionaries, the net result was that Gaius was a co-laborer, a partner, in the kingdom of God advancing. He never left his home, but rather he shared what God had given to him with these missionaries, and to his credit, Gaius is a fellow worker in the truth.

We can be fellow workers in the truth, but it takes each of us pulling our weight. Think about a relay race. A relay race is where there’s a team of runners where each runner must hand off the baton for the next runner to carry on in the race. If any one member of the team falters in the race, the entire team suffers. Drop the baton, slip and fall, whatever… It is the entire team that suffers a set back. When we reflect our desire to partner in the gospel, we are making sure that the race continues and we help foster an atmosphere of trust and unity that lifts up everyone who is partnering in Christ.

We in this church are commanded to partner in the advancement of the gospel just as is outlined here in God’s word. One aspect of what makes being a Baptist Christian so wonderful is that it is in our DNA to partner with others for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. We have always understood that we are better together. That’s why we support missions work every month. You may not know this, but if you gave $1 in the offering we collected this morning, $.17 will be used for supporting faithful Christian missionaries around the globe. You can partner in the gospel through giving here. And, you can also partner in the gospel by getting involved. There are so many ways to serve the cause of Christ here. Let me mention that we are in need of someone who will serve with our pre-schoolers on Sunday mornings. Also, we are planning to return to eastern Kentucky in June. We are exploring a trip to Bolivia in the fall. Every month, there’s a chance to serve food to our neighbors to meet their food insecurity and we need help there at our food distributions. We have seen the senior adult volunteers there be very steady, and if you’re under sixty-five and available, we could really use your help.

One of the great joys of pastoring this congregation is that are many here who are gospel partners by being both missionally-supportive and missionally-engaged…meaning that many here make an impact for the gospel by sharing what God has given to them and by serving. But here’s the thing… that culture of partnering in the gospel must be shared with the younger generations or else that culture can be lost in a generation. So at those lunches you’re going to start inviting others to, it could be a great time to talk to others about the joy you have in the ways that you are carrying the baton as we join in making a world-wide impact for the gospel.

The last thing I want us to see in the mirror that our text reveals to us is

Following Faithful Footsteps

I’ll deal with other elements of what we might see in the mirror from 3 John 9-10 next time. For now, let’s hear what John is telling you and I in

3 John 11 ESV

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

On the matter of imitating good or imitating evil, it’s amazing to me that we know very well good from evil, even as young children. How many of you, when you were a child, saw that cookie jar on the counter that just captivated you? You were incredibly curious and at the same time, you were hesitant. You knew that if you reached up and in to the jar, you ran the risk of making a mess or getting a scolding but still, you pondered your choices… sneak a cookie or ask for permission. Of course, most of the stories about children and cookie jars involve the kiddos who were caught doing the evil act. But please know, I’m not talking about knowing right from wrong, nor is what John telling us here in 3 John 11 have anything to do with that. Having a knowledge of good and evil means choosing wisely.

You see, you and I each can reflect good or reflect evil based on the choice we make of what we will imitate or copy. The question is, what is the example of a life that you’re following after? God’s word has many lists of evil actions. Here’s one that I want to share with you for you and I to reflect upon this morning.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 NLT

Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

I want you to think about a list like this in this way… First of all, no one in this room has ever been or will ever be perfect, ok? We are each in need of being saved from the sin that we each have committed and Jesus offers that salvation to everyone here. And it is often the case that we look to copy the examples set by adults around us when we are growing up. But you gotta ask yourself, is what you were shown something you want to copy? Because notice, getting drunk like how your dad or uncle did will keep you from God’s kingdom. I don’t care how much they loved you. Copying a lifestyle of sex outside of marriage that you saw an older sibling or some other family member live will keep you from God’s kingdom. Copy a life of lying or cheating people or stealing from people will keep you from God’s kingdom. Sex outside of covenant marriage, getting drunk, lying, all of it is evil so choosing to follow the example of someone you love just because they’re someone you love is still imitating evil.

I also want you to think about this list in another way. No one in this room has ever been or will ever be perfect. And there may be people in this room who have had sex outside of marriage, have been drunkards, have done homosexual activities, have stolen things, and so on, but…

1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT

Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

They met Jesus. They chose to stop following evil and to follow the Good Shepherd. Perhaps the first thing that some of you may need to do this morning is call on the name of the Lord Jesus for cleansing by his Spirit so that you can be made holy and right with God. In a few minutes, I’ll extend an invitation for you to do that and the good news is that Jesus is still in the business of making sinners clean and ready for his kingdom.

And in addition to that, perhaps others of you need to make a conscious decision about who influences you. I know you feel pressure to do what the Bible calls evil from people around you and what you see online. Rather than following the influencers who do evil, I want you to pick a role model in this church, someone you respect and someone you admire for their goodness and I want you to reach out to them and ask about their walk with Christ. Ask them to get together with you every week or two just so you can discuss matters of faith or just hang out. Imitating what is good involves bringing accountability around you to navigate through the evil influences trying to keep you and me from reflecting God’s goodness.

This is more than just about each of you as individuals, but it’s not less than each of you as individuals. At the outset of our time together, I said that I want us to think about we and us. Because God’s message to us this morning challenges us as a community of Christians to collectively ask, what is it that we are reflecting as a church? And we’ve been challenged to think about our hospitality as a church, our partnership in the gospel as a church, and whether we are imitating good or evil. And maybe we’ve come to see that each in our own way, we have room to grow in one of the three areas we’ve seen John praise Gaius for how he treated these faithful missionaries. So maybe it’s better to ask, if we made it our aim as a church family to truly live hospitality, to truly partner in the gospel, to truly follow faithful footsteps, then

What can we reflect?

The answer?

We can reflect the love and grace of Jesus

Isn’t this just what the world needs? Isn’t that just what we need?

It’s been said that you and I may be the only Bible that some people read and that you and I are the only Jesus that some people will see. So are we walking in truth in the manner which Jesus did? Are we walking in love as Jesus did? Are we walking in grace as Jesus did?

The reality is that none of us here stack up against Jesus so that we’re actually walking in truth, walking in love, or walking in grace as he did. But here’s the beauty of the gospel… what we are not, by God’s graceful provision, we can be.

We can be a people who reflect the hospitality of Jesus to welcome sinners!

We can be a people who live for the advancement of the gospel through our partnerships!

We can be a people who are following the footsteps of the faithful who have come before us!

Do you what that will take? When we look into the proverbial mirror and ask, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” If we all are so wrapped up in Jesus, unlike the Evil Queen who always wanted to be fairest, for us, the only answer will be Jesus.

Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

Do we live for him or just for me, myself, and I?

Let’s start the new year by reflecting the love and grace of the fairest, Lord Jesus. It’s how we partner in the work of God.