3rd John

Kingdom Hospitality

Intro

Two battleships

Two Battleships were assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell.

The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.””

“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.

Lookout replied, “Steady, captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.”

Back came a signal, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.”

The captain said, “Send, I’m a captain, change course 20 degrees.”

“I’m a seaman second class,” came the reply. “You had better change course 20 degrees.”

By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send, I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.

“Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse.”

We changed course.

While this story is funny, and perhaps an urban myth even, it reminds us that hospitality is an interesting idea in our day and age

In our society today, hospitality is acting like the Battleship, adjust to my way or get out of the way!

If you really cared for me you would get out of my way!

We really act like our lives are at our own whims and there are no guiding principals to be found in helping us better ourselves outside of ourselves!

Cecil B. DeMille who produced the epic movie,  The Ten Commandments said, “It is impossible for us to break God’s law. We can only break ourselves against the law.”

This is why our hospitality is like that of the Lighthouse, it is warm, it is inviting, it is there for all

It is not demanding, it is steady, it gives light and helps guide and protect others, it is a way to encounter God’s love

But that is the trouble for many, when you come face to face with Kingdom Hospitality, what will you do with it, you can no longer live in ignorance as you once did, thinking that lighthouse is just another battleship!

Francis Schaeffer

He was a normal man who went to Seminary, and felt God put a call on his heart to open a place called L’Abri (French for ‘Shelter) in Switzerland

The idea was a place where people would discuss and seek after what was truth!

So In the 1950s, Francis and Edith Schaeffer opened their home to anyone searching for truth, meaning, and a deeper understanding of God. Their home became a place of radical hospitality, where travelers, skeptics, and seekers could stay, ask questions, share meals, and experience Christian love in action.

Many visitors came to L’Abri without faith or with deep skepticism. Rather than forcing arguments on them, the Schaeffer’s welcomed them with warmth, conversation, and a listening ear.

People often said that before they were convinced by Francis’ words, they were drawn in by the love and hospitality they experienced. They saw the gospel not just in theology but in the way they were treated—through meals, care, and a place to belong.

L’Abri was like a lighthouse, guiding people toward Christ not by force, but by offering refuge, warmth, and truth. Many who stayed there left transformed—not just because of deep intellectual discussions but because they encountered Jesus through the tangible love and welcome of the Schaeffers.

Hospitality is a powerful thing, but it’s been diluted in our modern day and age!

In 2023 the hospitality industry was valued at over 230 Billion dollars,

at the end of January, AirBnB was valued at nearly 82 Billion dollars!

We don’t have a big need for hospitality in our own minds these days

We can find 5 star hotels to stay at, nice AirBnB’s to rent, even if we go to far away lands!

We can easily get to other places by planes, trains, and automobiles

Our money is easily converted to local currency, and we have google translate to help us if the place we go to doesn’t speak our native tongue!

What if we stripped that back?

What if you didn’t have access to modern roads and transportation?

What if you were taking a gamble every time you stayed at a hotel if you were going to be robbed or poisoned by the food?

Most ‘inns’ at that time were basically stand ins for brothels, filled with drunkeness, revelry, and lots of other immoral activity

So understandably the Christians wanted to avoid those places of corruption and exploitation

Not only that, but they were expensive, and the traveling ministers of the gospel would not oft have funds to afford the inns!

Early Church

Since the early church did not have buildings but was in house churches, it was tantamount that they supported faithful traveling missionaries!

It was also what Jesus modeled with the disciples, that they should rely on the hospitality of people they came across who welcomed them into their homes

Hospitality wasn’t about sharing a meal, giving an open bed or couch

It was far more!

The church worshipped in those homes, and so the homes became a place for worship, refuge, and fellowship!

It was a place that believers cared and showed that they were a family in Christ together!

In this house you would have nobles and slaves, Romans Citizens, Gentiles, and Jews all combined together

People that would normally have nothing in common, have no reason to cross paths outside the marketplace, yet they were worshipping, eating, laughing, crying, and seeking to know about Jesus more!

The other thing, hospitality was costly!

Not just in the space, time, food, that was offered

Christians were often persecuted! So offer hospitality to the wrong person and you might find yourself being fined, whipped, maybe even thrown into jail for being a believer of Jesus!

This is part of the reason why hospitality is so important, it meets the needs of people that are our family!

So with those in the back of our mind, we open up to 3rd John, the shortest book in the NT, and see a book that is full of hospitality!

Our theme this year is Faith, Hope, Love, and we’ve been going through Biblical faith the last few weeks

We spoke on the rich young ruler, and his story challenged us with what has our faith

What do we trust in, what drives our decisions, what is the thing we must protect at all cost, what has our allegiance!

Mat last week gave us a great message on the raising of Jairus’ daughter

Mat reminded us that fear has always been our enemy, and we see fear be the first response to God by Adam after he eats the fruit!

When we face things that are too big for us to even grasp, we have a God who is bigger and more powerful than our struggle!

However, a key faith of our faith, is when fear starts to envelop us we call out to God, and Mat gave us that great acronym!

A- Ask Jesus for Help, W- Wait upon Jesus, E- Experience Jesus’ Nearness to you in that time of fear, unknown, overwhelm, etc

So today we turn to the next area to grow our understanding of another key aspect of faith: hospitality

If you want to grow your FAITH, you have to know how to deal with fear, where your allegiance lies, and live with kingdom hospitality

KINGDOM HOSPITALITY: INVITING WITH THE HEART OF CHRIST

So a few quick ways we see a difference from our modern day things

Social Expectation or Gospel-Driven Mission

Those We Like or Those In Need

Personal Fortress of Solitude or Fortress of Kingdom Work

Convenience or Intentionality

So as we open into 3rd John, we immediately see Kingdom Hospitality jumping off the page

Hospitality Mirrors Our Heart Condition (v.1-8)

Gaius: A Godly Example (v.1-4)

This book is written by John the Apostle who simply goes by the meek term ‘the elder’

Some believe that John wrote 2 and 3 John after his exile on Patmos and after Revelation, and so this would put John in his mid 80’s or 90’s!

John then tells us he is writing to a man named Gaius, whom we know not much about since it was a very common name back then, and so any chance that he is the same as others mentioned in Scripture is unlikely

John says that he agape’s this guy, and prays that he is prospering in every way!

Is this a prayer of prosperity gospel?

No, because as we will see John is praying this not primarily for worldly success, but for a point of being able to continue to love the saints!

If we look down to verse 6, it says that Gaius was doing such a good job in supporting the saints that he is a faithful testimony to the churches!

Have you ever heard of R. G. LeTourneau? He’s a local IL hero from Peoria!

Well, you’ve certainly heard of some of his inventions!

The Bulldozer

Mobile Off-Shore Oil Drilling Platform

Tree Crusher, Log Roller, just to name a few

He also supplied between 50 and 70 percent of all the earthmoving equipment used by the Allies during World War II.

Today his company is known as Komatsu, who bought them out in 2011

His nickname is “God’s Businessman”, he realized that God needs his people not just as missionaries and pastors, but where you are, in the workforce

He opted to give to God 90% of his income, and to live off 10%!

When people understand that their work matters to God and recognize that He is their business partner, LeTourneau’s perspective is a natural response: “The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of God’s money I keep for myself.”

His most famous words?

I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back - but God has a bigger shovel!

Certainly a modern man that has that same heart of Gaius, that all that he has is for God and his kingdom!

Gaius is called a child of John, since John cares enough to write a personal letter, and being so old, he is like a child to him, and likely a spiritual son too

What he commends is not the act of simply hosting those missionaries and brothers and sisters coming through, but he commends that they show his faith!

Gaius shows he is walking in the truth by showing hospitality

Gaius shows he is walking in the faith, that is he is letting his faith impact every aspect of his life, his faith has real implications to his life by opening his home up to these traveling missionaries!

Serving the Saints = Serving Jesus (v.5-6)

That is why the next two verses of 5-6 say that, and these are really the heart of this letter, the power of hospitality among the brethren!

Gaius lets these people into his house, they are strangers, but all because they serve the same master he gives them hospitality!

Doing this shows agape, love, to these traveling missionaries

These verses tell us something very 1:1 applicable in our lives today,

If you want to show your love to Jesus, one way you do that is by showing your support to missionaries

Makes us a partner in the Gospel (v.7-8)

The very next verse, 7, expands on this to make it more overt

These missionaries go out to spread the name, the name of Jesus at which every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is God!

They are poor, they are not doing it to make themselves rich, they are doing it out of necessity, God has called them to be evangelists!

The reasons why they take nothing from the pagans is so the message is not compromised by accusations of greed

John also wrote another book, maybe even to this same church, 2 John, and his concern in that book was traveling false teachers

Traveling teachers was a common thing, and they would prey on anyone whom they could to get a penny!

They were in many ways the original Nigerian email scammers!

The Christians were to be different!

You see, the ability to support by hospitality is not just for the missionaries, it is for the supporters too!

When you guys help support Annabeth and CEF, or House of Grace down at UofI, or Kevin and Sharon in Taiwan, we are partners in their mission

If they are part of God’s family, then we should be seeking to help them, even if they are not part of our immediate church!

This is why it is not only a test to see where your heart is, but is is a blessing to be considered a coworker!

You know what that term means here, coworker in the greek?

Co-worker

So what that means is that if you write a check to support Anna Beth at CEF, and she tells you of great ministry events and children coming to Christ in droves

Your support is as if you were there teaching alongside Anna Beth!

You might not be called to be a missionary, but you can be a coworker, or to go back to our example, you can be God’s businessman, God’s teacher, God’s engineer, God’s stay at home mom, God’s janitor, God’s computer coder, God’s retired man/woman, etc

Kingdom Hospitality invites us into the heart of Christ

How quick we are to care, and support other brothers and sisters, particularly in spiritual activity shows where our hearts are

Are we known for our hospitality like Gaius?

If Christ has our allegiance, then hospitality should be a natural outpouring of our hearts

Christ saved us from ourselves, not to make us happy and to keep our quality of life unchanged!

CS Lewis put it this way

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

Kingdom Hospitality is not based on our convenience, or even desire, but stems from obedience of using the blessings that God has given, into order to bless others, particularly those in the household of faith!

Danger of Selfishness (v.9-11)

Unfortunately, the church where Gaius is at has people problems!

Imagine that! A Church having people drama!

So here we are introduced to one who is the antithesis of Gaius: Diotrephes

Diotrephes Delusion of Dominance (v.9-10)

We don’t know a lot about him, but from what is said here he is refusing to accept John the Apostle’s leadership, and is trying to assert dominance in the church

The NKJV puts it well!

3 John 9 NKJV

9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.

Pre-Eminence means being the most important, highest in rank, or above all others in a particular area

There is just one teeny, tiny problem for Diotrephes, and that would be Col. 1: 18, which says that the only one who can claim to be the pre-eminent one in the church is Jesus

So it’s not simply that Diotrephes is doing bad, but that he is so full of pride that he is usurping the very place of Christ!

It reminds you of all the times that Christ calls out the Pharisees for loving the positions of authority!

Since he is usurping Christ with his actions, he is not afraid to slander John with all kinds of wicked words!

Not only that, but he then refuses to accept the same traveling teachers that John sends (and Gaius welcomes), and those that try to help him he excommunicates from the church!

How insane is this man!

He is having contact with the last living apostle, the one who was closest to Jesus, the one who saw a multitude of special miracles, the one who has written them the Gospel of John, the Revelation of John, as well as his other epistles

It seems that Gaius is this man’s nemesis, and is able to push back against him, but it’s civil war in this church, instead of a united front!

His ego and pride have gotten in the way of good kingdom work!

It’s a scary reminder that even in the church our egos can poison the effectiveness of God’s kingdom

It’s why the first section we talked about is so important, other churches are not our enemies, but unknown allies against Satan!

Oftentimes, we become our own worst enemies!

Are we building up or pushing people away?

Are we so concerned with our standing and how people view us that we might be the problem?

Imitate Good, Not Evil (v.11)

They only way to not be the problem is to constantly reassess what has allegiance in our lives, what drives our faith!

John puts it this way, imitate good, which is of God!

If we are consistently rejecting to help others, then it is a red flag of where our hearts are

So in leading with imitating and speaking good, John introduces the letter carrier to us: Demetrius

Hospitality Leaves a Legacy (v.12-15)

Demetrius (v.12)

We don’t know a lot about this man, but the little amount we do is impressive

Everyone speaks well of him, and even the truth of the Gospel says to trust him

John gives his own ringing endorsement! If nothing else, trust him, because you trust me Gaius!

It’s interesting that these men, Gaius and Demetrius are known and have a legacy today because of their godly character, even when they die, Scripture remains

Not only that, but we consider the impact of supporting missionaries they had, and the souls they helped bring to Christ and probably helped disciple!

Authentic Relationships (v.13-15)

The final thing is the power of authentic relaitonships

This letter is like a modern day text, of hey, just so you know “I’m coming, but running late!”, or such

John knows that real life, in person relationships are the greatest and most effective things to a relationship

He says I have things to say to you, but i will do them in person!

If you have a good friend, you might text and talk a lot, but doing something in person is totally different!

It is a reminder that in person is always better than anything else

Online church, it’s convenient, and it’s compromised, we can never get the same experience out of that than in person church

I am thankful for it, it allows us to minister to those who are sick or unable to join, but it can’t be viewed as a 1:1 replacement for here in person with each other!

Hospitality also is dependent upon us having in person relationships!

Story of going to Japan when 15, and the hospitality that centered around seeing things, but most time spent in church ministry!

Application

Kingdom Hospitality is not about simply opening our homes

It is about opening our hearts, and lives

If Jesus rules our hearts, then kingdom hospitality is an outpouring of faith in Jesus

Jesus’ kingdom in our own hearts is reflected on our hospitality we give to others

It’s also a good heart check to see how we are doing, how quick are we to throw up excuses about what we need to do, or what we shouldn’t do

Do we ever seriously pray about things, and seek what Jesus would have us do?

Or do we rely on what we default to?

Do we rely on what we learned in school?

Do we rely on what works in the business world?

Those things should not be the basis of what we do in our churches and personal lives

We have to let Jesus call the shots, even if they are hard and outside our comfort zones

Are we doing kingdom hospitality?

Are we supporting God’s kingdom generously?

Missionaries, Pastors, Church

Not just money, but talents, time, caring, etc

What is stopping you from being like Gaius, or Demetrius?

Who in your life needs an invitation to relationship with?

Can you make your home a place of ministry? How can you bless your neighbors and church?

Ultimately, our faith is shown, or hidden, by the way we do hospitality

It’s not the show-off, selfish instagram type, but a meek, humble, stemming from your love of Jesus type

Hospitality isn’t just something we do—it’s a reflection of who we are as followers of Christ.

May we be a church that goes beyond just meeting on Sundays, living out our faith by welcoming, loving, and serving others daily in the name of Jesus.

In that way, we are going to start to get to a place where our faith is what ground us, our hope in Christ inspires us, and a tangible way to allow our love to refine our faith each and every day!