Supporting God's Mission

Introduction

If you have your Bible I would ask for you to turn to 3 John verse 5. That is 3 John verse 5. As you are turning there I am aware that many of you have probably heard about me but don’t know me so as you are finding our scripture for today please allow me a moment to introduce myself. I was raised in northwest Missouri in the small town of Lexington which is about forty five minutes east of Kansas City. I was raised in a christian home and saved at a young age. Even as a child I knew God was calling me into the ministry. As I grew up and rebellion took place in my teenage years I never lost sight of this calling even when I was questioning Christians and their earnestness. As I grew up I became reacquainted with God and this drive towards ministry was still there although I did not know what that meant. As I looked at several avenues from within the church nothing ever seemed to be exactly the right fit until one day my wife was asked to lead a college age Bible study. Initially we discussed the idea and did not feel like we were prepared to do this but eventually the deciding factor came in the form of a question. Were we going to continue to collect knowledge of God or share the knowledge we had learned with others? With this question we knew it was time and we started to teach the students. This was when we fell in love with college age ministry. During this time God called me to my other passion in ministry which is church revitalization and after spending a year completing an internship we were praying for where God was going to call us. This was when I saw the post for the BSU Director here on Three Rivers Campus. After several weeks of debate and prayer, applying and interviews I was voted in to become the new BSU director in October of 2019. 

College is a special time for any student. It is the time where they are questioning ideas and worldviews and trying to figure out who they are and what they believe. This is a good thing and leads to many wonderful discussions. The BSU is there to help point students to God whether it be for the first time or for a continued relationship with Him. Our goal is to spread the gospel all across the Three Rivers Campus, and if you look at the infographic you can see how we plan to achieve this goal. One fact remains: we can not achieve this goal without our partners, the local church. You are vital to the mission.

I will not lie. I am here in the hopes that you will partner with the BSU in helping us reach our goals, but even more than that as we hear from God’s word today I pray that all of us have a mind shift and are encouraged to join others in the works they are doing. This is what John writes about in his letter to Gaius. Through John we will learn how we should become coworkers with other Christians, as they faithfully take the gospel to the world, by showing love through the gifts which God has given us. Please follow along in 3 John 5-8

3 John 5–8 CSB

Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers. They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans. Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

Please bow with me in prayer.

As we have read God’s word I want to draw out three important aspects of the text which will help us understand why we should seek to become coworkers with other Christians through supporting them. We will do this by looking at how we can Act faithfully towards believers. Understanding why the testimony others give about us is important, and finally how We ought to support such people.

Acting Faithfully Towards Other Believers

Before we dive into the passage I always like to give context to the passage. 3 John is written from John The Baptist and is believed to have been written around the end of the first century. At this point he had moved from Jerusalem and was serving the church in Ephesus. We and see in the first few verses that John loved his dear friend Gaius and was concerned that his friend may have walked away from the faith and church as other had done. When John hear a report from others about his friend he says he has no greater joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the truth. As John is joyful about the report he has been given he now writes to him to encourage Gaius in what he has been doing and to inspire him to do this even more. 

This is where the verses we read come in. As we see John first celebrates what Gaius has been doing because he has been acting faithfully in what he has been doing in helping these brothers and sisters in Christ and especially those who are strangers. The first thing that I want us to notice is that Gaius is already doing the work without being told. John is not encouraging him to start a new work but rather to continue to do what he is already faithfully doing because it is a good and godly thing. 

The church then much like the church today faced many issues. Paul was constantly having to encourage his churches to stay in the truth and live as he had shown them. He had to do this because after he would leave a church other false teachers would come in and teach new things which were contrary to Paul and caused great confusion. This was not an issue only for Paul but Peter, James, and John the Baptist all address this type of issue. We then have to remember that many of these churches were facing persecution and were dispersed from their homes because of their beliefs. It is no wonder why encouraging people to continue to do good works comes up time and time again and this is exactly what John is doing here by reminding Gaius that he is acting faithfully to God.

  In 1 Corinthian 15:58 Paul tells the church in Corinth Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Peter tells the church of the dispersion For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. In 1 Peter 2. For us today it can seem like doing good is pointless, that the world is too far gone or even that we have done enough and when we look at the word of God we never see a point where we are told we can stop acting faithfully especially when it comes to our brothers and sisters in Christ. In the Gospel of John 13:34 & 35 Jesus tells his disciples “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is what Gaius is living out and what we are called to do.

 As we contemplate loving others, especially strangers there are two examples that help illustrate this point. The first is the start of the church in the book of Acts. After Peter gives his sermon on the day of pentecost we are told that three thousand people were added to their number this day. These people dedicated themselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. We are then told starting in verse 44 “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had needed. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” When the church started and the need was there the people stepped up and supported each other and met each other's needs. 

The second illustration is Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to bring people back into a right relationship with God. This was necessary because man has rebelled, that is to sin against God and needed to be reconciled to Him. The only way for that to happen was for Jesus to come and live as a human. While Jesus was here he faced all of the temptations and troubles that we face and yet he did not rebel or sin against God. And yet for us to be washed clean of our sin would require a perfect spotless sacrifice. Jesus became this sacrifice for us by being crucified on a cross. Even though he was innocent Jesus bore the wrath and punishment of our sins upon himself and paid the debt we could never pay. After this Jesus died and rose again defeating death in the process. He then ascended into heaven where he stands as mediator for those who have repented of their sins and believe in him as Lord. 

Jesus loved the world so much that he did this while we were still sinners, far from God and wanted nothing to do with God or his holiness. This example of sacrificial love should draw us to emulate what Jesus has done. This should be made even easier for us when it is for those who we call brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible uses the phrase one another around one hundred times in the New Testament with fifty nine of those being specific commands. How we treat each other is vital to the health of the church and our own Spiritual walk. We can not obey God fully and ignore other Christians. This is not always an easy thing and many times we will want to give up but here today God is calling us to continue to act faithfully by doing things for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

What kind of testimony other give about you

As we move into verse six of Third John we see that by acting faithfully toward others they in turn have testified to Gaius’ love. Remember it was the testimony of fellow believers who came and told John what Gaius had done for them which brought John great joy and encouraged him to write to his dear friend. As we are contemplating living a life supporting others I think there are two distinct things we can learn from this verse in 3 John The first is that our testimony as individuals, and as the church matters. The second follows this thought, we need to remember that others will testify about us whether that is good or bad.

 Recently I was sitting in a meeting for church revitalization and this subject came up. As the speaker was doing an initial survey of the church he asked the members if their church was known in the neighborhood that it was placed in. The members were positive that people in the community knew their church and what their church was about. This church was near a post office, so for an experiment this leader, who was coming along to help them, went in and asked people if they knew anything about the church across the parking lot. Most of the responses that he got were either a resolute no or they did not even know that a church was there.  This presented him with key information, while the church had thought they were known because their building was in the community the community had forgotten about them because they did not reach the community they were a part of. The sad truth is I fear this is how many of us are today. Instead of going out and reaching people with the gospel, as the apostles and first christians did, we have slowly started to insulate and now we expect them to come to us. We like the people in our group and it is hard to imagine bringing people who are different from us into our space. We do this on a personal as well as church level and yet when we look at the Bible this is never how God has called us to live. Hear Peter once again in 1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

We are chosen by God, we are a people for his own possession and yet with that we are supposed to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness. Because we have been called in God’s marvelous light we are called to keep our conduct among the gentiles honorable. 

I know that thinking through these things can be difficult and usually convict us in ways that we would rather not be convicted in but if this is how God has called us to live in the world how much more should we live in this way with our fellow Christians. Even in the church today we have so many things that divide us that often we don’t even partner with other churches in our own denominations, let alone those of a different one. But here we have John encouraging us to send people out in a manner worthy of God. We don’t love others for our own good or glory, we love them because God loves them and has called us to love them as well. We are supposed to support them in the manner worthy of God. Another way to think about this would be in a manner deserving of God. Is this how we support others? Do others testify about our love to other churches? This is God’s design for the church, a unified body that while each member has its own function it supports the whole body. God is reminding us today that we are to show love by supporting others and sending them out, and in being faithful on our part they will testify of our love for God and the brothers to others. Can you imagine how different the church and our nation would be if this was how the church functioned. Continually sending others out and hearing the testimonies of others' love and what God was doing because of their love. How can you, individually and as a church, take steps to show your love of God through the sending of others today. In Romans 12:10 Paul says “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Will you heed God’s words today to continue in brotherly love  and striving to outdo one another in this. If we commit to this type of life we will see the testimony of our churches change, and people will once again know who we are because of our love.

We ought to support such people

As we come to verses seven and eight John gives us an insight into the type of people we should be looking to support and why supporting them is so important. In verse seven John points out the person we should support. He has already established that these people are brothers and sisters in Christ. This is our starting point as well. While we are called to give assistance to many people in the Bible and to share the gifts which God has given us, here we are talking about actively supporting. They are brothers and sisters who have set out for the sake of the name. Their mission is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are going out not for themselves but for God’s work. We then see that because they are setting out for God’s mission they have accepted nothing from pagans or those outside the church. These are the ones we are to support: A brother and sister who is going out for the sake of God. Now that we see who we should be looking at to support John gives us one last reason as to why we should support them. That reason is simple: by supporting these other christians we become co workers of the truth. 

We all know the great commission that we are to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Now let's imagine that this task to reach everyone was given just to you. David Watson once gave this helpful illustration as to how long it would take, and while the numbers would be greater now it still will help make the point. David says “If you were an outstandingly gifted evangelist with an international reputation, and if, under God, you could win 1,000 persons for Christ every night of every year, how long would it take you to win the whole world for Christ? Answer, ignoring the population explosion, over 10,000 years. Obviously we could never live this long and achieve this goal. Please listen to the next part of his statement as it will show us how vital discipleship and being coworkers together is. Watson goes on to say But if you are a true disciple for Christ, and if you are able under God to win just one person to Christ each year; and if you could then train that person to win one other person for Christ each year, how long would it take to win the whole world for Christ? Answer, just 32 years!” 

Understanding that not all will be saved and that we were never meant to go out and work alone to spread the gospel those to numbers speak volumes as to why we need to become co workers with one another. Ten thousand years seems like an impossibility. 32 years seems doable. This is the kind of multiplication we seek as we support others who are doing God’s work. 

I will finish this area on who and why support people with one last illustration in Luke 8 we are told about the women who supported Jesus. After listing their names we are told They provided financial support for Jesus and his disciples. They sacrificially gave of what they had to support the mission of Jesus. The mission to bring reconciliation between God and man. The one who would crush the head of satan and bring an end to sin and death. If God allowed his own son to be supported by others while he was on this earth, how much more should we support those who continue to work for God? These women were recognized by being placed in the Bible. We will one day be recognized when we enter into heaven and we hear a well done good and faithful servant. 

Conclusion

As we have looked at this small portion of scripture today I hope through John’s encouragement to his friend Gaius that God has convinced and encouraged us that we should become coworkers with other Christians. The work is vast and we can not do it on our own but through supporting others we become coworkers with others as they share the gospel, and get to celebrate the work God is doing through them. This is a truth that I think we need to be reminded of over and over again. It is so easy to become discouraged and want to quit what God has called us to do. Please resist this urge God wants to use you and your support of others to bring people back to Christ. To bring this home for you I want to share two stories from last semester at the BSU. 

As some of you may have heard, serving meals is a big part of the ministry of the BSU. There are 184 beds on our campus and each one of them is full. There is no cafeteria for these students so they have to take care of themselves and many struggle with cooking. Some are functionally homeless and several others are from lower income families. All of this combined is why our goal is to give any student who comes at least one good meal each week, and hopefully some leftovers as well. These meals are provided from local churches. At the beginning of the school year we do a meal each night Monday through Friday, and while this is a huge undertaking it has been the key place where we have made connections with students that will grow throughout the semester and years. This year because of these meals we were introduced to two students. One was a female who was wrestling with past sins, and some other issues in her life. The other was a young male who came with a roommate who was familiar with the BSU. From the meals these two attended Bible study where we were studying through the book of 1 John and calling students to live in the light and leave the darkness. Both of these students signed up for a fall retreat that we go on. At this retreat the young lady made a profession of faith and since then has continued to attend church with her mom which was something she had not done in the past. The young man still had some questions after the retreat but committed to meeting for discipleship with my apprentice and a few other guys where they learned how to study the Bible and worked through the book of Mark. At their last meeting for the semester he professed that he was now a disciple of Jesus. All of this took place because other people supported the ministry. Because of people and churches who felt called to support the mission of the BSU we now get to celebrate two lost people who have now come home. 

As I read and study my Bible more and more I am convinced that one of the most dangerous things to the church is the attitude that we can do it on our own. This is not God’s design; we are called to be unified as Christians loving each other and supporting each other. As we close today I would love to talk with anyone about the BSU and how you can help support us but even more than that my prayer is that we all take a moment and look for those who God is calling us to support and become coworkers with. God is calling us today to be united together as he is united for his purpose and his glory. How will you answer his call today?