The Truth Makes a Difference
Notes
Transcript
Planning
Planning
Passage
Passage
1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. 9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Passage structure
Passage structure
Greeting (3 John 1)
Joy in Gaius walking in the truth (vv. 2-4)
Encouragement to support missionaries and evangelists since they work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
Rebuke of Diotrephes (vv. 9-10)
Encouragement to imitate good and not evil (v. 11)
Praise for Demetrius (v. 12)
Outro (vv. 13-14)
Big stuff
Big stuff
Big idea: The truth is something to rejoice in, to support, and to live out.
Fallen condition focus: We think of the truth as an academic exercise.
Good news statement: God has given us the truth, which we can rejoice in, support, and live out.
Felt need: We want an authentic Christianity that changes our lives, not a merely academic one.
Big question: How does the truth of Christ genuinely affect our lives?
Sermon structure
Sermon structure
Intro
[Slide] Charles Taylor, ‘A Secular Age’, and an age of authenticity - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Secular_Age
Western society wants people to be true to what they believe.
Non-Christians are turned off by nominal Christians where the truth of what the believe makes no difference.
Christians want to say that the truth does make a difference, and isn’t an abstract or academic truth.
So what difference does the truth make? How does the truth of Christ genuinely affect our lives?
Sermon structure
1, We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
2, We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
3, We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
1, We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
Third letter by the apostle John, who calls himself the elder.
What does John rejoice in?
3 John 1–4 “1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
John rejoices in people walking in the truth!
"children” -> John is a spiritual father
Christianese? What’s this truth?
Background from last week, John’s Gospel, and his other letters
Centred on the gospel
Includes all the teaching of Christ
“no greater joy” (v. 4) - Why is John so happy that these people are walking in the truth?
They have eternal life (forgiven, relationship with God, secure).
They are living out their faith.
His joy shows us what he values.
Application
What does our joy show us about what we value?
If you were to ask your friends, “What would you have to do to make me happy?”, what would they say?
Parents, if you were to ask your kids, “What would you have to do to make me happy?”, what would they say?
Lots of good answers because God has given us many good things to enjoy.
But what makes John rejoice the most?
3 John 4 “4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Do you think you could say verse 4 yourself and mean it?
I suspect that for most people, this isn’t our greatest joy. It might not even be in our top ten greatest joys.
Reason 1: We take it for granted that people are Christian (some people have have been Christian much longer than I’ve been alive)
Reality: Persevering in the faith requires work and it’s God’s grace in preserving someone in their faith
Response: When someone has been Christian for a while, we can respond in joy as we thank God for sustaining them in their faith.
Sermon prep, realising that I don’t do this as much, commitment to joyfully thank God when I pray through members of our church
Reason 2: We take the gospel for granted. The good news has become old news.
Reality: The gospel is the message that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. When someone trusts in Jesus, they are no longer dead in their sin, no longer bound for hell, but they have a restored relationship with God and they will be with God and his people for eternity!
Response: Rejoice!
This isn’t a command to just be happy. It’s an encouragement to see how important trusting in Jesus is. Because our emotions often follow what we believe to be important.
Summarise: John’s joy challenges us to see the immense signficance of people walking in the truth. So we rejoice in believers of the truth.
2, We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
Gaius has been supporting a group of Christians.
3 John 5–6a “5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. …”
These Christians are what we’d call missionaries and evangelists.
3 John 7 “7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.”
John’s commands
3 John 6–8 “6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.”
Sending them - giving them the money they need for their travels
Showing hospitality - allowing them to stay and providing for their needs
Significant amount of material and financial help
Why?
3 John 8 “8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.”
The truth is so important that Gaius should support people who go out to proclaim the truth.
The truth is so important that we should support people who go out to proclaim the truth.
Application: The truth is so important that we should support people who go out to proclaim the truth.
Note: Not about giving to our church.
Focus is on people going out for the sake of the Name.
E.g., Alex and Emma at University of Canberra, Kellie Nicholas in Japan, Neil & Sil in Benin (who will visit us soon), Jo in the Middle East… many others who are going out as well
How important is it to you that the gospel goes out?
Every Christian will say that the truth is important.
But this isn’t a question of whether it’s important or not.
It’s a question of how important.
The apostle John is saying that it’s so important that Gaius should be willing financially support them in sharing the truth.
Story of Jeremy Ngo and CBS traineeship financial supporters
Is the sharing of the truth to others important enough to you that you would put your money to it?
Encouragement of people at church giving
Summary: Support people who work for the truth
3, We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
Before John tells Gaius to imitate those living out the truth, he tells Gaius not to imitate someone who isn’t living out the truth.
Let’s read about this person Gaius shouldn’t imitate.
3 John 9–10 “9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.”
All of Diotrephes’ actions are in opposition to the truth
v. 9 - loving to be first -> Jesus’ teaching is about putting others first
vv. 9-10 - not welcoming John and other believers -> Jesus loves us so much that he welcomes us into God’s family by dying for us
v. 10 - spreading malicious nonsense -> God’s word calls on us to speak words of truth and to speak to build people up
v. 10 - puts people out of the church -> God’s word calls on us to be united in faith rather than cause division
What does John want Gaius to do about Diotrephes?
3 John 11a “11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil ...
Broad vs focussed on Diotrephes
Why would Gaius be tempted to imitate evil?
Arup story about temptation to respond to rudeness with rudeness
How should Gaius deal with that temptation?
Imitate what is good.
3 John 11 “11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.”
Example of Demetrius
3 John 12 “12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.”
“well spoken of by … the truth”
John’s Gospel and John’s letters: the truth is the teaching of Christ and includes Christ’s commands
So the truth is something to be lived out
So someone living out these commands is living according to the truth
Gaius, when he wants to imitate good, when he wants to live out the truth, one of the ways is to imitate Demetrius.
Application:
Truth isn’t some abstract principle.
Goodness isn’t some abstract principle.
Truth and goodness are embodied, relational, practical. So when we want to imitate what is good, we imitate people who do good.
What does that look like?
Identify someone who is doing good
Identify how they are living out the truth:
Maybe it’s their regular service of others
Maybe it’s how they pray regularly for our mission partners
Maybe it’s how they are proactive in sharing the truth with their friends
Imitate it
God in his kindness has given us a church family - brothers and sisters in Christ who we learn from as we all live out the truth
How does the truth of the gospel transform our lives? The third way is that we imitate those living out the truth.
Conclusion
Charles Taylor and the age of authenticity
We can be authentic because we believe the truth really does make a difference.
The truth isn’t some abstract principle but is something to be lived out.
Practical, embodied, relational
Feedback from Olivea
Feedback from Olivea
Headings are a bit clunky
Sometimes replace “living out the truth” as faithful to the truth and obedience to God’s commands
Not just “being Christian” but being faithful
John 14 - Jesus is the truth
What does it mean to take it for granted? -> Talk about not just rejoicing in someone becoming Christian but rejoicing in the ordinary Christian perseverance
Sermon
Sermon
Intro
Intro
The philosopher Charles Taylor wrote a book called ‘A Secular Age’.
In that book, he describes how Western society lives in an age of authenticity.
We want others to live authentic lives.
Hypocrisy is one of the greatest vices, but people living out what they believe is a great virtue.
That then affects how non-Christians view Christians as well.
According to this age of authenticity, when a non-Christian sees a nominal Christian, when a non-Christian sees a Christian who believes in Christianity but that belief seems to make little difference to their life, then they’re turned off Christianity.
Committed Christians also want to see that Christianity makes a difference to our lives.
We want to say that the truth does make a difference.
It’s not just some abstract principle or some academic truth.
So what difference does the truth make?
How does the truth of the gospel genuinely affect our lives?
Well this morning, we’re learning from John’s third letter.
And in 3 John, we’ll see that the truth of the gospel does transform our lives.
That transformation involves all sorts of things, but in 3 John, we see three specific things.
Three ways the truth transforms our lives:
1, We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
2, We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
3, We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
Let’s start with the first way the truth transforms our lives.
1, We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
1, We rejoice in people who walk in the truth (vv. 1-4)
We rejoice in people who walk in the truth.
Well this letter is written by the apostle John, who calls himself the elder.
He’s writing to his friend, Gaius.
And he starts of by telling Gaius about something that gives him great joy.
What is it that gives John great joy?
Let’s read the first four verses.
3 John 1-4.
1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
John rejoices in people walking in the truth!
He’s using the language of children to refer to people who became Christian through him.
And he’s so happy that they are walking in the truth.
Now, I’ve heard people tell me that they’re rejoicing because... they got promoted or their footy team won or they found a bargain at Goodies.
I’ve never heard someone say they’re rejoicing because others are walking in the truth.
So what does John mean?
Well let’s think about truth first.
Last week, we thought about the truth that John focusses on.
From John’s Gospel and his two other letters, the truth he’s talking about is centred on the gospel and includes all of the teaching of Christ.
It’s centred on the gospel - the life-saving message of how we have life by trusting in the one who gave his life for us.
And it includes all the teaching of Christ - including what it looks like for us to live as disciples of Christ.
So why does John say in verse 4 that he has “no greater joy” when people are walking in the truth?
Because it means that they are no longer bound in their sin.
They are no longer destined for eternity under God’s judgement.
They are forgiven, they are reconciled to God, they are secure in him, and they will be with God and his people for eternity.
That is wonderful news!
That’s why John is overjoyed.
And as we reflect on John’s joy, we see what he values.
His great joy reveals that he greatly values people being Christian.
I wonder, what does our joy show about what we value?
If you were to ask your friends, “What would you have to do to make me happy?”, what would they say?
Parents, if you were to ask your kids, “What would you have to do to make me happy?”, what would they say?
Now, there are many good answers to that question.
God has given us many good things to enjoy.
But what makes John rejoice the most?
Let’s read verse 4 again.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Do you think you could say verse 4 yourself and mean it?
Some of us can, and that’s great.
But I suspect that for most people, other walking in the truth isn’t our greatest joy.
It might not even be in our top ten greatest joys.
It’s possible that we take it for granted that people are Christian.
After all, there are some people here who have been Christian much longer than others here have even been alive.
But the reality is that persevering in the faith doesn’t just happen.
Remaining in Christ requires an active faith from the Christian.
And ultimately, it’s God who works to preserve someone in their faith.
And that means, when someone has been a Christian for a while, we can respond in joy.
Rather than taking it for granted, we thank God for sustaining them in their faith.
In my sermon prep, I realised that I sometimes take someone being a Christian for granted.
So I made a commitment before God and now I’m making that same commitment before you, to pray with joy when I pray for members of our church.
Part of my daily routine is to pray for people in our church (you might like to do the same),
And I’ve committed to thank God with joy for sustaining people in their faith.
I also suspect that we don’t rejoice as much in people walking in the truth because we take the gospel itself for granted.
It’s possible that the good news has become old news.
If that’s the case, then we must remind ourselves of how good the gospel is.
The gospel is the message that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.
It’s a message that declares that when someone trusts in Jesus, they are no longer dead in their sin, no longer bound for hell, but they have a restored relationship with God and they will be with God and his people for eternity!
So when someone is walking in the truth, when they are trusting in Jesus to save them, well that is a wonderful thing!
And we rejoice!
I do want to clarify that this isn’t a command to just be happy.
No, it’s an encouragement for us to see just how important trusting in Jesus is.
And when we see how important it is, when we see how good it is to have faith in Jesus, then our emotions will follow.
How does the truth of the gospel impact our lives?
The first way is we rejoice in people who are the faithful.
The second way is we support people who work for the truth.
2, We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
2, We support people who work for the truth (vv. 5-8)
We support people who work for the truth.
This letter from John is written to a person named Gaius.
And Gaius has been supporting a group of Christians.
That’s in verse 5 and the start of verse 6.
3 John verse 5 and the start of verse 6.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. ...
Who are these Christians?
Well they are people we would call missionaries and evangelists.
People who go out to share the gospel.
That’s in verse 7.
7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.
These people are going out to glorify the name of God as they spread the gospel.
So what does John want Gaius to do for these missionaries and evangelists?
Well in verses 6 and 8, he gives a couple of commands.
[Don’t read]
6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 ... 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
In verse 6, John wants Gaius to send them on their way in a manner that honours God.
In other words, he wants Gaius to give them the money and resources they need for their travels.
In verse 8, John wants Gaius to show hospitality to them.
In other words, Gaius is to allow them to stay and provide for their needs.
All of that is a significant amount of material and financial help.
Why should Gaius do this?
Well the end of verse 8 gives him the answer.
“so that we may work together for the truth.”
John is helping Gaius see that the truth of the gospel is so important that Gaius should support people who have gone out to proclaim it.
And that means that John is helping us see that the the truth of the gospel is so important that we should support people who have gone out to proclaim it.
Now as we move to application, I want to first say that I’m not taking the application to giving to our church.
Giving to church is important and biblical.
However, the more direct application is to support people who have gone out for the sake of the Name.
That could be Alex and Emma going out to the University of Canberra to help university students grow in Christ.
It could be Kellie Nicholas with her work in Japan.
Neil and Sil in Benin, who will visit us in a couple of weeks.
Jo in the Middle East.
All of these of course are our church’s mission partners.
And there are many other missionaries and evangelists that individuals in our church support too.
So as we think about supporting these people, I would like to ask you a question.
How important is it to you that the gospel goes out?
It’s important to the apostle John.
It’s important to the church, but how important is it to you that the gospel goes out?
Part of my ministry training was that I did a ministry apprenticeship at UNSW.
Similar to what Emma is doing now at UC.
During that time, I was chatting with my non-Christian friend Jeremy.
Jeremy asked me how my ministry apprenticeship was funded and I told him that generous Christians was so supportive of ministry at UNSW that they gave money to it.
He was a bit shocked actually.
I think it was a good kind of shock.
It showed him that Christians really take the gospel seriously.
We are so convinced that this is what people need to hear that we are willing to give our money to help people hear the gospel.
So I want to ask you: is that true for you too?
Is the sharing of the truth to others important enough to you that you would put your money to it?
Of course, money isn’t the only way to support people who have gone out for the sake of the name.
As we heard from Alex and Emma, there’s prayer.
There’s friendship.
But the question still remains: is the sharing of the truth important enough to you that you will support those who go out for the sake of the Name?
As I continue getting to know people in our church, I see that for many of us, the truth is that important.
Many of us do support workers in the truth.
And if that’s you, please be encouraged to keep up your good work in supporting these people.
If that’s not you yet, I hope that you will continue growing in your appreciation of the gospel.
And as you do that, perhaps that will spur you on to support people who work for the truth.
That is the second way that the truth of the gospel transforms our lives.
We support people who work for the truth.
The third way the truth transforms our lives is that we imitate people who live out the truth.
3, We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
3, We imitate people who live out the truth (vv. 9-12)
Before John tells Gaius to imitate someone, he tells Gaius not to imitate someone else.
Let’s read about this person Gaius shouldn’t imitate.
That’s in verses 9 and 10.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
Everything that Diotrephes is doing is opposed to the truth!
Diotrephes in verse 9 loves to be first.
The truth says that we should put others first.
Diotrephes in verses 9 and 10 doesn’t welcome John and doesn’t welcome other believers.
The truth is that Jesus welcomes us into God’s family by dying for us.
Diotrephes in verse 10 spreads malicious nonsense.
God’s word calls on us to speak words of truth and to speak to build people up.
And again in verse 10, Diotrephes puts people out of the church.
And God’s word exhorts us to be united in faith and not divided.
So how does John want Gaius to respond?
It’s at the start of verse 11.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil ...
This is quite a broad command.
But with this command happening straight after John talks about Diotrephes, it’s likely that John is telling Gaius not to imitate Diotrephes.
I don’t think Gaius would actively try to imitate Diotrephes or try to imitate evil.
So what’s John saying?
When I was working as an engineer, I remember one colleague who was quite rude to me.
She had misunderstood the situation.
She had blamed it on me.
And I was tempted to be rude back.
I didn’t retaliate.
But if I had, if I had responded to her rudeness with my own rudeness, I would’ve been imitating her.
We don’t know the exact situation Gaius and Diotrephes were in.
But perhaps Gaius was tempted to imitate Diotrephes.
To respond to malicious talk with malicious talk.
How should Gaius deal with that temptation?
He imitates what is good.
Well it’s in the rest of verse 11.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
And just like John gave an example of evil in a person, he now gives an example of good in another person.
That person is Demetrius.
He’s in verse 12.
Let’s read verse 12.
12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Now there’s an interesting phrase there.
John says Demetrius is well spoken of by ... the truth.
How does the truth speak well of Demetrius?
In John’s Gospel and in his letters, the truth is the teaching of Christ.
The truth includes Christ’s commands, and that means the truth is something to be lived out.
So someone who lives out Christ’s commands is living according to the truth.
Metaphorically speaking, the truth speaks well of someone who lives out Christ’s commands.
So when Gaius wants to imitate good, when he wants to live out the truth, he doesn’t turn just to abstract principles.
One key way he imitates good is to imitate Demetrius.
So what does that mean for us?
Well it helps us see that truth isn’t some abstract principle.
Goodness isn’t some abstract principle.
Truth and goodness are embodied.
They’re relational.
They’re practical.
So when we want to imitate what is good, we imitate people who do good.
What does that look like?
Well the first step is to identify someone who is living out the truth.
This shouldn’t be too hard; many people here are living out the truth.
Once you identify someone, you then identify how they are living out the truth.
It could be how they regularly serve others.
It could be how they pray regularly for our mission partners.
Maybe it’s that they proactively share their faith with their friends.
And as you identify how they’re living out the truth, you imitate it.
You too could regularly serve others in the way that works best for you and your circumstances.
You too could be praying regularly for our mission partners.
You too can proactively share your faith with your friends.
God in his kindness hasn’t left us alone to figure out what it looks like to live out the truth.
No, he’s given us a church family.
Brothers and sisters who we learn from and imitate as we all live out the truth.
That’s the third way that the truth of the gospel transforms our lives.
We imitate people who live out the truth.
Conclusion
Conclusion
At the start of this sermon, I talked about how the philosopher Charles Taylor described today’s age as the age of authenticity.
People want to see others being authentic to what they believe.
For us as Christians, the truth of the gospel isn’t some abstract principle.
It’s embodied.
It’s relational.
It’s practical.
So let’s live out the truth of the gospel, because the truth really does make a difference.
