FBC Morning Light – November 15, 2022

Well, a good

Tuesday morning to you. So second day of the week, middle of November already, and we are winding down the year.

We're also winding down our Bible reading plan. We're in the book of 3 John today. So 3

John, of course, is just one chapter, just a few verses long. And then we go to Jude, another one -chapter book.

And then we're in the last chapter, the last book of the Bible. So we'll be there before the end of the week. I think it's by Saturday that we begin the book of Revelation.

But today in 3 John, I want to, if I have the time, I want to look at three different verses, have completely no connection with each other, but they're emphases

I think we need to hear. The first is in verse 2, where John writes to his friend and elder,

Gaius, and he says, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

That's an interesting request and desire that John has for Gaius. How often do we pray that way and think that way toward others, that we pray for them to prosper in all things, that is, materially, physically, in their work, their job, their career, and so forth.

I'm sure especially those we love, we want that for them. But then also he says that you may prosper in your health, that you may be in health.

Now again, we generally pray for health in regard to somebody who's sick.

We pray for them to get better. But what about praying for each other, that we make choices that promote health, so that we behave in a healthful manner, we have a healthful lifestyle.

And he says, I do this even as your soul prospers. So John does not distinguish between the praying for the soul prosperity and life prosperity.

He ties them together. I want you to prosper in your soul, but I also want you to prosper physically, in your health, and materially, in your work, your job, your career, and so forth.

And pray for prosperity in all three of these things. And of course, leaves that to God in terms of what that prosperity looks like.

The second thing I want to point out is in verses 6 through 8, these couple of verses, they serve as one of the bases for why we ought to support foreign missionaries.

So John says this, he says, if you send them forward on their journey, he's talking about some brothers in Christ who came and visited him, he says, if you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you do well.

Why? Because they went forth for his namesake, taking nothing from the Gentiles.

These are pretty much like what we would call missionaries, people who go to taking the gospel someplace else, but they're not going to expect remuneration from those who receive the gospel from them.

Instead, he says, we therefore ought to support such that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

So one of the things that's good for and helpful for a local church to do is to support foreign missionaries, become partners with them in their work of the ministry, not expecting them to go to another country and to get remuneration from those they're trying to serve, but to support them so they can give themselves wholly to it.

So we need to be faithful in that kind of missions giving as well. Then the third thing

I wanted to emphasize is seen in verses 9 and 10, and particularly verse 9, where John refers to this guy

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

So I hope a couple of things. One, that you don't have in your church a

Diotrephes. I hope that the pastoral leadership in your church, if you have more than one pastor,

I hope that none of them is a Diotrephes, scrambling for the preeminence, desiring to have the preeminence, the one who always has to have his way, whose opinion has to carry sway in every matter, in every detail.

I hope you don't have a Diotrephes in your church. But then I also hope that you're not a

Diotrephes, that you're not one in the church who feels like you have to have your way, that your opinion about things needs to be the opinion that everybody accepts and goes along with.

I think, for example, this time of year, it can be really frustrating for a pastor.

Here's what I'm getting at. The weather's getting colder, and that requires that the heat gets turned on in the auditorium.

And what do you set the temperature at? There's some people in our congregation, for example, whose thermostat in their home is set at 74.

I'd choke. Mine is set at 70.

There are some people whose thermostat is set in the mid -60s, and some even lower than that.

And so when they come to church, those who set the thermostat in the 60s in their house, we set ours in the church at 70, 71, somewhere around there, trying to find a happy medium.

They think it's warm, but those who set their thermostats at 74, 75, they think it's cold and chilly, and you can't win.

Now I appreciate our people because they don't complain, they don't gripe, oh sure, every once in a while somebody says, ooh, it's chilly today, but they don't say, man, why don't you turn the thermostat up?

Why don't you do what I want to do? They don't have that attitude. They're not diatrophies. So let's take the challenge from 3

John, not to be a diatrophies, one who causes a drag on the work of the ministry, as this guy did, who hinders the work of the ministry and doesn't receive the leadership that should be expressed in the local church.

Let's not be a diatrophies, and let's pray God delivers us from them. So Heavenly Father, we do thank you for these challenges from your word today, and I pray that we would receive them, receive them graciously, and work them into our lives as is appropriate.

We ask this in Jesus' name, for his sake, amen. All right, well have a good

Tuesday, and again, I encourage you to share this video with others. Put it on your

Facebook page, put it on your YouTube, whatever, but let others know that you get a blessing from these morning light devotions.