Become Fellow Workers for the Truth

The Reading of 3 John and the Prayer for Faithful Labor

Please remain standing for the reading of the word which is in 3rd John. There's only one chapter. 3rd John. This is God's holy and infallible word. The elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth.

Beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health Just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you Just as you walk in the truth.

I Have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers Who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well.

Because they went forth for his namesake taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. I Theotrophies who loves to have the preeminence among them does not receive us.

Therefore if I come I will call to mind his deeds which he does prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that. He himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to Putting them out of the church.

Beloved do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has a good testimony from all and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness and you know that our testimony is true.

I Had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and eek, but I hope to see you shortly. And we shall speak face to face. Peace to you our friends greet you greet the friends by name.

Well brethren, this is God's holy and infallible word. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we We treasure even the little books of Scripture the overlooked ones. We thank you for Simple truths that have a profound effect upon your people.

I Pray Oh Lord that we would become fellow workers. Building your kingdom fellow workers in the truth. The Holy Spirit we ask that you would supply both light and heat unction and power. Most of all we pray for a piercing and transformation of the hearts of your people and we ask this all in Jesus name.

Amen, please be seated. Mm-hmm. I think one of the great blessings of preaching through books of the Bible is is Coming to a passage and a section like this which on the surface Appears to be not so significant.

We know it is the Word of God, of course, but we we tend to look at Texts like this as maybe less important than others the less powerful Than others and it's a blessing that because I preached through first John I was almost duty-bound and obligated to preach through second John and third John and I think there could be a tendency in Churches to avoid those two books.

The Commendation of Gaius and the Witness of the Brethren

So it's a privilege for us to try to study the whole counsel of God even the short books of the scripture today our Text will find us dealing with verses 5 through 8 of the third epistle of John and the title of the message is become fellow workers of the truth become fellow workers of the truth.

For those of you who benefit from an outline the first point is the commendation of Gaius or Gaius or Gaius, however, you'd like to pronounce it this very fine Christian man. The commendation that John gives to him.

I Think we should pay close attention to that. Second there is the witness of the brethren the brethren can attest to the high character and faithfulness of Gaius and then third Maybe ask the question, how do we become fellow workers of the truth?

Commendation the witness of the brethren and how do we become workers of the truth. Verse 11 is probably an important verse to look at when you think of trying to understand What John is hoping to accomplish in third John if you're able look there again.

It says do not imitate what is evil, but what is good? He who does good is of God and he who does evil has not seen God. There are two men who are held up here in this short epistle as virtuous good and godly men and They have a circle of good and godly people around them.

Those two people are Gaius and Demetrius. But there is a another fellow in our text whose name is Deatrophis and he is not good. He is evil and He has a lot of pull and a lot of sway in the church now.

The thing that's so interesting about what John does here is he doesn't ask Gaius and the others to immediately Excommunicate Deatrophis and apparently he's been having that kind of spirit keeping people out of the church.

It seems as though he wants the warning to come he wants Deatrophis to hear from his own mouth as it were from his pen these works. Maybe hopefully that Deatrophis.

Would.

Repent and turn from his His ways, so let's look at the good example. Knowing there's a bad example in view in third John. The good example is Gaius. Look at verse 5 beloved. You do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers.

The beloved is a title that we would give the Lord Jesus Christ such a beautiful superlative. But it's also used here twice of Christians particularly Gaius. Who are loved by the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and they're loved by the larger body of Christ.

I hope everyone who is a part of ascension would be.

Beloved.

Loved by the triune God and loved by all the people of God. Those are the kinds of people that we want to be. We have several of these in our text today. Beloved one. Gaius look how that continues in verse 5.

You do faithfully. You are full of faith. You're dependable in your duties and promises. You are noted for your generosity and your hospitality. Notice the active nature of faith and obedience. It's wonderful to for us someone to say oh, I love you brother.

I'm praying for you. It's quite another to get invested in that person's life and to help them to provide for their needs spiritual and Material to pick them up when they're down. To lodge strangers all of these wonderful things is really so characteristic of John.

Love in action. Whatever guys does he does faithfully? Can that be said of you? Whatever you do. Wherever we find you if we drop in on you on your phone at work. In the community with your wife if we if we were to see and talk with you there, are you being faithful?

Are you loving putting love. Christian love? Into action. We forget in this kind of dualistic age in which we live it's so Greek in so many ways that that biblically actions were seen as a real reflection of one's faith.

Here we almost have a bifurcation a wedge a division between belief and practice. A Real reflection of what you believe is how you treat your wife and children. How you treat the stranger or the person who cuts you off how you treat your enemies.

So it's one thing to talk a big game. It's one thing to know a lot of theology. It's a whole nother other thing to put Christian love into action. Gaius apparently whatever he does he does Faithfully, and he does it.

For the brethren and it goes on and it says for strangers his generosity his hospitality. Extends not just to the people that he knows or he's comfortable with he seems to go the extra mile and showing this virtuous Christian life that is commendable by John and a testimony to the church.

May the Lord be pleased to make us Faithful in all that we do. That we would be dependable in our duties. Dependable to keep our promises. That we would actively put our faith into motion and act upon it and to be obedient that our profession our confession would be matched with Holy and righteous living and and Actions that are fitting for the people of God.

Oh Lord make it so make it so in you and your wife and your children. Oh Lord make it so in.

Me.

Well the second point the commendation Continues, but the commendation is not from John alone. It's one thing to have someone say something good about you or bad about you but it's quite another when there is a whole chorus of people singing your praises because of Your faithfulness, but what's interesting?

Deatrophies wants to have the praise of the people and he has the rebuke instead. Guys, it seems wants to serve Christ and serve the people and then he gets the praise. So there's a great lesson there for us.

We shouldn't be seeking the praise of men. We should be seeking the applause of God in heaven and allow if it be necessary or helpful the praise to come secondarily. Gaius is wanting to be faithful to Christ.

He's wanting to bless the church. He's not thinking about having his rate name written in in bold letters for all of us Christians to read. For the ages to come he's just living a faithful Christian life.

The brethren have testified. Or borne witness of him. The act of bearing witness is I've said recently it's where we get the word Martyrs martyr a oh and it's a giving a testimony concerning Jesus Christ his works his divine nature this idea of Witnessing that the church has said about Deatrophies, this is a solemn declaration of the truth.

It's as if they raise their right hand and have their hand on the Bible and say Gaius really loves Christ and really loves the truth. He really loves the church. This man is the real deal kind of Christian.

Brethren here bear witness of Gaius's faithfulness. The testimony is for his love for the brethren again. Put into action. So what did he do to help them? We'll look at the second part of verse 6. The church is testifying of his love.

They're freely sharing that and John it seems is encouraging to do what he already has been doing. He says if you send them forward. These are Christian brethren likely ministers and preachers servants of the Apostles and the church.

If you send them for forward on their journey in a manner worthy of.

God.

Well, that should give us a little bit of pause to think here. The church has said that you are a lover of the church Gaius. Some more visitors are coming through, you know. Deatrophies won't want them there, but you need to show them hospitality.

You need to honor and respect them. You need to send them on their way in just a moment. We'll learn a little bit more about what that means in the ancient world but we need to do it in a manner that is worthy of.

God.

Idea here is to Send someone on their way with support. I was thinking about the difficulties of travel. And in this time there wasn't hotels. Or at least not many of them. There wasn't Airplanes there wasn't cars.

And so what would happen. And you write you start looking at at Paul's missionary journeys. For example, and you can kind of deduce from John's travels. They're traveling these great distances and every so often they would stop in a city and this would have a very important Role in building the kingdom of God.

The itinerant preachers the Apostles coming through would share with the brethren expound the Word of God to them. That church would be strengthened. Sometimes they'd pick up another Traveling companion to take with them that they might disciple and and more greatly shepherd them in the faith.

Those guys often would come back and serve as the pastors of those churches. So the travel of the early disciples of Jesus is really how the gospel is spread to the known world and the Individual churches are strengthened.

They were heavy into discipleship. So if I come to a city, that's a hundred miles from my home. I'm probably hungry and thirsty. My shoes are probably messed up. I probably don't have a lot of money. I probably don't have a lot of food.

So it gives the church an occasion to show hospitality to provide for the needs of the brethren. Thought it was interesting when my family Jacob might remember Dana we went to Myanmar 13 years ago, I think for the first time around this time of year.

And you fly long flights. Mitch and Gina that Tokyo flight is long flew to New York to Tokyo.

And.

We arrived after we say over in Asia now and it's a long flight six or eight hours to Thailand and that's many more hours to where we're going and. We arrived there and I thought it was very interesting culturally we get to our our city and Yangon Burma and the missionary people that we were meeting the the locals were there but the The Chinese owner of the hotel we were staying showed up with his His truck and he greeted us at the gate and was so thankful for us that we were there.

He showed enormous hospitality To us and took very good care of us. It was very surprising to me. He essentially picked us up from the airport. We were planning to take taxis. He came with his own things and and welcomed us.

In the ancient world often this hospitality, of course would be a company with provision. But sometimes they would go with them and open the door for them to stay at another place. So they would come to stay at your house, let's say and they say oh, where are you traveling?

Well, you're going to Troas and that's this many hundreds of miles away. I know someone who can take care of you. So I want to go with you. And I'm gonna probably pay for you and I'm gonna go take you to my friend who lives halfway there.

There's a little church there and so there was a lot of this extra effort being demonstrated by The believers in this time and Gaius apparently is an exemplar of this. Send them forward on their journey.

Accompany them in some case as they embark on their mission to proclaim the truth about who Christ is. So Gaius is doing this and he's doing it in a manner worthy of God. This is used to describe individuals then particularly their actions that are in alignment with God's standards or Expectations in the Greco-Roman world.

Worthiness was tied to social status honor and reputation. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Is that who we show honor to? In the early church, it was redefined in some ways to align with the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

Emphasizing spiritual qualities faithfulness and righteousness over social or economic Status. Turn with me if you would to the book of Ephesians in chapter 4. So often when we think about the doctrine of the church, we find ourselves turning back to the book of Ephesians.

Paul says in verse 1. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you. To walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. With all lowliness and gentleness with long-suffering. Bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all. Who is above all and through all and in you all? How can we plumb the depths of what it means to walk worthy of our calling?

How are we living that could be described in a manner worthy of God and Every turn guys it seems is encouraged being encouraged even in his faithfulness to walk in agreement with God's standards and expectations.

You should be challenged by this. That you would walk worthy and it gets even worse. Turn over to the book of Philippians in chapter 1. What does it mean to be walking worthy when the grace of God has been poured out on your life?

You have been set free from sins presence and power. You have been set free from the pains of hell. You have been incorporated into the body of Christ. You have a glorious eternity waiting for you. Philippians 1 verse 27 says.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Now we might say it's all of grace. It's all of grace and it is and in fact It's very interesting if you trace this throughout the scriptures grace appears before the law the grace comes first.

The grace of God is first. We have been saved. We've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore.

We walk in his holiness. Therefore we love his law. We walk in his commandments. Grace doesn't Put law to death. Grace enables us to walk in righteousness. The gospel of Christ has come. Grace of God has come.

The forgiveness of sins have has come. Let your conduct Be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or am absent. I may hear of your affairs. That you stand fast in one spirit with one mind.

Striving together for the faith of the gospel. It's so beautiful. I'm not just doing this on my own and my own private devotion. I'm doing with my family. I'm doing it with the church. I'm doing with the Christian body of Christ as a whole striving together for the faith of the gospel and Not in any way terrified by your adversaries.

Love the boldness there. We're not afraid of our enemies the enemies of God and Christ. It's laughable. He could crush them in an instant. We belong to the King of Kings. This is to them a proof of perdition.

But to you of salvation that from God for to you. It has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him But also to suffer for his sake. Having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is.

In me.

Are you going are you willing to strive? And suffer for Christ. Are you willing to let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Jesus? Now I would think it would require an elevated standard of living.

We probably have set our sights far too low. We need to aim higher and walk in this Righteousness that's been supplied to us in him that newness of life. Are we new creatures or are we not? Shed the old man and walk with the new in Christ.

Well Time would have us go back to 3rd John. I'm glad we prayed through the Commandments today. Gaius is commended exhorted to send these faithful ones forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God Sacrificing his own interests.

I think you should be pointed out look back at verse 2. I think one of the reasons that John prays that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers is. The prosperity of Gaius leads to the blessing of the people of God.

Gaius's prosperity is put into service of God and his people. He's taking on the responsibility for himself to provide for the needs of these travelers who are who are taking the gospel to The world and building advancing the kingdom.

The Name of Christ and the Mission of Gospel Workers

Let's look at verse 7. These travelers went forth For his name's sake and I thank you Caleb for praying so well on the third commandment. There is power and authority Associated with the name of Jesus Christ.

These men these travelers they are walking Witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of his name. Everyone who is attached to Christ who is working for Christ and serving Christ is worthy of our honor.

They're doing it in his and for his name's sake. In the ancient Greek and Jewish culture a Name was more than a label. It was believed to encapsulate the essence and character of.

A person.

My mother named me Christopher and I pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that I would be a bearer of his name. That's what my name means. I'm a bearer of Christ. She didn't know what she was doing but Oh Lord make it so make me a bearer of Christ.

Make that be true about my name. Parents be careful what you name your children. It's more than a label. It's often believed to encapsulate the essence and character of a person. Of course, it can be Taken to extreme nutty levels that we don't want to go to.

The name of Jesus became central to the Christian identity. I belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord in the Roman Empire. Contra Caesar. Caesar's not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Political anarchy and rebellion at the highest level in their eyes the case of Christ who is God.

It's especially sacred these men these travelers went forth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and They took nothing from the Gentiles. Well, you say I thought we were united to the Gentiles and Jews as one body here the Gentiles refer to.

It's basically pagan unbelievers. The church wasn't funded by the pagans. The ministry of the apostles and the ministry of the Gospel workers and the prophets in the New Testament Church were funded by God's people.

They didn't take money from the Gentiles the unbelievers. Verse 8 says this is our final point. We therefore ought to receive. This word receive means to welcome. To entertain to receive hospitably we ought to receive such who are followers of Christ and advancing the kingdom.

Now you might think that The message has to be winding down because there's only a few more words left in verse 8. But here's the real essence of the message. I believe today the last words of verse 8.

What does it mean to be a fellow worker of the truth? And I can't tell you how delighted I was to study this this week. This is such a privilege to be able to do this as a calling. So thank you for that privilege.

It will allow me to serve in this way. What does it mean to be a fellow worker in? The New Testament is used to describe Individuals who work alongside others in the ministry of the gospel. It emphasizes collaboration and partnership in the work of God.

It conveys a sense of unity and shared purpose among believers as they labor together for the Advancement of the kingdom of God. It was important that they work together to spread the message of Christ.

It reflects the communal and Cooperative nature of the early church where believers supported one another in their mission. If you come to Sunday school, we're talking about building the Covenant Parish.

All of this goes very well with that. What does it mean to be a fellow? Worker, what does it mean? It means that you are actively engaged in promoting The advance of the kingdom through the preaching of the gospel of Christ.

And as I was looking into this I got very excited because There's an astounding body of biblical evidence about what this means. So I want you to go with me to turn to all the passages. I turn to it's gonna be very short only a couple verses per Sighting and I want you to see the weight and how strong and how powerful and pervasive This idea of the fellow workers in the truth and in the gospel for the kingdom is in the New Testament Particularly, but it's rooted and grounded in Old Testament truths as well.

Something like I'm not going to go there. King David Rewarded those who provided for the needs of the soldiers as if they were soldiers. He divided. Divided the booty the spoil with them in 2nd Samuel.

But look follow along with me turn first to the book of Romans in Chapter 16. Maybe I'm a nerd of some kind. But I was astounded by the frequency and regularity of this Notion and and what it meant and I think that you and I can derive a very strong application of this principle today.

Romans 16. First I'm going to look at verse 3 greet Priscilla and Akilah my brother my fellow. Excuse me, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.

So.

We think about all that Paul does. But. But Paul has people working with them. Their names are written in the Holy Scripture. Verse 4 says. Who risked their own necks for my life. To whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

If Priscilla and Akilah do not do the work that they do does the gospel go forth? Answers probably not. It's kind of amazing, isn't it? We think about Paul. He's out here doing it alone. He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's being carried along by the body of Christ in order to do this. Turn over to verse 9 of chapter 6. 16 I'm sorry.

Greet.

Urbanus our fellow worker in Christ. And stack is my beloved. Turn over. To verse 21 another round of greetings. Timothy my fellow worker and Lucius. Jason and Sasa. Pater my countrymen. They greet you.

Turn over to the book of 1st Corinthians. In chapter 3 the narrative goes. I like Paulo's. I Like Cephas. I like Paul. Paul says who then is Paul. This is verse 5 who is Apollos. But ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one.

I planted. Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one and each one will receive his own reward.

According to his own labor. All right, I want to put this out there. You should be laboring every day. Not only for those dollars which will vanish. You should be laboring every day that you might receive the reward of heaven.

For your own labor. You should want to be a fellow worker in this kingdom enterprise. I'm taking on responsibility. I'm going to build the kingdom of God as God works through me. Verse 9 says. For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field. You are God's building. It's interesting the Apostles Apollos. They are working with God to build a local church. That's what they're doing. You are the field. You are God's building.

I think there's a lot of application for us. Turn over to 2nd Corinthians really quickly. 2nd Corinthians 1. 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 23. Moreover I call God as witness against my soul that to spare you.

I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have Dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy. For by faith you stand. Paul endures so many hardships and grief from Corinth and that church.

But he is a fellow worker for their joy. He labors that they might have joy that they might stand in. The faith. Turn over a couple chapters to 2nd Corinthians 8. Verse 23 says if anyone inquires about Titus He is my partner and fellow worker concerning you.

Or if our brethren are inquired about they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ. Therefore show to them and before the church is the proof of your love and our Boasting on your behalf. Paul is calling the Corinthians to do the very thing that John is calling Gaius and his companions to do.

Paul didn't do this alone. Titus Timothy all these people Assisted him turn over to the book of Philippians. We were already there earlier. We're using it for a different cause here. I'm really excited about the ones that are coming up.

One is very shocking. Philippians. Philippians 2. This fellow Epaphroditus gets around a bit. Verse 25. Chapter 2 of Philippians. Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother fellow worker and fellow Soldier.

How close is Paul to these people who work with him? Titus Timothy Epaphroditus. Silas Barnabas. John more. I mean, he's close with a lot of people. He really loves them and apparently Paul can't get all the glory for this.

He said in 2nd Corinthians that God gets all the glory. So the deatrophy spirit doesn't work. Only God gets glory glory only Christ does. If we have some success in ministry. It will only because the blessing of God.

That's it. There's no other reason.

Continues.

He was your messenger, but he ministered to my need. Since he was longing for you all was distressed because you heard that he was sick. Epaphroditus is sick. He nearly dies, but he's worried because the people back home are worried about him.

For he indeed was sick almost unto death. But God had mercy on him and not only on him but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Oh that we would love each other this way. It'll be sorrow upon sorrow to lose One another.

Look again. It's the same idea of hospitality. Verse 28. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such men in esteem.

But because for the work of Christ he came close to death. Not regarding his life to supply was lacking in your service. Toward me turn over. To next chapter probably just the next page. Chapter 4 in verse 3.

Ladies you are on display a little bit here. It says and I urge you also true companion help these women who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also in. The rest of my fellow workers. Whose names are in the book of life?

Really quickly, let's go to Colossians in chapter 4. Thank you for your patience. R .c. Sproul if you were here would say I'm being a Turner page Turner and yes, I am. You got me. Colossians 4 7 tick a kiss a beloved brother faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me.

How great a guy and how cool of a name is tick a kiss? This guy is out here doing big things for the kingdom of God. He's just got a couple of mentions in Scripture, but he's Paul's fellow worker. Will you be a fellow worker in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Will you be a fellow worker from for the truth. Take a kiss. I bet you has some crowns and rewards in heaven. Verse 8 it says I am sending him to you for this very purpose. That he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts.

With Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother who happens to be a runaway slave. Who he Paul's tells Philemon he has to receive back. They'll make known to you all the things which are happening.

Here.

Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you and Mark the cousin of Barnabas about whom you receive instructions. If he comes to you welcome him and Jesus who is called justice. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision.

They have proved a comfort. To me this is a corporate.