EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2025 8:58 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to 3
John
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 3 John 1-15
Message of the verses: “1 The elder to the
beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. 2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you
may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
“3 For I
was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is,
how you are walking in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my
children walking in the truth. 5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever
you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers;
6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to
send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the
sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support
such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
“9 I wrote
something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does
not accept what we say. 10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to
his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not
satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he
forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the
church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who
does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
“12 Demetrius
has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself;
and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I had
many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you
with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to
face. (1:15) Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends
by name.”
Here you have the entire letter of 3 John and now I
want to quote from John MacArthur’s Introduction to 3 John. I want to say that there are two sermons that
I found in MacArthur’s sermons on 3 John and I listened to the first one this
afternoon on my walk and I have to say that I found some interesting things on
that first sermon.
“OCCASION
AND PURPOSE”
“Third
John is the most personal of the three Johannine epistles. Like 2 John, it addresses the issue of
believers’ duty to show love and hospitality within the bounds of faithfulness
to the truth. Second John revealed the
negative side: false teachers are not to
be granted hospitality in the name of showing love. Third John expresses the positive counterpart
of that principle: all who embrace the
truth are to be loved and cared for.
“Gaius,
to whom this letter was written, was known to John personally. A Powerful and influential man (Diotrephes)
in Gaius’s church refused to show hospitality to itinerant teachers of whom
John approved (vv. 5-8). Not only that,
Diotrephes also excommunicated those who defied him and showed hospitality to
the teachers (v. 10). He even went so
far as to slander the apostle John and defy his apostolic authority (v.
10). John wrote to encourage Gaius to
remain loyal to the truth by continuing to show hospitality to strangers, as he
had done in the past (vv. 5-6). John
also promised to deal personally with Diotrephes (v. 10) when he arrived (v.
14).
“Further
information concerning Gaius and Diotrephes may be found in the exposition of this
epistle.
“AUTHOR,
DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING”
“Since
3 John’s style, structure, and vocabulary closely parallel 2 John (e.g., v. 1
and 2 John 1; v.4; v. 13 and 2 John 12; v. 14 and 2 John 12), it too was penned
by the apostle John. Third John was most
likely written from Ephesus at about the same time as 1 and 2 John (c.A.D.
90-95).
“OUTLINE”
“I. The Commendation Regarding Christian
Hospitality (1-8)
II. The Condemnation Regarding Violating
Christian Hospitality (9-11)
III. The Conclusion Regarding Christian
Hospitality (12-14”
5/20/2025 9:24 PM
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