Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - May 24, 2020

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on 3 John.

Have you ever been in a store and you’ve put in the cart all of the things you needed and when you get to the checkout, there’s no money in your wallet?  Or you left your wallet at home?  How did you feel?  Dumb.  Plus, angry for being so dumb.  What to do?  A while back, I was behind a lady in Food Lion with a cart full of food.  When the checkout person tallied up the damage, the lady rummaged through her pocket book; dumping the contents on the conveyor belt and still no wallet.  She told the checkout person to wait a minute, she had to go to her car in the parking lot, wake up her husband and get the money.

If the problem was a local store, something can probably be worked out.  But, suppose you were in another city, far from home, and find that you don’t have the money or credit card to pay the bill.  What would you do?  That’s a real problem.  Particularly if you’re stranger in the town, there’s nobody you know who can come to your rescue or vouch for you.  Even after you have returned everything to the shelves, you’re still faced with being in a strange city and no money.  If you’re young enough to still have parents, it’s call Dad and have him wire some money to you.  If Dad isn’t around, what would you do?  For me, I would call my youngest son which would confirm his suspicion that I was losing it.

Today’s lesson deals with strangers coming to a town and being at the mercy of fellow Christians to help them out. They had to depend on the hospitality of these Christians.  Even if you had money for room and board, the inns in John’s day weren’t Holiday Inns.  For the most part they were dirty and flea infested rooms.  No telling what kind of meal you would get.  As far as Christians were concerned, John said last week that if the guy wasn’t a brother or sister Christian, slam the door in their face.  Better to be considered rude than be exposed to false teaching or having other’s think you endorse the views of the stranger.  So, how did a Christian then know who was a false prophet so they could be hospitable to the right guy?

Even pagans recognized that there were people who posed as a religious person just to wrangle a bed and food from a real religious person.  There were popular Greek plays about religious fakers who lived off of the generosity of temple going pagans as a simple way of not working.  It was such a problem in the early Christian church that a manual called the didache was written to help Christians cope with strangers posing as teachers or prophets.  It laid out a list a regulations dealing with inviting visiting guys into their home.  One regulation said that a true prophet could be invited to stay your home for a day or two - tops.  If he wanted to stay a third day, boot him out because he’s a false prophet.  Another really good regulation that could be used today was that if the prophet claimed that the Spirit had led him to ask you for some money, he was a con man and not a prophet.

With that background, let’s see what John has to say today about visitors at our door.

3 John:1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.  2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.

Why is John writing this third letter to the church in Ephesus?  The fact that this letter was written suggests that the first two letters had not resolved all of their problems.  In fact things seemed to have gone from bad to worse.  This made this letter more important and John takes off the kid gloves and puts on boxing gloves.  In the second letter John spoke generally of the whole church.  Now, he’s going to name names including a pretty stinging criticism of one guy in particular.

Last week’s letter was written to the whole church, but this letter is written to an individual.  This is such an interesting letter because it is so personal - so full of heart felt feelings.  It’s like we had opened somebody else’s letter and read it or we were eavesdropping on John.  Like in 2 John, how does he identify himself?  The elder.  Why not just say “From John”?  The name elder might have been a nick name he picked up because of his experience as an Apostle or maybe it was a title he was given at the church in Ephesus.

Like I said, this was a personal letter to a personal friend.  Who was that friend?  Gaius.  Was Gaius just a casual friend?  John loved him.  There appears that there might be quite an age difference.  Maybe John was warmed by the love that Gaius showed an old man.  Maybe Gaius would sit and listen for hours as John spoke of those days he spent following and hearing Jesus.  The questions Gaius asked told John that he was thirsting for the knowledge that only John had and he appreciated that.  Two widely separated generations sharing one risen Savior.  Wasn’t that great?

Who was Gaius?  Gaius was a very common name in the first century - like Tom or Bill is now.  In the New Testament there are three men named Gaius.  There was Gaius who was a Macedonian who was with Paul during the riot in Ephesus.  Then there was Gaius who was a delegate from his church in Derbe to bring money to the poor Christians in Jerusalem.  Then there was Gaius, the guy who acted as Paul’s host in Corinth.  He really impressed Paul with his hospitality.  He was one of the few men who was personally baptized by Paul.  We don’t know if any of these are the same Gaius that John is writing to.  If he is any of the ones mentioned, he would probably be the guy who was with Paul during the riot in Ephesus.

John then raises a prayer for Gaius.  What is the prayer?  That everything goes well with him and he stays healthy.  Isn’t that the prayer we have everyday for our own loved ones?  What does John mean when he says “just as it is well with your soul”?  As John would put it, Gaius walked in the truth and it showed in everything he said and did.  If his physical health and well being came anywhere close to his demonstrated spiritual health, John’s prayer would be answered. Do you ever ask somebody about their spiritual health?  Christians in John’s day weren’t reluctant to ask about a friend’s spiritual health.  How would you answer if a friend asked you about your spiritual health?  I’m afraid some might be offended as if the person was questioning if the Spirit was alive and well in your heart or it was too personal a question to ask.

3 John:3 I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth.  I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

How does John feel?  Overjoyed.  Why overjoyed?  Brothers and sisters arrived and spoke about what a great guy Gaius was.  They arrived from where?  Ephesus.  It wasn’t that Gaius was such a friendly guy or had a sparkling personality.  It was because these brothers and sisters saw the truth shine through Gaius’ actions.  For John to have others also recognize what he had seen in Gaius was a source of joy.

3 John:5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; 6 they have testified to your love before the church.   You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; 7 for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. 8 therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

In the fifth verse we get to the purpose of this letter.  Here’s what probably happened.  After last week’s letter, Paul sent a delegation to Ephesus to make sure things were getting straightened out. In all likelihood, the delegation were missionaries. When they got there, Gaius had welcomed them warmly and found them places to stay.  It doesn’t appear that they told Gaius that John had sent them.  When they returned and reported to John all the things Gaius had done for them - his hospitality to complete strangers.  How highly he was thought of in the church.  This is what made John very happy.  It gave him great joy to know that at least one thing he had taught the congregation in Ephesus had been put into practice.  And that was loving one another. 

To John, truth wasn’t something to be intellectually considered and stored away.  It was knowledge that dictated how a person lived their lives.  The truth is what makes a man think and act like God.  What was that truth?  The gospel.  It’s one thing to say you believe.  Quite another to live like you believe.  Gaius didn’t have to make a confession to the delegation about where he stood with God.  They saw it in the way he greeted them and how the other Christians in the Ephesus church felt about Gaius.

The delegation would have been hard put if Gaius hadn’t have acted like he did.  As I said before, there weren’t any motels then with AAA ratings. This wasn’t only a problem for traveling Christian teachers.  Pagans had the same problem traveling and staying in inns.  The Greeks didn’t believe that a person should take money for being hospitable, therefore, anyone who was an innkeeper was considered as low as a lawyer or politician today.  The innkeepers themselves were a crooked bunch that would rob you while you slept and if you awoke during the robbery, you probably would be killed.  Sounds like staying in a motel in Pungo doesn’t it? 

So how did travelers even pagan travelers deal with where to stay safely on a trip?  They had what was called a system of guest-friendships.  Here is how it worked.  Families in different cities would get together and agree to be hospitable to members of each other’s family.  If you lived in Richmond and I lived here, we would agree that if any member of my family went to Richmond, you would put them up for the night and feed them.  And if any member of your family came to Norfolk, I would do the same for them.  That way, there would be known safe, clean rooms to stay in and the food wouldn’t gag a maggot.  These arrangements went on for generations. 

What if a stranger claimed he was a long lost cousin?  Just so a stranger didn’t take advantage of the deal and say they were a member of my family when they really weren’t, the family leaving on the trip would get a token from the home family identifying them as part of the “good old boy” family network.  This arrangement proved so popular then, that some larger cites had officials designated to help strangers find the host family.

Here was the point.  If non-Christians could make deals like this as a show of hospitality, then Christians should take on the job of being hospitable more seriously.  Peter and Paul both urged Christians to be hospitable to other Christians.  Hospitality was so important that we are told in 1 Timothy that a bishop must be a man who practices hospitality.  For a small band of believers in a hostile world, hospitality was an essential ingredient for the growth of the first century church.

Knowing the little bit that we do about Gaius, how do you think he felt when John said that he had acted faithfully to brothers and sisters even if they were unknown to him?  Humbled.  Embarrassed.  For Gaius, he did nothing less than what he was expected to do.  Sometimes you might feel uncomfortable for being singled out for doing what is right - for doing what everybody should do.

John saw the Christian home as the place where the door is always open and there’s a loving welcome.  The family circle always had to be big enough to accept a Christian stranger no matter where he came from and no matter what his circumstances were. This was particularly true with visiting missionaries.  The church’s obligation to visiting missionaries not only included giving them room and board, but also meant giving them financial support.  These missionaries would not accept anything from non-believers even if it were offered, so they were totally at the mercy of believers for their financial needs. 

What John is saying is that, “I know that not everybody can leave their job and families and go off on a missionary journey.  Some have responsibilities that require them to stay at home -  illness in the family or people depending on them for their very financial existence.  But where he can’t go, his money can go.”  It is an opportunity to share in the missionary journey by helping to finance and pray for it.  Soldiers are needed on the front line.  But every army needs people back home supplying them with the ammunition to carry on the fight.  The church needs those who will go out preaching the truth, but it also needs those back home willing to sponsor the truth. Like that Second World War song proclaimed, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”

3 John: 9 I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.  10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us.  And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who wants to do so and expels them from the church.  11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Whoever does good is from God.

John now deals with another reason for this letter.  It’s naming names time.  No more being Mr. Nice Guy.  Who’s the guy he names?  Diotrephes. Since this is a written study, you don’t have to worry about pronouncing Diotrephes.   What does John accuse Diotrephes of doing?  Wants to run the church and others were afraid to cross him.  He was probably a charismatic guy who through a very strong personality cowed people into getting his way.  He was never tactful.  One of those people who spoke bluntly and didn’t care if it hurt your feelings or not.   For him it was always his way or the highway.  Ever meet anyone like him?  Stop pointing fingers!

Originally the church was willing to be run from the headquarters in Jerusalem.  They were like babies and needed the support and help in organizing and getting started.  As time went on and the churches were able to stand on their own feet, they became more conscious of their local identity.  The stronger this identity became, the less they were willing to be run from a far away headquarters.  When this happened, men like Diotrephes sprung up and played on home town pride.  We don’t know what his relationship was with Gaius, but John had five things that bothered him about Diotrephes.  What were they?

1. Diotrephes liked being the big cheese - the big fish in a small pond.  For John it meant he put himself first.  Unfortunately, there are people like Diotrephes today.  People who because of the size of their donation feel they have the right to veto anything the session wants to do if it’s not what they want to do.  There are some who insist that the church be politically correct even if it flies in the face of what John calls the truth and we call the Gospel.
2. Diotrephes didn’t accept John or anyone like him.  Evidently, there had been a run in between John and Diotrephes where Diotrephes opposed John’s authority in a matter.  His argument was probably that new times demanded new leadership and he represented the new leadership. Since Diotrephes was a member and attended the church at Ephesus and John, unable to defend himself in person, was far away, this dispute caused divisions in the church.
3. Diotrephes was spreading lies about John and John was going to expose those lies when he got there.  Malicious gossip and innuendos can ruin a person’s reputation even if he was the Apostle John.  Whatever things Diotrephes had said about John would be addressed in front of the whole church with Diotrephes challenged to accuse John in person.
4. Diotrephes didn’t offer hospitality to friends (read that as missionaries) visiting the church.  Is that what John had told them to do? This directly challenged what John had said.  It’s bad enough that Diotrephes wouldn’t welcome missionaries himself, he began to dictate who could visit the church and who couldn’t.  
5. If you crossed him and welcomed a missionary that wasn’t on his approved list, he would drive you out of the church.  Not even Jesus excommunicated Judas knowing that he would betray him.

Now Gaius is a quiet good man who continued to be a good host to the visiting missionaries.  John wants to build him up so that he will be ready for Diotrephes when he comes after Gaius.  John tells Gaius to stick in there and not be intimidated.  It won’t be long before John, himself, will come and take care of Diotrephes by throwing light on how far he has taken the church from the truth.

3 John:12 Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has truth itself.  We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

John has given us a real villain in Diotrephes.  Now, he introduces who? Demetrius.  Everybody Loves Demetrius.  Sounds like a TV sitcom, doesn’t it?  Who is this Demetrious and why does everybody love him?  Some scholars believe that it was Demetrious who delivered the letter to Gaius that we are studying today.  When Gaius read it to the congregation, Diotrephes challenged John’s authority to require anything of the church in Ephesus.  It probably dealt with showing hospitality to visiting missionaries.  Diotrephes wanted to control the messages that the church got and to do this, he had to control the messengers - the missionaries.  From the endorsement John gave Demetrious, Demetrious probably stood up against Diotrephes and defended John.

3 John: 13 I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; 14 instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face.  15 Peace to you.  The friends send you their greetings.  Greet the friends there, each by name.

John is afraid that he hasn’t put across all of the arguments he wants to make.  What is stopping him?  The cost of papyrus.  Last week we talked about how much it cost to manufacture sheets of papyrus for writing and that one sheet of 8"x10" papyrus was used for this letter. What will be better is for John to come in person and speak for himself.  In particular, he longs to speak with his friend, Gaius,  face to face.  In closing, John wishes that peace be with Gaius and sends greeting from all of the brothers and sisters with John.  Then John makes an unusual request.  Not to just greet the brothers and sisters in Ephesus, but to greet hem how?  By name.  In other words it’s like getting a card from an old friend.  It’s nice to be remembered, but getting a card with a personal greeting and a hand written signature means a whole lot more on many levels.  That’s the greeting he wants Gaius to give the church members in Ephesus.  A warm loving personal greeting.

So what have we learned today?  It’s scary to be away from home without any money or family near by.  When you are in a fix like that, there might not be Gaius or Demetrius to help you, but there is family there with you.  There is your Father and his Son.  And like John’s instruction to Gaius, he will greet us by name.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the beauty of love and character that made Gaius loved by his fellow believers.  Amen.