Whom I Love in theTruth

FROM: MAY 8 @ 14, 2018

TOPIC: "Whom I Love in theTruth" 3 John 1:1-11

John the elder, to Gaius, the beloved, whom I love in the truth. It is about a brother who was dearly beloved, a man whose exemplary life was recommended to his Christian brothers.

I. That you may have health (Vs. 2)

A. Just as your soul is prospered

1. John wishes him to be healthy in case he was ill; but his soul prospered.

2. If he was sick, the disease did not make him decay.

3. When the brother is very dear to you, you want him to be well.

4. As a friend one desires both physical and spiritual well-being.

5. John was like Jesus, who never forgets that people have bodies and not only souls, and that the bodies are also important.

6. Gaius's life was exemplary (Vs. 3-6) and John recommended him to the brothers.

7. The brother Gaius was trustworthy, he had sincerity, purity, he did not seek what pertained to others and gave what he had to others.

8. There were warnings and reprimands in the letter (Vs. 11); and yet his accent is that of Love.

9. Gaius was a man who always had the doors of his house and his heart open.

10. Gaius knew the truth and did not abandon it, he walked in the truth. For John it was a joy to know this. (Vs. 3, 4).

11. He who walks in the truth is a brother who is complete.

12. The truth has to be known and manifested in our lives.

13. It was John's great joy to hear that his spiritual children walked in the truth; there is nothing that gives more joy than such news.

14. The truth is not only something that we assimilate intellectually; it is the knowledge in the mind of the person and the beneficence (love God above all things and your neighbor as yourself) that clothes your life.

15. The truth manifests in the person when the person thinks and acts as God commands.

16. These are some of the compliments from John for Gaius:

a. Beloved, friend, companion

b. Gaius especially delighted in opening his home completely to those who had come out to preach the gospel (Vs. 5, 6).

c. He attended with love those he knew and also the strangers.

d. Hospitality was a sacred duty in the ancient world and Gaius complied with that.

17. Gaius is recorded in the Scriptures as one who had an open home and also an open heart.

18. Those who went out to preach did not accept anything from Gentiles (from the worldly); so it was proper for believers such as Gaius to receive them and help them (Vs. 7).

19. They were the ones who went out to preach the gospel for the love of His name.

20. Gaius did everything possible to help them, because when we do this we cooperate with the truth, we help the truth in its march to go forward (Vs. 8).

21. We must be aware and do so!

B. Diotrephes wanted to be the domineer, as many do (Vs. 9)

1. A domineer does not accept authority.

2. He had an inordinate concept of his own importance.

3. He was the dictator in the assembly.

4. His sin was pride of position, a bloated ego and violent jealousy for what he considered his own rights, which he undoubtedly defended according to his norm (independent of the opinion of others).

5. Diotrephes had forgotten that Christ is the Head of the Church and the Holy Spirit the Representative of Christ in the Church.

6. No mere man has the right to assume such command.

7. He did not receive the brothers, he did not want John (Vs. 10).

8. He was doing great harm to the truth by rejecting the apostle on the pretext of faithfulness to God.

9. He who does evil is not of God (Vs. 11). Amen.