Dear Church Family,
John closes his third epistle with words of encouragement. First, he urges them to live holy lives by watching how they pattern their lives. We all have heroes. Putting John’s words into a question ponder this, “Will you mimic the evil conduct of your idol(s) or will you mirror the God-honoring conduct of another saint who serves as your role model?”
John then lays all of his cards on the table. He states a profound truth in black and white. There is no gray in as he writes, “Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.” If you are in Christ, you will bear godly fruit. Jesus teaches this in Matthew 25, John 15 and other passages. Paul teaches in Colossians 1:10 that we please God by “bearing fruit in every good work.” Paul warned in Ephesians 5:11, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.” If you see your life as an apple tree, you are either bearing delicious juicy fruit or whatever grows is not worth eating and thus is of no value.
I must confess that I wonder how those words can be seen as encouraging. This caused me to check a few commentaries. The first three I consulted all had the same theme that John was contrasting the temptation to be like evil Diostrephes, whom he has warned about in v9-10, with the desire to live out the truth for which Gaius had been commended in v1-8. Even an influential secular agnostic has stated boldly, “I act as if I believe in God to the best of my ability. I am afraid that he might exist.” That thinking sadly provides an example of what Francis Schaeffer described as “modern man standing firmly in mid-air.”
John goes on to commend Demetrius to them. He is likely bringing John’s letter to them. He is one who serves as a model of one who lives out the truth of the Gospel. O, that all of us would have such words said about us!
John closes with words that ring familiar with us in the pandemic. He has much more to write about, but he hoped to do so in person. He had no idea if or when he would ever be with them as he wrote, “I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.” We certainly echo those sentiments. John blesses them with God’s peace as fellow believers send their greetings by name.
Since 3 John has only 14 verses I challenge you to read the whole thing and feast on the good truths in this small package.
With great hope in His grace,
Pastor Gillikin