Monday Nights @ First B (17)

September 28, 2015 · 1, 2, 3 John

Scripture referenced 1 passage

The passages read or referred to in this message.

Jeremiah 17 quoted as a prayer for the church, blessing those who trust in the Lord and are like trees planted by water that bear fruit even in drought

1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
2 Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.
4 You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you. I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”
5 Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
15 Behold, they tell me, “Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
16 As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face.
17 Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil.
18 Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed. Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Yahweh said this to me: “Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Don’t carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work, but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
24 It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;
25 then there will enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will remain forever.
26 They will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to Yahweh’s house.
27 But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. It will not be quenched.”’”

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Pastor Mark opened Third John by connecting it to the themes First B Jackson has been tracing through the whole series: living in the light, loving one another, and showing the truth by your actions. This time, the two actions in focus were hospitality and faithfulness. He walked through all fifteen verses and let the contrast between Gaius and Demetrius on one side, and Diotrephes on the other, do the teaching.

What was said

Before getting into the body of the letter, Pastor Mark lingered on John's greeting. He pointed out that John's opening words to Gaius, caring about how his friend was doing physically and not just spiritually, were not a formality. They were genuine. That kind of greeting, whether a handshake, a look in the eye, or even Renzi's side hug, sets the tone for whether someone lets their guard down or keeps it up. He asked the room to take an honest look at how approachable they actually are when people walk in.

John commends Gaius for caring for traveling teachers who passed through, people who were strangers to him but who shared the same truth in Christ. Pastor Mark connected this directly to the previous Monday night, when Stephen, Britt, and Alec came to talk about their work as mission aviation missionaries. He had quietly watched to see whether people would sit with them, engage them, and pray with them. They did, and he said so plainly. Jackson, he noted, seems to be a regular stopping point for missionaries heading to hard places, and he encouraged the church to keep that up.

He made a point about encouragement that sat alongside the hospitality section. John did not just correct Gaius, he told him what he was doing right. Pastor Mark said that Ray and he do not always see everything happening in the congregation, but when they do see it, they want to name it. Criticism for its own sake does not build a church up. Encouragement does.

To press the point about caring for others the way you care for yourself, Pastor Mark shared a story about an anthropologist who ran a game with children from an African tribe. He placed fruit under a tree and told them the first one to reach it would win. Instead of racing each other, all the children held hands and ran together, then shared the fruit. When asked why, they said something in their language that translated roughly as "I am because we are." He used it to illustrate what Gaius and Demetrius were actually doing.

Diotrephes stood as the counter-example. John names him and describes his behavior plainly: he insisted on being the leader, made false accusations against the church, refused to welcome traveling teachers, and threw out anyone who did help them. Pastor Mark said John put him on blast, and then did the same thing John did, he told the room to learn from it rather than repeat it. The practical opposite of what Diotrephes did is being a team player, speaking well of others, welcoming missionaries, and building up rather than tearing down.

Pastor Mark closed by tying the whole letter back to the Jeremiah 17 passage he had shared at the start, the image of a tree planted by water whose roots go deep enough that it stays green through drought and heat and still bears fruit. His prayer for First B Jackson is that the church would keep its roots in Christ deeply enough that hospitality and faithfulness and honest greetings are not programs but just what people see when they look at the congregation.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Nathan talked about how the way we greet people sets the tone for the whole conversation. Think about the people you interact with regularly. Would they describe you as approachable? What might need to change?
John genuinely cared about Gaius both physically and spiritually, not just one or the other. How well do we tend to care for the whole person in our relationships here at church, and where do we fall short?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Read the full transcript 3,800 words

Find in this transcript

0:00 You know I like Monday nights? Because we get to feed both the stomach and the soul, and they're both important. They are. The the meal part, just hanging out, catching up, loving on each other, and then the soul the soul part, really, the deeper the spiritual. That's important too.

0:21 And so what do you say we just warm up? Warm up a little bit to the Lord and sing out to him. This song is just it's saying that we have a very firm foundation in Christ, which we do, the most solid foundation in Christ. So if you wanna stay if you're eating, please eat. But if you're standing or you're done and you wanna stay, I'm gonna sing together.

0:53 Alright. Alpha. God, when we think about so much you've blessed us with and just that we are here and we got breath in our lungs from day to day, and just like this song was saying, it's like, what what what can I say and what can I do? Sometimes I don't even have the words. But just to be in your presence is it's it's good enough.

7:35 And I don't even think we have to have some crazy, great, long prayers, but just to hang out with you is wonderful. And we're grateful that we can do that. And that you provide the way, that way is Jesus. You're the way, the truth, the life. And so thanks.

7:55 Thanks for letting us hang out with you tonight. Amen. If you'd like to, you can sit down for this this letter. The first line of this is my favorite song. Just favorite line.

8:16 In Christ alone, my hope is found, and he is my light and my strength and my song. That's a pretty sweet promise, God, that once we're yours, we're yours. You know, there's no no givebacks. We're we're yours. And so we're grateful to be yours.

11:57 We're grateful to have the power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, be living in us. And I pray that that you just use the word to speak to us tonight. We need it. Encourage our our spirit tonight. Would you, Lord?

12:11 In Christ's name, amen. Amen. So a while ago, I just had a I had a strong desire to read through first, second, and third John together on Monday nights. Just glad we have because these are the kind of teachings just going through John. These things make the church thrive.

12:43 They really do when we're practicing these things that John says. And that's the idea. Right? Like, I don't wanna just exist as a church. Oh, yeah.

12:54 Ephesians is there. I don't want to just exist. I wanna thrive as a church. I really do. I want for the spirit of God to be living and moving through the church so that when people see you and I, that they see Christ in and through us.

13:08 We're not perfect, you know, but we post we boast in a perfect life of Christ. And we want that power, we want that fruit to be displayed so that the world can know Jesus. Would you agree with us? Amen. So Jeremiah 17 grabbed hold of me this week, and I wanna share with you because it's just kinda been my prayer lately.

13:29 And it's it's this right here. It's bless the one who trusts in the Lord and whose confidence is in him. It's not saying that it's our confidence is in our in in myself. And, boy, I'm such a great person. It's we're trusting in the Lord.

13:43 Our confidence is in him. We'll be like trees planted by the water that send its roots out by the stream. It doesn't fear when heat comes, as leaves are always green. Amen. And it has no worries in the year of drought, and it never fails to bear fruit.

13:59 It's just been my prayer for us lately that we would just keep trusting the Lord, get our roots down deep in him, that through fire, through drought, through the storm, whatever it is, we're gonna have green leaves. We're gonna bear fruit because we've tapped into the source. So, anyway, I share that with you. I share that with you because I feel it's important. As we've been studying for through first, second, third John, he's been using this kind of language.

14:27 Live in the light. Love one another. Remain faithful to what you've been taught. Hold on to this gospel message. Remain faithful to Christ.

14:39 Show the truth by your actions. There's a lot more of them, but here's a few that just popped for me this week. And as we're wrapping up third John, he's gonna give us a couple more examples of showing the truth by your actions. And here's what I want to to look at tonight. There's two of them, hospitality and faithfulness.

14:58 Hospitality and faithfulness. So last week it was the last time I spoke, it was love and truth. This time, hospitality and faithfulness. So listen for those as I read these 15 verses of third John, real short book. But listen to his greeting as well, okay?

15:14 Because this one really grabbed ahold of me to his greeting. So here it is, it's on the screen, all right? Blake will change it as I read it. This letter is from John, elder. He really was old at this point.

15:27 Wise and old love this guy I give him a hug if you were here I'm writing to Gaius my dear friend and my loving that you're dear friend I hope all is well with you and that you're as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit Some of the traveling teachers returned recent recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you're living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear my children are following the truth. Dear friend, you're being faithful to God when you care for traveling teachers who pass through through, even though they're strangers to you. They've told the church here of your loving friendship, please continue to provide or providing for such teachers in a manner that pleasing that pleases God, for they're traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

16:27 I wrote to the church about this, but Diotropes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. When I come, I'll report some of the things he's doing, the evil accusations he's making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church. Dear friend, don't let this bad example influence you.

16:54 Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they're God's children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God. Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius as does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth. I have much more to say, but I don't want to write it with pen and ink, for I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face.

17:23 Peace be with you. Your friends here send their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there. Like we do, let's let's pray on this before we go and before you're okay. God, man, this is powerful stuff.

17:39 Thank you for your word. And I pray that as we get into it, it would get into us. And I pray that it'd be an encouragement to us just to keep on acting out on what it's saying. And in this case, hospitality and faithfulness. These things are important in the life of the church, and I pray that it would continue to describe us and that we would continue to walk in the truth.

18:06 In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Here's where I wanted to to start tonight. It was it was John's greeting. And a lot of times, like in a letter or an email or a text or just, you know, in person too, we think that we need to give a greeting because we have to.

18:28 You know what I mean? You ever been there? Hi. I didn't know you. But it just seems like the right thing to do so that we don't come across as, like, cold or impersonal and that kind of thing.

18:39 You know what I mean? I I was rethinking my text messages this day. It's like, do I put too many exclamation points in my text messages? You know, like, is it just fake? But whenever you see, like, a greeting like this, like from John or from Paul, whatever, you know, the grace and peace to you from our God and Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ, dear friend, hope all is well with you, and that you're in healthy in your body as you are in your spirit.

19:10 You do sense, do you see that genuine care and concern for his friend? Because it's there. It really is. And the reason that I point that out is because the way that we greet people matters. It really does.

19:29 The way that we interact matters. I think Ray, I Ray, what was it? It was Always Leading Off with Grace and Peace. What book were we studying through there? All of letters.

19:42 All of letters. Thank you. Yeah. Pretty much. Right?

19:46 But whether it's a hug or a smile or a handshake or some goofy side hug like Renzi gives. Goofy. Yeah. Is. It's a little weird.

19:57 It's creepy sometimes. But our greeting, it really does, it sets the tone for how the rest of the conversation is gonna go. You notice that? Like if I'm cold and unfriendly and irritated when I see you, most likely your guard is up and you're not gonna let it down, you're not gonna open yourself up to me. But if I look you in the eye and I extend a hand and I'm genuinely engaged with you, you might just let your guard down for a minute and share your life with me.

20:32 Are you beginning to see how important this is? Our everyday interactions with people? I'm gonna use Ray and Renzi as examples tonight. Sorry, guys. But have you ever seen Ray or Renzi greet you with anything other than, hey, how are you?

20:47 That'd be Ray's. That was a bad impression. Or like I said, the side hug. I mean, does it not make these men approachable? Absolutely.

20:57 It really does. And you know they mean it. You know that they mean it. Do you know that they're genuinely concerned for your life, and they care about you? And and and it makes it makes a person kinda drop their guard a little bit.

21:14 But my point is our greetings matter, and how we lead off in conversation matters. And I'm asking all of us, and myself included, to take an honest evaluation of how we greet one another. As we meet together, how do we greet? You know? I'm not asking you to kiss each other.

21:32 Alright? I get that that was part of the culture in that day. You do that. Now you might get slapped. Unless that's something normal for a culture.

21:40 Some people can pull it off. I couldn't. If I tried to kiss you, you'd go, that's creepy. It's good blue in Romania. Yeah.

21:45 See? Romania, greeting. You guys got it right. But are we approachable? I mean, that's what I'm asking.

21:54 Are we approachable people? Do people even want to be around us? You know what I mean? Do they see Jesus in us, or do they see grumpy pants? So I just I put that on your radar tonight.

22:06 K? I put that on your radar tonight because it matters. And, John truly wanted the best for his friend physically and spiritually. You know what I mean? It's not just I care only about your spiritual life.

22:19 Like, I care about physically how you doing. It it matters. So anyway, that one just it got me this week. Okay? And I'm sharing it with you.

22:30 It grabbed ahold of me because I feel that it is such an important part. And so our walk with Christ is that people can see it on our face and they hear it in our voices. Okay. I'm gonna let that one go. Second part is hospitality.

22:45 John commends his friend for being hospitable to traveling teachers. So he gets word. These traveling teachers were passing through, and what does the church do? They care for them. They support them.

22:57 They showed them kindness, and they were strangers. Yet, they had this common truth that is Christ, and it brought them together, and they loved them, and they cared for them. Here's the thing. You guys, you're the example this week. I love it.

23:12 Last week when Stephen, Britt, and Alec came to talk about being mission aviation missionaries, you let them in. And I I purposely kinda watched. Who did they sit with? Did people come sit around them? Did they talk?

23:27 Did they engage? And you did. You cared for. You supported. You gave.

23:32 And I just I'm commending you because this is what we're called to do. We're a church family, and their job isn't easy. At the end of the night, we're praying through tears because the weight of this call to be missionaries to these very dangerous parts of the world felt so heavy that there was kind of a breakdown there. We just had to pause and pray together. You know what I mean?

24:06 So as a church, we're called to come around missionaries to care for them, to pray for them, to show them hospitality, bring them on in. Because verse six and seven, they're traveling for the Lord. And they're doing the Lord's work, and they lead us. So, church, let me encourage you to keep doing what you're already doing and and keep showing hospitality to these folks who passed through. Jackson seems to be a very good, safe place to land for a lot of these missionaries, and I suspect that we're gonna keep adding on in the future of these people.

24:40 And just I'm I'm just encouraged. Let's keep loving on them. There many of them are going to places in the world we may never visit and never reach. And they need our support. So let's be faithful about it.

24:57 And faithfulness is what John was commending Gaius and Demetrius for. And again, I'm sharing this with you because it's important. Ready? He communicated it. He communicated it.

25:13 All of us need to know what we're doing right, not just what we're doing wrong. Ray and I don't always know all the things that you're doing. We we don't always know, but when we see it, by God's grace, I pray that we'll be able to encourage you in it and let you know what you're doing right. Criticism for the sake of criticism just isn't helpful, and it doesn't build up the church, but encouragement does. And so I'm sticking with that right there, being faithful.

25:45 And that's the goal. It's to love others as we love ourselves. The Bible already assumes that we love ourselves. Because we do. Right?

25:53 I mean, we do. We take care of ourselves. We're we're pretty good to ourselves. We take care of our own needs, but it's the command to take it a step further. John's been saying it over and over again.

26:04 Take it a step further, care for the needs of others as we care for our own needs. Here's a little something I found this week, okay? I thought it was a good illustration. So it's this anthropologist, and he proposed the game to these children in the African tribe. And so here's what he did.

26:21 He put a basketball fruit under a tree and told the children that the one who reaches it first will win the fruit. I think that's a kind of a mean game, but alright. And so he told them to run, and they all took one another by the hand and they ran together. And then they sat down to share this fruit. And when we asked them why they ran like that, well, you know, one of them could have had all the fruit to himself.

26:49 Apparently, they sit this ubuntu, which in their culture means I am because we are. Now whether that's a true study or not, I don't know. I tried to snub it, but I couldn't find it. But I think it illustrates the point well seriously, to love others as we love ourselves. And that's what these two guys did.

27:10 They were faithful, and they were loving, and they were servants. They were helping out where they needed to help out, and they stuck to the truth of the gospel, and they showed hospitality to these guys that they didn't even know. And the guy probably only stayed for what? A week? Who knows?

27:27 And then they went somewhere else. But in contrast, John mentions this guy named Theotropus, and he puts him on blast. Verse nine and ten. He insisted on being a leader. He wasn't a team player.

27:45 He made false accusations against the church. He refused to help traveling teachers. When people did, he kicked them out of the church. This guy's trouble. This guy's trouble.

27:57 And verse 11, it sums it up. Don't let his bad example influence you. Follow what's good. Follow what's good. And listen.

28:08 I'm saying the same. Let's learn from him. K? If he was in the wrong, let's practice the right. And the opposite of what he was doing, these things right here, be a team player, church.

28:20 Be a team player. Work together. The church is one body with many parts. Every one of these parts are necessary. We are not an island.

28:29 We need one another. And when one part suffers, we all suffer. And when one part rejoices, we all rejoice. But let's begin this thinking because this is biblical thinking to really, like, work together as a team in order to function. We never try to one up each other.

28:54 We build each other up. So Diotropus was talking trash about the church, and it wasn't helpful. It wasn't helpful. Our job is to build up the body, not tear it down. It's to speak highly of one another, not to trash people.

29:16 Then when missionaries are passing through, welcome them. You know? They're doing the Lord's work. They're sharing the gospel. Let's come alongside them so that they can do what God has called them to do.

29:28 And we don't stand in their way, but rather we enable them so they can continue to share the truth. Is this resonating here? This is I mean, to me, this was just good, solid, fundamental, biblical you know, it's good old Bible teaching. This is good church. And encouraging others to do the same.

29:49 Be in agreement about the gospel and working together to see that it reaches right here in Jackson and to the ends of the year. So that's a short summary, I guess, of three John And a few takeaways. I just put these in your pocket. Alright? That our greetings matter.

30:07 I wanna just say it again. Hit me hard. The way we approach one another matters. Let's be conscious about letting people know what they're doing right, not just what they're doing wrong. K?

30:20 Another, hospitality. Let's just continue to show hospitality to people that are passing through. There might be strangers. Who cares? If they got the gospel, we're in agreement, let's send them on their way with the pockets full, you know, and love on them.

30:37 They're doing the Lord's work. And then faithfulness. Let's just be faithful about it, You know? The those two guys guys in Demetrius, great examples, team players. They didn't just lead from the front.

30:50 They led from the back too. And they were servants. And then they did what was best to build up the body. And they welcomed these missionaries, and they encouraged other people to do the same. So I don't know.

31:04 I that's that to me, that's this is it's good church. And and I I look at that example, and I go, man, Lord, I pray that to us. I really do. That there's not backbiting, that there's not tearing each other down, that there's not this or that or these little tiffs and things that we can set aside differences for the sake of the gospel and make Jesus known. So can I invite the band up one one more song?

31:29 And while they're coming up, I wanna pray because this is we need help in this, don't we? It's we're human. You know? This is tough, and and we need help. So, Lord, I thank you for these real life examples.

31:40 In scripture, they they fought the good fight, and they persevered, and they built up the church. And we know that we're not perfect, and we know that we are a work in progress, and we can improve on these things. But would you help us to recall our need to be gracious and to be hospitable and to be faithful and to hold on the truth with gossip of the gospel with both hands and how that go. In Christ's name. Amen.

32:07 Amen. Does that word ever hit you like that where you just go, man, that's good church. Has that ever happened where you read something and it just it just so knocks you on your on your hind end because it you go, man, this is this is what's gonna make a a church healthy and dry. And, again, Lord, help us to be a healthy church. Christ's name.

32:41 Amen. Alright. Let's sing. You can stand up if you like. Really, though, isn't that a great song about about discovering who Christ is and then walking with him?

35:21 So I'm really I'm praying that for us. God help us this week, would you? Be hospitable, loving servants. Pierce us. Give us motivation this week in Christ's name.

35:33 Amen. Amen.

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Church Unity Encouraging Others Faithfulness Hospitality Supporting Missionaries Welcoming Strangers

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