Fellow Worker for the Truth

On Sunday evening, Pastor Devon Rossman preached at Fellowship Reformed Church in Mt Pleasant, MI. And he finished his short 2-part series on the Neglected Writings of the Apostle John. The sermon text was 3 John. And Pastor Rossman pointed out who the main people involved in the letter were, what the main themes of the passage were, and how to practically apply the text. John wants to help Gaius understand what it means for him to be a fellow worker for the truth.

The letter primarily concerns “the elder” John, and a church leader named Gaius. Gaius had been involved in hosting traveling preachers in the past. And John wanted to encourage Gaius to continue this practice into the future. Supporting the continued advance of the gospel is one of the key ways that the church members can be a fellow worker for the truth. By being inhospitable or ungenerous, we run the risk of impeding the spread of the gospel to new places.

This was an issue with a man named Diotrephes in particular. He had refused to care for faithful brothers who were traveling into his town to speak the gospel. And this was preventing the spread of the gospel. John speaks clearly against Diotrephes’s actions, and he urges Gaius not to follow in that man’s footsteps.

Instead, John speaks, in his role as an elder, to give pastoral instruction. And he urges Gaius to imitate what is good rather than what is evil. He explains that people who know God will resemble Him. But those who imitate evil show that they do not know God. John urges Gaius, and Christians like us, to follow a different example. In this case, John specifically encourages Gaius to follow the example of a man named Demetrius. We have good reason, then, to look for positive examples to follow, and to seek to be examples to others. So this is a pastoral letter that helps us to better understand how a Christian like you or me can be a fellow worker for the truth.

Fellowship Reformed Church is a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America.