2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Yesterday, we learned that Gaius was a servant of God in the early church who opened his home to strangers, hosted meetings of the church, and had earned the respect of both Paul and John. The example of this man’s service and the lessons contained in the letters from our Elder which make up 1, 2, & 3 John apply as much today as they did then. Today’s passage, 3JN: 5-8, contains both praise and instruction for Gaius from our Elder. “My dear friend, you are so faithful in the work you do for your fellow Christians, even when they are strangers. They have spoken to the church here about your love. Please help them to continue their trip in a way that will please God. For they set out on their trip in the service of Christ without accepting any help from unbelievers. We Christians, then, must help these people, so that we may share in their work for the truth.”
To completely appreciate Gaius’ mind-set and his work, it must be remembered that the church was still small enough to meet in the homes of certain people willing to host its meetings. There were times when strangers to the host who shared the host’s faith would come after traveling a distance to these meetings. Yesterday’s passage suggested that Gaius might not have enjoyed the best of physical health, certainly not health at the level of his spiritual health. That couldn’t have made his hosting duties easy for him, but his dedication brought him to overcome that. Gaius’ dedication to his faith, willingness to deal with opposition from without the church and within it, and his service in accompanying Paul on his mission through Macedonia earned the respect of the leaders of the church. In MT 25: 32-33, Christ spoke of the final separation of the sheep (righteous people) and the goats (the unrighteous ones) to come in the future. I bring this up because the verses that follow it describing the righteous people allow us to see Christ’s priorities in these matters and how Gaius fits in to them.
MT 25: 34-40, “Then the King will say to the people on his right [the righteous], ‘Come, you that are blessed to My Father! Come, and possess the Kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed Me, thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you received Me in your homes, naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me, in prison and you visited Me.’ The righteous will then answer Him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You a drink? When did we ever see You a stranger and welcome You in our homes, or naked and clothe You? When did we ever see You sick or in prison, and visit You?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for Me!”
The spiritual significance of breaking bread with others is revealed in two places in LK 24. After the resurrected Christ meets with two men, Cleopas and his friend, on the road to Emmaus who are mourning the death of Jesus Christ, they didn’t recognize Who He was. It was getting late in the day, so they invited Him to stay with them. LK 24: 30-35, “He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then He broke the bread and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when He talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?’ They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others and saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon.’ The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when He broke the bread.” Christ revealed in LK 24: 40-45 that we will still partake of food in the resurrected state when He did so upon appearing to His disciples. This is followed in verse 45 with Him opening their minds to understand the Scriptures.
The instructions given to Gaius to help travelers continue their trip in a way which will please God has it’s basis in Christ’s teaching. MT 10: 40-42 reveals our Lord’s attitude. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One Who sent Me. Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these My followers because he is My follower, will certainly receive a reward.” When we look at the traveler’s refusal to accept help from non-believers in today’s 3JN passage, we see how in line their ethics are with Christ’s. It would have suggested that their Master was too poor to provide for them. It might also give non-believers an opportunity to become self-righteous about the giving them the help. That certainly flies in the face of some of the methods of Christian fund-raising that are in place today! The lesson we can extract from this is to mirror Christ’s attitude in providing for the needs of missionaries going out to spread the Gospel. That is what Gaius did. What is more important than making the truth known to as many people as possible? We need to answer the great commission of MT 28: 19-20, “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them My disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of an age.” Offering hospitality to other believes, even ones we don’t know, is one way to do this.
PRAYER: O Lord, the example of service that Gaius sets for us allows us to see how simples acts of hospitality can actually be You using us to do Your work. We must ask ourselves how willing are we to do this and how available are we making ourselves to You? When servants known to be as faithful as Paul and John hold this man, Gaius, in such esteem, we can make the assumption that You also hold him in esteem. Out of Your compassion for us, You give us his example to follow along with the other revelations of Christ’s attitude in these matters, because You are inviting us to join You in the work of the Great Commission. We are honored that You have called us to Your service and accept that call with an open heart and willingness to use the Scriptures and our faith in Your Son, Who died for us, as our guide. We may never know the full impact of opening our homes to others either on their spiritual lives or on the furthering of Your work, but You love us enough to give us Your peace to tell us when we are conforming to Your will. We approach You in humility and offer You our worship, adoration, and praise. We magnify Your name and offer our service to Your glory. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the contrast between two men, Diotrephes and Demetrius, mentioned in our Elder’s letter which is 3JN. From this, we learn more about the spiritual condition of some individuals in the church and consider how that affects the congregation as a whole. Consider the compassion our Lord has for us and know that His love is never ending for those who endure in their faith. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn