{"id":8974,"date":"2020-04-26T20:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T03:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=8974"},"modified":"2020-04-26T17:11:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T00:11:50","slug":"3-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/3-john\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Characteristics of a Great Godly Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

3 John Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we are looking at 3 John, a very short letter most likely written by the apostle John to his friend Gaius.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

3 John 1:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0 In this short letter John refers to Gaius as his \u201cdear friend\u201d four times.\u00a0\u00a0 Through this letter we learn several characteristics of a great godly friend.\u00a0 We find the first one here:\u00a0a great godly friend speaks affectionately to his friend.<\/strong>\u00a0 John is affectionate in his words for Gaius.<\/p>\n

3 John 1:2 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 2:\u00a0\u00a0A great godly friend is concerned about his friend\u2019s entire well being<\/strong>.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t just concerned about his spiritual health (\u201ceven as your soul is getting along well\u201d), but also about his physical health (\u201cI pray that you may enjoy good health\u201d) and his life in general (\u201cthat all may go well with you\u201d).<\/p>\n

3 John 1:3-4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 3-4:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A great godly friend celebrates his friend\u2019s victories and rejoices when his friend courageously follows Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 By the way, the fact that John says \u201cI have no greater joy than to hear that\u00a0my children<\/em>\u00a0are walking in the truth\u201d (v4) suggests that John was Gaius\u2019 pastor and may also have been the one to lead Gaius\u2019 to faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

3 John 1:5-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-8:\u00a0\u00a0A great godly friend encourages his friend to live for Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 Here John commends Gaius on his ministry of hosting a group of Christians that John had sent to him, even though Gaius had never met these Christians before (v5).\u00a0\u00a0 He encourages Gaius to keep on in this ministry and \u201cto send them on their way in a manner worthy of God\u201d (v6).\u00a0 In verses 7-8 John reminds Gaius why Gaius ought to serve these brothers.\u00a0 What is John doing?\u00a0 John is encouraging Gaius to live for Jesus and to use his talents to serve others.<\/p>\n

3 John 1:9-10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-10:\u00a0 Diotrephes was likely a leader who hosted John\u2019s church in his home.\u00a0 However, for some reason, Diotrephes had a change of heart toward the apostle John and his teammates.\u00a0 The fact that John says that Diotrephes \u201cloves to be first\u201d (v9) may indicate that Diotrephes was not happy with his position or power in the church.\u00a0 As a result Diotrephes has cut off ties with the apostle John and the other apostles (\u201cwill have nothing to do with us\u201d \u2013 v10) and has been gossiping maliciously about his former spiritual leaders (v10).\u00a0 On top of this, Diotrephes refuses to welcome any other representatives or friends of John into his home to talk (v10).\u00a0 Diotrephes even tries to stop others from welcoming people from John\u2019s group, threatening them by saying \u201cIf you welcome John and his group, you\u2019re not welcome at the church meeting in my house\u201d (v10).<\/p>\n

While Diotrephes\u2019 strength was probably his willingness to serve, his major weakness was his failure to deal with conflict in a healthy way.\u00a0 It is for this weakness that Diotrephes would be remembered the most.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Because Christians are people too, in the church of Jesus Christ there is bound to be conflict between people from time to time.\u00a0 The question is: how do you deal with conflict when it happens?\u00a0 Do you deal with hurt feelings in a healthy way or an unhealthy way?<\/strong>\u00a0 When you have an issue with someone, do you bear with that person in love, speak the truth in love and forgive?\u00a0 Or do you slander them behind their back, attempt to turn others against them, and act out in bitterness?\u00a0\u00a0How you deal with conflict is just as important as your willingness to serve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Another thing we learn is that\u00a0great godly friends deal with conflict in a healthy way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 John 1:11-12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone–and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-12:\u00a0 In telling Gaius not to imitate what is evil but what is good, John is indirectly encouraging Gaius not to imitate divisive Diotrephes and instead to imitate Demetrius.\u00a0 John says that Demetrius \u201cis well spoken of by everyone\u201d (v12), meaning he has a great reputation among the people, \u201cand even by the truth itself\u201d (v12), suggesting that in John\u2019s prayers he has sensed the Lord commending Demetrius.\u00a0 \u201cWe also speak well of him\u201d (v12) means that John and his fellow apostles also think highly of Demetrius.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Great godly friends warn their friends about whom to learn from and whom not to learn from<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Also,\u00a0when deciding whom to appoint as a leader and whom to let influence your life, consider the person\u2019s reputation among people, consider what God says about that person when you pray, and consider what your spiritual leaders say about that person.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 John 1:13-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.\u00a0Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-14:\u00a0 There are certain things that are best to be discussed face to face rather than in writing.\u00a0\u00a0Great godly friends know when it is best to talk face to face and when it is better to address an issue in writing.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0May God give you wisdom in this area.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on finding a \u201cbff\u201d (best friend forever), may you focus on being a \u201cggf\u201d (great godly friend) to others.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing me through 3 John the characteristics of a great godly friend.\u00a0 Instead of obsessing over finding my “bff” (best friend forever), I pray that I would be a great godly friend to others.\u00a0 When conflict happens, please give me the wisdom, the courage and the maturity to deal with it in a healthy, loving way.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we are looking at 3 John, a very short letter most likely written by the apostle John to his friend Gaius.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

3 John 1:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.<\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0 In this short letter John refers to Gaius as his \u201cdear friend\u201d four times.\u00a0\u00a0 Through this letter we learn several characteristics of a great godly friend.\u00a0 We find the first one here:\u00a0a great godly friend speaks affectionately to his friend.\u00a0 John is affectionate in his words for Gaius.<\/p>\n

3 John 1:2 (NIV)\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.<\/p>\n

On verse 2:\u00a0\u00a0A great godly friend is concerned about his friend\u2019s entire well being.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t just concerned about his spiritual health (\u201ceven as your soul is getting along well\u201d), but also about his physical health (\u201cI pray that you may enjoy good health\u201d) and his life in general (\u201cthat all may go well with you\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8977,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8974\/revisions\/8977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}