← ArchiveThe Epistles of JohnThe Epistles of John: Living Like Gaius (3 John 1-8)DateSeptember 28, 2025SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText3 John 1–8Passages in this sermonLuke 530:06Romans 532:33Ephesians 233:20John 333:45Mark 134:32TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Thank you. So, welcome to the church that gathers here locally at Bethel.0:30My name is Josh, and today I have the privilege of bringing the Word of God, worshiping in that, with you in the shortest book in the Bible, in the New Testament. We'll be in the book of 3 John this morning.0:58So, if you don't know how to find 3 John, here's an easy way to do it. Go to the back of your Bible, find Revelation, turn to your left so you find Jude, and if you hit 1 John, you've gone too far. If you've hit 2 John, you've gone too far again. 3 John. 3 John. And this is why we open the Word. This is why we gather, because of the Gospel. The Bible says that on our own, that we are dead in our sins and our trespasses.1:26You and I are not sick because of the world. We are dead because of our sin. But Christ, Jesus, has made us alive. That's the Gospel, right? God sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for guilty sinners, me. He rose again that whoever believes in Him will not perish, a death that I deserved and you deserve, but will have everlasting life.1:54And in a world of fairness, some of you are going to stand up and say, well, that's not fair. And you're right. But I would rather grace and mercy than fairness any day. And that's what we have in Jesus. That's the Gospel. We get to have eternal life because Jesus took your place. And if you have never tasted and seen that the Lord is good, may this be the day. That you confess your sin, you repent of your sin, and you run to Jesus Christ.2:22This is the story of 3 John. So before we look at the Bible, let me tell you a short story of my life. In the spring of 2004, so a couple decades ago now, I had an episode that really changed my understanding of hospitality forever. I was in the southern Arequipa district of Peru, that's south of Lima, and it's north of Chile, if you're keeping track. On the coast.2:52And I was given a map by a local missionary, and he said, hey, can you go check out this district? I knew nothing about the town I was going to other than God was sending me there, and I wanted to encourage the local believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, and I wanted to prepare the way for future church planters and missionaries. I had no place to go. I had no place to stay. And in the way it happens in rural South America, I would take a bus until it stopped, and they3:21said, you got to get off because this is the end of the line. I would take a taxi as far as they would go, and they would stop and say, I'm not going any further. And then we would hitchhike. The most interesting truck I found is there was a truck that was hauling these large circular pieces of cheese. And in Peru, you would walk dusty roads with sandals, and so there were men in the back3:48with dirty feet on the cheese, like just stopping and selling it. I'm like, I am not eating that. One time I got in a truck that was carrying llamas and goats. You're like, come on. And I got on one of these vehicles. And in God's providence, this man looked at me, and it's almost midnight. We're getting to this village. I had no place to go, no place to stay. And he said, hey, I'm the mayor of the town.4:16I'll open up the town hall for you. Radical hospitality changed my night. And even today, I don't know the man's name. Maybe his name in Spanish was Kayo. In Greek, that would translate to Gaius. But I do know this, his grace and his love for a stranger changed my life.4:45And that's the biblical picture of hospitality. Hospitality is us looking at strangers and saying, stranger, would you become a neighbor? And neighbor, would you become a brother or sister in Jesus Christ? And there's something unique about the Christian experience that makes us overly generous to other people. This is radical hospitality.5:13And this is what we see in 3 John. So let's read together. This man, maybe his name is Kayo in Spanish. But John calls him Gaius. 3 John, verse 1. Because remember, 2 John says that we are to have truth in love.5:31Because truth without love is a hammer. Love without truth is a fog. But in Christ, we have both. He says, dear friend, I pray that you are prosperous in every way and you are in good health, just as your whole life is going well. For I was very glad when fellow believers came and testified to your fidelity in the truth, how you were walking in truth.6:01I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in truth. And he says, dear friend, you are faithful, faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers to you. They were just riding a truck with you.6:30And you opened your door. You heard their need. You had a place for them. They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. Now, you can circle that because we are going to come back to that phrase. In a manner worthy of God. Since they set out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from pagans.6:56Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be co-workers with the truth. I never met Gaius. But the fact that there is an entire book of the Bible. It's a small one. But the fact that there is an entire book in our scriptures devoted to a man who loved others well.7:22I don't know about you, but I want to be like Gaius. So today's message is simply living like Gaius. Let's pray. Father. Oh, that you would find in us a people who love others well. A people who are radically hospitable.7:52Lord, in a world that has small front porches and really large back porches. Give us large front porches to other people. That we would open our doors wide to the needs of others because you have opened the doors of heaven to our need in Jesus Christ.8:12Father, today, do beautiful spiritual work in our lives. This is my prayer in Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Living like Gaius. And this seems strange to us, if we're honest, because we live in a world of hotels.8:42Maybe you're above that. Airbnbs. Verbos. Or maybe you think that's too bougie. Maybe you like campsites and campgrounds. But we live in a world where hospitality is not as needed. And I know this because I'm planning for a trip in two weeks. And I have already checked the accommodations that I have pre-planned.9:08And some of us read 3 John and we say, well, if those people prepared well, then they would not need Gaius. But this is a different world. A world where Christians and brothers and sisters depended on one another to get through the day. And we need to be like these people. Again, the shortest book in the Bible is written entirely to a man about his hospitality.9:36And not just written to Gaius, but church, it's written to you. This word is written to us to say, you need to get something from this, Josh. In a world of small front porches now, and really big back porches, you know what that's saying to the world? You're not welcome. See me in the back. We need to be people, again, of radical hospitality.10:04So let me introduce to you Gaius. What do we know about this dear brother? Well, if you close your Bible, or if you close 3 John, we know nothing of him. All we know is what is in this book of Scripture. And before you say, well, Pastor, it's a small book. We don't know a lot about him. I would just gently say to you, well, you find your name in the Bible.10:34Right? I mean, just think about it. God has given it in his sacred word. Out of all the Scriptures that he could have inspired, he wanted us to know about this man because of his love for other people. He is probably not a pastor, probably not a deacon, most likely not a missionary, or even scholars would say he's not even well known in the church.10:55He is simply a normal person in a normal church with abnormal love for other people. And so if you say to me, well, Pastor, I'm not a deacon, I'm not an elder, I'm just a normal dude or dudette.11:18In a normal church, the Bible says that you can still love abnormally. This is what we see in Gaius. His heart beats for other people because his heart beats for Jesus. And look at what John says about this dear brother. Verse 5. He says, dear friend, and he's constantly using his words.11:46He's like, Gaius, you are dearly loved. He says, dear brother, you are acting faithfully. So what do we know? He acts faithfully. Verse 3, actually, let's back up, says he is walking in truth. So he's walking in truth. He's acting faithfully. He loves strangers. So that's a third aspect we know of his life.12:13And I'm not telling you anything you can't find out for yourself. This is what God wants you to know about his life. And then it says he supports missionaries in verse 8. He says, we ought to support such people because we ought to do that because Gaius is doing that. And then he says in verse 7, he loves the church. So if you ask me, well, that's a lot to take in.12:40Like, what does a Christian look like? I would point to Gaius and say, if you, if all you do is walk in truth. If all you do is, if you're faithful in whatever you do to the stranger. If all you do is love the church well. If all you do is support the missionaries that have gone out in the name of the gospel. That's a good existence. Just live like Gaius.13:08What would Gaius do? And may we learn much from this dear brother who, he doesn't just claim the gospel. He doesn't just claim the name of Jesus. What does John say? He's like, I've been watching you behind your back. You've been walking in truth. John Stott says, it's one thing to become a Christian.13:36It's quite another to be one. Gaius doesn't claim to be a Christian. He is one. And I pray that one day when you get to heaven, Jesus, the Holy Spirit will say to God the Father, Hey, I was watching, I was watching Josh when no one else saw. He was walking in truth. We were watching that sister behind her back. They were walking out what they said.14:03The very word, hospitality. And we're going to spend our time on, what does it look like to be a counter-cultural Christian who loves other people well? This word hospitality has a story to tell. And I'm going to tell it because I'm a pastor. It comes from the Latin word, hospice. Which, which means one who has the power to receive a stranger.14:26And we're going to get to that. Because if you feel like, well, I don't have anything in common with Gaius. I don't have anything in common with the stranger or the alien. Just hold that thought. We'll get there in the gospel. But the Latin word, hospice, is the one who has the power to receive a stranger. And in the Roman world, hospitum or hospitium became known as a sacred bond between a guest14:56and the one who was hosting them. So the word hospitality began as a relationship. It wasn't something you did and it wasn't a place. It was a relationship that you had. It was a sacred agreement of kindness, of protection and care. And over time, the word shifts as words tend to do.15:26The word went from being a relationship word to being a word of action. No longer was hospitality a relationship. It was something you did to someone else. You were hospit-i, hospit-al-ee, hospitality-ee, something. I'm not Latin. Give me a break. I'm part redneck.15:56We struggle to speak. It became known as something you did. And then along the way, the word morphed from hospitality, the act, from the relationship to hospital. It was a place where you received kindness and healing and care. And so can you see the connection? Our current word hospital and the word hospitality share the same root.16:26A hospital is a place where healing happens. And hospitality is the practice that brings healing in your life. And God is saying to God's life. And God is saying to us, Christian, you need to be that person. Your life, your home needs to be a place where others are healed in the name of Jesus Christ. Now the word hospitality began as a word that means someone who has the power to receive the stranger.16:54The spiritual word for that is reconciliation. It means that you have the power to make an alien feel welcome in a land that is not their own. It's as if Gaius understood the gospel. And he said, Jesus, when I was unwelcome, when I had no place to stay, when I was the alien that was homeless, Jesus had a roof for me.17:18And because Jesus opened the door for me, I can open the door for others. And I believe the reason this matters so much in the Christian's life is because you, if you have claimed the name of Jesus Christ, you are worshiping a Savior that was born to a world that had no room for him.17:47You, you worship a Savior that was born into a, an unhospitable world. A world that when God said, I'm going to send my own son in the flesh, surely you will receive him well. Bethlehem said, no vacancy. No room.18:16No room. And before you say, well, how, how could they miss it? Those hard headed people in that obscure village, three to five miles southeast of Jerusalem. What were they thinking? Did they not read Micah? They knew he was coming. And then I look in the mirror and say, God, how often were you knocking at my door? Saying, Josh sent my son for you. And I said, no, thank you. Josh, repent of your sins.18:46Jesus is welcoming you to no longer be an alien. Come, run from sin. Run to me through Jesus Christ. There is room. I said, no, I don't want it. It makes sense to me that we should be hospitable people as Christians because we worship a son of man that did not have room in the end. And I think Jesus is saying, Josh, as long as it depends on us, may no one else feel like that again.19:12This is who we are. So, how does radical gospel-centered hospitality shape your life? First, the gospel does more than just call us to build places of welcome. We have on our side door. It's not really a front door, but we can figure that out later. It says, welcome center.19:41Some of you didn't even notice that because it's faded. But we can't build places and put welcome center and say, well, because we wrote it, we are welcoming. That's not what hospitality looks like. It calls us to become people of welcome. Not just build places of welcome. People like Gaius, Christians, are not merely invited to set the table or make a bed.20:07We are commanded to open our homes. We are commanded, not just with our calendars or even in small places, but we should inconvenience our lives for the sake of other people. And when you practice gospel hospitality, you turn your life into a spiritual hospital.20:31A place where the weary can find rest, where weary sinners can feel loved. A place where the wounded can find healing and outsiders are invited to belong to the family of God. Hospitality says to the outsider, become my neighbor. And it says to your neighbor, become my brother or sister in Jesus Christ.20:58This is the hospitable life. This is why our church is filled and should be more filled with families who have or are currently fostering children who have no place to go. Because we have said, listen, if they're not wanted or if they're in a difficult place, my house is open. And if you're a foster family, I thank God for you.21:26And I pray for more people like you. We need more Christian-centered places of hospitality. This is why our church is filled and I pray that it is being more filled with people who serve as house parents and say, I will give up my gifts. I will give up my dreams and my plans and I will use my gifts to help people who might not have a place to go.21:53And I pray for much more. That's why this church is filled with people who host groups in their home for the gospel. People who lend out their vehicles, who give generously, who gladly inconvenience themselves for the sake of other people. Because we have a Savior who in a major way inconvenience himself in humiliation of the cross.22:21And if that's you, if you've done something for someone in the name of Jesus Christ, first I want to say thank you. But also do more. There's so much more we can do for the gospel. Because we live in a broken world until he brings us home, may we be Gaius type people.22:46Because your hospitality can change someone's life. One day someone in Peru is going to be talking about you. I was walking on 411 one day riding on a cheese truck. And some person named Bubba picked me up. I didn't even know there were people like Bubba. But he opened up his home. And it changed my life.23:15He kept saying things like, roll tide and how y'all doing? And I didn't know what he was saying. But I knew he loved Jesus. Can you imagine if there are towns in Idaquipa, Peru, telling the story of Jesus Christ? Because Bubba and Jimbo and Susie changed their life because they opened up their door.23:38May we be people like that. Radical gospel hospitality changes lives. But it also does something else. Embedded in this commendation of John to Gaius, he says something that I think that we need to dwell on for a moment.24:02He says in verse 6, he says, people have testified. They've been talking behind your back. That you love the strangers well. And you send them on a journey that is worthy of God. Worthy of God. And then he says in verse 8, guys, because you're living like you are, church, I need you to live like he is.24:29And he says in verse 8, therefore we, that's us, because Gaius is doing what he is doing because Jesus has changed his life, we ought to do what? We ought to support such people so that we can be co-workers with the truth. And don't miss that phrase, worthy of God.24:59This, this phrase, it doesn't, he didn't simply offer a spare bed or pack them a lunch. He didn't give them a few tokens and say, good luck, boys. I've done my job, like get out of my house. No, he said if you are going out in the name of Jesus Christ, I'm going to send you out in a manner that is worthy of God. I don't know what that fully looks like, but I want that from my life.25:28I want that. This, this idea that when we send people away from this place in the name that is, in the name of God, in a way that is worthy of God, then, then something beautiful happens in the gospel. Because John, to the church, to us, has said, we become co-workers. That when you are hospitable, and when you give generously, and when you send out missionaries,25:57when you become a missionary, or when you can't go, when you send, or when you can't do what you think you do, but you do all that you can do, and you send someone out in a way that is worthy of the manner of God, because you and I become co-workers of grace. This is Gaius-like life. This is why we should support missionaries with a zeal that is unquenched.26:24This is why, church, when you give, a portion of what you give goes to our gospel efforts in Alabama. And Pastor Johnny, one of the pastors you support in Montgomery, will be here in November to bring a message from the Word. And he can do that because you give, you pray.26:51Some of you have served with him in Montgomery. And we are going to go back because we are commended and called to go and to serve and to give to others in a way that is worthy of the manner of God. This is why we give. When you give, a portion of that supports and trains missionaries all around the world.27:15When you give to the mission fund specifically, every dollar of that goes directly to support missionaries. Pastor Johnny, PJ as we call him, the Dominican Republic, New Hampshire, Zambia, the North American Mission Board, the IMB. Just by the way, we have over 3,500 missionaries. Through the International Mission Board, last year alone, 144,000 people, 969 people said yes to Jesus Christ because you give.27:43Is it worth it? Yes, it is worth it. But we can do more. I would simply ask, because I've been reading this text this week, would you commit or recommit to give, to pray, and to go zealously for the gospel?28:08If you say, well, Pastor, I just can't go. You can pray. And if God has blessed you financially, give. Give in a way that inconveniences you. I get it. It's not easy. We have family and our children and even our animals are constantly asking for something.28:35They ask for things they need and they ask for things they want. Because sometimes the things that they want are the things that they say they need and they don't need them. Our world is constantly asking. I don't know about you, but I would rather give zealously to the kingdom than to give zealously for the things the world offers. And I've been convicted. As a family, we give faithfully.29:06But I want to be someone who gives even more. I want to be one day when we get to heaven that God says, Josh, no one saw you, but when you gave, when you sacrificed, when you said no to this, to say yes to something better, I saw. Good job. Keep it up. Would we give zealously? And I read this and I wonder, Father, we know what Gaius did.29:34But what would make a brother, what would make a brother live like this? Just to have a front door without locks. And to have a purse strings without tight hands. What, what would make someone live like that? And I, I've been searching the scriptures and I, I feel like this is what Gaius would say to us today.29:59In Luke chapter 5.30:16And I've not marked my Bible, so I'll be turning there with you. In Luke 5, we see Jesus, in verse 29, doing some things that are inconvenient for the world. Levi is hosting the big banquet at his house. There was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests. But the Pharisees and scribes were complaining to the disciples because Jesus was there.30:43And they said this. Why do you eat? That's not why they were complaining, because they like to eat too. But why do you eat and drink with tax collectors? Not just tax collectors. But tax collectors and sinners. But tax collectors and sinners. Why? And I would say to you what Jesus would say to them.31:15In verse 31, Jesus replied, It, it's not those who are healthy who need a doctor. Have you not forgotten what the word hospitality means? It's not just a place where people are healed. It's a relationship where people are healed.31:43But those who are sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so if you have come to this place today, if you're listening online, you say, Well, I don't belong because I'm an outsider and a sinner. Gaius would say, I am too. So what would make a brother live like he lived? Because Gaius would say, church, I was the outsider.32:09I was a sinner. And Jesus came to my table. And he called me to follow him. And Gaius welcomes people with the same mercy he is welcomed with in Jesus Christ. Would we be such people? I read Romans 5, 8. That says, while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.32:36Gaius would not only say that Jesus welcomed me, but he would say, when I was a stranger, he reconciled me. Gaius would say, when I was separated and far from God, when I was an alien and I had no place, Jesus welcomed me into his family at the cost of his very own blood. Gaius would say, Pastor, you don't understand.33:06While I was a sinner, he didn't wait until I had my Sunday best on. While I was a sinner, Jesus died. Ephesians 2, 12 through 13, you who were once far off, that means stranger, you who are an alien, have been brought near, that's hospitality language, by the blood of Christ. Gaius would say to us, I was a stranger and God opened his arms to me.33:36How can I not open my hands to others? And if you are here today and you feel like God is looking at you with closed hands and condemnation, just remember John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. For or because God did not send his son to condemn the world.34:04Because you do that well enough on your own. It's true. God doesn't need to condemn me. My sin condemns me. My life condemns me. But that we might be saved through him. I think Gaius would say, Pastor, if Jesus did that to me, how can I not throw my arms open to others? And then lastly, I think Gaius would go back to Mark 1.34:32Remember the story where there were, there were lepers in Mark 1, 40 through 42, and they're calling out, unclean, unclean, and they need to be healed. Because that's what happens in hospitable relationships. That's what happens at the hospital. And they didn't realize that Jesus was a traveling hospital. And they say to him, Jesus, we're unclean. It means, don't touch us because the world can't touch us.34:59And Jesus says, hold my coffee. Watch. And I can imagine they say, don't touch us because if you touch us, you will be unclean. And Jesus says, you don't understand. If I touch you, you will be clean. And they're like, this doesn't make sense unless it makes sense by faith.35:22And so Jesus touches the lepers, and they are radically healed. Because that's what Christian hospitality does. And I think Gaius would say, Pastor, when I was unclean, Jesus touched me. And he cleansed my soul.35:52So how could I not reach my hands out to other people? So I just want to stop there today. And offer you some practical ways to respond. First, if you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, Gaius' life is screaming to you, God loves you. He sent a mobile hospital in the name of Jesus Christ. It's a relationship of kindness where you will find healing for your soul36:21and cleansing for your sin if you, by faith, would enter into his presence. But it's not just a place. In Jesus, hospitality is a relationship. That's what faith does. If you've never come to Christ, would you pray a prayer of repentance today and say, God, I am sorry because it is my sin that condemns me. God, please, please forgive me in Jesus Christ.36:51I believe he is your son. I believe he died on the cross in my place. I believe he rose again. God, I believe. And I just, in my mind, always think that heaven responds, Josh, I thought you would never ask. Gaius, of course I would welcome you. Of course I will give you everlasting life. That is why Jesus died for you.37:18So if you are the weak and the sick and the broken today, you've come to the right place. Because there is enough grace for you. Come to Christ. If you have already received Jesus Christ as your own, you say, well, okay, what do I need to do with this? How can I live like Gaius? I'm going to ask you to open your hands. Would you pray, give, go, and send for the gospel like never before?37:49If you've never gone on a mission trip, ever, go. There's no reason you can't. We will make a way for you to go. Because God will make a way for you to go. Go. Make a commitment. Just pray, God, you've told me to go in Matthew. Go to all nations. So unless you tell me not to, I'm going. Give God a blank check and watch him write.38:18Would you pray? Just as I've been praying this week, God, I want to be even more zealously generous to missionaries. I don't want them to have to come home because I'm not giving. I want to send them out in a manner that is worthy of God himself. Would you pray that prayer? And would you simply pray for missionaries today? Would you, would you maybe come and just kneel and say, God, if they are going in my place,38:47God, I'm going to pray. I'm going to hold the rope of prayer while they're gone. Would you go open hands? Secondly, I'm going to ask you to open your table this month. I know it's at the end. So by the end of October, would you have one Christian family, one person at your table, in your house? So, Pastor, my home is right. I don't care. I can't cook. I don't care. Cater it. Get a maid.39:17Turn on the Roomba. I don't care what you have to do. Invite someone to your table. And watch what Christian hospitality can do for you and another brother and sister in Christ. And make it a little inconvenient. Invite a fan that doesn't cheer for the same team as you. I'm serious. Invite someone who's not in your life group. If you're, if you're older, invite someone to little kids39:47and watch them break everything in your house. I'm serious. Someone did that for us years ago and our, one of our knuckleheads broke something. And you know the response? I said, we didn't need it anyway. I remember thinking, man, the deep love of Christ. By the end of October, would you, would you have dinner with someone, in your home with someone? Secondly, would you invite a neighbor into your home?40:14And I know what you're thinking, pastor, you don't have my neighbors. That's okay. Because in hospitality, strangers become neighbors and neighbors become brothers and sisters. Open up your door. I'll give you to the end of the year. By the end of October, would you have a neighbor and a Christian in your home, around your table? Just watch what God can do. And lastly,40:45And lastly, would you open up your life and just say today, God, I'm not okay with it, but I want you to interrupt my life for other people. if Gaius can do it, he's not a pastor. He's not a deacon. We don't even know who he was. But God knows him. And word got around. Would we be people who are okay this morning saying, God, if you interrupt our life41:14for the gospel, you're worth it. You're worth it. Father, we thank you for Gaius. Amen.← Previous in The Epistles of JohnThe Epistles of John: “When Grace Wears Shoes” (2 John 1-13)Next in The Epistles of John →The Epistles of John: Loving to be First (3 John 9-13)More sermons on 3 John →
