Come, thou fount of every blessing
God, be merciful to me
Jesus keep me near the crossing them over again to me
Blest be the tie that binds
Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore him
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth;
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
[2] Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. [3] For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. [4] I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
[5] Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, [6] who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. [7] For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. [8] Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
(3 John 1:1-8 ESV)
But 3 John shows us this is not how it should be.
Our faith should intertwine all our lives.
This letter is written to Gaius. It's a common name of the time. Found in Acts, Ephesians, Romans etc. We don't know which Gaius this was. But he is a man that John cared for deeply. John was delighted with his growth in Christ but also for his good health.
From the elder.... Tradition in the church and style of writing says this was a letter from John.
John loves this man in the truth. It is founded in the truth. Founded in Christ. This truth changed everything. The truth tells us this. If someone loves God you are joined to them.
1 John 1 love in truth
Travelling preachers had met with Gaius and testified to his faith.
John encouraged Gaius to treat them well and was well-pleased with his hospitality of them in the face of opposition of Diotrephes. These travelling preachers were strangers but he showed love to them anyways. Cared for them and then sent them on their way well provisioned.
When we support those who proclaim God to others aka missionairies we are part of their work.
John's greatest joy is seeing people walking in the truth.
Do we have love for those walking in the truth.? Do we love to see Jesus glorified?