Live for Jesus’ Name

Sermon Transcript

Have you ever felt hurt by not being recognized for what you’ve accomplished? Have you ever been sad or angry over not being acknowledged for what you’ve done? When I was a senior at Penn State, I was the captain of the varsity men’s gymnastics team. At one of our home meets that year, not only did Penn State win the team competition, but I was the individual all-around champion. However, when the meet was over, they announced our team win, but they didn’t announce my name as the all-around champion. I was so angry that I wasn’t recognized. I wanted everyone to hear my name. I put myself first. 

 

As embarrassing as that story is, I think that if we are honest with ourselves, we’d all admit that perhaps the greatest temptation we all face is being just as consumed with and concerned about our name as I was. Think about the last conflict you had with your spouse? I bet it would have been avoided if one or both of you were less concerned with getting your way, proving yourself right, defending your righteousness. However, it wasn’t avoided because we all tend toward living for our name, putting ourselves first. Think about the times when you feel most hurt or frustrated at work. I bet if we uprooted those emotions, dangling at the roots, we’d find you overly concerned about your name. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Therefore, ironically, we are most miserable when we are most concerned with our name, when we put ourselves first.

 

3 John was written to free us from the misery of putting ourselves first and free us for the joy of living for the sake of Jesus’ name. 3 John presents to us a contrast between two men: Gaius who troubles himself for the sake of Jesus’ name and Diotrephes, who puts himself first, and makes trouble for Jesus’ name. We will all follow Gaius’ example or the example of Diotrephes. And that brings us to the big idea of 3 John: Live for Jesus’ name. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when our friends, neighbors, classmates and co-workers rub shoulders with Citylight Church, they come away thinking, “they really care about the name of Jesus, they don’t seem very concerned about their own individual names, and boy are they happy about it”?! Live for the sake of Jesus’ name. 3 John provides three practical ways to live for the sake of Jesus’ name: 1. Disciple children in the name (vv. 1-4) 2. Financially support advancing the name (vv. 5-8) 3. Don’t imitate those who put themselves ahead of the name (vv. 9-15). 

 

DISCIPLE CHILDREN IN THE NAME

 

3 John 1:1-2 – The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. [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 John is a very personal letter. The Apostle John writes this letter to one man, a man who is influential in one of the earliest churches, a man whom John loves because of their mutual faith in the truth of the gospel, a man named Gaius. John and Gaius have a unique and special relationship, which is explained in 3 John 1:3-4 – 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. Gaius is John’s spiritual son, his son in the faith, but they no longer live near one another. Some brothers, probably some traveling Christian workers who were helped in their ministry by Gaius’ hospitality and generosity, reported to John that Gaius is still walking in the truth of the gospel. And John isn’t exaggerating when he says that he has no greater joy than to hear that his spiritual children, the men and women that he’s helped follow Jesus, are still walking in the truth. Wouldn’t you like to be filled with the kind of joy that John says can’t be surpassed? Then follow John’s example in living for the sake of Jesus’ name by discipling children in the name. Gaius was not literally John’s biological child. Not every follower of Jesus can or will have children, however, every follower of Jesus can have spiritual children, children in the name, by discipling someone. Live for the sake of Jesus’ name by discipling someone in the name – there is no greater joy.

 

As Pastor Mark Dever puts it in his book Discipling: How To Help Others Follow Jesus, Discipling is, “helping others to follow Jesus by doing deliberate spiritual good to them.” Anyone can start a discipleship group in which you do deliberate spiritual good to one or a few others in Citylight Church. Anyone with the Holy Spirit in their hearts and a Bible in their hand can disciple children in the name by doing intentional spiritual good to them. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John says that there is no greater joy than discipling children in the name and then seeing and hearing that they are walking in the truth. Why not begin living for the sake of Jesus’ name and availing yourself of the greatest joy by discipling someone in the name?! There is a page on the Citylight website dedicated to helping you start a discipleship group so that you can begin helping others follow Jesus by doing deliberate spiritual good to them (citylightphilly.com/discpleship – screenshot of bottom half of page, not URL). Get started in a discipleship group by inviting 1-3 other same-gender Citylight folks to join you in reading and applying Scripture together. Then decide on a passage of Scripture to focus on, and frequency and duration for meeting together, for example once per week for six months. When you meet, focus on doing four broad things: connecting relationally, reading Scripture, applying Scripture (use the guide), and praying for one another. Who can you begin discipling in the name? And of course, though Gaius is John’s spiritual child that John discipled in the truth, parents should also disciple our biological or adopted children in the truth as well.

 

My entire life was changed by one man who discipled me in high school. His name was Mike and on Sunday mornings, early before church, we would meet and he would disciple me. He took me through a set curriculum that taught me about the gospel, how to be a church member, how to pray and read Scripture, and how to share the gospel with others. Looking back, it was pretty simple, but the impact on me was profound. That was over 20 years ago, but I still shoot Mike a message on Father’s Day thanking him for his impact on me as a spiritual father. From his response, it’s clear that he has no greater joy than to hear that one of his many spiritual children is walking in the truth. This week at the church staff meeting we took some time to share about the people who discipled us, and Pastors Paul and Mark shared about men who did deliberate spiritual good to them, but it was less formal. They invested relationally, did activities together, and used their influence to deliberately help them follow Jesus. Their lives are forever changed. You need no advanced training to have a similar impact and leave a similar legacy. There is no greater joy than living for the sake of Jesus’ name than by discipling children in Jesus’ name. Why not jump into that joy this week?! Ok, let’s turn now from John’s example of living for Jesus’ name to Gaius’s example. The second way to live for the sake of Jesus’ name…

 

FINANCIALLY SUPPORT ADVANCING THE NAME –      Support 

 

Let’s take a moment to understand the circumstances that led John to write this letter, and then we’ll seek to apply it to our lives today. John is writing to commend Gaius for the hospitality he had previously shown to brothers who travel to new places in order to proclaim Jesus’ name. According to verse five, Gaius troubled himself for these brothers, probably welcoming them into his home, even though they were strangers to Gaius. There weren’t Hiltons and Holiday Inns in the first century, so those who went out for the sake of advancing Jesus’ name relied on the hospitality of fellow Christians to survive and continue their work. Gaius did this and John writes to commend him. However, John doesn’t only write to Gaius to commend him for his past hospitality. According to verses six through eight, John is writing to urge Gaius to go beyond hospitality and ensure that his church financially supports these brothers, including Demetrius who is mentioned in verse twelve, because they go out for the sake of the name. How do we apply John’s commendation of and encouragement to Gaius to our own lives today? Certainly, we should follow Gaius’ example and show hospitality to those who go out for the sake of the name. Specifically, when Citylight church planters and missionaries return home for a season, we should put them up in our homes and host them for meals. 

 

However, the primary way to apply John’s encouragement to Gaius is by doing what John urges Gaius to do. We should financially support advancing the name. John’s words to Gaius help us answer who to financially support, how to financially support them, and why to do so. Let’s begin with who. The priority for followers of Jesus must be supporting those who go out specifically and explicitly to advance the name, the gospel, of Jesus Christ. While there are many wonderful charities that do much necessary good, the government and non-Christians will support those. As followers of Jesus, we should financially support those who are explicitly advancing the name of Jesus, the word of Christ, the gospel. After all, no one else will! 3 John 1:6b-7 –  …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. That’s who. How do we financially support advancing the name? It’s interesting that in verse nine, John says that he previously wrote instructions to Gaius’ church to support advancing the name. 3 John 1:9 – I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. The first answer to how to financially support those advancing the name is by giving financially to our local church. In general, the biblical pattern is that a Christian begins by giving 10% of their pre-tax income to their local church. Then, in the case of Citylight Church, the elders of the church – along with staff and leaders – then steward those funds to advance the name of Jesus here in the Philadelphia region and beyond by allocating a portion of every dollar given to support church planters and missionaries who are sent out by Citylight Church or another gospel-preaching church that we trust to advance Jesus’ name. How do we begin financially supporting the advance of the name, a great place to begin, not end, would be to prayerfully make whatever changes to your budget and finances necessary to begin giving 10% of your first fruits income to Citylight Church for the advance of the name. That’s a wise place to start. The second answer to the “how” question is that we should give in a way that errs on the side of generosity, not safety or stinginess. 3 John 1:6b – …You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. Worthy of God! Wow! The name of Jesus is so glorious that if we are going to make a mistake related to financially supporting its advance, then we would do well to make the mistake of stretching too far and being too generous. One great way to do this is by going above and beyond your ordinary giving to Citylight – that 10% I mentioned – and give directly to support Citylight’s international workers! We have several international workers that we support as a church out of your giving who would also benefit from your above and beyond direct giving. If you’d like to find out how to do that, just check the “missions” box on your connect card. Finally, why do we give? Because when we give, we become co-workers with those go out for the sake of the name. 3 John 1:9 – Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. Not everyone can or should be a pastor, a church planter, or a missionary who dedicates themselves full-time to advancing Jesus’ name. That’s ok! Every one of you, through your generous financial giving to your church and beyond, can be co-workers in the truth with full-time Christian workers. Question: what’s your next step in giving generously so that you can be a co-worker in advancing Jesus’ name.

 

DON’T IMITATE THOSE WHO PUT THEMSELVES AHEAD OF THE NAME

 

Joyfully living for Jesus’ name, positively, means discipling children in the name and financially giving to advance the name. However, negatively, we live for Jesus’ name by not imitating those who put themselves ahead of the name. 3 John 1:9-11 – I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. [10] So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. [11] Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. To live for Jesus’ name, you can’t imitate Diotrephes because he put himself first. Diotrephes resisted and slandered God-given authority, he opposed and abused those who wanted the church to generously advance the name, and he did it all because, like verse nine says, he liked to put himself first.

 

Friends – You don’t need to know a lot or have a lot to experience the joy of living for Jesus’ name. If you have the Holy Spirit in your heart, a Bible in your hand, and a dollar in your bank account, then you can disciple children in the name and give to advance the name. The only thing that can stop you and make you miserable like Diotrephes is putting yourself first. If you put yourself first, then you’ll always be protecting your time or spending it on yourself, but you’ll never know the joy of discipling someone in the truth. If you put yourself first, you’ll never know the freedom and joy of being a co-worker in the truth through sacrificial and generous financial giving. You’ll always hold back or never get around to it. That’s the life of Diotrephes. It’s evil. Don’t imitate him. Instead, imitate your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible says that though Jesus was eternally in the form of God, he did not count equality with God and thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross for our sins. Therefore, God raised Him from the dead and highly exalted him. Don’t imitate miserable Diotrephes. Instead, imitate what is good, imitate your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who looked not to his interests, but yours when he died to save you from your sins. Treasure him, love him, follow his example, and you live for his name.