The New Testament Means to Get the Gospel to Far Away Places
3rd John 1:5-8
April 28, 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (3rd John 1:5-8)
A. This entire year, we as a Church are learning about something Jesus called, ‘the Kingdom of God’
B. A completely different way to live, think, love, AND GIVE
1. Not what everybody else is doing
2. NOT easy
3. But it is the way to live IN God’s kingdom right now
C. Three Points
1. Kingdom GOING
2. Kingdom GIVING
3. And Kingdom OWNING
D. And then I will ask everyone in here who is a Bible believing Christian, to do something wonderful!
II. Background (3John 1:1-8)
A. The apostle John is writing a short letter to a Christian man named ‘Gaius’ and his church
B. Gaius was led to faith in Jesus Christ by John
C. John gets news that Gaius and his church are very involved in helping men take the Gospel far into heathen lands
1. He praises their faithfulness – consistancy in their way of living
2. Their charity – giving to the Missionaries
3. Their care of Missionaries, receiving them, and feeding them as they passed through
D. It is in this letter that we discover some great truths about how WE need to be giving to Gospel Mission-work
III. Message
A. Kingdom Going (3 John 1:5-8)
1. Their Journey
a. Not just next door – these are people, families who have purposefully left home to go to some far away place with the Gospel…
b. Act 8:3-4 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
c. Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
d. They were just following Jesus’ last command
1) Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
2) John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
2. Hazarded their lives
a. More than going like on a holiday, they were risking their lives going into new cultures and confronting all men with the Gospel!
b. Act 15:25,26 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
c. Mt 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
d. Acts 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
e. Act 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
3. For Christ’s Name Sake
a. “Because that for his name's sake they went forth” (3John 1:7)
b. Gospel preachers are NOT an army
c. But harmless people, burdened that all men might know Jesus and believe He has conquered sin and death!
d. People mock this name – JESUS
e. But there are countless millions who have never heard Jesus’ name even once
1) Only know about Confucius
2) And about Gautama Buddha
3) And about a zillion other names of deities and demons and powers
4) And are LOST and without hope
f. Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
4. Taking nothing of the Gentiles
a. These Missionaries had to eat. Had to pay their own bills.
b. But NEVER charged anyone for the Gospel – ever!
c. Just GAVE everything they had so that someone could hear about Jesus!
1) Mat 10:7,8 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
2) Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
3) Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
d. So, where did they get money?
1) Sometimes, they worked a side job… Acts 20:33-35 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
2) Sometimes they went and asked churches to financially support their going… 2Co 11:8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
5. All so others can HEAR and have a chance to be saved from the wrath to come!
a. Not even with the guarantee that people will want to hear, much less that any will believe any of it
b. We just GO anyway because…
c. Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
d. Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
e. Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? [THAT’S WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING] as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
B. Kingdom Giving
1. Jesus taught a lot about money and giving in the Kingdom of God
a. He called it Almsgiving (Matthew 6:1-4)
b. And Investing (Matthew 6:19-21)
c. He commanded us to NOT worry about HAVING money (Matthew 6:24-33). So STOP trying to add it all up, and figure it all out before you give away your money!
d. But give to people who can never pay you back (Luke 7:32,33)
e. Why? Because getting into the Kingdom of God is of infinite value!
f. I hope you agree!
2. Going into all the world COSTS
a. Missionaries do not just magically appear out of nowhere!
1) Where do they come from?
2) They come from Bible believing churches
3) From the midst of people who love souls and love the Gospel
4) And they leave everything they love, because they sense the NEED for someone far away to hear NOT about church and religious duties and prayers, but about Jesus Christ, and salvation, and forgiveness, and eternal life!
b. Money for those Missionaries to take the Gospel far away does not just magically appear either
1) Not from Europe, or England, or America
2) It doesn’t come from Government grants
3) But from the free will giving of God’s people, gathered together in churches like ours
4) That means… from OUR pockets
c. Secretly, most people believe in a SELFISH, GIVE-ME Gospel, that is only supposed to make them HAPPY and well off
d. But instead, the Bible offers a SELF-LESS, LOSE-ME Gospel, that gets OTHER people happy and saved, and blessed by God – at OUR expense!
e. 2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
f. Listen to a letter that a young man named Adoniram Judson wrote to his future father-in-law named Mr. Hasseltine asking for his daughter's hand in marriage. Adoniram was preparing to leave for India and Burma to preach the Gospel there…
1) "I have now to ask whether you can consent…
a) to part with your daughter early next spring,
b) to see her no more in this world ?
2) Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life?
3) Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death?
4) Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God?
5) Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"
6) WOW!
3. So, it is going to costs US (YOU and ME) to benefit the farthest soul with the chance to hear the Gospel (2Cor 8:9)
a. 2Co 11:9 And when I was present with you [CORINTHIANS], and wanted [LACKED], I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
b. 1Th 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
c. 2Th 3:8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
4. It used to be protestant Germans (Moravians) in the 1500’s who left everyone and everything behind to take the Gospel
a. They went all over the world!
b. They preached the Gospel to the Inuit Indians way up in northern Canada!
c. They preached across the new World in the Americas
5. And then mainly England in the 1600’s and 1700’s sent out thousands and thousands of Gospel preaching Missionaries all over the world
a. Over 2,000 languages got the Bible translated into them
b. The Gospel travelled throughout Africa with Dr Livingston leading it
6. And then Americans started going in the 1800’s and 1900’s throughout the whole world
7. Now it is time for the Irish, and the Nigerians, and the Congolese, the Germans again, the French, the Italians, the Kenyans, etc, to GO ourselves, and to also GIVE so that men can go into all the world now!
C. Kingdom Owning
1. Instead of owning much in THIS world, what matters is that we own our responsibilities to the Lost
a. In other words, It is NOT for someone else to give, or go, or do
b. It is up to US
c. It is up to those of us who are saved, and already IN the Kingdom of God
d. …to own this responsibility
2. It starts with EACH of us getting to know about families who are going into all the world with the Gospel – whether they be familiar brethren OR strangers to us
3. And then each of us need to help them go with the Gospel wherever they are going – You and I need to SEND them and keep them where God has called them to go (Rom 10:15) “And how shall they preach, except they be sent?”
4. It is the responsibility of a CHURCH and no one else - not an NGO, or just a few philanthropists, but of assembled believers, young and old, to send missionaries
a. Act 15:1-3 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
b. Rom 15:24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.
c. 2Co 1:16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.
d. 1Co 16:5,6 Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.
e. Tit 3:13 Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
f. 3Jn 1:6,7 Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
IV.So, What to do? (2Cor 9:7,8)
A. I will ask everyone in here who is a Bible believing Christian, to do something wonderful!
2Co 9:7,8 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
B. Choose to Give to Missions, starting today - Purpose
1. Give Specifically to the men and women we already support
2. Get a brown envelope, and after you have tithed, give a little extra, and mark down how much to go to the Missionaries that we already support
3. Right now, we support missionaries out of the tithes – we ought to do it separately
4. The more we all give, the more men and women we can help go with the Gospel!
C. Love to Give to Missions – Not grudgingly, but cheerfully
1. Give some of the money you wanted to spend on yourself to someone who has given their life for others
2. Give whatever you want out of love for the lost, for missionaries, for Christ
3. God would rather 10 people who LOVED to give to missionaries than a bunch of people with bad attitudes, griping and complaining about money!
4. Keep your money if that is how you feel!
5. Some of us LOVE to give!
D. Believe to Give to Missions – do it by faith – God is able…
1. Not because you already have loads of extra money just sitting around
2. But because you are going to believe that god will give you extra money WHEN you give
3. It is an act of faith (Luke 6:46)
E. Continue to Give to Missions
1. Don’t you dare just get moved a little and then go back to being cold and stingy!
2. Missionary families are out of country and cannot get jobs and make money on the side like you and I can
3. So, if you start giving, they might need you to keep it up!
V. Conclusion
A. The Kingdom of God has a completely different way to live, think, love, AND GIVE
B. Thank God there are some people who are involved in Kingdom Going! They are called Missionaries
1. Hazarded their lives
2. For Christ’s Name Sake
3. Taking nothing of the Gentiles
4. All so others can HEAR and have a chance to be saved from the wrath to come!
C. If some of US won’t go yet, we MUST help them go and stay preaching the Gospel by participating in Kingdom Giving
1. Now it is time for the Irish, and the Nigerians, and the Congolese, the Germans again, the French, the Italians, the Kenyans, etc, to at least GIVE so that men can go into all the world now!
2. Don’t think only rich people should do all the giving!
D. We need complete ‘Kingdom Owning’ in this church
1. Those of us who are saved, and already IN the Kingdom of God need to own this responsibility - It is the responsibility of a CHURCH
2. To help them go with the Gospel wherever they are going
VI.So, What to do? (2Cor 9:7,8)
A. Choose to Give to Missions, starting today - Purpose
B. Love to Give to Missions – Not grudgingly, but cheerfully
C. Believe to Give to Missions – do it by faith
D. Continue to Give to Missions
E. If you are not interested in the lost hearing the Gospel, it probably is because it has not reached YOUR heart yet! And YOU are in need of hearing that Jesus is the only hope you have.