Healthy Christian Souls love God's work - 3 John 1:6-8

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post continues a series of posts derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". In this series we are exploring the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Thus far we have looked at how healthy Christian souls prize walking in the truth and aim at being faithful to the Lord. Today we continue by noting a third traith of healthy Christianity, namely...

Healthy Christian souls love God's work

3 John 1:6-8 tells us - "and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth." We can never seperate the Person of Jesus Christ from His work. God's presence and His work are inseperable. A healthy follower of Jesus Christ cannot claim to love Jesus with all of their heart and yet not have some interest in wanting to serve Him and encourage others to do the same. John's readers both loved the church and loved those who were advancing the cause of Christ outside in the mission field. This is one of the most detailed descriptions we have in the New Testament of how early churches sent forth missionaries. Healthy Christian souls light up whenever there is opportunity to do anything for Jesus. Hence, healthy Christian souls love God's work.

More tomorrow...

Healthy Christian Souls are faithful - 3 John 1:5

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post continues a series of posts derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The book of 3 John comprises only 215 words and fits on one page in the average Bible. Though small in size, this inspired text is just as profitable as the other 65 books in the canon of scripture. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3rd John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 has captured my attention in that the Apostle describes his readers as those who have "prospering souls". In this series we are exploring the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". Yesterday we began by first noting that the healthy Christian soul walks in the truth. Today we consider the second trait of a healthy Christianity or a healthy Christian soul, namely... 

Healthy Christian souls are faithful

3 John 1:5 reads - "Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers." What does it mean to be faithful? Starting from conversion, every time I am faced with a decision to exercise faith in obedience or be disobedient out of fear determines how consistent I am in the walk of faith. Everytime I choose to trust God over myself, I am building in a track record of "faithfulness". Faithfulness always looks beyond self to the needs of others and the cause of God's Kingdom. Faithful people will never meet a stranger who is all about advancing God's kingdom work. God's kingdom is the domain of His reign in the hearts of men, the heavenly realms and will be made manifest in the soon return of Jesus Christ. Healthy Christianity thrives on faithfulness. Faithfulness, not success, is what defines healthy Christianity. 

More tomorrow.... 

Healthy Christian souls walk in the truth - 3 John 1:1-4

3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers."

Today's post begins a series derived from the smallest book in the Bible - John's 3rd Epistle. The book of 3 John comprises only 215 words and fits on one page in an average Bible. Though small in size, this inspired text is just as profitable as the other 65 books in the canon of scripture. The above opening verse is identified as the key verse and spells out the theme of 3 John, namely "Healthy Christianity". The phrase within 3 John 1:2 has captured my attention in that the Apostle describes his readers as those who have "prospering souls". Certainly his bidding for them to be physically healthy is worthy of a blogpost itself, however in couching such an command within an already existing state of healthy Christian spirituality makes me want to ask: "What does a healthy Christian soul look like?" It is with these thoughts in mind that we will explore over the next several posts the idea of "the healthy Christian soul". 

To get started, we can note the first characteristic of a healthy Christian soul, namely....

Healthy Christian souls walk in the truth 

John writes in 3 John 1:3-4 "For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." When Christians are regularly conducting themselves around the Word of God, it causes joy in the hearts of other Christ-followers who have given their lives to the truth. Truth is the food and drink of the Christian and commitment to the truth of God's word is a premier sign of true conversion. (see John 14:21) We are told in Ephesians 4:1 to "walk worthy in the manner of our calling". What is the manner of our calling? To walking in the truth, the light of God's presence. (1 John 1:5-7) Jesus Himself is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and thus believers are urged in 1 John 2:6 to "walk as Jesus walked". Hence a healthy Christian soul will prioritize walking in the truth.

More tomorrow...

God's greatness shown from the Father explains evangelism

Psalm 67:1-2 "God be gracious to us and bless us,And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations."

Introduction:

Why does the church engage in the activity of evangelism? Over the past couple of posts we have proposed that the only answer that makes sense is for the greatness and glory of God. God's glory and greatness is the mission of the church and the message of the Gospel. We have seen that God's greatness through the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ, establishes evangelism's foundation. He is why we do what we do. We aim to make Him known and aim to know Him. We then considered that by the Person of the Holy Spirit, the greatness of God empowers the work of the great commission. Through both the Son and the Spirit, the greatness of God is the driving motivation and message of the mission. God's greatness is shared co-equally and eternally by the Son, the Spirit and the Father. In today's post we want to understand how God's greatness from the Father explains evangelism.

God's greatness from the Father explains why we do evangelism as Christians
Inasmuch sinners need to hear the gospel and be saved from the wrath to come, unless God's glory is the chief reason for our evangelism, we won't do our evangelism out of desire. Certainly seeing our families, loved-ones and friends saved from sin, satan and the coming judgment ought to be motivation enough. Sadly, as Christians we battle with left over sin and if God's glory and greatness is not our chief motivation, we will do what we do out of guilt, emotional manipulation and duty. Our depth of commitment to sharing Jesus with unconverted people will be no deeper than our highest view of God's greatness. 

Missions and evangelism are the Father's idea, not our own. Henceforth our evangelism must begin with God, go to man and end up back at God. Consider some passages below that reinforce this line of thinking. Psalm 67:1-2 "God be gracious to us and bless us,And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations." Unless the greatness and glory of God (which is His greatness put on display) is frontloaded into our missionary strategy, both His way and salvation won't be made fully known among all peoples. Psalm 99:1-3 proclaims - "The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble;He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!
2 The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He." Isn't this the goal of our evangelism - to tell sinners that God reigns and that He has claim on their lives and that they need to surrender to King Jesus by faith? 

Prophetic texts repeatedly state that the Messiah, the Savior, would be "sent" by God. This act of sending entails two Persons. Isaiah 52:13-53:1 states -
"Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand. 53:1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" We know that the "arm of the Lord" is none other than Jesus Christ, since New Testament passages like 1 Peter 2:24 expound on Isaiah 53 as being about the sufferings of Christ in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. The Father is the One who sent the Son into the world, as explained by the very familiar text of John 3:16. 

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 gives us the clearest statement regarding the Father's plan of worldwide missions - "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God,who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." The text of 2 Corinthians goes onto explain how we are God's ambassadors. What do ambassadors do? They represent the interests of the sending nation or monarch. We proclaim God's greatness to a people who think that other things are great but not God. Scripture reminds us that mankind has been blinded to the truth of God's greatness (2 Corinthians 4:1-4); is spiritually dead to such truth (Ephesians 2:1-3) and gladly exchanges His glory for created things (Romans 1:21-25). Mankind intutitvely knows of the greatness of God as seen in the general revelation of creation (Psalm 19:1-2; Romans 1:18-20). Despite knowing about God, unbelieving man suppresses such knowledge and knowingly rejects Him. God the Creator of all men only becomes the Father to believers once the Spirit's convincing work of receiving Jesus Christ by faith is confirmed by a response of faith from the sinner's heart. (Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:6). 

Unless God's greatness is made the priority starting point and endpoint of our evangelistic efforts, reaching lost souls for His sake will have no lasting passion nor ultimate purpose. Today I want to close with this amazing insight from John Piper regarding God's greatness as our mission as Christians and the church - "God is calling us above all else to be the kind of people whose theme and passion is the supremacy of God in all life. No one will be able to rise to the magificence of the missionary cause who does not feel the maginificence of Christ. The will be no big world vision without a big God. There will be no passion to draw others into our world where there is no passion for worship." Piper later adds: "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't." May that be our mission: the greatness of God from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit explaining, empowering and establishing the mission of the church. How great is our God!

God's greatness shown by the Holy Spirit empowers evangelism

Acts 1:8 "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Introduction:

Yesterday we began considering how God's greatness is the drawing power of the great commission. In all reality, God's greatness is the mission of the church. We labored yesterday to understand how God's greatness is revealed in the Son, Jesus Christ, and how He stated repeatedly in John's Gospel that if He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Himself. Matthew Henry in his great commentary explains the importance of Jesus' words - "The great design of our Lord Jesus, which was to draw all men to him, not the Jews only, who had been long in profession as people near to God, but the Gentiles also, who had been afar off. For He was to be the desire of all nations (Haggai 2:7), and to Him must the gathering of the people be.  Henry later adds - "Observe how Christ is all in all in the conversion of the soul. First, It is Christ that draws: 'I will draw'. It is sometimes ascribed to the Father (John 6:44), but here to the Son, who is the arm of the Lord. He does not drive by force, but draws with cords of a man (Hosea 11:4; Jeremiah 31:3), draws as the loadstone (a magnetic stone). The soul is made willing, but it is in a day of power. Secondly, it is to Christ that we are drawn." Then Henry finally adds - "Christ was now going to heaven, and he would draw men's hearts to him thither." Hence it is God's greatness in Jesus Christ that is the power of the Gospel. (Romans 1:16) Today we conclude this short series of posts by noting how this same power of Deity is expressed through the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

The Greatness of God draws sinners to saving faith by the Holy Spirit

In the opening verse of today's post, it is made clear by Jesus that the church would not be able to achieve the great commission without the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is equal in authority, glory and power to the Father and the Son. (John 14:23; Acts 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 3:16) When we speak of the greatness of God, we speak equally of how the One Divine essence that defines the Oneness of God is expressed equally and totally by each Person of the Godhead, with our focus here on the Holy Spirit.

Scripture asserts that the Spirit works in evangelism to point the way to the Greatness of God, since He as the Third Person of the Trinity shares in that same, undivided Divine essence with the Father and the Son. Without a doubt, the greatness of God through the Person of the Holy Spirit is credited in the scriptures for the success of the early church's evangelistic efforts. Acts 2:4-6 states - "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language." It quickly must be noted that the "tongues" spoken on the day of Pentecost was not some type of escatic speech or prayer language as advocated by groups today, but rather literal languages previously unlearned by the speakers. The Spirit gave them the ability to preach the Gospel to over a dozen nationalities. What was the message and thrust? Acts 2:11b explains - "we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” The Holy Spirit is the Person in the Godhead who chooses to shine the spotlight on the other Two Persons - the Father and the Son. His role is to get the sinner to go from being manward and inward to being transformed into someone by faith who focuses outward and Godward. 

The greatness of God was the draw proclaimed by the early church, all thanks of course to the power and Person of the Holy Spirit. Acts 16:14 indicates that the Lord (in this instance, the Person of the Holy Spirit) had opened up the heart of a woman to receive the goodnews of Jesus Christ, believe and be saved. Paul prays in Ephesians 1:16-18 - "do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." The Holy Spirit's work of continuing to make known the greatness of God to believers enables them to be motivated to make such Greatness known to others. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 about the Spirit's work in the scriptures - "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."

Henceforth we cannot expect to proclaim the Gospel from the scriptures nor share how great God is in a convincing way apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit labors to make known the greatness of God revealed in Jesus Christ as His chief mission, we must therefore see it to be our chief aim. This is why God's greatness is the drawing power of the Great commission, because the Person of the Spirit labors through us and in the hearts of sinners to respond, believe and be saved. 

God's greatness shown through Jesus Christ establishes evangelism

John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

Introduction:

What makes the great commission so powerful? How is it that the church expects to influence unconverted people for Jesus' sake? What is the "draw" so to speak in our efforts to evangelize and do missions in our neighborhood, state, nation and our world? Is it technique? Is the ability to win converts to saving faith based upon our efforts, marketing strategies and ability to make our churches "seeker friendly"? The answer given by the modern day church would be in the affirmative. But what does Jesus teach us and how does the wider context of scripture answer such questions? Frankly, the only drawing power we have in the presentation of the Gospel is the greatness of God. Notice...

The greatness of God the Son draws sinners to be saved

Whenever we turn to the Gospel of John, the phrase "lifted up" appears on several occassions with reference to the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is presented as God in human flesh (John 1:14), and thus is the Greatness of God revealed in full humanity and undiminished deity. Jesus at the beginning of his earthly ministry referred to his "lifting up" in John 3:14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Jesus was predicting early on the manner in which He was going to be displayed as God's banner of salvation, God's ensign, for all to see. The famous verse of John 3:16 reveals that Jesus was sent, indicating His pre-existence. Moreover, John 3:16 reveals further that Jesus Christ is God's "only-begotten" Son, indicating His sharing in the same eternal nature as the Father who sent him. 

Other passages in John add further details to the greatness of God in Jesus Christ as being the drawing power of the mission given to the church. John 8:28 states - "So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me." Is not the goal of evangelism to know Jesus and make Him known? How do we do that? We elevate and exalt the greatness of God revealed in Jesus Christ. As He is lifted up before the eyes of the sinner, the promise is given: "then you will know that I am He". As the Spirit of God does His convincing work (John 16:8-12) and as the Father does His drawing work (John 6:44), the Son works with the Father and Spirit as One God drawing all kinds of people from every nation, tribe and tongue to the cross. We read in John 12:32-34 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. 34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Properly speaking, the "lifting up" of Jesus had to do with He on the cross being lifted up before the eyes of his enemies. As an event, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a once for all event. (1 Peter 3:18) However as one commentator notes: "The word 'all', which he employs, must be understood to refer to the children of God, who belong to his flock. Yet I agree with Chrysostom, who says that Christ used the universal term, all, because the church was to be gathered equally from among Gentiles and Jews, according to that saying, 'There shall be One Shepherd, and one sheepfold, (John 10:16)." The great commentator Adam Clarke notes in his commentary regarding John 12:32 - "After I shall have died and risen again, by the preaching of my word and influence of my Spirit, I shall attract and illuminate both Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the peculiar characteristics of the Messiah, that unto Him should be the gathering of the people be." Clarke quotes Isaiah 11:10 in support of this understanding - "Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious." Without the greatness of God revealed in Jesus Christ, there is no personal draw available for missionaries and the church to convince sinner's of their greatest need - the Great God. Jesus has revealed Him perfectly (John 1:18), is God in human flesh (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16) and is necessary for the gospel to work. After all, tethered to the great commission is Jesus' own self-declaration of His greatness and Divine authority in Matthew 28:18-20 - "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The greatness of God in the Son is the drawing power of the great commission and the greatness of God in the third Person of the Trinity acts in the same manner, which will be our focus tomorrow.

The Greatness of Jesus Christ in the General Epistles

Hebrews 1:1-4 "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they."

Introduction: A quick word on the general Epistles

Michael Harbin in his survey of the Bible entitled: "The Promise and the Blessing", notes - "As we approach the end fo the apostolic age, we note a change in the letters (That is the New Testament Epistles). Outside of James, the letters we have seen thus far were written to individual churches, that is, to all the believers in a given city. By contrast, the letters written in the sixties or later (60 A.D or later) were written either to larger geographical regions or to specific individuals."  Harbin later notes: "Those letters written to larger geographical regions are often called Catholic or General Epistles because they were written to believers in general, not to a specific individual or city."  Harbin's comments relate to the 8 books in our New Testaments we classify as the general epistles, namely: Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter. 1,2,3 John and Jude. These books are many times not read as often as the thirteen letters of Paul (Galatians-2 Timothy), which is to the Christian's detriment. Why? Because in exploring the general epistles, one can better understand for example the relationship of suffering to the Christian life or how the Old Testament and New Testament fit together. Today's post is about briefly considering the most important person and topic that could be pondered - Jesus Christ. What I aim to do in this post is list one text from each of the general letters of the New Testament that shows to us the greatness of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that this post edifies and encourages every reader.

1. Jesus Christ is Supreme - Book of Hebrews

Hebrews 1:1-4 "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they." The theme of "better" occurs over a dozen references in Hebrews, all pointing to how Jesus Christ is supreme above all things. 

2. Jesus Christ's authority - Book of James

James 5:7-9  "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:18 that all power and authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth. He is the judge, having authority and Divine power. 

3. Jesus Christ's comings - 1 & 2 Peter

1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."

2 Peter 3:9-10  "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in whichthe heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."

4. Jesus Christ as Savior - 1,2,3 John

1 John 5:13 "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." Jesus as Savior provides assurance of salvation for everyone who responds by grace alone through faith alone in Him alone.

2 John 1:9 "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son." It is not enough to say one believes in a Jesus, but in the right Jesus. The Jesus that saves people from their sins is the One revealed in the Bible, the Word of God.

3 John 1:7 "For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles." The term "Name" is shorthand for everything that Jesus is and accomplished and is still doing today. Acts 4:12 reminds us that no other "name" is given under heaven to people whereby they can be saved. 

5. Jesus Christ is the God of mercy - Book of Jude

Jude 1:21 - "keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Jesus Christ is "Lord", which is a title of Deity, and He is merciful, which reminds us of the fact He is the God of mercy. Jude closes out his book and our study of the greatness of Jesus Christ in the General Epistles with these words from Jude 1:24-25 - "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."