“Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the Brethern and for strangers.” (v.5)
John's third epistle was probably written around AD 90 from the island of Patmos, where John was exiled at the time. John wrote his letter to Gaius, a leader of one or more churches in Asia Minor. The apostle had received a report of some difficulties caused by a man named Diotrephes, and John wrote to reinforce for Gaius the proper way to deal with, “caring for the LORD’s workers.”
John wanted to ensure a warm welcome from the churches to those who traveled around preaching the gospel, offering them hospitality and a send-off “in a manner worthy of God” (v.6). John is instructing his friend Gaius not to be like Diotrephes, who had taken control of one of the churches there and used his power to ban certain traveling missionaries from coming to the church at all. He refused to welcome those traveling ministers of the gospel to preach and take rest with his church. And even worse, upon receiving an earlier correction from John, Diotrephes refused to listen (v.9).
This is a good reminder to us all to show our gratitude to those who minister to us, by ministering to them in some small way. I thank God for the love and devotion I've seen in many church bodies here in Southern California, and the hospitality displayed by so many in the body of Christ to strangers during this pandemic. But, let us also not forget those traveling teachers, those who may be passing through, and send them off in a manner worthy of God as well.
The Truth: "Don't you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the LORD has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:13-14)
