Charity Witnesses 3 John 6 - Equipped for Battle

John the apostle has been commending Gaius in his book named Third John. Gaius is a singled out individual who has been hospitable to itinerant teachers who travel from place to place sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Although there were many false prophets who traveled in that day as well, Gaius was able to distinguish between the two, and provided basic needs to those who were authentic. John has heard about Gaius from others, and today's verse found in Third John verse six tells us what they said:

Which have borne witness of your charity before the church: whom if you bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, you shall do well:

John wrote that people from Gaius' church bore witness of him. Others spoke well of him. Others gave the testimony about him, and it appears that there was no campaign from Gaius to be lifted up in such manner. We often encounter people who tell of their own greatness, their own accomplishments, or their own benevolence, but this was not so for Gaius. People witnessed Gaius working in the church, and they made note of it.

Let's look at what these who testified about Gaius shared, “borne witness of your charity”. In other words, they were charity witnesses. They saw the love and affection and the care and concern that Gaius had for these traveling prophets. They saw Gaius demonstrating love toward these brethren and strangers, and his works were so prevalent that they shared them with John. If we think about this testimony of Gaius long enough, perhaps we will wonder what others would say about us and our works in the world.

Finally John concludes this verse with a further commendation and encouragement for Gaius. He wrote, “whom if you bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, you shall do well:” Doing well, what a novel idea. John basically says, Gaius, keep doing what you are doing. Help these travelers. Help them in a godly way. Continue your acts of charity, and demonstrate your acts of love before the church. When you do this Gaius, you are doing well. Oh that we too would receive the encouragement of John today. Oh that we would examine our own lives to determine whether we have been hospitable to those who share the gospel. Oh that we would live our lives in such a manner that others would say of us, “He or She has such charity before the church.” May we evermore be charity witnesses about those who align with Gaius' ways.

Next time we shall see what John says about the manner in which these true teachers of Jesus Christ went out, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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