Read 3 John 13–14
Questions from the Scripture text: What did John need to say (3 John 13)? How did he not wish to do so? What did he hope to do instead (3 John 14)? In order to speak to Gaius how? What greeting does John give? Who else greets Gaius? Whom is Gaius to greet?
How should believers relate toward one another? 3 John 13–14 looks forward to the second serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that believers should love to be face to face and delight in one another.
Gaius and the church need John to come (cf. 3 John 10), but that’s not the only reason that John hopes to come. He hopes to see Gaius and speak to him face to face (3 John 14). God has given us faces, in part so that we can know and enjoy each other face to face—so that we can understand something about being made in His image and redeemed into His image. He is a God Who lives in fellowship, and He created us and redeemed us into fellowship with Him—and with one another. John had many more things to write to Gaius (3 John 13).
The Bible is actually shorter, in order for the Holy Spirit to emphasizes to us the importance of face-to-face (3 John 14) fellowship among believers. When YHWH lifts His face upon us, He gives us His peace (cf. Numbers 2:24–26). That is the peace that we wish for one another (3 John 14), and it is imitated by the peace that we have with one another and the delight that we are to take in one another. So John not only wishes Gaius peace, but also conveys the delight of the true believers that are with him, and asks that his own delight be conveyed, by name, to the true believers who are with Gaius.
What is your fellowship with God like? What is your fellowship with believers like? How do these connect?
Sample prayer: Father, shine Your face upon us, and give us peace. Delight in us, and make us to delight in You. And give us such a fellowship in You that makes us delight in fellowship with one another not in the way that the worldlings do, but as part of delighting in You and having fellowship with You in Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH409 “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
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