5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. (The Message)
John's third letter is a letter of encouragement to believers to treat the travelling believers with love and respect helping them in every way possible. It is basically a letter encouraging them to continue to reach out and support the missionaries that were travelling among them. The work that those travelling and those that are providing hospitality are working for the same purpose and they should be working together. Behind the letter is conflict between those who thought of themselves as more important than those who were travelling sharing the good news and those who were humbly welcoming the travelers with open arms.
The letter is a warning about humility and the need for openness to those outside of ones circle. This is important to John and it should be important to us as well. The reason why the traveling interaction is so important is that without it the risk to the community of becoming ingrown and losing its Christ centered focus becomes great. John doesn't want people to lose their first love in Jesus and get carried away around things that aren't of ultimate importance.
While these concerns might seem to be outdated for us today they are still of great importance. It seems like the more we can communicate around the world the greater the likelihood that we are only talking to those who have the same thoughts and beliefs that we have ourselves. The reality is that we often do not provide an open setting for people who come from different places and might have different viewpoints or experiences of Jesus into our lives to learn from and grow with together. When we fail to do this we fail to live out the love that John spends so much time encouraging.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- What does showing hospitality to other believers mean to you?
- How do you practice hospitality?
- Who do you need to welcome into your life that might have had a different experience with Jesus than you?
- What can you do today to expand your circle of friends/acquaintances beyond people who are like you?
No comments:
Post a Comment