Remember the story I told about the difficult boss who was terrible to work for, but he was a kind and caring gentleman among his church family? One way in one setting, totally different in another. Now that we have studied 3rd John, and we have learned about walking in truth, we can conclude with some practical applications.
To summarize what we learned, Christians walk in truth, and that means a consistency of life no matter what setting we’re in. To live a double life is to live a lie. But to walk in truth is to live with consistency.
So in this letter to Gaius John has taught us what it means to walk in truth.
He said very clearly what walking in truth is not. For that we just need to look at Diotrophes. Christians should not love to be first, should not be gossiping. We should not be divisive, disagreeable, grumpy. Do you in any way resemble Diotrophes? At work, at school, at home, at church?
If so, let’s remember what walking in the truth is. For that we can look at Gaius. We should be welcoming of fellow Christians, and we should be striving for unity in the church. In other words, we are striving to have a way or a pattern of life that is modeled after Jesus. Jesus is our teacher and we invest time and energy learning from Jesus how to live.
That’s how we walk in the truth.
If you are living an inconsistent life, I would encourage you to make a choice to begin walking in truth, and that starts with devoting your life to Jesus.
If you were the harsh boss reading 3rd John about walking in truth, I hope your response would start with repenting. Admitting in front of your employees that you have been wrong. Asking their forgiveness. Listening to their hurts. Seeking accountability to be different. If you were Diotrophes, it would mean telling your church family that you are sorry for gossiping, for being grumpy, for being divisive.
One of the best pictures of this is a man named Zacchaeus in the Bible. He was a tax collector who got wealthy by cheating people, and when he met Jesus his life was changed. To start walking in the truth he began to make amends, giving money back. He wanted to walk in the truth. Christians, we are to be known for walking in the truth. How are you walking?
Let's Talk About Sunday 