Reflections with Andy - 3 John - Co-worker with the Truth

Take some time today to pray for and encourage your pastor. When you do just that, you are a co-worker with the truth!

In this Thursday reflection on Third John, the letter’s central cast — faithful Gaius, self-promoting Diotrephes, and well-regarded Demetrius — illuminates a practical question about the early church: how do you know whether to trust a wandering preacher? The answer is apostolic authority and community accountability, which is part of how ordination developed — a traceable chain of trust, so that the community could verify who sent the teacher and what they stood for. Gaius earns John’s highest praise for supporting these traveling ministers even as strangers, and John frames that support with a beautiful phrase: we may become co-workers with the truth. The reflection turns that phrase into a direct word for laypeople today — your encouragement, your prayers, your practical support of the ministers in your life genuinely matter, and Scripture says so. The contrast with Diotrephes, who puts himself first and actively undermines apostolic authority, makes the point even sharper. The call is simple: do good, imitate what is good, encourage someone today — because when you do, you are co-laboring in the truth.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Thursday. Hope your week is going well. Today we’re reading Third John, and tomorrow we’ll start breaking up Jude into a couple of sections. After Jude, I’m thinking we’ll head to the Psalms for a little while — I love the Psalms. Also, just a heads up: we’ll be going strong through May, but I may take some time in June in the midst of the transition to Starkville. We’ll figure it out as we get there.

Today, let’s read Third John in full — it’s short enough:

“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good; whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face. Peace to you. The friends send you their greetings. Greet the friends there, each by name.”

Same closing as Second John — I have much to write, but I’d rather say it face to face. There’s something endearing about that. John clearly valued the personal over the written, even when he was doing a lot of writing.

So John is writing to someone named Gaius — a very common name in that culture. There are several people named Gaius mentioned in Paul’s letters and in Acts. It’s possible it’s the same person, but honestly that’s a bit like writing a letter to “Steve” — the name was just that common. What we do know is that this Gaius is deeply beloved by John, someone whose faithfulness to the truth has been reported back to the apostles by traveling friends.

And that gets us to the heart of what’s happening in this letter — the itinerant preachers. We touched on this yesterday with Second John. In the early church, preachers would travel from town to town, carrying the apostolic teaching with them. And a natural question arose: how do you know whether to trust the wandering preacher who just showed up at your door? This is actually part of where the concept of ordination developed. If the preacher could say I was ordained by John, I was sent by the apostles, the community had a way of trusting their teaching. The authority wasn’t self-appointed — it was traceable. You knew who vouched for them, and you knew that person taught the truth.

Here, these “friends” John mentions have been sent with apostolic authority. Gaius has been welcoming and supporting them faithfully, even though they’re strangers to him. And John commends him for it: you do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God. Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

Co-workers with the truth. I love that phrase. And I want to say something directly to the laypeople reading or watching this — because this is for you.

I used to joke with my mom all the time that her one job at Johnson Chapel was to blindly support whatever the preacher wanted. You’ve got a son who’s a preacher, Mom — obviously you support the preacher. She always got a kick out of that. But there’s something real underneath the joke. If you’re a layperson in your church — United Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Wesleyan, whatever your tradition — you have a role to play in the ministry of your congregation. Your support, your prayers, your encouragement — these things make you a co-worker in the truth alongside the ministers in your life.

I will tell you honestly: one of the most valuable things I ever receive is encouragement from my people. I have a whole drawer over on my other desk full of letters and notes I’ve been given here at Saint Matthew’s and in other churches over the years — just kindness, support, people saying I’m praying for you, you matter, keep going. That stuff genuinely carries me. It really does. Don’t ever doubt that what you do matters, because we see it right here in Scripture — Gaius’s faithfulness and generosity got all the way back to John. Word traveled. It mattered.

Diotrephes, by contrast, is the cautionary tale. He likes to put himself first, refuses to acknowledge apostolic authority, spreads false charges, refuses to welcome the friends, and even expels people from the church who try to show hospitality. He is the picture of someone using their position for themselves rather than for the truth.

And then there’s Demetrius — someone everyone has spoken well of, someone the truth itself testifies to. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Simple as that.

So here’s the practical word for today: take a few minutes and send someone an encouraging message. Your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, a mentor, a friend who has poured into your life. We so rarely take the time to actually say I see you, I’m grateful for you, I’m praying for you. When you do that, you’re becoming a co-worker in the truth — and that is no small thing.

Tomorrow we start Jude. Have a great day!