Helping Other Ministries

In the modern world, there is a lot of emphasis on getting the big picture right.  Politicians focus on trade agreements or the Federal Reserve Bank to resolve economic problems.  Churches focus on organization and programs to accomplish God’s work.  Businesses ship jobs overseas or use cheaper materials to increase profits.    Too often we forget that the big picture is comprised of thousands of individual pixels.  If all the pixels are right, the big picture will also be right, but each pixel that is not right makes the picture less satisfactory.    Similarly, in an economy, each person who is struggling to survive weakens the economy, and each person who is not spiritually strong hampers the accomplishment of God’s purposes.  Federal Reserve monetary actions or trade agreements will only obscure economic problems temporarily.  Reorganizations and new programs will only obscure the lack of spiritual development for short time. 

If we address the individual problems, we have much greater success in resolving the problems with far less stress, and at much lower cost.  Many times just fixing a few small problems at the individual level eliminates the bigger problems at the top.  This series on Spiritual life has focused on individual spiritual growth, and III John continues that focus.  It was written to a specific individual, rather than a church, and focuses on his personal responsibility. 

The first thing we see about Gaius was that he remained faithful to what he had been taught, as is clear from III John 1:1-4.  “The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  He was actively practicing what he had been taught, not just clinging to a creed. 

One of things he was doing was showing his love for others, helping them as he was able, whether financially or in other ways, according to III John 1:5-8.  “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.  We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.”  John encourages him to help those who have gone out as missionaries at their own expense, such as Paul and Barnabas, so that they can devote more of their time to the ministry. 

Please understand that most modern missions programs bear little resemblance to what Pau, Barnabas, and others did in the early church.  Today, most missionaries are fully supported by a missions group or individual churches, but as we see, Paul and Barnabas worked at various jobs on the field.  When Paul wrote I Corinthians, he had served several years as a missionary.  In I Corinthians 4:11-13, He describes he and his companion’s efforts.  “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”  They largely supported themselves.  In fact, in Philippians 4:15, we are told Paul only had one church that supported him, and even that was not a consistent thing.  “Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only, For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.”    

Help from individual Christians had a major impact on what Paul and other missionaries of his day were able to accomplish, and Paul mentions different ones had done to help him.   John encourages Gaius to become personally involved in helping those who are reaching out to spread the gospel, providing them a place to stay temporarily or feeding them, not just sending them a monthly donation.   This personal involvement also helps in less obvious ways, sometimes spotting problems with a ministry or meeting emotional or spiritual needs that money cannot address.