In this short letter called the book of 3 John, we can find many hidden gems that give us insight into how the Early Church (the first believers) encouraged each other in the faith. See if you can find some keys to living as a Christian from this letter and write them down on a list.
For a broader view of this book of the Bible, we encourage you to watch this video:
Bible journaling tip:
In the case where a book of the Bible shares its name with another, or with a person in the Bible, we can easily get confused: Is this John the baptist or John, the beloved disciple? Is this the same guy who wrote the gospel of John? What makes this different then? Or is this the John who wrote Revelation? It’s a good idea to make a little summary for yourself with a title like “Everything in the Bible about (enter key word / name)” where you can jot down the differences. Other examples include Everything in the Bible about…. trees, songs, Paul.
LOOK UP (information): encounter God through the Scripture
Author:
The author identifies himself as “the elder” in the first verse. This is the same author as 2 John - See if you can find more similarities between these two books. Can you find a specific reference in this book to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? Why not, or why do you think that is?
Audience:
In the first verse it becomes apparent who this letter was written to “To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth”. One thing we can note about the book of 3 John is how the people of God loves one another. It seems like everything that they do is with their eye on the Gospel of Jesus - even how they describe their friendships. See if you can find other examples of this kind of radical Gospel-living in this book?
History:
Books like this one gives us a window into the world of the first generation of Christian believers after Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus was a very real person for these believers - they would have heard about him, known him, or known somebody who did. Can you identify a difference that this made to their faith in comparison to our own today? Can you see any way of speaking that is not so often used by Christians today because we lack this understanding of Jesus as a friend, companion, teacher, and healer?
Genre:
This book is also in the form of a letter. Draw a little doodle artwork of all the people mentioned in this letter and how they relate to each other. Who is the author? Who is the one receiving the letter? Who else is mentioned?
LOOK IN (revelation): contemplate / reflect on our own lives
Key verse:
3 John 6-8 NIV
They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
Inspiration:
These verses speak about people who go into ministry (working for a church) or who do missionary work. What does these verses say the believers should to with such people? What do you think is meant by the word “support”? How can we be coworkers with them? What does this tell you about God - does He see an office job as less than, in the Kingdom of heaven?
LOOK OUT (transformation): respond with creative worship action
Drawing prompt:
In the book of 3 John we read about imitating what is good, and not what is evil. Fold a page in two and then draw something beautiful on the one side - like a scene from nature, or something that brings you peace. On the other side, imitate what you have drawn, but with your left hand! Try your best to create the mirror image of the other half of the page.
Bible Journey with HolyJot:
Here are some questions / prompts provided by the HolyJot community.
- To whom is this epistle addressed, and what is John’s attitude toward him (v1)?
- What caused John to rejoice, and what can we learn (v4)?
Follow this link to dive into this book with an online Bible Study group.
Writing prompt:
Read through the book of 3 John again and mark all the places where he says something encouraging or kind about somebody else. The writing prompt for today will be to borrow words from this book and to write our own letter encouraging somebody in the faith. Think a while and see if there is someone who comes to mind: a person who is holding fast to the truth of God and walking in it… a person who acts faithfully towards strangers… a person who supports missionaries…
Prayer:
God, I want to thank you for the book of 3 John. Help me to get the most out of this short book that I possibly can. Will you be my eyes as I read, and give me your Kingdom perspective? Let my response to this text be worship unto you!