Becoming Fellow Workers With the Truth: Imitate the Good - 3 John 1:9-15

2:33Welcome back to the first century, the churches of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. There were several attacks coming against these churches that John had played a role in forming, nurturing, no doubt, and strengthening. But there were many attacks coming against the church. And to understand what the church is, the church really. Is about relationships. The church fundamentally is about a bunch of interconnected relationships functioning together for the mutual benefit of the whole. It's relationships. Where there are no relationships, there is no church, or where there's unhealthy relationships, it's unhealthy. You know, family is about relationships. We understand that a family is fundamentally about relationships. Husband's love for his wife, a wife's love for her husband, and children's love for their parents, and vice versa. That all these are relational. And when those relationships start breaking down for whatever reason, then a family begins to disintegrate. When the father's heart is turned away from his wife, or the wife is turned away from her husband, or they get at odds with each other, then that fundamental relationship breaks down and the home breaks down. Same is true in a country. United States of America is really something about relationships. We all share this land together. How are we to relate to one another? Well, our Constitution is basically a manual on how we're supposed to relate to one another.

4:20And when you start breaking down those relationships, you start having a breakdown of the country. It's what civil war is. When there's internal strife, a breakdown, when we're not relating to one another properly. Well, the church is about relationships. Church life is about people bonded together by believing the truth of Jesus Christ. That's what separates us: we believe the truth about Jesus Christ and we relate to one another as those who believe the truth about Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh. He does have a way that he loves us, and he has a way that he wants us to love one another.

5:10And so that's what binds us together. Loving the Christ of Scripture is what we are about, and loving like the Christ of Scripture. That's what we're about. And an attack against the church is basically an effort to set people within the church at odds with each other. That's the nature of the satanic attack. Entice the church into civil war and it will destroy itself. And that's exactly what Jesus said: a house that's divided against itself cannot stand. And so the false teachers of this first century, these satanic false teachers, are bringing about internal division. There was certainly the strife, the division. That was caused by external forces, such as the persecutions under Nero, that brought pressure against the church. The real threat wasn't from the external pressure, but the internal conflict that it created. How do we respond to these persecutions? How do we respond to these issues? What do we do with those who have denied the name? Do we welcome them back in? Some say yes, these on this side say no, yes, no, and you get internal strife and war. That's the threat. Sometimes the society will put pressure upon the church and force it to respond. But the real threat isn't what's happening from the external, it's what's happening on the inside. I think you see that in this whole world of COVID right now. How does the church respond? What do we require? What do we not require? Are we good stewards by having church or not having church? What should we do? All that becomes really, it's not so much the issue from the outside, it's how we respond internally. And if we can get at odds with each other, create civil war, then we destroy ourselves. That's what happens to a great nation. Greatest threats are what happens internally.

7:24Well, welcome back to the first. Century. The issues going on in the letters of John deal with an internal strife, not that which is coming from the outside, but that which is happening on the inside. Two main threats are dealt with in 2 John and 3rd John. The first, the satanic threat by denying who Jesus Christ really is. That's what 2 John is dealing with. There are those who don't want to acknowledge Christ, the Christ of Scripture. 3 John deals with a whole nother issue, and that's the issue of personal ambition among the so-called leadership. One is an arrogance about redefining Christ, and the other is an arrogance of making the church a means of selfish gain.

8:23Power. You think about this church here. Just think about this building for a second. What is it? It's supported. It's really a bunch of wood, nails, metal, sheetrock, all kinds of stuff bound together, right? Tied together. Now, if I went over and pulled out a nail out of the wall, you probably wouldn't get too nervous. But if we all started pulling out nails, it would start getting a little bit worse. Maybe if we pulled out one two by four support, we wouldn't be too worried. But if everybody started pulling out a two by four, guess what's going to happen to this roof?

9:13Church goes flat, right? Crushes. Well, the church is about interconnected relationships. And if you think about each little nail and each little connection in this building, so is the church. The church is about people, interconnected relationships that God has set apart for His purposes, according to the truth, who have been born by the truth and who are now working with the truth to walk in truth, to love one another in truth, to love the person of truth, and so exercise our gifts for the mutual benefit of building up the whole. So the church is about a bunch of interconnected relationships working for the mutual good.

10:05Boy, you start breaking those relationships down. If sister so-and-so gets crossways with sister so-and-so, and brother so-and-so gets crossways with sister so-and-so and down, all of a sudden the little connections that hold the church together begin to fall apart. And the satanic forces at work in destroying the church in the early stages. Centuries was all about creating grievances between each other. You could do that by denying who Jesus is. Yeah, that'll start you off. And if you don't understand who Christ is and you don't know who you're following, you're going to start getting a lot of different opinions about what we're doing, who we're about. But also, if all of us become competing for the first place, preeminence, or if church, we come to church and we primarily think it's about ourselves and we seek to exert ourselves or we seek to be known, then that's going to set the individual relationships at odds with each other, and you're going to see a disintegration of the church. A house divided against itself will not stand. We need to be a church that is growing in strengthening the relationships, not in letting them break down one by one.

11:31Well, that's what the letters of John are about. Two forces were at work to destroy the fellowship among these churches. The first was the intellectual arrogance of those who sought to refine Jesus, redefine Jesus. The second was the personal ambition of those who sought to advance themselves. And both of these forces would force people to take sides. Against each other and would work to a church's ruin. Well, Jesus Himself made it clear that the church is going to have tribulation. We are going to have troubles. Why? Because such conflict is due to the nature of light.

12:22Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 5:14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand and gives it light to all who are in the house. You know what light does? Light shines into the darkness so that what is hidden by the darkness can be seen. And then Jesus says, You are the light, speaking to his disciples. You have embraced the truth. You've been born of the truth. And now you walk according to the truth. And he says, Guess what I'm going to do with you? I'm going to set you so the world can see you. That's exactly what the light's about, is so it can see, so that it can expose what the darkness hides.

13:08And that's going to set you on collision because the darkness does not like to be exposed. Well, the battle between light and darkness, truth and error, battle between truth and error rages on. And the church is the frontline. Of such conflict. That's why it's an essential business. It's an essential ministry. And nothing dims the light of the church more than when it compromises the truth about Jesus Christ or when its so-called leaders use the church for personal ambitions or personal indulgences.

14:00That's the world of the letter of 3 John. What John does in 3 John is he's writing to encourage a man named Gaius to continue to be a fellow worker with them in the truth. You remember that we began looking at this last time. You remember a fellow worker with the truth, by way of review, number one, has been transformed by the truth. Number two, is loyal to those aligned with the truth. Number three, a fellow worker with the truth is jealous for the name of Jesus. We looked at all those last time. I'm going to add a fourth. A fellow worker with the truth shuns evil and imitates good. Shuns evil and imitates good. Look at verse 11. Here's the main command and the purpose for the letter: Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.

15:01Gaius, I want you imitating what is good. I want you shunning what is evil. And so, what John is going to do is hold out two examples: there's the example of evil embodied in a person named Diotrephes, and there is the example of good embodied in Demetrius. In that broken Texian language that botches both Spanish and English, I would say it like this as my outline: Diotrephes is no bueno. Demetrius is muy bueno. But that's really what he's saying. I break it into maybe a little more accurate English, Diotrephes embodies the evil to be shunned, and Demetrius embodies the good that is to be imitated. And that's where we're going this morning: the evil to be shunned and the good to be imitated.

16:14No bueno and the muy bueno. And I want you to know, we need to know. We need to be able to identify evil so we know how to shun evil, and we need to know how to recognize the good so that we can imitate the good, so that we can be found. Fellow workers with the truth. If you're going to be a fellow worker with the truth, you're going to need to know the distinction between good and evil. Let truth define the difference between good and evil, and shun the evil and imitate the good. So, first, the evil to be shunned. The evil to be shunned. Verses 9 and 10.

16:54And these are the two verses that really give us a basic understanding of the nature of evil. What evil does, why it does it, and how we can recognize it. And it's embodied in an individual named Diotrephes. And according to John, Diotrephes is this vivid illustration of what evil fundamentally looks like. What it looks like, whether it's in a person, in a church, or in a nation, in society. What does evil look like? Well, you need to know how to recognize evil. And the first way you recognize evil is: evil is known by what it loves. Evil is known by what it loves. Look back at verse 9. I wrote something to the church. Now, what is he talking about? Look back, verse 8. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers with the truth. And who are the men? Those who went out for the sake of the name. And John says in verse 9, I wrote something to the church about this. About supporting these. But Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.

18:08So somehow the letter got thrown away. But it's significant, the meaning of the name Diotrephes. The meaning of the name Diotrephes literally means nurtured by Zeus or reared by Zeus. Nurtured by Zeus. Now, who's Zeus? Well, Zeus is that ruler of the gods. Lightning, sometimes you see him with lightning in his. He's the big cheese. He's the ruler. He's the one that embodies power, dominance. He's that God. Little God, little G. He's no God at all. He's really, this is what happens when man makes God in his own image. He has comes up with one with power and just loves power. That's Zeus, loves power. In fact, one myth has it that his wife was pregnant with a child that was going to threaten Zeus's power. So you know what Zeus did? He ate his wife.

19:26Relational problems, dysfunction. Family could learn something from the scriptures, right? Biblical counseling. He needs therapy, right? He needs something way off. But this is what happens when man makes gods in his own image. And this is what his name means. It's interesting that Diotrephes, nurtured by Zeus, lover of power. Well, look back. I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, loves to be first. You see, evil is known by what it loves. What did Diotrephes love? He loved to be first. In fact, the grief really emphasizes this. If I read this to you literally, it would sound like this. I wrote something of this to the church, but the one fond of preeminence among them, Diotrephes, rejected. You see where he placed of emphasis? I wrote something, but the one, the lover of the first place, the one who is fond of being preeminent, that one named Diotrephes, ironically named after the God who loves to be first, wouldn't have anything to do with what we had to say.

20:56He loved to be first. Matthew 23, Jesus is speaking about the scribes and Pharisees. And you remember John. John struggled with this as well, preeminence. In fact, I think all of us who come to Christ at some time are going to struggle with the ideas of making it all about us. And as we go, we realize it's not all about us, it's about him. He's the preeminent one. In fact, what's really wrong with this world is when I seek preeminence, that's what destroys relationships. When I take the posture of the thunder god to be served instead of the one to serve. Well, in Matthew 23, Jesus, speaking about the scribes and Pharisees, says this, but they do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacaries and lengthened the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men.

22:12But Jesus said this, but do not be called rabbi to his disciples, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders, for the one who is your leader, for one is the one who is the one who is the Is your leader, that is Christ, but the greatest among you shall be your servant. And what John is seeing here is that the motivation that drives evil is this desire to be first.

22:47The word for lover of first is really, it's one word. Come from philos, love, affection for, fondness, and proto. So proto-first, the one fond of first. It's one word, one name. The one fond of being first, the lover of first place, the one of preeminence, the loving, one loving preeminence. This one would not accept what we have to say. You see, we often think this whole concept of original sin as very hard for us to, how can little Johnny be a sinner? What is the nature of his sin? What is fundamentally wrong with Johnny? We have a very different, the Bible has a very different view of humanity, a fallen humanity, a sin nature, even among little children.

23:47And the world just can't get that. You think little Johnny's a sinner? Yes. I think little Johnny's a sinner. And raise a couple of little Johnnies, and you'll see it reiterated. And what's fundamental? What is the issue? It's this lover of being first. It's born in us. Just watch how they relate in the sandbox. We don't use sandboxes as much anymore, but just watch how they play with mind, dominance, preemption, and they learn the weapons of their warfare, how to get first place, how to get their way. They learn that very, where does that come from? It's not learned.

24:29It's imborn. And this is that idea. And sometimes it's very cute, right? Sometimes we think it's cute. Oh, look at little Johnny. He's sinning. You know, I mean, a bulldog's cute when it's a puppy, but man, I woke up this morning and saw this big wild hog run across my yard, a big one. And those things are cute when they're little. Boy, they get really ugly. Sometimes I think sin's the same way. It's cute. Johnny's cute. He's disobedient. You let that thing grow. You let this desire for preeminence. You let his fondness of being first grow.

25:11And it leaves a trail of broken relationships everywhere. You know, Darwin's survival of the fittest philosophy not only legitimizes being first, but it encourages being first. Well, that's the issue. Evil is known by what it loves. Loves being first. What about you? Are you a lover of preeminence? What does that look like? How does that look like in your relationship with your brothers and sisters, with your friends, with your people in your life, with the authorities that God has placed over you? Are you a lover of first? Right?

25:58Evil is also known not only by what it loves, but by what it rejects. Look back at verse 9. I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. You see, Diotrephes loved being first, and because he loved being first, he rejected anything or anyone that challenged his primacy. If you love first, you're going to, anyone who threatens that first place, you're going to lash out. As long as they're helping you get to your first place position, well, yeah, they get along great. And many relationships go about that way. But even the truth, or even God, begotten Diotrephes' way, he rejected. He rejected the truth. He rejected even God. And how?

26:55So it's clear he does not accept what John says. Why does he not accept? What John says because he rejected God's rule over his life. How does this manifest itself? How does this manifest itself? Well, four specific ways. And John goes on to list them. This is what evil does. It loves being first and it rejects any threat to it. And this is how it looked like in John's situation. He rejected them. First of all, he slandered John. Look at back at verse 10. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds, which he does unjustly, accusing us with wicked words. He slandered John. That was a fundamental manifestation of his rejection of God. He rejected God by slandering John. John is the eyewitness authority of the life of Christ. One of, right?

27:57And he slandered an eyewitness. He sought to cut his people off, cut the church off from the authoritative record of who Jesus Christ is. By cutting John out of his life, he cuts that authoritative record of who Jesus is out of his church's life. Listen, friends, when we the attack on the inerrancy of Scripture is. An attack on the Christ of Scripture. And when, and those churches, those schools of thought that reject the apostolic witness that is recorded in scripture have cut themselves off from the Christ of Scripture. And there's only one victorious king. We just sang about him. There's only one. And we know him through the words of scripture. And so when you cut people off, when you take a low view of these scriptures, when you slander these scriptures, you cut yourself off and you cut others off from the authoritative witness of who Christ is. And so he slandered, slandered him, cut him off.

29:21And he did so through words of, wicked words of nonsense. They weren't even rational. They were perverted, crooked words, sayings, arguments, thoughts, vicious words aimed at discrediting John. And John adds, really, the word unjustly could really even be translated as nonsense, the one talking nonsense, wicked nonsense. And that's how he slandered John. There's a second way his rejection of God and his life manifests itself. Second, he did not welcome the brethren. Look back at verse 10. And not satisfied with this, that is slandering John and those who associated with him, and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren. He is not receiving the brethren either. He is not receiving me, and he is not receiving the brethren. He is not receiving those who've gone out according to the name, for the sake of the name. He is not receiving those who have been born of the truth, who proclaim the truth. Listen, when this is the manifestation of evil, it rejects the apostolic witness and those who proclaim it.

30:57And it slanders them with wicked words. And the argument was probably very skillful. He had a good way of not welcoming them. Third, but not only this, look back, not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren either and forbids those who desire to do so. So not only does he himself not welcome them, but he would forbid others. Who wanted to welcome them? He wanted to make sure nobody else welcomed them either. He starts seeing the aggressive behavior. This moves beyond a personal disagreement to, I want power here.

31:49I'm the preeminent one. And I am jealous of anyone. Well-named, nurtured by Zeus, right? But he doesn't stop there. He forbids those who desire to do so, and he puts them out of the church. The fourth thing, he wanted to dominate the church. You see how this goes? First, he slanders John. Second, he didn't welcome the brethren. He forbade others to welcome them, and then he dominates the church. And if you're not going to go along with it, he puts them out of the church. Literally, he drives them out of the church.

32:33So any reception he gave of the brethren was very cold and icy. He was evil, sought to send them out. All this is adverse to the truth. This is an adversary of the truth. John's saying, Gaius, don't miss this. This is easy to see. He does not receive the brethren. He does not receive. The eyewitness. He slanders, sends them out. This is a man who has love issues. This man doesn't love. And because he doesn't love, guess what?

33:16He doesn't know Christ at all. He doesn't know God. So this is where it goes. Diotrophy had this desire to be in first place, and it led him to reject God by slandering John, not welcoming the brethren, forbidding others to welcome them, and seeking to dominate the church. That's what evil looks like. And it's a sad day when a church becomes a place for the personal advancement of individuals. Something's really off. And it doesn't just happen in leadership, does it?

34:00Each one of us can come into this body here, seeking our own, wanting to be recognized. And we could inadvertently use the church for our own personal ambitions, such as like diatrophies, not like Christ. And what happens when a church becomes a place for people to? Advance themselves and advance their agendas instead of God's agendas. You know what happens? They become antithetical to Christianity, biblical Christianity, and they become as useless as tasteless salt. As Jesus said, is good for nothing. Good is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

35:01So we're going to look at diatrophies, but diatrophies is just a window into evil itself. He illustrates that satanic opposition, right? That first we first witness in Scripture in the Garden of Eden. What is the basic expression of sin? Rejecting God's rule. That's what sin is, rejecting God's rule. You know what the basic temptation to sin is? Being first. Being first. If you want to be first, if you want to be the master of your own fate, that's a temptation. If you want your way instead of God's way, that is the allure. And then when you cross that boundary, you sin against God by rejecting his rule.

35:56Are you fond of preeminence? We need a change of mind about loving the first place. Because the whole Christian life is about forsaking the first place. It's about being servant-minded. That's what the kingdom of God is about. That's what Christ is about. That's what this victorious king is about. The Christian life is about forsaking the first place, and we need to have a change of mind. And I don't care how old you are. I don't care. Do you want to have first place against your brothers and sisters? What do you need? Do you need first place over your parents? Do you need first place over your friends? First place over your...

36:48Let's be done with this lie of first place. Let that become estranged in our hearts. And let us give first place to the one who gave his life up completely. Let us give our hearts over to the one who is servant of all. Let us get rid of every vestige of being first. We'll look back at verse 11 and look at again John's exhortation in verse 11: Beloved, do not imitate. What is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God. The one who does evil has not seen God.

37:39Do not imitate what is evil. He's just laid out Diotrephes. That's the evil. And then he says this: the one who does evil has not seen God. John's reasoning goes something like this: Since Diotrephes does not exhibit love to the lovers of truth, he does not know God at all. Have you had an experience with God? That's what he's saying. He has had no experience with God. He's had no encounter with the true God because he loves to be first. And so it is with everyone who loves to be first and is growing in this love, does not know God. Because if you've had an encounter with God, you are humbled.

38:26So his logic goes like this: Diotrephes does not exhibit love to the lovers of truth. Therefore, Gaius, do not imitate him. Don't be a Diotrephes. If you take nothing out of this sermon this morning, hear this. Don't be a Diotrephes. Don't be a child of Zeus. Don't be one nurtured for the first place. The second, we need to move on. Fellow worker with the truth shuns evil and imitates the good. And the good to be imitated is embodied in Diotrephes. Notice also the positive command. Looking back at verse 11, Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but imitate what is good. Who is the good one? Well, he's about to tell you. The good is this Demetrius. And there's a threefold testimony given about him. Look at verse 12. Demetrius has received a good testimony. Look, number one, from everyone and from the truth itself. And we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. What a resume, right?

39:40Everyone who knew Demetrius could testify to his integrity. The truth itself, if you were around Demetrius, you understood that he resonated with the truth. His life was a living exposition of the truth. And then, if that weren't enough, John says, Look, Gaius, Demetrius, we give our hearty approval and testimony. This is a man that you need to be like. He's not just saying, Gaius, you need to receive Demetrius. So I think he's saying that. But he's going beyond. He's saying, not only do you need to receive such as Demetrius, who may have been bringing the letter, not only do you need to receive him, you need to be like him. You need to. Imitate him.

40:32Don't imitate Diotrephes. Be like Demetrius, who has gone out for the sake of the name, who has been born of the truth, who loves the truth, who proclaims the truth, who cares if you are walking in truth or not. Imitate him. And this brings up an interesting thought because even though Gaius was already walking in the truth, as we've already seen, he still needed godly influences before him. So do we. The urgent matter of John 3 or 3 John is that about godly influences. Who are you going to imitate?

41:17It's an urgent matter. Look at verse 13. I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink. But I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. John has limited space on probably a single sheet of papyrus. So, what he writes about, just like in 2 John, is very important because he has limited space. I had many things to write to you. What is he writing to him? What does he choose? What does he see most important to write about godly influences? Who is your role model?

41:51Gaius, shunning evil and imitating good is an urgent matter, and role models are. Key because you need to be able to recognize who is evil and who is good so that you can imitate them. There are many competitors to role models today. As a way of practical application, I remember it's been a standard in our home with our kids, bringing them up, is to always encourage them to pick out several role models. And in each generation that's to come, so if you're there in junior high, pick out a high school student that you see that is godly in their example. Who do you see as a godly? And now bring that person into your focus. Now, go into the college category and focus in on a good role model in that category. And then going beyond that, pick out one of the young men with several kids and get that role model in your mind. And then get some of the older men, get that stage. And then go all the way to the 90s if you have any, which we did at one time, right? Still follow his example, Clyde Wilton. Remember, many of my kids thought ahead and thought to him.

43:20But the point is, have godly influences. Know where you're going to the next stage of life. Set them before your children. Set them before your Yourself, have role models. Have role models that are godly. And that's really what 3 John is about: don't be a diotrephes, Gaius. Be like Demetrius. Even though you are walking in the truth and have brought so much joy to my heart by the way you're walking in the truth, you still need a godly example before you. Don't go down the avenue of being like a diotrephes. Go down the avenue of becoming more and more godly.

44:05So, no matter who you are, you need good role models. And listen, there's a lot of competitors out there, as I said. If you leave it up to Hollywood or if you live it up to Disney, you know what you're going to get? You know what your daughters are going to be like? You see the same thing over and over. You see the same script, the same story, and your sons. What's it going to be? You need to actualize yourself. You need to realize who you are. You know, it's within. And usually the problems in your life are the social constructs around you, whether it's society, whether it's your parents. Usually the father's got it all off and seeks to suppress. And then it's like, come out, realize who you are and be preeminent. Flex your muscles, your chi or whatever it is, flex it, put it out there.

44:57Preeminence, dominance. It shows up over and over and over. You've seen the script. It's the same because it's a philosophy of the world. So, no matter who you are, you need good role models. And that's what John is saying. You need good role models. Not ones who are seeking to be first, but seeking to be the servant. Not ones who want to dominate, but ones who want to bow to the king of kings. That's the role model you need.

45:38And no matter who you are, you need good role models. And no matter who you are, you need to be a good role model. No matter who you are, people are looking at you. Be that living example, like Demetrius. The truth itself bears witness. What a testimony. What a resume. Well, a fellow worker with the truth, as we summarize this letter in 3 John, come to its conclusion. Fellow worker with the truth has been transformed by the truth, is loyal to those who are aligned with the truth, is jealous for the name of Jesus, and as we've seen today, shuns evil and imitates the good. And when you take these two letters, 2nd and 3rd John, together, they reveal to us these two satanic mindsets that sought to destroy. The church the first century. The first was this arrogance by redefining who Jesus is. Arrogance, they don't even, they reject the eyewitness accounts and begin to formulate their own ideas about who Jesus is. There's an arrogance there, a satanic arrogance. The second is the arrogance behind personal ambition. And they're like diatrophies. They thought the church belonged to them.

46:59You see, false teachers have truth problems and they have love problems. And so John lays it out there: you can know who the false teachers are because they will have truth problems about the person of Christ. They will not love the Christ of Scripture, number one, and number two, they will not love like the Christ of Scripture. So if you're meeting somebody that isn't loving like the Christ of Scripture, you can be sure they have never met him.

47:32And remember, I said earlier that church is about relationships. Church life is about being bonded together by believing the truth and relating to one another in such truth. An attack on either the person of Christ or attack upon or an enticement for personal gain puts the church internally at odds with each other. So let's. Let's be a church that's about strengthening relationships. Going back to the building analogy, instead of all of us pulling out little nails and little support structures, let's do the opposite. Let's go in the opposite direction. Let's strengthen relationships. Let's reach out. Let's add nails. Let's add hurricane straps. Let's strengthen this thing. Let's fortify this. And how do we do that? By participating in the events. What are the events that we do? Why do we have all these things? Why do we have a dinner Wednesday night for a bunch of ladies to go around and eat food together? What's it all about? It's about strengthening relationships, making these connections tighter, a family around the truth, and connecting us. That's what all of our church associations are about, or strengthening these bonds.

48:53We want to love the Christ of Scripture, and we want to love like the Christ of Scripture. But before we close, I want to look at the final command. Verse 15: Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. Greet the friends by name. That's the second command. There's only two commands in this: one is imitate, the other is greet. Greet by names. You be greeting one another by name. By name, we need to know each other's names. We need to work on it. And I'm in, you guys have been around me. I'm embarrassed, right? I sometimes will have to ask you two or three times in the same conversation. Forgive me for that.

49:46But we should greet one another by name. We should know each other by name. We should pray for one another by name. We should greet, says so right here. We should greet one another by name. We should get to know each other by name. Our fellowship should be structured around to where we can get to know each other by name. That may say something about the size of our fellowship or our sub-fellowships or whatever. We need to be getting to know one another by name. We need to be going out of ourselves, out of our way to know each other by name and to greet one another as such. And by doing so, we begin to strengthen those relationships that John's talking about. We become a fellow worker with the truth.

50:36Well, let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks for all the goodness that you've showered upon us. We thank you for the truth that is resonant in our hearts, not because we're by nature truth lovers, but because you have transformed our hearts. We have beheld the beauty of Christ. He has shown his light into our hearts, and we have been changed. We now love that which we didn't love before. Forgive us. Forgive us, where even now we still have a love for the first place. And I pray for anyone here today who does not know you that they would reach out today, that they would hear your voice saying, Give up being first and invite me in.

51:30The Lord Himself wants to come into your heart. He wants to come into your life. He is Lord. He wants to be such because it is good for him to be such. So if you don't know him today, ask him. Repent of your sins, and he will come in in a moment. In an instant. Father, we thank you for all of this. Thank you for the truth. And we confess that even after we've walked with you for many, many years, we still have these vestiges and these desires to be preeminent. It shows up in the way we speak to one another. It shows up in our desires and our pursuits and even our view of your church. Father, help us to be servant-minded. Help us to love one another, to love you and to love like you. In Christ's name, amen.