Sermon: Living for the Sake of the Name

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the Book of Third John, book of third John.

This is a book that probably for most of us is not all that familiar. I looked up in our church archives and did not find any sermons on this book, so I thought this would be a good book to, to think about together this morning. So third John, uh, it's in the New Testament. It's at the very end of the New Testament. If you find the Book of Revelation, the very last book and turn left, couple pages left, you'll find these letters,

uh, written to us, uh, by the Apostle John, first John, second John, and third John. Just a little bit of the context before we dive into this letter. Uh, as I mentioned, John here is the author. John was living in the, the area of Ephesus, which at that time was called Asia Minor. Today, modern day country of Turkey, kind of southwest Turkey. John was living there. He was, uh, he calls himself the elder. He was serving as an elder, presumably of his local church,

um, but but also a among these kind of network of churches that he was ministering to. Uh, he had written his gospel, the Gospel of John. Most people think somewhere in the mid eighties, some think it could have been earlier, um, but somewhere in the mid eighties, uh, striking to think that by this point, all the apostles, uh, are either dead or long scattered. He's, he's the last remaining of the apostles. Uh, so he wrote the Gospel of John, and sometime

after he wrote that gospel, there began to be opposition, opposition that began to be stirred up, uh, in these churches, especially where he's ministering, uh, this opposition. Uh, John deals with in his first letter, the book of First John, which was meant to be a circular letter, which means it would've been read in all of these churches out loud. Um, he deals with some of that false teaching. They, they were teaching a new theology, a new morality,

and a new spirituality. Uh, this group became big enough apparently that they had their own itinerant preachers. And so the book of second John, John deals specifically with those false, uh, traveling teachers, these kind of false missionaries. Second John, uh, John writes to a specific church, and you'll see the heading in that book, he says to the elect lady and her children, that's a reference there to a specific local congregation.

And one of the, the things John wants this church to realize is they should not welcome in these false teachers as they're traveling about today. They should not give these teachers a platform both in the church and also in their own lives. Well, the book of Third John, as we'll see here in a minute, John writes specifically to an individual, and this individual's name is Gaas. We'll, we'll think about him more here in a minute.

Uh, John is writing to this man who seems to be in some kind of leadership within one of these churches. Uh, and John's point is to encourage Gaas to continue to live and walk in the truth. That's one of the big themes that John touches on in all of these letters, to walk in the truth, uh, to walk according to the truth. So before we read the text, let me pray for us,

father in heaven, the unfolding of your word gives light and imparts understanding to the simple. And so, Lord, as we read and as we listen, would you instruct us, would you correct us? Would you train us in righteousness that we might be equipped for every good work that you would call us to do? We ask this in Christ's name, amen. Follow along as we read the book of Third John,

the Elder to the beloved Gaas, whom I love. And truth behold, I beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts

for these brothers, strangers, as they are who testified to your love before the church, you will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out for the sake of the name accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers for the truth. I have written something to the church, but d atrophies who likes to put himself first,

does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us and not content with that he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself.

We also had our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon and we will talk face to face. Peace beat B to you. The friends greet you, greet the friends each by name.

While in this short little book this, this short letter, we see four individuals, four men and four reputations that are meant to serve as, as an encouragement to us to walk in the truth. So we're gonna look at each of these four individuals. First, we're gonna begin with this guy Gaas. Gaas is a fellow worker for the truth. Now, John writes this letter to him. You see him reference there in verse one. Uh, GAAS is actually a pretty common

name in the first century. There's three other references to different individuals named Gaas in the New Testament. There's a gaas in Corinth who Paul writes about in First Corinthians and Romans 16. There's another guy from Macedonia, he's referenced in Acts 19. And then there's a third Gaas gais of Derby who's referenced in Acts 20. Now, this is a different gaas. One of the things we know about him or can surmise about him is he's probably some kind

of a leader within this church. There's a, a reference here in verse nine that John says, I've written something to the church referencing a letter. Perhaps it was second John, we're, we're not sure. Um, but that letter was not received. It was not welcomed. And so now John is writing specifically to this guy named Gaas. And notice what he says about Gaas first, number one, he was a true disciple because he was walking in the truth.

That's a repeated phrase. You'll see it in verse three. And in verse four, GAAS was walking in the truth. Now for John, this is how he defines who a disciple is. So in one John two, six, whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. That is whoever would say that they abide in Christ, they have faith in Christ. If you say that, then you ought to walk in the same way that Christ walked.

That's what a, a true disciple is for John. You know what a person believes by seeing the way he lives. This is exactly what Jesus taught. John 15 verse eight, by this, my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Your life will show if you are a disciple, we ought to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. That's what a disciple is. A disciple is somebody that not only confesses with their mouth, but they live it with their lives.

So imagine if John were to write you a letter and he's writing specifically to you, would he be able to say that there's a man, that there's a woman who is walking in the truth? That's what he tells us here about this man. Gaas. Gaas was a true disciple because he was living, he was walking as a disciple. The second thing John tells us about Gaas, he was a true disciple because he was faithful to love the brothers. You see that in verse five.

Gaas is faithful to love the brothers. Now, who are these brothers? Well, John tells us who they are in verse six. These were itinerant missionaries who had left John's church. So these are not the false missionaries, but these are the true missionaries. They were sent out from John's church and they were seeking to minister among the Gentiles. And that word here, John, is using is a little bit different from some of the other ways it's used in the New Testament.

This word means unbelievers, or you might even say pagans. That's where they're heading. They're, they're going to minister among these gentiles, and as they're doing so, they're stopping in stopping at these churches. And what does John say? Well, GAAS welcomed them in. He received them. He served these brothers. John also uses a word here for them. He calls them strangers in verse five. These brothers, strangers as they are.

In other words, GAAS didn't really know these individuals personally. He didn't, he didn't know much about them. And yet Gais knew where they came from. And so Gaas received them. He welcomed them in. This is what it means to show hospitality. And that's a theme for John in both of these letters. Second John and third John, to whom do you show hospitality? And his point is, love the brothers. Make sure you start there. You need to love the brothers.

Showing hospitality literally means to love the stranger, loving people that you don't even know, but you still love them. Anyway, John here is commending Gaas, and he's acknowledging in verse five, all of his efforts that he spent to love these brothers, all of his efforts, that that word there is describing sacrifice. You see, it takes effort to love people. Uh, you, you, you know that to be true, right? To welcome somebody into your life, to welcome a new person

into the life of the church, right? That takes effort. And John is commending gaas for all of his efforts, all of his sweat, to welcome and to serve these brothers, even though they're strangers to him. This is exactly what Jesus said. Whoever receives you receives me. And whoever receives me receives him. Who sent me Gaas was receiving these brothers. He's welcoming them. He's serving these brothers. And as he's doing, so, he's serving Jesus himself.

Now, John goes on to, to, to highlight two ways that Gaas can continue to love these brothers. Verse eight, he says, to support them. And in verse six, he says, to send them both of these words to support these guys and to send them. Well, well think about support. What does it mean to support? Well, we see in verse seven that these brothers had gone out and they're seeking to minister in places where there are no Christians, there are no churches.

And so they're gonna need help to do so. They're gonna need churches and individuals back home supporting them as they go out. They need men and women who are walking in the truth, who are then supporting these other men and women who go out and walking in the truth. You know, as we put up the missionary, uh, highlight every week on the screens, and we ask, Hey, pray for these individuals, that, that's one of the reasons why we do that, right?

These are men and women who need our support. They need our encouragement. Very least we can do is to pray for them. We ought to support guys like this. John tells us to send them this idea to send means to, to help them along, to, to help them to get where they're, they're trying to go. This is exactly what Paul asks for in Romans 15 when he writes to the Roman church and says, I'm trying to go to Spain, and would you help me to get there?

Would you send me along my way? He asks the same thing for the church in Corinth. He asked for their help to send him, to speed him along on his journey, supporting and sending workers like this. Missionaries, these brothers, is one of the essential tasks of the church. And notice the language John uses here. There's a, there's an obligation we have to do. So he says in verse six, you will do well to send them verse eight, you ought

to support people like these. There's an obligation here. Well, why is there an obligation? Well, look at verse seven. Verse seven tells us that they went out for the sake of the name. They went out for the sake of the name. See, this is not some sort of adventure and missions or these guys are just going out to have cross-cultural experiences and kind of pad their resume with that. No, they're going out not for their own sake,

but they're going out for the sake of his name, the name of Christ. And John's point, as he's writing this to Gaas and for us as well, that living for the sake of the name lifts our eyes off from ourselves, and it places them on this bigger story, the story of Christ being proclaimed among all the nations, among all the peoples, among all these gentiles. That's the bigger story. And if you are a disciple, if I'm a disciple, then

that's my story as well. We're connected to this story. Those who go out like these brothers need men and women like us who stay back supporting them and how we support matters. You see that in verse six. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. See both those who go, but also those who send are to give their life for the sake of the same name. Both ought to sacrifice much in order to see the fame of his name raised as a banner

over all the peoples and all the places of this world. John uses a description here for people who have this way of thinking, who understand this connection to this bigger story. What does he say? Verse eight, he calls them fellow workers, fellow workers for the truth is he to walk in. The truth is to be a fellow worker for the truth. So friends, here's a question for us. Are we, am I, am you, are we like Gaas? Are we a fellow worker for the truth?

Now that starts with this call to discipleship. Are you walking as a disciple? Are you walking in the truth? And as you're walking in the truth, are you sacrificing much? Are you loving much in order to see the name of Christ lifted high in more people and in new places? This is who Gaas is. He's a fellow worker for the truth. Now notice the next guy we come to verse nine, di atrophies di atrophy is the antithesis of Gaas.

He's, he's the exact opposite from what we just saw from Gaas di atrophy. You could say he's not a fellow worker for the truth, but rather he's a self-centered taker for his own name. Now, John mentions in verse nine that he wrote a letter. Many people think it could have been Second John that he had written to this church something, it could have been a different letter. 'cause what we're told there is D atrophy did not accept,

he did not acknowledge John's authority. So John writes to this man Gaas, who seems to be in this same church, in the same church as this man d atrophies Phi. What we see here is Di Atrophies is the exact opposite of Gaas. He's not a fellow worker for the truth. Rather, he is a self-centered glory thief. He's trying to take it for himself and notice five things John describes or says about this man D atrophies. First one you'll see is in verse nine.

It's that relative clause beginning with that relative pronoun who, so here's D Atrophies. And in John's mind, the first thing John thinks of when he thinks of D atrophies is he is a man who likes to put himself first. He likes to put himself first. This word here that John uses, it's the only time it's used in all of the Bible. And it's a word that's not found in any other literature. It's kind of a, a very, it's a very unique word

that John is using. The King James Bible translates this verse like this di atrophy, who loves to have the preeminence among them. He loves the preeminence among them. Now, this is the same kind of description we saw last week from the book of Galatians. We could say that D Atrophy was a man who will make much of others in order that they would make much of him. He's only concerned for the sake of his own name. Now, you can probably imagine

what this would look like or sound like. You're in a conversation with D Atrophies. And somehow all these discussions, they seem to circle back to him, to his ideas, to his opinions. Ultimately, whatever it is he's teaching, they somehow seem to come back to lift up his name, his reputation. One way we might say this, his D atrophies was his own best friend. That's who he is. He is a self-centered taker. He's only interested in his own name.

Here's a second description about this man D atrophies, verse nine. He does not acknowledge John's authority. This means he's not acknowledging it, he's not receiving it, he's not accepting the authority from John. Now, John here is trying to show us that this isn't just, uh, a personality clash between these two church leaders. No d atrophies is, is doing something different. He is not accepting John's apostolic witness.

He's going against John's authority as an apostle. In other words, we can say D Atrophies is an autocrat. He is his own authority. His own authority. Here's the third thing we see from D atrophy. Verse 10 D Atrophy loves to talk and notice the content of his talk. He talks wicked nonsense. He's spreading malicious and false words against John, against his church, even against this apostolic testimony. See, he, he loves to talk. He, he has all kinds of opinions.

He loves to stir up trouble, especially if it involves taking shots at John, taking shots at John's church and the members of his church. He loved to talk. He talked wicked nonsense. Now, it doesn't stop there. John gives us two more things that this guy was doing. Look at verse 10. Verse 10. Trophe refused to welcome the brothers. He was not hospitable like Gaas was other. He refused to welcome these brothers. See, he doesn't care about these brothers who have gone out

for the sake of the, the name. He only cares about his own name. And so he's not interested in them. He doesn't, he doesn't care who they are. He doesn't care about their life. He refused to welcome them. He refused to love them and to serve them. It gets even worse. He doesn't stop there. He also stops others from welcoming these brothers. And he even puts these others out of the church if they try to welcome these brothers.

Now you see the, just the, the evilness of d Atrophy's heart here on display. Now, many have pointed out here in Di Atrophies, we're seeing the spirit of antichrist. We're seeing the spirit of antichrist. This is one of the themes that John writes about in first John, this spirit of antichrist. Here's what an old Puritan Thomas Manon said about this man di atrophies. He says, this display of preeminence and cheapness is the bane of the church.

If humility and meekness be in the very essence of Christianity and woven throughout the whole frame of it, then it is anti-Christian to be lordly and proud, especially in them who pretend to be successors of Christ. And the apostles, the atrophy's, loved the preeminence. He loved to put himself first. You could maybe think of this, uh, in this way, D atrophy is running a race and he wins. Now, that's a, that's a good thing.

Paul says, run to win the prize, right? But d atrophies then goes to the podium, and instead of letting somebody else crown him, he takes the crown and he puts it on his own head. That's who this man is. He loves the preeminence. He loves the attention. He loves his own name. Now, notice one other thing about D Atrophies. You see it in verse 10.

He's certainly proud. We've already seen that. But notice what is accompanied with his pride. Do you see it there in verse 10? He's not content. He, he, he's not content with where he is at. He's in the church. He's got some level of authority, he's got some position, some reputation in the church, but he's not content with that. And because he's not content, it leads him to continue in his pride. Another way we could think of this,

d atrophies is disgruntled. He's displeased. He's not content with where he's at in his life. Now, friends, there's a, a warning here for us, certainly a warning against pride, thinking of ourselves too highly. But there's a warning here of being discontent, this kind of spiritual discontent where we feel like we deserve more. Uh, we're not being recognized enough. Somebody else is getting more honor than I deserve. That's this spirit of discontent

that we see in d atrophies. And so there's a question here for all of us. Is the spirit of D atrophies present in your own heart? Is the spirit of d atrophies present in your own heart? Do you love to put yourself first? Do you love the preeminence In your conversations, in your circle of friends? Do you sense in your heart this pervasive spiritual discontentedness? If you find yourself becoming overly skeptical of others,

that this is kind of a, a regular pattern in your life, that your opinions are always right. It's, it's great to have opinions, but if yours are always right, no one else seems to be doing things well or right, sort of. I have all the answers. Perhaps this spirit of d atrophies is more prevalent, more present in your heart than you might think be on guard against disgruntledness. Now, sadly, John is pointing out that d atrophies though a leader within this church,

he's not an example of spiritual maturity. So John then goes on to highlight a different example. And here's where we see Demetrius Demetrius, who is a faithful example. Now, Demetrius was probably one of these traveling missionaries who had gone out. Demetrius likely is the one who's bringing this letter from John and delivering it to Gaas. Just kind of an aside here, there's, uh, an interesting, uh, thing to think about.

There's one other Demetrius mentioned in the New Testament. Acts 19 Demetrius, the silversmith. If you remember that story, Demetrius actually opposed Paul and brought much harm to Paul. Uh, what's interesting is that Demetrius lived in Ephesus, and so perhaps Demetrius later had become a Christian, maybe under John's ministry. We don't know. What we do know about Demetrius is that here is, here is an example of godliness

that is worth following. Here is the example worth following verse 12. He has received a good testimony from everyone, and what's more important, his life mirrors the truth. You'll notice that emphatic expression here, the truth itself gives him a good testimony. And so you hold up the truth and you hold up this guy Demetrius. And the truth itself is giving a good testimony to this man. Demetrius. This means his life is consistent

with the gospel that he preaches his life, adorns the gospel. His life has been shaped by the gospel. That's what it means to walk in the truth. Our belief in our behavior. They go together. They're, they're in alignment. And so we could say about this man, Demetrius is not only did he go out for the sake of the name, but he was personally living that same truth in his daily life. And John adds his commendation along with probably the other

elders and leaders in his church. He uses the plural there of we, we ourself at our testimony. And you know that our testimony is true. Now, John is telling Gaius here that Demetrius is the one where to imitates not d atrophies, right? D atrophies is not from God because he's not doing what is good. But Demetrius is the example. This idea to imitate. You see that in verse 11. Do not imitate evil, but imitate good. This is the, the theme you see throughout this letter in,

in John's other letters to imitate means you follow, you follow an example, you follow after something, right? 10, 10 times in the New Testament, we're told to follow good examples. The Apostle Paul being one of those follow good examples as they are following Christ and friends. That's why we need the church, that that's why we need the fellowship of believers. We know we need to know what it looks like to be a disciple,

what it looks like to be a good mom, a, a good dad, a a good nurse or doctor or businessman or even a good missionary. We need examples to follow. And here in Demetrius, we see a call to personal holiness. You see, it matters not just for your own soul, though. That is, that is significantly important. It's not just though for your own soul, it's for the sake of others. Your personal holiness matters for the sake of others.

Others are watching, others should be watching. The question is, when they look at your life, what do they see?

I like how one comment commentator put this comparing these two guys, di atrophy and Demetrius, and he said, when it comes to us, we should look at these guys. And we should say, down with Di, down with di atrophies, long-lived Demetrius, right? That's the call of discipleship. That's our battle. Cry down with d atrophies put that to death. But long live Demetrius. Now there's a, a warning for us here in verse 11. Whoever does evil John tells us has not

seen God. Friends, this is a question to wrestle with. And God knows your heart. God knows my heart. Do you practice evil? Do you practice evil? John says, if you do, you don't know him, you have not seen him. But there's also an assurance here from this verse, if we say we are from God, and if we practice the truth, then we can have confidence that we are true disciples, that we truly are from God.

Lastly, let me point our attention to the example of John the elder, John, the elder, John. Here we see is a legitimate authority, a legitimate authority. It might be discouraging to think about di atrophies. You know, you see this church leader who's John basically says, don't follow him. He's he's not from God. Don't, don't follow this man. It's quite striking that even within the lifetime of the apostles, church leaders have already gone

astray, right? This is not a new thing within the church. But when we look to John, what we see is an elder who is demonstrating for us what true authority looks like, what true authority looks like. So what do we see from John's example? Well, notice first John was a discipler. John was a discipler. He used his authority, uh, for his own sake, but he used it to disciple others. We see gaas in John calls Gaas in verse four, his child.

That means Gaas was John's disciple. And John tells us that his greatest joy in life, it's not to see his name elevated or his apostleship somehow, uh, elevated as the best. No, that's not what he's living for. John's greatest joy is to see his children, his disciples walk in the truth. John uses his authority to disciple others. And notice how John is discipling him. One of the things he does, you see it in verse two.

He prays for gaas. He prays often for him. He prays. He says that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. There's something helpful here. I think instructive for us. It's good to pray for physical health, but there's something even more important than that. And it should always be a reminder for us whenever we're praying for the physical health of somebody, that we're also praying for their soul. That's what John's interested in.

He's praying for his health, but so that it would go good with his soul. What we see here in John's example is that he's not living for his own sake. He's not elevating his own name, but rather he's living for the sake of Christ. And that meant he's putting others before himself. This is the heart of discipleship. So ask yourself that question. Are you a discipler? Are you helping others to walk in the truth?

Notice second thing about John, John rejoiced in the good and the wellbeing of others. We see that in verse three. He rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth. Now, this is, this is not a small thing, right? Self-centered people don't rejoice when others do well. So ask yourself this question, do you delight in hearing about others as they are growing in the faith? Does, does that delight you? Does that bring you joy?

It ought to, it ought to. John rejoiced in this. Here's the third thing about John. We see he was careful to use his authority. Well, he was careful to use his authority. Well, now it's, it's something that's in this text. It's a, it's a little surprising. And many of the commentators, as you read them on this text, they, they kind of address it, but they don't resolve it. What what's so surprising is when John writes this letter,

it's surprising that John did not use his apostolic authority to excommunicate di atrophies, right? You might expect that he would do such a thing, but John didn't look back at verse 10. So if I come, I will bring up what he was doing. You see, John was being careful with his authority. He was being careful not to counter bravado with bravado. He's not trying to turn this into a clash of personalities, John versus Trophe, that that's not what he's doing.

He's seeking to be careful. He's bringing the truth into the light, but he's being patient and he's waiting upon the Lord. When I come, if I come, we'll bring this up. We'll talk about it. Now, there's a interesting thing to think about. Where did John learn to use his authority like this? Where did John learn that? Well, if you remember, there's an account in one of the gospels, mark 10. And there you see, Jesus comes to two of the disciples.

He comes to James and he comes to John, and Jesus asks these two disciples a question. Do you remember that question? Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? That's, that's quite a question. Jesus, were to ask you that. I wonder how you might respond. So James and John, they kind of think about it together. What, what, what should we ask? What, what, what, what do we want Jesus to do for us? And here's what they said.

He said, grant us to sit one at your right and one at your left in your glory. That's a pretty bold request, right? We could say that's, that's the request of D atrophies. Is it not make us, make us powerful. Give us a, give us a authority. Give us a big name, right? That that's what they're asking. And do you remember how Jesus responded to them? He says, you don't know what you're asking. That that's not how my kingdom works.

He says, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord, it over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them, but not so with you that that's not how this works, not so with you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. You see, Jesus is showing us that true authority is meant to serve others. It's not meant to serve ourselves.

And John here, he's living this out. He's walking in the truth. This is a test of a good leader, test of a good leader. How does he use his authority to serve the good of others? And so friends, if you're a leader in any sort of capacity, whether it's here in the church or in your family, or in your business, wherever it might be, ask yourself this question. How do you use your authority? Are you using it to serve the good of others?

Fourth and last thing we see about John was, John was a loving friend. John was a loving friend. He used, he uses this word beloved four different times as he's referencing his friend Gaas. And he calls him Beloved. He values their relationship together. He values this man's friendship. Verse 14, you see, he says there, he longs to talk with Gaas and that he would come and talk to him face to face. And you notice how John ends in verse 15.

He says, the friends greet you. And what does he mean? He means the friends of his church. They're sending their greetings to this other church where Gaas is a part of. And then he is asking gaas to, to greet the friends, greet the friends who are there, and then notice this last little phrase. It's so easy to read over it, but notice what he says, greet them. Greet these friends each by name, greet them by name. You see, John was not too lofty in his authority

as an apostle to not know the names of his church members and to not know the names of these members of this other church. And he's setting a good example for Gaas as well to know these members by name. Why? Because they're friends. That's who, they're, they're friends. That's, it's so fitting for John to end this book in this way. 'cause what? What is he doing? Well, he's, he's recalling, he's reminding us of what Jesus himself said.

You remember in John 15, Jesus says, you are my friends. If you do it, I command you. In other words, if you're a disciple, if you're living according to the truth, you're my friends. That's what Jesus says. No longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

So friends, as we close this book, there's one question that seems to summarize everything we're seeing here in this little book. And it's this question, whose name are you living for? Whose name are you living for? John would encourage us, the only name worth living for is to live for the sake of his name, the name of Christ. And when we do so, we are given a wonderful privilege to be counted among the friends of God.

And when we do so, when we live for his name, we're given a new purpose. And we get to work hard to see his name, not our own, but his name glorified in all the Earth. And when we do so, we are given a hopeful promise as John reminds us. And Revelation 22, when we are in heaven and we are worshiping before the throne and before the lamb, what does he tell us? He says, on that day, we're gonna see his face and his name will be written on our

foreheads, his name. We live for that name now. So that one day we will see him face to face and his name will be written on us. And the Lord God will be our light and we will reign with him forever and ever. Friends, whose name are you living for? His name is the only one worth living for. Amen. Let me pray for us.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this short little letter from John. Thank you that you have given it to us for our edification, for our instruction. I pray for each of us here in this room, that we would be those like Gaas who would walk according to the truth and pray that you would do a wonderful work in each of our hearts. That we would live for the sake of Christ's name, and that we all would one day be in that throne room

with his name written upon us. And we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.