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What Is Your Greatest Joy? (3 John 4)

I. An Incomparable Joy

II. An Indisputable Joy

III. An Impeccable Joy

Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace and mercy be upon all of us with the peace of our Father and the Lord Jesus. I also bring greetings from True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church and the Far Eastern Bible College.

I thank God for this privilege that He has given me to share God's Word this morning. And this is taken from the Epistle of John, the Third Epistle of John, if you have your Bibles with you, we can open to the Third Epistle of John. There's only one chapter here, and we are to consider verse four: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4) And the title for our meditation this morning is a question: What is your greatest joy? What is my greatest joy? What is our greatest joy?

A few years back, there was a survey from Forbes.com seeking questions on how or what men desire — what are the top things that people desperately desire. And of course, number one in the list was happiness, joy. And we all understand that, because we are looking towards that state of joy and happiness. No one here among us would like to go for something that would cause us to be sad, and be worried, anxious, and be troubled.

Of course, what came after that in the survey — happiness, money, freedom, and the likes. There was another question, or questionnaire, that was given, and that was: among these desires, what are the things that can't seem to be attained by people? What are those desires that were not attained by men? Interestingly, number one in the list was still happiness, joy. They desire for it, but they cannot attain this state of true contentment, satisfaction, joy, happiness in life.

Christianity seemed to be addressing this desire for joy. And we hear of many preachers in the past few decades bringing people to experience this joy. We know of a preacher who tries to encourage people to have joy in this present life, and defines Christianity as something that we should be happy and joyful, and live a pleasurable life — a present joy. That's why there's a book that he wrote: Your Best Life Is Now. You don't have to worry about the afterlife. You have to care for what you should experience today. You have to be joyful. You have to be happy. You have to be contented today — this present life. That’s the kind of joy that this preacher is promoting.

There's also another one who coined what we commonly hear today as the ‘hedonistic Christianity’ or ‘Christian hedonism’ — a kind of teaching that would encourage people to have pleasure, and pleasure is the motivating force that causes us to draw closer to God. And whatever we desire that we may be pleased and we be happy in life, that we can ask from the Lord - pleasure. And that is a life that is desiring for joy in the present — a kind of contentment, satisfaction that is based on worldly standards.

But majority of us is so familiar with this kind of joy that is being introduced. As many probably here come from Singapore, this is this teaching — that we have to have prosperity in order to have joy. You have to be prosperous. You have to be wealthy. You have to be healthy in order to have joy, and you are contented and satisfied in life. Without this, there is no such thing as a joyful kind of Christianity.

But is this the greatest joy that we have as taught in the Scriptures? Is this the joy that the Bible is teaching us? Is this the kind of joy that Christians should seek for? And that's why we have to ask ourselves: What is our greatest joy? Are we experiencing this joy as described from the Bible? Are we experiencing this kind of joy as what God wants us to have, and what the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to have in our lives?

We have to look into these few words of this book which may, I believe, not be so commonly preached — because it is just a short epistle. In fact, this is the shortest epistle in the Scriptures — or in the Bible — the Third Epistle of John. And in this epistle we have here a contrast of Christians who are walking in the truth and walking in the ways of the enemy — ways of the devil.

We have here some people mentioned by John who welcomed those disciples of his as they visited the church in Ephesus. This is probably a church in Ephesus in those days. John was ministering to the church in Ephesus. This was before his exile in the isle of Patmos. And he sent disciples into this church, and there were two responses that he saw. One was a welcoming kind of people — was joyful to bring in and to rejoice of the blessings and the words extended to them by the Apostle John. And the others were those who tried to have preeminence among themselves — they don’t want anybody to come (Diotrephes).

In this short letter of the Apostle John, we can see the situation of the churches even today. In those days it had happened, and we have this familiarity among our churches where there are two kinds of people: those who are walking in truth, and those who are walking in themselves — for their own sake.

And so, John here wants us to understand what is this kind of joy that he experienced when he knew that there were people who were walking in truth in that church. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 1:4) And so we are going to look into this joy — this greatest joy. What is this joy? And as Christians, do we experience this joy, or do we desire this joy? And let us pray that the Lord will grant us this kind of joy. Not the joy that is just for the present day. Not the joy that is just for pleasure. Not the joy that is brought by prosperity, but a joy that is scriptural. Joy that is taught by God in His Word.

I. An Incomparable Joy

And first, here we have to understand that John described this joy as an incomparable joy — a joy that cannot be compared by anything — because he says, “I have no greater joy.” And we all understand that if we compare, there must be something that we use to compare. We cannot say that I ate the best durian in town when you have not eaten some other durian in other places. You cannot compare when you have not tasted other things.

And so John here was expressing that he had that joy, but this one thing that I have experienced and have known is greater and far than what I have experienced in the past, or what I have experienced even in the present time. So he says, “I have no greater joy.” He had experienced this joy in his life as he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was called — you remember that — when he and his brother James were called by the Lord Jesus Christ. At first, they were hesitant. And then, when Peter and Andrew went to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, they also followed. But when they followed, they had some questions on how the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with the people. They even wanted people to come and follow. He ordered the Lord Jesus Christ to send thunder and then lightning to those who were not following Him. That’s why they were known as the "lightning and thunder brothers" — James and John.

But later they knew, and John himself experienced that great joy when he witnessed himself the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. Today, this Sunday is called as the Palm Sunday in many churches. And if we think of many — I mean like Roman Catholic countries like us in the Philippines — we would be seeing so many leaves of palms inside the church. But this sets us a pace to remember the Passion Week — the week by which the Lord Jesus Christ experienced a tremendous suffering, ending in excruciating pain on the cross, on His death, for the sole purpose of dying for our sins.

And it’s interesting that Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, described this. There was this joy in the Lord Jesus — not that He was joyful and happy and rejoicing throughout the Passion Week. It was a great, tremendous suffering in His side. But he says: ‘for that joy that was set before him, he endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2).

The joy that was set — He looked forward to that joy. He knew that that will come. And He saw your faces. He knows your names. And He sees and He looks forward to the time that you and I will be with Him forever in eternity in His glory. And that’s the joy that moved Him to go on, and to move on, and to carry that cross, and even gave Himself to die on that cross.

The joy that was set. It was not a joy that must be experienced today. It was not a joy that was pleasurable. There was no pleasure in being whipped and being scourged. It was not even a pleasure of prosperity — Jesus had none. But it was a joy that was set before Him, because He knew that because of that sacrifice on the cross, you and I will be there with Him for eternity. And that's the joy that He looks forward to. That's the greatest joy of the Lord Jesus that He looks forward to.

And that's a problem that we have today in Christianity — because we are so much influenced by so many theologies and so many doctrines that are false, based on sociology, psychology, psychiatry, based on the teachings of the world, that we don't know and we are so ignorant of this joy that we should have as believers.

First and foremost, here we know of the salvific joy of John. There is no other joy that we can experience here. All of us who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ — we have to understand there is this great joy that we have when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you feel it? Don't you understand what is that great joy?

Sometimes we are clouded with so many economic problems today. When we hear of tariff and others, we sometimes forget about our joy of salvation. But there is this joy — knowing that we are already forgiven, knowing that we are already saved, knowing that we are already to be with our God — that joy, that great joy.

And I pray that all of us — we may go through some difficult circumstances in life, challenges in life — but we have to understand we have this great joy because we have experienced that great miracle. We who were dead in trespasses and sins are now quickened. We are now alive. There's a great joy that must be experienced by every Christian — that will erase all doubts, all anxieties, all depressions — because we know we have life eternal with God. ‘There is no more condemnation to those we are in Christ Jesus’(Romans 8:1). And that's the joy that we have as believers.

But there is another joy that is also given — a privilege for us — as we share the Word of God to others. What a great joy it is to have people be led to believe in Christ, people to come to Christ, because you have witnessed, you have given a tract, or you have shared your testimony. There's a greater joy — not that we only experience our own joy, but we also see that another person is saved. It is not because of us. It is not by our power. It is not by our eloquence. It’s not by the way we convince them. But it’s the power of the Spirit of God convicting this person to believe. And what a greater joy it is to see other people come to God — come to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our desire.

But John here says that he has no greater joy. This is superlative. It is not just comparative to what he has experienced. It is the best. It is the greatest joy. And this he says—this is greatest—because I know that those who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the witness, through the teachings, through the giving, the sharing, the preaching of God's word, here they are walking in truth. They just don't profess and say, ‘I am a Christian.’ He knew well that they are actively living out their Christianity, and that's what was so great in John's heart.

I believe when we share God's word to others and they come to the church, that is so privileged to bring that word to her, to him, and then we are so joyful to see them in the church. But how it is good, and how is greater, and even greatest joy for us to see them growing in the Lord. When we see them come to church regularly, when we see them come to the church to hear God's word, when we see them even growing in the faith, and when we see them even sharing their own testimony and the gospel to others—what a great joy, even the greatest.

And I pray we desire that—we desire that when we share God's word, someone, somebody will come to believe. And then, when somebody believe, he will grow. And this person who believe through the sharing of the gospel—he also, she also—will bring that word to others, walking, living in the truth.

That's the greatest joy of believers. It's not about money. It's not about estates. It's not about whatever vacations or holidays. It's all about souls. That's the greatest joy that John says here ‘they are walking in the truth’ (3 John 1:4). They are walking in God's word. So as joyful of his own salvation, he was more joyful when he share God's word and these people come to believe in God. But it was most joyful when these people who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ grow in the faith, and they also became witnesses and testimonies of God's glory.

Where God's word is given the preeminence—not the person—like here with Diotrephes, who wants to be known in the church and wants to be known as a great leader and wants to be given the prime attention of the people. No, he says it is the glory of God, and the glory of God is given the preeminence when people who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ continue on to grow and share and teach and preach the word of God.

You don't need to go to Far Eastern Bible College to share God's word. We, by our own experience and the truth that we have learned from God's word and the lessons that we have learned from the Bible studies, in your worship services and other ministries—that you can share and give and testify for them.

Incomparable joy. I have my joy. There is a greater joy. But there is greatest joy in his life when he sees that these are bearing fruits.

II. An Indisputable Joy

And John continues to describe—this is not just an incomparable joy—it is an indisputable joy. Something that you cannot contradict, you cannot disprove, because he says here, I myself heard it. I heard it.

And this gives us the idea of John continually following up these people. You don't just share God's word and tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ, and when he come to believe, ‘Okay, let the Spirit guide you, brother. Let the Spirit lead you, sister. You can move on.’

Just like a tender plant or your seeds sown, and when they begin to germinate, you are there to water them. You are there to care for them. You are there to cultivate the soil. You are there to put fertiliser. You are there to even talk to them, because you want this plant to grow and bear fruit—or bear or have flowers. It is a personal joy. It is indisputable because he was himself hearing it, learning it, knowing it—that these people whom John referred to continued to walk in the truth.

And the word “hear” in this passage is continuous. He keeps on asking. He keeps on inquiring: How about this man? How about that sister? How about that brother? Now, as we grow old—and this is also what I experience—I sometimes, not sometimes but many times, forget names and even forget some people whom we have met. But John here gives us the idea of someone who keeps on asking, inquiring: How about this man? Is he continuing? Is he in the church?

When you look at our side—who was this person beside me last week? Why is he not here? Do you utter words of prayer for him? What happened to him? Is there some problem? Is there some concern? Are we bothered, or do we care for one another? And that is the joy that John here wants to inculcate among the believers in Ephesus —you have to think of others, that they may grow. Don't just think of yourselves. Anyway, I'm here. Pastor saw me. The deacons saw me. I'm here in the church. I'm in the Bible study. That's enough. We have to think of others and pray for them. Who are these people beside me? Why are they not coming? Where are they living? Can I visit them? Can I call them? Can I message them? Can I get their attention and invite them again?

That's John's greatest joy—to see that people were growing in the faith. And he continuously doing it. It was not just asking, then after that forget about them. He persistently continued to do the assessment: that I may hear, that I might hear and will continue to hear this people who walks in the truth.

The joy that I have is continuous. The joy that I have is there always in my heart. When I hear of this person, when I hear of that person, there is this joy that keeps on coming. And that is the greatest joy that I have. And he's active in a way by which he purposely inquired for them.

There are times that we forget people because they've been long gone from the church—long gone and have not communicated with us—and suddenly they will come. And when they come, do you welcome them with joy, with excitement, and to inquire from them: How are you? Or are we just, you know, staring and, ‘Oh, here's this man. I saw him once. I saw him a year ago. Okay, let him come.’

A principal in FEBC, he says sometimes we Bible Presbyterians, we are as cool as cucumbers. I mean, we know we don't need to be so warm to embrace and shake hands to welcome them. But there is this joy, supposedly, in our hearts—to know and to see these people coming to church, coming to our Bible studies, coming to our ministries. And when God sees that they are there, we also have this joy to know that indeed they are walking and they are following and they are pursuing in the ways of God.

It is indisputable. John says: ‘I know myself. I know this joy because I believe and I have heard and I’m continually hearing that they are doing this. And I purposely inquired, asked for them.’ And this cannot be done by the pastor alone. Sometimes we think that, you know, pastor must do it. He is paid.

If we have that joy in our hearts as believers, we are convicted that indeed it is a great deliverance that we have experienced from God. We ourselves are concerned with others. We don't have to wait for the so-called full-time workers to do this. We ourselves must do it and have the desire to work for it—because it is our joy.

You don't desire for greater joy and greatest joy if you have no joy in yourself. If you don't have that happiness, if you are not blessed by the presence of these people, you don't have the desire to reach out for them. You don't have the desire to let them come. You don't have the desire to inquire for them—because you yourself do not even the desire to inquire of your own state. And that reflects, actually—if we don't want the greater joy and the greatest joy—we ourselves don't have that great joy. And that's a good question for us to ask ourselves. Do I have that great joy? That's why I look forward to that greater joy and the greatest joy.

Because if I don't have that, I myself just come to the church, and it's enough for me to be here and to sit down and warm the pew. And don't bother to pray, don't bother to help, and don't bother to participate and actively be part of the ministry, then there's no point for me to seek for greater one. I don't have even the baseline.

And that's what John here describes.

III. An Impeccable Joy

Then he continued here to say this is not just an incomparable joy, an indisputable joy, but it is impeccable—impeccable in the sense that it is a joy that is without reproach, a joy that is without any blemish, a joy that is, we may say, inherent, infallible, because it is truly based on God's word. He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children" - those who are in the ministry, those whom I have shared the word of God, those who have heard the preaching of God’s word, they - "walk in truth" (3 John 1:4, KJV).

An idea of walking—here we have to understand what is the idea of walking. It is living out. It's not just walking towards a church or walking around. It's just walking in order to live out, or this is actually reflecting our conversation, our lifestyle, our day-to-day living, our day-to-day walk with God. And he says here that they are walking in truth. Walking here is a continuous description of one who is always living in the truth.

And we understand that it is not just living out. We know that those who are in the truth, when they are walking in it, they are learning God's word. For you cannot live out what you don't know. You cannot live out what you don't have, or what you are not acquainted of. You have to understand and to learn God's word.

And this is why we are encouraged to continue on actively participating, present in the ministries of this church, to learn God's word. Learning God's word is important in order for us to be able to live out the word of God.

Of course, there must be loving of God's word. We have to love God's word. We have to read it daily. We have to not only rely on the preaching on Sundays. We have to take in and pray that the Lord will teach us every Sunday, every Lord's Day, but we also ourselves is partaking, eating, taking. And that's what we have read in our responsive reading, where we are told that we are meditating the word of God. ‘Word of God is his meditation day and night’ (Psalm 1:2).

And here in Australia, you are so familiar with ruminants—with sheep and cattle—and you know these animals. When we were trained as vets before to understand what is the state of a healthy cattle, a healthy sheep, and the best thing and the first thing that we have to look is their mouth. And that is how they regurgitate. They're lying down, chewing what they have taken in. You know how they eat grass and fill their four stomachs, and then after that, lie down and bring back out what they have eaten in order to make it into smaller size. That's how they do it.

And that's also how we can see here meditation. When we receive the words of God here in the worship service, it's not living out the word of God after we leave the door, and then the word of God is just here. When we go to our own homes, we open the Bible, read God's word, meditate, regurgitate like the sheep and the cattle—chewing it, making it fine—so that it can easily be absorbed and understood and absorbed in our lives, so that we can live out this word of God.

A joy that is based on the truth. A joy that is walking in truth. For we have so many, as I mentioned earlier, of this joy that is just based on worldly standards—joy that is just because of the pleasure, and money, prosperity, and the present entertainment and amusement in this world. That is the basis of joy today. But the joy that John here describes is the joy of one having children, people who come to believe, to grow and mature, and also grow and be used by God to bring the word of God to others.

We have a very good illustration this morning of the infant baptism of this child—where the parents promised that they indeed would desire to inculcate, to train up this child in the admonition of the Lord. And not only to teach them, but to pray for him. That's what John here is teaching us—for us to experience this greatest joy, which is the joy of having children who grow up and be used by God as mighty soldiers of God, as mighty preachers of the word of God. We will have also that joy in ourselves to know that they are walking in truth.

Before the Reformation in 1517—as we always associate ourselves with Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and all these heroes of the Reformation—there was one person who actually lived 300 years before the Reformation. He was thought to be the proto-reformer. Others would say it was Augustine, but he was one of those who was really bringing Reformation in the fields—in the countryside—bringing many people to believe truly in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the truth.

His name was Peter Waldo, and he's known as the leader of what we commonly hear today as the Waldensians or the Waldenses. Waldo was a Frenchman. He was a rich merchant. But even though he had so much money and treasure and fields, properties, he didn't have that joy. He didn't have that happiness in his life, and so he desired to have that. And he heard of a preaching of a monk called Alexis, and this monk preached on how the Lord Jesus Christ encouraged people to sell everything that you have, and then follow, take up your cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so he tried. He says, ‘I don't want anymore all these treasures of the world. I don't want anymore all these money, all these properties. I want to have that joy—that joy in God.’ And so he followed this example to be like a monk. But he was empty. He did what was to sacrifice. He emptied himself of things of this world. But he lacked something. And that he understood: although I can give myself to sacrifice and leave myself nothing, I'm not walking in truth. I am not walking in truth.

Because in those days, there was no Bible available for them. There was no Bible that can be read by people. It was in Latin. And even preached during those times in the Middle Ages, where the Roman Catholics didn't even know and understand what is Latin. And so when they preach, they just hear from the bishops, the Pope, what is to be preached. They don't know what is the Scripture. Priests didn't even know what is in the Scripture.

And so Peter Waldo had this desire that he should be walking in truth. And he had some remaining fields to sell. And he says, ‘I must hire scholars, priests, to translate the Bible from Latin to their own vernacular—their own dialect.’ And that was the first translation into the vernacular, where people—when they hear—and he himself says, ‘Oh, salvation is just by faith alone. It's not by working. It's not by whatever sacraments that we do.’ And they discovered that this is the truth. And they realised that indeed it's not just living sacrificially. Don't equate poverty with holiness. It is living according to God's word. And they had it.

They were the first group of people to have this. In fact, after the Roman Catholics knew that there was a translation, they burned as many of those copied books. In those days, there were no printing presses to be burned. And even persecuted the Waldensians. But many of them continued on. They were called the Poor Men of Lyons—Lyon, France—that was the place where they started. And went on like peddlers to share the word of God—copied books of the translated Bible in their own language. And they understood. And many rejoiced. Why? Because they can now walk in truth.

You can try to walk in holiness as what you think is holy. You can try to live righteously as what you think is righteous. You can think of giving yourself sacrificially to the church or whatever ministry, to think that is sacrificial. But if it's not according to God's word, that is nothing. That is not what God seeks from us. That is not what God wants from us.

And so John says he had no greater joy than to hear that his children walk according to God's word—walk according to the Scripture—walk according to the inspired and preserved word of God. And that's what we need today. Because we are so much influenced with the world that we think we have another form of Christianity. But we have to go back to the Bible.

Peter Waldo was not satisfied in just sacrificing himself to live a life poor and deprived of many. What was deprived from him was the truth of God's word. And we thank God that here we still have this word of God preached. And I pray that we desire for this. May the Lord grant us the love to learn the word of God, so that we can live out and walk in the truth. That is what God wants from us.

In a day where we are expecting the soon-coming return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are at the brink of World War III, as they said. In fact, we are few steps from that because of the situation of the world today. There's a need for us to truly preach the word of God, to walk in the truth and that is the greatest joy that every Christian should desire in life.

I pray the Lord will help us and grant us and ask ourselves: What is my greatest joy? Yes, I am greatly rejoicing over my salvation. And I rejoice over others because they have heard God's word. But is it really that they are living out the word of God? Am I living out the word of God? Am I walking in the truth?

May the Lord help us. May the Lord bless us. Let us pray.

Our gracious, loving Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this morning. We thank Thee for Thy word. Thank Thee, O Lord, for Thy Spirit who guides us and leads us. And we pray that through this, we be convicted, O Lord, if truly we have that great joy in our hearts—and greater joy to bring the gospel to others—and greatest joy, knowing that these people have heard the gospel from us, walk in truth.

We pray, Father, that You will bless everyone who are here and let Thy Spirit work in our hearts to know and understand what You need from us to do. We pray that You will bless this church, continue to let Thy word be the centre of the preaching of this word. We pray that You'll preserve our pastor, the deacons. Pray that You will be with the members, visitors, and guests of today's worship—that all of us, O Lord, will come to that greatest joy that You have desired from us in knowing that we are not just saved, but we are used by Thee to even bring others to come to fruition. So, Father, we pray that You will continue to be with us in this worship service, to the glory and honour of Thy name.

For we pray and ask all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

greetings in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ grace and mercy be upon all of us with the peace of our father and the

Lord Jesus i also bring greetings from True

Life Bible Presbyterian Church and the Far Eastern Bible College

i thank God for this privilege that he has given me to share God's word

this morning and this is taken from the epistle of

John the third epistle of John uh if you have your Bibles with you

we can open to the third epistle of John there's only one chapter here and we are

to consider verse

four i have no greater joy than to hear

that my children walk in truth i have no greater joy than to hear

that my children walk in truth

and the title for our meditation this morning is a question what is your greatest

joy what is my greatest joy what is our greatest joy few years

back there was a survey from

Forbes.com seeking questions on how or

what men desires what are the top

things that people desperately

desire and of course number one in the list was

happiness joy and we all understand that because we are

looking towards that state of joy and happiness no one here among us would

like to go for something that would cause us to be sad and be worried

anxious and be troubled of course what came after that

survey happiness money freedom and the likes there was another question or

questioner that was given and that was among these

desires what are the things that can't seem to be attained by

people what are those desires that were not attained by men

interestingly number one in the list was still happiness

joy they desire for it but he cannot attain this state of true

contentment satisfaction joy happiness in life

christianity seemed to be addressing this desire for

joy and we hear of many preachers in the past few decades of bringing people to

experience this joy we know of a preacher who tries to

encourage people to have joy in this present life and defines Christianity as

something that we should be happy and joyful and live a pre pleasurable life a

present joy that's why there's a book that he wrote your best life is

now you don't have to worry about the afterlife you have to care for what you

should experience today you have to be joyful you have to be happy you have to

be contented today this present life that's the kind of joy that this

preacher is promoting there's also another one who coined what

we commonly hear today as the hedonistic Christianity or Christian hedonism a

kind of teaching that would encourage people to have pleasure and pleasure is

the motivating force that cause us to draw closer to God and whatever we

desire that we may be pleased and we be happy in life that we can ask from the

Lord pleasure and that is a life that is

desiring for joy in the present kind of

contentment satisfaction that is based on worldly

standards but majority of us is so familiar with this kind of joy that is

being introduced as many probably here comes from Singapore this is this

teaching that we have to have prosperity in order to have joy you have to be

prosperous you have to be wealthy you have to be healthy in order to have joy

and you are contented and satisfied in life without this there is no such thing

as a joyful kind of Christianity but is this the greatest

joy that we have as taught in the scriptures is this the joy that the

Bible is teaching us is this the kind of joy that Christians should seek

for and that's why we have to ask ourselves what is our greatest joy are

we experiencing this joy as described from the Bible are we experiencing this

kind of joy as what God wants us to have and what the Lord Jesus Christ wants us

to have in our lives we have to look into these few words of

this book which may I believe not so

commonly preached because it is just a short epistle in fact this is the

shortest epistle in the scriptures or in the Bible the third epistle of John

and in this epistle we have here

a contrast of Christians who are walking

in the truth and walking in the ways of

the enemy ways of the devil we have here some people mentioned by

John who welcomed those disciples of his as they visited

the church in Ephesus this is probably a church in

Ephesus at those in those days John was ministering to the church in Ephesus

this was before his exile in the aisle of

Patmos and he sent disciples into this church and there were two responses that

he saw one was a welcoming kind of people was joyful to

bring in and to rejoice of the blessings

and the words extended to them by the apostle John and the others were those

who tried to have preeeminence among themselves they don't want anybody to

come the Otifus in this short letter of the apostle John we can

see the situation of the churches even today in those days it had happened and

we have this familiarity among our churches where there are two kinds of

people those who are walking in truth and those who are walking in themselves

for their own sake and so John here wants us to

understand what is this kind of joy that he experienced when he knew that there

were people who were walking in truth in that church he says,"I have no greater joy than to

hear that my children walk in truth." And so we are going to look into this

joy this greatest joy what is this joy and as we as Christians do we experience

this joy or do we desire this joy and let us pray that the Lord will

grant us this kind of joy not the joy that is

just for the present day not the joy that is just for pleasure that is not a

joy that is brought by prosperity but a joy that is scriptural joy that is

taught by God in his word

and first here we have tounderstand that John described this joy as an incomparable joy a joy that cannot

be compared by anything because he says I have no greater joy and we all

understand that if we compare there must be something that we use to compare we cannot say that I ate the best durian in

town when you have not eaten some other durian in other places you cannot compare when you have not tasted other

things and so John here was expressing that he had that joy but this one thing

that I have experienced and have known is greater and far than what I have

experienced in the p in the past or what I have experienced even in the present

time so he says I have no greater joy he had experienced this joy in his life

as he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ he was called you remember that when he

and his brother James was were called by the Lord Jesus Christ at first they were

hesitant and then when Peter and Andrew went to follow the Lord Jesus Christ

they also followed but they when they followed they have some questions on how

the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with the people did even want people to come and

follow he ordered the Lord Jesus Christ who sent thunder and then lightning and

to those who were not following him that's why they were known as the

lightning and thunder brothers James and

John but later they know and John himself experienced that great joy when

he witnessed himself of the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on

the cross today this Sunday is called as the

Palm Sunday in many churches and if we think of many I mean

like Roman Catholic countries like us in the Philippines we we would be seeing so

many lives of palms inside the church but this sets us a pace to

remember the passion week the week by which the Lord Jesus

Christ experienced a tremendous suffering ending an excruciating pain on

the cross on his death for the sole purpose of dying for our

sins and it's interesting that Paul in his letter to the Hebrews described this

there was this joy in the Lord Jesus not that he was joyful and happy and

rejoicing throughout the passion week it was a great tremendous suffering in his

side but he says for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross the

joy that was set he looked forward to that joy he

knew that that will come and he saw your faces he knows your names and he sees

and he looks forward to the time that you and I will be with him forever in

eternity in his glory and that's the joy that moved him to go on and to move on

and to carry that cross and even gave himself to die on that

cross the joy that was set it was not a joy that must be

experienced today it was not a joy that was pleasurable there was no pleasure in

being whipped and being [Music] scored it was not even a pleasure of

prosperity jesus had none but it was a joy that was set before him

because he knew that because of that sacrifices or that sacrifice on the

cross you and I will be there with him for eternity and that's the joy that he looks

forward that's the greatest joy of the Lord Jesus that he looks

forward and that's a problem that we have today in Christianity because we have we are so much influenced by so

many theologies and so many doctrines that are false uh based on sociology

psychology psychiatry based on the teachings of the world that we don't know and we are so

ignorant of this joy that we should have as believers

first and foremost here we know of the salvific joy of

John there is no other joy that we can experience here all of us who have come

to the Lord Jesus Christ we have to understand there is this great joy that

we have when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ don't you feel it do

don't you understand what is that great joy sometimes we are clouded with so many economic problems today when we

hear of tariff and others we sometimes forget about our joy of

salvation but there is this joy knowing that we are already forgiven knowing

that we are already saved knowing that we are already to be with our

God that joy that great joy and I pray that all of us we may go through some

difficult circumstances in life challenges in life but we have to understand we have this great joy

because we have experienced that great miracle we who were dead in trespasses

and sins are now quickened we are now alive

there's a great joy that must be experienced by every Christian that will

erase all doubts all anxieties all

depressions because we know we have life eternal with

God there is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ

Jesus and that's the joy that we have as believers but there is another joy that

is also given a privilege for us as we share the word of God to others what a

great joy it is to have people be led to

believe in Christ people to come to Christ because you have witnessed you have you have

given a trect or you have shared your testimony there's a greater joy not that

we only experience our own joy but we also see that another person

is saved it is not because of us it is not by our power it is not by our

eloquence it's not by our the way we convince them but it's the power of the

spirit of God convicting this person to believe and what a greater joy it is to

see other people come to God come to the Lord Jesus Christ it is our

desire but John here says that he has no

greater joy this is superlative it is not just comparative

to what he has experienced it is the best it is the greatest

joy

and this he says this is greatest because I know that those who have come

to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the witness through the teachings through the giving the sharing

the preaching of God's word here they are walking in truth they just don't

profess and say I am a Christian he knew well that they are

actively living out their Christianity and that's what was so

great in John's heart i believe when we share God's word to others and they come

to the church that is so you know you you you are you are so

privileged to bring that word to her to him and then we are so joyful to see them in the church but how it is good

and how is greater and even greatest joy for us to see them growing in the Lord

when we see them come to church regularly when we see them come to the church to hear God's word when we see

them even growing in the faith and when we see them even sharing

their own testimony and their and the gospel to others what a great joy even

the greatest and I pray we desire that we desire that when we share God's

word someone somebody will come to believe and then when somebody believe

he will grow and this person who believe through the sharing of our go of the

gospel he also she also will bring that word to others walking living in the

truth that's the greatest joy of believers it's not about money it's not

about estates it's not about whatever vacations or holidays it's all

about souls that's the greatest joy that John

says here they are walking in the truth they are walking in God's

word so he was joyful of his own salvation he was more joyful when he

share God's word and come to and these people come to believe in God but it was

most joyful when these people who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ grow

in the faith and they also became witnesses and testimonies of God's glory

where God's word is given the preeeminence not the person like here

with the deotrifice who wants to be known in the church and wants to be known as a great leader and wants to be

given the the prime attention of the people no he

says it is the glory of God and the glory of God is given the preeminence

when people who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ continues on to

grow and share and teach and preach the word of God you don't need to go to Far

Eastern Bible College to share God's word we by our own experience and the truth

that we have learned from God's word and the lessons that we have learned from

the Bible studies in your in your worship services and other

ministries that you can share and give and testify for

them incomparable joy i have my joy there is a greater joy but there is a

great there is greatest joy in his life when he sees that these are bearing

[Music] fruits and John continues to describe

this is not just an incomparable joy it is an indisputable joy something that

you should you cannot contradict you cannot disprove because he says here I myself

heard it i heard it and this gives us the idea

of John continually following up these people you don't just share God's word

and tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ and when he come to believe okay let the spirit guide you brother let the

spirit lead you sister you can move on just like a tender plant or your seeds

sewn and when they began to germinate you are there to water them you are

there to care for them you are there to cultivate the soil you are there to put fertilizer you are there to even talk to

them because you want this plant to grow and bear fruit or bear or have

flowers it is a personal joy it is indisputable because he was himself

hearing it learning it knowing it that these people whom John referred to

continued to walk in the truth and the word here in this passage

is continuous he keeps on asking he keeps on inquiring how about this man how

about that sister how about that brother now as we grow old and this is also what

I experience i sometimes not sometimes but many times forget names and even

forget some people whom we have met but John here gives us the idea of

someone who keeps on asking inquiring how about this man is he continuing is

he in the church when you look at our

side who was this person beside me last week why is he not here do you utter

words of prayer for him what happened to him is there some problem is there some

concern are we are we bothered or are we or do we care for one another and that

is the the joy that John here wants to to inculcate among the believers in

Ephesus you have to think of others that they may grow don't just think of

yourselves you just anyway any anyway I'm here pastor saw me the deacons saw

me i'm here in the church i'm in the Bible study that's enough we have to

think of others and pray for them who are these people beside me why are they

not coming where they are living and can I visit them can I call them can I message them can I call and can I get

their their attention and invite them

again that's John's greatest joy to see that people were growing in the faith

and he continuously doing it it was not just asking then after that forget about

them he persistently continued to do the

assessment that I may hear that I might

hear and will continue to hear this people who who walks in the truth

the joy that I have is continuous the joy that I have is there

always in my heart when I hear of this person when I hear of that person there

is this joy that keeps on coming and that is the greatest joy that I

have and he's active in a a way by which he

purposely inquired for them there are times that we forget people

because they've been long gone from the church long gone and have not

communicated with us and suddenly they will

come and when they come do you welcome them with your great

I mean with with joy with

excitement and to inquire from them how about you how how are

you or are we just you know staring and oh here's this man i know I I I saw him

once I saw him a year ago okay let him come a principal in FEBC he says

sometimes we Bible Presbyterians we are as cool as

cucumbers i mean we know don't need to be so warm to embrace and shake hands

to welcome them but there is this joy supposedly in our

hearts to know and to see these people coming to church coming to our Bible

studies coming to our ministries and when God sees that they are there we

also have this joy to know that indeed they are walking and they are following

and they are pursuing in the ways of

God it is indisputable john says "I know myself i

know this joy because I believe and I have heard and I continually heard is

hearing that they are doing this and I purposely inquired asked for

them and this cannot be done by the pastor alone sometimes we think that you

know pastor must do it he is paid you know if we have that joy in our

hearts as believers we are convicted that indeed

is a great deliverance that we have experienced from God we ourselves are

concerned with others you have we don't have to wait for the so-called full-time

workers to do this we ourselves must do it and have the desire to work for it

because it is our joy you don't desire for greater joy and

greatest joy if you have no joy in yourself if you don't have

that happiness if you are not blessed by the presence of these

people you don't have the desire to reach out for them you don't have the

desire to let them come you don't have the desire to inquire for them because you yourself do not even the desire to

inquire of your own state and that reflects actually if we don't

want the greater joy and the greatest joy we ourselves don't have that great joy and that's a good question for us to

ask ourselves

do I have that great joy that's why I look forward to that greater joy and the greatest joy because

I if I don't have that I myself just come to the church and it's enough for

me to be here and to sit down and warm the pew do and don't bother to pray and don't

bother to help and don't bother to participate and actively be part of the

ministry then there's no point for me to seek for greater one I don't have even

the

baseline and that's what John here describes

Then he continued here to say this is not just an incomparable joy an

indisputable joy but it is impeccable impeccable in the sense that it is a joy

that is without reproach a joy that is without any blemish a joy that is we may

say inherent infalluable because it is truly based on God's word he says "I

have no greater joy than to hear that my children those who are in the ministry

those whom I have shared the word of God those who have heard the preaching of

God's word they walk in truth." An idea of walking here we have

to understand what is the idea of walking it is living

out it's not just walking towards a church or walking

around it's just walking in order to live out or this is

actually reflecting our conversation our

lifestyle our our daytoday living our daytoday walk with

God and he says here that they are walking in truth walking here continuous

a description of one who is always living in the

truth and we understand that it is not just living out we know that he they

those who are in the truth when they are walking in it they are learning God's

word for you cannot live out what you don't know you cannot live out what you

don't have or what you are not acquainted of you have to understand and

to learn God's word and this is why we are encouraged to continue on actively

participating present in our min in the ministries of this church to learn God's

word learning God's word is important in order for us to be able to live out the

word of God of course there must be loving of God's word we have to love

God's word we have to read it daily we have to not only rely on the preaching

on Sundays we have to take in and pray that the Lord will teach us every Sunday

every Lord's day but we also ourselves is partaking eating taking and that's

what we have read in our in our responsive reading where we are told

that we are meditating the word of

God word of God is his meditation day and

night and here in Australia you are so familiar with Rominance with sheep and cattle and you

know these animals when they they they are we were trained as as vets before to

to understand what there what are or what is the state of a healthy cattle a

healthy sheep and the best thing and the first thing

that we have to look is their mouth and that is how they

regurgitate they're lying down chewing what they have taken

in you know how they eat grass and fill their for stomach and then after that

lie down and bring back out what they have eaten in order to make it into

smaller size that's how they they they do it and that's also how we can see

here meditation when we receive the words of God here in the worship service

it it's not living out the word of God after we live the door and then word of

God is just here when we go to our own homes we open the Bible read God's word

meditate regurgitate like the sheep and the and the cattle chewing it making it

fine so that it can easily be absorbed and understood and absorbed in our lives

so that we can live out this word of

God a joy that is based on the truth a joy that is walking in

truth for we have so many as I mentioned earlier of this joy that is just based

on worldly standards joy that is just because of the pleasure and money

prosperity and the present entertainment and amusement in this

world that is the basis of joy today but the joy that John here describes is the

joy of one having children people who come to believe to

grow and mature and also grow and be

used by God to bring the word of God to others

we have a very good illustration this morning of of this baptism of the in of

infant baptism of this child where the parents promised that

they indeed would desire to inculcate to train up this child in

the admonition of the Lord and not only to to teach them but to pray for him

that's what John here is teaching us for us to experience this greatest joy which

is the joy of having children who grew up and be used by God as mighty soldiers

of God as mighty preachers of the word of God we will have also that joy in

ourselves to know that they are walking in truth

before the

reformation in 1517 as we some we always associate ourselves with Luther

Kelvin Zwingley and all these heroes of the reformation there was one person who

actually lived 300 years before the

reformation he was thought to be the protoreformer

others would say it was Augustine but he was one of those who was really bringing

reformation in the fields in in I mean in the countryside bringing many people

to believe truly in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the truth his name

was Peter Waldo and he's known as the leader of

what we commonly hear today as the Walden or the

Waldenses waldo was a French man

he was a rich merchant but even though he had so much

money and treasure and fields

properties he didn't have that joy he didn't have that happiness in his life

as though he desired to have that and he heard of a preaching of a monk called

Alexis and this monk preached on how the Lord Jesus

Christ encouraged people to sell everything that you have and then follow

take up your cross daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ and so he tried he

says "I don't want anymore all these treasures of the world i don't want anymore all these money all these

properties i want to have that joy that joy in God and so he followed this

example of to be like a monk but he was

empty he did what was to sacrifice he emptied himself of things of this world

but he lacks something and that he understood

although I can give myself to sacrifice and live myself nothing I'm not walking in

truth i am not walking in truth because in those days there was no Bible

available for them there was no Bible that was that can be read by people it

was in Latin and even preached during those times in the middle ages where the

Roman Catholics didn't even know and understand what is Latin and so when they preach they just hear from the the

bishops the pope what is to be preached they don't know what is the scripture priest didn't even know what

is in the scripture and so Peter Waldo had this desire that he should be

walking in truth and he has some remaining fields

to sell and he says "I must hire scholars priests to translate the Bible

from Latin to their own vernacular their own dialect." And that was the

first translation into the vernacular where people when they hear

and he himself says "Oh salvation is just by faith alone

it's not by working it's not by whatever sacraments that we do." And they discovered that this is the truth and he

realized that indeed it's not just living sacrificially don't equate poverty with

holiness it is living according to God's word and they had it they were the first group of

people to have this in fact after the Roman Catholics knew that there were there was a translation they burned as

many as those copied books in those days there were there were no printing

presses to be burned and even persecuted they were den but many of them continued on they

were called the poor men of Leons Leon France that was the place where they

started and went on like peddlers to share the word of God copied books of

the translated Bible in their own language and they understood and many rejoiced why because they can now walk

in truth you can try to walk in holiness as

what you think is holy you can try to live righteously as what you think is

righteous you can think of giving yourself sacrificially to the church or

whatever ministry to think that is sacrificial but if it's not according to God's word that is nothing that is not

what God seeks from us that is not what God wants from us and so John says he

had the no greater joy than to hear that his children walk according to God's

word walk according to the scripture walk according to the inspired and preserved word of God and that's what we

need today because we are so much influenced with the world that we think

we have another form of Christianity but we have to go back to the Bible peter Waldo was not satisfied in just

sacrificing himself to live a life poor

and deprived of many what was deprived from him was the

truth of God's word and we thank God that here we still have this word of God

preached and I pray that we desire for this may the Lord grant us the love to

learn the word of God so that we can live out and walk in the truth that is what God wants from us in a day where we

are expecting the sooncoming return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are at

the brink of World War II as he said in fact we are in

a a step of a few steps from that because of the situation of the world

today there's a need for us to truly preach the word of God to walk in

the truth and that is the greatest joy that every Christians should desire in

life i pray the Lord will help us and grant us and ask ourselves what is my

greatest joy yes I am greatly rejoicing over my salvation and I rejoice over others

because they have heard God's word but is it really that they are living out

the word of God am I living out the word of God am I walking in the

truth may the Lord help us may the Lord bless us let us pray

our gracious loving father in heaven we thank thee for this

morning we thank thee for thy word thank thee oh Lord for thy

spirit who guides us and leads us and we pray that through this we be convicted

oh Lord if truly we have that great joy in our hearts and greater joy to bring

the gospel to others and greatest joy knowing that these people have heard the

gospel from us walk in truth we pray father that you will bless everyone who

are here and let thy spirit work in our hearts to know and understand what you

need from us to do we pray that you will bless this church continue to let thy

word be the center of the preaching of this word we pray that you'll preserve

our pastor the deacons pray that you will be with the members visitors and

guests of this of today's worship that all of us oh Lord will come to that

greatest joy that you have desired from us in knowing that we are not just are

saved but we are used by thee to even bring others to come to fruition so

Father we pray that you will continue to be with us in this worship service to

the glory and honor of thy name for we pray and ask all this in Jesus' name

amen