Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I ask your prayer for attention to our second reading, the third
epistle of John, the first chapter, the only chapter, and reading
from our text, verse 2. Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth. The third epistle of John in
verse 2. John obviously had a very great
regard for Gaius. The well-beloved whom I love
in the truth. How many of us have those that
we can say we really love them in the truth? Sometimes it may
be that there is a double love. We love them as a father, naturally,
or as a son, or daughter, or a wife. Maybe another relationship. But we're able to add this, that
we love them in the truth. And we know that beautiful token
that John gives us In his first epistle, we know that we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And here
is a very clear evidence of the love that he has to this dear
brother. He says, I rejoiced greatly when
the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee.
even as they are walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth." And he speaks
of what he is doing faithfully to brethren and to strangers,
and those that have borne witness of his charity before the church. He was a practical Christian,
one that really showed evidence of the grace of God in him, one
that truly gave John the ability to say this, that that which
he wished for him was even as his soul prospereth. I wonder
as we begin this, New Year. Many times we might wish someone
the Lord's blessing or help through the year. Sometimes we don't
put it in very specifics, but just in a general way. But what
would we wish? What would we wish for the brethren? For the Lord's people? If you were to say, well, we
want them to have good health, we want them to have prosperity
and riches and wealth, would you say, well, that hardly seems
to be really consistent with what we would ask for the Lord's
people? We know, of course, Many of the
Lord's dear people are afflicted. They have been chosen in the
furnace of affliction. They may have ill health all
their lives. We know that there is not that
direct link as the Jews implied when they said to our Lord in
John 9, why was this man born blind? Who did sin? Him. or his parents that this
was so. And they clearly were linking
that if one was sick, if one had a deformity, then there must
be something wrong. They must not be walking in the
ways of the Lord. This is what, as well, Job's
friends implied of him. At first they came to sympathize
with him, and later on, really implying, well, if this trial
continues on, there must be something wrong, there must be something
why the Lord's hand is upon you. We certainly don't go along with
the so-called prosperity gospel, that if we are right in our souls, then
God will give us prosperity and health and wealth in this life. And as if it's some kind of insurance
policy or a way that we can get on well in this life. You know,
Job, Satan accused Job of having that motive. He says, Doth Job
serve thee for naught? Thou hast hedged him about. He
implied that Job was like those in Christ's day who just followed
the Lord for the loaves and the fishes. That's all. Just for
what they would have in this life. But you know, Satan was
proved a liar. Dear Job, the Lord suffered him
to lose all that which he had. And he still loved God. He still
believed God. His soul still prospered. And
we must be very clear on this and very careful how he would
judge others and look upon their life and their pathway and judge
it according to their afflictions as to whether they were really
in health, in soul. You might say, well, what is
it then? Why is it that John wishes this
of Gaius? And it's not just a wish, he
says, Beloved, I wish above all things, above all things, really,
that thou mayst prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. What does prosper mean? It means several things. One, it is to succeed in material
terms be financially successful. Another way would be to flourish
physically, grow strong and healthy, and we see of course the link
here in that way. There are other ways as well
that we could view there being a prospering. We think of Abraham's
servant, that went to seek a wife for his master's son, and in
his prayer he asked that the Lord would prosper him in the
way that he went. In other words, he desired that
he might fulfil his mission, the Lord would lead him to the
one that was appointed to be wife for his master's son. The
Lord did prosper his way in that way. So prosper may be viewed
in different ways. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophecies
that were before him were that he would prosper, prosper in
the thing that he was sent to. And certainly his mission, the
redemption, he did prosper in it. He accomplished all that
his father gave him to do. In that way, we get a little
idea of the prospering. In that way, in an actual mission,
a task that is set before us, the path in our lives. Joseph,
even though he was in prison, it was said that all that he
did, the Lord made it to prosper. But I want to look more carefully
at this word and to do so I want to divide it into just two points. Firstly, why the measure of prosperity
is given? Why is the measure of it given
as even as those soul prosperous? He doesn't just say, Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health full stop. He says, even as thy soul prospereth. Why? Why the measure put in that
way? And then secondly, I want to
consider the prosperity of the soul. He says, even as thy soul
prospereth, And really that is so central. Does our soul prosper? Are we
like us? But firstly, why the measure? Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospers. I want to do a comparison in
the Word of God. If we go to the Book of Psalms,
and we think of Psalm 73, and this is the Psalm of Asa, And he says that, truly God is
good to Israel, even such as are of a clean heart. But as
for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped,
for I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. He sees the wicked and their
prosperity. He describes this prosperity
no bands in their death, their strength is firm, not in trouble
as other men, they are not plagued like other men, pride compasses
them about, violence covereth them, eyes stand out with fatness,
they have more than heart could wish, he sees You have in verse 12, behold
these are the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in
riches. What a picture, what a picture. And it so troubled Asa. And it troubled him until he
went into the sanctuary of God, then understood he their end. And he pictures them in slippery
places, the other side of the grave, what a solemn terrors
they had waiting them. The wrath of God, the judgment
day. They live for this world, they
had no place for God at all. We think of Nabal. David sent
to Nabal in the time of his sheep shearing and asked that he would
supply to his men some victuals. He said, I come to thee in a
day of prosperity. It was a day when he had much
riches, really the harvest time as a sheep master. But you know,
David, he did not receive that. Not from Nabal's hand. Nabal,
he would not even acknowledge David. Derided him. Wouldn't help him. His wife described him as such
a man of Belial. And yet he was very rich and
very prosperous man. We think of Esau. Esau was very
upset when he thought that he'd lost out on the inheritance that
his father had given to Jacob. But later on, Esau had many flocks
and many herds, so had Jacob. But when Jacob was to give him
a present, he says, I have enough, my brother. Those material things
were enough for him. They satisfied him. Jacob, he
had riches, but he had his God. And he had wonderful answers
to prayer and deliverances. Psalm 1. Psalm 1 is a comparison. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. Then this is what he shall be
like, a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doeth, shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Wherefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. It is not said that the ungodly
won't profit or won't have good things in this life. but they won't stand in the day
of judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. We have in Psalm 122 a similar
pronouncement with a blessing upon people of God in verse 6. Pray. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You might say in a literal way,
Jerusalem, as it is now, but also for the house of God, spiritual
Jerusalem, the church of God. They shall prosper that love
thee. Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the
house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. Very clear by
the context, it is the house of God. Those that pray for the
peace of the house of God, the peace of the church of God, it
is said that they shall prosper, that love thee. And we have these two sides. We have the wicked. We have God's
dear people. We have the Lord's blessing upon
them. But here we have it joined together. And now what our Lord says in
the Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark. And the Lord says, solemn thing it is, if that should
be the case with us. Verse 36, whosoever will, or verse 35,
whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever
shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall
save it. What shall it profit a man if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? And that which is set before
us is a priority. It is the soul that comes first. We may have those that have great
abundance of riches, but their soul is lost. And we may have
those whose soul is saved, they are the Lord's dear people, and
the Lord blesses them with riches. When the Apostle writes to the
Corinthians in his first epistle, He gives concerning the collection
for the saints, direction to them. And he says in verse 2
of chapter 16, upon the first day of the week, let every one
of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him, that there
be no gatherings when I come. One of the things that is emphasised
in John's epistle and writing to Gaius is that he was a practical
Christian and that he was one that did faithfully to brethren
and to strangers. He used his wealth He used his
health for the good of the people of God. Read a most solemn character
later on of Diophanes, proud man, loved to have the preeminence. How many churches have those
in them that trouble them like him? Receiveth us not, casteth
out of the church those that would be received. And so how important, how vital
that the measure, if we were to wish just for someone, for
even our brethren, that they really prospered and had health
and had everything that this world could offer, just on its
own, What a snare that would be. And
how it would set a completely wrong priority. But the apostle here is so very
clear. What he wishes is the measure
of the soul prospering. If the soul did not prosper,
then neither would he prosper, materially or in health. He links
the two together. I am sure that it would have
the effect, I hope it has the effect with us, that our thoughts
are directed not to the prosperity and health, but to ask how is
our soul? How is our soul? If this were
to be wished of one that was dead in trespasses and sins,
it would be wishing them to be dead, because they were already
dead spiritually. So then it would be wishing them,
in a health-wise, natural-wise, to be dead. And so our attention
is drawn to the soul, and what the apostle has to say about
the soul of Gaius. Our attention is drawn to that
which he desires for him that is linked, linked to his faith,
to his soul. The blessing of the Lord it maketh
rich, he added no sorrow with it. Godliness with contentment
is great gain. How often we have set before
us those things that are joined together The Lord remembering
his dear people, blessing them, helping them. Many of them will
be poor, but satisfied in that poverty. Many of them afflicted,
yet graciously helped in those afflictions. But may we see the
importance of this linking together. The scriptures having these two
characters, the Lord's people and those that are not, both
are spoken of as having prosperity. But one it is their eternal downfall,
and the other one it is seen as a blessing from the Lord,
and they use that prosperity, and they use their health, for
the good of the people of God. From what John has to say about
Gaius, in effect he says, what I've heard, I already know that
you use your health and strength, you use your wealth for the good
of the church of God. Therefore, if the Lord gives
you that, I know where it will go. You know, if we had someone
that We knew that they just frittered away their money, they used their
health for all sorts of sports and activities and using their time for things that
were just in this life. You think if I ask that they
have health and that they have money, all they're going to do
is to spend it on worldly things and just use or abuse their health
or strength. And we wouldn't want to wish
that for them. But when we see someone like
Gaius, we pray, Lord, give them more. Give them more strength,
more health, more prosperity, so that they do even more and
can do even more for the brethren. You know, some of the Lord's
dear people had longed to be a help to the brethren, but because
of their weakness and lack of health and strength, they feel
they're limited in what they can do. Or because they have
very little financial aid, they again feel limited how they're
able to help the brethren. But here, John has one that is
already showing in small things, you might say, Many might say,
well, the Lord give me great health and great wealth and then
I'll help the brethren. No. The Lord will have us be
faithful in that which is least before he would give much. And so in this first point, it
is why the measure of prosperity is given as even as though soul
prospereth. It is vital. is vital that that
blessing, if given, would then be used rightly, would not be
a snare, be for the Lord's honour and glory, and that the most
important thing is already dealt with, the soul. I want to look
then, secondly, at the prosperity of the soul. Really, the context
is a commentary on the prosperity of his soul already. He's walking in the truth. He's doing faithfully to the
brethren and to strangers. He's also charitable before the
church. helping the church. He has a lot to say of this man's
practical love to the people of God. James, in his epistle, he speaks of that faith that
is a practical way in the second chapter of James. You have in verses 14 and 15. But what doth it profit, my brethren? Though a man say he have faith
and have not works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister
be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto
them, Depart in peace, and be ye warmed and filled, Notwithstanding
ye give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what doth it profit? Even so, if it hath not works,
is dead being alone. This Gaius had a living faith,
not a faith without works. A faith that had an evidence
of the reality of it. That is one. of the evidences
of a soul that is prospering. It's a sad thing. If we testify
that we have a hope beyond the grave, we have an inheritance
in heaven, we're strangers and pilgrims here, we long to be
with Christ, and yet we can't get enough of this world. We
cleave to it, we hold it fast, we're misers as it were to it,
and we want to use our time, our health, our money, all for
ourselves and all for this life. It's a complete contradiction.
Complete contradiction. The true faith will loosen our
hands. I think it was said of William
Gadsby and William Chiptack as well. They hardly ever returned
home with anything in their pockets. They saw a beggar. They saw someone
in need. Sometimes they returned home,
they hadn't got their coat on their back. They'd given it away
to someone. With William Gadsby, when he
died, it was said by a Roman Catholic woman that he was one
that had kept and fed her and helped her, whereas those that
were nearer to her, her own church, didn't. He wasn't partial in
that way. If there was one near to him,
in need, he would help them. And so then, his treasure was
in heaven. His hand was loosened for things
of time. So that is the context. That
is an outward measure. It's not that we be like the
Pharisees that stood at the corner of the streets, made long prayers,
gave alms, set a trumpet before them as they were doing it. We're
told that we're not to let our left hand know what the right
hand does. But as in the case here, others
had told John of what had been going on, as in case of the Centurion,
who himself felt that he was unworthy, that the Lord should
come under his roof, yet those of his friends said he was worthy
because he had built them a temple, he had done much good, he loved
our nation. But what are those other evidences
of a prospering soul? In Hebrews, we have a couple
of pointers to it. In Hebrews chapter four and verse
two, we read of the preaching of the gospel. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them that speaking of the
Old Testament saints. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Now, what a sickly soul that
would be, that heard the word of God, that heard it preached,
and never profited by that word. How vital it is that we have
faith. In Hebrews 11, it speaks of those
that lived and died by faith. Faith is the gift of God. By
grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God. The Lord is the author and finisher
of it. A prospering soul is a saved
soul, is a soul that has faith. It is a soul that profits under
the word. Paul said of those in Thessalonica,
that the Word came not unto you in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. There was a difference. Faith
was joined with it. The Word then profited them.
We may ask ourselves then, in addition to how our faith has
caused us to have our hands loosened, to this world and how we use
what the Lord has already given us of health over strength. We may add to that evidence,
this evidence of faith, how do we profit under the Word. If it is that John is desiring,
as he is for Gaius, that he might prosper and be in health even
as thy soul prospereth, His soul was prospering under
the Word, feeding under the Word of God, strengthened by the Word
of God. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Gaius
is saying, well, good that you have much wealth and bread and
material things, even as thy soul prospereth. Is he not saying,
Gaius, you prosper under the word. You're not feeding by bread
alone, but you're feeding by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. So may we be like that. May we
exercise prayerful that we do prosper under the preaching of
the word. But what about when the Lord
chastens his people? Again in Hebrews chapter 12,
we read this, For they verily, that is, earthly
fathers, for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure,
but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. a healthy soul, a soul that prospers. We have in this portion that,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. If ye be without chastisement,
whereof all our partakers, that is, all of God's children, are
chastened, then are ye bastards and not sons. We mustn't think,
well, Surely not all God's children do things that bring the rod
or correction from the Lord. Yes, they do. There's no man
that doeth good and sinneth not. And the Lord says in John 15,
I am the vine, ye are the branches. My father is the husband, and
every branch that bringeth forth fruit, he purgeth it, that he
might bring forth more fruit. The Lord chastening his people
that already are upright, godly, walking in his ways, that when
he sees those things, those sins, those things that are not right
in his sight, he corrects them. He directs those things in their
lives to their prophet, their spiritual prophet, Hear ye the
rod, and who hath appointed it? And there's this word here, that
under chastening it is for profit. Have we been under the chastening
hand of God? Has the Lord made known to us
through the word things that we should do and we haven't done? And then he sent the rod, he
sent something into our lives, he sent those things in, health
or strength or in our circumstances, we've noticed the link, we've
acknowledged the link, we've heard the rod, who's appointed
it, it's had a good effect on our souls, made us to search
our souls, woken us up, made us to view those things in the
right light. There's a season of chastening,
and there's profit that comes forth from it. So, have we a
prosperous soul? Does our soul prosper? Does it
prosper under the chastening hand of God? Are we a soul that knows the
righteousness of God? In Proverbs chapter 10, verse
2, we have this word, Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
but righteousness delivereth from death. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, but the Lord says of his people,
their righteousness is of me. And may we then be a prosperous
soul, is not looking to our own righteousness, but looking solely
to the Lord's. How vital that is in connection
with our text. What if it was said of Gaius,
well, what a good man he is. What a charitable man he is. And Gaius took it to his head.
and thought, well, I must be a child of God, I must get to
heaven because of my good works. Good works that are a fruit of
grace, a sweet savour to God. Good works that are used as a
reason why we should be saved, an abomination to God, because
they're raised up in direct contradiction to the Word of God and in complete
ignorance of what those works really are in the sight of God
and what is required. The Apostle says in Romans 10
that they were seeking their own righteousness and not submitted
to the righteousness of the Lord. Their righteousness is of me.
This is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness, the Church of God. We think of how Paul wrote to
the Galatians and was very clear to them of the deliverance from
the law, the ceremonial law, the moral law, He says in verse
2 of chapter 5, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Now that's not a prospering,
healthy soul, is it? where Christ is no effect to
us. In this chapter, he clearly shows
the need that our righteousness, our hope, our trust be not upon
our own deeds or the works of the law, but by faith in Christ
Jesus. And so we have a picture in the
Galatians, not of a prosperous soul, but a soul that was really
in a very serious, ill, condition, we think of how the blessing
and the gift of the Holy Spirit, that causes the soul to profit
as well, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, and he says unto
them, in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7, that the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. One is given by the Spirit the
word of wisdom, another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts
of healing by the same Spirit. And you know one thing that was
constant through it all, that what was given to real profit. We have in Isaiah,
Isaiah 48 and verse 17, a beautiful promise of the teaching and instruction
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy that thou shouldest go. A healthy
soul is one that is being taught of God. The promise is, they
shall all be taught of God. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. If our soul is like the soul
of Gaius, a prospering soul, the Lord will teach us to profit. Thy teachers shall not be removed
into a corner anymore, Thine eyes shall see thy teachers,
thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying this is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, when ye turn
to the left, even as thy soul prospereth."
Maybe a word that remains with us, not just today, but as we
go through this year, to think of the prosperity of the soul, to lay it before the Lord in
prayer, to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith or
not, and how our soul is profiting under the Word, under chastening,
under the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let that be
the first thing. that be the important thing,
the measure, and how we're using the blessings the Lord has already
given us, how we're using it to the Lord's honour and glory.
And then we may have this wish granted to us as well. Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health even as thy soul prospereth. One last thought. John and none
of us, as we may wish these things for one another or for ourselves,
are dictators to God. We may wish, may we desire and
ask, and he is subject to the will of God in what measure he
answers gives of these things we do not dictate to the Lord. John didn't, and may we not either. The Lord at his blessing.