WHY SHOULD WE SUPPORT MISSIONARIES?
\n(III John 6-8)
\nMany answers are given to that question in the Word of God. But the
\nApostle here gives four excellent reasons for doing so. Having commended
\nGaius for his good work in this regard, John encourages him to continue
\nwith these reasons:
\n1. IT IS A WORK PLEASING TO GOD. John told Gaius that when one of God\u2019s
\nservants came through town, not only was he to care for him while he was
\nthere, but he was to \u201cbring forward\u201d on his journey. That is to say, he
\nwas to provide such things as the preacher needed to carry on his
\nmission. This is a \u201cgodly sort\u201d of work. The margin reads, \u201cworthy of
\nGod\u201d. It is a work with which God is pleased. God delights to see those
\nwho love Christ showing their love by generosity toward his servants.
\n2. WE SHOULD DO IT \u201cFOR HIS NAME\u2019S SAKE\u201d. There is one thing that
\ncompels the true servant of God to take his wife and children to a far
\noff place to preach the gospel, leaving relatives and friends behind. He
\nhas a burning jealousy for the name of Christ. He preaches the gospel so
\nthat men everywhere may bow down, trust, and worship at the name of
\nChrist (Rom. 1:1, 5). Our Lord is so highly honored by the service of
\nsuch men that he says that, what we do for them, we do for him (Mt.
\n10:40-42).
\n3. THEY HAVE NO OTHER MEANS OF SUPPORT. \u201cThey went forth taking nothing
\nof the Gentiles.\u201d Our Lord expressly forbids his servants to beg for
\nsupport, especially from the unbeliever (Mt. 10:5-10; Luke 10:1-7). And
\nPaul condemned those pretentious servants of Christ who merely peddled
\nthe gospel (II Cor. 2:7; I Thess. 2:5-9). You can mark this down, if God
\nis in a work, God will support it through the generosity of his people.
\nAnd no servant of God should have to provide a piece of bread for
\nhimself. The people of God ought to take care of him. What man goes to
\nwar at his own expense? Surely, the laborer is worthy of his reward!
\n4. What is more, by our loving, and generous support of God\u2019s servants –
\nWE BECOME \u201cFELLOW-HELPERS TO THE TRUTH\u201d When we supply a man\u2019s needs so
\nthat he can preach the gospel, we become allies with him in the work:
\nWhat a privilege!
\nDon Fortner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHY SHOULD WE SUPPORT MISSIONARIES? (III John 6-8) Many answers are given to that question in the Word of God. But the Apostle here gives four excellent reasons for doing so. Having commended Gaius for his good work in this regard, John encourages him to continue with these reasons: 1. IT IS A WORK PLEASING […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-don-fortner","category-gospel-preaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4964,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963\/revisions\/4964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}