A Comprehensive New Year’s Wish

The Lord has made a difference between us and many others, who did not enter this New Year. In the past year many were taken away by death, and the mourning families remain behind. How true it is that life is like a vapor, which soon disappears. Man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.

The year 1995 has passed and will never return in this time, but in eternity it will once again come back. What was done is done, and what has been neglected is neglected, but the debt lies there, since there is a book of remembrance before the Lord. One day that book will be opened, and we will have to give an account of all our deeds before the Judge of heaven and earth.

My friends, we were allowed to enter this New Year, but what will the year bring us? What are our plans and desires for this year of the Lord? Do we take into account that it is possible that we will not finish this year? The turn of the year is a warning for us to think of the one thing needful in our life: we need God’s grace and a place of refuge under His wings, shall it be well. There only will we be safe, even if death comes to us in this year which we have just entered.

We do not say that the goods of this world have no value at all and that we should not work for them. No, but the Lord teaches us that the spiritual goods are of greater value, since the world will pass away. In lives renewed by the Lord, the world has not the highest priority. No, such people seek the things which are above. This is an everlasting good. If we still miss that life, may in this year our eyes be opened for it, to seek the Lord while it is yet possible.

According to God’s Word we may wish for all of you that in every respect it may be well with you in this coming year. We hope that there may be love for each other and that we may have prosperity, good health, and, above all, a blessed spiritual life, which is the greatest blessing we can receive on this side of the grave.

We can find such a wish or a prayer in the words of John, who began our text with:

A LOVELY ADDRESS

The third epistle of John was written to Gaius, as we can find in verse 1, “The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.” The apostle John was well respected in the congregations for his office and personal life. He called himself the elder, or the eldest. It was a name of honor for him, and so he was known all over. It was his favorite name, one in which a certain amiability and intimacy is felt. John knew this very well, and he used this name to write to Gaius.

This third epistle is a personal letter, written to a well-known member of the church. We do not know in which church Gaius was, but it was probably a congregation in Asia Minor or in Greece. Neither do we know who Gaius was, because we find the same name three times in the New Testament. One, who lived in Corinth, was baptized by Paul. Another came from Macedonia and was a fellow traveler of Paul. The third came from Derbe. Which of these three it was, we do not know. It is even possible it was a fourth Gaius. For this reason we cannot tell much about him.

But one thing is certain: he was a man with grace, and he did not live too far away from John, because he hoped that he would visit him in the near future and then they could speak face to face. It is clear that Gaius was well known in the congregation, but he did not have an office in the church, because John does not give him any official work to do. Probably he was a former elder, who was not active anymore for one reason or another.

Gaius was a true believer, who showed his pious conduct in his whole life. There were close bonds between John and him, as we find already in the address of this epistle. Four times John addressed him with the word “beloved.” He was not only loved by John and among God’s people, but above all he was loved by God. God loves His people with an eternal love, even before the world was, and He loves them to the end, as it is written, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). In Christ He accepts them as His children and heirs, sanctifies them, and makes them conformable to the image of His Son. He loves them, He keeps them, and He saves them, out of free grace.

The question for us must be, “Am I such a one, who is loved by God? Or, are the followers of Satan my friends?” If the latter is true for you, then I hope that this year those bonds may be broken. You probably know the saying, “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.” May the Lord make us honest before Him and bring us into the dust by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

There is also a lesson for God’s people in this address. It is not sufficient that we call each other beloved, but we should also act in such a way, putting away all quarrels, when possible, with the help of the Lord. It is not sufficient that we write at the beginning of our letters, “Beloved Friend,” but we must also show in our daily life that we love God’s people.

While the world is full of hatred and enmity against the church, they may still write or say, “Dear Friend,” but it is often bearing false witness. The commandment tells us that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. And the Lord Jesus said, “This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” We hope that in the New Year this will be practiced in our midst, by the grace of God.

A SINCERE WISH

Our text reads, “Beloved, I wish above all things.” The word “wish” used here commonly means, in the New Testament, “pray.” It is also used to express a strong and earnest desire for something. John writes, “Beloved, I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper and be in health.” With this John does not want to say that the temporal things are the most important, but he wishes or prays earnestly that in all respects Gaius might have the same kind of prosperity which his soul has, as he mentions in the last part of the text.

The translation “above all things” would seem to mean that John values health and outward prosperity more than anything else. This cannot be the meaning, and, according to the original language, it is not the meaning. The sense is: “In every respect, I wish that it may go as well with you in temporal matters, as it does with your soul.”

This is the reverse of the wishes we commonly express for our friends, also at the beginning of the New Year, but there is no better wish we can think of, because the spiritual matters are the most important. Thus John prayed for Gaius’ well-being and health, meaning that the Lord might keep him from disaster and mishaps, from poverty, from sorrow about his children, or in any other way. He wished that he might receive food convenient for him, that he could say with the pious woman of Shunem, “I dwell among my own people,” which means, in peace and prosperity, with nothing to complain about. What a blessed place this is when the Lord brings us there, because of ourselves we cannot come on this place before the Lord. But it may be, and should be, our prayer.

John regarded prosperity to be of great importance. The poet also speaks of prosperity as a blessing, “Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.” We know that these blessings must descend from on high, from the Lord, who commands and it is there. In this dependency John speaks, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

The health of the body is one of the great temporal gifts of God to man. The state of the body has a great influence upon the mind and the soul. John understood that the prosperity and health of this profitable Christian was very important for the welfare of the church, and therefore he wished or prayed that this man might receive all these blessings from the Lord. Gaius was using his prosperity and welfare to the upbuilding of God’s kingdom. What a blessing it is when such members of the church may yet be found, who truly think of the church in this way. By the goodness of the Lord they may yet be found in the midst of our congregations.

Let us now listen to how John concludes this text, “Even as thy soul prospereth.” We may call this:

A BLESSED TESTIMONY

The whole foundation of John’s well-wishing is based on Gaius’ soul prosperity. This soul prosperity is brought out in what follows in connection to his relation to the truth and especially his practice of hospitality, which is mentioned in verse 3-6.

In the form given to this wish it is implied that there is a relation between soul prosperity and daily life. To wish a man success in business and good bodily health does not go far enough. Everyone has both eternal interests and temporal interests. To wish a person success in business and good health alone is like a person who wishes his friend who is to travel from California to New York a good trip to Chicago, but who does not think about the second leg of his journey. We are not only traveling through this world, but we are also traveling to eternity, where we are to meet the Lord.

John wished this prosperity for Gaius that he might be more able to serve the Lord with his possessions. It seems to me that we may not wish everyone more means and good health if they are to use it in the service of the world. This would make their debt ever greater before the Lord. It sounds hard, but perhaps some do need a severe check in business, or to be laid on the bed of affliction, or some other adversity in the favor of the Lord. Would it not be better that this should happen rather than to lose our soul? No, affliction is not pleasant for the flesh, but if the Lord may use it to our eternal welfare, then it could be a blessing. Such a one would confess with David, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”

“Even as thy soul prospereth.” My unconverted friends, you do not prosper, even when your business is going well, because your soul is in a sad and dangerous condition under the curse of God’s law. Every moment you could sink into eternal woe. Friends, when you seek the pleasures of the world, games, sports, and companions for a life of vanity, do you think that your soul is prosperous? No, you are then in danger of going lost forever. It is possible you are like the rich man, about whom the Lord Jesus spoke His woe. Perhaps you do not believe it, but it is written in God’s Word. May the Lord open your eyes, that you may begin to see the danger and to supplicate for forgiveness in this new year which we were yet allowed to begin together.

The first step to prosperity of the soul is the discovery of sin. Then we begin to realize that our soul is not prosperous, and therefore a sorrow is born. The Lord has said that they will come with weeping and with supplication to Him. Such a humbled sinner the Lord will not despise.

The soul begins to prosper when it makes the choice of Mary to sit at the feet of the Lord. And, as the Lord later promised, that blessing would not be taken away from her. Such people will send sin and the world a letter of divorce, and they will begin to seek to serve the Lord. It is such a great blessing when we may learn that we can be saved by grace only, and not by our works. The poet testified thereof, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken and we are escaped.” It is our wish and prayer that the Lord may give such fruit in the midst of our denomination and all over the world, to the glory of His Name and to the welfare of the church.

We must not forget that we are not worthy that the Lord should remember us in such a way, but may He then take reasons out of Himself. Therefore in the beginning of this year it should be, “Our help is in the Name of the Lord.” This almighty God has promised His church, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” His children will not be left in the moment of death either, because then their prosperity will become full, delivered from themselves, but glorifying the Lord for ever and ever.

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