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3 John 1:9-14 It Doesn't Matter Where You Go, You

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3 John 1:9-14 It Doesn't Matter Where You Go, You 3 John 1:9-14 It doesn’t matter where you go, you always find people who only think about number one! Such people have their own agenda, such people are determined to make it to the top, such people are in it for what they can get out of it! That is true in the commercial sector for we see power struggles taking place in the office and in the boardroom, it’s true in many secular groups as one fringe element after another lobbies for pole position; and sadly, many of us know from painful personal experience, it’s all too prevalent within the Christian church as well. What we are inclined to forget is that this is not a new phenomenon to hit the church of Christ, it’s been around for a very long time; in fact, if you go back to the early days of the church, it’s clear from the Acts of the Apostles and many of the Pauline epistles that they had more than their fair share of life- size problems. Paul and others like him spent a lot of time in the role of a fire-fighter, it wasn’t the first time they were called to extinguish a potentially dangerous blaze which flared among the people of God. Mind you, you get people in every church who want to hijack a situation, you always find those who are happy to sit around in the shadows and snipe from the sidelines, these guys tend to operate from the relative safety of the back benches and they spend their time lobbing hand grenades into the prevailing pandemonium, they feel their primary role is to fan the flames; having said that, we need to keep the whole thing in perspective for you get people like that everywhere, people who derive immense pleasure only when they are engaged in acts of spiritual terrorism. Someone has said, with tongue in cheek, ‘they’re like the poor, they’re always with you!’ Many of the huge problems they grappled with in the early church, and which we are confronted with in the church of the twenty-first century, can be attributed to the kind of person John is writing about in verses 9-11 of his third epistle. It’s what I would call ‘the Diotrephes syndrome!’ What a stark contrast he is to our friend Gaius, he’s the delightful brother we looked at in our study yesterday. The two of them are poles apart, they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet they’re worshipping under the same church roof and the chances are, they’re both on the leadership team; unlike Gaius though, who was very much a people- oriented person, a genuinely charming individual with an incredibly big heart for God, this man Diotrephes is not the nicest of human beings, quite frankly, he’s more interested in furthering his own position than in furthering the work of God. Just as John revealed the light in Gaius, he turns now in this section to expose the darkness in Diotrephes, and this is what John had to say: ‘I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.’ It would appear from John’s comment that he has corresponded with the church on a previous occasion. Whatever John had written to the church no longer exists, probably because Diotrephes destroyed it. We can piece together a photofit picture of this man without too much difficulty, there are certain characteristics which hit you between the eyes, he was self- opinionated, he was self-appointed, he saw himself as the sole guardian of the church’s interests and affairs, and as someone has pointed out, ‘he views the church as his turf.’ He saw the local assembly as his patch and no-one, but no-one, would be allowed to encroach on it. If they did, it would be with his permission alone! He was the big boss! He was the chief! He’s a man with an upside- down perspective of himself for he ‘loves to be first’. We’ve seen it already, but that little microchip description stores a world of information about his character. He’s not the most likeable of people, and he’s not the most loveable either! As they say in some parts, he’s a hard nut to crack! You see, Diotrephes has not only flatly rejected John’s teaching and apostolic authority, he has falsely accused the apostle and bolted the door against his messengers. He has even gone so far as to excommunicate anyone in the church who received them. Instead of truth, Diotrephes spreads lies; instead of love, he spreads fear! I must say, I really appreciate the insights of Charles Swindoll on this man, he uses the analogy of an earthquake to describe him, this is what he writes: ‘As time passed, a fissure ran through the church, forming a hairline crack between the leadership of the local congregation and the itinerant ministers. Eventually, the division became so great that a fault line formed. Tremors of resentment and refused hospitality radiated from the local church’s leadership. At the epicentre was a man named Diotrephes. In a quake of rejection, he shook off John’s teaching and tried to bury the apostle in a rock slide of sharp-edged words. As an aftershock, Diotrephes’ refusal of hospitality extended to such extremes that he not only forbade his members to receive these visitors but expelled them from the church if they did so.’ You know, it seems to me, when you sit down and analyse the actions and attitude of Diotrephes, he perfectly fits the bill of an autocrat, and when you take it a step further, he could well be called the pioneer of the so-called heavy shepherding movement. This man was more concerned about calling the tune than he was at playing second fiddle, he was more likely to throw the book at you rather than pick up a towel and wash your feet. He wanted to run the show, it had to be done his way; I feel so sorry for the church when they have someone like that at the top, when you think about it, there’s not much evidence of a servant heart with Diotrephes. He’s the kind of leader who throws his weight around, he’s basically someone who feels quite insecure in himself but he’s far too proud to admit it, he feels threatened when somebody else can do it better, and so, in relation to John and his colleagues, this man sets himself up as judge and jury, he conducts a kangaroo court and throws anyone out of the church who isn’t seen to be toeing his party line! The ‘guilt by association’ mindset has a major influence on his thinking and policy making, it obviously colours his decision making process. What alarms me is this, and I have seen all too often in so many churches throughout the land, this man thought he was upholding biblical standards, he felt he was maintaining the testimony, he saw himself as the only one who hadn’t bowed the knee to Baal, he was seeking to preserve the purity of the local church, and when all is said and done, he really believes in his heart that he is serving the Lord. That, my friend, is scary! The fact is, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see! You know as well as I do, these men can do untold harm to a local company of God’s people, they often do irreparable damage to the testimony, they can wreck a genuine work of God. Part of the problem is located in verse 10 where we read he can’t keep his ideas to himself, such a man often has a loose tongue and doesn’t think twice about spreading all sorts of wild rumours. The juicy information Diotrephes was passing on about John was scandalous gossip and there was no foundation for any of the stories at all, it was sheer nonsense, but there are people who love to hear such talk and who will believe it! For them, the more sensational it is, the better! I often wonder, why are Christian people who ought to know better, so gullible! Apparently, Diotrephes had made a series of unproven and unsubstantiated accusations against John at a church meeting when John wasn’t present to defend himself. What he failed to take into account, is that God has his own way of vindicating his servants and he always does it in his own time. Diotrephes was nothing more than a coward! I read a story the other day of one man whose fingers had been badly burned by a particular magazine editor, he described him in this way: ‘He’s like a blotter, he takes everything in and gets it backward.’ I think we need to be so careful in these days, let’s not give the devil an inch for he’ll not be content until he takes a mile, let’s determine not to do the devil’s work for him! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Diotrephes has had his followers throughout church history, and such a species, I hasten to add, is neither rare nor extinct in the third millennium.
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