(3
John 1:9-11 NIV) I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first,
will have nothing to do with us. {10} 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. {11} Dear friend, do not imitate
what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone
who does what is evil has not seen God.
It is fascinating to note -- along the
general lines of the first being last -- that Diotrephes is mentioned only here
in the New Testament. For almost two thousand years the man who wanted to be
first has been a bit player on the stage of the New Testament -- and in a
villain’s role.
Motives
What motivates a man like this? At first
glance, it’s hard to understand how a leader of this time could possibly resist
the counsel of the last of the Apostles. Perhaps a comparison to our day would
help:
You are Pastor Graydon Jessup. An ordinary
looking envelope arrives for you; you open it in the privacy of your office.
You are amazed at what you read:
“Dear Pastor Jessup,
..... so we had to cancel our meeting in
Africa this August. That unfortunate fact leaves a hole in my schedule. I’ve
always enjoyed preaching in a local church, and there is not nearly enough time
to do anything elaborate, so all I could do is come and deliver a couple of
weeks worth of sermons.
Naturally, I don’t want to upset things in
your congregation. If this is at all inconvenient, please don’t hesitate to
say no. But if you can arrange it, I’d love to preach the last two weeks in
August at Eastside.
Yours in Christ,
Billy Graham”
Now how do you feel?
Most of us would like to answer that we would
welcome Billy Graham with open arms. But would we really? Or would we react
like Diotrephes? Envy is a powerful motivation. Diotrephes could always view
this as an issue of “local control” (a practically sacred doctrine in the
Restoration movement) standing in the way of someone from “outside.” It would
be envy none the less. But there are other possible motives, and we need to
examine ourselves to see if they are present.
The Big Frog Syndrome
Some years ago I worked for a major car
import company. In that line, there was a major conflict in culture between
the import company and its dealers. The import company always took the line
that “more sales are better.” If you sold three hundred cars this year, you should
aim to sell three hundred and thirty next year. The dealers didn’t see it this
way. They would work hard to increase sales -- to a point. When they reached
that point, usually when they considered themselves prominent in the community,
they were content to stay at that level. Rather than spend the major effort on
a 5% increase in sales, they spent it coaching in Little League, or sailing
their boat.
They were big frogs in their small pond, and
they liked it that way. That may not be a bad thing (workaholics do exist) in
the world. In the church, however, the temptation is to remain a big frog --
by keeping the pond small. This is directly contradictory to the Great
Commission.
The Numbers Game
Here is another possibility: the Sunday
School teacher’s favorite game. I need to get my class to grow. One great way
to get a class to grow is to water down the Gospel, but preach it in a pleasing
way. You get an audience, not a church, when you do that -- but the numbers
look good, at least for a while.
The proper corrective is that God desires
fruit, not blossoms. Just because you can gather an audience to hear your
brilliant reasoning does not mean that you are doing God’s work. You may be
just pleasing yourself, and justifying it by thinking that the church is
growing.
The Temptation of Power
We often make the mistake of assuming that
the temptation of power is to get more of it. It is not. It is to get it more
completely. You think not, O businessman? Which is more tempting to the ego:
a hundred typists churning out the work, or one secretary who dances attendance
on your every whim?
The church power temptation is to get others
to do as you command. It is gratifying to the ego, and easy to do -- it is a
simple perversion of God’s truth.
The uses of the word, “my”
We often speak of “my house”, “my kids” and
“my church.” The word “my” in each of those phrases means something
different. I can sell my house any time I can find a buyer. My kids might
object to the same process being applied to them.
We can fall into the same confusion about “my
church.” It can mean “the local fellowship of believers who, in the grace of
God, accept my whims, foibles and faults as part of the body of Christ” or it
can mean “the human stage on which I strut to show my greatness to God.” (I
did mention that the best lessons are the ones found in the mirror?)
How do we know that Diotrephes was afflicted
with something like these? “By their fruits you will know them....”[1]
Fruits - character on display
There are four aspects of Diotrephes’
character here which are worth noting as the fruits of the inner man:
Gossip
The word used for “gossip” in the Greek is an
interesting word picture. It is used of boiling water - particularly water
which is at a rolling boil, generating masses of useless bubbles. You get the
picture of water boiling furiously which, at the end, leaves nothing but hot,
sticky air.[2]
The love of being “first”
This is practically the definition of pride.
Pride is the central point of ethical difference between Christ and the world.
The world holds pride to be a virtue; we hold “Gay Pride Days,” etc. We use
pride to put down lesser sins (aren’t you ashamed of yourself?) as Satan
laughs. C.S. Lewis called it “the complete anti-God state of mind,” and said
this:
“As long as you are proud you cannot know
God.[3]
A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as
long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”[4]
Refusal of hospitality
This is, in the context of the times,
astonishing. The ancients had no system of hotels as we would know them
today. The inn of that time was an extremely disreputable establishment, often
little better than a brothel. To stay at an inn was a desperate act. Families
would establish networks of friends around the Mediterranean to allow travel by
staying as a guest. That a man would refuse hospitality, and eject others from
the church for providing it, should have shocked the church of that time.
Indeed, such hospitality is directly
commanded:
(Heb
13:2 NIV) Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people
have entertained angels without knowing it.
Dividing the Body
(John
17:20-23 NIV) "My prayer is not for them alone. I
pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
{21} that all of them may be one, Father,
just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world
may believe that you have sent me. {22} I
have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we
are one: {23} I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them even as you have loved me.
This is Christ’s prayer. It stresses the
importance of the unity of the body of Christ. Even seemingly good things can
become evil if they divide the body of Christ.
I once had a chance to offer Communion during
Sunday School (at another church). The lesson was evidently very effective,
for the next week the president of the class told me that the steering
committee had met, and had decided to ask me to offer Communion in class every
Sunday! (I was obliged to refuse, of course) Even the Lord’s Supper can be
used as a dividing point, and when it is, it is better to say no.
One may take it a bit further than that; it
is not just our duty to avoid dividing the body, but also to take positive
steps to encourage the unity of the body. I was shocked when Graydon Jessup
told me that 90% of the letters he receives are critical of his work. So I
decided to write, as appropriate, letters of encouragement. Do we in fact
encourage our leaders, or criticize them as a form of target practice?
John’s Reaction
Considering what Peter did with Ananias and
Sapphira[5]
one may wonder why John did not simply dispose of the man. But note what he
plans to do:
·
He
will “call attention” to what he is doing. Often, this is sufficient -- for
the big frog may feel that the rest of us don’t need to know what he’s doing.
·
In
accordance with his other writing, he will probably attempt to gently restore
Diotrephes to true fellowship.[6]
He does not use the weapons of the world as does his opponent; rather, the
weapons of God.
One reason for this gentle restoration is the
John has made the same mistake!
(Mark
10:35-40 NIV) Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him.
"Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we
ask." {36} "What do you want me to do
for you?" he asked. {37} They replied, "Let one of us
sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." {38} "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus
said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be
baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" {39} "We
can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You
will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,
{40} but to sit at my right or left is not for me
to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
Imitation
It is not sufficient for John merely to “deal
with” Diotrephes. He must also encourage righteous behavior. The principle
which he outlines here is that of imitation. The Greek word used here is the
one from which we get our word “mimic.” And who should we imitate?
(Eph
5:1 NIV) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
This, however, appears difficult -- for we
are physical creatures, and God is spirit. Fortunately, there is a secondary
method!
(1
Cor 11:1 NIV) Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Note the point clearly: not just “follow my
example” -- but follow it when I follow Christ. Be an imitator, not a
lemming.
Imitation, you see, is how children grow in
spirit. To imitate is to become like; to mimic, as the Greek would have it.
The Key to this Lesson
There is one key point to this lesson, and it
comes from the point of pride. The reason Diotrephes has not been able to get
out of his sinful situation -- and the reason he got into it in the first place
-- is that he has not given primacy to Christ. He has not placed Jesus
Christ first in his life. As Paul told us,
(Col
1:15-20 NIV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. {16} For by him all things were created: things in heaven and
on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him. {17} He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together. {18} And he is
the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from
among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. {19} For
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, {20} and through
him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in
heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
We see the results of this in Diotrephes and
John:
·
Diotrephes
places himself first -- and the result is gossip, rudeness and division in the
church.
·
John
places Christ first, and the result is unity, achieved through restoration.
·
John
does this in the imitation of Christ -- that highest of moral principles. He
exemplifies what Paul told the Philippians:
(Phil
2:3-11 NIV) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in
humility consider others better than yourselves. {4} Each of you should
look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
{5} Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: {6} Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, {7} but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. {8} And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a
cross! {9} Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the
name that is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The question then is, which mind is in us?
Whom do we place first - ourselves or Jesus Christ?