Jump Start # 192

3 John 9-10 “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself  does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.”

  Ole’ Diotrephes was a real mess and worse than that, he was causing a mess. It seems that he had it in for the apostle John.

• John wrote something, but Diotrephes would not accept it
• John sent some brethren to them, but Diotrephes would have nothing to do with them and anyone who did, he made sure they were put out of the church
• He accused John with wicked words

  The only insight we learn is that he “loves to be first.” Did he think he was better qualified than John was to be an apostle? Did he think he could do things much better than what John was doing? Was he tired of all the wonderful things people were saying about John? Anything connected to John and you can be certain that Diotrephes was not going to have any part with it. His attitude was way out of order.

  The end of our passage today puzzled me—”he puts them out of the church.” Most folks want the church to grow—not Diotrephes, he puts them out of the church. If a person didn’t line up with the way Diotrephes thought things should be, he’d be in trouble, real quick.

  We can see some lessons here with this experience with Diotrephes.

1. Some folks just don’t get it. Just because someone is a Christian, doesn’t mean that they are doing all that they should be. Jesus said, if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Diotrephes forgot the deny self part. For him, it was all about self. He loved praised. He loved being in charge. When it didn’t come to him naturally, he took it by force. Pressure, intimidation and manipulation are the common ingredients found in a mess like Diotrephes. He is only good at showing the bad way to be a Christian. His tongue and wicked ways will drive off many families. Churches split because of people who act this same way. This is not the way the Lord acted. This is not the way God wants his people to behave. Diotrephes simply doesn’t get it. And in some cases, they may never get it.

2. There is only one “first” in the kingdom and that position is taken by Jesus. The rest of us are servants. Jealously and envy have a way of making us forget these things. No one runs the church, but Jesus. No one is in charge of the church other than Jesus. There is no “rising to the top” or “climbing the ranks” within the church. The body has but one head, and that is Jesus. We make artificial pecking orders that that Bible does not. We tend to think of regular members as the lowest, then comes deacons, next elders and at the top are the preachers. We get this idea because of the way we talk and treat one another. All of us are on the same level playing field. We are all equally in this together. The preacher is a member just like everyone else and needs everyone else. The most important person in the church is Jesus. When we forget this, the spirit of Diotrephes rises up within us and look out, trouble soon happens.

3. How we treat each other is as important as what is preached. Somehow, some think it’s ok to be rude, unkind, selfish and must plain mean to one another. This stuff causes more people to leave than what is preached. The church is family. Like your family, you don’t get to pick out who your parents are nor your brothers and sisters. You just have them. For some, they couldn’t have chosen better. For others, they are a real pain. It’s like that in the church. We don’t pick who will become a member, God does. If they are in God’s family, then we need to love them, accept them and encourage them. That’s hard for some of us. We have our select few that we like and the rest, well, if Diotrephes was around, we’d hold the door open as he ran them off. Can’t do that. We’re not even supposed to think that way! But we do. The Jews and Gentiles had to get along. Slaves and masters, when both became Christians, that was most unusual. It’s the same today. We must learn to love and accept our family in Christ.

  Diotrephes loved to show some the door. The one who needs it is Satan. Get him out of our church and our hearts and things would be much better. Work at this. Learn from this.

Roger