How would you like to be Diotrephes? You might be thinking, "Who is Diotrephes? I've never heard of him." You're about to. The only time he's mentioned is in this letter from John to Gaius. John describes him as someone who, "loves to be first." Here you have a man who has an opportunity to get into the story of what Jesus Christ is doing in the world, but he can't look outside of himself.
Christianity requires a humble heart. You cannot follow Christ with your pride in tact. It requires that you lay yourself down, esteem others as better than yourself, look to the interest of others and not your own. But above all, it means you give up your life and yield to the will of our Lord. The man who "loves to be first," as John puts it will always miss out on a true life that is imbedded into the magnificent story of Jesus Christ.
3 John
1The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 10So 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.
11Dear 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. 12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Questions
1. What do you like in this passage?
2. What is difficult about this passage?
3. What did you learn about God?
4. What is He leading you to do?
5. What part will you take with you and think about today?
3 comments:
im kind of confused here... is Diotrephes a "bad person" or a "good person"?
but... still...
6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
i like that... it reassures me that when people go to churhc and see that we do love them, and that we do care about them that they will have a change of heart.
Diotrephes isn't behaving like a Christian should. He "loves to be first." And, he's the type of person that doesn't care to try to reconcile. He is divides instead of unifying.
oh... ok... that makes sense!
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