Have you ever been around a person who believed he or she always had to be in charge? There was just something about their personality that whenever any situation arose, they believed themselves to be the best suited for the job, and that no one was more important than they. This is the situation we encounter today with John the apostle as he writes to his beloved Gaius who has been commended by John for his hospitality toward itinerant teachers. These teachers traveled from village to village sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Gaius would take care of them. John wrote of a person who was not like Gaius in the book of Third John in verse nine:
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, received us not.
Diotrephes, whose name means “nourished by Zeus”, was a Christian man, however, he was arrogant and proud. John reveals much about him in this and the next verse, so let's take a look at what he says.
First, John declares that he previously wrote to the church. John the apostle whom we have learned from previous writings is the loving and caring father in the faith who was as close to Jesus as anyone was while Jesus was on Earth. John gave caring instruction and guidance as he shared with the church his insights into Godly living, and his main theme was always “truth in love”. However, notice Diotrephes reaction to John's writings, “received us not.” Can we imagine this? Can we imagine that there would be someone who would reject the one to whom Jesus left the care of His mother? Can we fathom that anyone could resist the teachings of the person who was so close to Jesus that He lay his head on Jesus' chest during the last supper? Yet, Diotrephes did. Why?
Diotrephes “loves to have the preeminence among them.” Diotrephes loved to be in control, have others following him, desired to be known as the “know it all”, and clamored to be the one to whom everyone would yield. This behavior was totally contrary to the way Jesus said we as His disciples should live. Jesus said in the book of the gospel of Mark in chapter ten and verse forty-four:
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
Jesus proclaimed that the person who would be the one who was the greatest would be the servant of everyone. Diotrephes obviously felt otherwise. In fact, Diotrephes felt that he was so superior to everyone that even John the apostle himself was one he could reject. More than likely Diotrephes believed that every traveling prophet was false, and because he could not distinguish between the real and the false, he just rejected everyone. Pride and arrogance will do that to a person.
Today we would be well-advised to consider the behavior of Diotrephes and ask ourselves if we have characteristics like him. Do we always have to be in charge? Are we continually resisting anyone who desires to share the gospel? Do we tend to have others serving us rather than us serving others? If John were writing about us would he be saying we are so much like Gaius or we are just like Diotrephes? Maybe as we examine ourselves today we can discover characteristics within our own lives that align us for or against the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Next time we will look a little further into what John has to say about Diotrephes, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
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