Faithfully Laboring for God’s Truth

Transcript

GR 1287
Faithfully Laboring for God’s Truth
III John 5-9
3/13/05


We’re looking into the little book of III John. You might turn there in your Bibles, all the way at the back of the New Testament, just before the book of Revelation, which concludes our Bibles. You have the little one-chapter book of Jude and then just before Jude you have the third letter of John. We started looking into this letter in our last study, and we noted this is the shortest letter in the New Testament. There are 219 words in the Greek text of this letter, the second shortest letter is II John and then it has 245 words, if I remember correctly. These little one-chapter letters would have been about the standard size of a letter in New Testament times. They would have fit on a single sheet of papyrus, the standard writing material, which was 8 x 10 in size.

This is a letter that doesn’t deal with doctrinal issues, but it will deal with some crucial personal issues. It follows the normal pattern of a letter in New Testament times. It begins with a greeting or salutation, takes the first 4 verses, then you have the body of the letter in verses 5-12, and then you have some words written in conclusion, verses 13-14. We looked at the greeting or salutation of the letter. Standard practice was the writer would identify himself, he would identify the person or persons that he is writing to. And then he would give a word of greeting or encouragement or blessing, and then move into the letter. And that’s exactly what John does.

First he identifies himself as the elder, and there is general agreement on this, and this goes back very, very early in time in church history, that John the Apostle was the writer of the epistles that bear the name the epistles of John—I John, II John and III John. He also wrote the gospel of John and the book of the Revelation. He identifies himself here as the elder, connecting him specifically to the ministry of the local church. He was also an apostle and as an apostle his ministry encompassed many churches, all the churches if you will, because the churches are built on the foundation of the revelation given to the apostles and prophets, according to Ephesians 2:20. But here John identifies himself as an elder within the context of his ministry to the local church and local churches. Peter did the same thing in I Peter 5:1. He addressed the elders and he said he did so as a fellow elder, one joined with them in the leadership and oversight of these local churches.

John was writing to a man named Gaius, and while there are at least three other men in the New Testament by the name of Gaius, we noted that this particular Gaius is probably not to be identified with any of them. Gaius was one of the most common names in New Testament times, a common Roman name, and so we don’t know anything more about him than what we have in the letter here. He is a man who has demonstrated particular faithfulness to the truth of God and the ministry of John. And John has a great affection and love for him. And as we’ll see as we move through the letter, John is in the midst of a conflict, and his personal character and integrity are under attack. And Gaius is a great encouragement to John. Now in conflicts like this there are those people that join the opposition, there are those people who think this is just a personality issue, I don’t have any feelings one way or the other. Then there are men like Gaius who have stepped up on John’s behalf and supported him and been a great blessing to John and his ministry. So John expresses a great affection for Gaius, he refers to the fact that he loves him in the truth. He refers to the fact that he’s loved by all believers and he will refer to him as the beloved Gaius on several occasions in this letter. And then John’s prayer for Gaius, desires for Gaius to have all God’s blessing, is that he might prosper in every area of his life, that he might have good health, even as his soul prospers and does well. One thing John is absolutely sure of is the godly character of Gaius. And I could hope that you do as well in all areas of your life, Gaius, as you have done spiritually. What a remarkable testimony, an outstanding characteristic of the life of Gaius is his godly character.

Having given that introduction John is ready to enter in to the body of the letter, and the body of the letter covers verses 5-12. Three particular men will be named by name—Gaius, and he will be the focal person in verses 5-8; then Diotrephes who has become infamous because of two verses in this short letter in the Word of God. The man who opposes John in his ministry in verses 9-10. And another faithful servant mentioned in verses 11-12, named Demetrius, who evidently stood firmly with John and Gaius also.

We’re just going to work partly through the body of this letter and then in our next study we will complete it and draw the conclusion of the letter to completion. There is trouble in one of the churches that John has responsibility for. We’re going to work our way through the details up that point, but you need to understand what the background for this letter is. There are no doctrinal issues dealt with in this letter, no false doctrine rebuked. But there is a serious issue affecting the unity and ministry of a local church that John has responsibility for. The man Diotrephes opposed his ministry, he believes he ought to be the leader, be in charge, and he is unwilling to have John have any influence in the church. He has evidently gained significant influence in that local church. John is not there, probably he is at his home church in Ephesus. Church history tells us that the latter part of John’s life was focused in his ministry in the church at Ephesus, but from there his ministry would spread to other local churches scattered around like the 7 churches of Asia, of which Ephesus is the first one mentioned.

In one of these local churches a man has gotten power and evidently attained a significant following, as men of good personality are often able to do. They attract people to themselves, and evidently this following is willing to support Diotrephes in opposition to John. Because as we’ll see as we get to that point, Diotrephes is able to acquire enough influence in the church that he puts out of the church any who would support John in his ministry. So he’s not just a rogue person acting on his own in that sense that he has no support. There are people that would see it from Diotrephes’ viewpoint. In fact let me note to you now, having worked through a number of commentaries on III John, I am amazed that a couple of the more liberal commentators take the view that it is not possible for us to know who was right and who was wrong in this controversy between John and Diotrephes, because we’ve only heard John’s side. We don’t have a letter from Diotrephes to reflect his side. So we ought to be careful about taking sides here. Why people like that even bother writing commentaries, one side of me says I don’t know, the other side of me does know. It’s part of the devil’s plan to try to undermine scripture. The scripture is clear. But what it does show is any time there are two personalities involved in a conflict, there are some people, no matter how clear the issues are, who either will be confused, be on the wrong side, or just don’t know what to do. And in this conflict remember the name Jesus gave to John and his brother, James? Sons of Thunder. We’ll see a little bit of that thunder in John. Because he says I’m not able to come to the church right now, but when I come, I’ll deal with Diotrephes and put things in proper order.

Paul feels strongly about this, this is an issue of enough important that the Spirit of God has directed that this short letter be part of the inspired Word of God for the ongoing benefit of the church. And one thing we are reminded of, there are doctrinal controversies that bring division and disharmony to the local church, but there are those who would bring division and conflict to the church just over personality and the desire to be the dominant person. And that’s what is happening in the church that John is dealing with. Well verses 5-8 deal with the faithful conduct of Gaius. I wanted you to know something of the background of why the faithfulness of Gaius is so important to John. Gaius is there, standing faithfully for the truth, in support of the ministry of John in a difficult situation. John commends him greatly under the direction of the Spirit.

Verse 5, beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren and especially when they are strangers. There is that word beloved. He addressed this letter to the beloved Gaius whom I love in the truth. Now he starts the body of the letter, beloved, well loved one. He’ll repeat that down in verse 11. Beloved. He has a special affection for Gaius and appreciation for his stand in that church. You are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren. Let’s lay it right out in the beginning—Gaius, you are walking in the truth, as he said at the end of verse 4. To put that another way, you are acting faithfully, you are being faithful to the truth in your treatment of the brethren. Gaius, you are right. Any time you get into a conflict over personalities, things get blurred. At least in a doctrinal issue you can turn to the Word of God and say, here is what the Word of God says, here is the difference. When people make it a matter of personalities, it seems to be subjective and it becomes confusing to people. Gaius, you are acting faithfully. In spite of what others may be doing, in spite of what others may be saying, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren.

Now the issue here was that John himself could not come to the church at that time, so he would send representatives out, as Paul did when he went and centered his ministry in a city. Then those who accompanied Paul on his ministry would go out as his representative to other areas to establish churches, to minister to churches that had been established. So John would sent out those who were his representatives, to bring letter from him, instructions from him. Diotrephes closed the church to these representatives of John, and he would not allow the people of the church to have anything to do with them as well. But there is a faction in the church who stands faithful and loyal to the truth and to John. And so John commends Gaius, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren. That word translated accomplish, a word that implies that toilsome labor, much effort is involved in what he is doing. So you are helping the brethren. He’s talking about fellow believers who have come, and as the letter goes on and it becomes clearer, he’s primarily focusing on those who come from John as his representatives, fellow believers coming to minister the truth from John. Especially when they are strangers. Not just talking about showing hospitality to friends who come to the city and to the church, but even when Gaius didn’t know them personally, they were fellow believers. And furthermore, John had sent them. That was good enough. He was willing to invest himself in them, put himself out for them, toil for their good, welcome them into his home, provide lodging, provide food, see that they were taken care of. Part of the requirement of hospitality, and in New Testament times it was a pattern. In fact the word translated hospitality in the New Testament is just this word we have translated stranger with the word love on the front. Showing hospitality is showing love to strangers.

Let me read you a couple of verses, we won’t turn there. I Peter 4:9, be hospitable to one another without complaint. And that’s just the word to love strangers, a compound word. Be hospitable. Show love to strangers, to one another who are strangers, fellow believers, even that you don’t know but come to your town. Hebrews 13:2, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, to show love to strangers. Romans 12:13, we are to be practicing hospitality, be practicing love to strangers. Now the general context, and these are not the only passages, of these instructions are to fellow believers. Doesn’t mean we never are kind or wouldn’t show hospitality to non-believers, but the concern of scripture is showing this kind of love to fellow believers. In New Testament times as you are aware there were not even the options for good accommodations when you traveled. The inns of the time were places of notorious low repute. Would be like someone traveling today and they come to a city or town and they don’t have any home open to them, I guess I’ll have to stay at the local brothel. We say, that’s not a very good option. No. And just places of drinking and immorality, so they were sort of a place of last resort. And in New Testament times you have these traveling ministers, traveling preachers and they come bringing the Word of God to these communities and these churches. They are to be welcomed and received and provided for. That’s what Gaius is doing, particularly now, these being sent out from John to minister in the local church where Gaius is.

Verse 6, and they have testified to your love before the church. When John would send out these men from his church, and his church would send them out, when they went out and ministered to other places like the church where Gaius is, these men would come back and give their testimony and report to their home church. And the present tense here indicates that repeatedly they testified to the fact that Gaius has been such a help to them, such a support for them, such an encouragement to them in their ministry. That was a good testimony to be brought back.

Turn back to I John 3. John writes a lot about love, we talk about him as the apostle of love. But for John love is never a sentimental feeling. He takes what Jesus said and applies it very seriously. Jesus said, if you love Me you will keep my commandments. And in I John 3:16 John wrote, we know love by this. How do we know love? Well I feel it in my heart. No, John says we know love by this, that He laid down His life for us. That’s how we know the love of God, Jesus Christ’s love for us. Romans 5, but this is the great demonstration of love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That’s the great demonstration of God’s love. I feel it. No. I’ve seen it, He demonstrated it, His Son died for me.

At the end of I John 3:16, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Do we love fellow believers? Then we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for them. Whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Let’s not just talk about love, let’s do love, express our love in what we do and in living out the truth.

In Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas came back from their missionary trip carrying the Word of God to other places. And in Acts 14:26, they returned to the church at Antioch from whence they had begun their ministry. And in Acts 14:27 we read, and when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. So that’s what is happening in III John. John sent out representatives, particularly to the church where Gaius was, and Diotrephes was. The problem was when his representatives got there, Gaius welcomed them and encourage them and provided support for them, but Diotrephes used his influence to refuse to allow the letter from John to be read or to allow his representatives to have any ministry in the church. This is the kind of conflict going on, but the testimony regarding Gaius has been wonderful. And these traveling preachers have testified to that before the church.

Verse 6 continues, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. They are the servants of God, they represent Him first and foremost. John has sent them. The opposition of Diotrephes will be against John, but in opposing John, Diotrephes is opposing the ministry of the Holy Spirit, because John is a faithful servant and these men are faithful servants. You do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. He not only is to care for them and provide for them while they are there, but then to provide for their journey to the next place or their return home. Now it’s interesting, John is at a home church here, but the home church is not making the provision. These men go out, when they arrive at the church where they are to do their ministry, that church becomes responsible for their ministry. And it becomes a testimony of their faithfulness that they fulfill that responsibility.

Send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:40-41, he who receives you receives Me. So He’s sending out his representatives. Those who receive you receive Me, Jesus said. Those who receive Me receives Him who sent Me. So important to accept these representatives and send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, because they represent God. They are acting on His behalf and when you receive them that way, you are receiving God. Your action toward them, your attitude toward them displays your attitude and your action toward the living God. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.

Now John is going to go on to elaborate on further, why is it necessary to receive these men and send them on in a manner worthy of God. Verse 7, for. You’ll note the for, that explains why we want to send them on in a manner worthy of God. First, they went out for the sake of the name. The first reason to support these men is they have gone out as the representatives of Jesus Christ. The name. The name stands for all that Christ is and all that He has done. Acts 4:12 says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That name stands for who He is and what He has done. Philippians 2:9-11, for this reason, because Christ humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of a cross. For this reason God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Back up to I John 2:12, John say, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. For His name’s sake. Because of who He is and what He has done. So the name. These traveling representatives should be supported and cared for because they went out for the sake of the name. We’re not talking about people on a business trip, we’re not talking about people on a pleasure trip. We’re talking about people here particularly as John writes, who were on a mission. Their sole reason for traveling to this city and this church is to represent Jesus Christ and proclaim truth concerning Him. They deserve to be provided for.

A second reason is, they accept nothing from the Gentiles. The Gentiles here referring like we would use the word pagan or heathen, referring to the unbeliever. They do not accept any support from unbelievers, so they have given up everything to go and represent Jesus Christ and proclaim His truth, and they will not accept any help from unbelievers. Where are they going to get their support? It has to be from believers. A pattern clearly established. Believers go and minister the truth and they are to be supported in their ministry of the truth by those who themselves are committed to the truth. Now it’s also a pattern in the New Testament, Paul talks about this, when he carried the gospel to new areas he was careful that he did not take money from them at the beginning, because he never wanted there to be a cloud over his ministry that he came here and preached to try to get people saved so he could get their money. So we have the pattern—it’s believers who support the ministry of the Word of God. That’s the pattern these men followed. They didn’t accept any money from unbelievers. So it will fall to the believers to accept them, to support them.

Verse 8, therefore we ought to support such men. So he’s repeating what he has said at the end of verse 6, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. Verse 8, we ought to support such men because they went out on behalf of Christ. They don’t accept money from the Gentiles, and when you support them, you’ll be a fellow worker with the truth. That word translated support in verse 8, we ought to support, is literally the word to receive or accept. We ought to receive them or accept them. It means here they arrive in the city at the church there, they ought to be like Gaius—welcomes them, receives them, encourages them, sees that they are provided lodging and food. And then when they have to leave and return to their home church or on to another spot, see that they have resources provided to get them there. We ought to receive such men. And when we do, it enables us to be fellow workers with the truth. So it’s not only to help them, but it’s a benefit for us. We become fellow workers with the truth. Remember I read you Matthew 10:41, he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet—that’s important. You are receiving a prophet, God’s spokesman, because he is God’s spokesman. Then you will receive a prophet’s reward. Here is an opportunity to receive a prophet’s reward, Jesus said, even though you are not a prophet. Welcome a prophet, receive him, thus become a fellow worker with the truth, as John puts it. By helping these teachers they, themselves, are involved in the proclamation of the truth.

An example like this. I proclaim the truth here regularly, and I am supported and encouraged in a variety of ways, including material provision in my ministry. And in that you will receive a preacher’s reward, because as you have encouraged and helped and supported my ministry of the truth, you become a fellow worker with the truth. And thus are rewarded as one who is involved in the proclamation of the truth. And that goes on as the Word of God is taught and preached. We are fellow workers together with God, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians. This is our ministry together. And while we have differing ministries, we share in one another’s ministry. So what an opportunity for the church where Gaius is, and Diotrephes by his sinful conduct is closing the church off, not only for the opportunity to help these representatives of Christ, but closing them off from the opportunity to be a fellow worker with the truth.

Now we have to be careful and exercise discernment in this ministry. Look at II John, the second letter that John had written to a church and its members. And he says in verse 8, watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. It is a doctrinal issue in II John, and there are doctrinal issues dealt with in the first epistle of John. Then he goes on, II John 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, do not give him a greeting, do nothing to help him, nothing to encourage him, nothing to support him for the one who gives him a greeting participates, fellowships in his evil deeds. So you see it can work both ways. Those who encourage and help false teachers are sharing in their false teaching, becoming a participant in their sinful actions. We have to be careful. People take one portion of the Word and ignore the other, there has to be discernment among believers. And there are teachers I don’t want to have anything to do with, I don’t want to support them in any way, I don’t even want to give them a word of encouragement because they speak contrary to the truth of God. And to do anything that would encourage or help them would make me a participant in their evil deeds. I can’t disassociate myself and say, look, that’s their teaching, there is a possibility they have some good things. I don’t want to try to sort that out. You better sort it out because God has, and He’s holding me accountable. Serious matter to participate in the false teaching and evil deeds of such teachers. But that doesn’t mean, well, then, you know, I wouldn’t do it. I have to be careful, I have to discern.

I was asked in the previous hour, what about, what do we do? Well we recently had a speaker here for the weekend. I see and the board sees and we as a church have tried to function this way, that we provide for them in every way. And if we’re going to err, we want to err on being generous. He has come here to minister the truth to us and we value the ministry of truth, we value the fact that he has come here to minister truth. And so we want to be sure that our provision for him is generous and proper. And that doesn’t mean it has to be lavish, but as possible we want to provide for him to the best of our abilities. If we were a church of 30 people and he came and ministered, obviously we would have to do much less. But I would want to do the best of what we could do as a church of 30. With a church much larger, then when we have a guest speaker, someone who comes to minister the Word, we want to see that we fulfill this and provide for him. I would rather him go away and speak someplace and say, they were so generous, they were much more generous than they needed to be. They provided better accommodations for me than would have been necessary. Wonderful. Why do we do that? We value the ministry of the Word, we want them to know that it’s valued. We want to do for them what we can in their ministry. We want to be fellow workers with the truth.

Everything has been great until now. You know if you dropped out verses 9-10 of this letter, you’d say, wow that’s just a nice letter of encouragement and blessing. Verse 9 comes into the letter here like a jarring blast of cold air. Verse 9, I wrote something to the church. John had written a letter to the church there. But, but—strong contrast here. Greek has a word for but that you could use as a soft contrast, and it has a word, the word that is used here, for a hard contrast. We can do it in English by inflection and the use of our voice. I wanted to go with you, but something happened. There is a contrast there, something is radical. We can say I hope to go today, but it may not work out. We get the idea, that’s just not a big thing. Well in Greek you could change the but, and here you have a strong contrast. I wrote something to the church. In the context almost all are agreed, and it may be all, that it’s not I John or II John, previous letters, because there is no indication here that what he says about the opposition that has anything to do with a doctrinal issue. We can be sure the way John has dealt with doctrine in his first letter and in the more brief second letter that if it were a doctrinal issue he would point that out and deal with it. It’s simply a matter of an arrogant person wanting to have the place of prominence in this church, rather than John.

I wrote something to the church, we don’t know what it was, it’s not a letter preserved. The Spirit of God did not see fit to preserve everything he had writers of scripture write. But Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. The order in the Greek here I think is more clear. I wrote something to the church, but the one loving to have the preeminence, Diotrephes, does not receive us. He puts it right out there. I wrote something to the church, but the one loving to have the preeminence will reveal what he is and what his motives are before I even give you his name. The one loving to have the preeminence, Diotrephes, he won’t receive us. That’s a present participle, loving to have the preeminence, a compound word, to be preeminent and have the word love on the front. He loves to be preeminent, he loves to be first. This is the only time this compound word is found in the New Testament. The individual words are found, but put together as one word. Present tense. This is the characteristic of his life. He loves to be preeminent, he wants to be first, he wants to be in control. One commentator, D. Edmond Hiebert, wrote, it portrays an ambitious, self-seeking, power hungry individual who aggressively sought to be the head of things and to rule over others. But you understand in the church he evidently comes across in such a way that there will be a significant part of the church that will support him. So it’s possible for him to not only exclude the representatives of John, but also to put out of the church any people who want to support John and his representatives. It will come out in our next study. Remarkable. Diotrephes made infamous in the Word of God. The only reference to him in scripture, enshrined in the inspired Word of God as the man who stands against God’s representatives in the church. This is not a person in the community who is a problem, this is a man in the church who doesn’t like the leadership that God has put in place. And so he is going to assert himself.

The name Diotrephes by most is taken to be translated nourished by Zeus, which would indicate that he wasn’t born in a Christian family. He wasn’t a second or third generation believer. If he had parents who were believers they wouldn’t have named a child nourished by Zeus. So indication is probably he comes from a pagan background and at least professed to be saved. What arrogance that he stands against John and his representatives. He won't receive us, he doesn’t accept us. We have he does not accept what we say, but the what we say is not actually there. He doesn’t accept us is literally what it says. He won’t receive us, he’s not open to us and our ministry. So when I wrote the letter he wouldn’t allow it to be read in the church, he wouldn’t allow my ministers, those representing me, to minister in the church. And he won’t allow anybody in the church who supports me. He, in effect, has excommunicated them. What audacity. How does a man like this get a hold in church? How does a man like this get a following in the church? Sad state of affairs in this church.

There is not a hint of a doctrinal problem. Now we can be sure that will develop, but doctrinal problems are dealt with in the first letter of John rather extensively. The second letter of John deals with doctrinal problems. Here is just a man who wants to be first, I want to have the preeminence, I don’t want to have John’s influence in my church. That’s remarkable. One person said it this way, Diotrephes wished to put space between himself and John, between his church and John’s influence. D. Edmond Hiebert comments on this, he has a great commentary on the epistles of John as many of you know. And in what he writes here, and I’m going to read it to you in a moment, he refers to A. T. Robertson, the great Southern Baptist scholar of a past generation who wrote numerous Greek works including his 6-volume word studies in the New Testament. A. T. Robertson being a Southern Baptist, and in Southern Baptist churches, deacons have the role of leadership, keep that in mind as I read this. D. Edmond Hiebert writes concerning Diotrephes, he was motivated by an aggressive passion to be in charge. Unfortunately the spirit of Diotrephes has survived to the present day. A. T. Robertson tells of writing an article on Diotrephes for a denominational paper. He adds, the editor told me that 25 deacons stopped the paper to show their resentment against being personally attacked in the paper. Now that’s both humorous and sad, isn’t it? Here he writes an article on Diotrephes in a denominational paper and he gets 25 deacons who stop the paper because they were offended at being personally attacked. Says something about their character, doesn’t it. And sadly it says they weren’t open to change, they were offended.

These kind of battles are difficult. You know the church gets divided over doctrinal controversy. We’re talking about within the local church now, this is the local church we’re talking about, and the church gets divided over personalities. And sometimes people just want to be first. I remember one time a staff person coming to me and saying, I just want to have my own ministry and be in charge myself. That’s fine. The problem was, he wanted to be in charge of this ministry. You can’t do that. That makes you Diotrephes. We have to be careful. That staff person said, I believe the Lord is calling me to lead my own ministry as a pastor in a church where I have the full responsibility. I said, the Lord bless you. It’s a different thing when they come in to tell me the Lord has led them to become the senior pastor in this church. We have a different conflict, a different issue. It saddens me when people come and say, well I’m leaving. There is no doctrinal controversy, but it becomes a personality issue. I’m not surprised people don’t like my personality. Well change. Change to what? Well what you like, and then somebody else won’t like it. We need to be careful over these kinds of divisions. Someone will come and say, I don’t have any doctrinal problem but I’m leaving. Why? Personality. I’m not saying God never leads people for other reasons than doctrinal reasons. That’s fine. We need to be careful. Churches get torn apart by personality issues. We need to be careful of people who think they know more than the leaders God has put in place, and they ought to be the ones of influence. And on it goes.

And here what a sad thing for this church. It’s being divided, torn apart because there is a man in the church who doesn’t want John’s influence in his church. And he’ll even go to the extent of excommunicating anybody who would support John or those who minister from John.

Let me just give you a few points and we’re done. It is important, it is essential that we continue in the line of faithful men that go back to the apostles. And that means we have to be faithful to apostolic truth. Gaius was one of these men, he was walking in the truth. He was acting faithfully. He not only had a good doctrinal statement, he put it into practice. We must be those kind of people, those who are known for supporting those who are faithful to the truth, of being committed to their ministry, of supporting the truth. Because the church is the pillar and support of the truth. When we are faithful to helping those who preach the truth, we are fellow workers with the truth. We want to be discerning. We’re not going to support men whose life and doctrine are not in line with the Word of God. We’re not going to support those who teach contrary to biblical truth. We’re not going to support men like Diotrephes who may have a good doctrinal statement, but their life is contrary to what must be required.

The unity of the church can be threatened not only by those who bring in false doctrine, but those who come in with a self-serving agenda. And all of us have to be careful, none of us are above pride, self-centeredness, seeing ourselves as right. I realize that’s true of me as it is of anyone else. We must be careful that we are motivated by genuine love, a submissiveness to the will of God, to the plan of God, and function according to the organization and structure that God has put in place. I have no doubt that John had his flaws. When he wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up some of the unbelievers who opposed Jesus and his disciples. That was a flaw. But that did not mean Diotrephes had any grounds for opposing John’s ministry here. We’re not talking about perfect people, but we are talking about biblical people.

We want to have faithfulness to the truth, and we want to be careful about dividing over personalities. Obviously we all have people we like better than other people, we have people that we enjoy more than other people, people that we like the way they do things versus other people. We need to be very careful that we don’t divide the church or become part of division in the church, or part of indifference if division does occur when these kinds of things happen. The testimony of God’s people in the church which is the pillar and support of the truth is at stake. We want to be in the line of faithful men like John, like Gaius and like Demetrius that we will shortly meet.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. We are saddened to read even in the very foundational days when your great servant, John, was yet alive and ministering in the church, there was division and conflict. There was a man like Diotrephes who would be so arrogant to oppose the ministry of your servants. And yet, Lord, we know you have put this in your Word for our benefit, our admonition and our learning as your church today, to be warned and alerted and on guard against those things which would mar our testimony, divide our fellowship and keep us from the testimony of faithfulness to you. Lord, we desire that your Spirit would have His way in our lives and our ministry together, that we might indeed be those who are fellow workers with the truth. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.