The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

3 John 1:1-15, “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
3 For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.
4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.
5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers;
6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.
10 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.
11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink;
14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face.
15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.”

It’s a sure thing: wherever you find a warm, wholesome, trusted, Christian friend, you will also find an equally determined miscreant scoundrel, who is single-mindedly resolved to do you harm. I have experienced this in my lifetime; and this was precisely what John encountered when he had previously written to this church. Gaius was the warm, hospitable Christian friend to John. Diotrephes was the arrogant, self-appointed autocrat, who controlled every communication that arrived or departed from the church. He single-handedly ejected people from the church!

Christians in the earlly churches engaged largely in itinerant, evangelistic ministries. There were other believers who viewed their calling to provide hospitality for the itinerants along the way. John, it would appear, was one of the itinerants; and he writes to commend those who had shown him hospitality. I have been more than once the grateful recipient of such hospitality. Those are folks you never forget.

Diotrephes, however, viewed himself as the “authority” over the church. He was a “controller,” to say the least. An arrogant man, he single-handedly rejected the apostle’s letters of encouragement.

The Apostle John wrote primarily of love and prayer and joy (vv.1-4). Simultaneously, he exhorts the Church to rejoice with him as they all continued to seek the lost and lead them to faith in Jesus (vv. 5-8). The original letter from John was “mysteriously lost” (v 9). But John was no pussy-foot! He verbally excoriated Diotrephes for his opposition to the church’s ministry (vv10-11).

The conclusion of the letter was commendatory (v 12). Possibly…hopefully, this Demetrius is the same Demetrius we know from Acts 19:24. They, too, like the Diotrephes, can be saved. For now, we can only focus on our own churches’ needs. May we ourselves be a Demetrius, never a Diotrephes!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom