Video
“The Polarizing Truth”
3 John 5-10
Pastor Ryan J. McKeen
9/22/24
Audio
Transcript
Because of the way that he faithfully walked in the truth. We saw that his faithful life resulted in love in the truth between he and John. For his own testimony to the truth. That his life showed the truth that he believed. And we saw that he brought about a joy in the truth, that John said his greatest joy is to see men like Gaius, men who were his children in the faith and who were walking in the truth.
And it may seem like I’m being very repetitive, talking about the truth, the truth, the truth. But that’s what these letters are about. These letters are repetitively reminding us of the importance of the truth. This evening we’ll be looking at the polarizing nature of the truth. That there are really only two responses that you can have to the truth. Either you believe it or you don’t believe it. You obey it or you disobey it. You love it or you hate it. You may think, well, no, you can be apathetic. You can just not care. Well, that is unbelief. That is disobedience. That is hating the truth. And we see that very thing personified in this letter here this evening.
The two responses to the truth. We’ve already been introduced to the first character that we’ll be looking at tonight, and that is Gaius. He is a dear friend of the Apostle John, who wrote the letter. This is a correspondence between close friends, and we get to peek into their conversation. Tonight we’re introduced to another man named Diotrephes. Diotrephes is really the polar opposite of Gaius. Gaius walked in the truth, and we’ll see Diotrephes rejected the truth. Gaius showed love for the brothers, And Diotrephes refused to welcome the brothers. Gaius brought joy to his leaders. Diotrephes disparaged and slandered his leaders. Gaius was known for serving others. And Diotrephes was known for serving himself. So you really see two opposite, really different men here. and all stems from the fact that they had different reactions to the truth. They had different reactions to what John had told them or sent them. So when our text is really divided between these two men, first we’ll see the faithful Gaius, and then our next division will be the prideful Diotrephes.
So I’m going to read our text this evening. It’s 3 John, verses 5 through 10. This is the word of the Lord. You are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers and are doing this though they are strangers. And they bore witness to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers with the truth. I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not welcome what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his deeds, which he does, unjustly disparaging us with wicked words. And not satisfied with this, he himself does not welcome the brothers either. And he forbids those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
That will be our focus this evening. Really, the letter of 3 John really divides really nicely with three different sections that all begin with the word beloved. We looked at one last week in verses, really after verse one, which is the greetings, but then starting in verse two, you see beloved. Then you see in verse five, it begins with beloved. And then again, in verse 11, the final section of the letter begins with beloved.
So here, we see two things that he tells Gaius in verses five through eight that he wants to encourage him in. First, he commends him for his service, his faithfulness already. And then, we see in verses six through eight, he encourages him to do even more, to be faithful even more. And we see in verse five, he’s really commending or encouraging Gaius for what he’s doing. He says, beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers. And you’re doing this though they are strangers. Again, last week in the introduction, we saw John speaking of Gaius’ faithfulness. And here he brings it up again. We see John give an example of Gaius’ faithful life. By using the word beloved, he emphasizes his love and affection for Gaius. This is a close friend, a dear brother in the faith, a dear son in the faith. And he encourages Gaius because of what he’s been doing for the brothers.
Gaius had been extending hospitality to these brothers, and these were, as we have seen in 1st and 2nd John, those who were traveling around teaching different things. Some were false teachers. We saw them spoken of in 1st John. We saw them warned against in 2nd John, but here in 3rd John, John speaks of good brothers, those who are teaching the truth, those who are traveling around to different churches. They could be itinerant preachers that are preaching in a different church every week or so, or they could be missionaries going and planting churches and they just need a place to stay over. But these brothers are those who are traveling around and had apparently reported back to John the kind of reception they’d received from Gaius. And not only was he extending this warm welcome.
He wasn’t doing it on the basis of a pre-existing friendship that he had with these people. John says, you’re doing this even though they’re strangers. Gaius probably gave these preachers, these brothers, a place to stay, gave them food to eat, which was not something taken lightly in those days. And by taking strangers into your home, you were putting your reputation on the line. It was an honor-driven society, and if you took the wrong people in, you would ruin your reputation. And Gaius was taking in these strangers. He could have even been helping them financially, sending them on their way.
And John says, you are acting faithfully. And what does that mean? What does he mean, you’re acting faithfully? Because that can have several different meanings. It could mean you’re obeying. You’re obeying what I told you. But did John give Gaius specific instructions about these brothers? I don’t think so. Because John emphasizes that, Gaius, you’re doing this even though they’re strangers. You had no idea who these men were. You had no idea that they were coming. They were strangers. But apparently he could tell, and he could, by evaluating them, know that they were preaching the truth, and he welcomed them in. And John is emphasizing that point. And some versions don’t pick up on the emphasis there that even though they’re strangers. And that’s really, that’s an emphatic way that John is saying that. That’s magnifying the kindness of Gaius.
He’s saying not only are you treating these brothers well, but even more so, they’re strangers. You don’t owe them anything. and you’re taking care of these brothers. So if it’s not something John already told him to do, what does acting faithfully mean? Well, I like the way one commenter explained it. He said, Gaius’ loyalty and his kindness to the brothers here is a result of his faith. He’s saying, What John is meaning to tell Gaius is you’re doing all these things because you’re a believer and you want to show faith in the things that you do. So you could say where it says he’s acting faithfully, you’re acting out of your faith. Your faith is driving your action here. And I think that’s what this verse is getting at, especially when later on we come to contrast Gaius against Diotrephes. Gaius is acting like a Christian, acting like somebody who has faith, acting like somebody who believes these things, and it affects how he lives. Diotrephes is not. And Gaius’ faithful testimony was so impactful and impressive to these brothers, they reported it back to John.
He says in verse six, they bore witness to your love before the church. Gaius’s uncommon kindness to them was being told among the church. These brothers returned to a church that probably didn’t even know Gaius and were telling them about the warm welcome they received by this man. Gaius was showing himself to be a model of what a Christian ought to be. He’s showing what love is, the love that we are called to display, loving one another. That’s what he’s doing.
As Paul explains in Romans, what Christian love ought to look like. He says in Romans 12, verses 9 to 13, let love be without hypocrisy. Then he goes on to explain what he means. By abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good, being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in affliction, being devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, and pursuing hospitality. Those are all a list that are under the heading of let love be without hypocrisy. You wanna know how to love? Follow these things. This is Gaius. This is what Gaius is doing. Contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.
I’m very thankful that fellowship has a good reputation in this area. Specifically, supporting those who are preaching the truth, supporting missions. We have a healthy missions budget. And we have a track record of showing hospitality to missionaries. That’s a wonderful thing. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. That’s what Christians ought to do. And it should be commended like John is doing here. And John also has more encouragement for Gaius that we too can hear and pay attention to. He says in verse six, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. That phrase there, you will do well, it’s a Greek idiom. It’s basically equivalent to our saying, please, please send them on their way. John’s asking him to send any missionaries that do come on their way in a manner that is worthy of God.
Again, this is very similar to other instructions we see in the New Testament. Paul tells Titus in Titus 3.13, diligently help send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. This is sending them on their way in a manner worthy of God. So Gaius has a duty, not only to keep doing what he’s been doing, but to send them on their way so they can continue to spread the gospel. And John gives the reason why we ought to be doing these things, why we ought to make sure missionaries’ needs are met so that they can focus on the task that God has called them to. And he says in verse seven, four, so why should you send them on their way in a manner worthy of God? Four, they went out for the sake of the name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support such men. so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
So we see the imperative, the need to support these type of missionaries. But John also gives some criteria. The type of men to be supporting, the type of co-workers in the gospel that you need to be supporting. We need to be good stewards. We need to Give wisely to those who need help You can’t just be sending money or or whatever you have to anybody who asks for it You need to be wise and discerning with who you support Because we saw in second John when you team up with the wrong kind of people You’re supporting you’re taking part in their evil deeds. I So we need to be discerning on who it is that we are teaming up with, who it is we are supporting.
So what is the criteria John gives here? Well, the standard is pretty high. Gaius was to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, so that automatically calls him to a high standard of how this is to be done. And first of all, the first thing that these brothers who John was encouraging him to support, the first thing described to them is they went out for the sake of the name, verse seven. They represent the name, the name of God. God’s name represents all that he is. And their work is the work of God himself. You go out as ambassadors representing God. This is the motive that underlies the church’s evangelistic efforts. We go out to represent God to the world. We do all things for the glory of God. When believers proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and people are saved as a result, this brings glory to God.
Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 4.15. He says, the grace which is spreading more and more, and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. As the gospel was spreading, it was causing more and more people to give thanks to the glory of God. That is the result of true missions work. People get saved, God gets the glory. This is why we have missionaries come and give reports to the church. Not only before we decide to support them, to show us who they are, but also to give us updates on what they’re doing so that we can be wise in who we’re supporting and we can make sure that they are going out in a in a manner worthy of the name. Because again, we want to be good stewards with what God has given us as a church. And we want to give his money in a place that he would be glorified. We want to support missionaries who truly go out for the sake of the name. Secondly, the second criteria John gives is that they expect nothing from the Gentiles. Unbelievers are not going to support those who go and preach the true gospel. If Christians, if churches don’t support missionaries, no one will.
As Pastor Piatt talked about a few weeks ago in 1 Timothy, Paul explained to Timothy that those who faithfully proclaim the word are worthy of financial compensation. Those who are true workers of the gospel, those who are out spreading the good news, who are preaching the word faithfully, they are worthy of double honor and they are worthy of compensation. And while it is right for them to be paid for their labor, gospel ministers are never in it for the money. And they don’t go out expecting to be paid especially by unbelievers, but they don’t go out in order to pursue being wealthy because of their work, or gaining financially because of what God has called them to do. As God provides, that’s great, and the glory goes to God in that. But their motive in all of this is not to be gaining financially. That’s what verse seven is talking about. receiving nothing from the Gentiles. In fact, it is precisely the issue of money that often separates false teachers from true teachers, and the Bible warns us of that. Scripture’s clear that false teachers are often in it for the money alone, and they have no commitment to the truth. They’ll say whatever they need to say to get paid.
Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17. He says, for we are not like many who are peddling the Word of God. That peddling is selling it. Just going out, spreading the Word just for the money that they can get. We’re not peddling the Word of God, but we’re doing it from sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God. We speak in Christ. And again, going back to Titus where Paul gives Titus instructions about this. He says that false teachers in Titus 1.11, they must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain. That’s what false teachers do. They teach things that will make them money. That’s why they do it.
It’s interesting, this summer as we were going through the church history, we talked about the Didache, an early Christian document that was very early, the first century. They put together some kind of practical, helpful things that the church could abide by that they believed came from scripture. And some of the things, they have a contextual setting that they’re in, which includes this instruction, but they had instructions about these traveling ministers that John is talking about. These men that would go around and stop in at different places, and they would stay over, and sometimes they would preach the gospel there. Sometimes they were just looking for a place to sleep as they were on their travels. And this is what the Didache says about these traveling ministers. It says, welcome every apostle or teacher or evangelist upon arriving as if he were the Lord, but he must not stay beyond one day. In case of necessity, however, the next day too, but if he stays three days, he’s a false prophet. On departing, an apostle must not accept anything save sufficient food to carry him to his next lodging. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.
Now, these are not hard and fast rules, talking about anybody who stays more than three days at your house is a heretic, but they’re giving the church instructions, watch out for these guys. There’s guys out there looking to take advantage of you. Those who want to overstay their welcome and just wanna sap off anything that you’ll give them. There are those who are out there just asking for money. And they’re warning, those are the false prophets we’re talking about. Now we, again, live in a different context, but the point of all of this is that ministers, pastors, missionaries cannot and should not be in it for the money. So that’s the second thing to look for is what’s the motive here? Are they out for money? Thirdly, John says, we ought to support such men so that we may be fellow workers in the Again, in 2 John, verses 10 and 11, it says, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, doesn’t bring the truth, do not receive him into your house. Do not give him a greeting, for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
So those who participate, who welcome the false teachers, you’re participating in what they’re doing. Well, the same is true for workers of the truth. If you’re welcoming and taking care of the right ones, you’re participating in their work. The work that God has called them to, to teach and preach the truth, the gospel work that they are about, as you help them along, you’re participating in that. And by supporting those who present the truth, we become partners. Jesus said in Matthew 10 verse 41, he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. God not only rewards true prophets and preachers and missionaries for their faithfulness, he also rewards those who help them, those who receive them. God showers his rewards on people who receive his workers and who help support the truth. And supporting a missionary is partnering with them for the work of the gospel, for the work of God. And whenever we become a source of blessing to others, we are blessed as well. That’s God’s economy. As you bless somebody, that is also a blessing to you.
Now I’m not saying that, and this passage is not saying that God is like some big banker in the sky, that if you give a deposit of blessing to somebody, you should expect to receive a return for that. There are those who teach that sort of exchange with God, that God is some sort of a banker or exchange sort of relationship, and that’s just not how it works. We don’t give so that we can get. We give because we’re God’s people. We give because we want to partner in the work of God. And God is generous, and he expects us to be generous as well. And if God so chooses to bless us, then that’s his prerogative to do so. But that’s not why we give. That’s not why we support missionaries. We don’t support missionaries so that God will be good to us. We support missionaries because they’re going out for the sake of the name. And we want to partner in the ministry of the gospel. And John says in verse eight, therefore, we ought to support such men. We ought to support such men. And we become fellow workers with the truth.
So that’s his encouragement to Gaius. So our first half of the division in the text here is the faithful Gaius. This is what Gaius is doing and what Gaius has encouraged to continue doing.
Then we come to the second man in our text here this evening, and that is the prideful Diotrephes. We see in verse 9 and 10, I wrote something to the church. But Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not welcome what we say. For this reason, when I come, I will bring to remembrance his deeds, which he does, unjustly disparaging us with wicked words. And not satisfied with this, he himself does not welcome the brothers either. He forbids those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. This is the man, Diotrephes, He is the polar opposite of Gaius. John has been speaking glowingly of Gaius, and the tone changes in verse nine. Diotrephes is a different man. How would you like to be described as one who likes to be first among them? That’s Diotrephes. And John shows us four ways in which Diotrephes rejects the truth.
And firstly, Diotrephes rejects the word of God. He rejects the written word of God. Verse nine, he says, John says, I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not welcome what we say. John is an apostle, and what he writes carries the authority of Christ. That’s what an apostle is. We don’t know exactly what this writing is. It could be the letter of 1 John. It could be the letter of 2 John. It could be something else we don’t have. We don’t know for sure, but either way, it’s from John. It has the authority that John has, which means it has the authority of Christ. And Diotrephes does not welcome what we say. He’s rejecting God’s instructions. And John says he loves to be first.
Now, so far in these letters, we’ve seen John rebuking different ones over their teaching, that they’re false teachers, that they’re going out and spreading false things. Interestingly, he doesn’t call out diatrophies because of what he teaches, because of his doctrine. He calls them out because of his pride. He doesn’t call Diotrephes a heretic. He calls him selfish, arrogant, prideful. Because Diotrephes’ desire for power and self-glorification has caused him to reject God’s word. Diotrephes was guilty of spiritual pride. And his attitude is what we typically see of a self-promoting politician. He loves to be first among them. He loves to make himself sound good. He loves to do anything that makes him look good. Sounds an awful lot like politicians we see. I won’t mention any names, but you could fill in any name. He was someone who refused to serve anyone, but constantly served himself. And that attitude flies in the face of what the Bible teaches, especially for church leadership. Church leaders are to be servant leaders. They’re to be humble, putting others first. That’s not what diatrophies is.
Again, going back to 2 Corinthians, which is very similar. to the letter of 3 John, but Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 5, we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. So you have two church leaders here, Paul and Diotrephes. Paul’s attitude is, I’m your slave. Diotrephes’ attitude is, I’m number one. Let’s get that clear. I’m first and whatever comes next comes after me. That’s diatrophies. And then Peter, in 1 Peter 5, his instructions to elders. He says, therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you. overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly according to God, and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being examples for the flock.” That’s not Diotrephes. Diotrephes is lording it over the flock. This is what a church leader should be, and it’s not what Diotrephes was.
Diotrephes firstly rejected the word of God. And secondly, he slandered John. He slandered the apostle. In verse 10, it says, for this reason, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his deeds, which he does, unjustly disparaging us with wicked words. John was not going to overlook this. This man, Diotrephes, was totally upsetting and dividing the church there. And he would come and expose Diotrephes before the whole congregation, just like Paul told Timothy to do to elders who are sinning. John would make his actions a matter of church discipline.
Pastor spoke about this a couple of weeks ago in 1 Timothy 5, 19 to 20. He says, do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. And those who continue in sin reprove in the presence of all so that the rest will also be fearful. That’s what John planned to do when he comes. Because diatrophies was unjustly disparaging us with wicked words. That’s another way to say slander. That’s another way to say slander. Unjustly disparaging us. Slander is communicating false and negative claims about another person. Saying things about someone else that aren’t true. Character assassination. Taking down somebody’s image because you don’t like what they say. Diotrephes couldn’t counter or disprove what John was saying, so he just made up false things about him. Character assassination is a common tactic for those who can’t defend their own position. They seek to elevate themselves and knock down others, so they make things up. They gain people’s trust by destroying trust in others. Welcome to election season, right? Have you seen a local political ad? That’s what these are.
Unjustly disparaging. This was what was happening in this church. This word for unjustly disparaging, that’s one word in the Greek, and it’s a hop-hox legomenon. It’s only used once. It’s here. In diatrophies, the accusations were evil. They were false and they were slanderous. And John saw this as something that needed to be dealt with. Diotrephes saw John as a threat. He saw him as a threat to his power and his prestige within that church. So he attacked him.
So the second way that Diotrephes rejected the truth was he slandered John. Thirdly, Diotrephes did not welcome the brothers. He says later in verse 10, and not satisfied with this, he himself does not welcome the brothers either. The same thing that Gaius was just commended for, Diodrophes does not do. And not only did he have a problem with John’s authority, he saw anybody with any sort of authority as a threat, including these brothers who were traveling around. He didn’t want them anywhere near the church. And again, John doesn’t say it was because of false teaching on Diotrephes’ part. It’s Diotrephes’ pride. He doesn’t want them coming in and taking his spot. And if that wasn’t bad enough that he wouldn’t welcome these brothers, he forbids anyone else from doing so too.
So that’s the fourth way that he rejects the truth is he forbids anyone from welcoming the brothers. Going to verse 10, he forbids those who want to do so. And not only that, he puts them out of the church. This is ultimate selfishness and manipulation. It’s one thing to act selfishly and arrogantly on your own, to do these things yourself. Diotrephes is sinning by not extending Christian hospitality. But worse than that, he is forcing others to join in his sin. He’s forcing others to go along with him in this sin. That’s manipulation. Anyone who defied Diotrephes and welcomed these brothers, they were kicked out of the church. They were excommunicated. In fact, that could have been what happened to Gaius, which is why John is writing and telling him about what’s going on with their atrophies. But if Gaius was still in the church, he was facing severe opposition and hostility from this man atrophies. So we see why John wrote this letter. Gaius needed some encouragement. Gaius needed to be lifted up and carried along Don’t give up, you’re doing the right thing. Diotrephes is not. He encouraged him not to give in and to continue to show hospitality in the future.
And again, this all goes back to Diotrephes’ pride. It was pride that caused him to slander John and refuse these missionaries and to cast out any who defied him. And again, John had no hesitation in confronting diatrophies, and he would do so face to face. He commended Gaius to continue in what he was doing, and he rebuked diatrophies for his pride. Our pride can cause us to do a lot of foolish things. Pride is like a blindfold. It blinds you. It blinds you to what is right and what is wrong. It blinds you to consequences. When you are living in your pride, you don’t think about what’s gonna happen after you commit these different sins. You only think in the moment. You only think about how it affects you in that one moment. And with Diotrephes, pride caused him to reject God’s word, to slander John, to refuse to welcome the brothers and to keep anyone else from doing so.
So we have these two men as examples in this text, a positive example and a negative example, polar opposites. Gaius walked in the truth. Diotrephes rejected the truth. Gaius showed love to these brothers and Diotrephes refused them. Gaius brought joy to his leaders. He brought joy to John. Diotrephes slandered his leaders and grieved John. And Gaius was known for serving others, while Diotrephes was known for serving himself. Diotrephes was blinded by his pride. He was blinded to the truth. That’s the difference between these two men, how they responded to the truth. Gaius was that example of a humble, faithful Christian. Diotrephes was an arrogant, manipulative rebel. We need to have the mind of Christ. And that’s what you see in Gaius, putting others before himself.
Paul explains this in Philippians 2. He says, have the mind of Christ, or have this way of thinking in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. even a death on a cross. Therefore, God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That’s the mind of Christ. He gave up everything for us. He put us before himself. That’s the gospel. That is what you must believe to be saved. So if you do not know Christ, you need to come to know Him and trust in Him. So don’t leave here today without talking to somebody about your need for a Savior.
But if you do know Christ, think like Christ. Act like Christ. Be humble. Put others first. Be generous. Be hospitable. Make sure the needs of others are being met. And support your co-workers in the gospel ministry. That’s what we see in the life of Gaius, who’s given to us as an example. So be a Gaius. That’s what it is to be a follower of Christ.
Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer this evening. Lord, we thank you for a text like this that so clearly shows us the difference between living according to the truth, to walking in the truth, to living out our faith. against that of pride and selfishness and arrogance. I pray, Lord, that we would look for that in our life, that we would root out any pride that we have in our own heart, anywhere where we may be putting ourselves before others, where we’re seeking our own benefit at the cost of others. I pray, Lord, that you would reveal that to us and help us to put it to death. that we would live as people who share the mind of Christ. We thank you for your word. We thank you for working in our hearts to humbly accept your word. And we pray that you’d give us the ability and the opportunity to live this out, that we too would be faithful to what we’ve been called. We thank you for who you are and for what you’re doing in our life. And we pray all of this in Christ’s name.