The Three Men of 3rd John

The Three Men of 3rd John

3rd John 1-14

Introduction:

1. This morning we looked at 2nd John and the short letter John wrote
2. This evening we are going to look at the 3rd letter of John
3. As with 2nd John, 3rd John is believed by most be have been authored by the apostle John.
4. This letter was written from Ephesus in John’s old age to Gaius.
5. Tonight we are going to take a look at the three men that John mentions in this short letter and glean application to our own lives based on these three men.
6. There is an important contrast between individuals who walk in the light and a person who walks in darkness
1. We will see a sharp contrast between these three guys mentioned here.
2. Let us examine what is said about these guys and decide which of them we should follow and which we should stay away from

Outline:

I.       Gaius Served Others (vs. 1-8) Read

A      Gaius is well spoken of by others because he walks in truth.

1.      His soul is well as a result of living faithful to the TRUTH

2.      He is reaping the fruits of a faithful life.

B       Gaius’ spiritual health is evident to all.

1.      He has a great reputation because he was recognized as a man who obeyed the Word of God and walked in the truth…

2.      vs. 3 “it 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.”

3.      His entire life was wrapped around living the truth.

C       Gaius was causing others to rejoice as he encouraged them through living faithfully.

1.      Nothing is as encouraging as fellow Christians striving to live up to what they profess.

2.      vs. 4 “no greater joy” than when he hears that God’s children are living in the truth of God’s Word.

D      The church needs individuals like Gaius who meditate on God’s Word so that it can become a part of their lives.

1.      When the Word becomes a part of our lives we will be able to serve others with a spirit of devotion.

2.      Gaius wasn’t a teacher or preacher, but he opened his home to those who were

3.      As you can imagine this is a great encouragement to those who were.

E       Gaius demonstrates his faith through extending hospitality to others who are in the ministry.  Read vs. 5-8

F        Extending hospitality was an encouragement to the lost.

1.      Many wandered about in those days sharing their ideas and begging for money.

2.      When someone in the local community allowed ministers of the Word to stay with them, it gave the ministers credibility.

3.      And it prevented them from needing money from those taught.

4.      Money hungry churches have left the impression that that is what churches are after.

G      Gaius demonstrates his faith by the way he lives.

1.      vs. 5 “Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.”

2.      It is one thing to fight apostasy and refuse false teachers, but it is quite another to open our houses and wallets and promote the truth.

H      Gaius demonstrates what is good by following God in love.

1.      He shows meekness as he is in submission to others through the will of God.

2.      He never sought to exalt himself, but rather sought the good of others.

I         Which leads us to the second one mentioned here in 3rd John.

II.    Diotrephes (Deotrephase) Sought to Exalt Self (vs. 9-10) Read

A      This problem is not unique here in 3rd John…

1.      Matthew 18:1-5 “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  ‘And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me’.”

2.      Matthew 20:20-23 “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked.  She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

3.      Luke 22:24-47 – won’t take the time to read this one but you know it…

a.       The disciples are arguing amongst themselves who will be the greatest in Jesus’ Kingdom.

b.      Around the Table at the last supper… this is where we see Jesus get down from the table and wash the disciples’ feet.

4.      Paul dealt with this same problem in Corinth.

a.       In 1 Corinthians 12:12-25 he talks about how the body is made up of many parts but it is still one body serving one purpose…

b.      Goes on saying that one part shouldn’t say to the other, “I don’t need you”

c.       This applies to the body of Christ as it does to the physical body.

B       It is highly improbable that Diotrophes was opposing and casting some out of the church claiming that they were teaching error.

1.      He must have made himself think this was true…

2.      But it couldn’t have been or John would have stepped in on his side and supported him is this endeavor.

C       Just what it was that Diotrophes was offended about, we are not told, but it is not difficult to offend a man who has an exploded sense of his own importance.

1.      The person that is in love with himself is always easily offended.

2.      The desire for recognition that is not deserved is always dangerous.

3.      As we read earlier in Luke the disciples were affected by this same thought and Jesus humbled himself to teach them a lesson on humility!

a.       They were wanting to be first, but Christ showed them what it truly meant to be first… making yourself last!

b.      When you serve wholeheartedly and without desire for recognition, that is when you will truly be exalted by Christ.  It is an attitude of the Heart!

D      The desire for recognition creates competition rather than cooperation.

1.      Members of the body of Christ are not to be in competition with one another

2.      But rather to function together as the members of the human body.

3.      The church will not grow and prosper if we are always competing with each other, but it will when we are working together as God designed it!

E       The spirit of Diotrophes will cause one to use “made up” charges against another.

1.      It is evident that He was doing this or how else could he have succeeded in, “casting some out of the church” unless he was able to convince others to go alone with him.

2.      Far too often personal differences – matters of opinion – cause divisions even amongst “Christians,” this should NOT be!

3.      The spirit of Diotrophes makes people unable to distinguish between his opinion and matters of faith and doctrine.

4.      A person who thinks too highly of himself will ultimately seek preeminence.

a.       Christ is to have preeminence and His Word is our Law

b.      But if some man seeks preeminence, he usurps the authority that belongs to Christ and the result is that he feels that his word is law over everyone.

5.      The motto for Diotrophes is “it is better to reign in a small church than to serve in a large one.”

a.       When matters of faith are involved, it is better to reduce the size of the congregation and have it scriptural… Than to have the “biggest church in town” that is unscriptural.

b.      This was not the case with Diotrophes

i.        It was the matter of controlling the church that reduced the size.

ii.      This is what happens in a congregation where Diotrophes is…  The church shrinks instead of growing… because he is chasing people away or even “casting some out of the church.”  How sad!

F        The spirit of Diotrophes causes one to seek power, not usefulness.

1.      His supreme desire was to stand first, not to do the most.

2.      This is a false aim and can only lead to ruin.

3.      The church of Corinth was cursed by this attitude and Paul said to them, “Seek to build up the church.” 1 Cor. 14:12

4.      The Christian is to build up the church, not self!

G      The spirit of Diotrophes, with its lust for power, is sure to abuse any power that one may have.

1.      “Casting people out of the church” was an abuse of power.

2.      The desire to serve is the only safeguard against the abuse of power.

H      Diotrophes wanted his own way, not the best way, not the way that would be beneficial to others, but his OWN!

1.      If he could not get his way by fair means – then he did it by foul means.

2.      Threw people out

I         John transitions to the next section with this verse…  vs. 11 “Dear 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.”

1.      Basically saying that this guy Diotrophes is an example of what NOT to do. 

2.      He is obviously not someone to imitate, he is evil.

3.      He is not from God

J         So here we have seen the “way not to do live” let’s look at the last of the three.

III. Demetrius Receives Praise (vs. 12-14)

A      John praised Demetrius, because others praised Demetrius.

1.      With the authority of an apostle, John underlined what others said about him.

2.      He is a man that you can trust.

3.      He is a man of truth.

4.      He has born testimony from all that he is and can be trusted.

B       How many of us have had this kind of statement made about us?

C       Are we living in such a way that others see and know that there is a real difference in the way we live and treat others?

D      Matthew 23:11-12 says, “The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

E       Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

F        Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Conclusion:

1. We have seen three examples of people
2. Gaius and Demetrius stand as good examples for us to follow
1. They put others before themselves, humbling themselves and we see in the WORD of GOD that they were in turn lifted up because of it.
2. They lived by the acronym JOY – Jesus Others You in that order
3. Then we have Diotrophes a man who was so self centered that if someone didn’t agree with him he “Cast them out of the church”
1. In essence making himself the “Head of the Church”
2. That is obviously NOT the way to show Christ likeness.
4. Lets follow the example of Gaius and Demetrius good examples of Christians
5. And stay away from the attitude of Diotrophes. 
6. We need to have the same attitude of Christ and humble ourselves before God but also before other people. 
7. If Christ who is God humbled himself then how much more should we humble ourselves?

Close in Prayer

Hymn # 622 “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord”