John's Third Letter to the Church ...

The third letter of John to the church is brief and personal.  In it we find the names of three likely Greek or Roman characters whose names are:  Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius.  It is clear that for better or worse the leaders of the early Christian church appeared to now fully be outside of the formerly Jewish audience.  The Christian faith did what the Jewish faith had not; it chose to break down the barriers between itself and the world around it, go in to that world, and bring the gospel of salvation.  John did not compromise his values with those he sought to free from evil, but he also did not restrict his instructions just to people of his bloodline, or social class, or heritage.  The good news of Christ was to be brought to the entire world; the mission was to be universal.  And when engaged in that mission, new leaders emerged to help carry forward the work.  They were not discarded because they were ‘new’ in the faith, or the ‘wrong’ nationality.  When the Holy Spirit was evident in the life of a person willing to serve and to lead, that person was accepted by John and the other leaders chosen to serve.

Sometimes today, Christianity has a tendency to withdraw behind its walls, and aim its message to only those of like mind.  We fear that to try to extend our message into the world around us will somehow corrupt us with ‘the things of the world’.  In this way we isolate ourselves from the very people who need to hear the freeing message of Christ.  At other times, when those brave souls emerge who do go out into the world around us and find a willing ear, we tend to treat the newly converted as ‘babies’ in the faith.  We do not tend to offer them leadership positions in the church because we consider them too ‘new’.  This makes sense, except for one thing.  It ignores the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to determine who is fit to lead, or called to serve, and who is not.  It is not our length of time spent in the faith that qualifies us to lead and serve, it is our absolute dependence on Christ and our full acknowledgement we would never be ready.  Our humility and dependence are far greater attributes for leadership, than our confidence in our own spiritual achievements.  In this short book, John has no problems embracing Gaius, and Demetrius.  Their time spent in Rabbinical schools or lack of it, is meaningless to John.  Their nationality means nothing.  Only that they serve in truth and in love.

By the same token, John is unafraid to call out Diotrephes for his lack of charity, hospitality, and generally negative disposition.  It appears that Diotrephes (as John writes in verse 9), cares more about being the preeminent leader, than being the chief servant.  It is the next great attack of Satan, that if he cannot divert us from our beliefs, then perhaps he can inflate us with our own sense of accomplishments and leadership of the flock.  If Satan can tempt us to have ‘pride’ in our spiritual efforts, to begin to see the victories over sin in our lives as ‘our’ victories, he will slowly offset the role of Christ, with the elevation of self.  Once self retakes the center of our focus and Christ is displaced, the negativity of evil follows.  Malicious words, discontent, a refusal to be hospitable follow the insatiable need to be number one in the faith.  Diotrephes looks too much in the mirror for his own salvation, and forgets that to lead in Christianity is to be like Christ, and therefore to serve everyone else except yourself, and find no fame for it, because we seek no fame for it.  The service is the reward.

The comparison John offers between Diotrephes and Gaius is clear in verse 4 where John says … “I have no greater joy, than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  Here again John says so much to us in such a short sentence.  John first expresses that from his point of view, we are all family.  He embraces those he writes to as if they were his very own children.  He feels protective of them, and further finds the joy that only a parent can know when their children are known to have done something good.  It is not ‘pride’ John expresses, but instead it is ‘joy’.  This distinction is important.  When a Christian embraces pride they take on the idea that ‘they’ have done something of note.  This is a far different sentiment than sharing the ‘joy’ that heaven knows over the redemption of just one sinner. 

In this instance John offers that he has no greater “joy” than when he “hears”.  It is not simply that he suspects his Christian family is doing well in charity and truth.  He is actually hearing of it from other folks.  In point of fact, his readers have done charity not only to the brethren, but to strangers, those who were on journeys, and they performed this charity asking nothing of those who did not share their beliefs.  Their charitable ministries came from the work they performed, and the sustenance they had earned themselves.  They were not out raising money for the poor so much as offering those in need anything they had at their disposal.  They did this to the point that it became widely known.  Their service could be relayed to John who was a distance from them.  This brought great “joy” to John.

John continues in verse 11 to exhort his readers to “follow good” not evil.  This would seem like a very oversimplified piece of advice, but the subtlety in the remainder of the text reveals the profound nature of salvation itself.  The verse reads … “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.”  John states that he that doeth good is of God.  When Christ inhabits us, when we allow Him to change us from the inside out – we become born of God, easy to recognize, and easy to spot as living how Christ lived.  It is who we follow, not how we lead.  It is not just what we think that defines our Christianity, but what His thinking within us leads us to do.  But further John continues that he that doeth evil “hath not seen God.”  Notice in these words he is far from condemnatory.  He does not call them servants of Satan, evil seed, bad folks, condemned to hell.  John says nothing like this.  Instead he makes a definitive observation – they have not “seen” God.

Obviously he is not talking about “seeing” God with our own two eyes, as no Christian has ever seen the Father face-to-face and survived.  What John is saying, as he has said many times, is that God … is love.  When you see what love is, it transforms you.  You cannot help it.  You must look away from it, in order for it not to affect you.  When we look on self, and rely on self, to determine our spirituality, we fail.  But when we look on love … by beholding we become changed.  It is love that lures us to God.  It is love that motivated God to save us, and love that motivates us to wish to be saved.  John is far more subtle than we find on a cursory read of this verse.  He is not simply calling out those people who do not yet share the Christian ideology and beliefs; instead he is calling out all of us, both inside and outside the church.  When love is not our primary motivation, evil is the result.  When we are not looking at love, we find ourselves looking in the mirror, and the failure and pain of evil are not far behind.  John’s intent is not to condemn those who have taken their eyes off of Christ, but instead to remind them to return to Him.

In this letter John praises Demetrius and Gaius for the report he hears about them.  It is not what they preached that brought them to the attention of John, it is how they lived.  Their leadership in the Christian church was one of active participant in charity and truth.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if in our day, Christians were known by what they did, more than by what they preached.  There is many a famous Christian, because they preach on the television to a wide audience.  But how few Christians are known in their own neighborhoods, let alone their own cities, or states, because of the vast amount of charity and love they show to everyone, including strangers, and those on journeys.  I am ashamed to admit that perhaps only two of my neighbors may know my name.  They do not know me for my charity.  I pray this is something the Lord helps change within me.  For if the change does not begin with me, with each of us, how will it ever be known to the world?