3 John 9-10

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 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, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church.
--------------------

Busted! For some reason John's words in these verses remind me of being called out in class during my high school years. At that time I thought nothing could be worse than a public rebuke. Diotrephes though is called out by name on the pages of inspired Scripture for us to read almost 2000 years later. Ouch!

In the wider context of New Testament teaching on the church, we see that unity is prioritized and that where at all possible differences and even sin should be addressed privately. Yet that shouldn't give us a false sense of ignoring wrongdoing. The Scriptural examples of sin and doctrinal error that were addressed publicly and directly show us that grievous actions and teachings call for forthright, strong discipline. John is known as the apostle of love, but this passage shows a little of the "Son of Thunder" from his early years. What made this such a serious issue?

* Diotrephes was a leader. Significantly, Diotrephes was in some sort of leadership position in a local church. He was able to affect the actions of others in the church and even lead to their excommunication. Scripture makes it clear: With leadership comes a higher responsibility. Diotrephes' actions as a leader had to be addressed in a compelling manner to underscore how serious they were. We can see how serious a policy is by how high up it's applied. If the benchwarmer gets kicked off the team but the starting quarterback just gets a one game suspension, we think the coach isn't very serious about discipline. If a freshman Congressman is censured but a committee chair keeps his seat for the same violation, we think there are ethical problems in the party. If the secretary is fired for slipping money from the petty cash fund and the management winks and nods at her boss who pads his expense account, we cry foul. John knew this principle and knew that how he dealt with Diotrephes would establish a tone for the rest of the church.

* Diotrephes rejected the authority of Christ's designated spokesmen. Jesus chose the apostles and gave them a special level of authority. One of the most important elements of that authority is that they spoke on behalf of God. We have many of those messages in the pages of Scripture - written so that we might believe on Christ "through their word" (John 17:20). Prior to the completion of the canon of Scripture, having messengers who spoke with the authority of Christ was critical; they led the church in the early years to properly understand the Old Testament and guided them on what God wanted the church to do and how it should function. Ignoring their authority was akin to ripping out pages of Scripture. If you had a pastor who told you to ignore the book of James or 1 Peter 5 or some other portion of Scripture, you would rightly question his right to minister the word of God. That's the type of action Diotrephes demonstrated in rejecting John's written words.

* Diotrephes wanted attention. He "loves to be first", John said. Contrary to the direct teaching and personal example of Christ to be a servant and put others first, Diotrephes wanted the attention for himself. Well, John is planning to make sure he gets it if he gets to visit the church!

* Diotrephes sowed discord. He made unjust, wicked accusations against the apostles. His own desire for position most likely played into his willingness to undermine the authority given to the apostles. Given the strong emphasis on unity in the New Testament, it's easy to see why John would think this issue was worth addressing publicly.

* Diotrephes missed the big picture of God's kingdom purposes. For whatever reason, he didn't receive the traveling missionary/evangelists; wouldn't allow others to do so; and even ex-communicated those who defied him and received the "brethren". This puts John's previous words to Gaius in sharper focus: Gaius was going against the teachings of a church leader to show hospitality to the brethren; John commends him for it. Diotrephes missed the point: God's purposes were bigger than his position or his church. Rather than using his influence for good, he used it for selflish ambition. Gaius was right to show hospitality and Diotrephes was wrong to forbid it. When leadership is so far off base that the person in the pew has to defy their wishes to do God's will, something needs to change. John expresses his intention that what needs to change is Diotrephes' approach.

* Diotrephes may have been holding on to his former identity. This one is less certain from the Biblical context, but "Diotrephes" means "Zeus-nursed." In "Beloved Disciple", Beth Moore teaches that it was common for former pagans to change their names to something that didn't honor a pagan deity. Diotrephes' failure to change his name could indicate a reluctance to completely let go of his former identity and all that went along with it. I'm not certain about that, but I include it because even if it's not true in this specific case the principle is still valid: We will never fully submit to the authority of God's Word unless we release who we were without Him for who we are in Him. We have to let Him redeem our personality traits and preferences and talents and skills for His purposes, and we have to let Him show us what needs to be fully and completely rejected for us to truly reflect our new selves. And we certainly have to give up all forms of idolatry.

Diotrephes' bad example gives us some key points to take away:
1) Accept the full authority of God's Word.
2) Focus on serving others, not gaining position.
3) Work toward unity, not discord.
4) Be about the big picture of God's kingdom purposes.
5) Let go of past idolatry to embrace who we are in Christ.
6) In a leadership position, be especially careful to set the example you want everyone to follow.