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3-John · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Every year, our pastoral in turns make a trip up
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Speaker 1: north and visit about twelve or fourteen different ministries over
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Speaker 1: a three or four day period of time. This past
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Speaker 1: week it happened again, and as always, the men returned
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Speaker 1: with a great deal of insight into the work of
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Speaker 1: ministry as it occurs in various parts of our world.
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Speaker 1: They always travel with at least one and sometime two
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Speaker 1: of our pastoral staff members that have set up in
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Speaker 1: the arrangement time to meet with either the pastor or
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Speaker 1: one of the official staff members of that particular church
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Speaker 1: or ministry that they're visiting with. The men come back
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Speaker 1: with an awareness that God's vineyard is a varied thing,
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Speaker 1: and they become aware even more than ever that there
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Speaker 1: are a number of different ways of doing this thing
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Speaker 1: called ministry. I fasiciously joked with one of the fellows
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Speaker 1: when he returned. I said, you can tell now why
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Speaker 1: the gates of Hell will never prevail against the church.
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Speaker 1: And he said why is that? I said, well, partly
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Speaker 1: because it can't get a handle on it. It comes
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Speaker 1: in so many different varieties. There are so many different
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Speaker 1: ways or styles of worship, so many different expressions of song,
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Speaker 1: so many different pulpit ministries, so many different outreaches and
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Speaker 1: evangelistic thrusts, so many different definitions of biblical exposition, so
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Speaker 1: many different church buildings, so many different faces that the
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Speaker 1: evangelical church wears. Maybe you haven't moved lately, and so
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Speaker 1: you have begun to think that all places are like
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Speaker 1: this place. Do yourself a favor and give yourself a
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Speaker 1: week to visit other places and learn something about how
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Speaker 1: varied ministries really are. As a matter of fact, I
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Speaker 1: think many people would be in for a surprise if
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Speaker 1: they were to look in depth into twelve, fourteen, fifteen,
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Speaker 1: eighteen different ministries, even in the evangelical camp. You will
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Speaker 1: be amazed if you haven't done that at just how
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Speaker 1: different God's people can be. Now, when I hear a
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Speaker 1: person say things like well, that's wrong, or that's not good,
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Speaker 1: or I don't know how God can honor that because
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Speaker 1: it may be very different from what we're used to,
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Speaker 1: I know that that person doesn't understand a the Body
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Speaker 1: of Christ and b doesn't understand the Bible. See. One
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Speaker 1: of our goals as a ministry is not to duplicate
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Speaker 1: what we do all over the country. We don't bring
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Speaker 1: people in and infect them with our things so that
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Speaker 1: they can go and do our thing there don't bother.
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Speaker 1: We want you who are in other ministries, from wherever
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Speaker 1: you may be, to carry on in the style of
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Speaker 1: ministry that God has given you, and not to duplicate
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Speaker 1: what goes on anywhere else. It's a unique thing here,
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Speaker 1: and as far as I know, it's like no other
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Speaker 1: place I have ever preached in or visited. Now, when
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Speaker 1: I read it in one Corinthians twelve that the body
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Speaker 1: has many members in not one verse twenty, and that
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Speaker 1: God has placed each one of them in the body
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Speaker 1: just as it pleased him verse eighteen, then I learned
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Speaker 1: that we're not to develop an exclusive spirit when it
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Speaker 1: comes to style. We are, in fact to embrace scripture.
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Speaker 1: We are indeed to stand for the things of God.
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Speaker 1: But in no way is our quote preference to be
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Speaker 1: considered the standard for the world. And I think we
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Speaker 1: must fight this exclusive spirit that often pervades churches that
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Speaker 1: are being used of God in this day and age.
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Speaker 1: Variety pleases God. You know what grieves him? Not variety. Disunity.
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Speaker 1: That's what breaks the heart of God. Not that churches
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Speaker 1: do things differently, but the churches are at war within themselves,
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Speaker 1: are with one another. It's disunity that grieves our God.
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Speaker 1: The body is not diseased by variety. The body is
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Speaker 1: diseased by disunity. And whenever there was disunity in the
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Speaker 1: Church of the first century, somebody set down and wrote
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Speaker 1: a letter. Not because there was variety, because you and
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Speaker 1: I know these churches, from Ephesus to Carinth to Why
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Speaker 1: all over wore different and expressed themselves in different ways,
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Speaker 1: and had different modes of leadership. But when there was
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Speaker 1: this unity, those apostles wrote a letter and said straighten up. Now.
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Speaker 1: A perfect example of this, a classic example is the
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Speaker 1: letter of Third John, to which I would like to
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Speaker 1: direct your attention for a while. It is one of
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Speaker 1: the smallest letters in the New Testament. And as we
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Speaker 1: are moving through this safari through the scriptures, we're coming
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Speaker 1: very near the end, taking a book a shot in
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Speaker 1: each one of our gatherings. We have come now to
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Speaker 1: one of those one chapter books again. We were in
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Speaker 1: it last time in Second John, and we're now back
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Speaker 1: into another brief little postcard in the New Testament. I'd
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Speaker 1: like to say a few words about Second and Third John,
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Speaker 1: just comparing in contracting them for a very few minutes.
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Speaker 1: First of all, they're written by the same person, but
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Speaker 1: they have different purposes. You see the way Second John
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Speaker 1: begins the elder to the chosen lady. Third John begins
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Speaker 1: the elder to the beloved Gaius. So same writer, the elder.
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Speaker 1: Who is John, one of the men in the inner
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Speaker 1: circle of the twelve, Remember Peter, James and John. This
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Speaker 1: is John, not John the baptizer, but John the beloved,
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Speaker 1: one of those special heart to heart disciples that Jesus
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Speaker 1: had spent time with. And he's now sixty plus years
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Speaker 1: removed from the days with Christ, and he is writing
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Speaker 1: a letter of concern in this third letter. Notice the
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Speaker 1: different purposes. Remember Second John. Remember the last time we
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Speaker 1: looked at this book, we talked about love as a
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Speaker 1: river that flow between the banks of truth and discernment.
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Speaker 1: Remember that, and when it leaves the banks of truth
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Speaker 1: and discernment, it does damage, it doesn't help. That's where
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Speaker 1: love has its limits. Must be controlled. Now, the purpose
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Speaker 1: of Second John was to emphasize the value of truth
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Speaker 1: when love is being expressed. If you change two words,
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Speaker 1: you'll have the purpose of Third John. On the contrary,
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Speaker 1: Third John purpose is to emphasize the value of love
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Speaker 1: when truth is being expressed. Second John, there was an
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Speaker 1: overflowing of love to the point of lacking in discernment.
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Speaker 1: And in Third John, there was an overflowing of truth
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Speaker 1: to the lack of love and grace and compassion. And
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Speaker 1: by the way, there may be all different varieties of ministries,
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Speaker 1: but there must be that harmony, that gray, that love
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Speaker 1: that pervaids. When you take away the grace and the
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Speaker 1: love and the tolerance, you move awfully close to disunity.
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Speaker 1: Churches are not corrupted by love. Churches are not corrupted
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Speaker 1: by truth. Churches go through battles when they lose their balance,
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Speaker 1: and there is a loss of grace and compassion along
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Speaker 1: with the carrying out of love and truth. To borrow
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Speaker 1: from a pop song, you can't have one without the other.
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Speaker 1: You've got to have grace and you've got to have truth.
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Speaker 1: They go together. Now, the second contrast, I would say
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Speaker 1: that these are written in the same era, but to
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Speaker 1: a different place toward the end of the first century. Yes,
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Speaker 1: but we don't know where Third John wound up. I'm
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Speaker 1: kind of glad for that. I kind of like it
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Speaker 1: that we can imagine it was written to our church
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Speaker 1: sort of take it personal, because I think we see
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Speaker 1: a profile of our own lives right here as we
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Speaker 1: work our way through the letter. And in that sense,
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Speaker 1: it seems good that he left it indistinct, undetermined. If
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Speaker 1: I close my introductory comments with three contrasts, I think
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Speaker 1: we'll have it down as to how these two letters
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Speaker 1: are really different. First, as to address ee or the
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Speaker 1: recipient of the letters. Second John was written to a
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Speaker 1: lady and her family. Third John was written to a
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Speaker 1: man and his acquaintances. Notice how it reads the elder
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Speaker 1: to the chosen lady and her children, the elder to
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Speaker 1: the beloved Gaius, and then he mentions later to other
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Speaker 1: men some acquaintances of Gaius. So Third John is written
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Speaker 1: to a man and his acquaintances. Now let me say
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Speaker 1: a word about the problem. The problem in Second John
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Speaker 1: was a lady receiving the wrong kind of travelers. The
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Speaker 1: problem in third John is a man who rejected the
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Speaker 1: right kind of travelers. In Second John, there was a
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Speaker 1: lady who opened her doors to whomever heretic and conservative
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Speaker 1: alike without discernment. And John says, now, look, you've got
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Speaker 1: to straighten that up. You've got to understand there's an
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Speaker 1: expression where there's a place where love is no longer
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Speaker 1: to be expressed. Now, Third John is is written partially
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Speaker 1: regarding a man who turned off and would not accept
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Speaker 1: the right kind of travelers. We'll see that in a moment.
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Speaker 1: The need of second John is is this truth and
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Speaker 1: discernment must give love its control. That's Second John. Third John.
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Speaker 1: Love must give truth, compassion and grace. That's the message.
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Speaker 1: That's really the need. Third John. You've got the truth,
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Speaker 1: now be sure it's wrapped in the package of love, compassion,
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Speaker 1: and grace. My friends, you'll never grow out of the
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Speaker 1: need to have compassion, grace and love. Never. I don't care.
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Speaker 1: If you can quote the Bible from cover to cover,
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Speaker 1: you need love and grace. You probably especially need love
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Speaker 1: and grace if you can quote the Bible from cover
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Speaker 1: to cover. Believe me, some of the Bible quoting Christians
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Speaker 1: that I've met, I mean, really hardcore Bible quoting Christians
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Speaker 1: frequently lack love and compassion and grace, and especially tolerance.
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Speaker 1: Of those that don't memorize the Bible from cover to cover.
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Speaker 1: Show yourself strong and love and grace and compassion, and
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Speaker 1: you'll be amazed. What a ministry you can have both
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Speaker 1: within the body and will that. Now, let's look closely
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Speaker 1: at the letter. Take your pencil and look at verse one,
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Speaker 1: verse nine, and verse twelve, and circle three names. Gaius
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Speaker 1: verse one, Diotrophies, verse nine, Demetrius verse twelve. The letter
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Speaker 1: revolves around three men in a church. John encourages and
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Speaker 1: confirms Gaius, and we'll learn some things about this man.
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Speaker 1: John criticizes and confronts Diotrophies. We'll learn some things about him.
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Speaker 1: And John affirms and commends Demetrius in verse twelve, a
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Speaker 1: few brief words for him, and we'll learn a few
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Speaker 1: things there. So let's take these three men in order.
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Speaker 1: First encouragement and confirmation of this man Gaius. By the way,
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Speaker 1: I found in more than one commentator that the word
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Speaker 1: Gaius is the commonest of all names in the first century.
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Speaker 1: That surprised me. I would have thought John, or perhaps
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Speaker 1: Peter I wouldn't have thought Gaius, But it was the
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Speaker 1: commonest of names. So there's no way to nail down
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Speaker 1: which Gaius it is. There's a Gayus mentioned in Acts nineteen.
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Speaker 1: There's a Gayest mentioned in Acts twenty. There's another Gayus,
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Speaker 1: mentioned in Romans sixteen, and here again in Third John one.
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Speaker 1: We don't know which one it was, but one thing
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Speaker 1: is sure. John loved him. Four times he calls him
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Speaker 1: his beloved Verse one, to the beloved Gaius. Verse two, Beloved,
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Speaker 1: I pray that in all respects you may prosper. Verse five, Beloved,
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Speaker 1: you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren.
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Speaker 1: And verse eleven, if you will stay with the thought
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Speaker 1: of Gaius. There, beloved, do not imitate what is evil,
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Speaker 1: but what is good. Four times he calls him that. Now,
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Speaker 1: what was Gayus? Like? What kind of man was he?
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Speaker 1: Why would John write this good friend this letter? What
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Speaker 1: were the things that characterized him? Just let the Bible
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Speaker 1: speak for itself. First, I want to suggest that he
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Speaker 1: was a rather sickly individual. Can't say this with dogmatism,
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Speaker 1: but if I, if I read this correctly, I get
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Speaker 1: that idea to the elder, to the beloved Gaius, whom
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Speaker 1: I love in truth, Beloved, I pray that in all
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Speaker 1: respects you may prosper and be in good health, just
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Speaker 1: as your soul prospers. What a strange way to say it.
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Speaker 1: If he weren't sickly, my friend. I wish that you
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Speaker 1: were in body as you are in soul. I wish
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Speaker 1: that you stood tall in your physical condition, just as
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Speaker 1: you stand tall in your spiritual walk. I wish that
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Speaker 1: you were in good health, just as your soul is
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Speaker 1: in good health. We don't know what his trouble was. Well,
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Speaker 1: if John wasn't there, he's writing the letter to him.
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Speaker 1: How did John know his condition? Verse three tells us
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Speaker 1: that there was a steady stream of people that reported
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Speaker 1: his condition. I was very glad when brethren came and
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Speaker 1: bore witness to your truth. That is how you are
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Speaker 1: walking in the truth, present tense, you keep on walking
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Speaker 1: in the truth. I have no greater joy than this
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Speaker 1: that my children are walking in the truth. I take
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Speaker 1: my children to be a reference to this man's being
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Speaker 1: a convert of John's. Maybe that's a thing that drew
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Speaker 1: them close together to start with, and they had not
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Speaker 1: let their friendship wane. One of my children is walking
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Speaker 1: in the truth. It gives me joy to know that
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Speaker 1: that's happening. By the way, this silence is. The critic
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Speaker 1: says that if you're sickly, there's something wrong with you spiritually,
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Speaker 1: I'm tired of hearing that. I weary of hearing people
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Speaker 1: criticize another Christian saying that if that person simply got
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Speaker 1: his act together spiritually, he'd be physically well. That's wrong.
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Speaker 1: Paul wasn't physically well, and he certainly had his act together.
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Speaker 1: Three times he prayed for the foreign to be removed,
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Speaker 1: and it wasn't. Gais, I wish that you were in
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Speaker 1: health physically, just as you are walking in the truth spiritually.
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Speaker 1: It's possible to walk in the truth and to be
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Speaker 1: physically laid aside. Be careful what you say about sickly people.
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Speaker 1: Some of the saintliest are sickly. We have some in
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Speaker 1: our own church who who find that they can coexist
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Speaker 1: physical illness and spiritual health. I'm minister to by them
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Speaker 1: quite often. To tell you the truth. Now, something else
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Speaker 1: about Gaius. He was a faithful man Verse five. Beloved,
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Speaker 1: you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren,
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Speaker 1: especially when they are strangers. He says to him. Good
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Speaker 1: for you, Gaius, I understand that there are strangers who
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Speaker 1: are coming, and you are entertaining them. You are providing
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Speaker 1: lodging for them. Your home is open to them. And
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Speaker 1: better than that, your heart is open to them. You're
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Speaker 1: doing a good thing. How faithful of you. When these
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Speaker 1: strangers come along verse six, they bear witness of your love.
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Speaker 1: You've put that together. They bear witness to your love
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Speaker 1: before the church. You will do well to send them
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Speaker 1: on their way in a manner worthy of God. Now
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Speaker 1: watch what he says about these people, these itinerant teachers
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Speaker 1: and preachers and evangelists. They went out for the sake
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Speaker 1: of the name, the name of Christ, accepting nothing from
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Speaker 1: the gen Tiles therefore implied, since they aren't well supported,
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Speaker 1: we ought we ought to support such men that we
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Speaker 1: may be fellow workers with the truth. Now, it's been
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Speaker 1: a long time since you've looked into Third John. I
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Speaker 1: noticed little dust pockets came up from the pew when
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Speaker 1: you opened up this evening and looked into the book yourself.
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Speaker 1: You haven't been in there for a while, and maybe
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Speaker 1: you have missed a very important truth about supporting ministries.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you've never even seen it in Third John in
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Speaker 1: all of your life. This is a grand statement. We
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Speaker 1: think at times it's a cliche that ministers use when
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Speaker 1: they talk about being fellow supporters of the truth. Or
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Speaker 1: work with me as a part of the demonstration of
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Speaker 1: God's God's workmanship. By supporting me and ministry, you have
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Speaker 1: a hand in it and will be fellow heir. Are
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Speaker 1: fellow workers in the truth. That's no idle cliche. That's
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Speaker 1: a biblical statement. We ought to support such men that
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Speaker 1: we may be fellow workers with the truth. You make
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Speaker 1: a living from the Gospel. You have every right to
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Speaker 1: be supported in that. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Now.
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Speaker 1: Charlatan's abound. They did them, they are now, and they
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Speaker 1: will in the future. There will always be Charlatans who
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Speaker 1: not only fleece the flock, they skin them alive on occasion.
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Speaker 1: You cannot help that. You must guard your integrity and
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Speaker 1: your motives. But you have every right, regardless of the
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Speaker 1: slanderous statements that may be said against some, to make
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Speaker 1: your living from the Gospel. He says, these men are
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Speaker 1: to be supported by such as you. Gaius. I take
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Speaker 1: it that Gaeis was one of the lay persons in
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Speaker 1: the church. Found out some interesting things from the church
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Speaker 1: manual of the first century called the Di Dacadache di
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Speaker 1: dakea sort of a church manual. The early church manual
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Speaker 1: read like this, and by the way, it showed that
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Speaker 1: early Christian hospitality was sometimes abused. Instructions were given that
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Speaker 1: an apostle may not stay beyond one day or, in
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Speaker 1: case of necessity, two if he stays three days, listen
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Speaker 1: to this, relatives. If he stays three days, he's a
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Speaker 1: false prophet. How about that? Now I'm teasing you. If
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Speaker 1: your relatives, you can stay at least four and then
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Speaker 1: get out of there. If he stays three days, he's
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Speaker 1: a false prophet. Now I'm not through on departing. He
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Speaker 1: may receive enough food to last him his journey, but
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Speaker 1: if he asks for money, he's a false prophet. Again,
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Speaker 1: if a prophet, apparently speaking under the inspiration of the spirit,
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Speaker 1: says give me money or something else, he is not
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Speaker 1: to be heeded unless the money is for others in need.
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Speaker 1: It is recognized that true prophets have a right to
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Speaker 1: stay and be supported, but an ordinary Christian traveler must
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Speaker 1: not be entertained free for more than two or three days.
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Speaker 1: If he wants to settle, he must work for his living.
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Speaker 1: If he refuses to do this, he is trading on Christ.
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Speaker 1: Now wouldn't that do something to some ministries? This day,
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Speaker 1: wouldn't that do something? They had a guideline to follow.
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Speaker 1: They had sort of a mission, binary guidelines. And if
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Speaker 1: they came by and they stayed too long, or they
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Speaker 1: started talking about and asking for money, you clicked over
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Speaker 1: in the did a kade You looked it up and
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Speaker 1: said get out or no, hey, let's put our thinking
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Speaker 1: caps on. Not everybody that cries wolf has a need,
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Speaker 1: but some of them do, and it's valid, and we
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Speaker 1: need to have sensitive hearts to those that really need
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Speaker 1: support financially from us. We need to be ready to
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Speaker 1: help it happen. Why I often think, what if it
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Speaker 1: were my own son engaged in that ministry? What kind
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Speaker 1: of support would I believe? In a great deal? God's
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Speaker 1: people are all over this world looking for fellow workers
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Speaker 1: to stand with them in ministry. As one of the
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Speaker 1: old timetionaries said, I will go down if you will
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Speaker 1: hold the ropes. Now, God's not calling you to go
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Speaker 1: to India, but when I go, will you hold the ropes?
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Speaker 1: If you will, I'll go. I'll spend my life there.
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Speaker 1: But I need you to stand with me financially. Are
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Speaker 1: you one that needs financial assistance? Don't hesitate to talk
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Speaker 1: about it? With the right motive, in the right way,
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Speaker 1: free from guilt. God knows those that have integrity, and
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Speaker 1: he will honor that. Well. I think that's enough. Set
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Speaker 1: don't be hesitant to present true needs, and be careful
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Speaker 1: not to overdo it. Now we've got a second guy
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Speaker 1: in verse nine, whose name is Diotrophes. There's another man
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Speaker 1: in the church in the first century, and he is
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Speaker 1: quite a man. Now Gaius is commended for his hospitality,
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Speaker 1: his open heart, generosity, his support for those traveling ministers.
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Speaker 1: Diotrophies he's criticized. I wrote something to the church. Let
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Speaker 1: me pause there. This is one of the lost letters,
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Speaker 1: and there are several of them hinted at or stated
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament. Don't bother with finding them or
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Speaker 1: trying to locate them. If God had wanted them preserved,
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Speaker 1: that'd be part of the New Testament. The simple fact
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Speaker 1: is Diotrophies tore it up. I wrote, and Diotrophies rejected it.
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Speaker 1: I wanted the church to hear some things, and he
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Speaker 1: intercepted the missile and he got rid of it. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't accept what we say. See the way verse nine closes.
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Speaker 1: He does not accept what we say Diotrophies has a
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Speaker 1: problem with authority. He's another layman in the church. I
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Speaker 1: take it conflicts with God given leaders. And there isn't
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Speaker 1: a pastor hearing my word at this moment that doesn't
26:07
Speaker 1: understand what it means to deal with the Diotrophies. It's
26:13
Speaker 1: a horrible experience. As one man writes, he resented. Diotrophies
26:19
Speaker 1: resented both the remote control of John and the interference
26:24
Speaker 1: of wandering strangers. Diotrophi's problem, by the way, is not
26:31
Speaker 1: social or doctrinal ecclesiastical. His problem is moral. And don't
26:38
Speaker 1: forget it. See verse nine. I wrote something to the church,
26:42
Speaker 1: But Diotrophies, who loves to be first among them, does
26:50
Speaker 1: not accept what we say. You know what the Greek
26:53
Speaker 1: reads first place, he is fond of being first. I
27:05
Speaker 1: call it, for lack of a better term, the church
27:08
Speaker 1: boss complex, and for some reason, in most churches there
27:15
Speaker 1: is at least one. I have a good friend, one
27:22
Speaker 1: of my earlier mentors, named Richard Sumi, who has an
27:27
Speaker 1: interesting name for church bosses. He calls them savages. I
27:32
Speaker 1: think that puts it even better. When you get older,
27:35
Speaker 1: you don't mince with words. You just say it straight
27:38
Speaker 1: and he's dealt with with a few savages in his ministry.
27:43
Speaker 1: There's not a word against the doctrine of diotrophies. Diotrophy's
27:49
Speaker 1: problem is his pride. I want to be first, and
27:56
Speaker 1: you're not running the show. I'm running it, thank you,
28:03
Speaker 1: I'm taking charge. I was here before you were here,
28:05
Speaker 1: and I'll be here when you're gone. Sounds as though
28:09
Speaker 1: I've heard those words myself. Huh, I have. John says
28:18
Speaker 1: for this reason, if I come, I will deal openly
28:24
Speaker 1: with a savage. That's kind of a paraphrase of what
28:27
Speaker 1: this verse is now teaching. Okay, it's kind of to
28:30
Speaker 1: get that out of my system. Look at verse ten. First,
28:34
Speaker 1: I will call attention to his deeds, which he does unjustly,
28:40
Speaker 1: accusing us with wicked words. That's his first problem. I'll
28:45
Speaker 1: come back to it in a minute. Second. Not satisfied
28:50
Speaker 1: with this, neither does he himself receive the brethren. Third,
28:56
Speaker 1: he forbids those who desire to do so and puts
29:00
Speaker 1: them out of the church. This guy is running the church.
29:05
Speaker 1: He's not open to the to the direction of the
29:09
Speaker 1: spirit of God. He resists authority. And when there are
29:13
Speaker 1: those that say, I think this man or this person
29:16
Speaker 1: deserves a hearing. He not only rejects the person, but
29:20
Speaker 1: he says to that person, get out. This is a
29:26
Speaker 1: classic case of lay leadership gone wild. Who knows how
29:33
Speaker 1: many pastors this night live under the pall of a savage.
29:40
Speaker 1: Thank goodness, I don't. It's wonderful to be relieved of it.
29:47
Speaker 1: I have. There is nothing that rapes the leadership of
29:52
Speaker 1: a pastor like a layman who runs wild as a boss. Interestingly,
29:59
Speaker 1: it is often the person who has had the most
30:02
Speaker 1: significant hand in your being called as the pastor of
30:05
Speaker 1: that church. It's funny how it works like that. I
30:09
Speaker 1: learned that from Dick Suming. Also, he writes in his
30:13
Speaker 1: book Shoes for the Road. Strange as it may seem,
30:18
Speaker 1: there are those who make their personal advancement the one
30:21
Speaker 1: thing in life, Scheming and plotting, blustering and sneaking, trampling
30:28
Speaker 1: on others, and bloating themselves with vain ambition, creating their
30:34
Speaker 1: own false and poisonous inspirations by their subtle self appreciation,
30:40
Speaker 1: all to secure some advantage for themselves. It is not
30:45
Speaker 1: welcome news, but it is necessary. Diotrophies disease has not
30:51
Speaker 1: yet been eliminated. From the body of Christians. I am
30:58
Speaker 1: impressed with the John. When I come, I'm going to
31:04
Speaker 1: call him on the carpet. How about that? I will
31:10
Speaker 1: not live under the bully of Diotrophies, the bullying of
31:15
Speaker 1: his style. I am a God given leader to the
31:20
Speaker 1: Church of Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean I'm unaccountable, it
31:23
Speaker 1: doesn't mean I'm infallible. It means I am God's appointed
31:27
Speaker 1: leader along with others, and we are going to see
31:32
Speaker 1: to it that Diotrophies is faced with his wrong. Pastors
31:37
Speaker 1: listening to these words do that. I don't know of
31:42
Speaker 1: many things where I would say today it's either him
31:46
Speaker 1: or me, But with the Diotrophies, I'd say it because
31:52
Speaker 1: that kind of person who loves to have first place
31:56
Speaker 1: needs to be in last place, preferably out of the church.
32:06
Speaker 1: Now you might wonder if I have any convictions about this,
32:09
Speaker 1: and I just thought i'd share them with you right now.
32:14
Speaker 1: Pride C. S. Lewis writes the essential vice, the utmost
32:19
Speaker 1: evil unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere
32:24
Speaker 1: flea bites. In comparison, pride, Pride leads to every other vice.
32:32
Speaker 1: It is the complete anti god state of mind. The
32:37
Speaker 1: proud are always looking down on things and people, And
32:42
Speaker 1: of course as long as you're looking down, you cannot
32:44
Speaker 1: see something that is above. You. See what Diotrophes was doing,
32:55
Speaker 1: unjustly accusing with wicked words. Did a little study on
33:08
Speaker 1: this and found out some things. About twenty minutes. I'll
33:19
Speaker 1: find it, folks, and we'll get it for you right now. Okay. Here,
33:28
Speaker 1: the word translated malicious or as in our text, wicked,
33:37
Speaker 1: is the word that means talking nonsense. It conveys the
33:41
Speaker 1: idea that the words were not only wicked but senseless,
33:46
Speaker 1: says Plumber. The noun is translated in one Timothy five
33:52
Speaker 1: as tattlers in the RSV as gossips. He lays baseless
34:00
Speaker 1: and spiteful charges against us. It's a case of a
34:03
Speaker 1: gossip who has taken charge. I'll tell you the tongue
34:15
Speaker 1: will do more to damage the church than any other
34:18
Speaker 1: muscle in the body. Get control of your tongue if
34:22
Speaker 1: you haven't yet. You expect me to have control of mine.
34:28
Speaker 1: And I know enough about many people to absolutely ruin
34:31
Speaker 1: their character, and you expect me to keep it to myself.
34:36
Speaker 1: You do the same if you have an accusation against
34:40
Speaker 1: a brother. You come and do it right biblically, or
34:43
Speaker 1: you stay quiet. God didn't call you to be the
34:47
Speaker 1: church boss, nor me. Jesus Christ is the boss. He's curios.
34:55
Speaker 1: He is Lord Diotrophes thinks he is. And along with that,
35:01
Speaker 1: this man handles people roughly and gruffly, and he pushes
35:05
Speaker 1: them aside and in fact excommunicates them on his own.
35:11
Speaker 1: That kind of person really turns us off. Doesn't he
35:15
Speaker 1: one more thought on him? And I'm through? Interestingly, when
35:17
Speaker 1: I read that statement about church bosses, I remember to
35:20
Speaker 1: comment at Robertson made in his book Word Pictures of
35:23
Speaker 1: the New Testament in his comments on Third John, I
35:28
Speaker 1: quote some forty years ago, I wrote an article on
35:32
Speaker 1: diotrophies for a denominational paper. The editor told me that
35:37
Speaker 1: twenty five deacons stop the paper to show their resentment
35:42
Speaker 1: against being personally attacked in the paper. You feel personally
35:50
Speaker 1: attacked with diotrophies, and you've got a problem, You've really
35:54
Speaker 1: got a problem. I am not saying that the pastor
35:58
Speaker 1: is the boss. I stand against that concept. I'm saying
36:02
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus is the boss, and he works through
36:05
Speaker 1: God given leadership not people like diotrophies. He has no
36:11
Speaker 1: business leading the church. And if there's a diotrophy's pastor type,
36:17
Speaker 1: you have no business leading the church. We are servants
36:21
Speaker 1: of the Living God. We are learners to give and
36:26
Speaker 1: to serve. That's what Jesus did and that's what we
36:29
Speaker 1: are to do. Takes a heavy toll on a leader
36:33
Speaker 1: when he has to live with the diotrophies. I remember
36:39
Speaker 1: being intimidated. I remember wondering where could I hide, Where
36:42
Speaker 1: could I run? How could I deal with it? What
36:44
Speaker 1: am I going to do? Only my wife knew the
36:47
Speaker 1: horror of my existence, and by and by, over a
36:50
Speaker 1: period of years, she began to say to me, you know,
36:52
Speaker 1: you're even losing your drive as a leader. We've got
36:56
Speaker 1: to do something about this individual. She was right. Diotrophies
37:02
Speaker 1: are never satisfied, never till they have everybody under their thumb.
37:08
Speaker 1: They split churches. Needless to say Verse eleven, don't imitate
37:15
Speaker 1: what is evil, but what is good. The one who
37:17
Speaker 1: does good is of God. The one who does evil
37:20
Speaker 1: hasn't seen God. Godly leadership cannot coexist with a diatrophies leadership.
37:28
Speaker 1: And I think you've got that point clear. Now Demetrius
37:32
Speaker 1: is affirm for his testimony. It's beautiful. Demetrius has received
37:36
Speaker 1: a good testimony from everyone. That's quite a statement. I
37:42
Speaker 1: hear it from the community. I hear it all around.
37:46
Speaker 1: The church is affirm because of this man. What a
37:48
Speaker 1: testimony and from the truth itself. When he mirrors his
37:52
Speaker 1: life against the truth, they balance out what a man
37:56
Speaker 1: is Demetrius, and that in a context like this one. Furthermore,
38:03
Speaker 1: we bear witness, and you know that our witness is true.
38:06
Speaker 1: John says, I personally can testify Demetrius as some kind
38:09
Speaker 1: of man. That's the kind of person that ought to
38:11
Speaker 1: be in leadership, the person who has a testimony in
38:15
Speaker 1: the community, the person who is a testimony in the
38:17
Speaker 1: church and whose life can be balanced against scripture. It's beautiful. Now,
38:22
Speaker 1: John concludes you rather quickly. I had many things to
38:24
Speaker 1: write to you, but I'm not willing to write them
38:27
Speaker 1: to you with pen and ink. I got a lot
38:30
Speaker 1: more to say, but I've got to stop. I hope
38:34
Speaker 1: to see you shortly. I want you to watch what's missing.
38:38
Speaker 1: This is an interesting thought here. I hope to see
38:43
Speaker 1: you shortly. We shall speak face to face. How about that?
38:49
Speaker 1: I hope to see you soon. We will speak face
38:53
Speaker 1: to face. Sharlom friends greet you, greet the friends by name.
39:01
Speaker 1: Doesn't even say farewell, doesn't say goodbye. He says, I
39:06
Speaker 1: hope to see you soon. We will speak face to face.
39:10
Speaker 1: May if I said enough, you get the idea I
39:13
Speaker 1: want to come on this earth and visit you in
39:15
Speaker 1: the church. I may not, but we will face to face,
39:20
Speaker 1: be looking at each other. And I read that. I
39:22
Speaker 1: thought of a conclusion to this grand chapter entitled Thou
39:28
Speaker 1: art the King of Glory from Sheldon van Alkins A
39:31
Speaker 1: Severe Mercy. What's a great book? Listen? On that last
39:39
Speaker 1: day I met C. S. Lewis at the East Gate
39:41
Speaker 1: for lunch. We talked, I recall about death and or
39:46
Speaker 1: rather awakening after death, whatever it would be like. We thought.
39:50
Speaker 1: Our response to it would be, why, of course, of
39:53
Speaker 1: course it's like this, How else could it have possibly been?
39:59
Speaker 1: We both checked that. I said it would be a
40:02
Speaker 1: sort of coming home, and he agreed. Lewis said that
40:05
Speaker 1: he hoped Davy and I Davy is his wife van
40:08
Speaker 1: Alkin's wife. Davy and I would be coming back to
40:11
Speaker 1: England soon, and we must not get out of touch
40:13
Speaker 1: at all events, he said, with a cheerful grin, we'll
40:17
Speaker 1: meet certainly, we'll meet again here or there. Then it
40:23
Speaker 1: was time to go. When we emerged onto the busy High,
40:28
Speaker 1: onto the busy High, with the traffic streaming past, we
40:31
Speaker 1: shook hands a picture of this, and he said, I
40:35
Speaker 1: shan't say goodbye. We'll meet again. Then he plunged into
40:40
Speaker 1: the traffic. I stood there watching him. When he reached
40:42
Speaker 1: the pavement on the other side, he turned around, as
40:44
Speaker 1: though he knew somehow that I would still be standing
40:46
Speaker 1: there in front of the east gate. He raised his
40:49
Speaker 1: voice in a great roar that easily overcame the noise
40:52
Speaker 1: of the cars and the buses. I like voices like that.
40:55
Speaker 1: By the way, he raised his voice, and the heads turned,
40:58
Speaker 1: and at least one car besides. He bellowed with a
41:04
Speaker 1: great grin. Christians never say goodbye. Isn't that grand? We
41:12
Speaker 1: never say goodbye. I hope to come and see you soon.
41:17
Speaker 1: But we will see each other face to face, aren't
41:24
Speaker 1: There are some folks you'd love to spend eternity with,
41:26
Speaker 1: just to pick their minds and just fiddle around with
41:30
Speaker 1: them and listen to them. And there are a few
41:33
Speaker 1: that you don't want to spend eternity with that. You're
41:35
Speaker 1: gonna have to learn how to do it, but a
41:37
Speaker 1: lot more that you really wish you could. And you're
41:40
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to get it all together now,
41:42
Speaker 1: but then you will. And I love the way he
41:44
Speaker 1: says it. Shut oam. That's the call, that's the finality
41:49
Speaker 1: of it. That's the farewell until then peace. Let me
41:57
Speaker 1: share three thoughts of a practical nature. Here's the first one.
42:02
Speaker 1: Variety will always be present in the universal Church. Don't
42:07
Speaker 1: try to stop it. Don't get on a bandwagon to
42:11
Speaker 1: make all ministries like yours or like the one you prefer.
42:14
Speaker 1: There's a difference between preference, taste, you know, and what
42:21
Speaker 1: is biblically acceptable. Variety will always be present in the
42:25
Speaker 1: universal Church. Let's preserve it, let's value it. Here's the second.
42:32
Speaker 1: Disunity must never be tolerated in the local church. Where
42:36
Speaker 1: to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond
42:38
Speaker 1: of peace, Disunity must never be tolerated in the local church. Now,
42:48
Speaker 1: the third is the clincher. As long as Christ is
42:51
Speaker 1: given first place, the church can face any challenge, and
43:01
Speaker 1: that includes exposing a diatrophies as hard as it may
43:06
Speaker 1: be that includes loving a brother who is sickly or
43:13
Speaker 1: a sister. That includes having to say farewell for now.
43:22
Speaker 1: Wish we had longer, but someday we'll have all all
43:29
Speaker 1: the time we need. I'm so jazzed about this study.
43:35
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. I just think Third
43:37
Speaker 1: John is one of the greatest things since sliced bread.
43:40
Speaker 1: I just man, I love it. Thanks God for being
43:48
Speaker 1: our friend, Thanks for being our counselor. Thanks for talking
43:52
Speaker 1: straight to us about people and about life and about relationships.
43:57
Speaker 1: Thanks for putting up with our differences and loving us
44:02
Speaker 1: through it all. Thank you for times of severe mercy.
44:10
Speaker 1: Thank you for days when the conflicts, even the days
44:14
Speaker 1: when the conflicts aren't over and we're forced to go
44:18
Speaker 1: wall to wall with you and to rely on you.
44:25
Speaker 1: We thank you not only for the gayestes in our
44:27
Speaker 1: lives and the demetriuses, but we have to say also
44:30
Speaker 1: what you do in our lives through the diatrophies. They're
44:35
Speaker 1: hard to deal with, they're not walking with you. But somehow,
44:40
Speaker 1: in the strange milieu of it all, we grow. We
44:44
Speaker 1: learn through the scars, we become tough, we become resilient,
44:55
Speaker 1: We see your power when we're intimidated. Thank you now.
45:05
Speaker 1: Unto him who is able to guard us from stumbling
45:08
Speaker 1: and present us faultless before the presence of His glory
45:11
Speaker 1: with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Lord
45:18
Speaker 1: and Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, power, authority, forever
45:29
Speaker 1: and ever Amen. The preceding message Third John three Men
45:38
Speaker 1: in a Church was copyrighted in nineteen eighty three, and
45:41
Speaker 1: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twelve by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
45:46
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.