THE DISEASE OF DIOTREPHES
SCRIPTURE: KJV III John 1:9 “I wrote unto the church: but
Diotrephes, who loveth to have the
preeminence among them,
receiveth us not. (v. 10) Wherefore, if
I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with
malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the
brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”
Amplified Version III John 1:9 “I have written briefly to the
church; but Diotrephes, who likes to take the lead among them and put himself
first, does not acknowledge my authority and refuses to accept my suggestions
or listen to me. (v. 10) So when I arrive, I will call attention to
what he is doing, his boiling over and casting malicious reflections upon us
with insinuating language. And not
satisfied with that, he refuses to receive and welcome the [missionary]
brethren himself, and also interferes with and forbids those who would welcome
them, and tries to expel (excommunicate) them from the church.”
INTRODUCTION:
I. GAIUS
A. John’s letter
is written to a local church in Asia Minor under the leadership of Gaius.
B. It is apparent
from the introduction of the letter that Gaius was dearly loved by John. (v. 1)
C. Beloved by the
local church. (v. 2)
D. Walking in
truth as testified of by visiting brethren.
(v. 3)
E. Attempting to
accept in hospitality the missionary brethren. (v. 6)
F. Dealing with
Diotrephes
1.
Gaius
a. Accepting those who preach and practice the truth.
b. Rejecting those who preach false doctrine; gnosticism in this case.
c. Needing apostolic affirmation that he was doing the right
thing.
2.
Diotrephes
a. Rejecting those who preach the truth.
b. Accusing Gaius and the local church of not showing love to him
and those like him.
c. Needing an apostolic rebuke.
(v. 10) “I will remember his deeds”
II. DIOTREPHES
A.
Preached Gnosticism. A Gnostic
heretic according to Spiros Zodhiates.
1. Gnostics denied the incarnation of Jesus
Christ.
2. John addressed Gnosticism in his first
epistle.
I John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;”
I John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (4:2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:
and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should
come; and even now
already is it in the world.”
B.
Loved the preeminence. (v. 9)
1. It
means simply, “who loves to be first” — meaning that he loved to be at the head
of all things, to rule, to lord
it over others. It is clearly supposed here, that the church would have
complied with the request of the
writer [to receive missionary brethren] if it had not been for this man. Albert
Barnes’ Notes
2.
Have you ever seen the actions and reactions, the behaviors, the
attitudes of someone who loves to be first?
“The Disease of Diotrephes” by Darren Ethier @sermoncentral.com
a. Such people are usually filled with pride -
the kind of pride that is not easily humbled [unteachable].
b. Such people like to have their name prominently mentioned
whenever possible, have to have the jobs
that get tons of recognition, and always want to have to last word.
3.
Why do you think people want to be first?
a. Maybe they want recognition, maybe it’s
because they’re afraid of being last, of being left out or left
behind.
b. Maybe they crave the attention.
c. Maybe its because they want to hide some weakness they have.
4.
Often people want to be first because it satisfies their desire to feel
needed. The inappropriate expression of this need
leads many down a road of destruction, and disaster, and the one thing they
feared the most
. . . being rejected.
5.
The case furnishes an illustration of the bad influence of one ambitious
and arrogant man in a church. It is often
in the power of one such man to bring a whole church under his control, and
effectually to embarrass all its movements, and
to prevent all the good which it would otherwise accomplish.
Albert
Barnes’ Notes
C. Rejected the
Apostle John and the Brethren. (v. 9)
1.
Resented interference from outside authority declaring
independence.
a. Diotrephes did not accept the Apostle John to be over him because
he thought of himself as a super-apostle,
and therefore he was a false prophet.
Spiros Zodhiates
b. Remember that Diotrephes loves to be first. One of the signposts
of such a person is that they won’t
play second fiddle to nobody. They won’t accept anybody’s authority over
them. Darren Ethier
2.
There may have been at the bottom of it some secret dislike of John, or
some private grudge;
Albert Barnes’ Notes
3.
Perhaps Diotrephes argued that the church just couldn’t afford to
support the traveling missionary brethren.
4.
Prating against us with malicious words. (v. 10) Albert Barnes’
Notes
a. The word “prate,” (fluarew), occurring nowhere else in the New
Testament, means to “overflow with
talk,” (Greek fluw, Latin:
“fluo,” flow); to talk much without weight, or to little purpose;
b. The word does not properly imply that there
was malignity or ill-feeling in what was said, but that the talk was of an
idle, foolish, and unprofitable character.
c. As John here, however, specifies that there
was a bad spirit in the manner in which Diotrephes expressed himself,
the real thing which is implied in the use of the word here is, that there were
much
talk of that kind; that he was addicted to this habit of “running on” against
the apostle; and
that he was thus constantly undermining his influence, and injuring his
character.
d. Malicious --> Greek, “evil words;” words that were fitted to
do injury.
5. In
Diotrephes case his malicious gossip was intended to degrade the authority of
the apostle’s leadership and
puff up himself. You know the funny thing about gossiping is we’re ready to
expound on the latest troubles
or failures about someone but we’re not doing the slightest thing to help
them.
Gossip is something that destroys
a body of believers rather than building up. It causes distrust, anger, hurt
feelings, broken relationships, and spreads Diotrephes disease like
wildfire. Darren Ethier
6.
Not content therewith. (v.
10) Albert Barnes’ Notes
a. Not satisfied with venting his private feelings in talk.
b. Some persons seem to be satisfied with merely talking against
others, and take no other measures to
injure them; but Diotrephes was not. He himself rejected the brethren, and
persuaded the church
to do the same thing.
7.
Again Diotrephes failed to welcome the brothers not because they deceive
the minds of naďve people by smooth
talk and flattery - not because they are divisive (that is they seek to bring
division to the church) but because… he desires
to be first. Darren Ethier
D. Excommunicated
those who supported visiting brethren.
(v. 10)
1. Diotrephes
was guilty not only of gossiping maliciously about John and company but also
made sure that any
associates of John would not be welcome.
Darren Ethier
2. His influence was so great that he “cast
out” of the church such as were disposed to receive them. Fausett’s
Bible Dictionary
E.
John’s Evaluation of Diotrephes
(v. 11)
1. He
that doeth good is of God:
2. He
that doeth evil hath not seen God.
III. DEMETRIUS
A. It probable
that he was a member of the same church with Gaius.
B. United with
Gaius in showing Christian hospitality to these strangers.
C. It is the use
of the phrase “hath good report of all,” implying that some testimony was
borne
D. Demetrius is
praised as of the opposite spirit to Diotrephes;
1. Demetrius was to be followed.
2. Diotrephes was to be shunned.
IV. CONCLUSION: LEARNING FROM
DIOTREPHES
A. Inward
Reaching versus Outward Stretching
(Pond versus Lake)
One of the biggest dangers of
a church contracting Diotrephes disease is that it starts to become inward
reaching instead of outward stretching. Instead of being encouraged by new
people coming into the church and welcoming them with open arms such a church
feels threatened because these new people might bring problems we can’t handle
or they may be better singers, or better musicians, or better teachers, or make
a better casserole or pie than we can. Or doesn’t it seem that the pastor has
been spending more time with the new people recently? The challenge presented
by this attitude of Diotrephes is to overcome our tendencies to continue to
nurse the exclusive club mentality is to stretch out and make people feel
welcome - going beyond the simple hello and handshake during service, going
beyond the casual wave around town - and onto the dinner invitations - the
surprise visits - the invitation to participate in church activities - the
offer to drive to church…..
Diotrephes saw some people stretching out to welcome the brothers and 3 John
records, "he stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the
church" Diotrephes and the people that were infected with his disease became
so inward reaching that they became angry towards the people who knew the right
thing to do and did it. Darren
Ethier
B. Visiting Brethren (Spiros
Zodhiates)
1.
Hospitality should be shown to believers whether they are known or
unknown to us.
2.
The unknown ones are brethren in Christ and deserve our love and care.
3.
One should make sure that the strangers are not heretics and deceivers
propagating another doctrine which is
contrary to the doctrine of the Word of God.
C. Missions (Spiros Zodhiates)
1. It
is not an optional thing to support missionaries. It is a must for believers.
We, as believers, out to support
our missionaries.
2. We
ought to discriminate in our support and only give to those who have
sound doctrine.
3.
Our support should be in full accord with our ability.
D. Diotrephes
1.
Must be dealt with. John could
not remain silent on this matter. (v.
10)
2.
Must be exposed.
E. Peace is possible in spite of those who love to be first.