What
type of Church Member do you desire to be?
Perhaps you have never even given this much thought. Well, whether you
have thought about it or not, I want to warn us all today about the Danger
of Diotrephes. In 3 John 9, the
Apostle John tells us that “I wrote
something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does
not accept what we say.”
We
do not have time in this blog to dissect exactly what Diotrephes’ role was in
the church but needless to say, he was a church leader. Notice the first problem in his
ministry: he “loves to be first among them.”
Diotrephes sought to be first!
How many of us want to be first in our church? We approach church with the attitude that
it’s all about me; it’s all about feeding me; it’s all about my rights; it’s
all about my comforts; it’s my way or the highway.
It’s
so sad that many of us approach church and ministry with this selfish, prideful
and arrogant mindset. But does that fit
with Paul’s description of Christ in Philippians 2? Paul said that Jesus, “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Obviously there is a glaring difference.
Or
what about John’s detailing of the Last Supper where Jesus “knowing that the Father had given all things into His Hands, and that
He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and
laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.”
Jesus,
who alone is worthy of being first, always desired to serve others! The danger for us is that we want church and
ministry to be about us rather than about taking up the humble service and
ministry of the towel.
As
Diotrephes sought to be first we read that he accused John with wicked words
(v. 10) and that he would not receive missionaries and Christian brothers that
John sent to the church, and he even cast out those who disagreed with him. This
sounds crazy! Who would not welcome the
Apostle John or those sent by him?
Unfortunately, if you look closely enough at our modern churches, you
will find a Diotrephes in many of our congregations. Maybe it’s the pastor, or a deacon, or a
Sunday School teacher. Maybe it’s an
officer in the church or maybe it’s a church member who has been there for
decades, or perhaps it is a faithful tither.
Honestly,
a Diotrephes can be lurking anywhere in the congregation. Even within your own heart! So let us be careful. Let us avoid the Danger of Diotrephes. Let us humble ourselves and imitate
Christ. John says in verse 11 that we
are not to “imitate what is evil, but
what is good.” Therefore imitate
Christ. Humble yourself and serve within
your congregation. If you want to see your congregation grow, then begin
serving more. As we like to say at
Macedonia: “God comes first, people
matter more than things, and needs matter more than rights!”