Diotrephes

Diotrephes

He loved to have the pre-eminence among them. That is a bad thing, because then you are obliged to do evil whether you want to or not. Then you have to oppose those whom God has led or will lead further. If someone has been given much wisdom and grace so he appears to have the pre-eminence in truth, it is important for Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-eminence himself, to work against it in every way. He starts spreading evil rumors and backbites the person concerned with bad words, finding points on which to accuse him, and finally decides that the person concerned should not be received by the congregation. Diotrephes went so far in his evil—in his zeal to have the pre-eminence—that he put God-fearing souls out of the church simply because they had received the others who had received much from God— because they (in the name of all uprightness and truth) had permitted themselves to hold fast to the fact that it was very blessed to hear them.

What shall we say to this??? I wonder how Diotrephes is faring these days. We know that his body has passed away, but his thoughts and deeds—his attitude of mind—has certainly found a place in several people, also in our days. Exactly the same thing is being perpetrated in these days!!! People are not only put out of the church when they are too bad, but also when they are too good!

The leaders should watch that each one becomes as mature as possible in Christ Jesus. This would be evidence of the leader’s own true greatness and goodness. However, now one watches—with Diotrephes’ attitude—that no one becomes too great, lest there by any danger that (in people’s eyes) the other person could appear to be greater than himself. In like manner one watches that no one in the congregation acknowledges any other servant of the Lord to be great. Only their own Diotrephes can be great. Do you know of such a Diotrephes today? I know many of them.

Who, in our days, puts people out of the church and rejects men with Demetrius’ attitude of mind? Diotrephes does! He loves to have the pre-eminence; therefore he is afraid that the God-fearing Demetrius, who has led so many people to a richer life in God, could be considered by many people to have the pre-eminence, the very thing which he desires so much for himself. This is also why he tries to subvert Demetrius at all cost, accusing him of false doctrine, having another spirit, etc. For the ignorant masses this is good enough so they believe it, but Diotrephes himself knows the real reason. He is not innocent when he uses carnal weapons out of envy.

What shall we do about this? We shall do exactly what the apostle John says in his third epistle. We shall “call to mind his deeds which he does.” No partiality! Into the light with everything! That is our motto. Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather rebuke them! All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light! Eph. 5:11, 13.

All those who are busy backbiting and putting people out of the church who want to live wholly for God—regardless of whatever pretense they have for doing it—are following in Diotrephes’ steps.

Demetrius

3 John 12

Demetrius, in contrast to Diotrephes, was a sparkling, bright star without guile! John gives him the unique and singularly good recommendation that he, besides the good testimony which John (who spoke only the truth) and others might give him, had a good testimony from the truth itself! What does that mean? Does the truth have a mouth with which it can praise someone? It means that he “through thick and thin” lived the truth! He lived and worked with the mind of Christ according to the laws of the Spirit—so that when one reads in the Bible how one ought to live and walk, this was exactly what Demetrius did in every detail. This is how he received a good testimony from the truth itself!

In contrast to Diotrephes, Demetrius would rather listen to someone who had received more from God than he had, so that he and the others could receive the best possible nourishment. It was unimportant to him whether he sat at the head, in the middle, or in the lowest place, if everyone could only receive as much as possible from God.

What a blessed attitude! Blessed Demetrius! There was no room in him for the lust to rule, the lust to preach, for greed or a factional spirit. He had nothing to fear, nothing to lose, nothing of his own either to guard or to defend. For this very reason he did not need to exclude anyone. He was easily entreated; he proved everything and kept what was good.

Have you ever in your life met anyone who was like Demetrius? I have. God be praised!!!

Alas! Alas! The usual preaching activity is such great folly (spiritually speaking)! They strive by inviting others to begin on the way on which they themselves have stopped long ago!—