What is it about French leaders being small? Napoleon was vertically challenged, but the incumbent President Nicholas Sarkozy is smaller still – at only 5 feet 5 inches tall. Sarkozy is obviously sensitive about his height since he has just issued an order that tall men need not apply to be his bodyguards. He only wants short men as bodyguards – men that he is even taller than. Although I don’t want to attribute any proud motives to France’s premier, isn’t it amazing how we don’t like to be upstaged? Diotrephes was a man who took the upstaged complex to the max – he loved to be first. By contrast to the Gaius-spirit we are urged to imitate, we are called to make every effort to put the Diotrephes-spirit to death in our lives.
I want to look at three things regarding the villain of 3 John 9-10 tonight: the fact of Diotrephes character; the features of his character and lastly, the fate of his character. My prayer is that we would go home from this meeting tonight not thinking of anybody else but before God in prayer humbly asking, “Lord, is it I”?
[A] The Fact of Diotrephes Character
Almost nothing is known about Diotrephes. His name means, ‘fed by Jupiter’, so it may be that Diotrephes was a converted Gentile. It would seem that he held a position of authority in the Church – perhaps an elder or even the pastor. That’s about all we know of him. But whenever you mention the name Diotrephes, the phrase which instantly comes to mind is, “the Diotrephes who loved to be first.” Just as Gaius is remembered for his love, so Diotrephes is remembered for his relentless desire for pre-eminence. He loves the thought of being first and can’t bear the thought of being last. And so, he considers his opinion more important than anyone else’s. He thinks of himself more highly than he thinks of anyone else. He judges the actions of others through the lens of his standards. He’s a top table guy, never content with serving in the shadows like Gaius. He’ll only get his hands dirty if there’s reputation in it for him.
I would love to say that Diotrephes was the only rotten apple in the whole barrel of the Church, but he’s not. I’m afraid that its part and parcel of the sinful human condition for us to desire pre-eminence. The Epistle of Philippians in particular was written to address issues surrounding the love of being first. Its part and parcel of Pharisee legalism in us – that desire to be seen to be better than everybody else – that somehow compared to us, everyone else is second-class. Never mind hating the Diotrephes in 3 John, let’s first and foremost hate the Diotrephes-spirit in us – the love of being first. Most certainly, if we have this Diotrephes-spirit in us, it’s not being fed by the Jesus who humbled Himself to death on a Cross; but from the devil who is filled with pride and arrogance. Diotrephes longed for pre-eminence – to be first among not-so-equals – for his view to have the most weight and for his feelings to be the most important – do we?
[B] The Features of Diotrephes Character
How is the love of pre-eminence manifested such that, when we see these particular features, we can say, “it’s the Diotrephes-spirit at work”? Diotrephes is characterised by three features: personal rejection, malicious gossip and group control.
1. Personal Rejection – from vs. 9 we learn that John wrote a letter to the Church, but Diotrephes would not permit it to be read, because he wanted nothing to do either with John or with his missionaries. On two occasions in vs. 9 and 10, Diotrephes is spoken of as ‘not receiving’ them. He wants nothing to do with them; he does not welcome them. They, and their teaching, present a threat to his love of pre-eminence in the fellowship. How different from Gaius who supported John and his missionary brothers! We can dress it up however we like – jealousy, personality clash etc – but the plain fact is that Diotrephes rejected John because Diotrephes wanted the pre-eminence.
Bearing in mind that John was an apostle, and therefore his words carried apostolic authority, a modern example of the Diotrephes-spirit in action is when a prominent member of the Church kicks out against the teaching of apostolically written Scripture because it erodes his power base. The Bible condemns gossip, but gossip is how the Diotrephes-spirit spreads – and so modern-day Diotrephes’s want to tone Scripture down or even to silence it on the issue of gossip. Again, a critical spirit is condemned in the Bible, but being critical is one way modern-day Diotrephes’s wield cheap superiority. And so, rather than be corrected by the apostles’ words in the Scripture, the Diotrephes spirit will tone Scripture down and call criticism something other than it is. But at base, a desire for pre-eminence, a love of being first, causes today’s Diotrephes’ to twist Scripture to their own purposes or to reject it altogether. How dare you suggest to Diotrephes that he needs a bit more humility; how dare you tell him that grace is the greatest leveller of all and that in Christ, we are all equal. Tell a Diotrephes that, and assault his pre-eminence, and you are sure to be rejected by him.
2. Malicious Gossip – in vs. 10, we learn that Diotrephes was engaging in malicious gossip about the Apostle John and his evangelist missionaries. Diotrephes was not a quiet man – rather, he was, literally a prattler. Whenever you visited his fellowship, it was only ever his voice that you heard. The word used can also mean nonsense, which may mean that most of what he said was rubbish. That may have been harmless enough, although there are many warnings especially in the book of Proverbs about being men and women of many words; but what made it all the worse was that this prattling was malicious. The words he spoke were literally evil – the same word used here in 3 John 10 as used to describe the devil in the Lord’s Prayer as ‘the evil one’. It follows from Diotrephes rejection of John and his missionaries that he bore him no good intent in the words he spoke. He could not allow anyone else to assume the pre-eminence and so he bad-mouthed, maliciously gossiped and nonsensically prattled on about John. Perhaps he questioned John’s character; perhaps he had issues with the Gospel John was preaching – but behind it all was this driving desire for pre-eminence in everything.
22 year old Julia Popova is a very fortunate young lady. Back in January she was mugged in her home city of Moscow. She was badly beaten and so shock had set in preventing her from feeling any pain in her body. But that shock prevented her from realising that the thug had plunged a 15cm kitchen knife into her back. It was only when she got home after the attack that her parents noticed the knife shaft sticking out of the back of her neck. In essence, what Diotrephes was doing with his malicious gossip was to stick a knife in John’s back. How careful we must be not to gossip maliciously about other Christians – not just because the act itself is wrong, but because what lies behind it is the danger of Diotrephes – a relentless love of being pre-eminent! I think sometimes, when we engage in malicious gossip, its not because the things we are saying are or are not true, but because we want to gain cheap superiority over those we are gossiping about – and that is the danger of Diotrephes. Let’s be careful not to speak wicked, evil rubbish about other Christians, for in so doing, we are sticking a knife in their backs.
3. Group Control – far from being content with a personal rejection of John and his missionary brothers, Diotrephes forbids anyone else in the fellowship from having anything to do with them either. For his own power-driven reasons, he doesn’t want anyone receiving John or his message. It reminds us of one of Aesop’s fables called ‘the Dog in the Manger’. One afternoon, a dog lay down to sleep in a manger full of hay. On being awoken, he vigorously barked and kept the cattle in the barn away from the hay. Even though he was unable to eat the hay, he didn’t want anything else to eat it either. It all caused a wise ox to say, “people often begrudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.” Just because Diotrephes rejects the good teaching of John, everybody else must too – he’ll bark with his malicious gossip and frighten all the other Christians away. He’s most firmly in control not just of what he thinks, but of what everybody else must do. You can see this in vs. 10 where Diotrephes expels from the church anybody who has the audacity to defy him and receive the missionaries. Matthew Henry says, “it is bad to do not good to ourselves, but it is worse to hinder those who would.” He’ll use malicious gossip and woe-filled threats – anything to get his way – and why – because he loves to be first.
Perhaps Diotrephes had a charming personality – the best villains do; perhaps Diotrephes had a worm-tongue type personality – weaselling decisions his way and controlling everyone through gossip and threat. But whatever it is – see how destructive the influence of just one man’s love of power can be in the life of a whole Church! Just as Achan brought God’s judgement down on the wandering Israelites, so the presence of a Diotrephes, one rotten apple, will sour the whole barrel. Watch out then for both a Diotrephes spirit in yourself, or other Christians – and steer far clear.
[C] The Fate of Diotrephes Character.
Diotrephes was nothing but a bully. His bullying behaviour was a product of his proud love of pre-eminence. He doesn’t want anyone else having mastery over him – and so, through gossip and threat, he controls everyone in the Church. But what should you do with a bully? John tells us in vs. 10 – “so if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing”. John is going to stand up to him and let it be known in public what kind of person Diotrephes is. Diotrephes works under the surface – only he knows everything he does – but now John is going to let everyone know just how badly they have been duped by Diotrephes. The best thing for a man who loves to be first is to have his sinful actions paraded in public so that everyone can see that Diotrephes isn’t a first-class Christian – rather he’s no better or worse than anybody else, and he needs Jesus and His grace as much as the next man. As Jesus says in Luke 12:2 – “there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” When everybody sees what Diotrephes is really like, his credibility and power base will be blown. The one who desired to be first will be last – even as Jesus predicted.
The Apostolic teaching of the Bible will highlight to us any Diotrephes-spirit we may have. As Paul teaches about the humility of Christ; Peter about the salvation of Christ and John about the love of Christ, our hidden love of pre-eminence will be exposed for the wicked, malicious thing it is. See the futility of being a Diotrephes, because in the last analysis, even if you get away with it now, you won’t get away with it on the day when all our actions are made known, and the hidden things are revealed.
By the grace of God, the example of Jesus Christ, and the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit, strive to be like Gaius and strive not to be like Diotrephes. Rather than being someone who loves to be first – love to be the servant of all. Rather than being someone who desires the pre-eminence, desire the preeminence of Christ. For one thing is sure – in your life, either Christ is first or you are. Now make your choice! AMEN
