Alright, we're going to get into 3rd John here. Continue through our study. We're about halfway through the epistle. So, we're getting to another section in this study. And we're looking at verses 9-11. In 3rd John 9-11. So that's what I'm going to be reading here just to start off. 3 John, verses 9 through 11. Says, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, pratting 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. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. What we have here is the dilemma of a domineering and disapproving character concerning the brethren. The dilemma of a domineering and disapproving character concerning the brethren. And, you know, we walk through the Bible, if you walk through the New Testament, you actually find various characters that are found in churches Some are either good for the church or some are bad for the church. And just as an example, if you just turn a few pages to Revelation 2 and 3, these are actual churches, these seven churches, these are actual churches that were around in that time period. And so in those churches you see speckled through various characters, some good, some bad. Just for instance, Revelation 2.13 says, I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. So, there at the church at Pergamos, you have this faithful martyr, Antipas. Obviously, he's a good example. He's a good example for this church, and here he gets martyred for his faith. So, there you see an exact person there mentioned. In verse 14, you see a group of people. Sometimes there are certain factions within a church. Here we see one in verse 14 of that same chapter. It says, But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So there was a group in that church that was in the position of being stumbling blocks. So we got that. And then in verse 15, we see another group in that church. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Jesus speaking there. Obviously we see these two here, verses 14 and 15, these are negative examples. These are your people who are bad for the church. In chapter 2, verse 20, We see another individual in a different church, says, notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. So this lady here, we don't know if her exact name is Jezebel, but she has a Jezebel character. She's influencing the church of Thyatira in a bad way. So various individuals and then in chapter 3 verse 4 We see another group here says, thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. So obviously, these are ones who were being faithful in a city like Sardis. But they're part of a church. These are real people. So these are not fantasy characters. These are all real. These are real churches, real people, real groups. and with real problems and with real good examples. So we go back to 3rd John. I want us to bear this in mind. There are several characters throughout Scripture by name who are either commended by the Apostles or they are warned against by the Apostles. And it can go either way. If you read through the New Testament, that's what you see. Various names that are scattered throughout Some good, some bad. So one thing we must understand is that these case scenarios in the early New Testament churches are real things. These things really happen. These people really exist. They really happen. They existed then, and they can exist now. And every church has its own set of characters, perhaps some good and some bad, and some at differing ratios of those two. It depends. Not every church is the same. Every church has its own set of issues and stuff. It is for us to be helped and cautioned by the records of these characters in the New Testament. If we're supposed to gain anything by these scenarios that are presented to us, that are preserved for us for us to read, we are to be helped and to be warned about these things, and to take caution about these things, and to be encouraged by various individuals. By Gaius, we are encouraged. By Diotrephes, we are warned. Here in this portion of 3rd John, we are viewing the negative example of hospitality. So Gaius is the positive example, Theotrophes is the negative example of hospitality. And we are delving into a particular character of which we must be aware of, but also about which we must take heed. First of all, in verse 9, I want to consider the occasion that aroused the character of theatrophies. The occasion. It says in verse 9, very simply, I wrote unto the church. It's such a simple thing that John the Apostle did. Now, there's obviously, you have your critical texts with your discrepancies and all those things, but we're not gonna get into that. But what we want to see here is that John did write to this church already. But such a simple thing that John the Apostle did. But his former letter was nothing but a match to a can full of gasoline. Diotrephes was like an unstable explosive, very touchy and ready to explode at the slightest spark. And John the Apostle sent just a little spark. And this man, Diotrephes, dropped the A-bomb on John and his sent brethren. Whatever this letter was, we're not disclosed what it is. We don't have it preserved for us. It's not part of our canonized scripture. We don't know. The Bible does talk about other scriptures that have been written. Paul talks about a third epistle that he wrote to the Corinthian church. We don't have that. That's not been canonized. It's not in the canonization of scripture. We don't need to know it. What we do need to know is that John did write. to this church, and it caused theatrophies to explode. Perhaps it was a letter of recommendation for the brethren that John sent out as missionaries, or perhaps they were to visit and pass through this church, but theatrophies would have none of it. So this letter got lost. Don't know where it went. In his back pocket? I don't know. Just got lost. It was obviously never canonized with the rest of scripture. The atrophies probably intercepted and withheld the letter or concealed the letter after meeting the brethren who either got sent back or got sent back and later took refuge in the house of Gaius. Therefore, it would make sense why John was so refreshed by the hospitable deed of Gaius, because perhaps it was in light of and after the fact of the violence and churlishness of Diotrephes. And then Diotrephes probably would not admit the letter to be read in and to the church. Now we don't know the exact story. All that I just said are speculation of what could have happened. What we do know is that John wrote a letter, it didn't get to them, and this man shooed away, probably worse than that, rejected the brethren that were sent by John. But we don't know the exact story. We do know that this was a former letter written and most likely sent by means of these traveling brethren, whom Deotrephes did not receive favorably. But the whole church there was supposed to be the recipient of the letter. Do you see that? I wrote unto the church. He didn't write to Deotrephes. He didn't write to Gaius. He wrote to the church. But somehow, he didn't get there. It seems like it never made it to the ears and eyes of this congregation because of this one obstruction, this one man who refused to allow it and turned against the Apostle John and his brethren consequently. One thing we note here, these letters to these churches, and this is just one, There was a letter written to the Ephesians, to the Galatian churches, to the Philippians. All these letters that were written to these churches were important edification and instruction. You read through all the epistles, they are important edification and instruction for the church. All the epistles of the New Testament ought to be instructive to us. I'll say that again. All the epistles of the New Testament ought to be instructive to us. And it is from them that we ought to gain our doctrine and practice of the New Testament church. The church is not built upon the mind of a mere man. The church belongs to Christ, the head of the church. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit guided these New Testament writers, which is what happened, it is important for us to take heed to their writings to these churches. Because it is from them we ought to derive our motions and decisions in the church. Veering away from such puts us in danger of men like Diotrephes, who will have no such instruction and no such influence, but rather instill his own matter of rule. All things in the church must undergo comparison with the New Testament. Now we talk about this a lot. We want to be a New Testament church. Okay? Even when we You know, when people move and we search a church for them, we look for a church that is closely aligned with what the New Testament presents. Because we believe in New Testament churches. Okay? And so, all things in our church must undergo comparison with the New Testament. So that all of Christ's churches, including ours, is aligned with what is scriptural, not with what is man-made. There's enough man-made churches out there. Churches that are built upon a man, and what he says, and what his rules are, and all those things. That's not what we're, no, Christ is the head of the church, not a man. So one thing we do gain from this, John wrote to the church, but this man Diotrephes was an obstacle that prevented this letter from getting there. And therefore, this church didn't get that edification because of that man. So, number two, the adverse reaction to the apostle's dutiful deed. So in verse 9, and going into verse 10, we're going to just deal with verse 9 here. It says here, First of all, I want to talk about Diotrephes himself. Who is this man? Well, he's a man of domination. A man all about himself. As you see this here. As we'll see the words here. His name, Deotrophes, is a combination word. It's a compound word. And it means nourished by Jove. You say, who's Jove? That's Zeus. Zeus. Nourished by Zeus. Could mean this, like the foster child of Zeus. It's a name that means he's the demigod of Zeus. So obviously, this is a Gentile name. This is a pagan name. This is the name that he has. And I'm imagining that Diotrephes probably grew up in a pagan home. Makes most sense here. But just because he has this name doesn't mean that's who he has to be. We all have names. And our names mean things. But that doesn't mean that's who we have to be. But here, I'm just stating the fact that this is what his name means. So you can jot that down if you want. Now, some have suggested and accused theographies of being an opponent to Jewish Christians or a false teacher of Jewish or Gnostic views. That's what some have suggested. That's what some have accused them of. However, it doesn't say that. All of those allegations are unfounded. And if it were so, if that were the case, I'm sure John would have said something. If you look at all his other epistles that he wrote, he definitely says something about those things. He says nothing about those things, okay? It's a different matter when it comes to deatrophies, okay? What John says here is the accurate picture of deatrophies, and it does enough to portray his negative character already. Now he was given one clear description, and it's up front. It's the first description of him. It says here, who loveth to have the preeminence among them. That's his first description. This was the one thing that John had pointed out as being the conduct and practice of theatrophies. This, you could say, characterizes who he is, and therefore characterizes what he does. This takes to be the first description of this kind of man. It is the summation of his character, which effects his deeds later said. This Greek word here, which is one Greek word, who loveth to have the preeminence among, among them is a phrase there, but who loveth to have the preeminence is one word, and it's the only time it's used here. Only time it's used in the scriptures in the New Testament. It's a compound word meaning to be fond of being first. That's what it literally means, to be fond of being first. To be a lover. That was philos. To be a lover of being first. Ambitious for distinction. Striving after first place. Desiring to be first. to aspire after preeminence, to have the fondness and the love to be first in rank, first in influence, first in honor, and to be in the chief place. So it's the idea of wanting to be the first to influence and the first in authority. And that's the sense that we get through this passage here. He wants to be first, and he wants to be kind of like the guy in charge. And no one double crosses him. He apparently made himself the highest authority in this church. And then, by that, he became the opponent to the Apostle John. We read this in verse 10, wherefore if I come I will remember his deeds which he doeth. Obviously this doesn't settle well with the Apostle John. John sent a letter dressed with his apostolic authority and it clashed with Theotrophy's command and scheme in the church. Now we're not certain of what position Theotrophies had in this church. We just don't know. It doesn't say. Some believe that he was an important layman, just a regular member in the church, but very important, very influential. It doesn't say that. We don't know. Others have derived from the context that he was an elder in the church. But again, we don't know. What we do know is that he was being as one who usurped an office or authority beyond him. He coveted power. He coveted influence in the church more than what he was due, and thereby lorded over God's heritage, ruling by force and cruelty, and taking tyrannical power over them. rather than serving with love and meekness and striving for mutual consent. He was as one who had to get his own way by browbeating all those who differed from him." Pulpit commentary says this of these types of characters in the church. It says, no authority is respected, no character spared, which seems to oppose their policy. Another way to put it, Diotrephes had to be first in everything. He was full of pride, full of ambition, but just in order to affect his presidency in the church. Good word to describe him? Arrogance. Arrogance. Another word to describe him, as I've already said, domination. Domination. A word to describe his actions, domineering, domineering. Now we see other characters in scripture that are, I could say, contentious with the apostles. We see this in the ministry of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4.14. We see an individual there, Alexander the coppersmith. 2 Timothy 4.14. Paul says this, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou where also for he hath greatly withstood our words. So there you have it. Alexander the coppersmith who withstood the words of Paul and others. And so Paul cautioned Timothy to beware of him. In 1 Timothy 1.20, we see another set of individuals here. One of them probably being also Alexander here. Speaks of Hymenaeus and Alexander. Says here, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. They were known for blaspheming, meaning speaking evil. That's what blasphemy means, speaking evil. Of whom? Of what? Probably of Paul. Probably of these leaders who are supposed to edify the church. Blaspheming. Then 2 Timothy 1.15. Says here, this thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. So here we have these two individuals who turned away from Paul, left him stranded. Each of these had a sense and attribute of them to speak ill and do evil against an apostle, just as Theotrophies was set against the authority and actions of John the Apostle. Now one thing we have to remember as we read through all this. We don't have this set scenario in our days. You say, what do you mean? Okay, didn't you just start with this? You just started with this. What are you saying now? What I'm saying is this, the era of the apostles is over. Okay, we don't have apostles today. Therefore, it is difficult to specifically apply it to our day and age, though we still live in the New Testament era. So kind of understand that balance that I'm trying to make here. We just simply live in a different portion of the New Testament era. Today, we won't have the conflict of an apostle's authority with the authority of someone in a specific church. That's not going to happen today. Okay? Because there are no apostles today. We don't have that paradigm. We don't have that setup. Okay? That paradigm does not exist today. However, we can gather from this case scenario the general application. And that's often what we do from these things, is we gather the general application of what it looks like to have one man striving to be first over everyone else in the church and dominating in every decision and move of the church and causing disruption to our brethren. and of what all that looks like in detail. John is very detailed here in what that looks like. And so we take this as a help to us to generally apply what this kind of character looks like in a church. Now what could be some general applicable ways that a person desires to be first? I have ten things. Some of these may overlap or may sound the same but just may be said in a different way. But ten things that I have here just to kind of describe what it looks like when you desire to be first. Number one, this person, his opinion comes first. Okay? His opinion comes first. and it must be rendered most important, ahead of all others." That's one way that this can be thought of here or applied. His opinion comes first. Okay? Number two, and this, you know, might be similar or whatever. Maybe a different nuance of it. It's his way or the highway. You've heard that. It's his way or the highway. So that's another way. For this man, there's no desire for mutual consent with others in the church. So again, a lot of these overlap, but it's just for us to think about all these different facets or shapes and forms of this idea of desiring to be first. So there's no desire for mutual consent with others in the church. Number four, he has to be the greatest of them all. He has to be the greatest of them all. He has to supersede everybody else. So it becomes a competition, the greatest of them all. Number five, his desires of honor and respect, expecting everyone to show it to him. So desires of honor and respect, expecting everyone to show it to him. Number six. He uses a method of tearing down so that he can build himself up. We gather that from the text in verse 10. Pratting against us with malicious words. Casting them out of the church. These kinds of things. The method of tearing down so that he can build himself up. Number seven, he respects no other authority, no other character, and no other policy. It's only him and only his. So he respects no other authority, no other character, and no other policy. Number eight, he seems to always be in a power struggle. It's always in a power struggle. I mean, obviously here when you're a lover to be first, we work with kids in the school, and often when they're lining up, they're always striving to be first in line. And you know what that looks like? It's a struggle. It's a fight. It's a me first kind of mentality. Well, that's this kind of guy. He seems to always be in a power struggle. Number nine, he listens to no one else in the church or he is somewhat selective about which to listen to. So he either listens to no one in the church or he's selective to which ones he wants to listen to. And 10, he orchestrates the circumstances and conditions into his favor so as to still be first in authority. So he orchestrates the circumstances and conditions into his favor so as to still be first in authority. So these are all 10 ways that this can be applied, and there's probably more than 10 ways that can be thought of. But the idea here to be thought of is this desire, this hunger, this thirst to be first, this is theatrophies. Now our Lord had to admonish his own disciples of this kind of behavior. when they were trying to figure out who is the greatest and who would be the greatest in the kingdom, the Lord had to teach them lessons on humility and servitude, serving one another with love. He had to show them the lowest of lowest positions so that they would understand their roles among each other. And isn't this what we read in Romans 12? We just turn there. Okay, it says in verse 10, being kindly affection one to another with brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another. Okay, these thoughts, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. OK? Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints, giving the hospitality. OK? And so, you know, these are all these things that are said in Scripture. And I think of, by love, serving one another. all these things that are said in scripture and you know we can go through Ephesians, we can go through Colossians, go through all these epistles and we see this kind of teaching of humility and servitude towards one another as opposed to this I gotta be first, I gotta be the first one, I gotta be the first line, I gotta be the one that's first heard, first listened to, have the first say So it's not about who has the first say, nor about who has special position, nor about who got to lead this or got to lead that, nor about who thought to be the best among them, nor about who was best to do this or best to do that. OK, we're going to have all of our opinions, OK? All right? Nor is it about who has more talent or more skill than the other. Nor about who got to do this or who got to do that. All these things that are symptoms or reflections of this desire to be first. Wanting to have the preeminence. And the way it's said here You know, it's not said as, you know, a lover to be first. It's said and it's interpreted in this way. It's, say, translated this way because it's a proper translation in line with the context, who loveth to have the preeminence. Okay? And that word preeminence brings my mind to another passage, right? I think of Colossians 1. Right? Who is supposed to be preeminent in the church? Christ only. Christ only. Okay, so think about this. You don't have to be first. You don't have to be first pick. You don't have to be first. You don't have to be the one. You don't have to be the one in charge. It doesn't have to be you. You don't have to push your way through and then push others out so that you have the preeminence over everyone. Because what do we read through the New Testament? The church is a body with many members, and everyone does a part. It's not like one part of the body is preeminent over the other. And that gets all the show. Gets to tell all the other ones what to do. No one is the brain. That's Christ. Christ is the head. He's the one who governs the church. See, the church is not about you. You yourself are not the church. The church is not one man. The church is about Christ. So the church is not one man, nor about one man. And how many times we walk through history and we see, even in independent Baptist, fundamental Baptist churches throughout history, how they get all caught up on one man, you know, like a Jack Hiles or a Scop, okay? All these guys who are, you know, IVF, you know, names, they get all caught up on names of men. What about the name of Christ? The whole idea of man worship. Worship this man. Worship that man. Isn't that what the Corinthian church got caught up in? I am of Apollos. I am of Paul. I am of this guy. I am of this. You see, the church is about Christ and for Christ. It is a vessel to serve the will of Christ and to honor Him. Is that what we read in Ephesians 5? The bride, the idea of the wife, the church being like a wife to a husband. A vessel for her husband is a vessel to serve the will of Christ and to honor him, not for our own selves. It is not a means to honor yourself, This is not a place where you can build your own entity, build your own thing, and it's all about you. No. This is not about honoring yourself, nor to bring yourself to preeminence, to some position. And so we bring our minds back to this thought here, let Christ be preeminent in the church, Let the church belong to Him. What did Jesus say? Say, I will build my church, my church. The church belongs to Him. This church right here, Bethel Baptist Church, belongs to Him. Not to you, not to one man in this church, belongs to him. So this Theotrophist, he thinks he has jurisdiction to move everything around and have everything go his way, develop his own scheme and his own regime. And so we are warned against this. We are warned against this kind of character. We don't want to be that, and neither do we want to see that. But it is to enlighten us that these characters do exist in real life. We read it in scripture and we kind of take a step back and we're kind of removed from it in a way, but I think we need to step in sometimes and see, no, these things are actually real. They really do happen. These kinds of characters do really pop up. and we need to take caution about it and understand what it looks like and then take heed to it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the scripture that is preserved for us, that is given unto us, Father, I pray that we would be helped to understand what this man was like, and also to be warned against him, and not to copy his character, but to be more like the character of Gaius. Father, I pray that you instruct us through your word here, that you would give us a help to search our own hearts, to examine our own selves, and let us be faithful to you and be lovers of that which is good and resistant to that which is evil. Father, we pray for this in Jesus' name. Amen.