John’s last letter. So short, so telling. John is writing to his friend and brother Gaius.  He seems to have been a leader in the church, and even though there are other mentions of men with this name in Scripture, it was a very common name; we can’t be sure if he has other mentions or not.  Gaius was obviously serving others, and sharing God’s love with them. He was hosting a group of missionaries, apparently, and these workers were people he didn’t know.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

3 John 2-8

Gaius is the kind of Christian who is worthy of imitation.  He is serving in love, he is putting others first, he is doing the kinds of things we should be doing.  But there is another guy who comes up in the letter…

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

3 John 9-12

This dude Diotrephes is all too common in our time, and obviously they had this sort of nonsense going on even in John’s day.  Did you catch what John said about him at the beginning? He said that Diotrephes “loves to be first.” Well that about sums it up! Do you know others who love to be first?  They are the important ones, they are the ones who can’t be inconvenienced, they are the ones who always have the last word, who always get their way, and who must always be in charge− they want to be the bride at every wedding, and the corpse at every funeral.  No doubt you are reminded here of the words of Jesus when He said the first will be last and the last will be first.

This Diotrephes won’t welcome the Apostle to the church, and kicks others out for welcoming the strangers that Gaius has taken in. Diotrephes seems to have much to say about others. A bunch of nonsense (or gossip) is being spread about people like John himself, who should be given the respect they are due.  I wonder if Diotrephes is doing this because he must be in the spotlight, and just can’t handle it when someone else gets attention.

Maybe we’ll never know the exact motivation, but I think we recognize the person, and John is telling us not to emulate them or their behavior.  Who can argue with that advice?

Finally, another good guy is mentioned: Demetrius.  So, there you have it, two brothers who are serving faithfully, and one bad apple.  It seems that the bad apple makes the most noise, but the faithful servants are making a difference for the Gospel.  I’d say there might be a lesson in this for us to learn.