August 4th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Glory and the Tragedy

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Strengthening Lord, be beside me to give me courage, above me to protect me, within me to empower me.

Read 3 John 1-14

[1] The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. [2] 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. [3] 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. [4] I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. [5] Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. [6] They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. [7] It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. [8] We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. [9] I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. [10] 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. [11] 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. [12] 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. [13] I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. [14] I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work…” (Col. 1:10).

Think Further

This brief letter mentions three people who illustrate the glory and the tragedy of the Christian community. Gaius, to whom the letter is addressed, is four times called “Dear friend” and commended for his consistency and unstinting hospitality to itinerant preachers. He is especially praised for walking in the truth (3). This emphasis is repeated when the writer states that doing good is evidence of a genuine knowledge of God, while a life of evil behavior demonstrates the absence of such knowledge (11). How different the reputation of our churches might be if we insisted that spiritual health and progress must be judged by living out the truth in lives of love and sharing.

By contrast, Diotrephes is exposed as an example of failed discipleship because of his misplaced love of himself and his inability to live rightly. His name, which was rare in the ancient world, suggests that he came from an aristocratic family, so a sense of natural superiority may lie behind his arrogance. We may have here the first example of what has been called “second-degree separation,” since Diotrephes not only excludes true brothers in Christ from his fellowship, but also excommunicates others who associate with them (10)! The writer of this letter traces this tragedy to self-love and a failure to put truth into practice. 

The third person mentioned is Demetrius, of whom it is simply said that he is “well spoken of by everyone” (12). What an accolade this brief phrase is! Diotrephes, desperate “to be first” (9), brings the gospel into disrepute, while the humble Demetrius who lives the life of truth becomes what Paul calls “the aroma of Christ” in the church and the world (2 Cor. 2:14,15).

Apply

This letter especially concerns Christian leaders. If you are a leader, what do you hear God saying? How will you pray for leaders in the light of this letter?

Closing prayer

Lord, I pray for the leaders in my church. Protect them against temptation, cast Your vision in them and give them the desire to follow Your call.

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