SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-27-04
My Worship Time Focus: Diotrephes
the dictator
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 3John 9-11
Message of the verses: “I sent a
brief letter to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the
leader, does not acknowledge our authority.
When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the wicked
things he is saying about us. He not only refuses to welcome the traveling
teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts
them out of the church. (NLT)
“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who
loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call
attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied
with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to
do so and puts them out of the church.
(NIV)
It is hard to tell whether or not Diotrephes was a true
believer or not, hard because of his actions, but this does not mean that he
was an unbeliever because believers who are carnal can act like unbelievers,
and sometimes even worse. He certainly
was full of pride, because he was lifting up himself and not the Lord Jesus
Christ as he should have been. It is no
surprise that John was very upset with his actions and that he planned to set
the matter straight when he came to them.
It is the personalities in a church body that often cause
trouble and such was the case with Diotrephes, for he was not only going
against the apostle John, but he was also certainly going against the
Lord. John knew that Diotrephes was not
allowing the traveling missionaries or pastors to stay with him or for that
matter to stay with any of the people in the church. If any in the church allowed the traveling
pastors or missionaries to stay with them he would have them kicked out of the
fellowship. This was certainly wrong,
because these traveling pastors were godly people, for they knew John and he
had accepted them as godly people.
During the time when the apostles were alive they had authority over the
matters of the Church, and so John was within his rights as an apostle to do
what ever was correct in disciplining Diotrephes when he arrived. Another of the things he was doing wrong, as
verse 10 says, is that he was speaking evil things about John and those in
fellowship with John.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: One of the things that I have learned from
this passage, or one of the things that it has reminded me of is that
everything I do must be to the glory of Christ, and that is not always the
case, for it is far to easy to fall into sin, and then sin by justifying the
sin that I have fallen into.
The Word of God was
convicting to my heart as I read it this morning.
My Steps of Faith Today:
To continue to meditate upon Romans
12:1,2; to continue to trust the Lord to either open the door to work with Tim
in South America, or to close that door, and to continue to trust the Lord with
the investments that we have with Andrew Lech.
Memory verses for the week:
1Cor. 13:1,2
If I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift
of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith
so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
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