As we continue on, we're going to finish up the third letter of John here this morning, just so you all know what kind of is down the road for me and my family. We are moving on to church plant after this. It's been sort of a long process over the last few years. That was the reason we originally came back to the United States, was to do that. So the Lord is calling us to that work. It does seem that we are going to be heading down to Texas to be doing that. So that's kind of what's coming up. But I do want to say and acknowledge that I really do appreciate the opportunity that you have given me to be able to minister here every week. It has been a blessing. And I can truly say that you are a congregation that the Lord has blessed. You are a group of beautiful people, not because of anything on the outside, but because of what Christ has done for, I mean, some of you are great looking people, but because of what Christ has has done in your own hearts. And so my prayer, and we will be continuing to pray for you all, but my prayer would be that you guys are given an opportunity to be an impact of this community around you. There is a lot of need around here, and we shouldn't run from it. This is not the time to retreat to our foxholes, not in the slightest. That's not what this culture needs. They don't need people hiding away. They need people who are out there showing what true, genuine Christlike love actually looks like. So that'll be my continued prayer for you all. And it is a big part of the reason why we went to 3 John for these last two, if you are paying attention, right? What was Malachi? What was Malachi all about? It was about, you know, how are the people of Israel living? Right? Where is their faith? And so my challenge to you as a church, it was very intentional, where is your faith? What does it look like? Is this something that you're just playing church? Or is it something that the Lord has really gotten a hold of your heart? Does God have all of your heart? So then from there, I said, okay, where is a good place for us to go for these last two messages? And that's what took us to 3 John. Last week, if you were paying attention, 3 John was, about John's relationship with Gaius, right? And you saw the discipling, shepherding relationship from someone like John towards Gaius and the encouragement and the way he's trying to push Gaius on to persevere in his faith. But then this week, we've got some bad characters in the mix. And so this is very intentional because there's two things that happen in this particular passage. One is the identification of what a bad leader looks like in the church. But then furthermore, there's some stuff there about what a good leader looks like in the church. And some practical application for us about what it looks like to be living as a church community and who we ought to be looking for in our leadership. And so that's what I really wanted to put before all of us here this morning. So that's present in our minds as we go forward from this place. The thing that we're ultimately going to find here, and this is the theme that encompasses all of this, is what does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian? John refers in, we'll get to this in a second, a little bit more, a lot more in detail, but John refers in verse nine, he says, I have written something. I have written something. Something is that to be a Christian, in its simplest form, is to acknowledge Christ as the second person of the Trinity, equal with the Father and Spirit, that He gave up of Himself and took on flesh, living a sinless life, that He died and rose again, and that we will only find life in the confession of our sins, in the need, the acknowledgment of our need for Christ, our need for Him, and the belief that one day He will come back again in the flesh. So with that in mind, let us read here from 3 John, verses 9 through 15. I have written something to the church But Diotrephus, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends each by name. Brothers and sisters, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever. When we think about this faith, this faith and this something written to the church, what is our faith? How does it take root? The way that your faith lives itself out is indicated by ultimately what your faith ascribes itself to. To where does your faith take root? Does it take hold? If your faith, ultimately, if you were to work out your faith and say that it is through the works that I do, by the actions that I do, maybe one day the Lord will receive me into heaven, your faith is ultimately in your works. It is in that thing. If my faith is in the money that I have, it is that I believe that the money will save me. So what is this true faith? What is this something that John has written about? I like to compare it to being on a plane. If I go to the airport and I get on the plane and I sit there, I would say I have some faith that that plane will take off and eventually land in the next city, but it is not my faith that flies that plane. Yes, I have something to do. I need to go to the airport. I need to get on the plane. But ultimately, that is not what flies that plane. There is a pilot that will fly that plane. But my faith isn't even just in the pilot's flying of the plane. Anyone could sit behind in the cockpit of a plane. There is something else that must have occurred. The pilot, I have faith not just in the pilot flying the plane, I have faith in the fact that the pilot has done the work. Much work and training has gone forth into making sure that that pilot can successfully get that plane to take off, fly it through the air, and land it back. My faith is not in myself and my ability to go to the airport. My faith is not even in the pilot and his being able to fly the plane in that moment. Rather, my faith is in an action that has already been accomplished. This is what our faith is as Christians. Our faith is in the actions of Christ, which have already been accomplished. Our faith is not the thing that saves us. The thing that saves us is the action which has already been done, and our faith is in that thing. This is the problem that's happening here in this early church scenario. There is one, this Diotrephus, who wants to place his faith in something else. He's essentially trying to distract the faith of the local believers and tell them that the faith in which they have is not the correct faith, that is the faith in what has already been done. So what do we see here with Diotrephus? We see essentially four issues that are arising. One, John is saying that something has been written, which Diotrephus has an issue with. We also see that Diotrephus is elevating himself above the people. We also see that he refuses to acknowledge the leadership above him, ultimately. And then we finally see this excommunication and the way it's improperly being done within the church. So what is this first thing? One of the really, I said to my wife this on the way to church this morning, one of the cool things when you really start to dig into these passages is the way you see other things leading to connecting together. So we believe that the reason 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, we believe this is a collection of letters written together, sent together. And if you were to read 1st and 2nd John, there's a lot of really neat stuff in them, but they start to take a little more root. They start to really come to life when you realize that the reason why John is writing the things he's writing in 1st and 2nd John is because of this individual diatrephas. Now, we don't necessarily know for sure who he was or what his role was in the church, in that community, but based upon the things that John says, it seemed that he has some sort of leadership position. He's able to excommunicate the people. He's clearly exerting some power over the people within the local church. He also is refusing to submit to the authority above him. So there's clearly a power structure here that he's refusing to submit to the authority above him, and he's misleading the people, which we assume are below him in some capacity. So what is this written something? If you were just to go over a few pages to 1 John 1, verses 1 through 2. Part of this something that John has written is this, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. This is important because John is saying, we've actually seen this. This is not something we're just making up or we've heard from others. We've actually seen this. He's giving visual testimony to this, which we have looked upon and we've touched with our hands. What's John doing? He's making a defense here. I've seen it. I've touched it. Concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. What's he saying? We have seen Jesus. We have seen God in the flesh in Christ. We've seen it and we have touched it. This is part of the message. Jesus actually came. The second thing we see here, this something, which John is alluding to, is in 1 John 1, 9. And that is that if we confess our sins, so being before Christ, it isn't just that he's God, is that we have a responsibility before him. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So part of the other thing that John is saying to the people here is the need not just to acknowledge Christ as Lord, but also. our need to confess our sin before Him, and that we will be forgiven of that sin if we confess it to Jesus, that it is the blood of Jesus, His Son, in verse seven of 1 John there, which cleanses us from all sin. You could go on throughout 1 John and continue to see other things that John is saying, but this is the crux of the something that John has been writing to the people, and specifically which he is addressing now to Gaius. And then the final thing we see here pops up in 2 John. So if you were just to go another couple pages forward, one verse. Well, here we go. I wrote down the wrong verse. All right. He says in verse 7, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. I'm not going to get into the theology of the Antichrist. more so than to say that John clearly seems to indicate that there may be smaller antichrists and there may be a larger one, but it is safe to say the diatrephous in this example would be a type of antichrist, one who is denying that Christ would come again and return in the flesh. This is part of what is being denied, and this is something that's clearly coming up in the church to which John is writing in this situation, so that Jesus has come, that he's died on behalf of our, he's died for our sins, that we must confess our sin, and that he will once again return in the flesh. This is the something that Diotrephus is not acknowledging. He's not wanting anything to do with And what's the second thing we see him doing? We see him elevating himself. He likes to put himself first. He likes to put himself first. This is the opposite message of the writing to which John is referring. The whole point of the message of Christ is that Christ gave up of himself. He could have been first, and yet he gave up of himself so that he would not be first. He gave up himself for our sakes. So the diatrophist putting himself first is the opposite of this message. And furthermore, this is something John would have a very intimate knowledge of. If you think back to Matthew 20, Verses 20 through 28. There's this whole interchange where they're wanting to find out who's gonna be next to Jesus when Jesus' kingdom comes. Go with me there. Matthew 20. Matthew 20, verses 20 through 28. A mother's request, this is John's mother. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee, John's mom, speaking on behalf of her boy, came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him, Jesus, she asked him for something and he said to her, what do you want? She said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at the left in your kingdom. Jesus answered, you do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And they said to him, we are able. And he said to them, you will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but is for those to whom has been prepared by my father. And when the 10 heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. There was anger. Why are you asking to be at the right and left hand of Jesus? You know that the, Jesus called them and he said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. What Diotrephus is doing here, putting himself first, refusing to acknowledge the message of Christ, runs completely contrary to what it actually means to be a believer and a follower of Christ. John recognizes that he himself needed to be educated and learn what it meant to be a follower of Christ, that it wasn't gonna come down to him choosing where he gets to sit next to Jesus, having his own status elevated, but it's about giving up of yourself. Third thing we see is this refusal to acknowledge and accept the believers. You see here in verse 10 in the latter half, and not just content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. So what Diotrephus is doing is not only is he not following the message of Christ, but he's actually trying to draw these lines where he says, you must follow after the way I'm doing things and not the way that it's actually ought to be done. How often do we see this happen in our own churches? We may draw unintentional lines in the sand to cause other believers to stumble, setting ourselves up as a type of Diotrephus. We may not be quite as far gone as it seems that this individual is in this situation, but that is truly how those situations of power take root, where individuals hold other believers back because you're not a believer, but you're not doing things quite like how I want them done. And we need to be wise as believers to both identify, to be able to both identify when we see false teachers like this, drawing these lines in the sand, trying to get people over to their side that should not be there, but also to exercise caution on our own end that we are not unintentionally doing the same thing. It's very easy. Tribalism is running rampant in this culture right now. And like I said, it's a whole lot easier to dive in your foxhole with your troops than it is to be out there with the messiness and try to figure out what it looks like to live together. And part of going into your foxhole is to draw those lines in the sand and say, if you're not exactly like this, you're not one of us. You need to be very careful. This can easily go both ways. There are false teachers that will undoubtedly do this. But we ourselves can easily fall into this if we are not careful. We must remember, what are the truths which Christ has taught? What are the truths that Christ has taught, and how does this impact how I live? One of the big ways that we can really identify whether or not, you know, people these days, many people will claim to know Christ. One of the big tells of whether or not someone is truly following Christ is one, their view towards scripture, whether or not they submit themselves to it, right? And secondly, who Christ is to them. As you start to talk to someone, you'll find out real fast, is scripture something which can just sort of be manipulated for whatever the cultural view of the day is? And they are probably not following Christ. Is Christ someone who sort of adapts to however they want to live their life and they can kind of fit Christ in their box? When they're not submitting themselves to Christ, there's a good chance that individual is not a believer. However, if there is that submission to Christ and submission to his word and saying, listen, if this word says it, if it's telling me to live in such a way, I want to change my life so that I'm living like that, And that's an indication that this is a believer. We need to exercise caution and wisdom in all of this. The final thing that we see from Diotrephus is that he's excommunicating those who don't follow along with what it is that he's teaching. And that anyone who is teaching the true faith, he's excommunicating them. And again, what is the purpose of excommunication? Why does such a thing exist in the church? The reason why excommunication exists is for the restoration of one who has walked away from the faith, one who is not living their faith in an appropriate manner, one who claims to know Christ but is not living as Christ, as a Christian. We so often, we've seen cases where excommunication will be used and it was very clear the goal was never restoration, just to keep someone out. Are you going the distance to try to make sure that this person knows this is coming from a place of love and care? These are very delicate, difficult situations where things like that have to happen. But are you going the distance to say, we want you back, brother. We want you back, sister. Matthew 18 tells us, right, that it gives us an example of how to approach people who are living contrary to the faith. And the goal is to win them back. And I have no doubt that when John says in verse 10, so if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us, that the whole purpose for John bringing this up is to try to win Diotrephus over. Diotrephus is not in this community because he never claimed to know Christ. Remember that. At one time, Diotrephus would have called himself a Christian. He's clearly not living like one. He is messing up the theology and not living how it truly is to be taught. But at one time, they would have called Thou a trephas a brother. You don't think that's John's goal here, is to win him back? The goal is to win back those. The goal of all of this, whether it is evangelism to the lost, Or if there's the goal to bring back those within our own congregation who are wandering, the goal is always, always to be able to bring in lost sheep into God's family. These are all evidences that we see of these false, of a false teacher like Diotrephus. Proclaiming an ideology, a theology you want to call it, a false theology, which doesn't align with the scriptures. When you see this, you need to be very careful. Do not follow an individual like this. If you see someone who is intentionally exerting their authority to kick people out of their community in order to kind of form the community after their own making, these are not, this is a false teacher. If you see someone who refuses to acknowledge authority above them, This is a false teacher. My wife and I were talking last night. She was asking me if I would ever, you know, I grew up, I grew up Reformed Baptist. So, you know, Baptist churches, they kind of do their own thing. A lot of times the pastors, oh, sorry, Doris and Amanda. But, you know, a lot of times you get the churches, they kind of operate in isolation. And over time, I came into a Presbyterian theological understanding of things. One of the things I really appreciate about Presbyterian ecclesiology is that I have accountability. I have to submit myself to an authoritative body who can speak into my life and say to me, hey, brother, you are going sideways. You need to stop. All of us need to acknowledge authority of those above us. No one ought to be able to lord things over one another like Not one person. If you see a leader who is trying to live in that way as unhealthy, then it's going to lead to false teaching eventually. Because no one's keeping that individual accountable. And if you see that person elevating themselves, they clearly have a high perspective of themselves. We live in a culture that loves to glorify the star, right? We see this all around. There are celebrity pastors everywhere. And how many of them? Countless times fall. Countless times fall. We see moral failings left and right. You need to be very careful when you see these things going on. And John is sharing all of these things with us so that we can see what it looks like to have an ungodly leader But then we also see some examples here of what it looks like to have a godly leader and what that looks like. So what is the first thing he says in verse 11? Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen God. But part of what's wrapped up in this idea of do not imitate evil is spoken in contrast to how Diotrephus is living. We see as well in this idea of imitating good, the example of Christ. This would be the counter now to how Diotrephus is living, is that you are to live like Christ, giving up of yourself, serving others. The second thing we see here, well, let me go back there before I move on. With this, this is not something that the world does. The world is all about promotion of self, is all about elevating yourself to the front of the line. Don't worry about others, do what's best for you. Serving others, giving up of yourself. These are not ideals which the world puts out. The second thing we see is John's willingness to call out wickedness. We see John's willingness to call out the wickedness in verse 10. And there is a responsibility clearly amongst the leadership. John is a pastor in this situation. Clearly there is a responsibility amongst the leadership to call out wickedness when it is there. Do not let it exist within the church. The third thing we see is this interesting little reference now in verse 12 to Demetrius. It seems to come out of nowhere. We know very little about Demetrius. We know nothing more than what is said here. But what we do know about Demetrius is that he has received a good testimony from those around him, so clearly, Those within the community are identifying this individual as godly. Clearly, he lines up with what it looks like to live as good and not evil, which means he's clearly a servant. John would not use Demetrius in this situation if he had not been giving up of himself. So he's clearly living like Christ. He has it from both everyone and the truth itself, that is the message of Christ attests to who Demetrius is. And also the leadership gives reference to Demetrius and adds their own testimony to it. So you see the corporate acknowledgement of who Demetrius is. We see the leadership acknowledgement of who Demetrius is, and even the scriptures themselves would speak to and say, the way this individual is living their life is in accordance with the scriptures. Now I don't know what's ultimately going to happen to Demetrius. We could speculate. Is the reason why John is throwing Demetrius in here is as a counter to Diotrephus? To say don't follow that guy, follow this individual within your congregation? We don't know if the purpose is to elevate Demetrius as a pastor within, as a shepherd within the congregation? We don't really know. But what we do see here is that we ought to live like a Demetrius. For all of us. Whether God is calling you into a position of leadership, right, whether he's calling you into a position of laity, whatever it is, all of us ought to be living like this Demetrius. And for a congregation, the goal ought to be looking and seeing Who are the Demetriuses among us? Who are the examples we ought to be following? Whether there is a position or not, there are Demetriuses. There are Demetriuses in this church. I have met some of you. I'm not going to call them out because I don't want to embarrass them, but there are Demetriuses in this church. We ought to be examining and looking and saying, who are those individuals? And in the same way that Gaius was attached to John to learn from those people, we ought to be seeking out the Demetriuses within this church and attaching ourselves to them and growing and learning and understanding more of who Christ is from them. Now the final thing we have here is this final greeting And these little greetings, we so often kind of skip, in the same way that we can often skip over the greetings in these little letters, we often skip over the endings. I mean, there's so much here in these final three verses, 13 through 15. We see John's final pastoral encouragement to Gaius. First, we see that John wants his desire to be present with the people. It's present with Gaius specifically in this situation. He says, I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon. We will talk face to face. Or if we were to put this in modern day language, emails just don't do it justice. The phone call, it's nice to hear your voice, but I want to see you. I want to sit from you, across from you, and we should be, if there's ever a time when we should be aware of how important it is to see someone face to face and to hear them and to acknowledge and know that it is now. We've just come through the last year and a half where many of the opportunities where we normally would have had to see people, a lot of times haven't happened. If any, there's ever a time when we should be able to value what it looks like to sit with someone and to learn from them and to speak to them and to care for them. It is now. And we see John's desire to be face to face. He values that human interaction. The second thing we see is John's personal note. He wants to be present and he wants to be personal. What does he say in verse 15? He says, the friends greet you. Greet the friends each by name. All of us here, we greet all of you there. And don't just say to them, hey, everyone. Hope you're doing well. Say, Glenn, John wants you to know he loves you. Pat, John wants you to know. Just keep going. He's like, tell them all. I love them. We care for them. We can't wait to see them. So in John's pastoral example, we see that he desires to be present, that he is personal. He values those relationships. And the final thing you see here is John's peacefulness. He says, peace be to you. Peace be to you. One of your vows that you take when you become a part of this congregation is to, you are asked if you will seek the peace and prosperity of the congregation. And so often we, or I don't know if so often, but sadly, there are many times when our own pride and our own desires for our own kingdom being built up gets in the way of that. And we are not seeking the peace, and we are not seeking the prosperity of the Lord's congregation. Are you seeking the peace? We see here John's desire for peace because ultimately the gospel will bring peace. The gospel brings peace. Christ has made war with sin. He has made war with Satan and he has defeated him. And when you submit yourself to the Lord in that manner, acknowledging your need for Christ, you are at peace. So John, as a pastor, desires to be present. He desires to have these personal relationships, and he desires peace for the congregation. The question then becomes, for all of us at this point, Are you following this something that was written to the church? Are we following that something? That Christ came in the flesh, that he gave up of his life, that he died, rose again, now sits at the right hand of the Father, that you can be at peace with him through confession of your sin, faith in the work of Christ, and that one day he will come again Are you following that message? And is that message driving you now to serve and love and care for others? Are your leaders leading in this same way? Are you seeking to follow those who love and lead in this same way? And then ultimately, for you as a congregation, and the one that you find to shepherd you, Are they living their life in that way? Could you look at this final greeting? You know, how often do we, when you're looking for a pastor, we've got this whole list of things. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Now, that is not to discredit those. They matter. But do we value those things over someone who desires to be present, personal, and peaceful? They go together. They go together. Do we forget the one just for the other? They go together. Is that pastor going to be present, personal, and peaceful with you? Or are they going to be a Demetrius? Or are they going to be a Diotrephus? That would be my challenge for you as a congregation. That would be my challenge for you both personally. How is this message impacting you? How is it driving you to live? And how is it driving this congregation as you all go forward? Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we come before you this morning, Lord. We acknowledge our own frailty. We acknowledge how much we need you. Lord God, we ask that you would give us opportunities to share the hope of the good news, the salvation of Christ with those around us. Lord God, may we take advantage of it when it's there. May we not run scared or afraid of what others might say. But may we have faith, Lord God, that this good news will transform. This good news is the hope of salvation. Lord God, may this have a transformative impact in our own lives. May it impact this congregation, Lord God. Father, we lift all of this up to you. We submit it humbly knowing that you are a God who is in control and loves and cares for us, Lord God. We submit all of this to you. In the name of Jesus, amen.