Letter written by John, the author of the gospel of that name. Written between A.D. 85-95. This letter is a warning against rejecting those who are true fellow Christians and ambassadors of the gospel.

Control of the Church seems to have been in the hands of Diotrephes, a dominant personality, who not only rejected John’s messengers, but also slandered the apostle himself.

The letter revolves around three men.

Gaius – The friend.

‘dear friend,’ related to the Christian word for ‘love’ and as we have so often seen, far more than an emotion, this is a fundamental attitude to life.

Christ has bound John and Gaius together in Christian friendship, one of God’s greatest gifts, expressed in divine love and grounded in the truth.

But John is concerned with being balanced. He is concerned with making sure that his friend is being well supported in prayer for ‘good health’. Require to be balanced. No wedge between the physical and spiritual. We are ‘in the body.’

Our attitude to life should be positive. Some Christians seem to have allowed the devil to have them living under a cloud, so that they are always expecting some great disaster.

Work together for the truth. We do not let the world write the agenda, either for the Church, or in our stewardship of the individual lives God has given to us. We are Christ’s servants first.

The descendants of Gaius are still with us, but we need many more who will work together for the truth.

Diotrephes – the fraud

Don’t know if he had an official position. Doesn’t really matter, because unfortunately there are many churches today in the pocket of one person, or family dynasty where nothing can happen without the approval of Mr or indeed Mrs X, because it’s their church.

It’s a sad fact that in a church like that the Holy Spirit has long since been drummed out of office and it’s a travesty for the Christian faith and family.

Whenever we begin to serve ourselves rather than Christ; use our fellow Christians for our own ego; become concerned with our status within the Church; we need to recognise we are suffering from Diotrephes syndrome and realise we need to take action to eliminate it.

Demitrius – the follower

A person described as from God. These things cannot be counterfeited.

Gaius is urged to copy the good because by that lifestyle he proves the reality of his Christian profession.

What does John mean by ‘seeing God’?

Lived a life according to God’s word of truth, so that when he was measured by that yardstick the truth itself confirmed his quality.

The early church was not without its problems. Nor is the Church today.

As we have looked at these three individuals, very different, but representative church members around whom the letter revolves, we can’t fail to be challenged concerning our own discipleship.

The challenge to us now is, how much are we really prepared to let Jesus Christ change us. Is it to be my will or his?