BEWARE OF THE DIOTREPHES SPIRIT

3John 1:9 KJV
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

Dear Believer,

Diotrephes was his name, and what a contentious man he was!

John described him as a man ‘who loves to have preeminence’ among the people. This means he always wanted to take the lead and be in charge. He was a control freak.

Note that Diotrephes was a member of the church and a leader. It is easy to conclude that he bullied his way into the leadership position that he occupied.

The apostle sent ministers to the church, but Diitrephes resisted the apostle’s authority.

3 John 1:10 AMPLIFIED
So when I arrive, I will call attention to what he is doing, his boiling over and casting malicious reflections upon us with insinuating language. And not satisfied with that, he refuses to receive and welcome the [missionary] brethren himself, and also interferes with and forbids those who would welcome them, and tries to expel (excommunicate) them from the church.

Here’s one guy who had issues with authority. He attacked the apostle’s reputation and integrity with lies. He refused to receive those sent to minister to the church. When he saw that some people wanted to receive those ministers, he used his influence to try to get them excommunicated.

Diotrephes was so full of himself.

And let me emphasize this again: Diotrephes was a member of the church — a Believer, and a leader. At this time, he had assumed a toxic personality that was poisoning the whole church and greatly hindering the work of God.

So you can see that the rebellion and contention we see today in the church aren’t a new thing.

There are those who never really grew past their ego since they became Believers. They are knowledgeable, but they are arrogant and bereft of the love of God. They hurt the church and the brethren with their attitudes, words and actions. They take the word of God and use it as a weapon of subjugation.

It is easy to identify these traits in others, but Believer, you must check yourself also. I am sure Diotrephes thought he was doing God’s work by being contentious. He must have convinced himself that there was nothing wrong with him.

Remember, every rebellious child, or wife, or man has a reason for their rebellion even when it makes no sense to God.

This man must surely have had reasons for all he was doing.  His intentions must have appeared noble to many people since he had his own followers, too. But God’s verdict about this through his apostle was simple: he loved to have preeminence among the people of God.

Do you find yourself always wanting to be appointed to a place of leadership, and get depressed or disappointed when you seem to be overlooked for such positions?

Do you sometimes find yourself being the most outspoken against leadership, always trying to ‘correct’ what you think is wrong and always wanting to stir opposition against leadership?

Again, those who do this usually think they have good reasons for it, but when you dig deeply enough, most of the time the motive isn’t noble.

You need to watch out and pray in case you’ve been infected with the Diotrephes spirit.

We are not called into leadership so we can Lord it over others and throw our weight around. We are called to keep “Submitting [ourselves] one to another in the fear of God.” Ephesians 5:21 KJV

A Believer who finds it difficult to submit to authority and his brethren has no business leading others.

God resists the proud. Stay humble and stay blessed.

Have a beautiful day.

Your friend,
Deon.