By Jeff Cranston

The third book of John is a one-page letter written from the apostle John to his friend Gaius, a faithful Christian leader in a local church.

Read 3 John 9-14. In this church, a self-willed, power-hungry man, called Diotrephes, had openly attacked the authority of the apostle John. He also denied hospitality to traveling Christian workers, and he even excommunicated those who defied him by offering hospitality to these workers.

Gaius, however, had resisted the strong-armed tactics of Diotrephes. He had given hospitality and financial support to these traveling missionaries. John encourages Gaius to continue doing so, and he assures Gaius that he will deal publicly with Diotrephes when he visits the church in the near future.

Diotrephes did not submit to apostolic authority by not accepting what the apostle John said and wrote. Rather than being a prosperous soul, Diotrephes was a destitute soul. His negative example gives us four characteristics of the destitute soul that we need to avoid if we want to have prosperous souls:

1. The Destitute Soul Says, “Look at Me!”

Diotrephes “loves to be first among them” (verse 9). The terminology John used here means to have preeminence—to be fond of being first, to be ambitious for distinction. Therein lies the explanation for the majority of church problems down through history! People want to be first.

2. The Destitute Soul Says, “Listen to Me!”

Diotrephes will get called out when I come, said John, for “ … unjustly accusing us with wicked words” (verse 10). Diotrephes barred traveling teachers from the church because he wanted to be the sole authority and leader of the church. He wanted everyone to look up to him, not to Jesus Christ. It threatened him if people learned from others, and so he used gossip and slander to criticize even the apostle John.

The destitute soul refuses to accept God’s Word handed down to us from Jesus through the apostles. The destitute soul engages in gossip, sharing information (which may be true) with those who have no business hearing it.  

3. The Destitute Soul Says, “Let Me Use You!”

“…neither does he himself receive the brethren, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church” (verse 10).

The destitute soul uses relationships to enhance their perceived power. Diotrephes did not receive the brethren, the traveling ministers, and he forbade those who desired to do so, putting them out of the church.

Why didn’t Diotrephes welcome these godly Christian workers? Because he did not value people and relationships. Rather, he used people to build or protect his power base. That’s exactly how the world operates. The way to move up in the world is to build relationships with powerful people. But this leads to poverty of soul, not to prosperity of soul.

4. The Destitute Soul Says, “Leave This All to Me.”

If people in the church didn’t agree with Diotrephes, he bullied them into compliance, or he put them out of the church. He had the power to do it. It was church politics at the worst! Again, how like the world!

We live in a “me generation” where the spirit of Diotrephes reigns supreme. It should not surprise us, when the church is so often influenced by the world, to hear people say: “But I want...” “But I think...” But there is no room in the kingdom for the “me first” mentality; where it exists, more sins and problems are bound to follow. Instead we should strive to be prosperous souls who walk in truth and love.

Jeff Cranston is lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, S.C.

Do you want to find out more about walking in truth and love?
Read “3 Benefits of Walking God’s Truth.”