III John 9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
Have you ever been a visitor at a church that is not your own? Have you ever been the odd man out at work or been the new person at school? If you have, you know the importance of people showing hospitality, and while we always know when we feel awkward, we don’t always pay attention to those who are new at our church, our school, or our place of work and may themselves feel awkward.
We are living in a day when it is increasingly important that we show Christian hospitality. We are living in a hostile world where believers need to show other believers the hospitality and the love of Christ. We said recently when talking about II John that you can love both people and the truth at the same time. Sometimes people think, “I don’t have to be nice and love them because I’m just telling the truth as I see it.” On the other hand people can think, “I just love them too much to tell them the truth.” We highlighted the fact that love of truth and love of people are not mutually exclusive. John says we are to love people in the truth.
When we come to III John we find a similar ethic. John is addressing his words to a man named Gaius whom he loved in the truth. So, he loved the truth and because he loved the truth it dictated the way he showed love to other believers. Now, while love of people and truth are not mutually exclusive, there are two things that are mutually exclusive: you cannot love preeminence and love people at the same time. You can’t love having the first place position in every given situation and love other people at the same time. It is not possible.
The Bible says of a man named Diotrephes, “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” Not only did Diotrephes not show hospitality to people like John, he had no room for people he felt were his competition. Here is a man who was not showing hospitality because all he ever thought about was how that would place him in the pecking order. He was thinking about his own preeminence. You cannot love preeminence, the first place, and love people at the same time.
The fact is, you cannot love preeminence and love truth at the same time because truth determines how we love people. If you look at both II and III John, basically every other verse is about truth. III John says, “Gaius, whom I love in the truth…I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth…that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.” The Bible talks about a good report of men and of the truth itself. It is all about the truth, and truth determines how you love people.
For instance, if I have someone who is preaching falsehood, they don’t believe the gospel or who Jesus is, showing love to them does not mean showing hospitality to them. Love would be graciously and solidly giving them the truth. It does not mean bidding them god speed along their way. That‘s not love. Love is doing what is right by people and it is not right to encourage heresy.
This Diotrephes did not show hospitality to people because he didn’t regard the truth as much as he regarded himself. Gaius, on the other hand, loved people and he loved people in the truth. You cannot love preeminence, the first place position, and other people at the same time, and you can’t love other people as you should unless you love the truth.