examples

Often as I read the Bible, there’s casual mention of people I wish I knew more about. For various reasons they seem interesting, or sometimes they just seem so normal that they’re very relatable.

John’s third letter has several of these people. He addresses the letter to Gaius, who must have been a pretty good guy. Gaius, unlike many of us, had no fear of strangers and aliens. Here’s what John wrote about him, in verses 1: “To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. . . . It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God.” 

Gaius wasn’t the only good person in that church. In verses 11 and 12, John wrote about another man, Demetrius, who everyone liked, and the context is interesting here: “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone —and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.”

John, in effect, is saying, “Be like Demetrius. He’s a guy who does good and not evil; everyone says so, even God.”

But this is a normal church, and not everyone is commendable. In fact, it looks like in this church the leadership might be problematic. In verse 9 here’s what John had to say: “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.” Here’s a person who sees John as a threat; he likes being the biggest fish in this little pond, and fears that if an actual apostle shows up people won’t treat him that way anymore. 

I think John offers us some examples here. We can be self-centered like Diotrephes, but notice that even though he’s clawed his way to the top, he still doesn’t seem secure. He sees others as threats. That can’t be much fun.

Or we can be like Demetrius, who just plain does the right thing almost all the time. Demetrius the good. Another great example would be Gaius, who shows hospitality to people that other people shun. Either way, two men who are trying to live like Jesus.

Interesting, isn’t it, that the man who wants all the attention has, in the end, earned only negative remarks, while the other two are praised. I think that tells us a lot about how Jesus sees his church.