These men are dangerous, yet to be anticipated. It would be more surprising if the church was free of such men than if she was constantly burdened by them. If you want to be in the church, you should expect to encounter these false leaders. Paul saw nothing less for the church at Ephesus in Acts 20 when he said "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." (Acts 20:29-30)
In expectation of this danger, it is crucial for those within the church to be able to discern a genuine false teacher. By means of the Word of God, Christians must be able to identify those whose influence is a danger both to themselves and to the rest of the church. We must be sensible men and women who consider our steps, instead of naively believing everything that comes our way (Pr. 14:15).
In light of that, I would like to take some time and examine a false leader exemplified for us in Scripture. In 3 John we are introduced to a character named Diotrephes.
In 3 John, the aged (see the "elder" in vs. 1 and that 1 John was written ca. 90-95 A.D.) apostle John is writing to an individual named Gaius, and commending him for his faithfulness and the hospitality he was showing to traveling ministers (vs. 5-8). Later, in verse 12, John again gives commendation to another individual named Demetrius for his own faithfulness and good reputation. Sandwiched in between these two men is the contrasting and yet influential individual Diotrephes.
There are 4 characteristics of this man that I would like to drawn our attention to.
1) Diotrephes promoted himself
2) Diotrephes refused the words of God
3) Diotrephes refused the men of God
4) Diotrephes refused to people of God
We will take one or two points per post, and this post will focus on the first one:
Diotrephes promoted himself
We learn this early on in verse 9:
"I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them..."
As we will see in a moment, this is a characteristic heart attitude amongst those who propagate spiritual error. Please, pay special attention to where, or within what sphere, Diotrephes wanted to be first. It wasn't just a political party or a business endeavor. It was particularly within the realm of the church that Diotrephes sought a place of prominence. (We know this because the pronoun "them" refers back to word "church".) Diotrephes loved to be first specifically amongst the people of God. He didn't abandon Christianity, and he wasn't a visible, outright apostate. Instead, he pursued his arrogant desire for personal prominence within the sphere of the local church. He was simply using religious means to carry out his self-serving motives.
Spiritual self-promotion. Diotrephes, wasn't the first to attempt this. Christ had actually exposed it several times in the Pharisees. In Matthew 6 alone we find Christ warning "...when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, so that they may be honored by men" and again"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men" and again "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men...".
In Matthew 23, Christ embarks on an all-out public sermon openly assaulting the scribes and Pharisees in the temple, interestingly, making his rebuke as public as their error. This can be seen as kind of the landmark sermon Christ gave unmasking the scribes and Pharisees before He died. (Need I mention that such a critique would be labeled "rude", "unloving", "arrogant" and a wealth of other things in our day and age?) Notice, also, that He is addressing his speech not to the Pharisees themselves, but "to the crowds and His disciples" (vs.1) - those influenced by the Pharisees. In His brutal exposure of the Pharisees' hearts, Christ says this about them:
"The scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses..." They had striven to ordain themselves to be in a position of spiritual authority, and had succeeded. And, they had a very hard time giving that up when Christ began to compromise their influence with His teaching. Further, Jesus says, "They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men."
This desire for personal prominence was one of the foundational, under-laying motivations driving the Pharisees to do all that they did. But it wasn't limited to the scribes and Pharisees - we see it again in Diotrephes. He "loved to be first". We may conclude, then, that those who are in an office of spiritual leadership but are not there for the right reasons or by the right means (i.e."seated themselves"), are there to use that position as leverage to promote themselves. They see their spiritual engagement as some kind of competition for influence, among other things, and they want to be on top. Don't think that somehow false shepherds have the good of the people or the glory of God in mind when they do what they do. They are driven by self-love, and a desire for a platform to express that within the church.
This was a lesson John himself had to learn along with the other disciples, and it took a while. Mark 9:33-37 records an event in which the disciples (one of whom was John) had been debating for their own individual prominence amongst the circle of disciples. Mind you, we're not talking about Pharisees anymore, but the Apostles themselves. They knew this was a shameful thing to be considering, because when Jesus asked them what they had been talking about, their only response was silence. In that context we find Christ's teaching on leadership - that He Himself modeled - summed up in verse 35b -
"If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all"
This is reiterated in more words back in Matthew 23
"But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (vs.11-12)
However, the drive for preeminence didn't stop there amongst the disciples. Down to the final hours before Christ's betrayal and crucifixion and when His Father would turn His back on Him for the first and last time in all eternity, the disciples again got into a discussion on the issue of personal rank, status. In fact, Luke 22:24 says it was a 'dispute'. They were literally arguing with each other over "which one of them was regarded to be the greatest". What was Christ's reponse?
"The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' But it is not this way with you, but the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves." (vs. 25-27)
John had sought prominence in possibly the worst time and place to do it - he wasn't claiming innocence by observing that Diotrephes "loved to be first". He had both experienced it and been taught true leadership by the Servant-King Jesus Christ Himself.
So what is the first sign of an illegitimate church leader? Self-promotion. A desire for prominence and influence. Beware of teachers who seem to "love to be first", who enjoy "respectful greetings", and who hold tightly to the position and title of "Rabbi" - "my teacher".
May will be willing to exercise discernment when encountering a teacher and his teaching. May we not mislabel an all-tolerant spiritual apathy as 'love'. Christ was not engaged in such a love when He called the multitudes to come away from their teachers, and find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30). Do we think we can out-love Christ by ignoring those who actively seek to draw away disciples after themselves and their false (Acts 20:30)? False teachers aren't passive about their teaching - don't be passive about refusing it.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
~ 1 John 4:1
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