Sermons About Diotrephes
3rd John`
John in his first letter gave the church two options for how to interact with each other. John said you are either actively loving one another or you are actively hating each other. Though our hearts might think there is some middle ground like indifference or dislike, John doesn't give us that option. I John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. John's point was that the evidence that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord is Savior is found in whether or not you love. Loving means you have life. If you are not loving, you are hating, and hating is death which is evidence of not being transformed by Jesus. This is the big bold claim of Christianity that has been forgotten. If this were the reputation of the church in America, heck if it was the reputation of Sovereign King in Garner, no church could build enough seats to hold the people that would want to be a part of that community. You see, the only way you can live out this seemingly impossible truth is to recognize and realize that this is the kind of love that Jesus showed to you. He laid down His life on your behalf so that you would lay down yours for others. There is a direct correlation at play. - The depth to which you understand your sin and what Christ did to overcome it will be the depth to which you will love people who are hurting and in need. - Live with a big, present realization of your sin and Christ's work for it, and you will love others no matter what because that is how you are loved. - Live with a small or non-existent realization of your sin, and you will wait for people to get on your level before you love them. In all practicality though, what does our laying down of our life look like? Verse 17 tells us 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. John essentially says, "Put feet on your faith." With whatever you have, help those in need. If you close your heart against those in need, you must not understand that Jesus loved you while you were still in need. Jesus loved you while you were still a sinner; He laid down His life for the unrighteous. You couldn't get cleaned up enough for Jesus to love you. Our God got dirty and loved the dirty. Let's not talk about loving then. Let's do love. Let our love be seen in not only truth speaking, but also in love doing. This week at Sovereign King, we are closing out our "House Rules" series: one that has been more transformational to the life of this church than any other I can of. And today, we are going to study the entire letter of 3 John. There, John is going to give us an example of two people who will live out the two extremes that we just mentioned. One guy is named Gaius and another is named Diotrephes. Their names give sort of the impression of a Greek Tragedy, and sadly, their story would probably make a good one. Mark Dever in his book "Promises Kept" will describe these guys in this way. - He says one of them is a trouble maker for the Gospel. - The other is a trouble taker for the Gospel. - One makes problems. The other takes on problems. Now here is what I don't want to do. I've been through the fire as a preacher's kid and now as a preacher, seeing the absolute dirty underbelly of Christianity. I have seen things that are so repugnant that they have literally led me to vomit. But that is a story for another day. I also have heard many of your stories, and some of you must have seen the same things I saw that led me to puke my guts up. This sermon is not going to rehash the worst of Christianity. We are going to take a look at these two men. One of them is going to be a life to avoid, and one of them is going to be a life to emulate and we going to avoid one and emulate another. - And as we do each Sunday at SK, we try to answer at least one Big Picture Question in each sermon. So this week's Big Picture Question is this: Big Picture: What is the difference between a maker of trouble and a taker of trouble for the sake of the Gospel?
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