3 John 1

I think it’s only fitting that, as we close the letters from John to his churches, we close by talking about hospitality. 

Now, to be completely honest, I have a love-hate relationship with hospitality. On the one hand, I really love being hospitable – I love people, I love to cook, and I love having people in my home. Um, most of the time. That’s the love part.

The hate part comes in when I feel rushed, tired, or stretched; maybe it’s been an unusually busy couple of weeks, maybe there are some extra stressors in my life and I’m totally unfocused on anything but those. During these times, I tend to be more worried about how my house looks, have trouble coming up with what to cook, and sometimes feel downright put-upon. I hate to say it, but as long as we’re being honest…

But, as we read through 3 John, John’s emphasis on hospitality is obvious. Enter a man called Diotrephes.

Apparently, Diotrephes was a leader in one of John’s churches, who, shall we say, was very self-important; he wanted to be The Big Kahuna, and it didn’t really matter who he had to slander or back-bite to achieve this position. The Scriptures here tell us that, not only did Diotrephes shun John himself and his traveling teachers, all the while slandering them, but also forbid any of his church members to extend hospitality to them either! And, when and if they did, Diotrephes excommunicated them! Um, wow.

John, in some detail, explains that it was so very important for the churches to show hospitality to these traveling teachers because, basically, it was their livelihood; these teachers traveled the world of Christianity at this time, spreading the Gospel. This meant they gave up most other income options and lived solely on the hospitality given by the churches. It kinda makes me think of most of our modern-day missionaries, right? John speaks to the very heart of this issue with Diotrephes, in verse 11,

Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

But, fear not; as this letter closes, we meet Demetrius, another member of one of John’s churches. John explained that the Believers all spoke highly of Demetrius, “as does the truth itself.” Demetrius had obviously drawn the attention of the Believers, most likely by his love not only for Jesus, “the truth,” but for the Believers – including the traveling teachers. If we stay with our hospitality theme, Demetrius was most likely loving – not going around gossiping – and welcomed these traveling teachers – John included – with open arms. And, that my friends, is real, Christian love, right?

What jumps out at me about this letter from John, is putting love to action. It’s not enough to say we love others, we have to show that love. And, no matter how much we grumble, hospitality is love in action. Being willing to have a lesser “position,” serving the body of Christ, rather than lording over it, and building each other up, is a great way to actually show love.

So, Beloved, who in your life needs to feel love today? As we have seen the theme of love threaded through all three of these letters from John, it’s impossible to miss its importance. I’ve come to realize that how well I am loving the people in my life – the easy ones, the hard ones, the worthy ones, the not-so-worthy ones – is directly linked to how well I love God and am allowing His love to operate in my life. So, let the house be a bit messy, move your To Do list to tomorrow, and reach out to those who need some love and hospitality today. After all, it’s what Jesus did.

3 John Discussion Questions

1. What role does hospitality play in your life? Do you consider yourself hospitable? What can you do to become more so?

2. We’d like to think that Diotrephes started out as a true Believer, but then pride and control took over. How does this happen? Why is it so easy for us as humans to lose sight of the Gospel? What can we do about it?

3. Missions and missionaries are still part of Christianity today. Does this letter make you look differently at them? Is it still important to support them? Why or why not?

4. These three letters from John center so heavily on love. Love, the word, is easy to toss around, but really loving – love in action – is much more difficult. How can you become a person who shows the love of Christ to those around you, instead of just talking about it?