I heard a sermon recently that focused on 3 John, the shortest book of the Bible by word count. It’s a letter to a church in Asia which was located in what is now modern day Turkiye, and there’s good reason to believe that it was written by the Apostle John even though he isn’t identified in the letter. You probably never read it; I know I couldn’t remember reading it when I heard the sermon. Apparently there was a leader in the church named Diotrephes who was at odds with John and was taking issue with his influence on that assembly. What new! There’s always been contention of one kind or another within the Church throughout its history. This particular conflict is interesting because it took place during a period of transition. It’s near the end of the apostolic era, meaning the last of the apostles and eyewitnesses of the death and resurrection of the Lord were dying off—either from persecution or natural causes—which prompted the church leadership to maintain its oversight of their churches without the benefit of direct apostolic involvement. Of course this was a process that started early on with the martyrdom of James the son of Zebedee in the 40s and continued throughout the first century. In the situation that took place within the Asian church Diotrephes was attempting to secure his leadership role. There isn’t an obvious indication that he was taking issue with John’s theology, although that’s not out of the question. Rather it seems to have been a contention regarding the supervision of the church. This resulted in Diotrephes refusing to provide support for those who were coming into the area to help spread the “good news” of Jesus Christ throughout the region. Apparently these “missionaries” were associated with John, and this local leader took issue with the Apostle’s influence.

Along with this sort of “ecclesiastical” power struggle, John had been contending with what apparently was an erosion of a proper understanding of Jesus, namely that Jesus was a unique individual who embodied God in the flesh. That’s a hard concept to understand. A “proper” way of expressing this phenomenon affirms that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, even if it’s not understood how this could be. Greek philosophy was influential in the era along with other forms of thought resulting in a tendency to undermine the notion that Jesus was a real human being. The thinkers of the era couldn’t conceive of a god who could be embodied in a flesh that all people shared. For them Jesus was God who only appeared to be a man in human flesh. The fact that the Apostle John fully denied this idea resulted in some significant, and in some ways unique, emphases in his writings. It’s an interesting comparison: the “synoptic” Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke share many commonalities of content and focus to the extent that much effort is given to understanding how these writings compare with, and were influenced by, one another. However, John’s gospel is a different effort altogether. He focused on and presented some very different aspects of the Christ’s time on earth. In the sixth chapter of his Gospel Jesus is said to have stood up and stated that:

Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in Me and I in him. (John 6:53-56)

Jesus was comparing His flesh and blood to the manna from heaven that the Lord provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. Just as God sustained the life of the those ancient people through the bread, He was now providing the body and blood of Jesus in order to secure the lives of all who believe and receive His provision.  At the time, a lot of people had trouble hearing this and walked away. However those who stayed came to recognize Jesus as God in the flesh. In keeping with this is the understanding that the Lord’s body wasn’t only apparent, it was real; it had to be that way otherwise He couldn’t really take our place and suffer as we should for our sin.

It makes sense that John would bring these emphases into focus in his writings in order to counteract the contemporary ideas at work in the culture of that time. And John wasn’t unique in his efforts. A variety of influences were working to undermine and distort the truth of Jesus Christ as the crucified Son of God. The apostle Paul also had to go to great lengths to counteract the influence of the Greco-Roman world, redefining the nature of human existence in light of the revelation that was presented in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (See my blog post: “Our Corinthian Dilemma”) It needs to be said here that the Gospel is a unique message regarding our existence; one that certainly got the attention of those who fought against the Lord’s agenda and purpose. Satan and the demonic are realities that that have always sought to obstruct and distort the plans and purposes of God. And the advent of Jesus, in the flesh, opened up the opportunity for our fallen condition to be rectified. Such a magnificent opportunity needed to be guarded at all costs. And John, as well as Paul, were doing their best to preserve the revelation of the Gospel, a revelation that demanded a true recognition of God as love revealing Himself in human flesh and suffering in that flesh on our behalf.

For John true repentance and belief resulted in a changed life. It wasn’t just a proclamation that needed to be agreed upon; it’s an introduction into a life that functions in concert with God Himself. In a nutshell: Jesus died for our sin, and was resurrected for our salvation, resulting in the gift of the abiding Holy Spirit. We’re not just agreeing to an agenda, we’re entering into a new version of our existence. According to the apostles, the Gospel isn’t a set of ideas that one vowed to believe and affirm. A confession of the truth of Jesus needed to be reflected in a changed life. And John went to great lengths to emphasize this in his first epistle.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

For John, conduct reflected reality. Confession of truth may be an indicator, but behavior was what exhibited true belief and affirmation. We can know things regarding Jesus, but if our behavior doesn’t reflect His disposition then our faith needs closer scrutiny. I’m talking to myself as I’m writing this. We are all on a journey to discover the truth of our existence. Knowing about the Lord is a start, but knowing the Lord is a life changer.

Assuming I’m speaking to a Christian audience, you might be thinking that you’ve heard all this before; I hope you have. What I’m trying to ferret out of this discussion is the difference between knowing the truth and living the truth. Apparently the people to whom John was writing in his letters had heard the truth but they were falling short, or at least were in danger of falling short. Personal agendas, the tendency to misinterpret the unique nature of the Gospel, and failure to recognize the prevailing resistance to the truth within themselves as well as the Christian community, rendered the Church vulnerable to deception. Think about that: the Asian church was in danger of losing its way even though they had access to people who had known Jesus personally. John was on the mountain during the transfiguration of the Christ, he had rested his head on Jesus’ bosom, heard the words of Jesus directly from His mouth before and after the Resurrection. Yet churches that he had contact with were still prone to losing their way! Where does that leave us 2000 plus years later?

We think we know what we’re doing because we’re surrounded by a body of believers who think the way we do, but I’m here to tell you that a church can lose its way. The culture informing our circumstances is just as dangerous today as it was in first century Asia. Ideas come and go, values are defined and redefined, the nefarious influences of today are just as treacherous as they’ve always been—and we need to be on guard! What is the Bible saying? If I had to reduce the teachings of the Apostle John to the essentials I’d focus on the nature of fellowship and love. They are interrelated but together work to identify a genuine walk with both the Lord, and with one another. John’s Gospel presents the teachings of Jesus in terms of a mutual existence between Father and Son, the essence of which is made available to those who believe and follow after Him. And the Apostle makes it clear that agreement isn’t enough. Just agreeing with a set of ideas resulting in a mutual respect between the parties involved doesn’t capture the Apostle’s emphasis. We’ve been called into a relationship with God that redefines our existence and is rendered genuine by the exhibition of love as the Bible presents it. We can say we love God and each other, but the “proof is in the pudding” as the old saying goes. We can’t really be sure where we stand until we’re pressed. When the church isn’t working, our job is on the line, and disaster has struck, the question is: How you gonna act? I say this with trepidation because I’m as vulnerable as anybody to getting distracted, missing the mark and losing my way. But what I will say is that discipline in the Word and prayer, and allowing others of like convictions to have access to my life renders me far less likely to lose my way. We need to turn ourselves into searchers rather than just followers. “Seek the Lord while He may be found”; set your sights on the call of God rather than just getting by. You may be surprised at what you find. Remember the old saying that says: “God has a wonderful plan for your life”? I’m saying that it’s true; but it’s also difficult at times and always challenging.