Read: III John
Reflect: The scandal of the century, Watergate, happened in 1972. Daniel Silliman writes in his book “One Lost Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation”: “President Nixon tried to hide it—blaming it on underlings, protesting he knew nothing about it—but the cover-up started to unravel. Pastor John Huffman was a personal friend of Nixon and worried about him. He said Nixon wasn’t handling things in a biblical way. ‘You need to confess,’ Pastor John Huffman told Nixon. ‘You need to be honest with the American people.’
THE DIFFICULT SERMON
“Pastor Huffman preached a difficult sermon with Nixon in attendance using the text of Acts 26:26: ‘The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.’ The message was clear. The cover-up was immoral. Huffman didn’t add the words of Nathan the prophet, but he might as well have said to the president, ‘You are the man!’
THE WORDS OF A FAITHFUL FRIEND
“That sermon hit Nixon. It sent him into retreat. In that isolation, ultimately, his presidency ended. Huffman’s choice to speak up seems to be a moment of moral courage. Huffman recalls it differently. All these years later, he remembers how he felt about Nixon and how he saw in himself the same weaknesses as Nixon, the same susceptibility to sin. He remembers he said the thing he would have wanted someone to say to him as a faithful friend. “I really loved the man,”
LOVE MADE THE DIFFERENCE
“It makes me think of all the other ministers who didn’t challenge Nixon when they knew he was like a lost sheep, gone astray. I think of all the other powerful leaders caught up in scandal, from King David to modern day leaders and the ministers around them hoping to catch a little reflection off the light of their celebrity. What made Huffman different? I think it was love.”
SOUL SICKNESS IS CONTAGIOUS
The church of Third John is ignoring the truth regarding one of their leaders. They had in their midst a man by the name of Diotrephes. “Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us….and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.” Diotrephes loves being in power and refuses to listen to clear teachings regarding visiting Bible teachers. He boots out anyone who disagrees with him. His soul isn’t “prospering” (verse 3) and wilts on the vine. The danger is that soul sickness like this is contagious. The entire community of believers suffers. They lacked courage.
Diotrephes needs to be confronted face to face by his fellow believers. He appears healthy on the outside, but his interior spiritual health is desperately ill. The man bursts with pride, envy, slander, and disobedience. His behavior affects the entire local church. They cower in fear.
LOVE ENOUGH TO CONFRONT SIN
The Apostle John gently writes: Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but [imitate] what is good. The one who practices good [exhibiting godly character, moral courage and personal integrity] is of God; the one who practices [or permits or tolerates] evil has not seen God [he has no personal experience with Him and does not know Him at all]. Basically, John says even though Diotrephes puts on a big show, he does not know God. The local church needs to deal with it, even though this can get messy. They need to love Diotrephes enough to confront him.
Do you know a Diotrephes in your circle of believers? Have you taken the time in prayer and in the Word to lovingly deal with him/her? A soul is at stake and possibly the souls of many others. God can give you same courage He gave to Pastor John Huffman.
For further reading on confronting someone regarding sin, click to read Galatians 6