Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. III John 2-10
This coming Sunday my wife and will join the Northside Church in Jackson, TN. It will be a significant moment for me in that after 40 plus years of being the pastor of a local church, I will now have a pastor. Having been in his shoes for so long, I know something of the challenges he faces, and I want to be helpful to him. We find a similar desire in the little letter of III John. So based on these verses, here’s what my pastor needs from me.
Prayer
In verse 2, John indicated that he had been praying for a pastor asking God to grant him physical and spiritual well-being. Modern day pastors need the same thing. Ministry is stressful especially in these rapidly changing days as we are increasingly moving away from a church-based culture where the old rules for how to do church are no longer valid. So pastors need a strength beyond themselves to deal with it all.
I know personally just how true this is. Carrying the weight of responsibility for a congregation and its spiritual well-being is daunting. It taxes your physical and spiritual stamina. You carry a constant concern for the congregation to stay true to its kingdom purpose. You feel the pain of those whose lives have been torn apart by tragic circumstances. And I know the spiritual oppression that comes as you stand before God’s people while fighting an unseen enemy who wants to discourage and defeat you. Knowing that people were praying for me was so helpful. It brought the encouragement and strength that only God can give. My new pastor needs that from me.
Encouragement
Beginning in verse 5, John affirms this pastor’s faithfulness and love. He had a been a good leader, so John wanted to encourage him to stay with it. Pastors need the same thing today. Because they live in a public bubble, everybody gets to have an opinion about everything they do and are. And not all of the opinions are helpful. In fact, sometimes they can be down right hateful.
That’s why being intentionally encouraging is so important. My pastor needs to hear from me about the good I see in his life. He already knows that he has weaknesses. Those will be pointed out either directly or indirectly on an ongoing basis. But getting an encouraging call, a note, or a text message from me will lift his spirit and strengthen him to continue to give his best.
Partnership
In the last part of verse 6 through verse 8 we see where people were being sent out in Kingdom service. That means that the pastor wasn’t called to do the work of the church alone. He had others who were partnering with him to further the cause of Christ. That partnership works best when pastor and people labor together to accomplish the work of the kingdom.
The pastor is not the top-down corporate bureaucrat who barks orders for everyone to follow. Nor is he simply the hired hand who has to jump every time a church committee says jump. And he certainly isn’t the spiritual equivalent of a cruise director whose only job is to make sure that everyone on the church ship is having a great time.
Again, it’s a partnership much like what happens on a white water rafting experience. I’ve never been white water rafting, but I’ve heard enough about it to know that everybody in the raft has a job to do. In fact the success of their journey depends on it. The guide has been trained and has experience beyond what even the most frequent rafter has. As such, that training and experience needs to be heard and appreciated. At the same time, however, the guide can’t do it alone. Everybody in the raft rows. Everybody is trying to help their fellow rafters. Done properly, the raft moves forward in an effective and meaningful way.
This is what a partnership needs to look like in church. It’s not about who’s in charge. It’s more about trusting each other enough to help the congregation navigate the challenging waters of the day in which we live. I’ve had my time as the rafting guide. I now need to be a good fellow rafter in this partnership.
Protection
Sometimes we romanticize the early church as if it was problem free and that everyone cooperated and got along. Not so. As a case in point, John refers to a person causing trouble in the church. He says that this person was blocking other ministers from coming to the church because, as John put it, he wanted to be first.
That’s a way of saying that this person wanted to be in control – to have his own way even at the detriment of the pastor and the church. John indicates that he planned to do something about it relying on his apostolic authority to protect both the pastor and the church. What he intends to do isn’t made clear. What is clear is that steps were going to be taken to not allow this person to cause disruption in the church.
Modern day churches are no exception. There will always be a tendency in any congregation for one or more persons to want to be first – for their ideas, preferences or opinions to rule the day. And often they do so in direct opposition to the pastor and the rest of the congregation who are often intimidated into silence which simply empowers the disruptive behaviors. Left unchecked, this creates a spirit of discord that undermines everything the church is designed to be and do.
So like John did for this pastor, I need to try to protect my pastor from such things. I will challenge unwarranted and unkind criticism. I will not tolerate negative gossip. I will be intentional about striving for reconciliation. Though I may be a new member, I will use whatever influence I may have to protect my pastor which in turn protects the church.
In closing I don’t know if you have a pastor or not. If not, I hope that someday you will find a way to a local church and make a connection with its spiritual leader. You will be the better for it. If you have a pastor, I hope that you will join me in the things I have shared. Our pastors need us to be there for them. I pray I will not fail mine.