Our enemy, the devil, has been working since the beginning to derail what God is doing in his church. He will use any and every means to do this and he will use anyone he can get to. In his third letter to the churches John congratulates the Christians for holding to sound teaching as he exhorted them to do in his last letter. But then he addresses another problem. There was a leader in one church who, it seems, was something of a control-freak and was using the church as a tool for his own ambition. It is a problem not uncommon in church history! But before you think of other people who may be guilty of this, may I encourage you toward a more fruitful line of reflection. As I said, Satan will use anything and anyone to disunite the church. He will certainly try to use you. He will tempt you also to try to control the church and he will, therefore, also tempt you to undermine those who disagree with you. Many churches have been split apart because people, who thought they were fighting for truth, did so in a manner that betrayed the whole point of it all. It is ironic that we can feel so right at times and yet be so wrong in the way we do things. It is one of the devil’s favourite scenarios, because nothing undermines the church more than believers squabbling over relatively insignificant matters. It takes great discernment and a keen self-awareness to wield influence productively in a church fellowship. Be sure you have both before you fight for anything.
Reflect on whether you may have had any negative influence in your church.
Read 3 John
