He was, of course, sadly deluded - living in a fantasy-world where he tilted against windmills, not giants. It was all very "true to him", but he was living in a fictional world. No matter how "real" it was to him, it was disconnected from the real objective world about him.
Post-modern thinking has given many people a very relative view of truth - especially in the area of religious truth. For us, we are told, what matters is what is "true for you". There is no absolute truth and no absolute values.
A few years ago I attended a conference at the University of Queensland at which the speakers had come from various branches of L'Abri. (L'Abri was founded in Switzerland by Francis and Edith Schaeffer. It is a ministry to those with inquiring minds who are seeking real answers to the ultimate questions raised by life in this world. Schaeffer, who died in 1984, found he had to coin the phrase "true truth" because the concept of "truth" has been so distorted and relativised by modern thinking.)
On the first day of the conference one speaker asked the audience how many had thought they knew where the Abel Smith Lecture Theatre was. Then he said, Did your belief correspond with reality? In fact, several people were quite late because they had become lost. Their sincere belief had not corresponded with reality.
John's Gospel begins with reference to "the Word" who was in the beginning with God - in fact fully divine - and involved in the creation of the world. This divine Word "became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us" (Jn 1.14). Jesus, he was saying, was the divine Word from eternity who truly became a human being.
In his first letter he insists about this pre-existent "Word of life" that "we have heard it", "we have seen it with our eyes", "we have... touched it with our hands" (1 Jn 1.1-3). The truth about the real coming of the Son of God in the flesh is so important that John warns his readers, "My children, keep yourselves safe from false gods!" (5.21)
In his second letter John continues to be concerned about "many deceivers [who] have gone out all over the world, people who do not acknowledge that Jesus Christ came as a human being." Such is the spirit of "antichrist" - though not yet focused in a particular "Enemy of Christ" (2 John 7).
This concern about truth continues in his third letter. He is writing to Gaius - the name was common and we are uncertain as to his identity or the place where he lived. He says, "My dear friend, I pray that everything may go well with you and that you may be in good health - as I know you are well in spirit. I was so happy when some fellow-Christians arrived and told me how faithful you are to the truth - just as you always live in the truth. Nothing makes me happier than to hear that my children live in the truth" (2 John 2-4).
John makes it quite clear, as he did in his second letter, that truth has to be lived, not just believed. In fact, he sees Gaius as one who is doing just that and is spiritually healthy - hence his prayer that he will be physically healthy as well (3 John 2).
The presenting issue is the need for hospitality to fellow-Christians - probably travelling teachers/evangelists. These people, John is saying, "set out on their journey in the service of Christ without accepting any help from unbelievers. We Christians, then, must help these people, so that we may share in their work for the truth" (vv. 7-8).
It would appear that Demetrius in v. 12 may well have been such a travelling teacher/evangelist. John simply says about him, "Everyone speaks well of Demetrius; truth itself speaks well of him. And we add our testimony, and you know that what we say is true." John knows Demetrius well and it is quite likely that he was the bearer of this letter. We notice that "truth itself speaks well of him" - his character and teaching were consistent with the truth.
By contrast, Diotrephes refuses to "receive our fellow-Christians when they come, and even stops those who want to receive them and tries to drive them out of the church" (v. 10b). This was the man who "likes to be" the leader of the church. John had written a short letter to the church, but Diotrephes would take no notice of it (v. 9). There is an important warning here for all who exercise leadership in the congregation - whether ministers, elders, church councillors… Do you like leadership? Would you have welcomed John and these visiting Christians? Do you exercise leadership humbly, under the leadership of Christ - or arrogantly, to fulfil your own ego-trip? Are you so committed to your own agenda that you will block others in fulfilling their call from God?
Gaius, he is saying, do not follow the example of Diotrephes. "Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God" (v. 11). The behaviour of Diotrephes even suggests that he is not a believer. John has already commended Gaius for his faithfulness, "My dear friend, you are so faithful in the work you do for your fellow-Christians, even when they are strangers" (v. 5). The letter has been written to ensure that he is not intimidated in any way by the dominating Diotrephes.
The presenting issue is hospitality, but the core issue is whether we live in the truth - literally, "walk in the truth". Someone has said that too many Christians talk the talk but fail to walk the walk. The truth has to be lived, not just believed.
A missionary in India was once teaching the Bible to a group of Hindu ladies. Halfway through the lesson, one of the women got up and walked out. A short time later, she came back and listened more intently than ever. At the close of the hour the leader asked her, "Why did you leave the meeting? Weren't you interested?" "O yes," the Hindu lady replied. "I was so impressed with what you had to say about Christ that I went out to ask your driver whether you really lived the way you talked. When he said you did, I hurried back so I wouldn't miss out on anything."
Are our lives consistent with the faith we profess? Do we know ourselves to be sinners saved by grace, or are we constantly trying to justify ourselves? So we have received the Holy Spirit - but is the focus of our lives now on Christ or is it on ourselves and our wonderful spiritual experiences? Do we have a passion to read and absorb the Word of God, or does our main "spiritual" input come from some popular writer or speaker? How much time do we spend daily in prayer that we may know our Lord and seek his will for others and for ourselves?
These are the hidden resources of the truth of God - how well do we walk in them? In other words, do they lead us to a life in which we are more compassionate, more loving, more honest, less selfish, less arrogant, less domineering…? Do we walk in the truth?
That prayer at the beginning of this short letter is striking - "I pray that everything may go well with you and that you may be in good health - as I know you are well in spirit." How would our physical health be if it simply corresponded to our state of spiritual health? I wonder…
I am not suggesting that there is a necessary correlation between the two. What I am saying, however, is that it is of vital importance that it be "well with our soul" - to use the old phrase - and that we "live in the truth" - that the truth of God is translated into life day by day. That spiritual integrity is even more basic than our physical well-being.
Jesus said to people who believed in him, "If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8.31-32). Truth has to be translated into life, into action. Our calling as Christians is to "live in the truth."
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