Dear Disciple,
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Acts 20:28-31
Our Master Jesus bought the Church with His own blood. He is devoted to her and is jealous for her. He will protect her from the Enemy who seeks to draw her heart away and corrupt her.
Our brother Paul knew all of these things as he appealed to the elders of the church in Ephesus during his farewell address to them. His love for Jesus produced in him a profound love for Jesus’ people, and so he called the ‘shepherds of Christ’s flock to guard it diligently and courageously.
Did you notice what Paul warned them to be on guard against? “Savage wolves” would arise from outside and from within the church to draw people away. Their strategy? They would “distort the truth”. The only effective weapon the Enemy truly has against the power of the resurrected Lord’s people is falsehood, and he wields it expertly!
Do you sense the Enemy’s work in the churches today, Disciple? Can you recognize the many ways he is distorting the truth within the churches through false teachers and leaders? It cannot – it must not – be taken for granted that those who stand in pulpits or on stages with Bibles in-hand speak what is in agreement with the living Word, our Master Jesus. As it has been since soon after our Master ascended to glory, so it shall be until the time He returns in glory: there will be false voices wooing those in the churches with pleasant but deadly lies that agree with the world rather than the Word.
Read the New Testament Scriptures and you will see that this danger is one of the most frequently dealt with issues in all that is written. No other attack of the Enemy can succeed against the church Jesus is building besides that of distorting the truth, so I urge you to be on your guard. Know what the Scriptures actually say. Read and discuss them with other disciples. Don’t let Bible quotes taken out of context or religious cliches posted in social media guide your understanding of what is true.
What do your Master and His apostles say about the issues that divide people all around us? That’s what must determine our thoughts and positions. Disciple, let us decisively stand with our Master no matter what others might say, no matter how passionately or persistently they might say it. We will love, yes! But we can only show love by dwelling in what is real and true. And let us be sure to test what we hear – even in the songs and sermons in our church gatherings – by the words we read in the Scriptures. We are, after all, the Church of Jesus. He alone bought us with His blood. He alone has the right to claim us as His own. He is jealous for us and has given us the Word and Spirit of truth we need to stay strong and undefeated in the face of all the lies our Enemy will (subtly or overtly) throw at us. We’ve been warned, even with tears. Let us heed the ancient warning!
Listening for our Shepherd’s voice above all others with you,
Ryan
