But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God -- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with themBe aware.
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7)
Scripture says a lot about darkness, and warns us not to get caught up in the ways of the world. For many Christians, the easy thing to do is separate themselves completely from the world's activity. If our faith's goal is to protect ourselves from some contagious quality of sin, we should be able to fulfill our purpose by quarantining ourselves to Christian circles, right?
We forget that our enemy lurks there as well.
This warning to the young pastor is unique in that Paul describes a seed of Satan planted within the midst of Christian culture. This isn't the thick darkness that hides in back-alley workplaces, urban slums, or adult video stores. This could be the guy sitting next to you on Sunday morning. He could be an active member of your singles group. His voice may sound amazing in the worship band. He may offer an extensive commentary on this week's Sunday School topic.
Do you know the people that commune with you? You may or may not. The more piercing evaluation is this: does your local body allow these lovers of themselves to commune with you?
When I lived in St. Charles, I had a huge burden for a co-worker that had lost her faith in high school. She did the youth group thing and dated a youth group guy, as every good church girl should. The relationship eventually turned possessive and abusive, and he took advantage of her in ways that she still cannot express without shutting down in tears. A couple years later, he continued to stalk her as she went off to college, and she refused to cut off communication because of what he might do to her or himself (a common response from a victim).
One evening, the church boy got drunk at our open-mike night, carving slanderous and threatening comments about her all over the bathroom wall. She was deathly frightened, and was finally convinced by our coffee crew to erase him from her Facebook and get a restraining order.
The girl still cannot accept the existence of her God. The boy would still be openly accepted in the sanctuary of the megachurch they attended. Brothers and sisters, this is a dire problem. In a Moses moment of rage, I told my co-worker that I would "beat her ex's ass" if he ever returned to our shop. I'm about the least violent person you will ever meet, and I'm not prone to profanity. I had to seek forgiveness for my vengeance later. But I have no tolerance for self-serving, manipulative people worming their way into the Body.
Paul's suggestion is not popular in the church today. We want to be tolerant enough to help people through their problems. However, if we are to maintain the purity of His Bride, we must discern and recognize the wolves that have no intention to repent or seek consecration in their lives.
When we began our discipleship movement, we cautioned young believers from our experience: "Satan will bring you as many disciples as God." Within the first year, we booted three "believers" from our church according to the discipline process described in Matthew 18. Each of them slandered the church in the aftermath, while desperately trying to be reunited without repentance. They called the weakest members of our Body to raise dissension and gain a foot back in the door. Trust me Church, the enemy is relentless, and we must be on guard against his work in our fellowship.
This requires diligence in accountability and discernment with those worshiping among us. Thankfully, Jesus reminds us in John 15 that we can know those that abide in Him by their fruit. Scripture is full of warnings to the churches, asking them to avoid particular people because of their detriment to the Gospel. We cannot assume that the enemy is any less at work today.
1 comment:
Good word. They will be known by their fruit. Those that love our God. Such a godo marker, and yet such a high standard as well. There are so many who may not intend to be wolves at all, but have no fruit and are content without producing fruit. Aren't these ones potentially dangerous too? Jesus would rather us be 'hot' or 'cold'...or cold. He'd rather that than lukewarm. Hmm...just a thought. Haven't prayed into it or developed or anything. Just thinking about the fruit thing. :) Thanks for posting.
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