Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Acts
20:28-31
Introduction
· Read Acts 20:28-31
· Pray
· v:30 says leaders will come speaking
“twisted things”
o
Greek
means to distort and pervert, not new
o
In
other words it has just enough truth to sound good
o
It’s
heresy
· Heresy: not a term we hear much, or
maybe even like to use
o
It
seems harsh
o
And
in some ways it is. We shouldn’t just throw it around because it’s a serious
accusation.
o
But
what does it mean?
§ “The formal denial or doubt of any defined
doctrine of the…faith. In antiquity (ancient times) the Greek word αἵρεσις, denoting ‘choice’ or ‘thing
chosen’, from which the term is derived, was applied to the tenets of
particular philosophical schools.” [1]
§ in Classical Greek it meant seizure
or choice, and then developed into the Hellenistic sense of teaching or
schools. So one needs to “choose the institution which teaches correctly.”
§ The easiest way to spot heresy is
that it always changes what God has either said about Himself, or what He does.
§ e.g. the wrong Jesus (a god), or God
is love so He wouldn’t send people to hell
§ Isn’t that what happened in the
garden? “Did God really say…”
o
It
seems there has always been, and will always be divisions based on a desire to
uphold truth.
o
Bear
with me as this does relate to the passage we read
o
I
want to start with…
Text
· Sound doctrine (SoF)
o
Statement
of Faith (10 points)
§ obligation (if you’re new to the Free
Church) to know what that is
§ On our website (I can email a PDF)
o
There’s
a difference between heresy and theological distinctives even if we believe
they are major (repeat)
§ Theological distinctives are some of
these:
¨ Calvinism and Arminianism
¨ Believer’s baptism and Covenantal
paedo baptism
¨ Believing all the gifts are for
today, and cessationist view
¨ The EFCA allows for all of these,
careful to say: “I can’t believe someone would believe this” as if I’m the sole
owner of truth.
¨ Now, distinctives can
become heresy…
§ All these stay within the boundaries
of orthodoxy (i.e. our SoF)
o
Distinctives
descend in priority like this:
§ Theological (Biblical content)
§ Philosophical (most helpful for
experience/cultural)
§ Personal Preference (what I like)
§ I’ll pick on music in a worship
service
¨ Theology – truth
¨ Philosophical – relates to our people
¨ Personal preference – what I like
¨ These change as the venue changes
(i.e. service vs. concert) because personal preference weighs heavier
§ How’d we get here (heresy)?
¨ We were led here and we wanted to go
(later)
¨ Think about it, no one forces people,
they stay…
¨ (2 Timothy 4:3-4) “For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth
and wander off into myths.”
¨ The Greek for “itching” means
“tickled” or a sense in hearing something pleasing
o
We
also
should see that there are False Churches and true Churches
§ True churches some are more pure and
some less pure
§ Think about it like this:
§ The false are all false
§ I’m dealing today with heresy, false
teaching (which means a church is false if it denies the gospel, or promotes a
different one
§ I would say:
¨ More pure would look like Philippi or
Thessalonica
¨ Less pure would look like Corinth or
Galatia
§ Pure churches will look something
like this:
1.
Biblical doctrine (or right preaching of the Word)
2.
Proper use of the sacraments (or ordinances)
3.
Right use of church discipline
4.
Genuine worship
5.
Effective prayer
6.
Effective witness
7.
Effective fellowship
8.
Biblical church government
9.
Spiritual power in ministry
10.
Personal holiness of life among members
11.
Care for the poor
12. Love for
Christ [2]
· Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: False
teachers and teaching
o
We’ll
be going into this in more detail on the 27th)
o
Why
Acts 28?
§ v:17 Paul is speaking to the Elders
§ v:28 “pay careful attention to
yourselves and to all the flock…”
§ v:29 “fierce wolves will come in
among you…”
¨ Again, to whom is Paul speaking?
§ v:30 “from among you own selves…”
§ v:31 “Therefore be alert…admonish
everyone with tears.”
§ The problem is that most heresy comes
from those leading, and a lack of discernment from those following
§ Book: Challies
· What Fierce wolves look like:
o
Not
what you would expect from a casual reading
§ (Romans 16:17-19) 17 “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for
those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that
you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For
such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by
smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.”
§ Winsome not violent
§ Fierce: weighty to burden heavily
¨ Start at 4:46 – stop at 8:03
o
Health
& Wealth (Prosperity)
§ This is the idea that God wants you
to be rich and healthy; and if you’re not, you’re sinning
§ I remember a guy from the Coulee
Region telling me that if the apostle Paul would have been more obedient he
wouldn’t have suffered so much
§ It’s basically moralistic, therapeutic
deism
¨ God wants to fix you home
¨ God wants to fix your job
¨ He wants you happy and fulfilled, but
Jesus isn’t the answer, health and possessions are!
§ Some beliefs and quotes:
¨ “We don’t teach from Books of
the Bible because it gets in the way of evangelism. We don’t offer different
kinds of Bible studies because it gets in the way of evangelism. We don’t teach
doctrine because it gets in the way of evangelism.
-
If you want to be fed God’s word or have the Bible
explained to you then you are a fat lazy Christian and you need to shut up and
get to work or you need to leave this church because we ONLY do evangelism.” -
Steven Furtick
-
Is this heresy, it denies
the biblical command to feed and care for the sheep. The command is make
disciples…
¨ “There is no hope of anyone going to
heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to heaven
unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell” – Joyce Meyer
¨ Just thinking about Scripture, isn’t
this one easy to refute?
o
What
were the last words of Jesus on the cross?
o
Where
did He tell the thief he’d be today?
¨ “He was
literally being reborn before the devil's very eyes. He began to flex His
spiritual muscles...Jesus was born again.”
- "You
don't have a god in you, you are one." – Kenneth Copeland
§ This is heresy
o
Oneness
§ There is one God, Creator of all things,
infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. – T.D. Jakes
§ So, when
Jesus prayed, His human nature was praying to His divine nature.
o
Emergent
(vs. Emerging) Church
§ celebrate theological diversity
(there is a good way to do this…)
§ Sometimes, heresy isn’t what you say,
it’s what you’re not willing to say…
§ Therefore objective truth is
relegated to subjective truth
§ i.e. “God told me so it must be true,
even if it conflicts with Scripture.”
§ The leader’s blog uses “question
& response” instead of “question & answer” because he feels he doesn’t
have answers but only responses.
§ Here’s an actual excerpt from an book
just released for teens:
¨ “What if the idea of heaven and hell that
we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if Jesus
meant something very different by the concepts of Heaven, Hell and salvation
from how we’ve come to understand them?”
¨ When asked in the book about
converting friends who don’t know Christ, he says to live a “Jesus lifestyle”
so they’ll want to live like you.
o
Open
Theism
§ God has
granted to humanity free will and that in order for the free will to be truly
free, the future free will choices of individuals cannot be known ahead of time
by God.
§ "Much
of it [the future]…is settled ahead of time, either by God's…will or by
existing earthly causes (deism), but it is not exhaustively settled ahead
of time. To whatever degree the future is yet open to be decided by free
agents, it is unsettled." [3] - Clark Pinnock
§ “Since it [open theism] sees God as
dependent on the world in certain respects, the open view of God differs from
much conventional theology. Yet we believe that this dependence does not
detract from God’s greatness, it only enhances it.” [4]
o
Liberal
Theology
§ Hear Wayne Grudem:
§ “It
is helpful…to remember that classical liberal Protestantism is humanistic, and
its approaches are primarily man-centered rather than God-centered. When a
church begins to stray from faithfulness to Christ, this will be evident not
only in the shift to impure doctrine (which can sometimes be concealed from
church members by the use of evasive language) but also in the daily life of
the church…There will tend to be a repeated emphasis on the typical kinds of
self-help advice given in popular journals and by secular psychologists.” [5]
§ What’s evasive language?
¨ leave out words that divide or offend
like sin or wrath
¨ Take away the gender roles of God
¨ Re-shape words to soften or obscure
their meaning
o
We
make mistakes (sin)
o
We
misspeak (lie)
¨ Focus on one aspect of God’s
character at the expense of all the others (i.e He is love)
¨ Political dictums outrank Scripture
o
Ecumenism??
§ Agreement on moral issues slides into
agreement on Biblical issues
§ Just because I agree with a Mormon on
abortion does not mean I can worship there on Sunday
o
Itching
ears
§ judgment
§ They won’t have this on their
website!
o
(2
Corinthians 11:14-15) “14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light. 15 So
it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of
righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
· So, what is my role as an Elder, and
your role as a member/attender in all this?
o
In
most ways, it’s the same for both of us
o
It
should always point to Jesus
§ If a sermon in a Christian church is
so benign that it may be accepted in a Mormon Temple, it’s wrong.
§ Talking about God does not
necessarily equate Christianity
§ Lots of cults will agree with God is
delightful, powerful, good, but when we say and He is manifested in the person
of Jesus Christ, now the brakes come on.
o
Discernment
§ I said “wolves in sheep’s clothing”
for a reason. All the websites have credible statements of faith
§ So, just looking at a website isn’t
enough
¨ take real time
¨ don’t pass gossip
¨ I get lots of emails
§ Just because a pastor says it,
doesn’t mean it’s true. But, time tends to prove the consistency of a
preacher/teacher
o
We
must be a people of the Word
§ (Hebrews 5:14) “14 But solid food is for the mature, for those
who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to
distinguish good from evil.”
o
Attentiveness
§ This doesn’t happen overnight
§ It’s like the Mennonite Brethren
movement. One particular analysis goes like this: the first generation believed
and proclaimed the gospel and thought that there were certain social
entailments. The next (2nd) generation assumed the gospel and
advocated the entailments. The third generation denied the gospel
and all that were left were the entailments.[6]
Conclusion
· Why so much re-definition? Heresy
(hehehe…)
· Why must Jesus be who He says He is?
o
(1
John 2:23) “No one who denies the Son has
the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”
o
We
lose urgency
· God’s glory needs to be more
important than my comfort and acceptance in the world.
o
That
means sharing truth that is confrontational
o
Think
about it Jesus was murdered (and almost all His disciples) for standing on this
truth
o
A
gospel without sin and wrath takes away the joy of grace for sinners and the
great God who initiated it.
[1]
Cross, F. L., &
Livingstone, E. A. (2005). The Oxford
dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. rev.) (762). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
[2]
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to
biblical doctrine (874). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI:
Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
[4]
Pinnock, Clark, The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to
the Traditional Understanding of God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994),
16.
[5]
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to
biblical doctrine (875–876). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI:
Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
[6]
D.A.
Carson, “The Primacy of Expository Preaching.” Address given at Bethlehem
Conference for Pastors, 1995.
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