Wolves Among the Sheep

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, 

among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, 

to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, 

not sparing the flock;

and from among your own selves men will arise, 
speaking perverse things, 
to draw away the disciples after them."
Acts 20: 28-30

Did you catch the meaning of the end of the section of scripture?

The Ephesian church leaders had among themselves those who would lead the church astray.

How is this possible?  Did not Paul train them and help install them?  Yes.  Right after Paul made this statement, did not these same leaders kneel down and pray with Paul?  Yes they did.

"By their fruits you will recognize them." 

Matt 7:20.  

In life and ministry it matters how you run the race and how you finish.

The Christian life is meant to be a life marked by dependent faith in Christ.  It is marked by authentic humility expressed in repentance and faith.  Have you noticed how often church leadership is not marked by these traits?  In particular, leadership that goes wrong is not marked by these traits!

Living in a fallen world means that we must 

always be on guard against the schemes of the evil one. 

He is a liar, a murderer (the root of all anger, jealousy, lack of love), and a pretender to authentic grace.  His schemes include placing false assurance into the hearts of some in hope that they will later wreck the mission and testimony of the church through their pride.

Again I ask, what does this mean?  Should we not join a church since it might be a mixed crew?  No!  It is important to join a church.  

Joining the church means willingly submitting to the order and authority of the local church.  It does not mean that you will agree with every decision made by the church, but that you will work to maintain the peace and purity of the church through healthy discussion, quick repentance when you wrong someone, and quick forgiveness when wronged.  It means that you willingly allow the Elders to speak the gospel into your life.  Most importantly, it also means that you are willingly ingrafted into the a local expression of the body of Christ.  It was an assumed condition for the Jews of Jesus' time.  It is important!

Yet, we should not be surprised or shocked when the behavior of others turns ugly.  We live in a fallen world!  We should not allow ugly behavior to continue in the name of being nice.  If we do so, we are encouraging and allowing evil.  We should lovingly confront and encourage repentance and faith.  Often the response will be repentance.  It might take time, but it will be so.  

Other times the response will be a striking out at you for mentioning their sin.

Does this surprise you?  Remember we live in a fallen world.

By their fruits you will recognize them.  

One who refuses to repent from obvious sin should be treated as an unbeliever.  In other words, they need to hear the gospel.  Repentance, faith, trust in Christ, confession of sin, and walking in grace and truth should be lovingly proclaimed and announced.

The Church is God's wonderful means of grace into this fallen world.  We are to model dependent faith upon Jesus.  We do not have it all together, but we point to and follow the One who does.  May the Lord purify and refine His bride to reflect and illustrate such dependent, repentant faith.