Come Away From Them

I like what Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus about God’s purpose for leadership in His church: 

“And [God] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming . . . .” (Ephesians 4)

Are you hearing from the leadership in your church what you ‘need’ to hear, or are you hearing what you ‘want’ to hear?

Be careful that you do not fall into the trap Paul also spoke of in his letter to Timothy:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4)

If your leadership – from the pastor to the deacon to the various teachers in the church – if your leadership does not speak from the whole of Scripture and the historic teaching of the Church, then I beg you, come out from among them. Separate yourself from them.

If your church’s leadership feel it necessary to ‘update’ God’s word to be compatible with modern cultural ideas – then I beg you, come out from among them. Separate yourself from them.

Find a church were God’s shepherds and pastors and teachers proclaim God’s undiluted truth, where the historic teaching of the Church is heralded without compromise to all who have ears to hear and eyes to see.

If you do not come away from those who preach what you want to hear, and not what you need to hear, you place yourself and your family in great danger of shipwreck with regard to your eternal destiny.