WHOA! (PART 3)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”

Luke 11:44

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We had a very interesting discussion in my Sunday School class (or small group, whichever you prefer) this past weekend. Our study this entire quarter has been centered on the second half of the Book of Acts and as you would expect, the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul.

While studying from the 20th chapter and Paul’s farewell address to the elders of the Ephesian church, we got to the part where Paul is warning against false teachings in the church. Here’s what he had to say:

“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 (Jesus) 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!” Acts 20:28-31

While Paul was in Ephesus, he was very careful to make sure that he only taught the Christians there the truth about salvation through Jesus, the heart of the Gospel. He understood how new Christianity was to the church there and that the believers had not yet established deep enough roots of understanding and wisdom related to the scriptures. They were still very impressionable and, in his opinion, vulnerable to being victimized by false teachers who would come in with the intent of leading Christians astray like savage wolves that would come to not spare the flock. Paul warned the elders to be on their guard against anyone who would come to distort the truth.

Well, this sparked some discussion within our class regarding whether people today are still being misled and deceived by false teachers, a point that everyone unequivocally believed was happening. Indeed, there are still wolves in the midst of the church that are in sheep’s clothing, their only intent to lead the church into sin and disobedience by distorting the very word of God. It’s happening somewhere every day and as we see in today’s passage, it was happening well before Paul came on the scene. Look at Jesus’ words as we continue to see Him detailing a number of woes that would were coming to the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of the day:

“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”

Luke 11:44

What do unmarked graves have to do with the discussion of misleading teachers?

You first have to know what Jesus was talking about.

You see, the Pharisees were very concerned with the graves of those they considered to be unclean. In fact, they were so intentional about not even placing a foot in one of those graves, lest they become unclean themselves, that they would whitewash them so they would be easily seen and avoided, unlike what might happen if the grave was unmarked.

Ahhhh, now we can start to see Jesus’ point coming more into focus.

If a person stepping on an unmarked grave made them unclean and Jesus was comparing the Pharisees to unmarked graves, then anyone who was coming to them, believing they were receiving righteousness (i.e. a path to being clean), would only come away unclean and defiled after coming into contact with the sinful wickedness that was pervasive in the Pharisee community, although you never would have known it by the pompous, pious way they conducted themselves.

In essence, the Pharisees were just like the savage wolves that Paul warned the Ephesians about and comparable to any number of pastors and teachers today who are taking liberties with their teaching by falsely teaching from the inerrant scriptures. And just as Jesus predicted woe on the Pharisees, so too will woe fall on anyone else who misleads the people of God into sin, especially those who come across as trustworthy and reliable when they really aren’t. To those who are delivering counterfeit doctrine, Jesus would say, “Whoa! Stop what you are doing immediately!”

As for Christians today, how can we avoid falling victim to erroneous instruction, from spiritual lies packaged as truth?

We can start by studying the scriptures ourselves with such fervor that we cannot possibly be misinformed by anyone. Using the Bible as our validation tool, we will fact check everything we are hearing from any teacher, allowing the Holy Spirit to enter in and guide us. Trust me when I say this is a near foolproof way from being made foolish by following the wrong instruction. As I write each day, as I teach my class on Sundays, I always make it a point to make sure the words I write and share are truth and the Holy Spirit who guides my way ensures this is so.

It’s been that way for well over 2,700 devotions now and countless lessons taught across more than 25 years of Bible teaching experience. I count it a deep honor and privilege to be used by the Lord in such an amazing way and am fully aware that if I ever go astray and turn from the truth, He will remove the blessing of ministry from me, and lead me into woe, a place I never want to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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