Back to the key verses we see the first instruction from Paul is to make sure that everyone learns what we need to teach. I may have passed this by except i think there is some relevance for today. I see churches today more inclined to get rid of sheep than close the pen door. I have heard pastors say to people they need to leave, during a sermon! While this may sound incredible it is actually what today's church leaders are being taught. The Purpose Driven Church is the model for the vast majority of churches in this country today. This model actually espouses and teaches how to deal with those who might disagree or dissent. Not disagree or dissent with the Gospel but rather with the church model. This of course flies in the face of direct teaching from Jesus.
"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? - Luke 15: 4 (NLT)
Instead we see pastors sending out of the pen and into the wilderness those sheep that might simply have a difference of opinion. The first lesson here for would be Christian leaders is that everyone counts and the Bible should be the unifying principle.
The second lesson we see is that we should not allow anyone to marginalize us for non-doctrinal matters. In the case of Timothy, Paul was concerned that because he was young he would face opposition. Today we see all sorts of opposition to sound preaching and people will use any excuse possible to prop up heresy as sound doctrine and avoid Biblical truth. David Wilkerson once said that the first thing said by false prophets to their opposition is to cry legalism! Once again, the Bible has warned us about this:
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. - 2Timothy 4: 3-4 (NLT)
There is no question that a great swath of the modern church is merely following their own desires at the expense of sound doctrine. People look for such false teachings because it is what they want to hear. I understand the great draw of something like grace alone teaching. Who wouldn't want to hear that we no longer have to worry about sin? Who wouldn't want to hear that this is the year I will be supernaturally blessed by God? Who wouldn't want to hear that this is our best life now? If it is in disagreement with the Gospel then we should not want to hear it beloved. We should not.
Continuing in the key verses we see that as leaders we are supposed to be an example for those that would follow. Paul gets very specific for us however. First of all Paul instructs us to be examples to all believers in what we say. As a teacher/preacher, people are there foremost to hear what it is that we have to say. Bringing the Word of God should be considered an awesome responsibility; not a job. What we say may very well be someone's only chance or their last chance, to accept Jesus Christ and be saved. My pastor once taught me that every message should be able to come back to the cross of Jesus Christ or it is not worth preaching. How true. But what do we see today instead? We see self-help sermons. We see motivational sermons. We see sermons designed to help our marriages or self-esteem. Beloved, you can be a motivated, self-helped, person with a great marriage and boosted self esteem and none of it will matter without salvation. People do not need to come to church to hear from me. They need to hear from God.
We are supposed to be an example to believers in how we live. You want to know why there is so much sin in the camp? Look to who is running it. How many pastors and leaders fall from grace every day in Christianity? And this is not to be overly critical of them per se. We are all human but we are held to a higher standard. You cannot stand in the pulpit preaching holiness while carrying on an affair! The Bible says that what we do in the dark He will bring to the light. While we are on the subject; there needs to be a vigilance against hypocrisy. You cannot tell people to leave the sheep fold and then preach on the 99 and the 1. Our lives must match our words beloved. The words your leaders speak need to match their lives! Preaching the Word of God carries His moral authority but if it has not first affected the preacher as such, why in the world would the people feel compelled to follow it?
