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Do Not Outsource Watchfulness Against Dangerous Teaching

Dealing with Danger

I didn’t grow up in the greatest neighborhood. Ex-convict neighbors and roving thugs on the daily. It wasn’t always like that—it changed over time. Place got more and more dangerous. Growing up, I got lessons on what to be mindful about.

On walks to the grocery store with my parents, I got to see by word and action, what to watch out for. “Watch out with groups gathering like that, doing nothing in the middle of the day” or “don’t stare with scared eyes”. Sometimes, just casually cross the street way in advance to not start up any issues. In today’s world, these actions might seem crude and presumptuous and, if based only on color, racist. Growing up, it was survival.

I’m reminded of Titus who was supposed to appoint elders but still needed to deal with the danger of false teachers.

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church

Are There Good Reasons to Divide A Local Church?

photo of two raw fish
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Aren’t there legitimate secondary or tertiary reasons to divide from a local church? That is essentially the first question I get asked whenever I talk about church divisions or that the Bible never calls Christians to divide. The only time it calls for division is when you’re dividing from the false teachers because the good news message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the grave is on the line. That said, Google tells me we have around 200 Christian denominations in the United States and 45,000 worldwide—surely, they can’t all be wrong?

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church

The Great Resignation of the Local Church: A Review of the Pandemic and The Enduring Culture of Change

stormy ocean with splashing waves in cloudy day
Photo by Lachlan Ross on Pexels.com

This is a sort of rambling look-back at the last two years and an encouragement for Christians to pause and reconsider outside of their circumstances and by looking at the broader picture. This look-back begins early in 2020, when society underwent a change akin to a pressure cooker.

For those who don’t know, a pressure cooker is a sealed pot that uses pressurized steam forcing food to cook faster. It’s great because the elements in the pot are all forced to cook together to create something that is a unique blend of the different flavors. Thing is, too much pressure and the pot can cause catastrophic damage. It’s so much pressure that you have to slowly release the steam so that you can manually open the pot.

That happened to all of us in 2020.

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christ church salvation scripture study

Things Are Actually Better

Holding hands as a better family
From Myriams-Fotos on Pixabay

During a seemingly bad situation, it’s hard to see the better. Seeing the better in the situation or in those around us is hard. I’m not talking about wishful thinking or silver linings. Like, when sick, thinking, “oh, I’ll get better in four days” or “at least I’m not dead!”.

Even During Tough Times, Things Are Actually Better

“Better” is a comparison word. It only works when it’s put up against something else. That’s important.

The writer to the Hebrews wrote to believers who were going through a rough patch. To fix their situation, some thought they needed to jump ship.  Some stopped coming together (Hebrews 10:25). Some probably feared to suffer (Hebrews 12:4). All of them needed encouragement (Hebrews 13:22) to stand firm (Hebrews 12:12). They needed this letter where the author pits the choices against each other to show the better.

Not a better imaginable situation. Not a silver lining. Rather a re-aligning of their thinking.

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brethren church sin study

Church Discipline: What Does the Bible Say About It?

a disciplined woman balancing herself
Audio version of the article minus the questions at the end or the bibliography.

Hey, remember when I wrote that mad long article about the local church? I casually mentioned that the right church holds to scripturally correcting its members. I never really explained what I meant by that, so people had questions. Questions like “what does it mean that a church corrects its members?” Or “what does church discipline look like?” Or how does church discipline work? And, does church discipline work at all? I even got “who is allowed to carry out church discipline and why?” Good questions all but, I’ll take a step back to work through the rationale with another crazy long article. Audio to come soon.

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