When being a pastor is like being a dad

Just like warning my girls of the dangers and evils of the "real world", I felt like a dad preaching yesterday about watching out for false teachers and avoiding deceptive teaching in the church.

In a world and culture where nothing is TRUTH and everyone is cynical, it's hard to talk about "safeguarding our lives with truth".

In case you weren't at Lifehouse or need a refresher, here's an overview:

• Paul wrote from prison to warn the Philippian church to watch out for "dogs" who were teaching a pop-culture belief. They said that you had to follow the religious rules of Judaism BEFORE you could believe in Jesus. In essence, you had to earn your salvation. This was both culturally popular and politically correct, since it fit the format of most world religions of that time.
• Paul challenged them to "safeguard their life with truth". Follow Jesus, bring glory to God and avoid people who teach lies.

What can we be certian of in an uncertain world? What will hold us fast when the storms of hardship rage against us? Straight from Paul's teaching, I challenged our church to safeguard our lives with TRUTH! But how?

• Watch out for false teachers and teachings: those who appear mature and educated, but their teaching matches pop-culture, and they twist any uncomfortable teachings of the Bible to match culture, deny essential beliefs of following Jesus, resist authority, encourage and/or engage in sensual living full of lust and greed.
• Hold to TRUTH: read and study the Bible.
• Examine teachings and teachers: look at the merits of those who teach and evaluate the credibility of the books, sermons, podcasts (that goes for me too). Any teacher worth listening to will appreciate your scrutiny.
• What to look for when evaluating credibility of a teacher or teaching: do they bring honor to Jesus or themselves? Do they teach the Bible as TRUTH and teach from the Bible, not just one verse but work to communicate the context of the Bible? Are they becoming more like Jesus or living in blatant contradiction to the way of Jesus?
• This doesn't mean that we should be pointing fingers at every preacher and author. Honestly, we are ordinary, imperfect people who also need God's amazing grace and mercy. But it's a caution to watch out and avoid those false teachers that peddle their lies for personal gain or the destruction of ignorant believers.

While I want to express this with deep conviction in a way that the Church will listen and respond to, I assure you that no level of passion can carry the intensity of warning that burns inside of me.

One final thought: I don't call out individuals or books by name, simply because I believe my role is to teach Truth and the principles of the Bible. I want to give you the tools, then invite you to use them effectively. I'm confident that the Holy Spirit will lead His Church into all Truth and will protect you from deceptive teaching. I'm trying to prepare you for the real spiritual world out there!