Be Aware of the Wolves

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15

Events this week reminded me of this great verse from Matthew. Wednesday my wife and I were greeted at our door, after work, by our dogs. This is a daily occurrence—usually a fun one as well. This fun encounter took a very bad turn when I noticed an empty pill bottle lying on the kitchen floor. Apparently our cat—purposefully or not—had knocked the full pill container off the counter. You can imagine what happened once the container was on the floor. Our dogs apparently thought Christmas had come early to the Wood house and they chowed down. These pills look and taste like treats but they are prescribed for dogs with severe pain from arthritis—more than one a day could cause serious problems and even death. However, this fact did not play into our dogs’ decision to eat 27 of them. Our dogs are now being treated, and we have no way knowing the long term or short term affects this may have on them. So, what does this have to do with Matthew 7?

This has everything to do with the verse above! Once things calmed down Wednesday I couldn’t help but equate our lives to that of our dogs. Our dogs are constantly searching for things to eat, especially treats. They don’t use proper judgment. They are not concerned about the outcome or the long terms effects of their decisions. They are worried about right now and right now they see 27 tablets in front of them that look and smell like treats. Is this not what we do as well? We are constantly searching for pleasure. We are constantly seeking fulfillment in our lives. We want to be happy. We want to feel good. So what do we do? Many times we make poor decisions and dive into situations that will have long lasting effects on our lives. The thing that worries me the most about this lifestyle is the eternal ramifications that it brings.

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” Blaise Pascal

Pascal had it figured out. Just like my dogs, we are in a constant search mode. We recognize that something is missing but we struggle to pinpoint exactly what that is. This struggle brings more searching but never in a Godly direction. We choose to fill this “hole” in our heart with debauchery—sex, alcohol, friendships, children, sports, work, technology, mortgages, cars. We spend our time turning, as Mark Driscoll would say, our good things in to “god” things. This is unhealthy on so many levels but especially in our Christian walk.

The most unfortunate thing about this mindset and lifestyle is it is creeping, no; it is being welcomed into our churches. There are folks out there preying on individuals with what they claim to be the gospel. This is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 7. We must be on guard and understand that the wolves are coming and in some cases are already here. They are out to get us. We must also understand that some of these wolves do a great job of looking the part. Some of these wolves are in your churches teaching and mentoring young minds. This is why we have to be prepared. This is why we must stay submerged in the Word.

Look back at my dogs and their experience. The problem they faced wasn’t necessarily their search but instead it was their eagerness to ingest what they found without investigating further. I am not going to fault you for your search—as long as it is God centered. We must investigate and dig deeper to assure ourselves that Truth is being taught and preached. Just because someone looks the part and says, what appears to be, the right words does not mean that Truth is being preached. We must dig deeper.

Well, you may ask, how am I supposed to know the Truth is being preached? The simplest way to assure that the gospel is being preached is to make sure that no one is putting an adjective in front of the gospel. It is what is. It is not the “health” gospel. It is not the “wealth” gospel. It is not the “black or white” gospel. It is not the “get you out of debt” gospel. It is and will always be simply the GOSPEL centered on one person—Jesus!

Well what does that mean? How are we to define the gospel? We start with Jesus. Jesus stepped down from His throne in heaven to become man (John 17). Now, recognize that Jesus did not cease being God.  Jesus lived on the Earth fully God while fully man. He hurt. He cried. He worked. He bled. He healed. He performed miracles. He raised the dead. He calmed the storms. This is Jesus. Jesus was sent here to die. He went to the cross with glory on His mind. Everything Jesus did was about bringing God glory. We see this clearly in John.

                I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. John 17:4-5

So Jesus lived and then was put on a cross and died. Why would He do that? What is found at the cross? At the cross Jesus became our substitute our ransom. Notice He didn’t simply pay the ransom, He became the ransom. Why do we need a substitute? We need a substitute because we are sinners. Apart from the Almighty One we are destined for hell. Our treasure, our focus as sinners is to constantly trample on God’s glory, we fall short (Romans 3:23).  God could not and will not simply look over sin. This is why Jesus was sent. This is why Jesus died on the cross. The cross made it possible for sinners to be saved. This is the only way for one to be saved. We did nothing to earn this. The only thing we earned or deserved was eternal damnation.

These are tough words but don’t miss the beautiful picture painted at the cross. Our Savior, the Ruler over the entire universe willingly took the cross so that salvation could come. This brought about propitiation. This is a big word but a gorgeous one. This means that God’s wrath was satisfied. Jesus’ blood didn’t just simply wipe away our sin. His blood turned God’s wrath to favor. Don’t miss that! This demonstrates God’s righteousness. He can have no part of sin. The penalty for sin is severe (Romans 6:23). Jesus, on the cross, took that wrath. He took what we deserved. Jesus’ blood brought forgiveness.

This is great news for us and is a beautiful portrait of the Love of our Father but it doesn’t stop there. Three days later the tomb was rolled away and our Savior lives! The pangs of death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24). Christ lived, died and rose again so sinners could be saved. We have nothing to fear. Death can be very scary but Christ brought eternity with the Father and conquered death so that we could have no fear.

What is at the center of the few paragraphs above discussing the gospel? Jesus is! He is our focus. He is our treasure. If the gospel ever lacks being Christ-centered than it ceases to be the gospel. We must hold onto that truth. This was Paul’s focus. He constantly referred to the gospel as the “gospel of Christ”. Jesus must stay at the center of all that we do and certainly at the center of the gospel.

I want to finish by warning you to be aware. Be aware of your teachers. Be aware of the books you read. Be aware of the podcasts you listen to. If any of these even begin to move away from a gospel centered on Christ you must stop ingesting. Don’t be like my dogs and ingest whatever is in front of you simply because it looks good or sounds good. Please don’t spend your life searching for things apart from Christ. We must stop simply ingesting all that we come in contact with and start investigating further so that we learn from others while also deepening our own passions and studies in the Word and in Christ.