As you might have noticed, we’re
wrapping up the book of Romans with just a few short verses to go. Remember when
I said that Paul started out with the “heavy” material and ended the book with
slightly lighter fare? Well, I misspoke: Maybe I should have said “heavi-er”
material, because even in these “housekeeping” type of verses, there’s plenty
to absorb and digest.
I’ve mentioned
this before, but I really think that the common nostalgia lots of Christians
have for the 1st century church is a bit overdone. Human nature hasn’t
changed, and God certainly hasn’t. All of the problems we see today are pretty
much the ones the church struggled with 2000 years ago.
Case in point: Paul warned about
false teachers and pseudo-Christians who’d snuck in and introduced bad teaching,
which had caused division in the church. Sound familiar? He tells the
rank-and-file believers reading this to stay away from them. Don’t listen to
their “smooth talk and flattery.” This was a danger back then, and it’s a
danger now.
That brings us to something that the
modern American Christian desperately needs to hear: When it comes to God’s truth, ignorance
is not bliss. Paul tells them in vs. 29 that he wants them to “be wise
about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” Not ignorant. Innocent. Jesus was referring to this distinction when
he told
us to “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” According to vs. 19 in
today’s passage, these con-men are targeting “naive people,” so by not being
discerning you’re opening yourself up to deception.
Keep in mind that bad teaching does
more than lead individual Christians astray. It also tends to divide churches.
Christians who should be united in the truth instead bicker over issues that
should've been settled long ago. And the Devil watches and laughs.
So what does it mean? It means when someone presents some teaching that
sounds new, you need to carefully examine it in the light of what God’s word
says. And if it doesn’t match up, then drop it. Don’t indulge in it.
And near the end of this book, he
presents a glorious promise right after these warnings. False teachers will
always be with us, but ultimately the source of all their “teaching” will find
himself under the boot. Of course, we know that at the end of history as we
know it, the longstanding war between Satan and our Lord will culminate in
Satan being tossed into the Lake of Fire. And I can see why that’s part of what
Paul’s referring to here.
But I think we can experience some
of that ultimate victory right here and now. When he told the believers in Rome
that the God of peace (ironic title considering the rest of the verse) will “soon”
crush their Enemy beneath their feet, I don’t think he was just talking about
the end of the Age. When we’re discerning about good and evil--listening to the
good and shunning the bad--that’s a good way to put the Enemy under our feet
right here and now. He sometimes attacks frontally, but most of the time in the
Age his most dangerous weapons are lies.
And of course covering all of this
is God’s grace. We desperately need his grace—his unmerited favor-- to discern
truth from lies, turn away from these lies and towards our Father, and to crush
our Adversary beneath our feet.
If we listen to our Father, we can’t
lose.
Father God, it seems like I constantly
need my ears unplugged and my heart softened. Help me to be deaf to the Enemy,
listening only to your voice.
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