23 January 2008 Devotion for Today “Zero-Tolerance Policy” 2 Timothy 4:3-5

23 January 2008 Devotion for Today “Zero-Tolerance Policy” 2 Timothy 4:3-5

Most public schools in America have what they call a “Zero-Tolerance Policy” concerning the possession of weapons on their property. It’s a very good rule- sometimes enforced to ridiculous proportions at times (I’m talking about all the first grade boys who inadvertently pack a plastic water pistol in the knapsack, and end up being tackled, tazered, and tied up by the bomb squad), its to protect our children from crazies like the gunmen at Columbine or Virginia Tech. This policy only serves to demonstrate the terribly violent world we have to live in, brought about because of the devaluation of human life, and the endeavor of Postmodern culture to remove the very concept of God from our consciences. This has occurred at the same time that apostacy has crept into the teaching of our churches, weakening our doctrine in an effort to make the Gospel popular and palatable to the masses. In fact, it seems like the coffee shops now available in some of our mega churches are able to serve up stronger stuff than what we hear from their pulpits.

What we needed long before we needed a zero-tolerance policy in our schools is a zero-tolerance policy in our churches. A zero-tolerance policy for what? Bringing guns into churches? Well, unfortunately this has happened, but that is not exactly what I am getting at. I’m talking about zero-tolerance against any form of false teaching, false doctrine, or even any methodology which seeks to subvert the Gospel in the name of being popular or “reaching people.” Not that I am against reaching people, but it depends upon what message one is trying to reach them with.

Paul issues Timothy the reason for this zero-tolerance policy in 2 Timothy 4:3-5 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they having itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

The first century world resembled much of what we see in postmodern culture today. There was the proliferation of many philosophies, theologies, and ideas about moralities. The Greeks in particular were a pluralistic society which regarded all religions equally. On top of that, there was monotheistic Judaism contending against polytheism of all forms, yet it was against Christ and His followers. Within the fledgling movement of Christianity were many false teachers and philosophers who were pushing their agenda to reject any strong stands of morality on one hand to those who heaped all sorts of legalistic rules and regulations on the other. But where the danger was the most ominous was when Christians allowed the attitude of tolerance, or hearing what they wanted to hear to subvert the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. The way Paul dealt with it is to have a zero-tolerance policy toward false teachers and false teaching.

This devotional may not be very uplifting or inspirational, still we need to be discerning. How do we discern false teaching and false teachers? This is for the next installment but let me leave you with this. Satan has adopted the methodology of the middle eastern terrorist on this one. He straps a bomb vest of apostacy on and parades into the congregation. When the church members are comfortable with him being there, Satan touches off the bomb, taking many casualties with him into hell.

The pressure to do away with the Gospel is basically the same as it was in the first century. We can usually identify apostacy when there is a challenge to try to make something more palatable, or to lower the bar on what it mans to be a Christian, or to give more importance to being trendy and culturally relevant. We must remember that while we might want to change the form of what we do, we never want to change the meaning of Scripture. I’ll talk more of this tomorrow. But in the meantime, guard your heart, and create a zero-tolerance policy against false doctrine.

Have a blessed day!