I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16: 17, 18, NIV.
Dear God, as we continue in the study of Your Word we ask that You open our minds to all that is happening around us, and give us divine wisdom to deal with it. This we ask in the holy name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
We said that we would continue in this topic for two days. It might be longer. I have learned to linger on a passage of Scripture until I see all there is to be seen, at a given time; because God’s Word is eternal – there is always “something else” to be learned from it. His Word has reproductive power – “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. . . For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33: 6, 9, NIV). His Word just keeps producing fruit!
Today we will look at the second half of this Scripture, “For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.” Not everything that sounds good, is sound doctrine. Eloquence is no basis on which to measure truth. Truth has its own measuring rod, because God is truth, (John 14: 6); and God cannot be measured. He is the “Alpha and the Omega.” His Beginning and End is not what we understand as the beginning and the end of a matter – because God has no beginning and He has no end. He is “the Lord God, ‘ “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” ‘ (Revelation 1: 8, NIV).
In the life of a Christian, it is all about God! Only His methods are effective in dealing with souls. When we accept God’s call to speak in His name, what we want must decrease, in order for God’s will to increase (John 3: 30). The apostle says of those who were causing a problem in the church at Rome, “such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.” Emphasis provided. Before we become too judgmental of others, let us stop right here and ask ourselves, “Lord, is it I?” Let us not forget that we who accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior from sin are, “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2: 9). We have all been called to proclaim “His praises!”
When Lucifer heralded one third of the heavenly host in a revolt against Michael (Revelation 12: 7) he was not trying to help them, it was all about himself. Yesterday we found that he is the source of all division. Listen to what Jude has to say about the people who do his divisive work. “He that has hears, listen” carefully to what the Spirit is saying: “These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. . . These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. . . These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (12a, 16, 19). This description in Jude is almost a replica of our Scripture.
The Adversary used a subtle form of flattery on Eve, “the serpent said to the woman. ‘ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” ‘ (Genesis 3: 5). And it worked, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it” (6). Keep off of forbidden ground. It will make it harder for the Adversary to flatter you.
Dearest friends, we have been forewarned. God so loves us that He has left warnings in His Word to protect us from those who create division and do harm to the cause of God. We must prayerfully, study the Word for ourselves! Then we will know the truth, as it was sent to us from God – and not by the selfish design of human beings.