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Walking on By: Survey Results – Part 3

March 24, 2008

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Dear Friends,

Our third question was “How good of a job do you think we do in responding when we have wolves (false brethren who attack sheep) in our midst?” Again, we have posted the comments for this question at this link. The results broke down as follows:

The results overall were skewed toward a negative response. Over 50% of the respondents chose either below average or pitiful. Average isn’t necessarily as good as it may seem on the surface, since other denominations have similar difficulties handling wolves.

1) We must properly identify wolves. One of the fundamental problems with handling the issue of wolves is identifying them. For example, one group may identify a brother as a fine example of what a brother in Christ should be and another group will identify that same brother as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. When some attempt to deal with that brother as a wolf, his admirers will in turn see those actions as wolfish. Both groups see themselves as trying to do the right thing based on their own paradigm. Both groups see their set of “facts” as the only way to see it and those that disagree with them as unspiritual, unwise or worse.

The basic litmus test of wolfery is the person’s fruit. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matt. 7:15,16) We can also use Galatians 5 as the checklist for fruit to determine wolfery. In the following list, the first characteristic is what we would expect a brother in Christ to show (the fruit of the spirit) and the characteristic in parentheses is the opposite of good fruit which we would expect a wolf to demonstrate.

The only way to fight a wolf is with the fruit of the spirit. We will never overcome the flesh with the flesh. Any response to a wolf needs to demonstrate love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. If we respond to a supposed wolf with the tactics of the flesh, perhaps we should refocus our efforts more closely on ourselves and get the beam out of our own eye first. Fighting a wolf with the fruit of the spirit may seem idiotic because wolves will not fight fair, but God’s ways are higher than man’s ways. For example, “turning the other cheek” sounds insane with the fleshly mind, but, in the end, following God’s path will always prove right.

2) We need to act Biblically. This disparity of opinion of who is and is not a wolf is always going to be the case. We cannot allow the fact that unanimity will never be achieved to dissuade us from doing the right thing. If we think that because there are two sides to the story, we can default to a “do nothing” position, we are mistaken. If we don’t know what is right or wrong, we should carefully and objectively seek out the real truth of the matter before taking appropriate action. Our flesh will try and persuade us to be lazy and “walk on by.” We need to resist the temptation and do our homework.

One person wrote and said:

If we see someone take a swing in anger on a playground or at a sporting event we would likely wade in without hesitation to stop it. If we observed spousal abuse it would instantly invoke a reaction from us. Why don’t we respond the same way when we see attacks, strikes, slander, or character assassinations occur to our brothers?

3) We need to act quickly and decisively. All too often, brethren don’t act at all in the face of wolves. Standing up to wolves is nasty business. Yet the defining characteristic of a wolf is not necessarily that they are morally or doctrinally askew. The defining characteristic of a wolf is that they destroy sheep (or at least seek to do so). They can destroy sheep by destroying someone’s reputation via slander or false accusations. They can destroy sheep indirectly by their mean and cantankerous behavior, even causing people to leave the meeting. They can destroy sheep by teaching false doctrine and encouraging people to believe another gospel. The key though is that most people, when they go astray, are simply harming themselves while a wolf harms others.

This means that when a wolf is identified, the shepherds need to act quickly. It is a critical error on the part of shepherds in the face of the wolf to be indecisive or even indifferent. The wolf will use whatever means possible (because they are playing outside of the rules) to achieve their end and wise shepherd will act with loving, Biblical and decisive action. With this said, doing things decently and in order as well as a thorough identification are never to be sacrificed for speed. It would be better for many wolves to slip through than one brother to be falsely accused.

Wolves typically run in packs too. The more time given to a wolf, the more wolves he will gather around himself and the harder he will be to fight. We shouldn’t wait to act when the wolves outnumber the sheep and the body count is high, we must act wisely and decisively at the first sign of attack.

I don’t want to make this sound easy or simple. It plainly is not. Standing up to wolves takes wise, God- centered men to act in a Biblical fashion. It takes people willing to lay down their lives for the sheep. It takes the fruit of the spirit manifested in transformed men. It takes God and Christ working through men who say and do what they have been instructed to do with courage, determination and most of all, the love of God.

Have a great week,

Comments»

1. Ken Easson - March 26, 2008

This statement scares me: “We must properly identify wolves.” In the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus clearly tells his followers NOT to uproot the tares, lest the good wheat be damaged in the process. You make this point clearly in your reasoning on why it’s so difficult to identify wolves.

There is another reason, i would suggest, why our ability to deal with wolves is so pitiful, one that is not considered here! It’s because we are traditionally reactive, rather than proactive. Instead of trying to deal with wolves, we should be looking after the sheep, creating for them a safe and healthy environment. While this doesn’t eliminate wolves entirely, it makes our community less attractive to wolves, so there are fewer problems to deal with.

A major obstacle in our path, is that of our misunderstanding of what “fellowship” is. For many of us, Fellowship is associated with serious Bible study, and/or the Breaking of bread. Something that can be done without any true fellowship with one another. Consider 1 Cor 11 they broke bread, but had no fellowship with each other, they were condemned by Paul for their memorial service! Is God happy with our memorial service? True fellowship requires sharing with one another, and not just sharing our interpretation of Bible verses. Rather, sharing our homes, sharing our time, sharing our lives. The reason I believe we are called “brothers and sisters” is because we are not naturally “friends” yet we are required to love each other regardless, yet we do little to develop bonds of friendship and community outside our academic approach to God’s word. There is a lot of talk about “visiting the sick” and “helping elders” etc. But how often do we “visit the healthy”. How many of us share quality time with our brothers and sisters, and make a point to get to know all the members of our ecclesia? How many of us break bread each week yet don’t know the phone number, occupation, or even their names of the others in the same room!? Really – if i was sick, i surly wouldn’t want these people visiting me! But my friends, the people i share true fellowship with, the people who know my name, who know about me, these people who i have developed a relationship with, these people i would welcome around my sick bed. Sometimes the first time we really note some brother or sister in our ecclesia is when they are branded as “wolf” yet, we have no idea about the troubles or problems they are facing, the temptations they are enduring, in fact, all we really know about them, is that they sit about 6 rows up, on the left, and now are causing some trouble and it’s come to the attention of the AB’s and they need to be thrown out! What we don’t recognize is that there are others in the ecclesia who do know their name, have their phone number, and would feel equally as dejected should that brother be “dis-fellowshipped” as the brother would be. Our decisions on how we feel towards that brother are based on reason, logic, and the Bible verses we can find to show their errors (usually in that order), rather than on faith, hope and mercy. In essence we have either never fellowshipped with these members of our ecclesia, or disfellowshipped them in our hearts long before any “official action” is taken.

We don’t see any call by Jesus to “get rid of the wolves” rather, he tells us to beware of them. Paul on the other hand, likes to deliver people unto satan. Yet in both cases, these are for actions which are very clear and well reported “it is commonly reported amongst you…” (1 Cor 5) and the real issue isn’t about taking the Bread and Wine, it’s the fact that brothers and sisters are condoning the actions of the sinning brother, when they should be denouncing the actions of the brother. What is satan after all? An adversary that opposes their wrong doing! I believe we move far to quickly to “attack people” instead of addressing the problem, and attacking that if it really exists! Why do so many of our young people seek outside the truth for a partner? is that because we don’t have any activities where our young people can find partners in the truth? Why do so many of our marriages end in divorce or have extra marital problems? is that because we don’t have enough activities where married couples spend quality time with other God fearing couples and instead seek worldly solutions to their problems? Instead of protecting the sheep, by being good sheep. (1 Pet 5) by creating an atmosphere where people feel like a part of a flock, we are simply trying to fight wolves, by being good wolves ourselves, and we end up giving very little thought to the sheep, and the harm we ourselves do, as we uproot the tares instead of leaving that job to Jesus as he’s asked us to do, ends up creating more havoc in our ecclesias, rather than bringing Glory to God. In 2 Thes Paul tells us not to keep company with the Busybodies, people who go from house to house. What is he talking about? He does ask that we exhort them “as a brother” again, how does that factor into our perception of fellowship? Do we disfellowship people for gossip as these verses clearly advise? I believe that what Paul is telling us is to “take care to keep these brothers, while denouncing the actions and behavior we believe is wrong!” why? so that these brothers might be restored to us. And as it’s come up in the previous TFTW, we do a dismal job at supporting those in the ecclesia in need. If we realized that our service to God goes farther than Daily Bible reading, Sunday worship, and throwing out wolves, we might become a community that brings Glory to God in all that it does.