A Heart to Heart: Introduction

It is a sad day when well-meaning Pastors and Christian leaders, for the sake of maintaining a friendship, or a fellowship, will avoid studying an issue because it may lead him to question a friend's doctrine.

Preachers and Christian leaders, you are not doing your duty before God if your chief desire is to avoid controversy. You have a scriptural responsibility to know what the Bible teaches. You need to study the new interpretation of the Gospel commonly known as the“Crossless Gospel” so that you can say one of the following with conviction:

• It is simply a different way of saying the same thing.
• It is an acceptable variation on the doctrine of the Gospel, or
• It is a departure from the faith once delivered (Jude 3) through its subtraction.
  
  

What account will you give before God if you avoid a doctrinal controversy because of a personal friendship or fellowship? What if you allowed a man into your pulpit who then brought a false interpretation of the Gospel to your membership? Where does your first loyalty lie; to the Word of God and your flock or to a personal friend?

Believers in our churches and fellowships need to be warned about false doctrine, and shifting tides in the church. A pastor must teach in such a way that he edifies the believers, and exposes false doctrine lest his flock be deceived and lead astray. The God ordained duty of every pastor is to both feed and defend the flock of God. The personal example and subsequent final charge of Paul to the Ephesian elders rings as loud and clear today as it did in the first century church.

“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood,” (Acts 20:27-28).

How can the minister protect his people if he cannot recognize false doctrine himself? Granted, we cannot set out to learn and understand every false doctrine and cultic teaching in today's confused world. However, men who are part of the evangelical community have promoted the “Crossless Gospel” for several years, and it has made inroads into some churches and Bible colleges. How can you protect those whom God has given you the oversight of if you cannot recognize the danger at your doorstep? Heaven help the church whose pastor allows a man into his pulpit who preaches the “Crossless Gospel,” and the host pastor does not even recognize it. The damage is done, and if the pastor does not recognize what has been done, how can he set out to repair the damage?

The word “doctrine” appears forty-four times in the New Testament, sixteen times in the Pastoral Epistles (First & Second Timothy and Titus) alone. In the original text of the Pastoral Epistles, there are thirty-two references to “doctrine,” “teach,” “teacher,” “teaches,” and “teaching.”

First and Second Timothy and Titus are called Pastoral Epistles because they were written to pastors and outlined for them their pastoral duties. Since the Pastoral Epistles are primarily directed to ministers of the Word of God, ministers had better take heed to doctrine and teaching. Large portions of these epistles are dedicated to instructing Timothy and Titus to defend sound doctrine and resist false teaching. In First Timothy, Paul tells Timothy to stay at Ephesus and command certain men not to teach false doctrine.

“As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,” (1 Timothy 1:3).

The Word of God warns that false teaching can come into the church through unbelievers or believers. Paul warned the Ephesian elders to “watch” (gregoreo) and be vigilant. The metaphor is to give strict attention, to be cautious, to be on guard. For the sake of their flocks, the pastors must be ever watchful! The Apostle Paul warned the men in his day; the written Word of God warns preachers today.

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears,” (Acts 20:29-31).

We must take the threat of false teaching seriously! You have a responsibility to determine for yourself whether the “Crossless Gospel” is orthodox, or if it is a false, non-saving interpretation of the Gospel. If you believe the “Crossless Gospel” is the correct view, then come out openly for it. If the “Crossless Gospel” is a departure from the biblical plan of salvation then do not hesitate to come out openly against it. You, however, cannot make that determination unless you study the issue for yourself.

Do not allow personal friendships to guide or alter your pursuit and study of the Word of God. The Gospel is too important and the only hope for this lost and dying world for you to stand idly by while men propagate a message that has been reduced to a non-saving mental assent to a promise without belief in and/or a conscience rejection of the finished work and Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next in the series will be: How Do I Respond to the “Crossless” Gospel?


LM

Please proceed to Part 1 of the series.

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