The Church on a Long Drift, Part 3

Today, Chuck Swindoll relays an important warning to those who lead our churches. Paul says to them, Be on guard for yourselves for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Why? Because I know after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. That would be cults, heretics, smooth-talking false teachers. Be on guard. Pause for a moment and think about your church.

What are the dangers that threaten its future? What will keep you from remaining focused on the Bible and the mission of the church? Well, according to Scripture, the enemy of any church is subtle, slow, and silent. He's lurking in the darkness, waiting to pounce on well-meaning people. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues to describe a church that's become weak. It's a warning to his home congregation in Texas and to church families everywhere.

Chuck titled today's message, The Church on a Long Drift. It is a proven fact that things go from pristine and pure to strong and good to weak and poor to bad and worse. Erosion, slow, subtle, silent.

Never with a lot of announcement and often without many people even knowing it's happening. If you turn in your Bible to Acts 19, there is a classic case in point right from the New Testament where we can watch erosion taking place. In verses 23-41, there is an all-city riot that is targeting this ministry, the ministry at Ephesus.

Let me read part of it for you. Verse 23, about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the way. For a man named Demetrius, the silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen. Let me explain Artemis. The large idol of Ephesus, in fact known all over the world, certainly of their region, was the temple of Diana, called here the temple of Artemis.

The city is known for that. And this dude is making his money from making little shrines that look just like the temple. And he's selling them and he's exporting them and they're going all over Asia with these little shrines and he's got all these tradesmen, craftsmen who are in the business with him. And so verse 25, he gathers them together with the workmen of similar trades. And he said, man, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people saying the gods made with hands are no gods at all.

Well, not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless and that she, whom all of Asia and the world worship, little exaggeration there, but all the world worships will even be dethroned from her magnificence. So what's he doing? He's stirring the pot. Wherever you have conflict from people, there's always so few who stir the pot.

Watch closely. Verse 28, when they heard this, they were filled with rage. And they began crying out saying, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Now Paul wanted to go, verse 30, into the assembly and the disciples would not let him. Some of the Azarics who were friends who had sent to him these words repeatedly urging him not to venture into the theater, a wise counsel. The application of that, if I may enter into the story a bit, is that it's not wise for the senior pastor to get all involved in all the skirmishes.

It is wise for there to be some sense of protection, lest one lose his direction and vision and energy. Paul could have not only lost heart, he could have lost his life in that threatening situation. So there are those around him saying, no Paul, don't go there. In fact, there were people from outside there sending word, don't let Paul in that mob.

Don't let him in there. Now you might think that they probably after a while got settled down. Wrong.

Look at 33. Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander. Since the Jews had put him forward and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized he was a Jew, a little Semitic anti-Semitism in that, they recognized he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for two hours, great is Artemis of the Ephesians, pause and let that sink in. It's loud enough for all people in Ephesus to hear that scream, including the little body of people in the church at Ephesus. What do you do when a church's reputation begins to be smeared, when people rise up in mass? God steps in.

I love this. Verse 35, this is so like God. Verse 35, after quieting the crowd, the town clerk, so a town clerk walks up and says settle down, sit down, men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis of the image which fell down from heaven. See, they believed all that nonsense. So since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and do nothing right.

You can't change the facts. Diana has come from heaven to us. The temple is eternal. All these fools that are running around naming Jesus as their Savior and Lord, they mean nothing to us. Look at what else he does. He speaks as an advocate. You have brought these men here who were neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our God.

It's true. By the way, a church occasionally needs an advocate from someone who isn't a part of the church. Here's a case in point. Paul's over here.

They won't let him in the crowd. The church is over here and they're not a part of it. Here's a town clerk whose name never appears here or elsewhere in the Bible who quiets the crowd, reasons with him and says, so then, verse 38, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session. There's a proper way to deal with this.

Proconsuls are available. Let them bring charges against one another, but if you want anything beyond this, it'll have to be settled in a lawful assembly. You know the problem with all of this as it relates to the church? It becomes a distraction.

Seems like a little thing, but believe me, it is those little foxes that eat at your time. Oh, the sheep need to be shepherded, but we don't need to fight every little tiny fire. And by the way, don't waste your time trying to distract us at Stonebriar. We're on the move. We're moving in a direction that is becoming for us remarkable as we watch God do it.

It's remarkable. So what happens? Well, Paul leaves, verse 1. He takes his leave from them. The church is still there.

Remember, someone else in leadership is there. Paul returns to the elders to visit briefly. He comes to Miletus.

Interesting place. Miletus is about 30 miles south of Ephesus at the harbor of the Meander River, and there he stood with the elders to talk about their future. And he warns them about erosion.

Same chapter, across the page. Look at verse 25. Paul is talking to the Ephesian elders. Now behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.

So he's gone for good shortly. Therefore, I testify to you I'm innocent of the blood of all men. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Now that's Paul's watch. On my watch, I did my job.

However, time will go on. So in my absence, I have a word of warning. I have it marked in red in my Bible. Be on guard. I say to all of the elders, be on guard. I say to all congregational members of Stone Briar, be on guard. Pay attention. This church that my friend attended, somebody didn't watch the stuff. Somebody didn't pay attention. Somebody let the leaders get away with things that were unbiblical. Paul says to them, be on guard for yourselves for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Why? Verse 29, because I know after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

That would be cults, heretics, smooth-talking false teachers, people who are driven by secular goals, not spiritual goals, those who have their own agenda, not the agenda of the living God. Be on guard. Be on guard. Not only will there be savages coming among you, look at verse 30, even some from your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. C.S.

Lewis once made the statement in his book, Letters to Malcolm, the true Christian's nostril is to be continually attentive to the intercess pool. Be on guard for yourself. You may be eroding. You may be drifting.

I don't know you well enough. But if you drift, you drift with this church as it drifts. I think it's another way of saying we need to smell our own stink. We're all depraved. We're all given to selfishness.

We're all wanting what the world is teaching us to want. We're all wanting to bring that stuff in. Be on guard. Watch it. I warn you. Look at verse 31. Therefore, be on the alert.

Remember my model. Night and day for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God. He's on his way. He's leaving. He's like a mama leaving her kids when they're on their way to college or the kids leaving the mama. He's like dads that say goodbye to sons when they go off to the military. Son, be on your guard. Pay attention.

You're going to face things you've never faced before. You're on your own, son. Paul is leaving them. They're on their own. Here's the church.

What happened? What happened at Ephesus when Paul waved goodbye at Miletus? Well, look at 1 Timothy 4. Turn over to 1 Timothy 4.

Some of you are thinking, I thought you were through. Turn to 1 Timothy 4. Look at verse 12, and I'll introduce you to their new pastor. His name is Timothy.

Great guy. However, Timothy is not Paul, of course. Timothy is his own man, which means he's different in three ways from Paul.

What were they? Well, first of all, he's younger. First Timothy 4, verse 12. Nothing wrong with being younger, Paul says to Timothy, let no one look down on your youthfulness. In case you wonder, he was about 35 or 40 years old. Nice compliment, huh? To hear you were youth at 40.

It's good. Timothy is younger, which means what? He doesn't have Paul's experience. He doesn't have Paul's seasoning. He doesn't have Paul's guts. He doesn't have Paul's wisdom.

Nothing wrong with a younger man. Just be sure they've got those things in place. So choose them carefully. In one of our elder meetings that we had while Stan and Howie were sitting with us, it was a great time, I said to the men that were among us, I said, tell us what stands out in your mind regarding elders. Dr. Toussaint made a marvelous statement. It may not sound profound right now until you read it through here. He said, I've learned that an elder needs to be older. Dr. Toussaint has a great grasp for the obvious. No, as a matter of fact, a lot of folks don't see that as obvious. They think what we need is younger elders.

Where's that? Why are they called elders? Isn't that amazing? No, you can be wise in 40. You're rare, but you can be wise at 40. Timothy, don't let anybody look down on your youthfulness. I'm sure Timothy felt intimidated. He's living in the shadow of Paul. He's following Paul in this ministry.

And some years are passing. Let me tell you something else about Timothy. Verse 23 of chapter 5.

Look across the page. No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach. That's the alcoholic's favorite verse in all the Bible. Right there, 1 Timothy 5, 23. It has nothing to do with alcoholism. Come on. He says to Timothy, because you're sickly, you need to take a little wine.

It will help you with your stomach ailment. In fact, he says, you're frequent ailment. So Timothy is different from Paul.

He's sickly. When you're younger and you're sickly, and I might add one more, 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, and you're timid, you don't have a good mix for being the senior pastor. 2 Timothy 1, 6, for this reason I remind you, kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you. More than once, Paul says to Timothy, get with it. Get with it, Timothy. Stir it up, Timothy.

Get the gift going. Step up. Stand up, Timothy.

Step in there. Don't be hesitant. In fact, he says in verse 7, God hasn't given a spirit of timidity. So we've got in Timothy a good man, but he's younger. He's more sickly. And unlike Paul, he's timid. He's hesitant.

I like the way John Stott puts it. If he had lived in our generation, I think we would have described him as an introvert. He evidently shrank from difficult tasks. Timothy was disposed to lean rather than to lead. This then was Timothy, young in years, frail in physique, retiring in disposition. That has the makings of erosion.

That kind of temperament opens the erosion gate. I don't want to do that hard thing. Or you know, I'm younger, maybe one of you older. Sorry, friend, senior pastor, step into it. It's your job. You guard this flock.

Just like I have for nine and a half years and I will till the last day of my time here. I'm no great shakes. I just got a tough calling. I don't have the leisure of kicking back for somebody else to do the hard thing. Younger men may be able to do that. I can't do that.

And I won't do that. He's telling Timothy not to do that. By the way, whatever happened to that good old church at Ephesus?

Ever wonder? Founded 60, 65 maybe, wrong there, or at least that's when he writes to Timothy. Been there a little longer, but Timothy's there. Wonder what happened around 95, Revelation chapter 2.

Ah, this gets so good I want to forget about lunch. Look at Revelation 2. Revelation 2.

Look. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? So we have a declaration written by John the Apostle on Patmos giving an appraisal of the church at Ephesus. They were busy. They were impressive.

They were orthodox. The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks with the seven golden lampstands says this, I know your deeds, your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men, but you put to test those who call themselves apostles and they are not and they are found to be false. You have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and you have not grown weary, but, but, that's a very emphatic negative particle to turn the tide, but it's like your doctor says, well, you did pretty good on the treadmill. You know, you got a fairly good heartbeat, blood pressure's okay, but it's that part that kind of grabs you, you know, or I can't describe. And the angel says, but I have this against you. You have left your first love. Enemy gets you every time.

In fact, it's a restrictive attributive in the syntax, which is a big way of saying the emphasis is on the adjective. Your love, your first one you have left. Your first love. Remember when you were first married?

Don't answer out loud. Remember when you sat close together, couldn't keep hands off each other. I mean, every evening was made for romance. Every song was a love song. Every drive was a drive back home. Everything was about joy and intimacy and fun and passion and love and until you leave your first love. Then what happens? Well, you fill your life with a lot of busyness and you're not too vulnerable and before long you don't have an intimate relationship.

I like Earl Palmer's appraisal. The first love has been abandoned and in its place is the starchy high cholesterol diet of activity and church work that will never nourish the human soul. Trust me. Trust me. Churches that erode keep you busy. Stay busy. Look busy. You've got lots of stuff you've got to do.

Do it. A lot more things to do. Things that care about your soul encourage reflection, depth, growth, analysis.

I don't know. Maybe Paul's portrait hung in one of the galleries. Maybe that had a room of sweet memories that had a few of his writings. Maybe a few white haired men and stupid older ladies talked lovingly of Paul. But they didn't love Christ like they used to. Erosion is happening in strong churches, once strong churches. Erosion can happen in a church without the people realizing it. Erosion will happen in churches that fail to heed the warnings and erosion could happen right here in our own church. By the way, churches don't erode.

People do. Are you eroding? Do you love him like you used to?

Does he really make a difference in how you live your life? Bow with me, please. Straight preaching. You've listened well. Remember it when I'm gone. Keep it in mind when we replace this role of mine. Guard this testimony. Think very clearly. Watch for signs of erosion. Be on guard.

Even in my life, I need to be on guard. Lord, without your presence and the presence of the messenger angels, we'd believe our own stuff. We would weaken. We'd compromise.

Complacency would replace once. Strong courage. And before long, we would be a little long drift brought along with so many others. Guard us from that. We continue to be a lighthouse that shines a bright beacon in a world filled with fog where there are many going under. Use us in a significant way in the years ahead, our Father, including this one, for your greater glory.

We ask it. Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living, a daily program that features the Bible teaching of pastor and author Chuck Swindoll. And we've just completed message number eight in a nine-part series called The Church Awakening. To learn more about Chuck Swindoll and this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. Before we conclude Chuck's Bible teaching today, let me point you to a couple of resources that will help you.

The first is a classic book Chuck wrote that was inspired by this teaching series. In The Church Awakening, Chuck unpacks the contemporary pitfalls of the local church and how to rekindle a flame that burns brightly. You can purchase a copy of The Church Awakening right now when you go to insight.org slash offer.

Or give us a call. If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888. Second, did you know that Stonebriar Community Church provides a live video stream of their Sunday morning worship service? It's become a model for many people around the world and a wonderful way to complement your Sunday church attendance as well.

You'll find all the details at insight.org slash Sundays. Finally, let me relay a message that one of your fellow listeners sent to our website. It said, during a very dark time in my life, I couldn't sleep very well and took to listening to Christian radio every morning.

Where I live in New Zealand, Insight for Living comes on at sunrise. The messages seem to be tailored to my deepest need at that very difficult time in my life. My dark night of the soul had a tiny pinprick of light. It was Jesus himself revealed to me through Insight for Living. Well, moments like these are made possible because loyal friends like you support Insight for Living. And if God is prompting you to give a contribution, give us a call.

If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org slash donate. Treat yourself to a vacation you'll never forget on the Insight for Living Ministries cruise to the great frontier with Chuck Swindoll. Honestly, I had no idea that a cruise to Alaska could be so much fun. And without a doubt, the stunning views took my breath away. God's artistic genius is on full display in Alaska. In fact, I guarantee this, you'll come home refreshed and filled with awe for his majestic creation. Yeah, at one point our ship was getting chased by dolphins.

They were playing and spinning in the waves. It was amazing. You'll have plenty of time for adventures on shore, lingering conversations around mealtime and strolling through the idyllic ports of call. You'll be a part of some of the best parts of our day.

Laughing, singing and celebrating our God. Plan to come with us, won't you? The dates are July 1st through July 8th, 2023. To learn more, call 1-888-447-0444. That's 1-888-447-0444 or visit insight.org slash events.

The tour to Alaska is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll presents his final message in The Church Awakening series next time on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Church on a Long Drift, was copyrighted in 2008 and 2010, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.