Watch Out for Wolves

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WATCH OUT FOR WOLVES

Acts 20:25-31

25 "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men.   27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

NIV

Because Paul will not return through that area again, men have been established as overseers, shepherds, or pastors of the congregation of God's people. We know those men who were appointed as overseers, or the Greek word means bishops, although the meaning is to be a shepherd of the church of God. First, we should note that the church is God's, and thus it does not belong to any person. The church belongs to Jesus because he bought it with his own blood. Second, the overseers, or in our day, we would say the pastors, must be called by the Holy Spirit, not by men. To be a pastor of God's people, the church, is an act of the Holy Spirit; it is not a job in the sense of having to be interviewed by people. It does seem to be the usual way today, but it is the call of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, who appoints shepherds of God's people. Thirdly, there are the wolves. They were there in Paul's day, and we have them in our days.  Paul warns about the wolves who will distort the truth to draw disciples away. They are the silver-tongued purveyors of deception who preach to draw people to themselves rather than to God. Perhaps it was easier in those days, because the believers did not have the word of God in any printed form, but only what had been taught them, so wolves could come along and distort the truth just enough for believers to follow them. Today, the wolves are all over the internet, television, and other media, spreading their distortion of the truth to gain followers who will support them so they can live a lavish lifestyle. We must be on guard against such people; they are not shepherds, they are deceivers. They do not know their flock, they do not feed God's people, they do not lead them beside still waters, the water of life, Jesus. Many good shepherds have been called by the Spirit to feed the church the whole truth of God. Let us keep watch so that we are not taken in by those wolves.