Proclaimer Blog
Watching over the flock
Chalke again (see here and here). And again today. Sad though it is, in a way I am glad that Steve’s statement is such a blatant expression of already existing liberal positions. Better to have openness than pretence.
We preachers have a key task, week by week, year by year, in making sure that our people aren’t swayed by attractively presented error when it happens to be promoted in their direction. The apostle Peter puts it in terms of watching over the flock that is under your care (1 Peter 5.2). A while ago I was helped by Timothy Witmer’s The Shepherd Leader to think through the elders’ vital task of protecting the flock from error through the right kind of regular preaching. (He did, though, fail to persuade me to turn Presbyterian.)
Some may fear that Chalke’s article will unsettle many believers. That is surely less likely to happen to those whose preachers have not just spoken the truth but have also denied the error. There are some who denounce others by name from the pulpit most Sundays, and their protective warnings probably lose impact according to the ‘boy who cried wolf’ principle. Others of us prefer not to be thought of as nasty name-callers, and by nature err on the side of too much just-saying-the-positive and too little pointing-out-of-the-negative. It’s vital for those who preach regularly to know our natural tendency and to keep working to correct it, so that the flock under our care develops the spiritual instinct to sense serious error when it comes their way, however famous and engaging its proponent.
As it happens, I am preaching this Sunday on 1 John 4.1-6: the ones who know God are those who bring their beliefs and conduct into line with the truth taught by the apostles who saw and heard the Truth himself. I think I will need to do some protecting.