Teachers of the Word

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James 3:1; Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
James 3:2; For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

I guess this passage applies to me. It probably applies to a lot of people here on TalkJesus who like to teach one thing or another.
You might not consider yourself a teacher, but even just a comment or opinion can be taken as doctrine. So we need to be careful what we say.
Some believe Christians wont be judged (I have a dozen scriptures that say differently, including the verse above) now maybe your salvation
wont be determined by some of those judgments, but...

Matt 18:6; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mark 9:42; “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.
Luke 17:1; He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come!
Luke 17:2; It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

If what you're teaching causes someone else to stumble... it doesn't sound like it will go well for you.
Sometimes this may be intentional, malicious bad teaching, but sometimes it might just be ignorant bad teaching.
Some people are "always learning", reading books, commentaries, opinions, youtube videos, etc.. but never really learn the truth.

2Tim 3:7; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2Tim 3:8; Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

1Tim 1:3; As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,
1Tim 1:4; nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.
1Tim 1:5; But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1Tim 1:6; For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
1Tim 1:7; wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

2Cor 11:12; But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.
2Cor 11:13; For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
2Cor 11:14; No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
2Cor 11:15; Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

I hate to say this, but it is definitely true. Even here on TalkJesus there are some false teachers, deceitful workers, who are disguising themselves as Christians.
I would dare say almost all of them truly believe they are Christians, but they are servants of Satan disguising themselves as servants of righteousness.
Most of this is the fault of those teaching these bad doctrines, but some of it is on you yourselves.

Now I agree there always too much arguing and bickering, too many debates, and all the while people are saying peace and unity.
But what they mean by unity is... agree with me or else. That my friends is not the definition of peaceful unity.

2Tim 4:1; I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
2Tim 4:2; preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
2Tim 4:3; For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
2Tim 4:4; and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
2Tim 4:5; But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

So many people who call themselves Christians... are seeking someone, some preacher somewhere, who will agree with their way of thinking. Well don't worry, there are plenty
of these kinds of preachers out there. Abortion is OK, fornication is OK, adultery is OK, homosexuality is OK, God loves you, God forgives you, it's all good.
Paul charged Timothy here... (in the presence of God) be ready to preach!!! Reprove, rebuke, correct!!! Don't just let bad teachings slide.
1Tim 1:3; above says to tell certain men to quit teaching their strange doctrines. But yet in the name of peace and unity, we let those teachings slide.

2Tim 2:24; The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
2Tim 2:25; with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
2Tim 2:26; and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

We are supposed to be able to teach others, but many of us aren't there yet. With gentleness correcting those who oppose sound doctrine.

Php 1:15; Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;
Php 1:16; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
Php 1:17; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

There are some people who seem to thrive on argument, debate, strife... they seem to always be trolling in the back-ground looking for a fight.
There have been some prophecies over my life in the past... I am to be like Paul... "appointed for the defense of the gospel".

Gal 1:6; I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
Gal 1:7; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8; But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
Gal 1:9; As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

1Tim 6:3; If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,
1Tim 6:4; he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,
1Tim 6:5; and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

If any doctrine doesn't agree with "sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ"... that doctrine is from someone who understands nothing and is depraved of the truth.
Trust me, there are many teachers and preachers who are trying to convince us Christians, the teachings of Jesus and what He said doesn't matter, or it doesn't apply to us.

1Tim 6:20; O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—
1Tim 6:21; which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.

 

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Almost the entire book of Jude is devoted to false doctrines and false teachers, how does Jude say we can identify these people?

Jude 1:3; Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

"contend" - hmmm, what does contend mean? It means to struggle, or to fight, to assert a position of truth. Sometimes we have to fight for the truth. Why do we need to do this?

Jude 1:4; For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Because certain people have crept in among us. My grandson like to play a game called "Among Us" where you try to figure out who the traitor/spy/mole is...
Sometimes we need to be looking for mo;es among us. Those who turn the grace of God, into a license to sin. Oh it's OK, God loves you, He's got your back, Go ahead and sin all you want.
If anyone is telling you it's OK to sin, you can know they are the moles among us, the servants of Satan

Jude 1:5; Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

But Jude says here, Even though God saved these people (Egypt is often a metaphor for sin in the Bible) He still destroyed them later because they did not remain obedient in the faith.

Jude 1:6; And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
Jude 1:7; just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross sexual immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Just like the angels that rebelled and left heaven. He is keeping them in bonds until the day of judgment. These angels indulged in sexual immorality. went after "strange flesh" (non-angelic flesh)

Jude 1:8; Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
Jude 1:9; But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Jude 1:10; But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

These people who have crept in among us... they defile their flesh, they reject authority, they even go against angelic majesties. It seems this is serious charge. But even Michael the archangel (one of the strongest, if not THE strongest angel)
didn't give Satan a railing judgment. This is off-topic (probably another thread) but it's interesting that Michael and Satan argued over the body of Moses.
These people that have crept in among us are the same way, they have no fear of God or His angels. They revile the things they don't understand. They will be destroyed by these things.

Jude 1:11; Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude 1:12; These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
Jude 1:13; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

We tolerate these men more than we should, we invite them in when we shouldn't. We have fellowship with them when we shouldn't. They are hidden reefs, causing shipwrecks in regard to the faith of some. They only care about themselves.
They are clouds without water, they give no refreshment or nourishment to people. They are tossed around by every wind of doctrine. They are doubly dead, they weren't always dead, but they have been uprooted.
They are wild waves which dash some against the rocks, some even brag about how much they sin and get away with it, they cast their shame among us. The black darkness is reserved for them.

Jude 1:14; It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
Jude 1:15; to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Jude 1:16; These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

One day God is going to judge these people, it wont be pretty. Those who are following after their own lusts, those who grumble against the Bible and truth of scripture. They flatter people and try to get people to like them so they will "gain an advantage".

Jude 1:17; But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jude 1:18; that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”
Jude 1:19; These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
Jude 1:20; But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude 1:21; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
Jude 1:22; And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
Jude 1:23; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Those who following ungodly lusts, those who cause divisions, and are worldly minded.... these are the people who creep in among us.
They may have had the Holy Spirit at some point in the past, but they are devoid of the Spirit now.
We are build "ourselves" up in faith. We are to Keep "ourselves" in the love of God. ..and if we can, snatch others out of the fire.