Sermon Tone Analysis

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

[2]

Whether they accept it or not, leaders within a church are assigned responsibility that is not often spelled out in the bylaws of any congregation I have ever served.

Whether deacons or elders, or whether they are simply looked up to as mature believers, those who provide leadership within a congregation bear an awesome responsibility before the Lord.

The duty in view is as necessary as any given them in scripture or imposed by the membership—Be on a constant lookout for trouble and troublemakers within the congregation—watch for devils in the pew.

A writer, from whom I purloined the idea for this particular message, refers to the devil in the pew as a DIP.

[3] It is an appropriate designation as the insidious individual is prepared even to use violence to achieve his, or her, desires.

Theirs is an all-out assault against righteousness, usually focused on removing God’s appointed overseer.

When he met them at Miletus, the Apostle Paul told the Ephesian leaders that they could expect deadly threats to the survival of the congregation; and these threats would arise from two sources—without and within [see ACTS 20:29 ff.].

The former they would have naturally anticipated; it is no secret that the evil one wants to destroy the churches, neutralising their effectiveness.

Moreover, it is a given that Satan will use any means necessary to accomplish that nefarious goal.

It was the latter source of danger—enemies arising from within the assembly itself—that must have surely have surprised the elders.

Had those leaders been as trusting and naive as many of us within contemporary churches, they would have expected all the worshipers to be loving and gracious, faithful and trusting, and would have been blindsided by tyrants arising from their own number.

So, Scripture warns us to be alert, to be watchful in both directions.

Keeping watch against such danger is not the job of the pastor alone.

Granted, he is charged with this responsibility; but in a congregation of hundreds or even thousands, he needs eyes and ears other than his own.

This multiplication of watching must begin even when the congregation is small.

The pastor needs the deacons and Sunday School teachers—note that these individuals must be godly and mature—to keep their eyes and ears open, to remain ever vigilant.

Plainly put, they are to watch out for the devils in the midst of the congregation.

Rebecca relates the story of how her father went to pastor a small Holiness congregation in rural North Carolina.

Everything about the church appeared normal; the people were warm and gracious, they built a new parsonage and they appreciated Pastor Nichols' messages.

There was, however, one serious problem.

The devil sat on the last row, in pew number seven—and he ran this church.

Mr. Horry Watts, richest man in the county, lived across the street from the church.

From his throne on the back row, he called the shots.

The oddest thing about that is that the old man was not even a member of the congregation; in fact, he was not even a professing believer.

It is a truism that when we tolerate just a little bit of error, even for a brief period, it has a way of insinuating itself into the fabric of life and becoming permanent.

Evil that is not confronted is at first tolerated, then ignored, and at last, embraced.

In time, wickedness that is left unexposed grows in influence over and the righteous ultimately become comfortable with in its presence.

Horry Watts’ power and influence stemmed from his wealth and from personal intimidation over individuals and through his wife.

Mrs. Watts lorded it over a women's Sunday School class and was the church clerk/treasurer.

No one but the Watts knew the church's finances.

There were no treasurer's reports and no one was allowed to look at the books.

Soon after his arrival, Pastor Nichols began to exert leadership within the congregation.

The members voted to replace Mrs. Watts as teacher and elected another clerk/treasurer.

When the time came to turn over the books to the new officer, she handed the clerk a new chequebook with the present bank balance listed–nothing else.

No one ever knew what was done with the church money during her tenure.

From this point on, Horry Watts dedicated himself to getting rid of the preacher.

He began with anonymous notes and phone calls.

Soon, he graduated to heavier stuff—shooting up the mailbox and setting off dynamite near the house.

Over a space of several years, despite law enforcement authorities becoming involved, the old man and his hired thugs continued their reign of terror.

This outrage against the Faith culminated with a gunman entering the parsonage as the family sat down to the evening meal, shooting the pastor twice and killing his wife.

The shooter was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, but Horry Watts was not implicated.

An FBI agent eventually put together a case against Horry Watts, charging him with conspiracy to detonate an explosive device and conspiracy to violate First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights of the pastor.

Watts changed his plea from “not guilty” to “nolo contendere” after a man testified that Watts had paid him to run over the preacher with his automobile.

Watts was sent to prison, but served only one year before release on compassionate grounds.

After the death of his wife and recovering from his own wounds, Pastor Nichols was no longer able to function, forcing his resignation as pastor.

In time, he suffered a nervous breakdown, eventually requiring hospitalisation and heavy medication; he died at the age of 46.

I’ve known a few of these devils who occupied the pews of churches I served.

Unlike Horry Watts, their names sounded pedestrian—Frank, or Leo, or Peter, or Bob; each alike, however, assumed their job was to rule the congregation.

Almost inevitably, that meant both opposing the preacher and gathering a cabal to join them in promoting their depraved labours.

Their opposition degenerated into a reaction both personal and vicious.

There was little doubt that the bitter calumny that marked their lives could turn physical, given opportunity.

Whilst I could, and perhaps even should, inveigh against such evil resident among the churches, I want to examine a portion of the Word to encourage the people of God to take ownership of responsibility to guard against such evil.

I want to equip the people of God to resist evil and to protect the servants whom God assigns to serve among His people.

INFILTRATION — Underscore a sad truth in your mind: your congregation will be infiltrated by evil people.

This is not supposition, mere theory; this is fact.

If the insinuation of wickedness was overt, blatant, we would recognise it and resist it, or we would at the least flee from it.

However, those who perpetuate wickedness within the assembly of the righteous appear sweet, reasonable, kind and even gentle; they are well-known and have assumed a place of honour and respect among the faithful.

Frankly, were we to challenge them, asking the motive behind their actions, they would argue that their purpose was pure and their motive noble.

Nevertheless, the ruin they leave in their wake and the injury they perpetuate causes genuine harm to God’s people, scattering the flock and dispersing them across the face of the earth.

Listen to the final warning the Apostle delivered to the elders of Ephesus.

“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” [ACTS 20:29, 30].

Take a moment to inspect this cautionary statement more fully.

In the first place, Paul was addressing the elders of one particular congregation; however, his words are directed to each congregation that would follow the Master after that time.

Indeed, the elders are charged with protecting the flock.

However, did you notice that the elders are first responsible to guard themselves?

If the elders fail to guard themselves, they will not be capable of guarding the flock.

Against what should an elder be on guard?

Elders must guard against growing tolerant toward evil.

The Apostle was compelled to warn Timothy against Alexander the coppersmith, who perpetuated great harm against himself [see 2 TIMOTHY 4:14, 15].

An evil person who would harm the Faith at one point will assail the righteous at another.

To tolerate evil is to identify with that which is under divine condemnation.

James has warned all who would follow the Master, “You adulterous people!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” [JAMES 4:4].

James’ warning anticipates a similar caution that was later penned by the Apostle John.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” [1 JOHN 2:15-17].

Elders are particularly susceptible to wanting to be liked and thus adjusting the message to avoid hurting feelings.

Though we who are elders must never become hateful or allow ourselves to be mean-spirited, we must train ourselves to speak the truth in love.

Elders must guard against giving approval—tacitly or implicitly—of unrighteous acts or attitudes.

Tolerating evil is the initial step to approving wickedness.

Do you imagine that professing Christians suddenly woke up one day and said, “I think I’ll disown the Bible and embrace wickedness?” Familiarity with people who denied the Faith led the churches to embrace that which the Bible proscribes.

I recall a denominational assembly in which I had presented a resolution on behalf of the congregation I was pastoring at the time.

The resolution requested that the denomination refuse to set apart to sacred office any individual who was prepared to bless same-sex couples as married.

I was openly assailed by one of the most prominent pastors within that group and admonished by several denominational leaders as hateful.

They had become so inured to that which the Bible condemned that they were no longer able to stand boldly with the Word.

It was an example of the biblical truth that “Bad company ruins good morals” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:33].

Elders must guard against becoming lax about spending time with the Living God.

Whenever an elder begins to spend more time in the affairs of this dying world than he does in the study of the Word, he is beginning a retreat from the task he was assigned and he will shortly cease to feed the flock.

Recall Paul’s admonition to Timothy, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” [2 TIMOTHY 2:4, 5].

Elders must guard against growing complacent about bold preaching.

Again, the Apostle warned Timothy “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” [1 TIMOTHY 1:18-20].

Hymenaeus and Alexander appear to have been two church leaders who had descended into wickedness, earning the unenviable distinction of being handed over to Satan by the Apostle.