Lessons From a PK (Part 1): Christians need to stand guard against evil in their midst

Photo by Andrew Craft on Unsplash, text added by myself

 I am a pastor's kid. I have seen both the most wonderful things in the Church and also some of the darkest evil that is present in the Church.

I'm sure you may be wondering how, as a Christian, I could possibly say that evil is present in the Church. But friends, it is a true thing. So many churches have no idea the extent to which Satan is present and working in their midst. Caught by his deception, blinded by his lies, they fall prey to his tactics.

In this new blog series, I am going to be addressing some of the issues I have seen in churches and the lessons we can learn from them.

Today, I'm going to address the broader topic of standing guard against evil, but as the series moves forward, I will be talking about specific things that pastors, leaders, and churchgoers need to be aware of.

The devil is a prowling lion

1 Peter 5:8 says this "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (ESV).

In Bangaluru, India, there has been an ongoing situation in which a leopard is roaming around apartment complexes at night. It is sneaky. The police and forest officials have been trying for days to capture it to no avail. Residents have all been asked to stay in their homes and not to go out alone.

According to news reports, it is thought that the leopard is in search of the area's poultry farms or even stray dogs, both of which are often targets of the big cats. It's likely hungry and looking for something to devour.

This situation has reminded me of the verse from 1 Peter, which compares the devil to a prowling predator. In the case of the apartment management, their watchfulness and quick attention to the problem at hand is a great example of how we as Christians should be in regards to looking out for evil within our midst.

Satan is all about deception. And he has mastered its art. Aided by his demon minions, he seeks to disrupt anything good and bring about its destruction. But he is usually very subtle and cunning. He doesn't topple people in one day, rather he slowly gains more and more power over their hearts and minds. It's so subtle even they do not realize the changes he has brought about in their lives. Like a cat, he prowls around until just the right opportunity and then grabs it, toying with his prey until they eventually die.

But, instead of the careful watchfulness of the apartment management with the leopard situation, I see Christians paying more attention to the sinfulness of the world than they do the sinfulness within their ranks. The reactions I have noticed among believers when it comes to the exposing of sin in the lives of other church members range from shock and dismay to outright denial or even a desire to cover those things up so as not to "disturb" their friend or mentor. This has especially been the case when high profile leaders have fallen.

Friends, we should not be surprised when the sins of our brothers and sisters are exposed. If we are meticulously watchful, the red flags in the lives of others will have already shown up.

Having an attitude of "oh, he or she would never [lie, cheat, steal, etc.]" is dangerous. And it sets us up for massive disappointment. In some cases, it can result in our ignoring the issue and essentially participating in it by allowing it to go on unchecked. We must not allow our affection for people to blind us to the realities of their sin.

The reality is that being a Christian does not mean that a person is completely done sinning. It simply means that in relation to God, their sin is forgiven. But sin, even in the life of a believer, is not without consequences. We will, and should, suffer the consequences of our choices whether they are dished out on earth or when we stand in the presence of God and give an account of everything we did.

Be watchful

We must be watchful, attentive to anything that seems out of place. As much as we love and cherish our Christian brothers and sisters, we cannot let them get away with sin. This goes for every believer, regardless of whether they are pastors, lay leaders, children's ministers, worship leaders, missionaries, or attendees. Sin is sin and must be dealt with accordingly.

The slightest thing out of place should alert us to take action before the problem becomes worse. A little lie, a sexual innuendo, these subtle clues point us to a potential problem lying under the surface.

In college, I took a class on ministry leadership and one of the things we learned was that when we look at a person, the things we see on the surface are like a tip of an iceberg. Underneath the surface can be a depth of things we may never realize exist there. Like is the case when someone is ill, the symptoms are simply effects of the real issue.

Give warning

When you see something out of place, take the time to dig a little more. If those little clues build on each other and demonstrate a pattern of thinking that is ungodly, that is the time to act and confront them with the truth. Waiting too long can result in that person going from thinking wrongly to acting wrongly. Sinful actions are preceded by sinful thoughts.

This is particularly important in certain situations where these wrong actions could result in harming other people. The last thing we need is for our negligence to result in someone being hurt.

A public example of this is the recent events that have come to light concerning Ravi Zacharias. People who knew him denied that he would ever do anything inappropriate and ignored the words of multiple women who came forward over the last 10-15 years. They disregarded his past history of lying (he had been claiming to have many degrees, but the reality is that he never earned them, they were simply honorary) and assumed he was telling the truth about the accusations made by women. In the process, women were hurt. We do not yet even know the whole story, but what we do know provides an example of why it is important to confront sin, even if the person doing it is a high profile leader, pastor, or in any other position of authority.

We must be willing to listen to what other people are saying about a person and what they have observed. We must be willing to confront sin and stand our ground against wrongdoing. We must keep our eyes and ears always watching and listening. We must warn those who are straying away from honoring the Lord and call them to follow His ways.