Creeps

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. - Jude 1v4

False teachers have always been a very real danger for the church. Sometimes they are bold, clear, and forceful in their proclamation of error. More often than not however they are not so obvious. False teachers will quietly and subtly sneak in and at first look like they are just a part of the church. At the start they will make friends, mingle, and just become a part of things. Jude puts it perfectly when he says that they ‘creep in unnoticed.’ You would never suspect that these ‘creeps’ would cause any problems.

But they do. They enter in unnoticed and begin to undermine the church with denials and false teachings about Christ. They may deny His deity or His saving power. They may imply that His work on the cross was not enough by declaring the necessity of works for salvation. They may replace His work with some kind of list of rules and regulations that we need to follow to please Him.

Some may come in and try to use God’s grace with a licence to sin. They say, ‘Since Christ has saved me apart from my works I can do whatever I want. The more I sin the more I get to see His grace so I am just going to sin!’

We need to make sure that in our desire for love and unity that we do not lose sight of the danger of false teacher creeping in to the body. Love does not mean excusing error. True love and true unity are contingent on standing for the truth. It is not love to allow false teachers to corrupt the church. Not only is a lack of love for the church, but allowing error to creep in shows a lack of love for the false teachers. True love would seek to deliver them from the error. We can’t afford to allow these ‘creeps’ sneak in with their error.