In The Master's Service

BEWARE OF WOLVES

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. - Matthew 10:16.

In the first Star Wars movie Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi enter into a seedy spaceport on a far away planet. Obi Wan warns young Skywalker that, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." Similarly, Jesus warns the twelve apostles of similar circumstances they will face as they go forth publicly preaching His gospel. Jesus is preparing them for the reality of troubles, afflictions, persecutions, and sufferings that would inevitably befall them as they proclaimed His word.

While this message was originally given to the twelve, its truth is relevant today. If we are actively living God-honoring lives and magnifying Jesus in our lives, persecution will follow. The Apostle Paul reminds Timothy of this reality in II Timothy 3:12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." When we are living in a manner pleasing to God, there will be those in the world who will persecute us. Most of us have not suffered persecution to the degree of the apostles and disciples of Bible times, but we are still bedeviled by those that are enemies of Jesus Christ.

Jesus likens His disciples to sheep in several passages of the gospel. In nature, the wolf is the most threatening enemy to the sheep. Spiritual wolves are those that Paul calls the enemies of the cross of Christ in Philippians 3:18, and they prey upon God's little lambs and sheep. They prey upon the sheep because they hate the Shepherd. Notice Jesus' statements in John 15:18-19, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

The carnal world hates Jesus. Therefore, they hate those that emulate His life. How is the Christian supposed to endure the attacks of the wolves of the world? Jesus gives us an answer in our aforementioned verse. We are instructed to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Serpents are very sharp-sighted and cunning creatures. As Christians, this means that we are to employ scripture to preserve us from the attacks of wolves. We are to use Godly wisdom to avoid the pitfalls of a wicked world. We are instructed to be harmless as doves inasmuch as we are to engage the carnal world with meek and humble hearts. It should be of great comfort to know that when we study and then humbly apply the word of God in our lives, that God will fight our battles and give us grace and strength to make it through every trial of life. As the Good Shepherd, He will keep us safe when the wolves attack.