[Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders] “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. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 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. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.
Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Do you remember that? It’s from the TV show, Lost in Space. It was highly improbable and a bit ditzy, hardly worth watching in my humble opinion. But obviously I did watch it enough to remember that line. That may be more about the limited TV programming available to us at that time. You watched what was on. Not one of the 5,000 programs we have to choose from today.
A few years ago, I went to an ordination service for a recent seminary graduate. The message was all about the challenges, difficulties, dangers, toils, and snares the young soon-to-be pastor would face. It was a long gloom and doom message of how he would need to correct, reprove, and admonish the people of his church. It was as though they were his enemies – hardly a respectful and collegial way of doing ministry!
There are times, however, that we must sound the warning. If I’m driving down the Interstate and mindlessly start to wander into the occupied lane next to me, it is very appropriate for my passenger to yell, “Look out!” And I mean, to yell it! If a child is about to pull a hot pan off the stove, someone better scream, “No!!!! Don’t do that!” And if a person is listening to the beguiling message of a false prophet I will sound the warning.
In the earliest days of the Christian church there were many dangers within and without. The message of the Gospel of Jesus was very different from the then-common religious beliefs – pagan or Jewish. There was every danger of reverting to old ways of thinking and believing. Paul’s warnings were not over emphasized.
We may have gone to the other extreme these days. I’m not certain I warn people as often as I should about the dangers lurking behind every social media post, every new expert, or commentary and conversation untethered from biblical truth. Paul warned the people so that they would be protected from falsehoods and deceptions that would have turned them away from Christ. We must heed the warnings that come our way which would alert us to anything that would turn us away from Christ.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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