Insight for Living

Guest (Male): They sit in pews, serve on committees, and quote scripture fluently. Yet somehow, wherever they go, friction follows. Relationships fracture, pastors burn out, and churches split. Like wild boars that invade a thriving vineyard, these divisive individuals, whether intentionally or not, leave devastation in their wake. As weapons, they use smooth words, subtle manipulation, and relentless discord.

Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll tackles this explosive topic head-on, revealing how these troublemakers operate and what scripture commands us to do about them. Chuck titled today's message, "Boars in God's Vineyard."

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: May I share with you the good news? Christ came to die for sinners, for all of us. And in dying for us, he paid the complete penalty for our sins: past sins, present sins, and future sins. As one person put it, he picked up the tab. He paid for it all. And because of Christ's complete and finished work on the cross, he who has been raised miraculously and bodily from the dead still lives and awaits the opportunity to enter every life who welcomes him in.

If you've never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal savior, you've never acknowledged that you're among the ranks of sinners and you need him to have eternal life, you can know him by a simple act of the will, by trusting him and him only. The old reformers had it right: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we can know eternal forgiveness and eternal life. As I pray today, this may be your moment to receive the gift of eternal life. How wonderful that would be. Bow with me as we pray.

We are reminded, our Father, not only by what we sing but by what we read in your Word, that we are to fear not, that we have nothing to fear. Least of all, we have you not to fear. Father, you are our Heavenly Father. Your son is our savior. And we find hope and refuge in that harbor that he provides for our lives.

In a world that's lost its way, filled with chaos and murderers, heartbreaking situations, fractured lives, deep depression, brokenness of every kind, broken treaties, broken pacts, broken bonds, broken promises, you are whole, and you bring us holy back to yourself through Christ. Thank you for that.

Now, Lord, free our minds from those things that have worried us long enough. Forgive us of the wasted efforts we have spent trying to do what only you can do: fix somebody else, change a situation, even change our own wills. Only you can do that.

We lay before you the opportunities of the week. We don't know what they are. We have no idea what they will include. We don't know the struggles or trials, and we don't know the joys or those moments of victory. You know it all. Thank you for freeing us from the clutches of shame and guilt, and placing our feet on a rock and establishing our going, and putting a song in our mouth. In the name of Christ, we give and we pray. And everyone said, Amen.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message, "Boars in God's Vineyard."

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: Being a faithful shepherd has nothing to do with trying hard to be liked, or cultivating a popularity group that follows you around, or flattering the flock by telling the sheep what they want to hear. Good, faithful messengers communicate what sheep need to hear. There's a great difference. There are times it means standing all alone on your principles, even at the risk of being misunderstood. It means pressing on without the need to defend yourself publicly. It means doing right, though others may choose to do wrong.

You see, there have always been wolves in sheep's clothing. There have always been boars who ravage God's vineyard. Now, this is nothing new. The early church was plagued with boars ravaging the vineyard. Throughout the ministry of Christ, the Pharisees dogged his steps. Ultimately, they were the ones who did thumbs down on his effectiveness and his veracity, and with the help of the Romans, made sure he went to a cross.

Stepping away from Christ, when you get into the era of the early church, Paul himself admits that he was ravaging the church. Luke writes of it in chapters eight and nine of the book of Acts. When Paul got to the Ephesian elders, he warned them of wolves from their own midst that would enter in, and in fact, did among the Ephesians. There have always been heretics, there have always been defectors, there have always been deceivers, and there have always been fighters. Avoid such men as these. Avoid them.

Now, I think we're properly prepared to hear what Paul writes in Romans 16. As we think of the church at Rome, there are three questions I want to answer: First of all, what was happening there? Second, the question of motive: why was it happening? And third, how was it to be handled? All three are appropriate for us living in the 21st century in the church that we love and serve.

First, what was happening? Verse 17: "Now I urge you, brethren." Before going any further, notice he is writing to believers. This is not the gospel for those who don't know Christ. This is church talk. This is counsel for the believer, for the saint engaged in the work of ministry. He says to the people of Rome, "Brothers, sisters, I urge you, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions." Dissensions never come from the Holy Spirit. They come from the flesh. They may be prompted by the flesh itself, they may be prompted by the enemy, Satan himself, or they may come from the world's system around us. Whatever, they come and they divide.

Whoever is involved in dissensions brings strife, disturbs peace, and sows discord among the brothers and sisters of the organization or the church. They introduce trouble, they question authority, they lack respect, they fail to model a submissive spirit, and they cast doubts. I have a simple word for them: they stir the pot. They stir the pot. They take delight in stirring up the pot. What was happening? Dissensions were being caused.

Look next: "and hindrances." Hindrances. This is putting a hindrance in others' way, making it hard for them to trust. Whereas they once trusted, they can't any longer because you hindered them from trusting. Now second, why was all this happening? Why would that kind of thing be going on? Next verse, 18: "These things go on because such men are slaves of their own appetites." Let that sink in. They are self-serving individuals. They are willing slaves of their own ego. We would say they want their own way. And don't miss the contrast: they do not want the way of the Lord Christ.

Literally, the sentence reads, "For such men our Lord Christ they are not slaves of." They are characterized by an aggressive carnality that is bent on having their own way. It's called being enslaved to your own belly, your own agenda, and what you want. Notice secondly, we read, "they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." I left out an important part of verse 18: "by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." Look closely: smooth, flattering speech. They deceive.

It's never rude and it's never illogical. It's smooth. It makes you feel better. It's flattering. It convinces you that this will be good for you to know this, that this will help you, when in fact, it is self-serving and deceptive. It is not the way of Christ. I found it interesting that when I did a search on the word deceptive or deceive, I found that it has to do with seducing the minds of simple people, trusting people, unsuspecting people, and sheep that lack discernment, that have no reason to doubt.

But as a result of being around those who deceive, they begin to entertain doubts and question respectable authority because they have been duped. Never doubt it. The target of the deceiver is the undiscerning, the trusting, and the simple-hearted individual who is not on his guard. Let me pause here and give you a wonderful set of three gates to pass information through. Let me offer you this: three gates to let information pass. We are all in the information culture, and we're getting stuff told to us, either personally, by phone, by email, or by letter.

We are taking in information. What gates should they pass through before you embrace them? Number one: Ask yourself, is this in agreement with the scriptures? Can I support what I'm hearing from God's Word? Does this square with the Bible? Is this in agreement with scripture? Second: Does this glorify my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ? Will the result of this information mean I am now better able to bring glory to Christ because I have entertained this information and I'm believing this information? Does it draw me closer to Christ?

That brings up the third: Will this promote godliness in my own life? Will I be a better believer, a better Christian because I accept this? Will I become one who promotes harmony and peace? Will I live better with other people? Will I live my life more in keeping with the teachings of Christ? Now, how is this to be handled? Here comes the hard part. I want to give you three words and then we'll go back and amplify them: observation, confrontation, and separation.

Where do I get them? Verse 17, observation: "Keep your eye on those who cause these things." The Greek suggests in the verb a continued action: keep on watching out for is the idea. Don't ever let that thought out of your mind. Stay alert, be ready, and know that they are there. Keep it up. Let's say you're all alone, ladies, in your home and a knock comes at your door. And if you're like our home, you have a little peephole you can look at and see who that individual is.

And let's say you don't know him, and he's standing there waiting for you to open your door. You're going to smile when I give you the response that you never would do: You never go, "Hi! Come right on in!" You don't do that. Some of you won't even open the door, and you may be very wise not to. If you do, you may have a little chain on your door. In New York, you have eight of them. But here, you may have a chain on your door and you look out with your peeper and you say, "Yes, how can I help you?" or "What is it that you'd like?"

Why? Because you've got your eye out for someone who may want to take advantage of you. And you're smart. You're wise. You teach your children that. Sweetheart, not every hand is to be held, not every lie is to be believed, and not every romantic word is to be taken in. It's called discerning. You are observing. You are keeping your eye on those. I say to young pastors who haven't had many years in ministry—because it takes about an hour and a half for the honeymoon to end, so I try to get to them before it ends—and say, just be on the lookout.

Don't live your life suspicious, but be discerning. If you don't, you'll get taken advantage of. Being a servant of Christ is in no way in the category of being a slave of people. For too many years in my ministry, I was a people slave. I thought that's what was expected of the minister. I am no longer there. I am a shepherd committed to faithfulness, truthfulness, and grace, but I've become kind of a wise old duck because I have learned not everybody has my good at heart. That's what he's asking. Keep your eye on those. Pay attention.

The second word is confrontation, and we get that from 3 John verse 10: "when I come, I'm going to expose him." This is the hard part, admittedly. I'm often amazed at how often we will tolerate people like this. And they will ravage the church. I remember a church I served where for a long, long time I tolerated a particular individual and she continued to sow discord. I knew it, and others knew it. And I remember the day that I finally confronted her with the presence of the chairman of our elder board and a senior associate pastor in the church.

I called it for what it was, and she left. I can't tell you the peace that came over that place once she left because obviously she wasn't going to change. She made that clear when we were together. And then I looked back with regret wondering why I'd spent so long allowing her to ravage the flock. She needed to be confronted, not publicly but privately, which is how we did it. I read some cowboy wisdom the other day: "Never get in a spitting match with a skunk. Even if you win, you smell bad." Howie Stevenson, my buddy of yesteryear, used to say, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. People won't enjoy it and it annoys the pig."

Some people don't want to change. It isn't right for them to run free and wild in a church and take advantage of the unsuspecting. Stay on the alert. Confront it when you have to. Finally, separate. Will you notice the end of verse 17? I return to it: "turn away from them." Now, a disclaimer is necessary here. It sounds like everybody that's in trouble needs to be run off. That's not true at all. That's not what we're saying. Everybody's in trouble. We all got problems. We've all got areas of struggle we're working through.

Pastors are constantly in touch with the broken-hearted. This is not the broken-hearted. This is not that kind of individual. This is a self-serving individual who will do harm to the ministry. And there's a difference. Once that person is addressed and you try your best to handle it, often it's the best thing to do to separate from them. Look at Titus chapter 3, if you will turn there, please. We were in Titus some time back, and you may have forgotten verses 9, 10, and 11. In case you think I'm being a little bit hard or tough, let me show you tough.

Titus 3, verse 9, 10, and 11: "Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies." By the way, Paul's writing to a younger pastor whom he left on an island, the island of Crete. He left him there to put things in order. That's a tough assignment, especially on an island, unless it's Hawaii. But Crete is not Hawaii. Avoid foolish genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Watch closely. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.

You heard that correctly. Reject a factious man. Eugene Peterson in *The Message* renders it this way: "Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, then be done with him. It's obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God by persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off." Hard decisions have to be made in families. My heart went out to a family somewhat recently who took in a foster child. Lovely, wonderful Christian family.

The little fellow they brought in was from a very difficult background, very dysfunctional. And the pain of all of that and the fracture of all of that had flowed into his life. And it wasn't long while in the family that he began to disrupt and disrupt and cause dissension and cause havoc and work against the harmony that had been in the home and work against the authority of the new parents that had so longed to make him a part of their own. Finally, they had to realize it can't go on. And with breaking heart, they released him back, knowing that if he stayed, the whole family would suffer and had been suffering. Hard decision. Tough time.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Insight for Living, and we'll hear the conclusion of Chuck Swindoll's message on tomorrow's program. This is such an important issue to address, especially for pastors and everyone who loves them. Chuck titled today's message, "Boars in God's Vineyard." We'll hear a personal word from Chuck in just a moment, so please stay with us.

First, I want to remind you that our comprehensive verse-by-verse study through the book of Romans concludes one week from today on the 16th. If you missed any of Chuck's 44 sermons thus far, it's easy to catch up. You can purchase the complete set of audio messages for Romans, or if you prefer, simply download the Insight mobile app and access Chuck's messages for free. Well, spend a few minutes watching the news and it's easy to become discouraged. It seems like there's turmoil on every front, not only in the major cities, but all around the world. Far too many people live in fear as they go to bed at night. And yet, Christmas time should be a season where peace abounds, especially in the heart of Christians. Here's Chuck.

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: My friend, you know when we hear the word peace, we usually think of serenity, maybe silence. And sure, that's part of it. But here's what I've learned: I need peace when my life is in chaos. And God gives us peace even when our world is in turmoil. Think about Mary giving birth to Jesus. She was the absolute picture of peace. But Bethlehem? That was anything but peaceful. The town was overcrowded, noisy, chaotic—just like our world today, filled with political tension, economic pressure, and rampant secularism. Yet Mary had peace. How? Because she trusted God's promises.

This Christmas, we celebrate Jesus, the baby born in Bethlehem, who is our everlasting light, our Prince of Peace. He came to bring peace that the world cannot give and cannot take away. Remember what Paul wrote to the Philippians? He said God's peace protects our minds and hearts when—get this—when in faith we release our resources. So let me ask you something: Would you be willing to step out in faith with your giving in order to share the light of Christ?

Every gift you give at year-end shows your confidence in his provision. It demonstrates trust that he'll take care of you while you're taking care of his work. This advent season, your contribution to Insight for Living brings this peace that surpasses all understanding to everyone who listens through our radio broadcasts, digital platforms, and all our companion resources. Please follow these instructions and reach out with your generous gift to Insight for Living. Together, as pilgrims living in dark times, let's share the Prince of Peace.

Guest (Male): Yes, we can share the Prince of Peace together. When we get together and fuel the ministry of Insight for Living, it allows countless people to hear about the peace that surpasses understanding. And we're so grateful for your partnership, especially as we approach the end of another ministry year. To send a donation in the mail, you can write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034.

If you're listening on the Insight mobile app, just click the heart that says "Donate" and follow the instructions. If you prefer to call us at Insight for Living, the number is 1-800-772-8888. Or you can give online at insight.org/donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll continues his enlightening message about boars in God's vineyard, tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "Boars in God's Vineyard," was copyrighted in 2008, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.