2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting.” Big themes in scripture are love, acceptance and hospitality. Matthew 18:5 says, “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;” He was interjecting a point in an argument, “which is the greatest?” He takes a child. In doing so, he was taking the least in our world’s eyes. The child hasn’t accomplished anything. Respect hasn’t been earned. Then Jesus makes the point, “if you receive this child, you receive me.” Jesus wants us to be accepting. Yet, John gives an example of when we aren’t to be accepting. It’s the one with wrong doctrine. Scripture has a strong stance against these, because they will lead others astray. Matthew 18:6 (the next verse) says this about those with wrong teaching: “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” This is a very big deal. Do we never speak to these? It depends. Acts 18:26 gives an example of correcting someone in error. “and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” In this case, Apollos was incomplete, instead of being wrong. I would also say that he was teachable. Most cultists or people in error are more interested in making their points and getting converts. They actually learn strategies to combat the areas where we would persuade them. I’ve spent hours on my front porch on many occassions debating. I don’t do that anymore. Today’s passage is part of my reason. I pray that they will be mercifully corrected. I don’t receive them. This mild form of excommunication does something. They don’t receive comfort from us. This will hopefully cause them to feel the sting and pause. We need to check ourselves. We aren’t perfect and we all have some level of misunderstanding. It’s usually not to the level of being apostate. However, James 3:1 says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” Many of us teach at some level. It may be a parent/child relationship. We can’t help teaching in some settings. We need to openly scan our lives. We need to be humble and open to the comments of others. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test?” We need to always be open to a check up. We need to pray those prayers, “Lord, keep me in Your ways.” Lord, give us wisdom as to whom we listen to and whom we do not. Keep us in Your ways.