Avoiding the Shipwreck

For the Miami Dolphins, the 2025 regular season has officially gone from bad to worse.

Sputtering their way through a disappointing 8-9 campaign a year ago, the Dolphins now find themselves winless through their first three games of this season after losing to the Buffalo Bills 31-21 last night.

The Dolphins undoubtedly demonstrated improved grit and resolve in Thursday’s clash. However, it still wasn't enough to course correct for a franchise that has been spiraling downward over the past couple of seasons.

In fact, when conducting an internet search earlier today, one of the phrases mentioned multiple times regarding Miami's franchise was "sinking ship." Many people view the franchise as being caught up in a tailspin that will be very challenging to overcome.

The good news for the Dolphins is that, no matter how much they have struggled, there is always hope that they can still turn things around. The ship may appear to be sinking, but there is a way for the franchise to piece things back together and play quality football down the stretch before the season completely crashes out.

As followers of Jesus, one of the quickest ways that we can make a shipwreck of our faith is to engage with false teaching consistently.

Who are we listening to? Do we believe everything we hear on social media? Do we test, confirm, and clarify what we're being taught by studying Scripture for ourselves?

While the topic of false teaching may not be something many people think about regularly, it's a subject that comes up repeatedly in the New Testament. Interestingly, 26 of the 27 New Testament books address the topic of false teaching, with many of these books featuring false teaching as a major theme.

The reason for the Holy Spirit’s intentional emphasis on false teaching is simple: it does incalculable damage to people’s faith.

2 Peter 1:1-3 (ESV) says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

False teachers not only bring “swift destruction” upon themselves, but destruction upon the people who listen to their false teaching.

In 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (NIV), the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, saying, “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all.”

One of the major takeaways from that passage is the fact that the countless people who had departed the faith had done so because they were listening to teaching that falsely presented itself as knowledge.

Unfortunately, because much of the false teaching presented today often appears profound and advanced in its knowledge, many people are inclined to believe things that actually deviate from the truth of God’s Word.

Of course, most of us tend to want to believe that any person teaching from a stage, pulpit, or on a podcast would never deceive us or lead us astray. But God’s Word is abundantly clear that there are many false teachers, and that many will be led astray by their false teaching.

So, how can we make sure that our faith doesn't end up getting shipwrecked by false teaching?

It's obviously going to start with having a solid understanding of God’s Word. We must diligently study Scripture so that we can hone our skills of discernment to quickly spot any teaching that doesn't accord with sound doctrine.

Furthermore, we need to follow the example that the church of Berea set in Acts 17.

When the Apostle Paul came proclaiming the gospel to the people in Berea, they didn't simply believe everything that he was telling them because he sounded sincere, had a lot of passion, or seemed to be a nice guy. Instead, they compared everything that he was saying to the truth of God’s Word to ensure that what they were hearing was true.

Ultimately, the Bible commends the Bereans for taking the time to research and examine what was being taught to them by lining it up with Scripture.

Acts 17:11 (NASB) says of the Beareans, “Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Let’s never assume we could never be susceptible to false teaching. After all, one of the most malicious things about being deceived is that you don’t initially recognize it's happening to you.  

Today, let’s be careful in our study of God’s Word and take the time to compare what people tell us with the truth of Scripture. Let's continue to ask God to lead us to truth and open our eyes and hearts.

I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me to understand the truth of Your Word better. If there is any place where I am wrong in my thinking, please help me to see it so that I can change my beliefs. Keep me guarded from false teaching and give me a deeper love for truth. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.