I was recently eating breakfast with a friend of mine who is really into science and astronomy and he asked me,
“Do you know which one of the planets in our solar system is NOT named after a mythical false god?”
I began running through the planets I could remember off-hand and came up empty. And after a few minutes I gave up. When he told me, I was surprised.
To assuage my lack of mental acuity, I decided to ask Joan and of course, she knew it right off when she said, “How about earth?” It’s not that unusual for her to bruise my intellectual prowess in that way. It happens more often than I like to admit. How could I overlook the obvious?!!
This brings me to two thoughts:
1) The Greek word, planao which occurs in the N.T. from which we get our word “planet”
and
2) How often do we overlook the obvious application of these verses where it appears?
1) First, getting back to planets and the origin of that word, you know that when you look into the night sky, the stars seem to be fixed, because they are so far away, but the planets seem to “wander” because they are so much closer and they move so much more, relative to earth. They stray across the sky and that’s why, in ancient days, the Greeks called them wanderers (planao) and how we came up with the English word, planet.
In Greek, we see that the verbal form of planets (planao), occurs some 39 times in the N.T.
Only once is it used in a neutral way for believers who wander because of persecution. (Heb. 11:38)
The other 30+ occurrences are various levels of negative rebukes to unbelievers and warnings to believers:
-
- Planao is used for severe warnings to religious leaders for their false doctrines and opposition to Christ. (Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24, 27;)
- Planao is used for warning sheep to not go astray or be misled. (Matthew 18:12, 13; 24:4, 5; 24:11, 24; Mark 13:5, 6; Luke 21:8; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 15:33; Galatians 6:7; 2 Timothy 3:13; Titus 3:3; Hebrews 3:10 ; 5:2; James 1:16)
2) Second, now, going back to my missing the obvious planet of earth above, it brings us to the practical question at hand:
How often do we overlook the obvious warnings of God to us, to not go astray?
In order to keep this short, and not to overlook the obvious, let’s only look at the first two uses of planao as it applies to Sheep in Matthew 18:12, 13.
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away (planao),
will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off (planao)?
And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep
than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off (planao).”
Lee Patton and Dean Chollar in 1984
This applies first to young believers, or even older believers. We know that due to an issue or disappointment in their lives, they may go astray. It’s always easier to criticize such individuals rather than to come-along-side and in a gentle and humble way befriend them seeking to understand rather than ignore or criticize them. I’m sure each of us knows someone in that situation. Are we overlooking the obvious and our calling to help?
I still remember with great fondness, Lee Patton, the man who mentored me early in my walk with the Lord. He had me over to his house and was ready to advise me and answer the many questions I had about the Bible. He also encouraged me to go to Bible college. Which changed the trajectory of my life.
It can also apply to the lost or unsaved that we know. This is commonly overlooked by us for many reasons. It’s easy to spend our time only with other believers, those who think and behave like us. A rich fellowship with other believers is very important. Even the use of planao in 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled (planao): “Bad company corrupts good character.” But the next verse makes it clear that Paul is addressing believers who fall into sin with unbelievers, so he is not saying to exclude unbelievers entirely from our lives. And yet, do we overlook the obvious, those who are lost? We are to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth His laborers into His harvest field. (Luke 10:2)
May we not be planets revolving around the Son, going astray of what God would have us do by ignoring his warnings and admonitions.
In closing, I want to thank you for all your prayers and support for the ministry of CrossWay International as we see to SHOW God’s love, TELL of His salvation and TEACH pastors and Christian leaders.
Warmly in Christ,
Dean
