Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up
2 Corinthians 11:1-4
"I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride [virgin] to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed."
For people to have the opportunity to hear the truth and to live by that truth, it must be preached, and it must be the truth that is preached. Of course, the gospel must be experienced and expressed in the fruitful faith of a servant's life, but to get to that place the word of God must first be preached. The apostle Paul emphasized the need for a preacher when he asked the question, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). Here in Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle focuses in on the importance of discernment when examining the truths and untruths being preached. And he is trying to diplomatically explain to these believers that some false teachings will creep into their heads and maybe find its way into their hearts.
Two things Paul is looking for in preaching the gospel, two things we also should be seeking from our church leaders in every ministry:
1. Proclaiming the message of the Kingdom of God.
2. The message of repentance.
After these messages are preached in truth, everything else is fluff.
The Apostle Paul was concerned about the people having access to the truth. In our age, we have too many opportunities to hear too many truths about too many Christs. In fact, there is so much information that it's really just too much to deal with. And sometimes it can be exhausting to read and hear the foolish information that is being put out there.
Paul faced some of these very same challenges in his age. In his time, the churches were being used by vainglorious men to preach a perverted gospel. Men who saw their ministry as a means for vanity. And people who saw the success of those ministries as evidence that they and their message is righteous. He said of these "super-apostles" that they preached from the appearance of “ministers of righteousness,” but they preached a counterfeit message inspired by Satan (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). And it shouldn't come as a surprise to us, Jesus warned his followers that false prophets would come (Matthew 7:15-16; see also Acts 20:29).
When I read about the Corinthian Church I imagine a very popular mega-church the like of which we see today. I think if they had television in that day the Corinthian church would be broadcast from a coliseum, or a great temple with huge columns and lofty windows, to throngs of people hearing messages about living your best life now. They'd have a great sense of spirit, a sense of spiritual power would come over them. They'd feel like they're in the presence of the Holy trinity by virtue of the place and the quality of those preaching a message that pleases their hearts. They'd be preaching but they'd be preaching from a different spirit. They would be preaching to what the hearts and minds in their audience wanted to hear. So, what is this “different spirit” in 2 Corinthians 11:4?
Discernment and Wisdom:
I've noticed a common theme in all the false teachings. They all seem to reject the fear of God, and they do their level best to avoid the law and the prophets. These are men who live and breathe in the New Testament alone, cherry-picking the gospel elements that suit their spirits and the needs of their congregations. John called it the “spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). He warned us to “not believe every spirit” but to “test the spirits, whether they are of God” (verse 1). Paul also urged us to “test all things” and “hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). I call this taking the good and leaving the bad.
They have no light in them. They are not preaching about the light that was given to them, they preach a false light to get the listeners attention and off of Jesus. They preach about a different gospel and a different Jesus. They don't want you looking into the word of God. They want you to look into their writings, buy their books, study their catechisms. They intoxicate and hypnotize the listeners with their words, with their style, with their buildings and furniture, and with their spirit that feels right. And there's no true light in them.
Isaiah 8:20 "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
What's a body to do?
We should be diligently studying God’s law, prophets, and gospel words in order to fully understand His truth and then use His truth to discern all of the spirits that we come across.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
“[They] searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11; compare John 5:39).
And pray to the Holy Spirit for inspiration and guidance in your prayers, study, and preaching.
False Teachers, False Gospels:
I know this isn't going to go over well, but here I go at any rate.
Mormons teach that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer and the offspring of a heavenly mother and father. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus is "a god", not God incarnate, but really was the archangel Michael, a created being who died on a stake and rose again to resume his role as Michael the archangel. There are "Christian" churches who teach Jesus as a pagan mythology, a construct of many legends, they are Gnostic Christians, and Universalists. And the largest Christian church expression, The Roman Catholic Church, has many within their ranks who teach and preach a false gospel about the Queen of Heaven, and who still follow the idea of One Church One Salvation.
They all are guilty of preaching a "different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed."
And the common theme in every false narrative is a Jesus who meets a need that makes the listeners want more of what that particular ministry has to offer. It's never intended to elevate Christ. In fact they all do exactly the opposite. No, the intent is to elevate the church minister and his ministry. It's the consumption gospel. And it's not new. The doctrines of depravity and the will of mankind expressed in denominational terms have been at the center of theological controversies throughout all of the church histories. Wars have been fought. Inquisitions. Genocides. All proclaiming a spirit of Christianity.
Following the Apostolic era, the churches warred about doctrine. Controversy about the Trinty, Arianism, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Pelagius...and so on and so on. Multitudes of a "different Jesus" was being taught and fought about. And this trend continues even now.
Every instance that led to these divisions, and their eventual wars, began with a minister who taught a gospel message that was not true. They all involved a different spirit. They all arose out of a need to be different. And at the heart of EVERY one of these false teachings is a rejection of grace in Christ alone, (being born again in Christ). They all have in their doctrines a requirement to follow their particular beliefs and attend to their particular needs. They preach synergism, which involves a work of cooperation between God and man. And of course, the cooperation needed is absolute adherence to the doctrine of their one church. That is the common thread in all the false religious beliefs.
It all began in the garden, and with the first false teacher. He who asked, "did God say...?" And with a congregation of two witnesses that approved of that message. Hmmm.
Amen.
Guard your hearts friends, guard your minds, and protect your spirit by staying focused upon Jesus Christ and His gospel truth that was given to us in God's word.
#JesusIsLord #JesusIsKing #JesusIsGod