Why We Like False Gospels

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When a false gospel is preached, it seems that often the falsehood is simple derived from over-emphasis on one trait, one gain, one reward, etc.

For example, a gospel of “prosperity” is considered false because of its focus on personal gain and the misconstrued beliefs that follow, like that Christians should always prosper and that Jesus exists to make us happy. Likewise, a gospel of “experience” may put excessive value on the personal encounter with God, leading many to believe that whatever they feel or interpret must be true.

When such a one-sided gospel is presented, it is often to make the true Gospel more palatable. “Gospel” means “good news.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel. It’s the good news that we are redeemed in Christ and can be reconciled with God. But that is big news, and, while giving the deepest joy and peace and purpose to life, is also hard news.

Often false gospels are just snippets of the easier parts of the good news. They address one particular need that is being felt.

Many false gospels, rather than sharing the truth of Jesus Christ, select and run with a chunk of the truth easier to accept for those who aren’t looking to give their lives over to God, acknowledge their sinfulness, and spend eternity glorifying the Lord instead of themselves (and really, how many of us are eager to do that?)

Prosperity gospels share good news about feeling fulfilled and gaining what you desire, not self-sacrifice or laying up treasures worthy of heaven and denying the power of currency of this world. Experience gospels validate feelings and soothe fears of inadequacy at the cost of standing on the more difficult to like, whole truth.

Sometimes, apologetics becomes a false gospel of reason and intellect. Addressing the needs of those who find God irrational or Christianity foolish, the false gospel of apologetics often fails to address the aspect of Christ that is indeed foolishness to this world and that isn’t rational within our bounds of reason.

Apologetics can be presented as being supportive of faith rather than supported by faith. Further, rather than basing a relationship with the Lord on a faith so deep and true that it includes reason, apologetics at times suggests that as reason stands, faith can have a place if you’d like it to.

It’s not that apologetics or appreciating intellect is wrong. Or that the Lord causing you to prosper or blessing you with His presence is anti-Jesus.

Few false gospels that live under the auspices of Christianity say “this is it. It’s all intellect. It’s all in your heart. Or it’s all in your wealth.” It’s rare for such false gospels to even claim to be anti-Jesus.

But rather, in “sheep’s clothing,” many who proclaim false teaching seem harmless and even enticing (Matthew 7:15). At their core, many false gospels fit within the confines of truth, but rather than building up off the foundation of Christ, they build out additions to make the space of faith a little more comfortable.

In Jeremiah 5:30-31, we read that:

“An appalling and horrible thing

    has happened in the land:

 the prophets prophesy falsely,

    and the priests rule at their direction;

my people love to have it so,

    but what will you do when the end comes?”

2 Timothy 4:3 seems to echo the words: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”

It’s no surprise that false teachings always seem to align with the fears or obsessions of current generations or cultures. Many arise not out of a desire to divert from the truth, but to gratify the part of the flesh that is currently hungering most. Like a piece of candy given to a crying child, false gospels are given in response not to needs, but to desires.

We’re a part of that. Our demands to have things our way and to have our preferences often affect the truths we’re willing to hear. We feed and reward those churches that perhaps aren’t heretical but certainly aren’t mature, wholesome, or Biblically-based when we fail to seek the Lord for what He says we need. Instead, we tell the Lord or we direct His words in order to meet the wants that we perceive.

Imagine what we lose. 

At a Price: The Relationship Between Love and Freedom

“Why do the innocent suffer? Because of love. God designed love to be based on our free will. He didn’t want to be loved out of fear, or out of compliance. He wanted to be loved out of gratitude. But love has a price tag. If love is free, then a lover is free to be unloving. Otherwise love is forced. Because we are free to be unloving, many of us have been run over…” –Pg. 71. Safe People by Cloud and Townsend

Love and freedom are inextricably connected. The two are interdependent.

Without love, you cannot experience true freedom. Without freedom, love isn’t love.

That’s the way God designed it, and the implications are many:

What Love Gives Us: Freedom

• ·         Because He loved us, we are free

“The truth will set you free.” But what is the truth? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The truth is revealed by the loving character and actions of our Lord. That’s how He gives us freedom.

• ·         His love gives us the freedom to truly love others

1 John 4:19 says it concisely: “we love because he first loved us.” The love we have to give, in and of ourselves, is limited by our sinful nature. Our natural love is flawed and distorted. But the love of God, instilled in us and flowing through us by the Spirit –that’s perfect. In Christ, we are free to truly love others as He intends, in His timing, as His children.

• ·         The love of God frees us to be who He made us to be

Sin, as exemplified by Satan’s temptation tactics, tells us that who we are isn’t enough and that we can change who we are in order to be like God. We’re enslaved by the sinful conviction that we must take the place of God in our lives. When we ground our hearts in the love of Christ, we find that we can be who we are and that His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

What Love Costs: Freedom

• ·         For God, love meant giving up freedom temporarily

In the person of Christ, God “Himself bore our sins” (1 Peter 2:24). The Lord who created everything and lives forever died for you and me before rising again. He “gave Himself up,” temporarily surrendering His freedom and rightful place. And He did that because of His great love for us.  

• ·         Loving God means becoming a slave to righteousness

When Christ died and rose again, we were redeemed. Each of us was “bought with a price; do not become slaves of human beings” (1 Corinthians 7:23). Instead, your freedom means being a “slave to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). When you love the Lord, you surrender your will and your freedom to Him that you may gratefully serve Him as an expression and a natural result of your love.

• ·         Emulating His love requires that we allow others their freedom

The Lord’s love sacrifice’s self. Those who love the Lord plead “take this cup if you are willing” and obey when the answer is “no” (Luke 22:42). Often encumbrances on our freedom are the result of loving others as the Lord does.

Consider the fruit of the Spirit. Those fruits aren’t conditional on those you love behaving how you would like them to. To love like the Lord, you set aside your freedom to sinfully manipulate others or to seek personal gain, and you emulate Godly love (patiently, gently, meekly) as others use their freedom (even in ways you don’t like)!

Little Lies

An advertisement came on. It boasted images of beautiful beaches and expressed this basic message: "beaches are all different. But every beach has beer in common".

Being a literal person, the first thing that came to mind is what a lie that is...lots of beaches ban alcohol.

It makes sense to me that an alcohol company would be advertising alcohol...but why resort to a lie to sell it?

Yet this is a strategy that people use everyday, not just corporations. How often do we tell little lies? And why do we do it?

We're told in the Bible to uphold the truth. We're told that the truth is light that dispels darkness. That the truth sets us free.

And then we tell little lies. You know, just the type that make things sound better than they are, or that twist facts in our favor. We tell lies that help us avoid confrontation -something so common it has a label: a white lie.

It's our hope that our reasons are so good that these little bits of deception are acceptable. But they aren't.

The purpose of our little lies is always, ultimately, for ourselves. We don't want to be liars -we just don't want to lose whatever it is that we're guarding with our lies. We don't often lie by saying outrageous things or weaving big webs. A little twisting, a little silence, a few blanks in conversation lined with implications...these do the trick. Such lies don't hurt anyone else, we assume. They certainly don't hurt us!

Lying is not only a sin, according to the ninth of the ten commandments, but it draws out the sorts of things in our hearts that the Lord finds detestable. These are the sorts of things that cause our feet to stray from His righteous path, as we look not on who we're following but on where we want to get to.

To tell little lies is to do away with integrity, valuing "righteousness" only when it's convenient. Little lies evidence that in our hearts, we don't trust that God can achieve or provide or make a way for us without the aid of our deceptive powers.

A little lie says "Lord, the right way isn't enough to get me where I want to be, so I'm doing it another way that is, well, not right but not wrong."

There's no such thing. It's His way, or the wrong way. That's it. There are no terms to negotiate or compromises that are acceptable.

Luke 16:10-15 cites Jesus' words:

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."

Little lies are born of little faith. They betray our heart's preference of gain over obedience and righteousness. Though we find all sorts of ways to justify little lies, enough is enough.

God knows our hearts. He is willing, eager, and certain to make a way for us that doesn't require the sin of lying. Give it up and have faith that the honesty He so values -even in the littlest things- is worth it.

To Save a Life

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The phrase is everywhere. When someone pulls another person from a car wreck just in time, we say that their life was saved. Some people say that they were saved by the influence of something or someone that caused them to change their lifestyle or perspective. There is even a popular song entitled “To Save a Life”. 

If we stop to look at the phrase carefully, though, we see that it’s misleading. It is impossible for any person to save a life. There are instances in which a person is spared from a form of suffering. Death can be delayed. But as for life itself, no person has the power to prevent its ending altogether.

As depressing as the inevitability of death is, it only illuminates the precious gift Christ gives. 

Christ alone defeats death. His saving work is not as simple or temporary as that of a doctor or a mentor or a so-called hero. When Christ saves us, it is forever!

This is the reason for our hope. How can we not praise Him and rejoice in gratitude?

Jesus destroys death for us. Then, He gives us new life. Eternal life. As if that isn’t enough to astound us, He saves us from more than death -it is eternal punishment that we are spared from. 

Everything that we deserve because of the condition of our sinful hearts is not only forgiven and wiped away, but replaced by this new life in Christ. Romans 6:23 phrases it this way: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

All of this –free. Absolutely, 100% free to us as receivers. He paid the price for us. To rescue and redeem that which we considered ours but that He also freely gave –life itself. From the beginning He has known and formed each of us, His breath is the only thing that gives life. Our God is the creator of life –and He’s the one who saves our lives, making us new for eternity.

We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about life. At funerals, in hospitals, when tragedies occur, we mourn that life is short and fleeting. As we celebrate achievements and reminisce about how they could never have been, had someone not “_________”, we rejoice that lives can change and improve.

At the same time, we spend plenty of time thinking and talking about death. In many of the same places, we look at death as if it really is inevitable. We act like that's okay and talk about finding meaning in it anyway. 

Isn't that crazy? We obsess over people "saving lives" -yet we rarely get to the fact of the matter: our bodies will die, each and every one, no matter what we do. It's nice to have more time on earth, sure, but that's all we get. Except that salvation is possible. Eternity is at hand if only we will accept His free gift of new, everlasting life. 

We rejoice more over the delaying of death than over repentance leading to salvation. When the opportunity arises to speak about life or about death, we must be clear about the options we have. And we can start by re-tuning our phrases for accuracy. 

How can a life be saved? By Christ alone. 

How amazing that our Lord is who He is, can do what He did, and does what He does!