Paul had just finished talking about those who were preaching to the Christians a gospel contrary to the one that the apostles preached, which was also contrary to the gospel that Jesus taught and lived. He said, “let him be accursed.” Why? Because he/they were teaching deliberate lies to the people in order to deceive them and to lead them astray. And so Paul was very concerned that at least some of these Christians were turning to this “different gospel” which was a distortion of the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:10-12 ESV
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
The implication here, it seems, is that those who were teaching this “different gospel” were those who were seeking the approval of man and not of God. They were those who were trying to please man. And one of the characteristic traits of those who are false prophets or false teachers is that they say what people’s itching ears want to hear, and they appease human flesh. So they distort the truth of the gospel so that humans will like them. And so they tell them “pleasant things” which make them feel good.
They say, “peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11; Ezekiel 13:10,16). And they contradict the messages of God’s true messengers and teachers and preachers. For they consider the messages of God’s true servants as “negative” while the messages of the false teachers are more “positive” and inviting. And this is a HUGE deception being promoted within the American church of day, big time!
I read this description at gotquestions.org, and it was good:
“Jeremiah was like a doctor delivering bad news to his patient. His diagnosis was that, unless drastic measures were taken, the patient would die. However, the false prophets gave a ‘second opinion.’ ‘Don’t listen to Jeremiah,’ they said; ‘you are going to be just fine.’ Instead of radical surgery and a drastic change of lifestyle, the priests and false prophets said a light bandage was all that was needed” (see Jeremiah 6:13-14; Jeremiah 8:10b-11). (1)
Wow! So appropriate to what is being done today! For, in trying to avoid the negative and to say only what is positive and inviting to the people, these false teachers are giving the people false assurances. Absolutely! So these false teachers do not deal with the rampant sin being overlooked within the gatherings of the church today. Instead, they pacify the people in their sins so that they don’t feel guilty for sinning against the Lord. And so they tell them to just “claim who you are in Christ,” even if it is a lie.
They speak only of the blessings and promises of God, even if biblically they don’t apply to the people at all. For all God’s promises have conditions which must be met for those promises to apply to our lives. And so these false teachers habitually lie to the people so that the people will feel good about themselves and so they will feel good about the false teachers. For they tell the people that God is not displeased with them when they habitually and deliberately sin against the Lord, and that makes them feel good.
So, Paul told Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 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 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4:2-4 ESV
And that time has indeed come, at least here in America it has. For many are “rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction” (Isaiah 30:9). So, they have closed their ears to the truth of the gospel which Jesus taught and which his NT apostles taught, and many are they who are following after these smooth-tongued false teachers of today who are telling them what they want to hear.
For the people are saying, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 30:10–11).
And this is exactly the message that is being widely accepted and promoted within the gatherings of today’s modern market-driven “churches” here in America. And I have heard this message a lot from various responders over the years and just from “Christians,” in general. And this comes out in memes on social media a lot, too. And so many people are buying into this and thus they are absolutely rejecting the truth of the gospel for these “feel-good” messages that so many of these false teachers are spreading today.
So, the “different gospel” that these false teachers were teaching was evidently a message that was more appealing to human flesh. And it got these false teachers approval of man, but not of God. For they were teaching a “man’s gospel” and not the gospel of Christ as Jesus and as his NT apostles taught it. And that is why Paul was assuring the people that he was not seeking the approval of man, but of God, and he was not trying to please man, but God, so he would be a true servant of God/Christ.
So, the message to us today is that we must follow suit. We must not be looking for messages and messengers which are going to tickle our itching ears and appease our human flesh and which are going to make us feel good about ourselves even if we are living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. We should be seekers of truth and of righteousness and not seekers of “feel-good” messages only. For it is negative to lie to people and it is positive to tell people the truth. So they have it all backwards.
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
Caution: This link may contain ads
(1) https://www.gotquestions.org/when-there-is-no-peace.html
No comments:
Post a Comment