Rushing Toward Laodicea (Part 2)
Love is the Evidence of Discipleship
This brings us to another important point that is often used to deflect criticism of false teachers. If you examine someone’s fruit, it is almost always said that we are not in the spirit of love, after all, Jesus did say that by this all men will know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. To understand what it means to love, let’s take some time to examine what love is. I want to first look at a passage related to what we studied earlier concerning false prophets. Look at these passages from 2 Peter 2:
But there were also false
prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who
will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought
them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many
will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
blasphemed.
…
14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin,
enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices,
and are accursed children.
…
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness,
they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have
actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise
them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is
overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after
they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the
latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would
have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
Consider what is being taught in these passages. False teachers will come into the church to SECRETLY bring in destructive teachings. They will entice unstable souls (those who are not firmly rooted in the word) and will use great swelling words to allure people out of the truth and into following their destructive ways. In other words, these teachers will sound good, they will promise people the things they want to hear, they will promise liberty but they are enslaved to corruption and destined for judgment. Who are they targeting? They target those who have already escaped corruption through Jesus Christ and knowledge of the truth of the gospel. They are targeting the church – the believer in Christ.
The end result is destruction for anyone who follows the ways of the false teacher. The Bible clearly states that it would have been better for the Christian not to have known the truth than to have obeyed the gospel and then turn from it to follow the ways of the false prophets. I keep reiterating this because most people have a hard time grasping this truth – false teachers sound good. They are alluring. They do good works. They use great words and even use scripture. Even so, they are destined for destruction and so are any who follow them. They will preach some truth; otherwise no one would be deceived.
False teachers lure you by appealing to the flesh. They teach that you can live for yourself while having a ticket to heaven. This is a lie. I will get into the compromise brought into the church in more detail later, but keep in mind that the truth plus a lie is a lie. It may sound good but if the message preached does not teach you to conform to Christ and walk in the Spirit, it is not the gospel.
So what does all this have to do with love? The point I am getting to comes from verses 20-21 in the above passages. If you are entangled again and overcome by the world, the latter end is worse than the beginning. It would have been better not to have known the truth of the gospel than to have known it and then turn from it to find ‘your best life now’ in this present world. What’s love got to do with it? Everything. If I love you, I do not want you to fall into a destructive trap that has been laid for you and baited with the things your flesh desires; therefore, I see the danger and care enough to warn you of the danger.
To understand love, look at Matthew 22:36-40
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
Most people think that to love someone is to accept them and everything about them and pat them on the back to make them feel accepted. While we do want those in the church to feel accepted, this is a secondary issue. To sing sweet lullabies to someone to comfort them as they head down the road to destruction is not love. If my child were walking toward a cliff, I wouldn’t tell them that I loved them and that everything was ok; I would do everything in my power to protect them from the danger looming before them. To allow a child to do something we know is harmful is neglect. The exact same truth applies within the church; however, the modern accept all attitude that is tolerant of sin is completely intolerant of the warnings of those who are truly seeking the good of another. The person who pats you on the back is considered loving even though he cares nothing about your soul, while the watchman who sounds the alarm of danger is scoffed at and called unloving and judgmental.
The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. If this commandment is pushed aside, no other commandment has any relevance whatsoever. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself if you do not love God with all your heart. It is impossible. We are self-centered by nature and true love (agape) is self-giving, sacrificial love that only comes from God. Human nature cannot produce agape love. In order to love God, you must obey the word. If you do not obey, you do not love God. Jesus explains this in John 14:23-24
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
Also look at 1 John 5:2-3
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
If you do not keep the word of God and obey it, you do not love God. This does not mean that it will be easy or that if we fail we are rejected. If you love God, you will seek Him, pray, spend time with God and seek to conform to Him. If we are in Christ, our destiny is to be with Him for eternity. If you love someone, you will not do the things they hate. If you love God you will not conform to the world that is at war with God but will seek to know Him through the scripture. You will then obey that you may shape your character to His image and walk in the Spirit. So to love God is what everything eternal is founded upon. This is the first and greatest commandment.
If you truly love God, you will also experience God and learn more and more how to walk with Him in the Spirit. As you experience the joy of knowing God, you will want others to also know Him. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will want him or her to be secure in their faith, experience God, conform to the image of Christ and walk in the Spirit as well. You will not want someone to follow worldly philosophies that will infiltrate the church or lead them to destruction.
So hopefully you can see that love causes us to test all things according to scripture because we are seeking first and foremost to honor and please God and second to lead others into discipleship as well. If you love your neighbor, you will want him or her to be a disciple of Christ so that they experience God and inherit all things God has promised. Since no one can be a disciple of Christ without forsaking their life in this world and walking in obedience, you will seek to guide others into the truth. True love seeks the good of another even when they are unwilling or unable to recognize what is truly good.
The next time someone says that you are unloving when you share the truth of scripture, do not be intimidated into conformity but seek their good over your comfort. Remember that many of those who repented at the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost were crying out, “Crucify Him” to Jesus a few weeks earlier. We are told to look to Him as our example. Look at these passages:
Hebrews 12:3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
Jesus loved and died for His enemies so that they may be reconciled by His blood; therefore it should not be unexpected that we should have to endure hostility while we try to find those who will turn to God. In fact, the Bible even tells us that many will call you an evildoer when you show good works but observing your steadfastness will be a testimony that God will use when He visits them and calls them to salvation. This is what loving each other is all about.
A Quest for Relevance
If you look at almost any church growth seminar, book or training material,
the one common theme is the focus on becoming relevant to the world around us.
This has become the battle cry of the dominionist, emergent church and church
growth movements. Each of these movements present half-truths and use the Bible
only when it is convenient but do not base their purpose on conforming to Christ
or making others into disciples. Keep in mind the one principle that we examined
earlier for identifying false teachers. You will know them by their fruits. The
only good fruit is producing disciples of Jesus Christ. This is the sole command
given to the church by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20. A disciple of Christ is
someone who has surrendered their life to Christ, learning His word, obeying His
word and teaching others to also do the same. Anything else is not good fruit.
Good works and kind acts are keys to open the door to making disciples but they
are not the fruit of the gospel. If a church is not producing disciples that are
making disciples, they are not producing the good fruit that only comes from
God. The forbidden fruit looked good in the garden of Eden, but it was not good.
Even so, the fruit of a faithless church may look good, but it must be compared
to the scriptures to verify that it is indeed good.
I have watched many trailer videos for upcoming church conferences and almost without exception, the focus is on two things: doubling or tripling your church in size, and becoming relevant to the world around you. Numerical growth is not the evidence of God’s move. Numerical growth is only the evidence that the church has an appeal to large numbers of people. Churches bring in Christian comedians, stage presentations, showmanship and one mega church is bringing in a circus olay style Christmas megashow that features bickering angels and world famous acrobats. The stated purpose of this 10 day long show is to provide “cross-over appeal” to those lacking spirituality according to an Arlington Newspaper.
In our modern quest for growth, we have lost focus of the mission of the church. Our goal is not to become relevant to the world, it is to make disciples – or instructing others to observe ALL that Jesus commanded. We are to teach all the gospel, both the words given directly by Jesus, the word given to the prophets before Jesus and the word given to the apostles of Jesus after the Holy Spirit gave them utterance (see John 15:12-14, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21). It is important to understand that teaching the words of God includes the teachings of the apostles that were given the word by the Holy Spirit according to John 15.
In the quest for relevance, modern growth teachers avoid discomforting passages because it has become more important to build numbers than to build strong, faithful disciples. The gospel offends those who are rejecting God’s intervention in their lives; therefore, the only way to keep these people in the congregation is to avoid the things that offend. To avoid offending members, teachers and preachers are more than willing to offend God. You CANNOT build a world friendly church and please God.
The World will hate the disciple of Christ
The very thought that a church can bridge the gap between itself and the
world is completely erroneous. Anyone who teaches that this is the goal of a
church only reveals that they do not understand the chasm between Christianity
and the worldly culture. These two opposing views are irreconcilable. The only
way to be ‘seeker sensitive’ is to remove what offends. Look around you and see
what offends the world about the church. Every Christmas we have to endure the
string of news stories reporting how that schools have removed anything that
refers to Christ. Retail businesses are filled with secular symbols of Christmas
but anything that refers to Christ is ignored. Even the word Christmas is an
offense because it has ‘Christ’ in it. The battle does not end at Christmas.
Most of the colleges founded as Christian colleges are breaking their ties so as
to not offend the world. William and Mary College is currently embroiled in a
battle over the cross in the chapel. The college was established in the late
1700s as a Christian institution but now it is afraid to be thought of as
Christian. The cross that has been in the chapel for almost a century has been
removed and put into a storage closet so as to not offend anyone. The same
battle has made headlines in colleges such as Georgetown, Simon Fraser
University and many, many others have caved into this inclusion mentality over
the last few years.
Why such a to-do over a cross, or a manger scene or the word Christmas? The cross of Jesus Christ is an offense. The ONLY way to keep from offending the world is to conform ourselves to the culture. The culture cannot conform to Christ; therefore, the church has to depart from Christ to conform to the culture. The world does not mind seeing a Jesus in the church that conforms to their will, but if you preach like Jesus preached, you will not have a mega church for long. I get emails on a regular basis claiming that Jesus was all accepting, non-judging, and only taught love and tolerance. If you are someone who believes this, read the gospel of John. Jesus constantly offended those who were contrary to the gospel. Jesus welcomed sinners who sought repentance but He was very harsh on any religious leader who preached a false message and even the crowds that followed Him for self-gratification.
If you truly preach the word, you will be counter culture and hated by the culture. There is no way around it. Jesus has a stern warning for those who have found love by the culture in Luke 6:26
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
The masses have never followed the truth for long. The masses or culture loves a prophet that tells them that all is well and they will adore anyone who preaches a Jesus that requires nothing of them. When those claiming to be prophets preach peace and comfort in this world, the Bible says that this is a sign that destruction is coming (1 Thessalonians 5:1-7). Those who preach the message that Jesus preached, you must die to yourself, forsake this world and follow Christ, will be hated by the culture. It should not surprise us when the world seethes at us. Look at John 15:18-21
18 " If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
If the world praises a church leader, this is a warning that they are of the world for the world loves its own but hates those God calls out of the world. If the world speaks well of you, the Bible says ‘woe unto you’ for you are against God and will be judged by God if you do not repent. If you are truly following Jesus Christ, the world will hate you. They will call you an evildoer and speak all manner of evil against you for Christ’s namesake (Matthew 5:10-12). The Bible does not say, ‘if you are persecuted’, but ‘when you are persecuted for righteousness’ you should rejoice. The Bible also promises us that all who live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Make no mistake about it, if you follow Christ, you will be going against the culture. If the world is praising you or your church, you know you are walking with the culture and not with Christ. Look at James 4:
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
It is impossible to please God and be a friend of the world. It is equally impossible to please the world and walk with God. The two are irreconcilable. Each individual must be reconciled to God by repentance and turning from their sinful lives in this world. The world will never follow Christ but individuals can be called out of the world and into Christ. It is the responsibility of each Christian to lift up the truth without compromise so that individuals can choose to believe the gospel or reject it. Without the message preached, how can they believe (Romans 10:14).
There is another reason the world cannot tolerate Christianity. You will find that if you live for Christ and your life shows this, the people around you will react for or against Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:15-17 explains:
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
Your life in Christ reveals the fragrance of Christ. Everyone around you will smell the aroma of Christ and it will either draw people to Christ or make people despise you. Those who are responsive to the truth will see life and want that life, while those who reject Christ will be reminded of the wages of sin leading to death. They do not want to be reminded of the consequences of a life of sin; therefore, they will hate you because they hate the spirit of Christ within you.
The cross of Jesus Christ is an offense to the world. The only way to avoid offending is to hide the cross and turn from the gospel. You cannot have a gospel without the cross. The cross is the judgment of sin and death to our life in the flesh. Anyone who loves the flesh will hate the message of the cross. Look at these two passages:
1 Peter 2:7-8 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
1 Corinthians 1:18-23 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
If a church stands firm on the word, they will be an offense to the culture. If you stand firm on the word, you will also be an offense to the culture. The message of the cross is foolishness to the world because they cannot comprehend leaving life in the flesh behind to walk in the Spirit. The war between the flesh and the Spirit is why there can be no union between the world and the church. You cannot be integrated into the culture and preach the message of the cross. There cannot be salvation or obedience to God without the message of the cross. Since this is true, any church that customizes its message or methods to appease the world is in disobedience to God and does not have the love of God within them or the power of God in their church. Let’s let the scriptures speak to this subject. Look at 1 John 2:15-18
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
We are not commanded to love the culture, but we do love the people we are trying to reach and call out of the culture. If you love people, you will preach repentance and salvation through the cross. If you do not love your neighbor as yourself, you will tell him that all religions are acceptable to God and allow him to perish in his sins. Keep in mind that when the scripture tells us to preach the gospel, it is the whole truth of God’s word. Unity is the key buzzword to the disobedient church. The Bible teaches unity among the disciples of Christ but not unity among those rejecting the scripture. Unless you are striving to obey all that has been commanded, you are not a disciple of Christ. If you are trying to unify the disciples of Christ with those disobedient to Christ you are attempting to reconcile the world to the church as well. The only way a disciple can be unified with someone living in disobedience is for the disciple to become disobedient. You never hear those teaching unity at all cost calling for all people to be obedient to the gospel; you hear the disciple of Christ being told that it is necessary for them to conform or become accepting of those opposed to obedience. To obey the command to be unified with those in rebellion against scripture is to sin against God.
You will frequently hear preachers and teachers say things like, “The only thing that matters is that we believe that Jesus died for our sins. Everything else is a secondary issue and should not divide us”. While this sounds good on the surface, it is not accurate nor is it biblical. The Bible teaches that we must be obedient to all God instructs and that if someone does not follow sound doctrine, we should separate from their company so that we are not drawn away from the truth (1 Thes. 4:7-8, 2 Thes. 3:14-15, 1 John 2:4, 2 Timothy 3:5, 2 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Corinthians 5:11). While those who desire to break down the walls of separation between the church and the culture are preaching that only one thing matters, the scripture instructs us to keep the whole counsel of God’s word. Partial obedience is disobedience.
Do not fall into the trap of becoming relevant to the culture. The cross is NEVER relevant to the culture, it is foolishness, a stumbling stone and an offense. You are called to present the truth and be obedient to God. It is God’s responsibility to add to the church those who are being saved (Acts 2:47).
The church growth movement has abandoned the commission God gave to the church and has attempted to take over the role God has retained for Himself. The product is an entertainment spectacle that mimics the world and has absolutely no good fruit and no obedience to God. We have become the Laodicean church. The church claims to be rich, have vision and in need of nothing and do not know that they are blind, naked and destitute.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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