Part 3 of 4
2000 Years Old, His Church. Two things are true about The Church, across the 2,000 years long span of our history: First, Christ has a True Church and yet there are many false churches. Second, many in the True Church are false teachers, false prophets and false believers. This provides a challenging dichotomy that frustrates many people. Some just want rules that help them define who is in, and who is out; so they go to churches that make up a set of clearly defined requirements to define the Us versus Them. In modern lingo, they have a litmus test. Unfortunately for them, this is NOT how Jesus operates.
God created a system that allows the false to get rooted among the true. It was His idea, not ours. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 13:24-30 to describe this. Why is this? It’s God’s way of giving everyone an opportunity to be saved, because He is not willing that any should perish, but He yearns for all to be saved. It’s a mind boggling concept, but scripture emphatically tells us this in many places and many ways (see Acts 17:30 and 2 Peter 3:9). So, we have to be patient with our fellow believers because we just don’t know their state of faith and grace before God. Some are lost who sound very knowledgeable and some are saved who do not yet know the truth in full.
How do we operate in this environment?
Our calling is not to pull out the false brethren. See Matthew 13:29. We’re to rally ourselves and our fellow believers around the truth. As scripture tells us there are two perspectives on understanding the truth: The Word, and the Spirit. (John 4:23, John 6:63, Acts 4:31, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 1 John 5:7). When they are in concert, we have essential truth. There are those who read the Word, but deny the Spirit. Likewise, there are those who seek the spirit, but deny the Word. They are like men blinded in one eye or the other; they cannot accurately judge the 3 dimensional world the way people with two functional eyes can. Having a commitment to the Word and the Spirit gives understanding.
So, God calls us to unity in this way: exercising humility and patience. He wants us unified, that is for certain. But that unity can only come by us having a gentle respect and Spirit-filled love for all in our fellowship. Because we usually don’t know anyone’s true motives or state of spiritual life. That requires that we call all to the unity of the spirit, which is in agreement with the essential truth of God’s word. Because we have one Father, one Lord, one Faith and are baptized into one Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-6). When people come to agreement with the Word and the Spirit, there is always going to be unity; and that is always going to require humility on our parts to lead people that way.
Discerning the Basics
In scripture (the Holy Bible), we have two places where it is explicitly stated as a warning not to add to, nor take away, from the Word. The ancient scribes were so careful about how they copied the writings of the Old Testament, that if they dropped a single ink dot, even a tiny speck of ink that was not intended, they would destroy the entire document because it would change the intended meaning of a word there. They knew there was a curse on anyone who would do that, at the end of the Torah (Deuteronomy 12:32). Likewise there is a curse at the end of the Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, saying anyone who adds to, or takes away from the Word will have their place in the book of life removed. (Revelation 22:19).
This is a pretty serious matter and is also noted in other places, in other ways. The essential point being that the Bible is meant to be conveyed carefully, seriously, without essential change. Translations of words may have varied meanings, but we’re not to essentially add or remove anything. This is especially true when it comes to the person, teachings and works of Jesus. We may argue over meanings of words within the fellowship, and debate how to properly follow the teachings, but we keep to the essential truths given to us.
What is universally true of false teachers, false believers and cults is an absolute determination to either ADD to or REMOVE what the word says. Any person who says “you need our book” or “you have to follow our leader”, or The Bible doesn’t have all the truth you need in order to be a true follower of Jesus, is adding to the truths, and also at the same time REMOVING or reducing the essentials of the ministry and person of Christ as given to us by the Word of God (the Holy Bible). The Bible is very clear: Jesus and the Word are all we need. (2 Peter 1:3) and there is no further truth or teacher to be given after Christ. (Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, 2 Peter 2:1, and Hebrews 1:1-2). We believe this is where the abundance of power comes: the pure truth of the word of God; with the pure leadership of Jesus as our king, high priest and ultimate authority as teacher of the Word. Nothing could increase their value to us.
Not called to Hunt Heretics
In the Book of Jude, there is a very clear admonition to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”. While we understand and agree that this is a calling to all in the Fellowship of Believers, we don’t agree with how many interpret that instruction. Foremost, what it’s teaching us is to contend (actively engage forcefully) FOR the faith. It does not say battle against this or that false teacher. Our calling is to be working FOR the faith, teaching the faith, engaging our fellow believers to learn and live according to Jesus’ instructions (Matthew 28:20). That’s different from hunting heretics. We’re called to learn, discern and teach the truth, not study all the false doctrines and phony teachers. You discern the counterfeit by knowing the genuine.
We want to give space for people with false ideas to have a change of heart, based on the Word, and come to a right understanding of the Truth. This is basically what Paul taught Timothy in his second letter (2 Timothy 2:25 and 2 Timothy 3:16). If we watch what Paul, Peter, John and James do in their letters, which were almost all corrections of false teachings and false practices, they get right to the core of the truth and how to properly apply that in our lives. They rarely deal with the false doctrines or deceivers themselves. You have to dig in a lot to understand what exactly the false teachers were teaching because the Apostles focused more on the truth, the genuine teachings and the correction, rather than the false teaching.
So what about that Unity?
We note in Ephesians 4, that the point is Unity of the Spirit; Not the flesh. Those who are in the flesh and who reject the spirit, are forever contentious; like male goats always ramming heads with someone – or young warriors seeking to prove themselves. Often their arguments are based on a single verse or two of scripture, taken out of context, and used to support a private interpretation. Peter warns about private interpretations (2 Peter 1:19-21) by noting that we’re to seek to understand the prophetic word that gives illumination in the dark.
Use these hashtags to find more content: #FellowshipOfBelievers #JesusFollowers #BeABerean
For more information about avoiding private interpretations, see our next message in this series.
Look up the Bible References
Fellowship of Believers in Jesus: Discerning True from False Groups
Part 3 of 4
2000 Years Old, His Church. Two things are true about The Church, across the 2,000 years long span of our history: First, Christ has a True Church and yet there are many false churches. Second, many in the True Church are false teachers, false prophets and false believers. This provides a challenging dichotomy that frustrates many people. Some just want rules that help them define who is in, and who is out; so they go to churches that make up a set of clearly defined requirements to define the Us versus Them. In modern lingo, they have a litmus test. Unfortunately for them, this is NOT how Jesus operates.
God created a system that allows the false to get rooted among the true. It was His idea, not ours. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 13:24-30 to describe this. Why is this? It’s God’s way of giving everyone an opportunity to be saved, because He is not willing that any should perish, but He yearns for all to be saved. It’s a mind boggling concept, but scripture emphatically tells us this in many places and many ways (see Acts 17:30 and 2 Peter 3:9). So, we have to be patient with our fellow believers because we just don’t know their state of faith and grace before God. Some are lost who sound very knowledgeable and some are saved who do not yet know the truth in full.
How do we operate in this environment?
Our calling is not to pull out the false brethren. See Matthew 13:29. We’re to rally ourselves and our fellow believers around the truth. As scripture tells us there are two perspectives on understanding the truth: The Word, and the Spirit. (John 4:23, John 6:63, Acts 4:31, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 1 John 5:7). When they are in concert, we have essential truth. There are those who read the Word, but deny the Spirit. Likewise, there are those who seek the spirit, but deny the Word. They are like men blinded in one eye or the other; they cannot accurately judge the 3 dimensional world the way people with two functional eyes can. Having a commitment to the Word and the Spirit gives understanding.
So, God calls us to unity in this way: exercising humility and patience. He wants us unified, that is for certain. But that unity can only come by us having a gentle respect and Spirit-filled love for all in our fellowship. Because we usually don’t know anyone’s true motives or state of spiritual life. That requires that we call all to the unity of the spirit, which is in agreement with the essential truth of God’s word. Because we have one Father, one Lord, one Faith and are baptized into one Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-6). When people come to agreement with the Word and the Spirit, there is always going to be unity; and that is always going to require humility on our parts to lead people that way.
Discerning the Basics
In scripture (the Holy Bible), we have two places where it is explicitly stated as a warning not to add to, nor take away, from the Word. The ancient scribes were so careful about how they copied the writings of the Old Testament, that if they dropped a single ink dot, even a tiny speck of ink that was not intended, they would destroy the entire document because it would change the intended meaning of a word there. They knew there was a curse on anyone who would do that, at the end of the Torah (Deuteronomy 12:32). Likewise there is a curse at the end of the Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, saying anyone who adds to, or takes away from the Word will have their place in the book of life removed. (Revelation 22:19).
This is a pretty serious matter and is also noted in other places, in other ways. The essential point being that the Bible is meant to be conveyed carefully, seriously, without essential change. Translations of words may have varied meanings, but we’re not to essentially add or remove anything. This is especially true when it comes to the person, teachings and works of Jesus. We may argue over meanings of words within the fellowship, and debate how to properly follow the teachings, but we keep to the essential truths given to us.
What is universally true of false teachers, false believers and cults is an absolute determination to either ADD to or REMOVE what the word says. Any person who says “you need our book” or “you have to follow our leader”, or The Bible doesn’t have all the truth you need in order to be a true follower of Jesus, is adding to the truths, and also at the same time REMOVING or reducing the essentials of the ministry and person of Christ as given to us by the Word of God (the Holy Bible). The Bible is very clear: Jesus and the Word are all we need. (2 Peter 1:3) and there is no further truth or teacher to be given after Christ. (Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, 2 Peter 2:1, and Hebrews 1:1-2). We believe this is where the abundance of power comes: the pure truth of the word of God; with the pure leadership of Jesus as our king, high priest and ultimate authority as teacher of the Word. Nothing could increase their value to us.
Not called to Hunt Heretics
In the Book of Jude, there is a very clear admonition to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”. While we understand and agree that this is a calling to all in the Fellowship of Believers, we don’t agree with how many interpret that instruction. Foremost, what it’s teaching us is to contend (actively engage forcefully) FOR the faith. It does not say battle against this or that false teacher. Our calling is to be working FOR the faith, teaching the faith, engaging our fellow believers to learn and live according to Jesus’ instructions (Matthew 28:20). That’s different from hunting heretics. We’re called to learn, discern and teach the truth, not study all the false doctrines and phony teachers. You discern the counterfeit by knowing the genuine.
We want to give space for people with false ideas to have a change of heart, based on the Word, and come to a right understanding of the Truth. This is basically what Paul taught Timothy in his second letter (2 Timothy 2:25 and 2 Timothy 3:16). If we watch what Paul, Peter, John and James do in their letters, which were almost all corrections of false teachings and false practices, they get right to the core of the truth and how to properly apply that in our lives. They rarely deal with the false doctrines or deceivers themselves. You have to dig in a lot to understand what exactly the false teachers were teaching because the Apostles focused more on the truth, the genuine teachings and the correction, rather than the false teaching.
So what about that Unity?
We note in Ephesians 4, that the point is Unity of the Spirit; Not the flesh. Those who are in the flesh and who reject the spirit, are forever contentious; like male goats always ramming heads with someone – or young warriors seeking to prove themselves. Often their arguments are based on a single verse or two of scripture, taken out of context, and used to support a private interpretation. Peter warns about private interpretations (2 Peter 1:19-21) by noting that we’re to seek to understand the prophetic word that gives illumination in the dark.
Use these hashtags to find more content: #FellowshipOfBelievers #JesusFollowers #BeABerean
For more information about avoiding private interpretations, see our next message in this series.
Published in Commentary, Fellowship of Believers, Prepared Warriors and Teaching