2 Peter 2:1-3 The New Is Here!

2 Peter 2:1-3  But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.  Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Peter warns Christians about false prophets within the church.  Knowing that many humans perniciously desire to be important and recognized within their communities, Peter tells Christians to beware of this obnoxious spirit in their fellowships of believers.  This competitive spirit of desiring to be better than others causes some people to accept and to propagate false ideas of Christianity.  By separating themselves from the fundamentals of serving Christ, they portray themselves as possessing a deeper understanding of God and his purposes on Earth.  False prophets attempt to elevate themselves above others, claiming they have special insights into the world of the Spirit.  In the above verses, Peter says of these people, There will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.  Sadly, as in the Old Testament, false prophets will infiltrate God’s people with ideas, beliefs, and activities contrary to the message of salvation and to the holiness of God.  Their message will divide the people of God rather than bringing peace and harmony to the church.  They usually pretend to know some hidden knowledge of God that only they know.  Consequently, to know this new knowledge, this new insight about God, people must gather around them, making them the spiritual leaders of the community.  We find devilish manipulation prevalent within the church of today where leaders have gained recognition and positions of power, heading large congregations, by skewing and bending the word of God to fit their own opinions.  In the Old Testament, we hear the Lord saying: Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying.  Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: “Hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!”  (Ezekiel 13:1-3)  The false prophets of the ancients told the people of Israel and Judah they had nothing to fear from the countries around them.  They were prophesying good things to the itchy ears of the people who wanted to believe that prosperity and peace were just around the corner.  The true prophets of that age told the people to get ready for adversity and judgment, for God would use foreign nations to discipline the Jews for their waywardness.  Of course, the people rejected the true prophets, so they flocked to the false prophets, glorying in their untrue messages.  In our society, we have such prophets in our midst, telling people they will find success and riches if they follow their gospel.  They will have enduring health and a carefree lives if they believe God’s Word with enough faith.  Of course, God does bless mightily, and He also cares for our physical beings.  God does bless!  He does heal!  But we also must remember, we do not call all the shots in our lives; we are still under the authority of God.  John the Baptist did not want to be beheaded.  Stephen did not want to be stoned to death.  Paul did not want to be beaten.  None in the early church wanted to leave their property and face persecution.  None of this was good according to what the flesh desires: peace, prosperity, safety.  But all of it was permitted because God’s design for man’s salvation goes beyond the fleshly pursuits of man’s well-being here on Earth.  God has a greater plan for the Good News to go forward.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 28:19)

The early church struggled under the influences of false doctrines.  The Jewish Christians, especially the church in Jerusalem, wanted to add the old traditions of Judaism to Christianity.  Many of the Jews wrestled with the idea of leaving behind the customs and the traditions of the Jewish way of living.  For them to know God, they felt it was absolutely necessary for them to be obedient to the rules and regulations handed down to them from their forefathers.  The commandments were the center of their Jewishness.  Following these commandments separated them from other people, other nations.  The bedrock, the foundation, of their culture rested on Abraham and the covenant given to him.  From their earliest years, they were taught what it meant to be Jewish, and why they were superior to other people in the world.  God chose them out of all the people on Earth to know his commandments and to receive his subsequent blessings.  Paul especially fought this idea of incorporating Christianity into the Jewish religion.  He knew if the idea of circumcision was accepted as an obligation for Christians, then all the rest of the Jewish traditions and culture would follow.  Since women were not open to circumcision, how would they be affected by Judaism?  What would be required of them?  What would be required of the young people?  If circumcision creeped into the church, then other things from Judaism would be demanded within the community of believers.  The old Jewish religious traditions and culture would become paramount in being a Christian.  Of course, this way of living and thinking would be an anathema to the Gentiles, for Judaism was based on God choosing a certain ethnic group above all others.  How could the Greeks become Jews?  How could the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Arabs become Jews?  They were not the chosen people.  They would still be shut out by God from his blessings and preference.  But Jesus said, you must be born again.  A new creature must be begotten.  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the NEW CREATION.  Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.  (Galatians 6:14-16 NLT)  We people of all nations are the new Israel.  We have been chosen from many lands as his people.  Of course because of Christ’s work we are known as the beloved, his very own.  The doctrine of circumcision, the standards of Jewishness, had to be rejected so that the Good News could flow through all lands, to all people.  The cross of Jesus Christ unites us all in one body with Jesus at the head.

Regretfully, many Christians have followed false prophets and their false doctrines.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  The protestant church has splintered into many parts for many reasons.  However, cultish ideas and behaviors also have entered into some of these splits, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.  Harsh judgments will follow those who follow such apostasy.  However, judgment is God’s domain, not ours.  We who love Jesus, who desire his life in us to be current and active, must submit to God completely by faith.  John wrote about the importance of being in the Father and the Son, saying, I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray.  (1 John 2:26)   We are to live holy lives, honoring God.  Only Jesus is completely holy; consequently, we trust in his works, not ours, relying on his holiness, not ours.  After our demise, we will be raised to eternal life because of Christ’s work in us, not ours.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  (Romans 8:10-11)  Presently, we are alive forevermore because Christ is alive in us.  The Spirit of God who resides in us is the energy that will raise us from death.  We are blameless before God because of Christ’s righteousness in us.  With Christ as the center of our spiritual lives, we should be sensitive to false doctrine and able to identify false teachers.  Deceptive men who teach fraudulent ideas about spiritual things to become famous or rich spread lies and heresies to get ahead in this world.  To avoid their influence in our lives, we should read and meditate on the Word.  Beware of the “experts” on ideas just discovered or uncovered after thousands of years.  These ideas may be lies, conjured from their own imagination, or subtle changes to accepted doctrines that make the truth a lie.  Paul wrote, We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  (Ephesians 4:14)  Be careful about ideas that have not come down through the centuries, ideas that are focused on having a more prosperous, successful life in this existence.  Jesus pointed to the life after this one as the most meaningful existence.  We are to live for that life; consequently, our time here is to be one of serving, preferring others before ourselves.  Presently, we are blessed by God, for we are known as his adopted children, headed for eternity with him.  But we may not always have a prosperous and peaceful life as we journey through this wilderness.  Paul said he would boast in one thing — the cross of Jesus.  This world held no interest for him except as a place to serve God.  For us who are around this breakfast table, we have died and are raised to new life with Christ.  Because of the cross, the things in this world are dead to us.  We might be partakers of this world for sustenance, but it does not feed the new life in us.  We want to feed on the manna from the Word every day.  As Paul said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Our desires for more and better of this world have ceased.  We long for the new kingdom, a new city, a place not made by the hands of man.  Breakfast companions, a false doctrine, a false teaching by even the most charismatic person on Earth should not lead us away from Christ alone.  He is our salvation, our life.  He lives richly in us.