(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
What’s the worst thing people fall for?
Intro:
You remember the story: Exodus 31-32, Moses goes up Mt Sinai where he receives the ten commandments from God. He’s gone 40 days and the people get worried and impatient — they approach Aaron, the high priest, and ask him to make the ‘gods that will go before them.’ And he does! In less than 40 days, this people totally turn from the God that parted the Red Sea and saved their butts, and what’s crazier is Aaron — the high priest — obliges them. Voila’! They start worshipping a golden calf.
Today’s focus question is “What’s the worst thing people fall for?” And as you’ll hear early in our NT reading, Paul’s worried about the Corinthians. What did he worry about?
New Testament segment:
Passage: 2 Corinthians 11
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 34
Words: ~721
What’s the worst thing people fall for? It seems unbelievable that they could turn away from God and worship an idol, but in the Corinthian church, the issue is more insidious — the worship of the wrong Jesus.
All around us are almost-Jesuses.
Cult leaders often preach “another Jesus.” For instance,
Reverend Sun Myung Moon teaches that Jesus was the second Adam who only partially succeeded at his mission; thus, Rev. Moon must complete it.
Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist (aka Christian Science), wrote of Jesus as a divine being who only appeared to have a physical body.
Victor Paul Wierwille, founder of The Way International, rejected the preexistence of Jesus and taught that Jesus was a man with a fallen nature, yet without sin.
Charles Taze Russell, the architect of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (aka Jehovah’s Witnesses), taught that the preincarnate Jesus was the archangel Michael, the first of God’s creation.
Mormonism teaches that Jesus was the first and mightiest spirit son of God and the brother of all the other spirits who would eventually become humans on earth.
Followers of the Word-Faith embrace a belief that Jesus was born again after his death and descent into hell.
New Age gurus espouse a Jesus who was a great world teacher for his age, but they believe that a new world teacher is about to appear.
To accept another Jesus is tantamount to receiving “another spirit” and “another gospel.” The authentic gospel is the free offer of salvation to all who believe.(1)
And we see this in the OT too, right? Continuing in this section of Jeremiah that tells of Judah’s pursuit of false religion and religiosity, today we hear about Judah’s deceitful living, the consequences that will result, and the grief that Jeremiah experiences for them.
OLD Testament segment:
Passage: Jeremiah 8:18-9:26
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 31
Words: ~919
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Psalm 75
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 10
Words: ~164
The bottom line:
In a biblical sense, there are only two groups of people — those in the Kingdom, and those outside the Kingdom. As God say through Ezekiel,
Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Eze 33:11, CSB
Of course, He gave you free will because He love isn’t love if it’s forced, and He’s not going to force people to. More importantly, though, there’s also a very real Enemy who is a great deceiver — and he's a Scripture-quoter when it suits him.
What’s the worst thing people fall for? False Jesuses. I don’t know anyone with a gold or wood idol in their house, but I know plenty who follow a Jesus of their own making or a some Jesus posited by a false religion. A false Jesus results in a false gospel, and false gospel results in, well, death.
Love you!
Roger
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Paul W. Barnett, “2 Corinthians,” in CSB Apologetics Study Bible, ed. Ted Cabal (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1460.