Where Is Your Loyalty: To The World or The Word?

"I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. ² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. ³ But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. ⁵ For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. ⁶ But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things."
II Corinthians 11:1-6

Good Morning Beloved,

Welcome to worship this Lord's day!
We're so glad you're here. 

One of the most treasured words in any language is the word loyalty. Throughout the Scriptures, God’s people are frequently called to be loyal to Him. Make no mistake, loyalty is of great concern to God. Loyalty is of great concern to God. He calls His people to be loyal to Him, to His truth, to His Kingdom, to His mission, and His purpose.

Perhaps, there is no better illustration of this, than in the words of instruction from King David to his son, Solomon in I Chronicles 28:9.
 
"As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever."

David instructed his son to be loyal. And, in chapter 29:18-19, David prayed for his son to be loyal, with unwavering loyalty to God.

"O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision."

So what is loyalty to God, and what does loyalty to God look like? I can think of no better definition, than in the words of our Lord Jesus, in Matthew 22:37, "And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your Word for us today, for the clarity of truth. For this powerful reminder to all of us, on loyalty, let it penetrate us. Help us O' Lord to become more faithful, more loyal to You and to Christ. Forgive us our disloyalty, our disaffection. In this world of false teaching, everything we been given by You is truth, everything we truth, we can attribute to You, protect Your church from being seduced by error, keep our hearts pure, keep us faithful, loyal to You and Your Word, to our original commitment to bringing others to Christ, our first love. May we be the wholehearted, devoted disciples, You have called us to be. All for Your glory.
In Christ's name
Amen

Today's Message: Where Is Your Loyalty: To The World or The Word?

Throughout church history, we see the immense disloyalty to God, to Christ, to salvation by grace through faith, to the Kingdom purposes. The church was corrupted. Disloyalty is a dominating sin. 

In fact, in James 1:7-8, James warns us, "For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

Certainly one of the most notable in the New Testament, is Paul confronting Peter's disloyalty in Galatians chapter 2.

In II Peter chapter 2, Peter confronted the disloyalty of the seductive influence of the false teachers and the disloyalty of the people who had been led astray by them.

And in Revelation 2 and 3, we find the seven churches, five of them were manifesting severe disloyalty to the Lord. 

Even with the best intentions, as far back to the Garden of Eden, mankind has demonstrated a disloyalty of God.

Open with me your Bibles, to the book of II Corinthians, in our ongoing study in the Word, we come to the eleventh chapter of Paul's second epistle to the Corinthian church. I invite you to follow along me, as I read to you from this incredibly rich portion of Scripture, II Corinthians 11:1-6.

"I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things."

How does a pastor convince the congregation that he really loved them and that you were authentic in your leadership? The apostle Paul compares himself to a father caring for his beloved children. They are his spiritual children and he wants the very best for them. I believe, this was evident from the very start. He had preached them the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, as the only way to salvation. His leading them to follow Jesus Christ, should have been enough, however, false teachers caused them to doubt Paul's authenticity, his credentials as an apostle and so, also the gospel he taught. 

Paul, therefore must put forth his case in a matter that he knows opens him up to the charge of boasting. He had just taught that it is not self-commendation but the commendation of God standing with one which show one to be approved. He must help them remember his ministry of love and care for them.

So, in verse 1, Paul asks his readers to put up with some foolish boasting. "I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me."

Paul asks the Corinthian believers to bear with him as he talks a little foolishness. In other words, Paul felt foolish rehearsing his work and his credentials as a preacher of the gospel. What the apostle has to do is repugnant to him, yet, it had become necessary. Sometimes, legitimate self-vindication is demanded by the circumstances. Paul is motivated by his troubled loving concern for the spiritual welfare of his children in Christ. He speaks about himself in order to counteract these false teachers, these intruders, who have been boasting about themselves. Paul needs their continued attention, in order that he might lead them back to the way of Christ, that way he first established and not for his own glory.

I Corinthians 4:14-15, Paul depicts himself as a father and the Corinthians as his daughter who is being prepared for marriage in verses 2-4. Listen to his godly jealously for them in verse 2. "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin."

Paul indicates the reasons they need to bear with him, he addresses the Corinthian church as a bride he has engaged to Christ. The word betrothed or hērmosamēn, literally means to "fit together" and was used in classic Greek, of a carpenter jointing wood together, of the fitting clothes or armor together, and of arranging music. Paul sees his travail in bringing them to new birth in Christ the same way a parent looks at their children. He is responsible for their up-bringing and is jealousy of what they do with their life because he wants them to be pure because of the worthy one with whom they are betrothed. Engagement is an intimate and sacred relationship because of the great promise of future relationship it holds. This betrothal was to one husband, to whom they should be preparing themselves to be married. The word one stresses that their relationship must be exclusive, for it is no ordinary man, but Jesus Christ.
 
Paul paints the scene of a father walking his beloved daughter down the isle on her wedding day. He is a father who lovingly, caringly seeks to nurture and mature his daughter, the Corinthians, so as to someday present her as a faithful, pure and undefiled virgin to the bridegroom, Christ. This would not be easily accomplished, however, because of the immoral, religious, pagan society in which the Corinthians lived and the false teaching they were presently receiving.

Beloved, there is a great day of marriage that the Holy Spirit is preparing us, for as we live our daily life. On that great day of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb we will be presented to our Betrothed, the Lord Jesus Christ! He will be ours and we will be His throughout all of eternity. Because we have that great expectation, we must continually purify ourselves, to be pure, even as Christ is pure.

I John 3:1-3 says, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

In Ephesians 5:23-32, the church is depicted as Christ’s bride. As well as in Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2.

We learn in verses 3 and 4, that the Corinthians are in danger of being seduced by persons who would lure them away from the gospel and from their original commitment to Christ. Though they thought otherwise, they were in peril. In verse 3 we find that the tragedy of Eden was ominously close to re-enactment. "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."

Though many members in the church thought otherwise, they were in real danger. The church's precarious situation is compared to that of Eve’s down fall. Instead of resisting they were in grave danger of being seduced into unfaithfulness, or disobedience by the serpent like imposters who had invade the Church. Much like the serpent enticed Eve through his craftiness, cunning, trickery or craftiness. or in the Greek, panourgia.

The devil's human representatives were beguiling the minds of believers in Corinth. These people cast doubt on God’s promises and Paul’s apostolic authority. Satan focuses his attack on the mind. He attempts to get us to listen to his lies and then accept them. He, therefore, must first get us to doubt God's Word, in order that he can substitute his lies.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to remain simply and purely devoted to Christ. Simplicity is literally unfolded. It is being completely open to God. It is simply saying what You Lord want is what I want.
Keeping Christ first in our lives can often be difficult, we allow distractions, that threaten to side track us. Just as Eve lost her focus by listening to the serpent. We too can be led astray by becoming overwhelmed, busy and confused.

Beloved, is their anything in you life that is distracting your pure devotion to Christ? Anything that is weakening your commitment to Him or keeping you from being completely open before God? God wants simple, single-minded love for Christ. Do not be deceived by  distractions or voices of others. He will utilize whatever means he can!

In verse 4 we find that Paul’s rivals have come to Corinth from elsewhere and that they are winning a following for a different gospel. "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."

False teachers came and preached another Jesus than the One who is the sinless only begotten Son of God, co-equal with God who died for the sins of the world, who rose again in three days and ascended into Heaven. They taught a spirit of bondage to outmoded ordinances and the spirit of the world and not the Spirit of liberty, the Spirit of love, joy and peace, the Spirit of holy power. They preached a different Gospel that turning, repenting, from attempting to gain you salvation by dead works and trust in Jesus alone and not yourself, the church or anyone or any other way.

These false teachers distorted the truth about Jesus, therefore, ended up preaching a different Jesus, a different spirit than the Holy Spirit, and a different gospel than God's plan of salvation. Because the Bible is God's infallible Word, those who teach anything different from what it says are both mistaken and misleading!

The Corinthian believers fell for smooth talk and messages that sounded good and seemed to make sense. Today there are many false teachings that seem to make sense. Don't believe someone simply because he "sounds" like an authority or speaks the words you like to hear. Search the Bible, check his teachings against God's Word. The Bible should be your authoritative Guide. Do not listen to any "authoritative preacher" who contradicts God's Word. There are many today, who will teach "just enough" Jesus, of the Word of God, however, they are not teaching the Jesus in the Bible!

Christ is not a genie, patiently waiting to make your every wish come true, who says, sin as much as you like, I love you as you are. While it is true, He loves you and will meet you wherever you are, He does not intended to leave you as you are!

II Corinthians 5:17 teaches, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Notice the words "he is a new creature; the old things passed away;"? That tells us the old life is gone; a new life has begun! We cannot keep speaking and doing things the same way.  

Beloved, do not be deceived! Do not think that a very different Jesus, and a very different way of salvation are not still being preached today! A 2001 study released by the Barna Research Group reported 57% of Baptists believe Jesus was not sinless and 66% do not believe Satan is a real being.

I find it difficult to read the Holy Bible, and somehow believe that Christ was not sinless and still profess be an authentic Christian!

Those who claim their faith is very important in their lives, believe they have a responsibility to witness to non-Christians, acknowledge the existence of Satan, contend that eternal salvation is possible only through God's grace and not good deeds, believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth, and describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today make up only 8% of the adult church population. Yes there is another gospel, that is very prevalent in today's churches!

Paul, in verse 5, sarcastically references the "preeminent apostles," who were trying to turn the church community against him. "For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles."

Paul’s opponents at Corinth had an inflated opinion of themselves. They called themselves apostles and pretentiously claimed a status superior to Paul’s. It would seem that these rivals are the false apostles mentioned later, whom Paul further describes as Satan’s ministers disguised as ministers of Christ in verses 13-15.

Whether Paul is referring to these false apostles claiming association to the original twelve or referring to their own self-description as the most eminent apostles we cannot be certain. Yet, I believe, it is doubtful that Peter was more skilled in rhetoric than Paul.

However, I believe the Scripture is clear, these false apostles were claiming superiority to Paul. they may have been more eloquent speakers, but they spoke deceptively because they were influenced by Satan. Paul’s pastoral abilities did not meet the standards of some in Corinth. In verse 6, Paul says "But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things."

In other words, Paul is saying that whatever deficiencies he might have in style as a speaker, he certainly had no inadequacies in true knowledge. He knows by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit that knowledge is found in the true revelation of Jesus Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The false teachers in Corinth may have had training, and even knowledge, but Paul possesses the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Paul's answers the accusation bought against him by the invading rival apostles. "Untrained" or idiōgtēgs, in the Greek, from which we get the English word "idiot." However, this originally meant a private person. It later referred to an unskilled person or one without professional training. 

Skill in rhetoric and philosophy were quite appealing to the Greek mind. Paul knew that their hearts were darkened by sin. That professing to be wise they were fools for it is the word of the Cross and the resurrection, that is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation for every believing heart.

In Closing....

Beloved, there are far too many people today care more about appearance and how they speak than what they are saying. In all our teaching and preaching, content is far more important than presentation. A simple, clear presentation that helps our listeners understand is what we should be after even as we delve into the incredible depths of the mysteries of God.

The Corinthians had left their first love and were no longer following Christ with single-hearted devotion. They wanted to listen to an easy to swallow gospel, rather than solid Christian knowledge. They wanted sermons to be enjoyable, pleasing instead of being full of Holy Spirit's power. It was not so not much that they turned against Paul, as they had turned away from Christ. We need a living faith founded upon the truth of the Gospel instead of emotional fervor and religious participation.

Matter is more important than manner!

If someone is standing back, observing your life, does it exhibit the fact that you are betrothed to Christ? Is Jesus Christ the one you are loyal to and the One you are faithfully trying to please? Is your relationship with Christ, growing, becoming more satisfying or is it growing cold and distant?

Do you live like one betrothed to the sinless Son of God, the One who loved you so much that He willingly laid down His life for you, in order that you might be saved?

I often hear of these Mega Churches, with the congregation applauding their charismatic, smooth talking preacher, I cannot help but to think there's been some type of manipulation, some catch phrase spoken, that triggers that reaction. However, that is probably not always the case.

However, in my years as a pastor, it has been my experience, that when people are brought face to face with the profound reality of the One true living God, applauding the preacher is the farthest thing from their minds!

May it be so...

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

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