A sermon on Galatians 4:17 preached on Sunday 7th August, 2022 by Pastor Enoch Awuku Anti
Transcript
It has been suggested or affirmed that the greatest threat to Christianity is not from without—that is, it is not from outside of Christianity. But it is from within. Christianity is its own enemy. Sinclair Ferguson in an online article is quoted to have said that
The greatest threat to Christianity in this century is the Christianity of this century. It is a far greater threat than Islam, which can never destroy the gospel. Christendom, however, can easily destroy the gospel and is destroying the gospel. The church today is the greatest threat to real Christianity in the world. [1]
What Ferguson says here is that the church or Christianity itself is the greatest threat to Christianity. So Islam is not a threat to Christianity. No other religion is a threat to Christianity. The real threat to Christianity is truly Christianity itself. And I believe this. Who questions the divinity of Christ? People who identify as Christians and are holding bibles. Who questions the doctrine of eternal life? It is Christians who are holding Bibles. Who questions the Bible being God’s word? It is Christians who are holding Bibles.Who questions the doctrine of the Trinity? Christians who are holding Bibles.
All around us we see and hear things that are not Christian but have entered the church through various people who identify as Pastors, Prophets, Evangelists and what have you?
Satan’s greatest ambassadors are not pimps, politicians, or power-brokers, but pastors. His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of the true one. His troops do not make a full-out frontal assault, but work as agents, sneaking into the opposing army. Satan’s tactics are studied, clever, predictable, effective.[2]
This morning I want us to look at a simple message I have titled False Teachers. I will approach this topic from three angles. I will first attempt to define Who a false teacher is. Then I will give The Signs of A False Teacher.
Who Is A False Teacher
Paul in the text we read, identify certain people calling them “They”
They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them (4:17).
They, who are they? Right from the beginning of our journey through Galatians, we identify these Jews who are influencing the churches in Galatia with what Paul calls a different gospel (v.6). These Jews, who have become Christians, preached that Gentiles must observe the Mosaic law to be saved. This through and through is the message Paul addressed. So for these Jews faith is not enough. Gentiles must also keep the law. It’s these Jews Paul referred to as “They”. And their presence in the New Testament is well recorded. They consistently opposed the True Gospel and the ministry of the apostles. They are called Judaizers or circumcision party.
This description simply means they held to certain practices of Judaism including circumcision and insisted that these are important for salvation.
So who is a False teacher? A False teacher is simply anyone who consistently teaches and holds views contrary to the gospel, the Bible and fundamental Christian doctrine (The person of Christ, The Nature of God, Inspiration of Scripture, Eternal Judgement, Nature of humanity etc). I am putting an emphasis on consistently because someone may err in a sermon for example by saying something that is not true or act in a way not consistent with Scripture. We may have to be careful not to quickly call such a one as false teacher.
They must be noted for that consistent teaching of opposing views to the gospel and fundamental biblical truth for one to qualify as a false teacher.. For example, in this letter, we see that Peter erred (2:12-14). Will we call Peter a false teacher? I doubt. Also in Scripture, we see Apollos being corrected by Priscilla and Aquilla. Will we consider him a false teacher?
Acts 18
24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.
25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit,he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,
28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
But for the Jews Paul is talking about, they have been at it consistently.
We saw the circumcision party in Acts 11:1-3
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout JUdea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticised him, saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.
What’s Peter’s crime? He visited Gentiles at the instruction of Christ and later these Jewish Christians will have issues with him eating with Gentiles. So their issue is that Jews are not to have anything to do with Gentiles. The Jews had a national pride as the people of God and thus will have no association with Gentiles. Remember David calling Goliath uncircumcised Philistine. In Acts 27-29 Paul was almost killed because they said he had brought Gentiles into the holy place. So to sum up all I have said, False teachers oppose the gospel. They teach things contrary to the gospel. They teach things that are not in line with the gospel. They teach things that oppose core Christian doctrine.
In Galatians, we see how a core doctrinal matter is at stake. How are sinners saved? The Jews say by faith+ keeping the law. The Jews were Legalists. They place justification on keeping of the law. Paul say by faith alone. And that my dear friends is the only way by which sinners will be saved. We cannot add to salvation. We are saved only by believing in the finished work of Christ on the cross for save. What work did Christ do for us (read Chapter 1:2-3)
This simply means a false teacher can be identified by their teachings.
And today, there are many false teachers out there teaching many abominable things.
Mark these
If anyone teaches that pay money to earn the blessing of God, that’s a false teacher right there If you ever hear anyone asking you to sow a seed for a blessing, they are false teachers (They are promoting works religion)
If anyone tells you to bring anything for them to seek some directions for you, they are a false teacher (They are denying the Sufficiency of Scripture. Scripture is sufficient and that’s all we need to please God).
If anyone ask you to buy anything—water, oil, wristband, sticker— to protect you, they are a false teacher (They are denying the ever abiding presence of God and the Sovereignty of God to watch over you)
If anyone tells you to do something apart from faith for your salvation, they are false teachers (They deny justification by faith alone)
If anyone says Jesus is not God, that’s a false teacher (They deny the divinity of Christ)
If anyone says Christians are not to fall sick, that’s a false teacher (They are denying the nature of human beings).
If anyone says God is not in control of this world (They are denying the Sovereignty of God, they are false teachers)
There are so many of them out there and we must all be on the guard not to fall pray to false teachers. If even Peter can be influenced by false teachers, you and I are not insulated.
The Signs of False Teachers
They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them (4:17).
These words have something to teach us about signs of False teachers. “They make much of you, but for no good purpose” I will read three translations to get a point of what’s been said here
They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them (KJV).
Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them (NIV)
They eagerly seek you, not in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them (NASB).
Manipulative
The phrase “make much of you” as we see from the other translations has to do with the zeal of the Jews towards the Galatians. This zeal manifests as love and concern for the Galatians. But Paul says “but for no good purpose”. Do you see that? “For no good purpose” It’s all fake love and concern. It’s flattery. It’s manipulative.
Selfish Interest
“That you may make much of them.”
False teachers are not your friend and they don’t have you at heart. Have you ever watched one of these preachers trying to collect what they call seed sowing? The manipulation, the stories, the fake testimonies. It’s all for one end, their selfish agenda. And what is this selfish agenda? “That you may make much of them.” False teachers seek your loyalty. They seek your trust. It’s all about them. It’s not about Christ.
Divisive
“They want to shut you out”
Often when you speak against false teachers, you are accused of bringing division to the body of Christ. But no, they are the ones bringing division to the body. They are divisive. They seek to win people from Christ to themselves. And we see in this text how the Jews seek to win the Galatians to their side. They want the allegiance of the Galatians to shift from the truth to themselves. We see
Scripture paints a vivid picture of what a false teacher looks like on the outside, describing them as deceitful workmen, ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing, disguised as righteous, smooth talkers, cunning, divisive, sensual, passionate, flattering with their words, having the appearance of godliness, deceived and deceptive, the devil’s puppet, perverters of grace, lovers of ill-gotten gain, exploiters, cunning—and the list goes on (2 Corinthians 11:13, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Matthew 7:15-20, Jude 1:4, Romans 16:17-18). [3]
Brethren, the only way we can protect ourselves from false teachers is to know the truth. Know what the gospel is.
Notes
1. Sinclair Ferguson, “What Is The Greatest Threat To Christianity In This Century”, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/what-is-the-greatest-threat-to-christianity-in-this-century
2. Tim Challies, “7 False Teachers In The Church Today” https://www.challies.com/articles/7-false-teachers-in-the-church-today/
3. Annette Griffin, “How to Know the Difference Between Wise and False Teaching” Teachinghttps://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/how-to-know-the-difference-between-wise-and-false-teaching.html#google_vignette
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