Theme Week: Review of Paul – 2 Corinthians 11
Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 7-9
Poetry: Psalm 52
Tik Tok. It’s a fad. Fads are nothing new. My grandparents probably said “23 skidoo”. (I have not verified the spelling). The generation right before me were really into hula hoops and they danced “the twist” and the “watoosi”. My generation had pet rocks and mood rings.
Fads come to church too. Anybody still have a WWJD wristband? Are there any Prayer of Jabez plaques in your house. (Ask your parents about these fads). Many religious fads can be innocuous. Some fads can be pretty significant for good or for bad. The Late Great Planet Earth promoted a view of the rapture that had vast societal and political implications. A resurgence of Calvinism is impacting the way many Christians view the church’s role in society. The recent trend of doing church online and eschewing in person worship which began during the Covid lockdown has continued for many and may be weakening many congregations. (Who needs to spend an hour or two at church when you can watch a 45 second tik tok sermon in your pajamas?) But I digress.
What exactly do we mean by the term “fad”? “Sociologists classify fads as a form of ‘collective preoccupations’ where many people over a relatively broad social spectrum engage in a similar behavior and interpret it in similar ways in order to identify their place in society” (See Pop Culture Christianity: What fad would Jesus follow” by Jim White). Another definition is: “An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object’s qualities; a craze.” Fads are not a modern phenomenon. It appears that even the Apostle Paul had to deal with the religious “flavor of the month” in his first century ministry.
As we have been reviewing Paul’s life and teachings this week we have seen how he was specifically met by and called by Jesus Christ to bring the good news of the Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles (everyone that wasn’t a Jew). Paul traveled extensively presenting the Gospel to new groups of people and then following up to see how they were doing in the faith. In today’s reading in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul is writing to the Church to offer correction to their following a new religious fad. New teachers came in behind Paul who apparently were more slick and polished than Paul was and who had packaged a different message that was appealing and persuasive and was drawing the Corinthian disciples away from their “sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (vs. 3).
Paul goes on to use some very strong language to warn the Church against blindly following these fancy new teachers and their faddish preaching. He uses words like: deceived, led astray, another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel, false apostles, disguised as preachers of righteousness just as Satan is disguised as an angel of light. That’s a lot of clear, hard teaching. It’s not always easy to hear clear, hard teaching, but it’s sometimes needed. 7 years ago I had a doctor who gave me some clear, hard teaching. He diagnosed me with cancer. The cancer needed treatment. I needed surgery or radiation or both (it ended up being both). If I chose to ignore the doctor’s warning I probably wouldn’t still be around today. Fortunately, he cared enough to tell me the hard truth and fortunately I received it and acted upon it, had the surgery and radiation along with a lot of prayers, and I’m still around.
I’m not sure how the Christians in the first century Church of Corinth responded to Paul’s hard teaching. Did they accept it and act accordingly or did they ignore it and keep on doing what they were doing, following the latest fad instead of returning to their pure devotion to Christ?
Paul tried to appeal to his listeners by laying out his resume, his credentials. He talked about his background and the foundation he received. He talked about how his dedication to Christ was evident in his actions and his willingness to keep going amid so much opposition. Paul recognized that when he went around preaching the gospel and telling people about God’s Kingdom and God’s chosen King, Jesus, he was involved in spiritual warfare. The enemy or evil one tried to stop him wherever he went – that’s why he had so much opposition.
Do you ever run into opposition or challenges when you are trying to do what God told you to do? 500 years ago a teacher named Ignatius helped his students practice discernment of spirits. I think he had some helpful teaching. He said, rightly I believe, that when we are doing morally bad or sinful things, the evil spirit or enemy of God makes them look and feel pretty good. I’m not going to lie, sometimes doing bad or sinful things feels good in the moment. The devil wants you to feel good about doing bad so he “rewards” you with those temporary good feelings. Meanwhile, God comes along and drops bad feelings like guilt or shame (what a buzz kill). Just like my doctor- I’m enjoying life and he has to ruin my fun by telling me I have cancer. But guess what, listening to him saved my life. And listening to the guilt when we are doing things that bring us away from God can save our spiritual life by turning us away from sin back to God’s path for our lives.
Here’s the flip side to discernment. When we are sold out on following Jesus Christ, when we are on fire for the Lord and willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus, the evil one comes along and tries to throw as many challenges and obstacles in our way to trip us up and get us to give up our faithful commitment to God. But while the enemy is trying to destroy us, God will come along with his spirit and offer us his love, comfort and the promise that he is with us. He might use a song, a scripture, a sermon, another Christian, a beautiful sunrise, a rainbow in the sky, who knows what God will do to let us know that he is with us?
For me, when I was diagnosed with cancer one of the things that helped get me through it was my Church family. When I was going through 6 weeks of daily radiation every Sunday my Church prayed for me in worship. When I was going in for surgery, my church filled the sanctuary with happy face balloons and signs of encouragement. I was surrounded with love and encouragement. That kept me going. Now I try to return the favor and show love and encouragement to others when I sense the evil one is trying to trip them up. Maybe someone reading this today has been under attack from the evil one. Be encouraged! God is with you. Turn to Him, keep the faith. And be sure to use good discernment when a new fad comes along. Some may be harmless, but others might be a tactic that the enemy is using that might appear innocent but is actually turning your heart away from it’s sincere devotion of Christ. The enemy has been doing this a long time and he’s pretty skilled… don’t let him trick you.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
- Can you think of examples of religious fads that might appear innocent but can be potentially dangerous?
- How might you use the tools of discernment to better evaluate things in your life, good and bad?
- How might God use you to lovingly warn or share hard truth with someone who might be on a path that’s leading them away from Christ?
Seek Grow Love 