Saturday, September 10, 2011

2 Corinthians 11 - The simplicity that is in Christ

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.


This was spoken by Paul to God's people in Corinth, and all God's people in Achaia.


2Co 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia


Think about this for a moment- Jesus hadn't been gone for long. It has been determined that Paul wrote this book of the Bible somewhere between 53 and 57 AD. As we've discussed before- Satan got right to work on God's people wasting no time at all stepping in and trying to pervert the truth. Setting up His counterfeit, Satan from the beginning has done all He can to thwart God's truth and deceive people into believing in his truth, not God's.


2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ… HOW incredibly beautiful is that? The simplicity that is in Christ. It is no secret that people have made following Christ anything but simple. The complex set ups that make up our churches could never be termed simple. It wasn't Jesus' plan that we make huge organizations and call them churches- call them God's people. Over and over people point out that the larger the following grew the more organization was necessary, but in the simplicity of Christ- is that true? When did following God mean taking oaths to follow beliefs of an organization? Isn't it true that MANY people followed Jesus and it wasn't Jesus' desire to keep out the weeds? He let all follow Him. He did not set up His apostles to keep watch and make sure no Pharisees came near to Him. Jesus didn't raise up an army of guards to keep out all those who did not truly believe. Jesus fed 5000 people and a day later those 5000 followers who had been eager to crown Him their king- left Him because He began to preach things they didn't want to comprehend. At that point Jesus asked His apostles if they too were going to leave, but they didn't. The point here being- Jesus ministered to 5000 people! And Jesus knew that as soon as He began to speak hard truths these same people would turn away.

I'm not against organizations- Jesus had His Apostles, His Apostles appointed Elders and such but with ONE goal in mind- to live for Christ and help those around them who chose to live for believing in the truth of Christ, to minister to the poor, to do that which Jesus would have them do and that was to always be a SERVANT first, never a master. Taking in ANY riches for selfish reasons was NEVER God's plan, NEVER. Yet how quickly selfish gain infiltrated God's true church- God's people.

Let's read those two verses again-

'But I fear lest by ANY means-
AS the serpent beguiled Eve through his SUBTILTY
So YOUR minds should be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in CHRIST.

For if he that cometh preacheth ANOTHER Jesus whom we have NOT preached
Or if ye receive ANOTHER spirit which ye have not received,
Or ANOTHER gospel which ye have not accepted ye might well bear with him.'


By any means.
Through His subtilty.
Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Preaching another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel.


And then this…


2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.


Satan himself is TRANSFORMED into an angel of light.
Satan's MINISTERS are also TRANSFORMED as ministers of righteousness.


Why do so many people follow others blindly!!! Why?! Why do people follow others without putting them to the 'law and to the testimony?'


Isa 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.


Why?! When Satan infiltrated God's people- the church of God right from the start! Shouldn't being wary rather than foolishly following be the order of the day? Shouldn't this be a duty of all who would follow Christ? Making sure that the simplicity of Christ, making sure that the gospel our Savior charged His disciples to preach is what we are truly following. So many have traded in truth for religious trappings. They have a picture in their minds of how a 'church' should be and they join that 'church' rather than truly joining Christ and preaching His true gospel. Shouldn't people be extremely wary when they read these words of Christ Himself?


Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.


Entering in the wide gates is NOT the guaranteed path to salvation so many believe it to be. Entering in those church doors thrown wide open and inviting is NOT necessarily entering into the truth at all. Yet so incredibly many believe that as long as there is a following of those who claim to know Christ, as long as outwardly there are all the signs and wonders we've come to associate with being true followers of Christ- then they have to be in the right place.


Then you get those who might suspect things are all on the up and up but they quickly shush that voice because hey- what they are doing is better than doing nothing. What they are doing is better than standing outside the organizations without any formal church setting, without any appointed minister, without any who can guide them. They would rather have a guide that could be deluded than step away from that sense of organized religion. Satan has duped people so incredibly well they refuse to see, they don't want to see and the Bible tells us- God tells us - that those who wish to be blind will be allowed to be blind.


Right from the start of churches corruption entered in, false churches were created and they weren't the blatant false churches of idolatry, these were churches so subtly, so close to the truth that it would be extremely hard to distinguish between the true and false.


It's NO great thing for Satan's ministers to be transformed into ministers of seeming righteousness. THESE are God's WORDS! This is God's TRUTH!


Satan's ministers.


2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.


The simplicity that is in Christ.


Belonging to an organization that claims to be God's true followers is truly dangerous. When we join ourselves to an organization we are attaching ourselves to that organization's beliefs, we are grouping ourselves with them. If we are part of a corporate body- if that corporate body is corrupt then we have joined ourselves with corruption. I fully believe that God has sincere followers in all churches- but I fully believe that God will call those followers OUT of those corrupt churches before our Savior returns.


Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.


When we join ourselves to lovely, seemingly sincere churches we are accountable for knowing what we are joining right down to all their beliefs and the heads of their corporations- we have that responsibility it doesn't disappear just because we can't be bothered to care whether or not there is any untruth in the main beliefs. Asking ourselves if a church is following the SIMPLICITY that is in CHRIST is something we are accountable for, and whether or not we LIKE what we find we are accountable for searching for TRUTH, not searching for wonderful, convincing lies that appear to be truth just because we don't want to be shaken loose from the deception we are so incredibly comfortable following.


2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.


Please God, please, this is our prayer, keep us from the evil one's subtle deception, don't let us be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ!


Keep us from evil.
Deliver us from evil.


May Your will be done now and always!


In the love of Jesus Christ our Savior!


Amen.

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