Gospel Truthiness

Again, let me say welcome to you this morning, and I'm excited to open God's Word together.

You know, we all carry around with us certain beliefs and assumptions that we feel are true,

and yet sometimes to our great chagrin we find out they're not true.

So, for instance, most of us would assume, I think, that toilet seats are covered in germs, right?

If I told you to eat a meal off a toilet seat, you wouldn't do it, and you'd probably be wise not to do it.

But research consistently shows that, in fact, toilet seats are relatively clean.

Feels like they would be dirty, that feels true, but in fact they're relatively clean.

They're regularly cleaned and disinfected, so in terms of surfaces in our lives, they're one of the better surfaces to be in contact with.

Do you know what has ten times more germs on it than your average toilet seat, though?

Your smartphone.

True story.

So that's one kind of example.

Another example would be the claim that Napoleon was short.

Feels true.

We've heard it a lot.

Not true.

In fact, Napoleon was slightly above average in his day in France for a man.

Feels true.

Not true.

Lots of examples like that, right?

Go outside with your hair wet, you're more likely to get a cold.

Feels true.

Not true.

When you swallow chewing gum, it stays in your body for seven years.

Feels true.

Not true.

Right?

For most of us, not true.

Right?

So lots of examples.

Years ago, Stephen Colbert coined this term that I feel has only gotten more useful with age,

and that's the term truthiness.

You familiar with this term?

Truthiness.

Truthiness, the idea that there are things that we believe because they feel true,

or because we want them to be true, rather than because they are known to be true or based in fact.

And Colbert mainly applied the concept of truthiness to news media and the problem of fake news.

But actually here in 2 Corinthians 11, we see a completely different example of truthiness.

And this is truthiness when it comes to the gospel itself.

We're in a series in 2 Corinthians, and this week we're going to come to the crux of the whole issue in Corinth.

The reason that Paul had written all of these letters, the reason he was so concerned and filled with anxiety over the church,

is because of truthiness that was plaguing the church.

So whether you're here as a longtime Christian or a new convert,

whether you're here as somebody who is not sure what you believe,

maybe this is your first time in church in a long time or ever,

regardless of where you find yourself spiritually this morning,

this is perhaps the greatest spiritual danger there is.

And I know that sounds hyperbolic,

but this is perhaps the greatest, if not the oldest,

spiritual danger that we face in our lives.

So we're going to look at this as we look at 2 Corinthians 11.

First we're going to look at what's the problem,

and then why does it matter, and then what can be done.

So let's pray.

Lord, we thank You for Your Word,

and we thank You that Your Word, because of Pentecost,

isn't just ink and paper.

We're not here to reflect on human insights or wisdom.

Lord, we're here because You are a God who dwells in and among Your people.

Your Holy Spirit is here.

Your Holy Spirit can take these ink and paper words

and turn them into words of flesh.

Lord, as we are here not only to read and hear Your Word,

but to see Your Word, to encounter Your Word in Jesus Christ.

And so, Lord, as we encounter the Word made flesh,

would You turn our hearts from stone to flesh, Lord?

Would You change us, bless us, mold us, Lord, as only You can.

We pray this in Your Son's holy name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, first of all, what is the problem that we are zeroing in on?

The context of this, as we've said in earlier sermons,

is essentially years earlier, Paul had come

and he had started this church in Corinth.

He was preaching the gospel, people converted,

and the church was born there.

And then Paul, when he felt like the church was in good hands,

he appointed elders to oversee the church,

he moved on to take his mission elsewhere.

And then, not long after, other leaders arrived in the church

and they began to preach and teach.

And a lot of people were very impressed by these new leaders.

Verse 5, Paul sardonically refers to these new leaders as super apostles.

And these are highly persuasive and compelling teachers.

They'd all been trained as professional orators,

and rhetoric was a big deal in this day.

The way of speaking, your style of speaking,

was a way of signaling that you were highly educated,

incredible, and worth listening to.

And so, these were all trained rhetoricians,

and they're speaking in the most impressive ways.

And the problem is, these super apostles, Paul begins to realize,

are preaching a truthy gospel as opposed to the true gospel.

They're preaching a truthy version of the gospel.

Paul says in verse 4,

for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed,

or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received,

or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted,

you put up with it readily enough.

He's referring to their teaching as a different Jesus,

a different spirit, a different gospel.

And in this case, a different gospel meant that they were teaching a version

of what we might call Christian triumphalism,

or the theological term would be an over-realized eschatology,

a version of what we might think of as a prosperity gospel of sorts.

So, according to the Bible scholar D.A. Carson,

they're emphasizing things like spiritual power,

and exaltation with Christ, and ecstatic spiritual experiences,

and freedom, and triumph, and victorious living,

and leadership, and religious success.

And they looked the part.

They were successful.

They looked successful.

They had nice clothes.

They were suppressing, however, those aspects of Christianity

that stressed things like meekness.

They were suppressing the idea of servanthood.

They rarely mentioned the need for obedience.

They rarely talked about or evidenced humility.

You would never hear a sermon about the need to follow Christ in His suffering

if you are to follow Him in His crown.

Notice they were not denying the gospel altogether.

They weren't denying Jesus.

Some of what they said was true,

and they could actually point to Bible verses

to back up the claims they were making.

They could proof text their sermons.

But in their teaching,

they were subtly redefining the gospel

to make it more palatable and attractive,

so not surprisingly,

many of the Corinthians flocked to these teachers.

They were excited about these new ideas.

They found them very empowering,

very enlivening.

Now, next week, we're going to talk a lot more

about the relationship between Paul

and these super apostles

and the difference between their ministry credentials,

the ways they boast about their legitimacy.

But for now, what I want to do

is to draw out the implications

of what we've just said before we move on.

The problem that we're talking about this morning

is not the problem of unbelief.

Certainly, that's an issue for some of us.

But the problem in view here

is far more subtle

and far more insidious.

These are well-meaning people,

ranging from new converts to mature believers,

who go to church,

who listen to this teaching,

and they believe that they're hearing the gospel.

They believe that what they're being taught

is the true gospel.

For the most part,

they have no idea that they have,

as Paul says,

bought into a different gospel

than the one Paul proclaimed.

And, you know,

the same problem exists today,

only on a much larger scale.

Everywhere you look,

there are prominent speakers

and podcasts

and thought leaders

and Instagram gurus

and books

and articles

all selling truthy versions

of the gospel.

You know,

some examples

that I've sort of personally encountered

over the years,

it's very common

to speak with people

who assume

that the gospel

is a kind of moral gospel.

That's one very common example

of a truthy gospel.

The moral gospel

says something like,

all good people go to heaven,

and God essentially simply

wants us to be good people,

to be nice people,

to be decent people,

to recycle,

to teach our kids

to say,

oh my gosh,

instead of,

oh my God.

And if we are those kinds of people,

then we will be saved

and go to heaven.

And you hear that,

and we've heard it so often

that many people hear that,

and that feels true.

That feels true.

That feels right.

But it's not true.

Right?

If you really penetrate

into what's being said there,

it's actually the exact opposite

of the gospel.

Nothing in that statement,

all good people go to heaven,

is true.

First of all,

the ultimate promise

of the gospel

is not that we go to heaven.

It's a resurrected body

and a renewed world.

And the great miracle

of the gospel

isn't that good people

get saved,

it's that bad people,

sinful people,

people who are hopelessly lost,

get saved.

Right?

And so it's actually

the opposite of the gospel.

Another thing that you're likely

to hear in our culture

is some version

of what we might call

a therapeutic gospel.

This says,

Jesus came to help us

live a happy life,

to be our true selves,

to live however we want,

as long as we are happy,

however we define

that happiness.

Again, feels true,

feels right

to many people.

Not true.

God's ultimate aim

isn't to make us happy,

it's to make us holy.

Right?

One day we will be

completely satisfied

in Jesus,

but until then

we're probably going to face

tremendous hardship.

And yet it's often

in those times of suffering,

and this is a really hard thing

for us to wrestle with,

it's often in those times

of suffering

that we most experience

intimacy with Jesus

and grow in holiness.

You say,

where do you see that

in Scripture?

Paul's entire life.

Paul's entire life.

We'll talk about that

more next week.

So there are many more

examples of truthy Gospels

that we could give.

The prosperity Gospel,

the idea that if you

give yourselves

and your money to Jesus,

He'll bless you

with health and wealth

and prosperity.

The self-improvement Gospel,

that the Gospel is really

about helping us

maximize our potential.

It gives us six steps

to a better marriage

or eight steps

to a healthier lifestyle.

The universal Gospel,

love means acceptance.

Because God is love,

He should accept everybody

regardless of who they are,

what they believe,

how they live.

The social justice Gospel,

the Gospel is really

about becoming aware

of privilege

and overturning

oppressive power structures.

The political Gospel,

many versions

of the political Gospel.

Well, Jesus really

at the end of the day

was a socialist.

Well, at the end of the day,

it's very clear

that Jesus was a capitalist.

Jesus was obviously

a refugee.

Jesus was an immigrant.

Jesus sides with the poor.

Jesus sides with America.

Right?

In one way or another,

Jesus takes sides

in our politics,

isn't it clear,

from Scripture?

And see,

all of these versions

of the Gospel,

they all feel true

to some people,

but they've all been diluted

and subtly redefined.

And here's the real issue.

Most people can't tell

the difference.

Most of us will hear that

and we will just sort of

nod our heads.

Right?

Not all of them,

but some of them.

And so some of us

might hear this

and say,

okay, that's great,

but why gatekeep the Gospel?

Right?

Why police it?

Right?

We live in a culture

where people are free

to believe what they want.

Why don't you just let people

believe what they want to believe?

And whatever version

of the Gospel

they want to believe,

let them believe it.

What's the big deal?

So why does this matter?

And from the text,

we see three reasons

why this actually does matter,

why the stakes

are actually fairly high

with this issue,

higher than we might think.

The first reason this matters

is this.

The true Gospel

isn't just about beliefs.

We're not simply here

to debate theological abstractions.

The true Gospel

is actually about a relationship,

a very important relationship.

Paul says in verses 1 and 2,

I wish you would bear with me

in a little foolishness.

He's being kind of playful here.

Do bear with me,

for I feel a divine jealousy for you

since I betrothed you

to one husband

to present you

as a pure virgin to Christ.

Now, that's no accident

that he's using this metaphor.

One of the primary metaphors,

if not the primary metaphor

in all of Scripture

for the relationship

that God desires to have with you

and with me

is the metaphor of marriage.

Right?

When Paul talks about marriage

in Ephesians 5,

he says,

this mystery is profound

and I'm saying that it refers

to Christ and the church.

What's he saying there?

Human marriage is itself

as great as marriage can be.

One of the greatest relationships

you can have.

But even that is a pale shadow.

It's an icon.

It's a picture of something

far greater,

infinitely greater.

The relationship that God

desires to have

with you,

the people he made.

And that's a profound thought

that even the best marriages

on this planet

pale in comparison

to the kind of relationship

that God wants to have

with his people.

And guess what?

A lot of people want to be married,

can't be married.

A lot of people want to be

in a good marriage,

they're in a hard marriage.

But this relationship,

this is a relationship

that is open to

every single person

on the planet

if they come and ask.

So the stakes are fairly high.

You know, there's a reason

why we have so many longings

that will never be satisfied

in this life.

There's a reason why

no matter how great

your marriage is

or how great your job is

or how successful you are

or how much acclaim

or fame you receive,

there's a reason why

it's never enough.

There's a reason why

people get to the end

of their lives

of striving and fighting

and climbing the ladder

only to realize

they still feel empty.

They still feel regret.

St. Augustine famously said

in his confessions,

you've made us for yourself, Lord,

and our heart is restless

until it rests in you.

Why the restlessness?

Because you were made

for this relationship with God

and until you know that,

your life is not going

to make sense.

When someone repents

and believes the true gospel,

they become, in a sense,

betrothed to Christ,

meaning there's a promise.

One day that restlessness

will be satisfied in Him.

Right?

So the true gospel

is not just about beliefs.

It's about a relationship.

The second reason

this matters so much

is that truthy gospels

inoculate people

against the true gospel.

Right?

You know, inoculation

means giving somebody

a mild version of something,

a diluted version of something,

that then makes them

immune to the real thing.

Right?

And that's what we see here.

When…

After the Corinthians

bought into this exciting,

revised, updated,

evolved version of the gospel,

they begin to reject Paul

and his gospel.

They were immunized

against Paul's gospel.

Right?

So these super apostles,

they would wax eloquent

about how Jesus

is going to give you victory.

Jesus is going to overcome

all of your adversaries.

Jesus is going to heal

all of your ailments.

He's going to take away

all of your suffering.

He's going to make you successful.

He's going to give you

the spouse

that you've always wanted.

He's going to fill you

with spiritual power.

And they would go week

after week

and hear that kind of teaching.

And then you have Paul.

Right?

Paul's poor.

Paul's weak.

Paul's not speaking

like a trained orator.

Paul's,

in many people's opinions,

a rather boring public speaker.

And Paul has suffered.

Paul…

The only thing people

know about Paul,

if they've never known

anything else about Paul,

man, that guy suffered.

And so these people,

they hear all this preaching

and then they look at Paul.

And then they hear Paul

say things like,

well, actually,

suffering and weakness

are a central part

of the Christian life.

Actually,

Jesus was more blessed

than anyone.

And yet,

Jesus suffered more

than anyone.

Why would we think,

as Jesus' followers,

that our lives would be

any different?

And they would hear

that sermon

and they would say,

no thanks.

I want to go back

and hear this preaching

over here.

At the end of a sermon

like that,

I feel great.

I'm ready to tackle my day.

Paul,

you're kind of bumming me out.

You're kind of a downer.

You know,

there's an old saying,

whatever you convert people with,

you convert them to.

If you convert people

to a truthy gospel,

then that's what they're

going to want to hear

week in and week out.

The third reason this matters

is that truthy gospels

are actually profoundly

spiritually dangerous.

And here's where we really

get into the implication

of what Paul's saying here.

Verse 20,

Paul says that by bearing

with a false gospel,

these believers

are actually allowing

themselves to be enslaved.

They're allowing themselves

to be devoured

and taken advantage of.

This is strong language here.

I'll give you an example

of what that means.

If somebody believes

the prosperity gospel,

then they believe the idea

that the more I give myself

and more importantly

my money to Jesus,

meaning this certain

televangelist,

the more I'm going

to be blessed

with money and riches

and health and prosperity

in return.

But that promise

is never actually fulfilled

in the way that it is laid out.

And so what happens?

People give more

and they give more

and they give more

and they give more

and they never quite get

what's promised in return.

They're being taken advantage of,

as Paul would say.

If someone believes

the therapeutic gospel,

they believe that following Jesus

is about happiness

and contentment,

what happens when the bottom

drops out of life?

What happens when they get fired,

when their marriage falls apart,

when their kids hate them

and don't want to talk

to them anymore?

What happens then?

Right?

They look at all the promises

that were made,

Jesus is going to give you

a happy life full of contentment,

and they say,

well, this whole thing

must be bunk.

There must be nothing true to this.

And they're very likely

to probably just leave

the faith altogether.

If people are sold

some version of a political gospel,

what happens?

What does the political gospel do?

Does it create life,

flourishing,

unity,

joy,

togetherness?

No.

People become divided

from one another.

Churches are ripped apart.

Families are split apart.

Friendships that have lasted years

end in fiery ruin

because people no longer

have anything to talk about

that doesn't create conflict.

We've all experienced that

in the last couple of years.

You know,

there's this great term,

I think it came from Andy Crouch,

that we're all experiencing,

diminishing circles of trust.

Who can I really talk to

about these issues?

Who are my people?

Who can I be myself around?

Who can I not tiptoe around?

Who…

What can I say around whom

without fear

of some sort of blowback?

Diminishing circles of trust.

It's because the political gospel,

for many of us,

has taken root.

And Paul's very clear

about who's behind all of this.

In verse 3 he says,

but I'm afraid that

as the serpent deceived Eve

by his cunning,

your thoughts will be led astray

from a sincere

and pure devotion to Christ.

And then he says

in verses 14 and 15,

even Satan disguises himself

as an angel of light.

So it is no surprise

if his servants

also disguise themselves

as servants of righteousness.

Here's what Paul's saying.

This kind of deception

has been happening

since the very beginning of time.

When the serpent first said to Eve,

did God really say?

This is the insidious power

behind truthy gospels.

Why does it matter?

Because we're not standing

on neutral ground.

This is contested territory.

There is one gospel

that makes freedom possible.

All other gospels

return us to chains,

return us to slavery.

Stephen Colbert may have coined

the term truthiness,

but Satan invented it

a long time ago.

Right?

So that's the problem,

is that there are

truthy versions of the gospel,

truthy Christianity,

biblical truthiness.

It's out there.

It's everywhere.

Most of us have a very hard time

telling the difference

between the true gospel

and a truthy version

of the gospel.

And the stakes are very high.

Our relationship with God

is at stake.

Right?

Our ability to hear

and accept the true gospel

without being inoculated

against it is at stake.

And there is actually

spiritual power,

malevolent spiritual power,

behind all of this.

The stakes are very high.

So what can be done?

How do we respond

to this issue

in our own church?

Well, if you look at Jesus,

after His baptism,

Jesus goes into the wilderness.

And Satan comes

to Jesus in the wilderness

and begins to tempt Him.

We know about three things,

three attempts,

but it could have been

many more than that.

And of course,

the purpose of the temptation

is to convince Jesus

one way or another

to forsake His identity

and to forsake His purpose

in the world.

By the way,

it's the exact same reason

that Satan first tempted

Eve and Adam in the garden,

to convince them

one way or another

to forsake their identity

and purpose in the world.

And Satan had succeeded

in doing this

with Adam and Eve

using truthiness.

Did God really say?

And so he tries

the same tactics

with Jesus.

He actually tries

to twist God's words.

He uses Scripture.

He uses proof texts.

But he takes these verses

out of context.

Psalm 91, for instance,

he takes it out of context

and he applies it

in twisted ways

that align with his agenda

rather than with

what God is actually saying.

And by the way,

this is just a great time

to point out proof texting.

And by that,

I mean making a claim

and then quoting

one or two verses

to back that claim up.

That allows truthy Gospels

to spread like wildfire.

But the good news

of the Gospel

is that where Adam and Eve failed,

Jesus actually succeeds.

And we say,

well, how does Jesus

refute this temptation?

How does he persevere

in his identity and mission?

And the answer is

he uses Scripture.

And you say,

well, isn't Jesus

the Word of God incarnate?

Isn't he the voice

in Scripture

that we're hearing?

Absolutely.

Jesus knew all Scripture.

Jesus also knew

how it all fits together,

and yet Jesus uses Scripture.

In fact,

you'd be hard-pressed

to find anywhere

where Jesus is doing

anything in his ministry

where he is not

quoting Scripture regularly.

He quotes Scripture

all of the time,

all the way up

until the moment of his death.

He chooses Scripture

to express himself.

And what this shows us

is the way that we need

to think about

the issue of truthy Gospels

and biblical truthiness

in the church.

we always need to allow Scripture

to interpret itself,

to interpret itself.

In other words,

we always need to interpret

Scripture in context.

And by that,

I don't just mean

the paragraphs around it.

I mean the larger context

of Scripture as a whole.

You know,

the amazing thing

about the Bible is,

on the one hand,

the Bible is not a book.

It is a library.

It was written

over thousands of years.

It was written

in many genres

from history to wisdom

to poetry.

It was written

in a variety of languages.

It was written

by as many as

40 different authors.

And yet it all fits together

to tell one story.

And that story

is what we mean

when we say the Gospel.

The whole story,

beginning with God's creation

of all things.

The fall in human sin

and rebellion.

God's redemption

of the world

through Jesus Christ,

His life, death,

and resurrection.

And then the eventual renewal

of all things.

The whole story,

soup to nuts,

from Genesis to Revelation.

That's what we have

in mind here.

Now, we can try

to summarize the Gospel.

You know,

I grew up with a summary

of the Gospel

that said the Gospel

is about salvation

by grace through faith.

Right?

We can summarize the Gospel.

Jesus died to save us

from our sin.

Repent and believe in Him.

These are summaries

of the Gospel.

That's the gist of it.

But you actually need

all of Scripture

from Genesis to Revelation

to really draw out

the meaning of the Gospel.

You need the whole story.

One of my favorite quotes

from Flannery O'Connor,

she says,

a story is a way

to say something

that can't be said

any other way.

And it takes every word

in the story

to say what the meaning is.

It takes every word

in Scripture

to tell what the meaning

of the Gospel is.

Every single word matters.

And the more we know

the story of Scripture,

the more it is

in our blood and bones,

the more we pray it

and speak it together

and speak it privately

and read it

and study it

and teach it to our kids,

the more it is in us

and forming us,

the more we develop

a kind of Gospel instinct.

You know,

one of my great

favorite illustrations

is the Chicago

Shakespeare Improv Company.

And they're known,

they're kind of famous

for their ability.

They will stand up

at the beginning of the night

and they'll ask

for a title

from the audience

and they give two

90-minute performances

every night

and they will say,

give us a title

and the audience

shouts out a title

and based on a title alone,

they will improv

a 90-minute Shakespearean play

done in a Shakespearean style.

And you say,

well, how in the world

could people pull that off

with no prior planning?

It is because

they devote themselves

to the study of Shakespeare.

They read it,

they mark it,

they learn it,

they inwardly digest it,

they marinate in Shakespeare

until they develop

a Shakespearean instinct

and they can speak

in a Shakespearean way

and they can recognize instantly

when they're reading something

that is of Shakespeare

and we need to have

the same approach

to Scripture.

We need to develop

a kind of gospel instinct

so that we are able

to speak in ways

that are shaped

and formed by the gospel

and recognize

when that has not happened.

Right?

This is what we see here

and this is how Jesus

is able to overcome

this temptation.

And of course,

the very essence of the gospel

is Jesus Christ Himself.

Right?

It's not about anything

that we do for Jesus.

But what Jesus has already done

and will do for us.

And so the last thing

I'll say about it is this.

If any version of the gospel

you hear

either adds to

what Jesus has done.

Right?

You've got to believe in Jesus

but you also need

to speak in tongues.

Or takes away

from what Jesus has done.

You don't need to really

worry about sin.

You just need to get

yourself together.

Pull yourself up

by your bootstraps.

If any gospel you hear

either adds to what Jesus

has done

or takes away

from what Jesus has done,

it's not the gospel.

You're hearing something else.

I'll close with one

of my favorite prayers

from our book of common prayer.

Amen.

Blessed Lord

who caused all

holy scriptures

to be written

for our learning,

grant us so to hear them,

read,

mark,

learn,

and inwardly digest them

that we may embrace

and ever hold fast

to the blessed hope

of everlasting life

which you have given us

in our Savior,

Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns

with you

and the Holy Spirit,

one God,

forever and ever.

Amen.