What's the Difference? #1: Other Jesuses, Other Gospels

I. Introduction
A. Next week we begin a new adult SS series by the same title: What’s the Difference? during which we’re going to examine our Reformation faith as opposed to that of other churches and groups.
B. I’m kicking the topic off today in the first of three sermons which I hope are foundational for the things we’ll be talking about in the class.
C. This morning we’re thinking about how we should view other Christian churches.
1. By churches I don’t just mean local congregations. I mean large bodies and networks of churches.
D. I believe very deeply that the only thing I have to offer you from this pulpit is the word of God. The word of Jack is just not what you need. I’m sure I do this very imperfectly, but, especially when it comes to controversial issues like one church believes as opposed to another, I will try hard to avoid cheap shots and personal opinions.
E. That’s my job, now let’s talk about your job.
1. Acts 17:11 tells us that the Bereans were more noble than the others because they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
2. I don't mind if you go to the Bible and disagree with me. Just don't disagree because you don't like what I'm saying. What we like isn't important. What the Bible says is what's important.
3. Honestly, there are a number of things the Bible teaches that I don't like. I'm trying to like them but haven't gotten there yet.
II. Godly unity
A. In John 17:21 Jesus prayed that His people might be one as He and the Father are one.
1. And Paul emphasized the importance of unity numerous times in his epistles, calling us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)
2. Any Biblical Christian must have a zeal for unity in the body of Christ.
B. In 1Corinthians 3, Paul makes it clear that there are divisions among people claiming to be Christians which are irresponsible, petty, and fleshly.
1. 1Corinthians 3:3–11 “...there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
C. Paul rejoices in the preaching of the gospel, even when it is done to spite him. (Phil.1:15-18)
III. Godly disunity
A. But in 2Corinthians 11, Paul makes it clear that there are other divisions among folks claiming Christ which are necessary, important and crucial.
1. “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 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.” (2Corinthians 11:2–4)
2. When Paul says that someone proclaims another Jesus, he is referring to the Judaizers, who followed after Paul teaching his Gentile converts that they could be included in God’s covenant only if they were first circumcised and put themselves under the law of Moses (Acts 15:1-5).
3. These converted Jews — some of them pharisees (Acts 15:5) — accepted Jesus as the messiah. They courageously refused to reject Jesus like most of their fellow Jews. They apparently agreed with the apostles about who Jesus was and what He did. They believed He had died on the cross and rose again from the dead.
4. And yet Paul says they preached another Jesus. Why? Because they preached that being saved wasn’t just a matter of what Jesus had done. It was a matter of what they had to do.
5. “another Jesus” This was what Paul considered it when the Judaizers distorted the doctrine of salvation by saying it involved not only the grace of God but the work of man.
6. You see, mere similarity to true Christianity is not the issue. Scientists say that humans and chimpanzees share 97% of the same DNA. But that doesn’t mean a chimp is a human, does it?
7. The teaching of the Judaizers had vast similarities with true Christianity. But it wasn’t true Christianity. They didn’t proclaim the same Jesus or believe the same gospel.
8. “You readily put up with it”: He’s rebuking them for being so open-minded, so accepting, so tolerant of such twisted teaching.
9. There is a time to be acceptant and tolerant, and there is a time to be rejectant and intolerant.
10. Everyone agrees that there’s a time for tolerance and there’s a time for intolerance. There’s just a lot of disagreement about when those times are. Paul says that when it comes to those who preach a different Jesus, it is time for intolerance. He mocks the Corinthian believers for listening to them: “you put up with them well enough.”
B. Paul puts it even stronger in Galatians 1:8–9. He’s dealing with the same problem. The Judaizers have come into town and are preaching to Paul’s Gentile converts in Galatia the same distortions. “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
1. That’s strong language! Was Paul maybe a little embarrassed about being so strong? Not at all! In the next verse he goes on to reinforce what he said: “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
2. In no uncertain terms he tells them not to listen, not to accept, not to put up with a false gospel.
IV. Application
A. So, when it comes to how to evaluate other Christian churches, we must be careful. There are two dangers: we can reject a group we should accept and we can accept a group we should reject.
1. The Bible makes it clear that you can err in either direction. There are some who treat every disagreement as a heresy. There are also those who treat every group which calls itself Christian as legitimate.
B. The big question we must ask is: Does a certain group preach the essential gospel of Christ or not? Does the group preach the Bible’s Jesus: not just in who He was, not just in what He did, but in the fact that our salvation is based entirely on who He was and what He did and not on our obedience or conformity to moral laws or religious rituals?
1. There are Christian churches who maintain the gospel soundly.
2. But there are also Christian churches whose doctrine doesn’t just threaten the gospel but ruins the gospel.
C. You see, Satan is the great deceiver and also the great counterfeiter.
1. A few verses later in 2Corinthians 11, referring to these same Judaizers, Paul says, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2Corinthians 11:13–15)
2. Have you ever seen one of the Where’s Waldo? books? The author plays with his readers by making all the others look as much like Waldo as possible without being Waldo.
3. That’s the way Satan works with Jesus. He knows that if he can get people relying on their own actions instead of relying on Christ alone, he’s taking them away from Christ, even if they don’t realize it.
D. Now I don’t have to tell you that it’s not popular today to be exclusive.
1. And yet, Jesus says the narrow and difficult road is the one which leads to life (Matt.7:13-14).
2. Our job is not to be popular or loved. Our job is to listen to God and believe what He says.
E. I’m not saying there are no Christians in churches whose doctrine distorts the gospel.
1. Could there be true Christians in a Judaizer church? I suppose so. The Holy Spirit could certainly bring new birth in that context, and there’s enough truth about Jesus there that it seems someone could remain as a Christian in that church in spite of their significant error.
2. Who then are the saved ones and who are not? Those who look to Jesus for their salvation and not to self.