There is much debate in Christian circles today about the true Gospel, whether it is this doctrine or that doctrine; this message or that message. Of course every preacher thinks that his message is the right one. So how can we be sure that the message we are hearing is actually the message of God and not an invention or imagination of man?
Today we will be studying ways to recognize the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, straight from the scriptures. By seeing the advice and criteria directly from the Word of God, we will not be open prey for false teachers or false doctrine any longer.
Working in the ministry is a very high and honorable calling from the LORD, and as such also carries with it an enormous responsibility. Even so, there are those who may not be specifically called to pastor a church, but ultimately we are all ministers in some fashion or another. Every day that we interact with someone we are in-essence ministering (or at least have the opportunity). That being said, the reverse is also true… we are constantly being ministered to, not only while we are in church, but every time we turn on the television, or the radio, or whenever we read a book or browse the internet, we are allowing what we see and hear to minister to us. Television and books are used to teach children how to read, speak and count. Music and sound can have a profound effect on emotions – mute the audio on a movie and you’ll notice that the emotional response is greatly diminished.
So how do we know when the message that we are hearing is the message of the Gospel, or one from the world, regardless of whether it is in a church or not? Well, the Bible has many pieces of advice and quite a number of criteria to help us determine the truth. 1st Corinthians 3:8-15 gives us a good starting point:
“Now he that plants and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are laborers together with God: you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building.
According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
These verses begin by telling us that there are those who plant (lay the foundation) and those who build upon that foundation. There are some pastors who are very good at leading people to Christ and some who are good at helping those newly saved ones to grow in Christ. Both are valid ministries, and some people excel at both.
In verses 10 and 11, we are quickly reminded that the most vital part of ministry is making sure that the proper foundation is laid: a right relationship with Jesus Christ. No other foundation can stand, nor can anything of value be built upon any other foundation.
Now verse 12 is where things get interesting. We see a list of six items. Three are good and three are bad. These six things are each what the various ministries will try to build with. We see here: Gold, Silver and Precious Stones (the good things) and Wood, Hay and Stubble (the bad things).
Now Gold in the Bible, always speaks of the Righteousness of Christ Jesus. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ will always be reminding the people that they are righteous by faith in Christ alone. In contrast, Wood is always a picture of the self-effort of man. Whenever a ministry is built on human effort or self, it will be burnt-up. Today we have many leaders who have built empires for themselves and you hear more about them than you do about Jesus, but as the scripture says here, they all will eventually be burnt-up.
Next we have Silver. Silver in the Bible is a picture of the redemptive work of Christ, the way in which He restores, buys-back and redeems all that the enemy has stolen from us and saves us from destruction. A true ministry of the Gospel of Christ will always be declaring Jesus as our redeemer and showing the truth of His redemption. On the other side of this is Hay/Grass which in the Bible represents man’s glory, the beauty of man. A false ministry or teaching of this kind will tell you that you already have everything you need if you will just rely on or look inside yourself. It is a teaching that says mankind needs no redemption.
Thirdly we have Precious Stones, which is a picture of God’s Love for us. The true Gospel when it is preached will always display the love of God for you; and it is this Divine love which will truly change lives. This type of ministry will illuminate the way that God sees each of us as beautiful through Christ. In contrast here we see Stubble, which is rough and coarse. A ministry of stubble will portray God as demanding, unloving or harsh. It will show God as not approachable, and hard to please.
Now we see in verse 13 that all things shall undergo trial. It does not declare that this trial is from God. It does say that this trial will ultimately reveal the true Gospel. Because those things which are good will remain while those things which are bad will be burned-up as we have already learned.
Lastly we have verses 14 and 15 which give us the results of the two outcomes. Those that have built properly a ministry based on Christ Jesus and the Gospel of His Grace will receive a reward, while those who have built for themselves, glorying in their own self and efforts will suffer loss. Yet the verse is also quick to state that the person themselves will be saved, although they will still go through the fire to be purified.
Many people who trust in themselves and rely on their own efforts have real issues with pride, and must first be humbled before they can honestly and openly accept the Grace of God. Make no mistake, that God is very protective of His sheep; and I have personally seen ministries torn down when they kill the sheep with law, condemnation and images of a distant dictator God.
Now that we have looked at the various types of ministries, it’s time to examine the type of food that they produce and which food we should be feeding our spirit with.
God wants to feed us properly, and He wants us to know the right food to eat. In Luke 11:11-13, Jesus gives us further examples of what this right food is:
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
We have here another group listing of three good types of food, and three bad types of food. On the good side we have Bread, Fish and Egg. While on the bad side we see Stone, Serpent and Scorpion. Let’s examine these starting with the good foods.
Now in the Bible, some of us already know that Bread is a picture of teaching. Furthermore for those who have been coming here for a while have probably heard me mention that the entire Bible is about Jesus, and He calls Himself the “true bread from Heaven” in John 6:58. So bread here in this list represents any teaching that expounds Jesus in the scriptures, because that is the ultimate purpose of the Bible. Good bread teaching will show all of the details of Jesus and cause us to enlarge our vision of Him.
Next we have Fish. Jesus equates people with fish when He says that He will make us “fishers of men” in Matthew 4:19. One aspect of the fish, especially sharks is that they are always active and moving. Another is that fish live beneath the surface of the water. In order for us to eat good fish from God’s Word, we must actively study the scripture and meditate on His Word. Often-times the practical application of scriptures that we should apply to our daily life lay beneath the surface of the text and the Holy Spirit illuminates it for us as we study.
Lastly for the good food we have Egg. Egg represents the promise of future life. These are truths that may seem to have no immediate value. Perhaps something you heard a pastor say or something you read that you wonder why the Holy Spirit pointed you to it at that time, but as you “sit on it” for a period of time, the true worth will be made known. The life will hatch, and it will become one of the most valuable pillars of your faith because from that life hatched from the egg, more eggs will be laid and multiply exponentially.
This brings us to the negative side of the verse: the bad things to watch for. Let’s examine these one at a time as well.
First we see Stone. Stone in the Bible is a picture representing the Old Testament law, Legalism and condemnation. A ministry that has stone teaching is any ministry that teaches justification by law-keeping instead of by Jesus Christ. This doesn’t means that there is no correction in the Bible, sometimes the Holy Spirit uses what we read to correct us and bring us back to order, but we are never justified based on our obedience, but through faith in Christ alone.
Next we see Serpent. In the Bible many people know that the serpent represents Satan. To understand and recognize this type of bad teaching, we must understand the characteristics of the snake. First, they slither on the ground, and eat dust just as God pronounced in Genesis 3:14. Dust in the Bible is always a picture of sin and curse, because after sin entered God cursed the ground which the serpent is now condemned to slither in and eat the dust.
Another characteristic of the serpent is that it tends to bite and its bites are poisonous. Now one of the first responses of the human body when snake poison enters is that it produces severe fright and mental agitation. What we can learn from all of this is that when you hear a sermon or a teaching from a pastor or leader that focuses on sin instead of on Jesus and it ministers fear of God rather than love of God, that is serpent food, and it is to be avoided.
Finally we see Scorpion as another type of bad teaching. Like the serpent, to get a clear picture of what this means we must understand the characteristics of the scorpion. Scorpions hide under rocks, and walk slightly above the dust. Which means they are still associated with judgment, condemnation and sin, but they are more crafty about it. Scorpions do not have poison like the serpent, but they have venom. The difference being that venom is a neurotoxin that among other things destroys cells and can cause blood clots. What we can learn from this is that just as the scorpion hides and walks slightly above the dust (sin) so too will a scorpion food message from a pastor or leader. The message may seem good at first, the pastor may even say that God loves you, but in the end it will come back to works, sin and condemnation. The result is that the blessings and life will be clotted and not be able to flow.
So today we have examined two complete lists straight from the Bible showing us God’s criteria for rightly judging the ministries in our world today. My friends, there is so much more for us to explore on this topic. God considers this an extremely important topic because He cares very much that we are feeding properly on His Word and the Gospel of Grace. Eat well. Make sure your diet is what Jesus says is good, and you will always be fit and strong in Christ.