16 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. 17 They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' 18 But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear His word? Who has listened and heard his word? … 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds." (Jeremiah 23:16-22)
To a person unfamiliar with the Christian faith, the wide variety of teachings and practices of the faith in our culture must be very confusing. How can a single religion have so many different — even contradictory — expressions? What's more surprising than reaction of the outside person's look at our faith is how we don't seem to be troubled by all of this. We've grown accustomed to the differences in teachings and we've embraced the variety of practices. We've even come to accept them as good because they offer variety and give people choices — and choice is idolized in our culture. Beyond the confusion that all of this creates for people outside of the Church, the broad spectrum of teachings accepted within American Christianity opens us up to being seduced by teachings that appeal to us rather than being faithful to God's Word even when it is not to our liking. We share the problem that Jeremiah addresses when he shared the Word of the Lord. In so many words, Jeremiah was warning the people of God to be careful who they were listening to. Wisdom we would do well to take to heart.
There are many things that are taught by church leaders that are meant to appeal to us. The Christian message has been cleverly and expertly packaged in order to capture our attention and appease our affections. In a world driven by consumer demands and fueled by seductive advertising, "successful" churches have found the techniques of Madison Avenue useful for increasing their numbers, their income, and their influence. Everything from youth programs that are little more than giant parties to worship services that are nothing more than rock concerts are marketed with professional advertising that rivals corporate America. It's justified by its results. It works because it gives people what they want. Shoppers go from church to church in search of the latest and greatest. Churches that don't keep up and offer what people want will see attendance drop off. Churches that insist on telling and teaching the truth of God's Word will quickly discover that they can't compete in this marketplace. The temptation to tell people what they want to hear is as ever present as the desire of people to be told what they want to hear.
The problem Jeremiah faced and we now face is a problem that has always challenged God's people. As long as we are willing to listen to false teachers we will be troubled by them. Paul wrote to Timothy that "the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3). In our time people want to hear about how they can be prosperous in the world and still have God's favor. They don't want to make sacrifices for the sake of the Kingdom. They ignore Jesus' call to the Cross and look for a way to be rich in this world and have heavenly riches too. This is called the theology of glory and there is "a great number" of church leaders who are willing to teach it and eager to live it. The theology of glory is nothing new. Martin Luther contended against it in 16th Century Germany. In the theses he wrote for the Heidelberg Disputation Luther wrote, "A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is." (Thesis 21). Luther understood that the Word of God calls us to the Cross, a call that includes hardship, suffering, self-denial, and sacrifice — all the things that glory theologians call evil. But the call to the Cross also includes incomparably good things, especially salvation and eternal life. The Cross is the only way to these blessings. Those who refuse this call in order to have what they want in this world will miss out on them — even if the voices calling them away from the Cross to glory are coming from respected, popular, and successful church leaders. This is why we must be careful who we listen to.
"Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD" (Jeremiah 26:13). The word that is from the mouth of the Lord will always point us to the Cross, call us to repentance, and turn us away from the world. It has been spoken so that we will have eternal life in Christ. We should be careful to listen to it and only it — and will be blessed when we do.
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