Who is our teacher?

Who do We Listen To

2 Peter 2:1-10

“But False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

                  The age of information has become the age of misinformation.  Today, we can search the web and find a plethora of podcasters, pundits, influencers, and “experts” who will affirm any truth we want to believe. The adage, “You become what you eat,” has now become, “You believe what you listen to.”    

After highlighting the importance of being governed by the truth God communicated through the prophets and Jesus, Peter now warns us of the dangers of false teachers.  From the very beginning of the church, there have been teachers who have distorted the truth and infiltrated the church with error.  Instead of calling people to a life of obedience to God, they seek to undermine the Bible by claiming it is false.  Today, we see the presence of false teachers populating the internet.  They argue that the Bible is outdated and distorted by the cultural biases of those who wrote it.  Instead of accepting the Bible as truth, they claim the Bible must be “deconstructed” to adapt to modern morality.  But this is not new, for this is what Peter warns against.  Peter forewarns that there will be false teachers who reject the truth of the Bible and promote sexual freedom and immorality. Although they claim to follow Christ, they deny the necessity of faith in Christ and His claim to be their Savior and Lord. At the core of false teaching is the rejection of the truth.  Instead of pointing people to the truth and calling people to obedience to the Scriptures, they reject the truth and distort the truth to fit their own immorality.  Instead of the Bible being the truth of God, it is merely the product of men.  

In our information-saturated culture, finding people who say what we want to hear is easy.  They become popular because they affirm how we want to live rather than challenge us to transform our lives to conform to the person and teaching of Christ.  They preach messages to make us feel good rather than challenge us to be good.  However, instead of leading us to Christ’s salvation, they lead us down a path of certain destruction.  Peter reminds us that God has judged sin in the past and will also judge sin in the future. God, a God of truth and righteousness, does not tolerate what is false and what violates His righteousness.  

We need to guard who we listen to.  We need to be discerning by evaluating the teaching of people by the truth of the Bible.  This begins by affirming the scriptures and immersing ourselves in the teachings of the Bible so that we know the truth.  Ignorance is deadly, for in our ignorance, we can easily be led down the pathway of destruction. Jesus warns us that in the last days, “many false prophets will arise and mislead many” (Matthew 24:11).  Before we follow the teaching of someone, we need to ask several questions:  Do they affirm the teaching of the Bible, or do they contradict it?  Do they call us to surrender our lives to Christ and submit to His authority?  Do they manifest Christ in their teaching, conduct, and attitudes?  Do they affirm our sin or call us to a life of holiness?  If not, we need to recognize that they are a false teacher.