False teachers, continued

Our focal passage this week is the second chapter of II Peter.
Peter is reminding us to watch out for false teachers.... last time, we saw that we can know them (first and foremost) by their teachings. We were exhorted by several passages to be alert and to compare teachings with the Word of God, to know for sure if they were true.
Next, Peter tells us in verse 2 of the chapter that many will follow "their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute." The idea expressed here is that they will have no shame -- they will act upon their lustful thoughts. Here is verse fourteen of the chapter:

With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; (v. 14a)

Oh, say it ain't so.
In the church? The body of Christ?
Sad but true. It's a very old, old problem.
It's been that way for many years..... remember what Paul said?

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?  (I Corinthians 5:1-2)

Yep, it's an old problem.
And from what Paul said as he continued, I just bet that the church members were saying, "Oh, we are such a loving bunch! We accept everyone, all sinners, no matter who they are or what they are doing."
Today we hear the same things..... "What's done in private should stay private!" "We're all sinners."
And they justify it in this way: "We have freedom in Christ - we aren't bound to the law anymore. We live under grace, instead of the law."
Well, Paul dealt with those comments, too, in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  (Romans 6:1-2)

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. (I Corinthians 5:9-11)

False teachers will often be soft on immorality. Often it's because their own lives are immoral.

Another characteristic of false teachers is that they are often motivated by money. They are characterized by greed. Verse three is where Peter tells us they will exploit us, often with stories that they have made up.
The word here is sometimes translated "greed" and other times it is translated "covetousness." In other words, they want what others have. They are consumed by a desire for money, or possessions, or wealth.
This has been around a long time, too. Have you studied in the past the story of Samuel's sons? Oh, they must have been alright, seeing what a godly dad they had, right? Uh, no.

But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. (I Samuel 8:3)

Samuel was a man of faith, dedicated to the Lord before he was born. He served faithfully as a prophet, priest, and judge for the Jewish nation. He would have set a good example before his sons, for he was a Nazarite - he didn't drink, and was faithful to his wife. As he aged, he appointed his sons to be judges. Imagine his heartbreak and embarrassment when he saw Joel and Abijah taking bribes and perverting judgement (ruling for those who had paid them the most money).
Now, his sons didn't lack knowledge of right and wrong. They chose to abandon their dad's teachings. We don't find a record of God rebuking Samuel for failure as a parent -- Joel and Abijah chose to disobey God and were held accountable.

In the New Testament, we see an example of another false teacher. Remember what Judas said about the money spent for a rare perfumed ointment? Remember why he said it?

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him,objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:4-6)

Greedy Judas! He didn't care about the poor....he wanted to help himself to the money. Like Judas, we often hear of preachers and evangelists who "dip into" the treasury with greedy fingers and help themselves to the money they want. Their preaching and teaching might sound good for a while, but they will be found out -- they are fleecing the sheep! They are indeed false teachers.

So Peter has given us two more ways to determine if a teacher is false -- if we see immorality or greed in their lives, they are false.
Paul backed up Peter's assertion:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  (Colossians 3:5)

Tomorrow, we will conclude our study with a few more characteristics of false teachers....