Don’t accept any counterfeit gospels

I’d like you to do some thinking with me about counterfeiting.

What makes for a good counterfeit $20 bill? If it looks like Monopoly money, you’d know it was fake right away, wouldn’t you? Counterfeit money is much harder to spot because it looks so much like the real thing. Those counterfeit 20s are worthless fakes, but if you knowingly were to make them or use them, that can get you into big, big trouble. We see counterfeits, not just in money, but in works of art like priceless paintings and these days in sports memorabilia like autographed balls and jerseys.

Does it surprise you to hear that there are also counterfeiters in the church? Jesus warned us of religious wolves dressed up like fake sheep who would attack his flock. Such counterfeiters were doing that within the baby mission churches of Galatia and nearly pulled those congregations away from Christ completely. They were called Judaizers.

These deceivers didn’t counterfeit hymnals or make illegal copies of church music. They counterfeited the Gospel! They told new Christians that in order to be saved, you believed that Jesus died for your sins, but it was also important that you followed some of the Old Testament commands like circumcision or when to worship or what to eat.

A counterfeit gospel always looks very much like the real thing. Those religions without Jesus at all are obvious fakes. They’re as easy to spot as Monopoly money. But a counterfeit gospel has a picture of Jesus right on the front of the “bill.” A counterfeit gospel may look and sound so good, but it’s a worthless fake that’s dangerous to our spiritual lives.

I’ve read when FBI agents get their training in catching counterfeiters, they don’t handle or examine the fakes at all. Those agents spend all of their time studying genuine bills — how they look, how they feel, even how they smell. The reasoning behind such training is if you know the real thing completely, then you can spot a counterfeit bill immediately. My fellow Christians, the same thing is true of the Gospel. If you and I are going to stay clear of counterfeits, then how important it is for every single one of us to know the real thing backwards and forwards from the Bible? You see, the reason gospel counterfeiters are so successful is because there are so few Christians who know their Bible well enough to spot the fakes.

How will we ever recognize those counterfeit gospels if we don’t know the real thing? To know the real thing, we must listen to the Word being preached, studying it weekly with our fellow Christians, meditating on it daily at home with our dear ones.

What is the Gospel?

This one and only Gospel is the message of an incredible reversal — just the opposite of what should be. The eternal son of God becomes one of us so that he can replace our sinful failures with a perfection he lived every day he was here. Our sinful failures were paid for by his dying on a cross. There, God the Father says, “Let my son be condemned for sin” so that God the Father never has to say that to you or I. Jesus rises from the dead to prove it’s so.

That’s the Gospel. That’s the incredible reversal of what we deserve, the comfort of forgiveness for our shameful sins. When we fail to live to God’s glory, when we struggle with life’s troubles, when our sins make us we feel so unworthy of anyone’s love, it’s the real thing that lifts us up again — this one and only Gospel that our God now sees us through the outline of a cross and says, “Because of my son, you are forgiven! By faith in him as your Savior, you are my sons and daughters.”

Sadly, Paul must write at the beginning of his letter to the Galatians: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which really is no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

Then the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write some of the most forceful words you will ever read from Paul’s pen: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say it again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”

I am so very thankful for having the pure Gospel that the Bible teaches. My dear people, I am sure you are, too. Jesus died to save me and you and all the world. That’s the precious Gospel. It may at times not seem all that flashy or exciting, but if you have ever doubted God’s love for you or I, or you ever struggled in life, it’s the only message that matters. If you find others in despair or who thinks God can’t possibly forgive them, then you share the real Gospel with them. No counterfeit in the world can quench the thirst for forgiveness or offer the strength to get through another day or give the gift of eternal life.

So keep on giving yourself and everybody else you can the real thing — the good news about Jesus.

Robb Robbert is pastor of King of Kings Lutheran Church in Wasilla. Contact him at kokw@mtaonline.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.