Serving Wealth, Not God

What is the way of Balaam? Balaam was a prophet for hire, who served wealth over God. His story is found in Numbers 22:5-24:25. He sold his words of prophecy for profit! He was more concerned with receiving pay for his prophetic services than he was about serving God. Like Balaam, false teachers are completely devoted to serving wealth, while pretending to be serving God. "They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15).

Balaam also taught immorality—right up the false teachers' alley: "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD" (Num. 31:16).

In the letters to the churches in Revelation, to the church in Pergamos, John wrote, "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality" (Rev. 2:14). The false teachers had left the biblical way and entered Balaam's error—mercenary greed and sexual impurity. That is the fruit by which they are known.

On Paul's first missionary journey, he and Barnabas were preaching on the island of Cyprus. Let's pick up the story in Acts 13:6. "Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, 'O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.' And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord" (vs. 6-12).

The way of the false prophets, the false teachers, of all who teach false doctrine to lead people away from God, will not stand. Judgment will fall, if not in the short term, as with Elymas the false prophet and sorcerer, then certainly in the long term with eternal damnation in hellfire and brimstone. But false teachers will meet their doom. So, flee from them. Avoid them. Do not associate with them at all!

Why might God use a donkey to rebuke a prophet? Think about that for a moment. Who says God has no sense of humor? He used a donkey, a beast of burden who cannot speak, to speak like a man, to rebuke a prophet! "He was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet" (2 Peter 2:16).

The story is found in Numbers 22:22-35. "Then God's anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. Now the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road. Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall; so he struck her again. Then the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam's anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

"Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, 'What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?'

"And Balaam said to the donkey, 'Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!'

"So the donkey said to Balaam, 'Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?'

"And he said, 'No.'

"Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the LORD said to him, 'Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.'

"And Balaam said to the Angel of the LORD, 'I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.'

"Then the Angel of the LORD said to Balaam, 'Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.' So Balaam went with the princes of Balak."

As Balaam went to curse the children of Israel for money (if he could) "he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech" (2 Peter 2:16a, NIV). The rebuke is twofold: first by the donkey, then by the Angel of the LORD. Ironically, the dumb animal had more "spiritual" perception than the prophet! "A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet" (v. 16b, NKJV).

In 1773, William Cowper wrote his famous hymn, which begins, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'"

Let the Lord do His mysterious work in you. Study the Word. Know it. Live by it. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Amen.

Wickedness Evident in Deception

Traveled to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota this past week for Barbara's routine checkup. Nothing but good news! All tests looked good. No change in the nodules in her lungs. No signs of any cancer. The ever-stoic Doctor Gores, head of her transplant team, said with a big grin that he was "ecstatic!" She is getting stronger and doing better every day. Amen. Now to today's Bible Insight, as we continue to look at Second Peter.

Once established in the church, false teachers are ruthless and they openly flaunt their sin. They "count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you" (2 Peter 2:13b). They are cruel and merciless. They are evil. Their wickedness is evident in their deception in leading others astray.

Normally you think of carousing as a nighttime activity. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:7, "For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night," perhaps because of the shame involved. But these people are so openly wicked, they carouse in broad daylight. They even flaunt their sin and teach their deceptive doctrines "while they feast with you" (2 Peter 2:13b).

Peter sees them as "feasting" (v. 13b) with the recipients of his letter. He likely is thinking of the love feasts in which the early church shared a meal together and took communion. They eat with you and fellowship closely with you in every way, as they seek to devour you by deceiving you with their lies and twisted doctrines.

"Carousing in their own deceptions" (v. 13b), literally means, "reveling in their deceptions." In the original Greek, the word translated, "in their deceptions" came to mean "pleasure" or "lusts" (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, [Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981], 280). They took great pleasure in deceiving people. They even partied and celebrated their successes in leading people away from Christ.

They love the darkness rather than the light and can't seem to get enough sin. They sin to the max! Though they are untrained in knowledge, they are thoroughly trained in greed. They are known for "having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children" (v. 14). How does your heart get trained in greed? By practice!

In the Greek text, verses 12-16 are one long sentence. The phrase "having eyes full of adultery" (v. 14a), is literally, "having eyes full of an adulteress" (Ibid), meaning to desire every woman they see. It implies that the false teachers desire to turn church gatherings into times of dissipation. They are "never at rest from sin" (v. 14a, NEB). Their eyes unceasingly look for sin. They lure "unstable souls" into their web (v. 14a).

The unstable are those with no foundation. In 2 Peter 1:12, Peter spoke of his readers as being "firmly established in the truth." In 2 Peter 3:16, he will warn them of "unstable" people who will try to draw them away from the truth in which they stand. We are to resist such people.

"They have a heart trained in covetous practices" (2 Peter 2:14b), or "they are experts in greed" (NIV), is literally, "having a heart exercised in greed." The word "exercised," or "trained" (NKJV), is the Greek word from which we derive our English word "gymnasium." It relates to athletic training. In biblical thought, the "heart" refers to the center of your personality. Deep inside, the thoughts of the false teachers are filled with "greediness" or “covetousness;" literally, "a desire to have more" (Ibid). Their greed is so strong that Peter declares them to be "accursed children" (v. 14b), or literally, "children of a curse" (Ibid). In other words, God's curse is on them!

"For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:2-4). "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world" (1 John 2:15-16).

False teachers love the world and the things of the world. Don't let that be said of you! Shore up your love of God. Put Jesus first in all things. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2a). Amen.

Speaking Evil of Things Not Understood

Though created in the image of God, the false teachers have lowered themselves to reacting with a base instinct rather than using their God-given rational intellect. "But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption" (2 Peter 2:12). Like "natural brute beasts," or "unreasoning animals" (NASB), as "creatures of instinct" (NASB), they "speak evil of the things they do not understand."

They are brash. Their rudeness is evident. They are blunt in their "reviling where they have no knowledge" (v. 12b, NASB). They are rude and arrogant as they teach falsely about things they do not understand. Jeremiah 4:22 says, "For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." And Jeremiah 10:21 adds, "For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, and have not sought the LORD; therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered." Simply put, they will not succeed in their lies and deception.

Jude illustrates this quite well in Jude verse 9: "Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" Michael even treated Satan with respect, but stuck to the truth which he stood by, and rebuked Satan in the Lord. He was not rude or arrogant. And in contrast, Jude says of the false teachers, "But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves" ( v. 10).

As to how to deal with false teachers, 1 Timothy 6:4-5 says, "He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself." In other words, simply walk away. Don't argue with them; simply avoid them.

Their lies will catch up to them, and they "will utterly perish" (2 Peter 2:12b). "Perish," in the Greek, refers to "the death and decay of beasts" and means "destroyed," or "unto destruction" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Unabridged Edition, [MacDonald Publishing Company: McLean, Virginia, no copyright], 245). Like wild beasts who are slaves to their instincts and born to be slaughtered, false teachers are also destined for "destruction," or literally, "in their destruction, they shall be destroyed" (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, [Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981], 279).

They come in unawares. They infiltrate the church secretly and rise to positions of leadership without fanfare. But once they are established, they openly seek to deceive even the believers, if possible, with false doctrine designed to lead you away from Jesus Christ. They "will receive the wages of unrighteousness" (v. 13a). That phrase is translated straightforward in the NIV as, "They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done."

That sentence translates just three words in the Greek. The verb "will be paid back" (v. 13a), means "to suffer injustice" (Ibid). In keeping with Peter's style, this is a word play: "be paid back with harm for the harm they have done" (NIV), or "receive the wages of unrighteousness" (NKJV), means the false teachers will "suffer harm" as a "wage" of "injury" (Ibid, 280).

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life" (Gal. 6:7-8). "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20). "But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek" (Rom. 2:8-9).

Again, we are instructed to avoid such people. "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person" (1 Cor. 5:11). Avoid all who would lead you astray. Avoid all who try to lead you away from Jesus Christ. Amen.

When Wickedness Reaches Full Potential

One of the greatest problems in the church is a wholesale turning away from the ways of holiness and righteousness. There is a tendency to leave the ways of God that have been passed down from the time of the early church. Today's church has been deluded and deceived into believing that "anything goes." Our fear of God's judgment for sin has been dulled by teachings on self-esteem, man centered worship, and social gatherings in the name of Christ. We have compromised our convictions for holiness and lowered our standards of righteousness before God so that we might be more acceptable to man.

We have taken the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:22, "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some," and have interpreted them to mean that we should become like everyone else to be accepted, so that we can reach them for Jesus. We have taken those words of Paul and used them for an excuse to become a church that has no power, no testimony, and very little ability to see the hearts of people changed through the power of Christ.

That statement by Paul does not mean that we are to see just how far into the world we can go, or how much we can become like the world, and still call ourselves Christian. Nor does it mean that we can get so close to being like the world that we are walking a tight-rope between godliness and ungodliness.

What Paul's statement does mean is that we must pray and seek the face of God to know how far from the world we can get and how much different we can become from the world and still be able to call out to the sinner so that he will hear us. We are to lift the sinner out of the miry clay of sin and call him to a higher level of righteousness in Christ. If our life is no different than his, then why would he need to be delivered from what he is doing right now?

We are to raise the standards of holiness and righteousness so that sinners will see a better way and seek Christ. That is why God calls us to come out of the world and be separate from the world. We are to be different; not the same as everyone else. God calls us to live by His standards of righteousness, not to lower them to the level of the world. He calls us to be more committed to Him and more like Him every day, so that others will be drawn to Him.

Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." That is the lies and deceitful doctrines of the false teachers. What they teach often sounds good and even seems right, but it is not. False teaching leads us away from God, not toward Him. Such doctrine is "is the way of death."

When wickedness reaches its full potential, false teachers are exposed. Their true character shows up and their disregard for everything upright appears. Timothy says simply, "From such withdraw yourself" (1 Tim. 6:5b). In other words, simply walk away. Don't argue with them; simply avoid them. Amen.