[Anglican Communion 11 July 2020] Topic: Rise Up Against False Teachings

Posted by: Henry || Categories: Devotional

TOPIC: Rise Up Against False Teachings

READ: Acts 15:1-5 (NKJV)

And certain [men] came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.
And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses.”
THE MESSAGE:

The Church at Antioch was doing well until certain Judaizers came and began teaching that Gentile believers must be circumcised in order to be truly saved. By this they were saying that the Law, and not Grace, is necessary for salvation! Paul never yielded to them because he had received a direct revelation from Jesus Christ concerning salvation even if the whole Church had backed them. Even when he was appointed one of those to go up to Jerusalem, he didn’t go to hear their position on the matter but to correct the shameful failure of the apostles and elders in that city to admit the Gentiles, without any restrictions, into the Christian fellowship.

False teachings might sound very good and may be according to our thinking, expectation or way of life. Sometimes they would be to us the perfect message we have been waiting, to authenticate some things for us. But friends, a false teaching remains a false teaching! It consumes like wild fire. Jesus has fulfilled the Law and so long as you live in Him and He in you, you have, through Him, fulfilled the Law. When you mix Grace with Law, you produce death. Be careful with false teachers. Expose them and their sources.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me to discern all false teachings. Amen.

Related posts:

1. [Anglican Devotional 17 April 2022] Topic: One Died For All…
2. [Anglican Devotional 19 April 2022] Topic: The Little Foxes
3. [Anglican Devotional 8 May 2022] Topic: Open Our Eyes, O Lord!
4. [Anglican Devotional 19 May 2022] Topic: I Will Praise The Lord
5. [Anglican Devotional 6 July 2022] Topic: Lift The Hand Of Your Moses
6. [Anglican Devotional 22 July 2022] Topic: Mary Magdalene: A Grateful Servant
7. [Anglican Devotional 28 January 2023] Topic: Ascribe The Glory To God
8. [Anglican Devotional 31 January 2023] Topic: Have A Good Testimony
9. [Anglican Devotional 2 February 2023] Topic: An Obedient Family
10. [Anglican Devotional 3 February 2023] Topic: Turning The World Upside Down