Today’s Bible readings are: Isaiah 38:8-15 and Matthew 16:5-12
Matthew 16:6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
I was reading an article this morning about the beliefs of some local pastors. It was very interesting to me because it revealed part of the new theology that is creeping into church. An example of this was expressed by one of the pastors who said that God is beyond all that we can possibly know. This is obviously quite true because who can know everything about God?
The trouble is how this statement was being applied; it was used to defend universalism. The argument goes something like this: we cannot know everything about God, so to limit God to an exclusively Christian understanding is to diminish who God actually is, as well as demeaning the religious beliefs of other people in the world. In other words, it truly doesn’t matter what we believe because everything we believe in God is just a finite part of who God is.
But that’s not Christianity; that’s actually Hinduism where the many paths of belief supposedly lead us to God.
We have to be wary of this new Universalist yeast that is sadly being spread by pastors. It’s affecting who we truly are and what we should truly believe. This modern universalism was actually rejected by God when Christ was born among us. Human beings cannot fully know who God was, is, and ever shall be, so we made up hundreds of thousands of gods and goddesses in order to cover all of the bases. And then, 2000 years ago, God came into the world to clearly show us that Jesus Christ is God. God focused the lens and clarified our beliefs. If we truly want to know God, we only have to look at Jesus and all will be revealed. Christ is exclusively and absolutely God.
There is no other way, truth, or life except through Him. We may want to be part of a great global movement of universally embracing each others’ beliefs in the hope that planetary peace, total tolerance, and real respect may experienced by all, but that would require digesting the spiritual bread made with the yeast of inter-faith Pharisees and societal Sadducees, instead of consuming the Living Bread that is solely offered to the world through Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep us from feeding upon modern myths and the yeast of Universalists in our midst. Protect us from false theologies and incorrect ideas that are sadly corrupting the Church and diminishing Your Divinity. Keep us faithful to what You personally called the Narrow Way and Living Truth. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
Today’s image is one of John’s 2011 Christmas drawings called “Nativity Angel.” If you would like to view a larger image, please click on the following link: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6560966571_6b7bd5191e_b.jpg
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