The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
Galatians 5:7-12
bk
Last month the Kom family went to Branson, MO on a family vacation. We have a van with
three rows of seats. My five year old daughter Lilly sat in the middle of the second row in a car
seat. The other kids worked on homework or watched movies and Angela read a book while
we drove. That left plenty of time for Lilly and me to talk about everything that popped into
her head. One thing that Lilly loves to talk about is churches. It seemed like every time we
passed a big church Lilly would ask, “Dad, is that church like ours?” Lilly is old enough to
know that all churches don’t believe the same thing. Since we had lots of time on our hands
I’d give her some basic answers. When she asked about a Baptist church I’d tell her that the
church said babies shouldn’t be baptized and that Jesus’ body and blood aren’t there in
communion. When she asked about a Catholic church I’d tell her that they said that doing
good things helped get them to heaven and that we should pray to people in heaven, not just
God. When she asked about an ELCA church I told her that many of those churches didn’t
believe God created the world or that Jesus really rose from the dead. [I did not tell her about
the ELCA’s acceptance of homosexuality. That will have to wait for when she gets older.]
About halfway through the trip Lilly quit asking questions and started making comments of
her own. She would say, “That church doesn’t believe in Jesus.” And that was the start of
another conversation. Try explaining to a five year old that it’s possible for someone to hold
to unbiblical ideas but still have saving faith.
Those are difficult issues because two truths are at play. The first truth is that any error in
teaching is horribly dangerous because it can attack saving faith. If a church teaches that God
didn’t create the world in six days then they are saying the Bible isn’t literally true. If the Bible
isn’t literally true how can we be sure of anything it says? If a church teaches that children
shouldn’t be baptized that’s probably because they have redefined faith into something we
have to decide instead of a gift from God. That has the potential to turn a person inward and
away from God’s grace. Any false doctrine can potentially shipwreck faith. But there is
another truth at work. The second truth is that trusting in Jesus for forgiveness gets a person
to heaven, not agreement with every teaching in the Bible. It’s possible, for example, to be
wrong about how the world began but still trust in Jesus. It’s dangerous, but possible.
Today Paul reminds us that false teaching is deadly and to be avoided at all costs. Listen to
what Paul wrote, You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying
the truth? Paul must have been an athlete or at least he loved to watch athletics because he
repeatedly used sports imagery in his letters. Here Paul talks about one runner cutting in on
another runner who is running a race. When someone cuts in on another runner the second
runner has to slow down or ever go off course. That’s Paul’s point here. The false teachers
had sidetracked the Galatian Christians from knowing that their relationship with God
depended only on God’s grace, not on their own good works. Paul changes the picture from
one of running to one of baking later in the reading. He wrote, A little yeast works through the
whole batch of dough. If you have ever made bread from scratch you know exactly what Paul
means; if you put a pinch of yeast into bread dough it will work its way through the whole loaf.
The false teachers didn’t say to the Galatians, “Forget all about Jesus and the cross. Rely only
on good works.” They told the Galatians that Jesus and the cross were good and important,
but that they also needed to keep the Jewish laws to be children of God. But if the Galatians
relied on their own good works then they would lose their total trust in Jesus. The yeast of
error would work its way through their heart and affect their faith.
False teaching still does that today. If a church teaches that God didn’t necessarily create
the world in six days then they throw other parts of the Bible into doubt. St. Paul spoke of
Adam and Eve as real people. If Paul was mistaken about that what else was he mistaken
about? Jesus taught that the Old Testament, which includes the creation account, was true.
Was Jesus, our Savior, wrong? If a church teaches that we shouldn’t baptize babies because
they can’t yet make a decision for Jesus they have denied that faith is a gift from God. If faith
isn’t a gift from God then our salvation depends on us at least a little bit. That’s a recipe for
disaster. This list goes on and on. A little yeast affects the whole loaf; a little false doctrine
eventually impacts salvation by grace alone.
And where do these false teachings come from? Paul writes, That kind of persuasion does
not come from the one who calls you. … I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other
view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.
Paul’s point is an obvious one: false teaching doesn’t come from God. But listen to how Paul
describes God; he calls God “the one who calls you”. Paul’s point is that God has always been
loving toward us; He sent Jesus into this world for us, called us to faith, and sent the Holy
Spirit into our hearts. False teaching comes from someone else, someone who doesn’t truly
love us. Paul says that those who spread false teachings will pay the penalty someday. Those
words will come back to haunt all those who teach things contrary to God’s Word.
One of the most frustrating things about false teaching is that it’s so tricky; it’s often filled
with half-truths. For example, how often don’t you hear people saying that God would never
condemn this sin or that sin because He loves everyone? Of course it’s true that God loves
everyone. In fact, He loves them so much that He punished Jesus for their sins. But it’s also
true that God has given us His law, an absolute standard of what is right and wrong. If
someone willingly, happily and proudly breaks God’s law and continues to do so without
repenting then they have thrown God’s love away. God promises to condemn those who don’t
trust that He has forgiven their sins. False teaching is tricky that way. Paul knew that too. He
wrote, Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case
the offense of the cross has been abolished. It was true that Paul didn’t say that circumcision
was a sin; in fact, he had told Timothy, a young Gentile pastor, to be circumcised so he could
preach to the Jews without it being an issue. But throughout his ministry Paul had always
been clear that following religious ceremonies won’t earn God’s favor. The false teachers
twisted the truth; they said that Paul agreed with them that they needed to get circumcised.
False teachers and false teachings have always been devious and tricky.
It’s no wonder that Paul became so angry with them. He wrote: As for those agitators, I wish
they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! Some say that Paul lost his temper
and used crude language. That’s not right. God inspired Paul to write these words. Paul was
expressing how serious it is when people lead others away from the Lord.
How do we guard ourselves against false teaching and false teachers? Perhaps we can take
a cue from my daughter Lilly and the other young children in our congregation and have a
childlike faith. If we would visit the preschool and kindergarten classes in our Sunday School
we would see rock solid faith. When our children hear that God has said something they
believe it unconditionally instead of listening our sinful culture or flawed human reason. Last
weekend some of our youngest children sang “Jesus loves me this I know”. I could listen to
them sing that song all day long. The reason we believe everything in the Bible is that it’s the
Bible that tells us about Jesus. The faith that leads us to confess that Jesus is our Savior also
leads us to confess that everything in the Bible is true. Paul’s warning for us today is to never
depart from that faith. Amen.