On Sunday, I talked about how badly a world full of christians desperately needs disciples.
When you thought about what it meant to be a christian, vs what it meant to be a disciple… How did you contrast that in your mind? How did you feel about that contrast?
I also said “disciple is what we want to be, but christian is what we settle for.” Have you felt that way? What does that mean in your life?
I think one of the main ways our world full of christians so desperately needs disciples is because there are so very many false teachers all around us, parading around as if they were actually speaking for God. Have you seen this?
Disciples can discern truth from lies. Often, however, the lies are subtle. Perhaps we have even devoutly believed some things about God or His Word that are simply not true. It’s also possible that we have believed some things true about ourselves that are actually false. Second Peter 2 reminds us that false prophets and teachers are always around spreading dangerous lies, and reminds us that we ought to be wary.
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT
How would you respond to the statement, “There is no such thing as absolute truth”?
Why do you think false teachers would want the Christians Peter was addressing to deny that there is absolute truth?
According to Peter in verse 3, what was the false teachers’ real motivation for deceiving Christians with false teachings?
Peter warned that false teachers would take advantage of believers out of greed—either a selfish desire for money or for a large company of followers. The Greek term rendered “exploit” means “make gain of; deceive for (their own) advantage.” With deceptive (carefully crafted, false) words, the misleading merchants of error would use believers for their own gain. Awaiting the false teachers, however, was a day of reckoning. The verdict or sentence had been announced long ago in Old Testament references to false prophets.
Why do you think Peter was so motivated to work urgently to help Christians have confidence in the truth of the gospel?
For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 5 And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. 6 Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. 10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.
2 Peter 2:4-10 NLT
These verses give three illustrations to prove that God has judged in the past and will judge again in the future. The examples gradually reduce in scale, from the cosmic (angels), through the worldwide (flood), to the local (cities of Sodom and Gomorrah). These illustrations concentrate on the pride and rebellion of the angels, the apathy and disobedience of the people of Noah’s day, and the sheer sensuality of the men of Sodom, precisely the characteristics of these false teachers. They are demonstrative proof that there will be a final judgment.
Why do you think false teachers would spread the lie that there is no final judgment?
How does the truth of God’s judgment help us as believers to stand on the firm foundation?
What hope is there in this passage for disciples?
Consistently, the New Testament views the second coming of Christ as the final test. At that time, the Lord will rescue His true followers, but the ungodly will face judgment, for the Lord knows how to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment. “To hold” (verse 9) literally means “to keep or to guard.” It suggests that God is in control of judgment and people; He will have the final say. We can be confident in that truth, dismissing the lie that there is no final judgment.
These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. 11 But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.
2 Peter 2:10-16 NLT
12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
What indications do we have in these verses that false prophets lived and taught the lie that it doesn’t matter how we live?
Are there any subtle ways in which we believe this lie today?
Why do you think they are labeled as greedy so often? How does the illustration of Balaam reaffirm this?
These false teachers had trained themselves well. They had worked out for long periods of time. They had exercised to the point of exhaustion in an effort to become well-toned experts in “greed,” which simply means “a desire to have more.” An Old Testament story illustrates this. Balaam, who was supposed to be a prophet of God, loved money more than God. He was willing to pursue fame and fortune instead of obeying God. He also taught immorality. As a result, he was rebuked by God through a donkey. For a donkey to rebuke the prophet’s madness reflects not only on the foolishness of Balaam but also on that of all false teachers.
These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
2 Peter 2:17-22 NLT
Which of the spiritual errors given in these verses are present today?
Why might new Christians be more prone to believing the lies of false teachers?
The empty, boastful words of these false teachers were enticing enough for some believers to be ensnared by them. This was particularly true of new Christians who were just emerging from the clutches of sexual license practiced in the non-Christian culture. The false teachers, aware of this, twisted the concept of Christian freedom into something it was not.
What are some examples of absolute truth we see in Scripture? How can these truths help us fight the lies? Practically speaking, how can we avoid being taken in by the lies of false teachers?
Where are you most likely to be tempted to blur the lines of a sinful lifestyle or even believe a dangerous lie that redefines sin as something other than sin? How can you respond to that tendency in light of this study?
What does it look like to affirm one another in following Christ with our lives?
Close your time in prayer, thanking God that in His wisdom He gave us the power to fight the lies of false teachers. Thank God for the blood of Christ that saved us and is the only way to fight against the lies of Satan. Pray that your group would be discerning of false voices and lies in their lives.
