“You can’t eat the plastic fruit that goes with the pretend kitchen,” I told my then 18-month old daughter repeatedly. Even though it looks real. Even though we call it an apple. Even though it’s red and shiny and big sister serves it up on a pretend plate.
We learn from an early age how to tell real from fake. Pretend from authentic. Organic Red Delicious from Melissa & Doug’s finest simulation.
I bet in some area of your life, you could spot a fake a mile away. Maybe you’ve come to know and appreciate a certain skincare line and you’re not going back to the drugstore. Maybe you can spot genuine handbag stitching from the finest knockoff. You’ve been trained to bake a certain goodie from-scratch, so now the box-powder-mix kinda turns your stomach. There’s some area of your life where you want the real thing, not a look-alike. You know the ingredients. You trust the company. You’ve used the real far too long to be satisfied with a substitute.
When it comes to the gospel, the market is saturated with fakes. False-gospels entice our affections, our money, and our souls. One leads to life and transformation in Jesus; the other to a hollow shell of religion with no power to save.
I started wondering how fortified I am against such deception. How easily could a false teaching slither into my home, my motherhood, my friendships, my habits?
In Galatians, Paul vehemently attacks a plastic gospel creeping its way into the early church. Among the many gospel truths in this book, a few stood out to me. Here are five rotten cores in the plastic-fruit gospel as seen in Galatians.
- You can save yourself. It’s a lie. All your efforts, knowledge, and good works are filthy rags before him. The only way to be saved is to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20) and raised from the dead (Gal. 1:1). We see false gospels because Christ opens our eyes to see them. We must first have the spirit to keep in step with the spirit.
. - Jesus plus something. Any message that adds to the cross for salvation is a false gospel. Jesus plus circumcision. Jesus plus good works. Jesus plus your desires. Jesus plus a program. False gospels don’t always replace Jesus entirely, they can also add something to him (2 Kings 17:41). We trust in Christ alone.
. - The non-offensive cross: We were born sinners, God-haters with twisted desires and worshippers of self. We couldn’t earn peace with God. Only Jesus lived a perfect life and could die in our place and give us his righteousness. We find salvation only through Christ finding us. This simple message is profoundly offensive. We aren’t offensive as people but our message will offend. Paul asks, “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.”
. - The people-pleasing cross: All Paul had to do to avoid major conflict in the church was require that gentiles be circumcised. That’s it. Under the banner of love and unity he could have attached this tiny stipulation in order to keep the peace. But he says, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). He became a bitter enemy of those preaching “christ plus something” because he knew it would lead them away from true faith.
. - A superficial relationship with the Word of God: Galatians 4:21 says, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?” The entire Bible points to Jesus. False gospels always use Jesus to some other end instead of pointing to Him as the End. Ask God for a heart to see the true gospel on every page of scripture. Place yourself under shepherds who lift up Christ and him crucified and teach from the word of God.
Read the gospel story often with renewed awe. As our nation slowly reopens, we have a unique opportunity to teach the true gospel. Our lost friends and family are discovering their plastic religion has failed them in this storm.
The imitations are getting craftier, but His sheep know his voice and will not be led astray. Whatever else we may know well on this earth, let us know the gospel a hundred times better, and share it with anyone who will hear.