John-David

On Sunday, March 2 our students’ lesson in Sunday School will be “A Response to Progressive Christianity.” There are two main components of this study: false gospel and false teachers. Students will be looking at Galatians 1; 2 Corinthians 11: Matthew 7; and Acts 20.

As I was looking at the lesson, I was particularly drawn to the first of these main subjects. Partly, because it is so easy to get caught in the trap of a false gospel, especially with them raining down all around us. There are 3 main categories of false gospels: gospel plus, gospel minus, and other gospels.

Gospel plus is anytime we add anything to the gospel. This is probably the one that traps me most often. It is also the one Paul is specifically addressing in the Galatians 1. The struggle they had was adding circumcision to the gospel. I have never personally been tempted by this. But I have been lured towards thinking too greatly of works. I have been lured towards thinking too greatly of my stuff, my job, my money, my… I have regularly been tempted to add things to the gospel. To hope in my savings account rather than Jesus. To hope in a relationship rather than Jesus. This false gospel, gospel plus is really dangerous to our spiritual health. I would encourage you to talk to your students about what they might be adding to the gospel.

Gospel minus is anytime we try to remove something from the gospel. This probably less of a temptation for most of us. This is when we take away the deity of Christ or the realism of Christ. Claims that Jesus was a great teacher but not God would be the gospel minus. They’re close, but they remove key elements from the good news of Jesus and it stops being the true gospel. I think that the belief that Jesus is ONE way to heaven would be the most common example of the gospel minus in our culture. They remove the truth that Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life.

Other gospels are simply any other belief other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. This would include other religions and atheism. Atheism is a real struggle for many students. At the very least they are probably interacting with the ideas of atheism either through media or friends.

It is important that we talk about the true gospel and how we protect ourselves against false gospel and it is important that you talk about it with your students.

The second part of the lesson, the look at false teachers is another great topic. False teachers come in all sorts. Some of them even look like Christians, but they preach gospel plus or gospel minus. Others of them we agree with politically or socially but they miss out on Jesus. I love the site http://www.iamsecond.org. They have some really cool stories, but I am careful sharing those because the teaching of some of the people on the site is just slightly off from the gospel, Jesus + Nothing.

If you really want to continue this conversation with your students challenge them to find an example of someone teaching a false gospel and challenge them to explain to you why it is false.