The World's False Gospels

In an earlier post, I described several False Gospels being spread within the church.  But the church is not the only place where you'll hear a variation of Good News twisted out of shape and packed with false promises and dashed hopes. 

1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

At first glance, we can see these three things as simply three bad things from the world that we need go avoid. Yet I think the truth behind these verses is much more profound and comprehensive. Just as we can use the Fiva Solas of the Reformation to catalog the False Gospels in the church, so I think these three things - the desires (lusts) of the flesh, the desires (lusts) of the eyes and the pride of life -represent the three major ways the world lies to us and promises us some counterfeit "good news".

Desires (Lust) of the Flesh: Carnal pleasures and indulgences, which may be found in sexual immorality, drunkenness, drug use/abuse, food, some indulgent "pampering", etc. What these things all have in common is that they make us feel better; they dull our pain and replace it with pleasure. The promise us that, if we will give our heart to these things and pursue them, they will end our pain and usher us into a life of pleasure and happiness. For people whose lives are marred by pain, these fleshly desires offer an alluring promise.

Desires (Lust) of the Eyes: These are material possessions, wealth and its associated benefits. These promise us security.  People whose life ambitions revolve around their 401k, their IRA, their stock options, the pursuit of an ever higher salary, etc. believe that they will find true security in wealth.  They believe they will find a way of escape from a life of fear- fear of failure, fear of want, fear of poverty and emptiness.

The Pride of Life: The NIV translates this third category as "the boasting of what he has and does." People are lured to believe that if they can take pride in what they have accomplished and what they have, they will feel not feel bad about themselves anymore. Thus, the pride of life promises deliverance from the trap of "low self-esteem" or self-hatred.

The promise of each of these False Gospels seems reasonable. Why wouldn't pleasure deliver us from pain? Why wouldn't wealth give us real security?  Why wouldn't pride in our accomplishments and possessions make us feel really good about ourselves?  The problem comes in so clearly when we accomplish our ambitions and the promises of these False Gospels show themselves to be empty.

Pleasure offers an illusion of freedom accompanied by a lifetime of slavery. Setting us free from pain for a little while, it becomes something from which we desperately need to be set free. Possessions can never give security because we will never be satisfied or think we have enough to be really safe.  We will always grasp for a little more.  Added to this is the reality that seeking wealth is itself a risky business, a game in which the possibility of massive loss is as great as the potential for massive gain.  And pride? How many people have achieved all of their dreams - fame, success, power - and been left feeling so empty and so hopeless? When you've achieved all your dreams and you still wake up and look in the mirror at the same person you've always been, then what?

Thomas Aquinas observed that people often seek the benefits of God without wanting God Himself.  They wants the gifts without the Giver. Each of these False Gospels represents our insane pursuit of something we can find only in God Himself: joy, peace, security, love, acceptance, a precious identity.  We search the world in vain for these things and find only empty counterfeits.  In God alone, in union with Christ and adoption as God's child, we find the benefits we seek.  In other words, the gifts are found only in the Giver.  He is the Giver and the Gift!