Fake News and the Gospel

There’s a new cliché that been sweeping our nation. “Fake news” can be heard from the lips of presidents, news anchors, protestors and even parents. Yeah, there was a time I called “fake news” after being accused of taking some of my daughter’s candy. Maybe that wasn’t fake news, though. It’s hard to know who to trust these days.

For the disciples of Jesus, it was also difficult to determine reality in the days following His crucifixion. Matthew records that just after Jesus rose from the dead, the Jewish authorities conspired together with the soldiers guarding the tomb to disseminate fake news among the people. They instructed the soldiers, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble (Matthew 28:13-14).”

The possibility of fake news reeked havoc in the mind of one of Jesus’ disciples that same resurrection Sunday.

Even though John and Peter had seen the stone rolled away and Jesus’ burial cloths folded in the tomb, even though Mary Magdalene reported to the disciples that she had seen, spoken with and hugged the risen Lord, the disciples huddled together in an upper room in unbelief. Then suddenly, Jesus stood in their midst and showed them the scars from His hands and side. They all rejoiced together and received the Holy Spirit. All of them, that is, except Thomas.

The Gospel of John records that Thomas happened to be out and about at the time Jesus arrived, and when he finally made it back to the upper room, Jesus had vanished. Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster he must have been on when he heard the news? It all seemed to good to be true, so Thomas called “fake news”.

He said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe (John 20:25).”

Exactly one week later, though, Jesus again returned to the upper room, this time when Thomas was with the others.

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed (John 20:27-29).”

It seemed unbelievable to Thomas that real, death-defeating power could spring forth from his Lord being marred beyond all recognition and savagely murdered. But with the resurrected Jesus starring him in the face, Thomas could live in denial no longer. Belief in the gospel transformed Thomas. According to Church history he courageously took that life-changing message to Parthia and India where he was eventually martyred.

The good news of the way, life, death and resurrection of Jesus quickly began to spread all over the known world by believers like Thomas. Soon, thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of people throughout the Roman Empire were renouncing their hope in the Pax Romana for gospel of the kingdom of God.

Justin Martyr was one of several early Christians who wrote about the drastic shift that occurred in the lives of those who dared to take Jesus at His word.

We who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies, and endeavor to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live conformably to the good precepts of Christ, to the end that they may become partakers with us of the same joyful hope of a reward from God the ruler of all. … We who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike weapons - our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into implements of tillage - and we cultivate piety, righteousness, philanthropy, faith, and hope, which we have from the Father Himself through Him who was crucified. – Justin Martyr 160CE, Volume 1, pg. 167, 254 [CD-ROM]

How do you feel about Justin’s testimony? Does it make you want to call “fake news”? Justin Martyr proclaimed that throughout the entire world, the eschatological prophecies of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 were already coming true in the followers of Jesus.

How powerful do you believe the gospel is? Do you believe it’s not only powerful enough to transform enemies of God into His friends, but your enemies into your friends as well?

There is much propaganda and fake news floating around in our world, it’s true. But the timeless truth of the gospel will continue to regenerate and transform those like Thomas who will humbly and simply give their lives fully over to Jesus and His kingdom. 

Violence in the Kingdom of God

One of the strangest teachings of Jesus occurs in Matthew 11:12. Seemingly out of nowhere, our nonviolent, loving, self-sacrificial Savior declared, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”

As weird as the statement is, I never thought anyone would use it to make a case for Jesus being in favor of His disciples acting in physically violent ways. However, I’ve been shocked throughout the years to hear that argument actually used. Still, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with Jesus’ words there.

Recently, I was amazed and convicted when reading the way the early Christians interpreted this teaching of our Messiah.

The Lord [did] assert that the kingdom of heaven was the portion of “the violent.” And He says, “The violent take it by force;” that is, those who by strength and earnest striving are on the watch to snatch it. … Paul the Apostle says to the Corinthians, “Do you not know, that those who run in a race, do all indeed run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may win. Every one also who engages in the contest is disciplined in all things: now these men [do it] that they may obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. But I so run, not as uncertainty; I fight, not as one beating the air; but I beat my body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when preaching to others, I may myself be rendered disqualified.” This able wrestler, therefore, exhorts us to the struggle for immortality. … Both the Lord has taught and the apostle has enjoined us the more to love God, that we may reach this [prize] for ourselves by striving after it. – Irenaeus Volume 1, p. 873 [CD-ROM]

Irenaeus compares Jesus’ words to Paul’s analogy of an Olympic athlete training to win a gold medal. We are supposed to fight and wrestle to obtain all that God wants for us.

I have nappy, frustrating hair, so from an early age I learned the value of a good hat. No matter how catastrophic the condition of my hair, a ball cap can cover it up. A few years ago, my father came over to take me to lunch, but I hadn’t showered by the time he arrived. I figured I’d just put on my favorite hat and we could go. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the place I remembered putting it last.

Like hounds after a fox I hunted my hat. I spent at least 15 minutes tearing through piles, crawling under beds and rummaging through my car seeking this perceived pearl of great price. Finally, when I had almost given up, something told me to go back to my room. There on the floor, just beneath a pair of pants I had worn the day before was my precious.

My father and I jumped in his jeep and left for lunch, but somewhere between the driveway and the restaurant the Holy Spirit began to prick at my heart. He asked, “Do you seek after Me with the same ferocity, Phil? Is your hat more valuable to you than Me?”

According to the early Christians, Jesus calls us to aggressively pursue Him… not just at the beginning of our relationship, but all throughout our lives. However, does the New Testament really call us to that sort of aggressive approach to God? Or, like some spiritual songs suggest, is there no real worth to what we Christians do? Let’s see:

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. – 1 Timothy 6:10-12

Applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. – 2 Peter 1:5-11

If those passages are so familiar to you that you just skimmed through them, please go back and slowly and thoughtfully read them again as if for the first time. Fight. Pursue. Take Hold. Apply all diligence. Supply. Increase. Make certain. Practice.

Like a man seeking fine pearls and then liquidating all his resources to buy one of great value, Jesus wants us to aggressively and joyfully pursue Him and His kingdom. The cost is great, but Jesus is infinitely greater!

Lord's Prayer Pt. 3 - May Your Kingdom Come

Once when my church was still meeting in an elementary school, a well-spoken, gentle young man decided to visit us. We happened to be teaching on Luke 4:40-43 where Jesus heals scores of people and casts out demons from sundown to sunup one night. We talked about how Luke records Jesus saying in verse 43, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

We discussed how many of those people probably felt as if Jesus was turning their world upside down. However, what Jesus was actually doing was helping to set everything right side up again.

So many areas that had been turned upside down by the Fall in Eden were getting turned right side up by Jesus bringing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Little did I know, the kingdom of God was about to invade that young man’s life. After the service as folks were tearing stuff down, he came up to me weeping and asking if I would pray for him. So I took him behind the stage and off to the side where we wouldn’t attract any attention.

I felt led to ask him if he was having any compulsive sinful behaviors or thoughts. Areas where he almost felt driven to do or think those destructive things, no matter how hard he fought against them. He mentioned three areas and confirmed that those were the reasons he wanted prayer.

So I began by helping him with a prayer of confession in each of those areas. Then, starting with the first area of concern, I prayed that God would bring him cleansing and deliverance from that stronghold, and that His kingdom would come.

Suddenly, he began convulsing and vomited all over the floor and a little on one of my boots. Assuring him everything was okay, I gently began praying for the second area and… another big puddle of vomit. This time, though, I was able to get my feet out of the way in time. God blessed us with similar success in the third area as well.

The young man was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace as he shed a few tears of joy. It was amazing to watch Jesus’ kingdom begin to flip upside down areas of his life right side up in such a dramatic way. Praise God!

However, when Jesus commands us to pray for His kingdom to come, He isn’t speaking only of exorcisms and healings. He’s mostly speaking of us letting the King be Himself in us. And can you imagine what a tremendous blessing we Christians would be to the world if we believed and prayed the promise Jesus made that His disciples would do the same works as He did?

Cyprian did:

In the prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” we ask that the kingdom of God may be set forth to us, even as we also ask that His name may be sanctified in us. … He who dedicates himself to God and Christ desires not earthly, but heavenly kingdoms. … We add, also, and say, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” … Now that is the will of God, which Christ both did and taught. Humility in conversation; steadfastness in faith; modesty in words; justice in deeds; mercifulness in works; discipline in morals; to be unable to do a wrong, and to be able to bear a wrong when done; to keep peace with the brethren; to love God with all one’s heart; to love Him in that He is a Father; to fear Him in that He is God; to prefer nothing whatever to Christ, because He did not prefer anything to us; to adhere inseparably to His love; to stand by His cross bravely and faithfully. – Cyprian 250CE Volume 5, p. 788-789

Irenaeus on the Importance of Obedience to Christ in 180CE

We ought not … to be puffed up, nor be severe upon those of old time, but ought ourselves to fear, lest perchance, after [we have come to] the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we obtain no further forgiveness of sins, but be shut out from His kingdom. And therefore it was Paul that said, “For if [God] did not spare the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also not spare you, who, when you were a wild olive tree, were grafted into the fatness of the olive tree, and were made a partaker of its fatness.”

You will notice, too, that the transgressions of the common people have been described in like manner, not for the sake of those who did then transgress, but as a means of instruction unto us, and that we should understand that it is one and the same God against whom these men sinned, and against whom certain persons do now transgress from among those who profess to have believed in Him. But this also … has Paul declared most plainly in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when he says, “Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and were all baptized unto Moses in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

These things were for our example, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted; neither be idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them also did, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. But all these things happened to them as an example, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the world has come. Therefore let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” …

"Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” And as it was not to those who are without that he said these things, but to us, lest we should be cast forth from the kingdom of God, by doing any such thing, he proceeds to say, “And such indeed were you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” …

And again does the apostle say, “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the sons of mistrust. Do not therefore partakers with hem.” And as then the condemnation of sinners extended to others who approved of them, and joined in their society; so also is it the case at present, that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” And as the wrath of God did then descend upon the unrighteous, here also does the apostle likewise say: “For the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those men who hold back the truth in unrighteousness.”