2 Peter 2:13-16

¹³They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. ¹⁴With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! ¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Entertainment

Entertainment! Everybody wants to be entertained. Church attendees want to be entertained. Online games are very addictive because they entertain users. Videos, news items or articles can be amusing too. Of course, there are many click baits online that may attract naïve and amused viewers. Not a few were deceived.

How do you normally react when you clicked online videos or you clicked what may have attracted you, but then, it leads you to another website instead?

Videos posted online can be monetized, and shameless influencers openly offer attractive but deceitful click baits just to earn money; deceitful teachers had brazenly published dishonest ideas and mislead the innocent. Don’t follow them. Both false teachers and their followers will go through undesirable consequences.

Our passage today is a continuation of the warning against false teachers of the gospel. In the first century, it is possible that eager audience who wanted to hear about Christ were amused when the gospel was preached. And the Lord may have actively inspired them to listen to the gospel of Christ. And because of that, inspired believers welcomed and appreciated those preachers of the gospel.

Remember this: Where the gospel of Christ thrives, followers of darkness disrupt; where the gospel flourishes, counterfeit preachers of the gospel appear; they may confuse and deceive, if possible, even the elect. Jesus Christ declared a warning before it happened in Matthew 24:23-25: ²³At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time.

Can the elect be deceived? How’s that possible? If such case is true, the doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved” (O.S.A.S.) would be questionable.

Did Christ declare that the elect or genuine believers can be deceived? No!

Christ implies that false messiahs, false prophets try to deceive everyone; fake teachers will try to convince, even the elect, to follow misleading concepts.

Reflect on this meditatively: Jesus Christ had stated in John 10:26-29:

²⁶You do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

If you sensed as if Christ is talking to you, pray: “Lord, help me clearly hear you!” If you belong to the sheep of Christ, you listen and gladly obey him. How do we practically know who belongs to the sheep of Christ? His sheep listen to his voice and follow him. It is possible for sheep to be confused. They behave in godly righteousness; and sometimes, they want to satisfy the desire of the flesh.

1. Satisfy

¹³They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 

Do false prophets know that they are counterfeits? Do false teachers know that they fake? How can we practically identify false teachers? By their lifestyle; their idea of pleasure is to satisfy the flesh explicitly, not in secret. They indulge in lavish lifestyle. They can be proud of their shameless behavior. Their followers may behave similarly; they satisfy their greed; they delight in worldly pleasure. Worldly pleasure can easily entice many followers, even to promote their cause.

Do false teachers ignore their eternal condemnation? They cause spiritual harm to anyone they have deceived, but they are not aware that they also cause spiritual condemnation to themselves. Certainly, they can’t imagine how horrible an eternal punishment could be; if they do, they should stop deceiving people.

Romans 16:17-18 warns, ¹⁷Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. ¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

Smooth talk and flattery attract naïve listeners. Why? They want to belong. They desire to be appreciated; they crave for acceptance. Smooth talk and flattery can amuse, delude and deceive oblivious people, who wish, yearn for recognition.

Apostle Paul challenged us in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, ³I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

It is far better to keep speculations to ourselves, if we have no valid proof.

Without proper or legal qualification, judging others may promote horrible consequences. Someone said “Don’t judge, if you are not a judge!” What must we do as children of God? We must listen and obey the Lord to expect praise from him and disregard the urge to judge others. But pressure can emerge to seduce or influence us to express opinion or view; what can we do? How can we stop that?

2. Stop

¹⁴With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood!

Have you heard of preachers who use or quote biblical accounts to support their behavior and lavish lifestyle? They indulge in pleasure that this world offers.

Preachers are humans; like anyone else, they can be attracted by luxurious lifestyle and desire the best life experiences. Have you ever prayed that God may bless you with much wealth? Can we live in godly righteousness and luxury at the same time? Does the Holy Spirit inspire us to obey him and have lavish lifestyle?

How do you personally interpret what it declares in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11?

¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

God blesses richly in every way. Does it include material wealth? Possibly! He blesses us to be generous and harvest righteousness that results to gratitude. So, when we ask God for material wealth, ask for wisdom also to use wealth that will result in praise and thanksgiving to God. May God bless us abundantly! Amen!

But the morally corrupted human sinful nature wants to indulge the flesh in pleasures and leisure. What can we do? Has Christ saved us from sinful instinct?

Romans 3:23-25 should remind us: ²³For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

 No one is exempted; everyone has natural sinful instinct. But by faith in his sacrificial crucifixion and the shedding of his blood, Christ had washed away all our sins so that we can be pure and perfect children of God. But when depression and struggle affect us, the practice of our faith is also affected. It’s a reality!

Elijah Fled

What can we practically learn from Prophet Elijah when he was depressed?

It narrated in 1 Kings 19:4-8, ⁴Elijah came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. ⁷The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

Mount Horeb is another name of Mount Sinai. God gave his command to the Israelites at Mount Horeb. Wen Elijah went to Mount Horeb, it teaches us to seek help from God and read the Scripture when we sense depression like Elijah.

Truly, depression, difficulties and struggles are realities in this world, why? God designed that perfect life can only be found and experienced in his heaven, not on this earth. Everyone can be downhearted, discouraged or disappointed at one point. But until the mission purposes of God for us are not yet accomplished, he continues to sustain and motivate us to be efficient and responsible Christians.

By his grace, we practice faith in God productively. His Holy Spirit produces joyful peace in us to testify and speak about his transformational work in our life.

3. Speak

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Balaam was a prophet; he required payment to bless or curse. When Israel camped near Moab (located east of Jordan River), the Moabites were frightened. So, they sought the help of Balaam to curse the Israelites. God told Balaam, “Do not curse the Israelites; they are blessed!” Balaam told the Moabites what God told him. So, the Moabites promised to give anything that Balaam may ask.

Eventually, Balaam took his donkey and went to see the Moabite king. God made the donkey spoke in human language and warned Balaam. It’s possible that Balaam desired material wealth when he disobeyed the warning of the Lord.

Subsequently, the Israelites destroyed the Moabites including Balaam.

God warns against disobedience that could result to disastrous circumstances.

Apostle Peter wrote a warning that was very similar to the warning in Jude 7-11.

⁷Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. ⁹But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. ¹¹Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

Korah led a few Israelite leaders and rebelled against Moses. The Lord was angry and destroyed Korah and his followers in the wilderness. Make no mistake. False teachers can also entice oblivious and naïve listeners to follow their cause.

We have to be prayerful and filled with the Holy Spirit always to avoid possible spiritual disasters. Christ is about to return. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 states:

¹Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, ²not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. ³Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Remember this: Where the gospel of Christ thrives, followers of darkness disrupt; where the gospel flourishes, counterfeit preachers of the gospel appear; they may confuse and deceive, if possible, even the elect. What could we do?

Pleasure and leisure can attract anyone to wander off. Make sure that you grow stronger in your faith and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Pray for increase of faith to follow the godly and straight way of life in Christ. God sustains us until his mission purpose in us is accomplished. Can you believe that God had already delivered everything we need for godly life? Amen! Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!