Luke 6:1-11
Acts 8:1-13
False ministry is any ministry that deviates from the teachings of Jesus
and the heavenly will of God.
Most often, false ministry originates from the clergy themselves, but
sometimes weak clergy follow the dictates of their church, even though they
know it is counter to the heavenly will of God.
Many years ago, we began seeing a retired pastor and his wife from another
denomination coming to our church services; and after seeing them for
several weeks, I asked them why they came to our church instead of one of
their own denomination, and he said that his church didn’t want their clergy
speaking about sin, and you’re not afraid to talk about it.
The real problem was that the pastor of that church was more afraid of
losing his job than he was of not teaching the whole truth about the Lord,
and that each and every one of us needs to have a truly repentant spirit.
Or, perhaps this pastor really doesn’t know the Lord, and believes like the
world that people just want to have their ears tickled instead of really
touching the people’s hearts and souls with the truth, even when it hurts.
True ministry teaches the word of God, and false ministry, by leaving out
the whole truth, is actually teaching the ways of the devil and the corrupt
ways of this world.
In Luke 6:1-11, we are also told about false ministry in the Temple and the
surrounding countryside in the days of Jesus…
1. Now it came about that on a certain Sabbath He was passing through some
grainfields; and His disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands.
2. But some of the Pharisees said, "Why do you do what is not lawful on the
Sabbath?"
Was what the disciples were doing really unlawful, or had the Pharisees and
other religious leaders twisted the truth about what God really wanted in
order to lord it over the people?
Let’s see.
3. And Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read what David did
when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,
4. how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread
which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to
his companions?"
Jesus knew that the Pharisees considered David to be a man after God’s own
heart, and as a result they would not condemn David’s actions.
God’s grace covers these situations.
5. And He was saying to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
In other words, Jesus was telling them the way that God really wanted them
to view the Sabbath.
And let’s not forget about the billions of animals that suffer and die every
year for human gluttony that even the Temple of that time, and the churches
of today participate in with their feasts and the message they send to the
people about not having empathy for the animals and many people who are
different from them.
Let’s go on.
6. And it came about on another Sabbath, that He entered the synagogue and
was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
7. And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely, to see if He
healed on the Sabbath, in order that they might find reason to accuse Him.
We can really see their hardness of heart and false ministry in this statement, for only God can do these kinds of healing, yet they still wanted to use such a healing to accuse Jesus.
8. But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the
withered hand, "Rise and come forward!" And he rose and came forward.
9. And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do
good, or to do harm, to save a life, or to destroy it?"
We believe that they didn’t answer, because they really knew the truth that Jesus was doing these healings by the power of God.
10. And after looking around at them all, He said to him, "Stretch out your
hand!" And he did so; and his hand was restored.
11. But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what
they might do to Jesus.
NASB
We also believe that they were filled with rage because they knew that to do
good and to save a life was what God wanted everyone to do, whether those
who were helped were humans or animals.
This just highlights their false ministry and hardness of heart.
In Acts 8:1-13, we are told that Paul [Saul] started off with this same kind
of hardness of heart and false ministry.
1. And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him [Stephen] to death.
And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem;
and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles.
2. And some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
False ministry all too often results in evil and violent acts, such as the stoning of Stephen, and the horrible indifference to the suffering and death of animals, and as we’ve said before, these acts all too often stem from clergy and churches.
3. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Unless it is stopped, the evil keeps expanding.
4. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
Even with all this evil in the world, the truth cannot be stopped; we cannot
give up just because of the cruelty we see all around us; we need to expand
our efforts, because no matter how bleak things may seem on the surface,
someone will hear and change.
And as we know, even Saul changed when he heard the Lord speak to him on the
Damascus Road, and he became the apostle Paul.
Everyone can change if they want to and become the peacemaking children of
God who help to free creation from its present corruption.
5. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ
to them.
6. And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said
by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.
Even without some dramatic signs, some people will listen, because they see
the truth in us, and see that we live the life that we talk about.
This is what it means to be living in the heavenly will of God.
7. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of
them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame
were healed.
8. And there was much rejoicing in that city.
We may not be able to perform these kinds of dramatic miracles, but we can definitely perform other smaller miracles by helping to end the violence and corruption in the world around us that causes millions of human beings and billions of other animals to suffer and die every year.
9. Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing
magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be
someone great;
10. and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him,
saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God."
It is obvious to us that Simon had a false ministry, even though many people
may have believed in him.
A true ministry is conducted in the heavenly will and power of God, and not
by the will of any person.
And we still have charlatans in the church ministry today, because most
people really don’t seek to discern what is being said and done against the
heavenly will of God.
11. And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.
Notice the way the people give homage to Simon because of his magic arts and not because he is a man of God.
12. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
We hope and pray that we all can see the differences between Philip’s ministry and Simon’s ministry.
13. And even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued
on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he
was constantly amazed.
NASB
Yes, Simon was amazed, but as we are told in the Bible, he really only
wanted to be able to perform the signs and miracles that Philip was doing,
and not willing to allow God to work through him, even if they weren’t as
dramatic.
If our ministry is true, then people will see it and believe just as they
did with Philip.
Amen.
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