The Temptations (and Dangers) of the Secret Knowledge Club

Not long after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, one of the first "Christian" conspiracy theories began to blossom. You can see the roots of it 1st Corinthians 15, watch it develop in 1st John, and then see how it really blossomed in the early church. It came to be known as Gnosticism, and it was a big problem that hasn't completely gone away even now. 

 

A group of people in the Corinthian church began to say that they had been blessed with "secret knowledge," about "the truth" of Jesus, that no one else could see. That truth was that there really wasn't really going to be a physical resurrection of the dead. They believed the body was evil, so there was no need for a physical resurrection. Paul powerfully refutes these ideas in 1st Corinthians 15:12-19:

 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead   are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope n this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Paul tells the church at Corinth that their "secret knowledge" is going to send them to Hell. If there is no resurrection, they are without hope, with Christ, without forgiveness, to be most pitied. But this little heresy continues to grow in the church, until a few decades later when it has developed even further - and some are now saying that Jesus never came in the flesh in the first place! See the progression - first, the body is evil. Because the body is evil, there is no physical resurrection. And because the body is evil - then Jesus could have never actually had a physical body! So, the Secret Knowledge Club has now rejected the humanity of Jesus! This is why John wrote in 1 John 4:2-3:

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already."

Two things are happening here: the "Secret Knowledge Club" was not satisfied to simply deny the resurrection of the dead. The longer they talked, the more secret knowledge they seemed to obtain. Now, they denied the humanity of Jesus. And not only are they hell-bound - John now identifies them with the anti-Christ himself.

 

Now, the Secret Knowledge Club did not end there. They continued to push and grow over the years and decades, and their heretical beliefs continued to grow. What might have been a mistaken understanding of the resurrection turned into a full-blown movement in complete contradiction to Christianity. The Gnostics twisted the sayings and teaching of Jesus in such a way that the apostles wouldn't have recognized them, all the while saying that only they had the secret and special understanding of the way the world worked. The Gnostics are still around today - read a Dan Brown novel to see it. They were convinced that there was a conspiracy to cover up the truth of the world - and only they had the real answers! 

Unfortunately, the "Secret Knowledge Club," is still around, and you don't have to read Dan Brown to find them. There are unfortunately far too many professing believers in Christ who invest far too much of their time into the latest conspiracy theories, all the while believing that they have found the truth! They find some web site in a back alley of the internet that uses a little bit of scripture, a few current events, a heaping dose of suspicion toward "the powers that be," and a sprinkle of out of context facts to create conspiracies that sound like they might just be true. And as outlandish as they are, they seem to make more sense of the world than what you're being told. 

 

It feels good to have that secret knowledge, to understand things when no one else seems to understand them. It is so tempting and alluring, and it especially so right now, when the world just seems to be upside down. If everyone else would just "get it." If they'd just stop being "sheeple." If only they could see what you could see. If only they would do their research the way you have done your research. Here's the problem. It never satisfied. There's always another conspiracy. There is always more secret knowledge to gain. And the longer you invest yourself in gaining it, the further and further you move away from God's truth.

 

Don't join the Secret Knowledge Club. Get into God's Word instead. It will help you navigate every situation in life. It will give you all of the knowledge that you need, and it is not for a special few. It's for everyone. God has not hidden the truth. It is not a riddle that needs deciphering. It's not a code that needs cracking. It's not a secret that needs researching. It's right there, in black and white, just like it has been for 2,000 years. The knowledge you need is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 4:20). And it is enough. It will satisfy you. 

On Sunday School - Diversity

This is the latest in a multi-part series on Sunday School. For more, click on Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

There's a little sign as you walk into our classroom, put there by the church, to denote a bit about who we are. It simply says, "Co-Ed 30-40, Wade Phillips, The Loft." The sign is simply there to give us some simple identifying marks of the people who are in the class. We are both men and women, between the ages of 30 and 40, I'm the teacher, and we meet in this room, the loft above the kitchen. There's only one problem with it. It isn't really true.

I mean, most of it is. I'm the teacher. We meet in the loft. Men and women are both welcome. But there's one little problem. I have people who range from their early 20's, all the way up to their 50's in my class. So the 30-40 thing is really not true. They come in all ages. And frankly, despite the misnomer on our sign, I'm pretty pleased with this fact.

As long as we have been a class, we have really made strong efforts to have diversity in our class. Now, I know this is a word that brings up some strong connotations, some positive and some negative. But we have felt from the very beginning that the more different kinds of people we have in our class, the better. To that end, we have people, both black and white, married and single, single again and married with husbands who don't come to church, couples with "full quivers" of kids, and couples with no kids at all, people who have lived in our area all their lives, and others who just moved here. We have people who are well-off financially, and people who are struggling, and people in between. And all different kinds of ages. It's something that we feel very strongly about.

Now, if you are familiar with church growth strategies at all, you may look at this with some amount of concern; maybe even a bit of horror. For many years, a strategy called the "homogeneous unit principal," has held sway in many church circles. There are a lot of different ways to define that very large term, but the basic idea of it, I think, is that people like to be around people who are like them. People will naturally gather with other people who are like them, so we should just use that fact, and grow with it. Now, there are obviously some ways in which this almost has to be true; it's hard for people who speak different languages to worship and study together regularly. I can even see a need for some age segregation in a Sunday School class; it would be difficult for an 8-year old to get the things we are talking about (though we've seen a few of those in class over the years, too.) But the bottom line is this: I believe diversity is not only acceptable, but that it is good and should be encouraged.

Here's what I mean. The Bible has a lot to say about the right kind of diversity. Revelation 5 talks about how God "ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation . . ." God made a point, not just to save as many people as possible, but to make sure they represented all of these different kinds of people. God made the diversity, he likes it, and he wants to redeem all of it. We should embrace it too.

Maybe the most important verse when we talk about the subject of diversity is this one: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) What's the point here? It's simply that the differences that we see on the outside, those differences in race and gender, social and economic status, marital status, and age, among others, aren't really that important as compared to the similarities we have as people ransomed by Jesus. We all unite under the Cross. We all possess the same Spirit. And those similarities are infinitely more important than any differences we might have.

Now, I don't think it's enough just to say this: we must believe it in a way that it actually makes a difference. We must welcome people who don't look like us or act like us, or think like us. We must make sure the people in our class know that this is not a class for one particular "people group." We must teach on the importance of this kind of diversity, when it comes up in the texts we are studying together.

And here is what might be the most important thing: when we study the Word, those barriers come down. God's people unite around God's Word. This is why our studies are centered on the Word. It applies to everyone. It pierces hearts and minds, and cuts through joints and marrow, and gets deep inside people. And it shows us our similarities, while helping us appreciate our differences.We are not perfect at this. We're still working on it. But it's important to us.

Let me end by making something clear: the sign on the wall doesn't bother me. I'm fine with it as a guide. I just hope it never becomes a fence. I hope the common theme of the Gospel continues to help unite all kinds of people in our classroom, and for that matter, in Sunday School classrooms everywhere.

On Sunday School

I have had the great honor, for the last five or so years, to be able to teach a Sunday School class of young adults at my church, Northcrest Baptist, in Meridian. Yes, we still call it Sunday School here in Mississippi. I guess it really doesn't matter what it's called. It's what you're doing there that counts. Over these five years, it has been, for the most part, one of my greatest joys. I believe I am called and gifted to be a teacher, and I have taken the job as seriously as I know how. It's my hope and prayer that I get to continue leading this class for many years to come.

But things inevitably change; we're probably going to see some changes in our class soon. Frankly, we have gotten very large. We started the class five years ago, birthed from another class, with a mere 5 people there on our first Sunday. We now have almost 80 on the roll, and have lately been running close to 40 in class. It really has been remarkable to watch the class grow and change over the years. We began meeting in the smallest classroom at our church; a couple of years ago, we moved to the largest one, and we are growing ever-close to outgrowing it.

It looks like we're about to start another class out of our class; we've gotten so large, and I have some people who are really qualified to teach in my class. I'm certain one of them is going to step up and take on a leadership role in the new class. Most Sunday School/Small Group experts would tell you we should have already started another class, but we've just been having so much fun, and we've just been growing so fast. It's been a wild ride, to say the very least. We have visitors and new members almost every single Sunday. It's really a lot to keep up with. So I think a new class is probably best, though I do not look forward to losing some of my most faithful members.

A lot has happened over 5+ years. We've studied thousands of verses of scripture, gathered at dozens of homes, held numerous baby and wedding showers, fed multitudes of sick people and new parents, done multiple mission projects, and even started a brand new downtown Bible Study for young people, called City Gate. I've been in a lot of Sunday School and small group classes, and this has been by far the most active and most mission-oriented. We've also formed bonds that I believe will last a lifetime, bonds that are stronger than just friendship; they are bonds forged by fire, strengthened by service, and bonded by the Gospel of Jesus. We are truly brothers and sisters, in a way I've not always been able to say about fellow church or Sunday School members.

The fact that I'm probably about to send some of my friends off into a new adventure of their own has gotten me thinking a lot about our class lately. I think I'm going to spend the next few days blogging about what it's been like, specifically what I think we've done well, and what I think we could have done better. Stay tuned.

Thoughts on Dying

As many of you already know, my grandmother passed away Monday. We buried her yesterday. She was a great, Christian lady, a wonderful grandmother, one of my biggest cheerleaders, with a spitfire of a personality to go along with a heart and a smile as big as anyone I’ve ever known.

We watched her die. She had been sick for some time, but seemed to recovering, until early Monday morning, when she fell, and developed a large bleed on her brain. It was just a matter of time at that point. She died about nine hours after she fell. Most her family, daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, and grand in-laws were there to wish her farewell. It was difficult, but not without it’s joys, as we all shared stories about her life, and her last days. I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking a lot about her, and also a lot about the subject of death itself. I guess times like this do that to a person.

It’s hard to know exactly how to feel at a time like this; you just lost someone you love, so you feel sad. But when it’s someone who has lived a long, full life, and has been sick for so long, there is also some relief, because you know they are no longer in any pain. I think both emotions are appropriate, especially in light of what the Bible says about death itself.

Let’s make this clear; despite our sometimes romantic ideas about death and dying well, it is our enemy. Death is a result of sin. If there were no sin, there would be no death. Paul described death as “the last enemy.” (1 Corinthians 15:26) So it is an enemy. It is not, as Forrest Gump’s mom said, “just another part of life.” It is terrible, and no amount of comforting words will change the fact. Neither should we want that fact to be changed. Death is bad and death is the enemy. End of story.

But that’s not really the end of the story, is it? Because the same Paul who described death as the enemy also said, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) He said that he was torn between wanting to go and be with Jesus, and to stick around and live for him. I think that is probably as appropriate a feeling about death as I can come up with.

The Bible really gives us a mixed view of death. Sometimes it may be hard to figure out how to think correctly of it, because we’re told both that for the Christian, death is an enemy and death is gain. I guess the only thing that is proper to do here is to embrace that tension. Death is terrible. It hurts. It should not be. But it is also the beginning of something much better.

The resolution to this tension is found, I think, as so many things are, at the Cross. Here is where the badness of death meets the goodness of eternity. Jesus’ death on the Cross was one of the worst, most tragic things, that ever happened. The perfect God-man, completely innocent, murdered for crimes he did not commit. It was the most tragic death in the history of the world. Yet, out of his death, great good comes, and through his resurrection, death is dealt a decisive blow. Though death is still around, it is badly wounded, and it’s defeat is assured.

That’s why I’ve imagined my grandmother this week, standing triumphantly at the gates of Heaven, echoing the words of Hosea and Paul: “O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54,55) As terrible as death is, it’s sting and it’s victory are gone, because those who believe are forever triumphant over death, as they reign in Heaven with Jesus. And this is another important point. We spent the last few days making little jokes about what my grandmother was going to say to my also-departed grandfather when she arrived. And we often think that Heaven is this great place, because our loved ones are there, and because there is no more sickness and pain and sin. And that is true, as far as it goes. But that kind of Heaven will never be ultimately satisfying unless Jesus is there. The reason death’s sting doesn’t affect us is because of what Jesus did, and because we get to be with Him when death comes. All other pleasures are secondary. My grandmother is getting the greatest pleasure that a person can possibly know right now; real, lasting, eternal fellowship with the God of the universe, who redeemed her, bought her with a price, and has promised her great reward forever.

And so we mourn our loss, but “not as those without hope,” because we have hope, not only that we will see her again, but that will see Jesus with her. And that will make it all worthwhile.

The (Im)Perfect Game

I am a huge baseball fan. I grew up on the baseball diamond. My dad ran our local recreation league for several years, and I played high school baseball, so from March to August, I was on the field or at the park practically every single day. I know a lot of people find the game to be slow and boring, but I love the subtle intricacies and strategies of the game, and I love the battle between pitchers and hitters. It's a physical battle, no doubt, but I think it's also one of the most intellectual battles in sports.

I say that to say this: baseball has a special place in my heart, but never has a story about baseball captured my interest in quite the same way as the recent story of Armando Gallaragga and Jim Joyce.

If you've been paying much attention to the news this week, you've probably seen the story already. Gallaragga, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, was on his way to throwing only the 20th perfect game in baseball history. For baseball novices, a perfect game is when a pitcher doesn't allow any hits, runs, errors, or walks through the entire nine innings of a game. It's obviously quite a feat, since only 19 people have done it in more than 100 years of playing Major League Baseball. Think about that, 100+ years of 20+ teams playing 100+ games. That's literally hundreds of thousands of games, and it's only happened 19 times.

So Gallaragga is one out away from this historic feat. With two outs in the 9th inning, the would-be final out hits a slow ground ball to the first baseman. Gallaragga himself comes to cover first base and get the out. The first baseman flips it to him, clearly getting the runner out by about half a step. Then, the unthinkable happens: the umpire, Jim Joyce, calls him safe. One out away from the perfect game, and Gallaragga loses it because of a bad call by the umpire. In his defense, Joyce is considered one of the best umpires in the game. But he blew this call.

That in and of itself is enough to make this story incredibly intriguing, but what happened after has made it even more so. There are times, even in our fallen culture, when something happens that is so beautiful that it begins to show off the Gospel, almost despite itself. And that's exactly what we've seen in this situation. There are several things I want to note.

You might have imagined that Gallaragga would have lost it after this play. Most people would say he would have every right to get in the umpire's face, to yell and scream and argue. That pretty much happens in ten baseball games a day. But he did not. Gallarragga had a brief look of surprise, then he smiled, walked back to the mound and finished the game, doing his job, getting the final out, and getting the win for his team. I don't know much about this man, but this was an incredible display of character.

Here's what C.S. Lewis had to say about character:

"Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light." - Mere Christianity

When I saw Gallaragga's reaction, I immediately thought about what Lewis said here. Character is most clearly revealed when we don't have time to think about what our reaction to a situation should be.

This situation also displayed the Gospel in several pretty amazing ways I thought. Now, when I say it displayed the Gospel, I'm not saying that Jesus was proclaimed. But I am saying that there were several elements of the Gospel that were very clear. Here are some:

1 - Man's sinfulness. I'm not saying the umpire sinned by making the wrong call. But I am saying that the bad call says something about all of us. We are fallen humans, and we make mistakes. We are not God, we are not perfect.

2 - Repentance - After the game was over, and the umpire had a chance to review the play, he quickly realized he had made a big mistake. He was very upset. He immediately went to the Tigers' locker room, found Gallaragga, and apologized for his error. He then went before the media, admitted his mistake, and in tears apologized for ruining the pitcher's chance for a history making moment. His apologies were sincere and heartfelt. There was true regret in his voice.

3 - Mercy - By most accounts, Gallaragga would have completely been within his rights to blow off the umpire's apology, to say, "You cost me my chance at history!" But we've already learned that he has some character, and he continued to show it after the game. He simply accepted his apology, told reporters that he knows umpires make mistakes sometimes, and moved on.

4 - Grace - But that wasn't all he did. It would have been plenty. He's already shown more than enough character in this episode. Nevertheless, he takes it a step further the next day. You see, Jim Joyce was the umpire behind home plate the next day. It is baseball tradition for the manager of the team to take his batting lineup to the home plate umpire before the game. Instead, Gallaragga took it to the plate, patting Jim Joyce on the back as the veteran umpire wiped back tears. It was an incredible act of grace, going beyond just forgiveness. This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus does. It's not enough that he forgives our sins. When we repent, we are made joint-heirs with him in God the Father. We go from being his enemy to being a part of the family. And that's exactly what happened here.

At the end of the day, I believe this is actually a better story because of the blown call. Most non-sports fans would not even know of this story if it weren't for the bad call. And God has used it as a way to display his glory and his grace to the nations. What a beautiful picture.