Why Sing? | Page 2 of 11
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 1:6-12)
Paul fought with all his might for the purity of the Gospel. He was all too aware that savage wolves were waiting for the opportunity to come in and wreck havoc with the flock. He told the Ephesian elders that after he left, men would arise from their own number to distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. “So be on your guard,” he warned. (Acts 20:29-31)
Peter was equally concerned. In his second epistle he warns that false teachers are inevitable. Their m.o. is to secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them with his precious blood.
Unfortunately, Peter predicted that many would follow their shameful ways and fabricated stories, and unfortunately bring the way of truth into disrepute (2 Peter 2:1-3)
John is concerned that the believers he is writing to will “remain in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:24-25) He refers to an attempt to lead these believers astray. (2:26) Later in almost the same language (3:7) he says, “Don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (4:1) “
Many deceivers,” he says, “who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:7-9)
Jude talks about “certain men who have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 1:4,12-13)
Once you are in Christ, perseverance is the task we are called to. Yes, “he is able to keep you from falling.” (Jude 1:24) Yes, we have the promise that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
But we are also told to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize the Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Corporate worship is one of God’s main perseverance pillars to help keep us passionate followers of Jesus. And when we hear the word preached in the power of the Spirit, and come alongside that testimony with affirmations of faith and songs of deliverance, our pulse races once again, and the blood of belief flows vibrantly back and forth from the heart.
