“Their Sustaining Motive” (2 Peter 2:2c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2025 6:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  “Their Sustaining Motive”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                           Focus:  2 Peter 2:3a

            Message of the verse: “and in their greed they will SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  “Their Stigma”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                           Focus:  2 Peter 2:2c

            Message of the verse:  you with false words;”

            One may think that false teachers are ultimately motivated by a fascination with false doctrine, rebelliousness, or even a penchant for sexual immorality, however that is not the truth at all.  Now to be sure, they actively participate in each of those activities.  But people can do all such sins without being teachers.  Instead, the primary motivation driving false teachers is an unbridled love for money.  You can see this on the television when certain so-called ministries ask you for money.  I remember when I was a very young believer and had a physical problem that I will not mention, but wrote to one of these televangelist ministries and they wrote back to me and wanted me to send them money.  Weill I was a very young believer, but old enough to not send them any money.  There was one ministry that I did send some money to, and when the head of the ministry came to our small town he asked me to help his people bring some books into the place where he was to speak he did some things to my wife that she later told me about and he never got another penny from us.  I even went and talked to him about this and he denied it.  The term for greed (pleonexia) connotes an uncontrolled, covetous desire for money and wealth.  That is my experience with these so-called ministries.  Later in this chapter Peter describes false teachers as “having a heart trained in greed” (v. 14).  They crave as much money as possible (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3-5, 10) and are experts at bilking people in the church out of their wealth.  This is a standard biblical indictment and characterization of religious charlatans, and here is a list of them, but because I am using my new laptop and don’t have a Bible apt on it yet I will leave it up to those who read this to look them up on their own:  (Jer. 6:13; 8:10; 1 Tim. 6:3, 5 9-11; Titus 1:7, 11; 1 Peter 5:1-3; Jude 11, and 16).

            Now to accomplish their materialistic goals, false teachers will exploit people with false words.  MacArthur writes “exploit (emporeuomai) means ‘to traffic in,’ or ‘to realize gain from.’  Such men want to get rich from the people to whom they ‘minister.’  Although they claim to serve others, they are only interested in serving themselves, using false words to enrich their own pockets.

            “Interestingly, the English word plastic is derived from the term false (plastos).  In keeping with its etymological roots, plastic originally had the connotation of something not completely authentic.  After all, plastic items often look as if they are manufactured from another substance, such as wood, metal, china, and so forth.  Thus plastic at first glance ‘deceives’ consumers.  In a similar way, false teachers deal with phony doctrine.  Their theology is not really based on biblical truth, but only molded by false reasoning to appear genuine (cf. Col. 2:8, 20-23; 2 Tim. 2:14-18).

            “Satan’s goal, then, is to deceive as many people as possible, both inside and outside the church, by means of false teachers.  In contrast, God’s goal is to identify and expose such hypocrites.  Through Peter’s warning, the Holy Spirit makes it clear that false teachers are everywhere and have been since the dawn of redemptive history.  In response, believers need to be vigilant and discerning, taking to heart the apostolic admonition of Paul to the Ephesians elders:

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.  Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and ay for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.  And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts. 20:28-32)

11/29/2025 6:45 PM