Connect360: All That Glitters Isn’t Gold

• Lesson Nine in the Connect360 unit “Find Us Faithful: Standing Firm in Our Faith” focuses on 2 Peter 2:10-16

Verses 13 and 14 are a stern warning to all fake Christians; their behavior and lifestyle will not go unpunished.

They are living their lives without shame; their deeds are carried out in daylight.

This means they are not worried about hiding their sins under a blanket of darkness. Instead, they choose to flaunt their sinful lives in front of everyone they meet.

They will cheat and rob others to build their own wealth. They do it in Jesus’ name, but they do not know Jesus.

These fake Christians end up on the evening news as the fallen church leaders who stole from the church, had affairs outside of their marriage, or ended up with a drug problem.

Be careful and keep a vigilant watch for these fake Christians, because they will take you down with them, seek to destroy everything you have and feel no guilt while they do it.

This verse calls them what they are, blots and blemishes in our church body.

But remember that all the harm they bring about will be brought back on them by God himself.

I was part of a church where a staff member stole money from the church. They would come in early Monday morning and take cash from the offering the day before. They also had access to church credit cards and stole money.

When we discovered the problem, they had stolen close to $100,000 from the credit cards, and there was no way to know how much cash they had taken.

They ended up in jail.

The temporary pleasures gained by taking this money were short lived, but the shame and pain of being in jail, I am sure, were horrible.

Sin will catch up to you. It may be sooner, or it may be later. But when it does, there will be a high price to pay.

There is only one way to God.

People may try to tell you that many roads lead to God—the roads may all come from different directions and different religions. But in the end, all the roads will end at the same God—They are wrong.

Verse 15 refers to the straight path, the right path. Once you stray from that path, you have moved away from where God has directed you to go.

Fake Christians have no idea where God’s path leads. They have no direction; they have no roadmap to follow.

As children of God, we have several things to show us God’s direction along the path—the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and fellow believers—they all serve a way to help keep us on the straight path.

Not so for fake Christians.

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