Today we’re going to look at a warning related to altering the gospel. But this message will be just a little different and I hope to present it in such a way that it will cause you to think about it the next time you send a text message from your smart phone.
Our society places a great deal of value on intelligence ─ how smart you are. You have to be pretty smart to earn a Nobel Prize, a Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, or the Intellectual Property Legends Award. Let’s be honest: you have to pretty smart just to win the annual spelling bee contest!
A smart person, and you will never hear anyone say this, is considered just a little more valuable to society than someone who is not. Our history books are filled with intellectual giants whose discoveries and ideas have been praised by society ─ Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Isaac Newton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Ford, and Marie Curie, just to name a few.
But in our society we would label a person who merely does what he or she is told to do as dumb. Is this not true? I find it interesting that scripture places much more value on obedience than it does intellect. People who are willing to do what God tells them to do are coveted and respected in heaven.
Jesus is example #1. We also have Kenneth Hagin Sr., Smith Wigglesworth, Lester Summerall, and Kathryn Kuhlman, among others, who demonstrated to the world lives lived in obedience to God. Now let’s be honest: outside of Pentecostal and Charismatic circles many of these individuals would not be put in the same category as Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. Do you see my point?
Now, keeping all of this in mind, I’m going to talk this morning about “smart phones” and how they compare to “dumb phones” in their performance of a function that I will disclose in a moment. My intention is not to offend you by using the word “dumb” ─ I’m simply using it as a comparison to bring home a point. For this message, “dumb” is good. Say it with me: dumb is good.
When I was growing up there were no “cellular” phones. The first mobile phones ─ they were actually referred to as “mobiles” ─ appeared in the mid to late 70s and they were huge! As technology advanced, they became smaller and smaller. I purchased my first mobile in 1995. Today that phone would be called a dumb phone because all it could do was make and receive calls. Text messaging wasn’t introduced to the U.S. until the following year, 1996, and its growth was very slow. Why? Most of the available phones were dumb.
But, with the growth of any new technology, society must have a convenient way to use it. As text messaging began to grow, cellular companies found a new way to increase their revenues while meeting the ever changing desires of the consumers. We wanted to be able to use all of the current and developing technology and we wanted our phones to be “cutting edge.”
Don’t you just love that term ─ cutting edge?!? So, in comes the smart phone. The smart phone can not only make phone calls, but it can send and receive text messages; take, send and receive pictures; play videos; and, search the ever expanding internet. This little device can do what the biggest computers in 1970 could not do, and you can hold it in your hand.
I owned a dumb phone until late last year. My dumb phone did exactly what I wanted it to do and it did not try to tell me that it knew a better way to say what I wanted to say.
Do you know one of the most irritating things about my smart phone? From time to time, it changes words in my text messages obviously thinking that I had made a mistake. I know. I know. You’re thinking: Huh? What?
Smart phones have a function called “auto-correction.” My dumb phone did not have this function. Whatever I typed as a text message was sent. The phone interpreted the text exactly as I had typed it and did not try to tell me what I “really” meant.
Not my smart phone. If I make the mistake of not catching its correction, then whoever receives my text must try to figure out what I was trying to say. Then I am forced to send a second message to correct the first one. I know it’s meant to save me time and speed up my texting but I hate the auto-correction function. I know I can turn it off, but then you wouldn’t be listening to a message about how we auto-correct God, now would you?
So, I want you to think about smart phones and how they interact with us compared to the dumb phones. And as you’re thinking about that, think about how the Old Testament believers interacted with God and how we interact with Him today. And if you make it this far, go ahead and think about how the early Christians interacted with God and how we interact with Him today.
I. In the Beginning
When God made Adam and Eve, He told them to the rule the earth and to populate it. After God placed them in the Garden of Eden, He told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if they did they would die. When Adam and Eve were created they were naked in the garden and were not ashamed because they were innocent, or for the purpose of this message, they were dumb phones. Say it with me: dumb is good.
By the time we get to Genesis 3, Satan is beginning to work his deception to turn God’s dumb phone people into smart phone people complete with the auto-correct function.
Look at Genesis 3:1-6: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Now let’s go back to a time before Genesis 1.
When God created Lucifer ─ we know him now as Satan ─ scripture says he was the “anointed cherub that covereth” (Ezekiel 28:13). While Satan served God and did as God commanded, he was like the dumb phone. Again, dumb is good. Satan did what God told Him to do because he was not God. He was not the creator; he had been created.
(Let me say something here that’s very important: you were not created. You were born! You have dominion over everything that God created. Satan is a created being. If you have given him more access to your life than you should have, then it’s time for you to stand up straight, shoulders back and with your head held high look the created in the eyes and say “No more. You will dominate my life no more.”)
Now say it with me: Satan, you are a created being. I am the offspring of God. He is my Father. You will not dominate my life ever again. Today, your access to my life is forever denied. Hallelujah!
At some point, Satan decided that maybe God wasn’t the best one to be “God.” Scripture says Satan was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15). God created the angels with free will and that’s why iniquity was not found until it manifested itself through Satan’s actions. Can you see Satan behind closed doors questioning the decisions that God was making? Maybe he was mad because the Trinity never asked him for his input. Who knows what went through his mind. But at some point, Satan decided that he did not like being a dumb phone; he wanted to be a smart phone. Not only did he become a smart phone, he became one with all of the latest bells and whistles. He became so smart that he began to correct his creator. (Personally, I don’t think that was smart at all.)
Are you starting to see the connection? Satan was convincing other dumb phone angels that being a smart phone angel was the wave of the future. Sooner or later all the angels will smart phones, he told them. You just wait and see. I guarantee it. And one-third of the angels believed him. (I wonder how many more angels would have become smart phones if God had not put an end to Satan’s rebellion.) You know the story. You know what eventually happened. Satan was booted out of heaven. The smart phone smarted off one time too many and lost his office (the anointed cherub that covereth) and the opportunity to be in the presence of God. Ladies and gentlemen, let that sink in.
Now let’s look later in time. God creates man and places him in the Garden of Eden. Man is a dumb phone. Again, dumb is good. Say it with me: dumb is good. Man does what God wants him to do. Man obeys God when He speaks. Then, smart phone Satan invades the Garden of Eden. He hates God and His son, dumb phone Adam. Satan wanted man to be smart like him; smart enough to question God; smart enough to auto-correct God; smart enough to join him in the lake of fire for all eternity.
If you read the story carefully, Satan mixed just enough truth with his lies to get Eve to auto-correct what God had said. Satan told her that she would not die and that she would gain knowledge if she ate what God told her not to eat. She didn’t die physically right away and she did gain knowledge. Now she did and the dye was cast. There was no going back.
But look at how Satan convinced her to auto-correct God ─ to disagree with God and do what she thought was right. He told her that God was not being entirely forthcoming with her and that He was holding back things that she needed to know. Satan was simply correcting ─ better yet, clarifying ─ something that God had told her. Satan, with no malicious intent ─ wink, wink ─ was simply trying to help Eve become like God. What a guy!
Well we know how this plays out. Both Adam and Eve ate of the tree and in the blink of an eye were no longer dumb phones but smart phones. In the blink of an eye they went from doing exactly what God told them to do to doing what “they” thought was best to do.
Every time my smart phone corrected me it was telling me that I was wrong and that it was right. Did you notice I used the word “corrected” ─ past tense? I turned the auto-correction function off. I clicked on “settings” then “general” then “keyboard” and then “auto-correction”. Auto-correction doesn’t work anymore. It has been disabled. My phone is now dumb. But I digress.
Now let’s read a few verses in Genesis 5. It’s important that you see this. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, but their children were not. Oh really, you might say. Yes, really. Adam and Eve’s image – nature ─ had changed.
Turn to Genesis 5:1-3: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth...” God created Adam a dumb phone. Say it with me: dumb is good. Adam rebelled against God and became a smart phone. Adam then produced what he was: smart phones.
Now listen to what I’m about to say: Adam’s descendants ─ those who were born as smart phones, in other words, born with a sin nature ─ were born with the auto-correct function preset and turned on. Do you hear me? They were born ready to auto-correct God. Now that you are born again ─ you can choose to leave your auto-correct function turned off or you can choose to turn it on.
Let me share with you some examples of people who auto-corrected God. When you auto-correct God there are consequences. I want to make sure you understand this. There are consequences.
• Ishmael: In Genesis 16 Ishmael was Abraham’s first born son because Sarah auto-corrected God. God told Abraham that he would have a son with Sarah but she decided that it would be better to give her servant Hagar to Abraham so she could bear a child on Sarah’s behalf. The two nations have been fighting ever since. Ladies and gentlemen, when you auto-correct God, you create strife and turmoil for you and for those who will follow you.
• Twelve Spies: Numbers 13 records the story of God telling Moses to send 12 spies into the land of Canaan to see the land which He had already given to them. When the 12 returned they said that the land was everything that God had promised. But 10 of the spies auto-corrected God. They told Moses that they could not go in and take the land because the people were too strong.
Out of the 12 only Joshua and Caleb said Israel should go up immediately and possess the land. Now get this: Joshua and Caleb were born smart phones. They were born with a sin nature. But when it came to obeying God, they made a free will decision to act like dumb phones. They believed that they should do exactly what God had told them to do. Oh, let that sink in. You know the rest of the story – the people believed the 10 spies and spent the next 40 years in the wilderness until all the smart phones died. When you auto-correct God, you could spend your entire life within walking distance of your Promised Land.
• King Saul: Remember King Saul? He was a smart phone and he also made a free will decision to act like a dumb phone. But his “nature” got the best of him and he auto-corrected God several times ─ most notably in how he dealt with the Amalekites. One of his final smart phone acts, recorded in I Samuel 15, cost him his kingdom and his life. When you auto-correct God you lose your authority as a king (and priest) in His kingdom. If it becomes a lifestyle, you could lose your life and spend eternity outside His kingdom.
• King David: King David in 2 Samuel 11 was a smart phone that also made a free will decision to act like a dumb phone. He believed and did what God wanted him to do until he saw one of God’s creations, Bathsheba. He liked what he saw so much that he was willing to auto-correct God and follow his “nature” as a smart phone. He took her and then did the unspeakable to cover his sin ─ murdered her husband, one of his most loyal soldiers.
Although there were consequences for his actions, David repented and God forgave him and he once again acted like a dumb phone. You see, we can have “smart phone” moments, but if we truly love God and believe that what He says is true and that what He says settles the issue, we will again follow our “nature” and act like who we are: dumb phones! Say it with me: dumb is good.
• Paul: The Apostle Paul was a smart phone who persecuted anyone who believed in Jesus. When he came face to face with Jesus on the Damascus road, he lost his smartness and became dumb. He remained a dumb phone for the rest of his life. And you can see how God used him! When we refuse to auto-correct God, He will use us to fulfill everything He’s called us to do. He will blow our minds with what He has prepared for us!
II. Today
Today we have a lot of smart phone Christians who will argue with you about what God’s word “really means.” In these situations they are not arguing with you; they are arguing with God. Their real problem is thinking they know better than God. Let me give you just a few examples and then I will close.
• Same Sex Marriage: God said that marriage was between a man and a woman ─ a male and his female. When Noah took the animals on the ark, God told him to take two after its kind – a male and his female. Why? Because a male and his female can produce other males and other females. Of course today we are smart phones. We continue to auto-correct God by saying marriage should be between two people who desire to be in a committed relationship.
Do I need to remind you of what took place in Sodom and Gomorrah or what the Bible says in the first chapter of Romans about men who are intimate with men and women who are intimate with women? Brother Barry, can’t you come up with some new arguments other than these same old tired scriptures we hear all the time? No. Don’t have too. This is what God says.
Oh, and by the way: the 38th verse in this same chapter condemns those who approve or support this behavior. Don’t believe me? Read it for yourself. If you still don’t believe it after you’ve read it, then you’ve just auto-corrected God.
• Hell: Did you know that there are smart phone Christians who believe that hell does not exist and that what the Bible says about hell is not true? I’m serious. Didn’t Jesus say if your eye, hand or foot offends you that you should get rid of it because it’s better to enter the kingdom with limbs missing than being cast into hell fire with them still attached? I believe scripture. I am a dumb phone. Say it with me: I believe scripture. I am a dumb phone.
• Sin: There are smart phone Christians who say no one needs to repent from their sins because we live under grace and that requirement in the Bible no longer applies. There is nothing in scripture that supports this altered gospel. For those of you who choose to believe and live by this doctrine, I’ll say my good-byes to you now because you won’t be spending eternity with Jesus but I will. You know why? Because I’m a dumb phone and scripture says that when we sin we need to repent. I don’t know anything else other than what scripture says.
• Jesus Christ is not the only way: Then there are the smart phone Christians who say that it’s possible that Jesus Christ is not the only way to an eternity with God. Hmm. Didn’t Jesus say he was the way, the truth and the life and no one could get to Father but by him? I love being a dumb phone. That’s all I got say about that one.
Conclusion
Let’s wrap this message up. When it comes to how you interact with your Heavenly Father, are you a smart phone or a dumb phone? If you’re not sure which type of phone you are, maybe the following will help.
• You know you are a smart phone if you believe something God doesn’t believe because it doesn’t make sense to you.
• You know you are a smart phone if God has given you an assignment and you are still “praying” about it.
• You know you are a smart phone if you know the right thing to do and you choose not to do it.
• You know you are a smart phone if you believe that what you do is your business as long as no one gets hurt.
• You know you are a smart phone if you do things because it “feels right.”
• You know you are a smart phone if you choose to believe what man says about God rather than what the Bible says you about God.
• You know you are a smart phone if you believe your finances are going to be blessed simply because you are a faithful giver.
• Last one: you know you are a smart phone if God’s primary concern is the lost and your primary concern is getting your blessings.
Proverbs 14:12. This verse in the Amplified bible says “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.
What we do may seem right to us, but in the end, if what we do is not what God would do, we’re headed for an eternity without Him. We may think we know what is best, but in reality we don’t. I have been a smart phone and now I’m a dumb phone. I didn’t realize how much freedom I had until I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and became a dumb phone. I now depend on God to take care of my needs. And He’s s-o-o-o much better at it than I am. Some of the decisions I made while being a smart phone or acting like a smart phone after becoming a dumb phone, carried an impact that I could not foresee. Today, I am proud to be a dumb phone!
What about you? This morning, are you a smart phone or a dumb phone?
If you are a dumb phone but acting like a smart phone, my prayer for you is that you will be like the prodigal son. He was joining the pigs for his nightly supper and scripture says “he came to himself…” My prayer for you is that you come to yourself and realize that you are dishonoring your Father by acting in way that is against your nature. Go to your Father. Tell Him you’re sorry for acting like you are in a better position to know what’s best for you than He is. Tell Him that there is no place you would rather be than in His presence and receiving His guidance. You tell Him, Father, I’m glad to be your dumb phone. He’ll understand what you mean and He’ll smile.
For those of you listening to this message and you are truly smart phones, I’m going to give you an opportunity to join the ranks of those of us who proudly wear the mantle of “dumb phone.” We have chosen to put our lives in the hands of Jesus and where He leads we have made a decision to follow ─ no questions asked. If you would like to have this assurance, I want you to bow your heads …
