When I was in the army, I deployed to South Korea for joint exercises with the Korean army. At the time, Korea was famous for selling certain items cheap. One could buy a pair of Levis for five dollars or a Polo shirt for three. Those prices were too good for some to pass by, and soldiers often loaded up and bought gifts for the entire family. The problem, however, was that the gifts were often fakes. American demand for certain products gave rise to an entire market for counterfeit name brands, so that not every pair of Nike shoes was really a pair of Nike shoes. I recall looking once at a pair of jeans in a store. They had the Levis look and logo with that same leather patch on the back and the writing in red ink. There was just one problem. It was a pair of Levees.
Not all fakes were that easy to identify, but the pair of Levees was a reminder that one could buy phony merchandise almost as easily as legitimate merchandise. The good stuff and the fake stuff were intermingled in the same market. That is a picture of the church. Followers of Jesus and counterfeits exist side by side within the visible church. Sometimes one can spot the counterfeits fairly easily, as I spotted the pair of Levees; but often, they are more difficult to discern.
Now I understand that talk about counterfeit Christianity can come across to some as a bit judgmental. You know. Who does he think he is to say that so-and-so is phony? Forgive me if I sound judgmental. I don’t mean to judge anyone. I am simply saying something the Bible says quite frequently. Jesus talked about wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt 7:15). He said that some people will say, “Lord, didn’t we prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?” But Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Mt 7:22-3). He questioned people who call Him “Lord, Lord,” but who do not do what He says (Lk 6:46). In the parable of the sheep and the goats, all the goats thought they were following Him (Mt 25:31ff). He said that the gate to life is narrow and the path that leads there is hard, and few people actually walk it, but that the gate is wide and the path easy that leads to destruction, and many people walk it (Mt 7:13-14). He talked about different kinds of soils that represent different kinds of hearts (Mt 13:1-23). Many of those soils yield plants that at certain stages all look the same. In other words, you can’t tell the difference between the good and the bad just by looking at the plant. He spoke of good seed and weeds all growing up together side by side (Mt 13:24-30). No one can mistake the fact that Jesus explicitly taught that not everyone who claimed to be His follower was really His follower.
And He is not the only one. Peter, Paul, Jude, and John all wrote against false teachers who had infiltrated the church. Sometimes they name them by name. Sometimes they show the specific teaching. Sometimes they give general warnings against false teachers. In all cases, however, these false teachers seem to be insiders.
Let’s not be naïve. Not everyone who claims to follow Jesus really follows Jesus. Scripture could not be clearer. In the western world today, the vast majority of people identify as Christians, but Jesus says that it is really only few who truly walk His path. Who is right? The woman who says, “but I went to church. Didn’t I give to the food pantry?” Or Jesus who says, “I never knew you”?
So I am not judging any particular person when I talk this way. I am merely pointing out the general and obvious fact that the outward church consists of many people who are counterfeits. Biblically this teaching is plain. Practically speaking, it is obvious. Even secular people see it. One of the biggest criticisms the secular world has of the church is that it is full of hypocrites. All I am saying is that their criticism is correct and that Jesus said all along it would be so. He never considered the hypocrites, however, to be His followers.
So what does all this mean? It means, first of all, that we cannot discern what following Jesus is like simply by looking at everybody who claims to do so. We cannot judge true disciples by looking at the behavior of hypocrites. This seems obvious, but people do it all the time. They reject Jesus because of the attitudes or behavior of people who do not actually follow Him. They judge faith by the behavior of the faithless. You’ve seen this sort of thing. Some study or other may claim that X% of those who call themselves evangelical will divorce within a certain number of years. This may suggest something about evangelical culture broadly, but it says nothing about genuine faith specifically.
Second, faith is richer and fuller than most people think. Different people have different criteria for what constitutes faith. To some, love is the distinguishing mark of true faith. I certainly will not quibble with the importance of love, but love does not always mean what people say it means. I may love my daughter and discipline her because I love her. I may love an alcoholic friend and refuse to give him money because I love him. Sometimes love gets defined in ways that mean nothing more than “let’s all be comfortable.” This sort of love is no love at all, and sometimes it becomes a trump card for other legitimate expressions of faith, like doctrine or purity.
Others sometimes make Christian doctrine the shibboleth of real faith. Again, I will not argue with the importance of right belief, but James did say that the demons believed and trembled (Jas 2:19). Apparently one can have correct belief in the head and not be a part of the kingdom of God.
Still others sometimes emphasize external behavior as the mark of real faith. Again, I cannot quarrel with the importance of someone’s lifestyle, but it is quite possible for people to look good on the outside and be whitewashed tombs on the inside. They may keep the rules, but Christianity is not about the business of keeping the rules. They may give to the poor, they may work to preserve the environment, they may fight sex trafficking- and all these things are good-but faith is much more than all of this.
Often our problem is that we want to compartmentalize faith. Some reduce it to love. Others reduce it to correct belief. Others to social justice or morality. None of these traits is bad or wrong, but each is incomplete. That is the problem. People have an incomplete picture of faith, and different people have a different picture. They want to think of faith in a shallow one-dimensional way. They make it a puddle when it is really an ocean. This is partly why Jesus says that many will think they know Him when they do not. It is easy to counterfeit a puddle. An ocean is another story.
I want to talk about a more realistic way of looking at faith. When I deployed to Korea, the markets may have contained counterfeit goods, but those goods were made to look like the real deal. The fake Nikes would have the Nike look and label. But a label or a look does not make something real. That is true of shoes, and that is true of people. Thus, with people we must look beyond labels. Faith is multidimensional, and if we are to discern it from its counterfeits, we must look at the whole person. Therefore, if we want to understand real faith …
Look at the heart. I know that we cannot see everything in the heart of another person. Gracious. We cannot see everything in our own hearts. But that doesn’t mean that we can see nothing. Take note of a person’s attitudes. Observe inward things. Does he have peace? Is she full of joy? And are these things more than just personality? A real faith flows from a real heart for God, and a genuine life comes from a genuine heart.
Look at the mind. This means beliefs, theology, doctrine. I know that people can have correct beliefs without ever following Jesus. Faith is so much more than doctrine, but it does include doctrine. In fact, a right heart wants right doctrine. People who follow Jesus actually believe what He says. People who claim to believe Jesus but who disbelieve what He said or did or who disbelieve rather plain teachings of the Bible are displaying more than an intellectual opinion. They are showing a faithless heart.
Look at the life. I know that people can go through the motions of Christian behavior without having any real faith, but one cannot have real faith without changing how he or she lives. Is the person willing to deny his desires? Does she show integrity with her money? Is he truthful? How does she treat her husband and children? People who claim to follow Jesus but who never change the way they live are fooling themselves.
Finally, look across time. It is much easier to counterfeit faith for one week than for sixty years. People can hold up a beautiful façade for a short time, but sooner or later the real person comes out. One of the best ways to tell whether someone is good soil or rocky soil is to wait. Jesus said that many people hear the word and immediately receive it with joy, but they have no root and do not last. Time may be the greatest test of real faith, for faith endures.
Look at all of these things together-the heart, the head, the life, and time. A genuine follower of Jesus is transformed across time in all of these areas. If you look at only one area, you are more likely to be deceived, for each is like a check on the others. You want to see all of them line up if you truly want to see someone who follows God. Faith is holistic and consistent. It involves heart, mind, soul, and strength. And it endures to the end. Counterfeits tend to be simplistic. They involve usually one piece of faith, and they are often short-lived.
