Appearances Can Be Deceiving
John Gipson
Little Rock, AR
8/26/98
Appearances Can Be Deceiving
If you hadn’t known, who would have ever thought that Sam Walton, driving around in that old pickup, had one of the greatest fortunes in the United States?
Does it surprise you to learn that presently the vehicle of choice among millionaires is the Ford 150 pickup? It just goes to show you: you can’t judge the wealth of a person by the car he drives.
Of course Solomon knew this centuries ago.
One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. Proverbs. 13.7. Sometimes it’s hard to account for the way people will act. They put up all different kinds of fronts. And, that which is true of an individual may also be true of a church. Appearances can be deceptive.
I know of a church situated in an area renowned for its prosperity. It is nestled in the heart of a mecca of banking, located close to a renown medical center, and reaps the benefits of being in a thriving center of manufacturing. The city is booming. The local inhabitants even turned down government help in the time of a great disaster and rebuilt their city with their own wealth. And that which is true of the city is also true of the church.
• This congregation has wealth, prosperity, and self-sufficiency.
• It has no mortgage, no unpaid bills.
• Furthermore, this church seems to hold no erroneous doctrines.
• It is not plagued with heretics or false teachers.
• It looks like the ideal congregation.
But remember, appearances can be deceiving. This supposedly thriving church just happens to be the church in Laodicea of whom Jesus said,
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
—JOHN GIPSON
Little Rock, AR
