Don't just pack away your stuff...
Passage: 1 John 4:1-6
I have just finished a book called ‘How to Speak How to Listen’ by Mortimer J. Adler. He argues that our school systems don’t really teach people the basic skills involved in thinking. They demand blind acceptance of facts rather than developing the ability to debate, question and discuss important issues, instead of encouraging the skills of speaking, listening and thinking.
The same can be true in churches. Just like school we come in, sit down, listen passively to the teacher, pack away our stuff (Bibles instead of schoolbags), get up and go out again. Passive acceptance rather than active listening and thinking. In this passage John tells us that is very dangerous as there are lots of false spirits around seeking to influence us away from the truth. We may not be in any danger of becoming Mormons but there are lots of subtle ways these false spirits can try to influence us today, even within our churches.
John gives us two simple tests to check if what we are being told is ‘of God’, notice the two ‘by this’ in v2 and v6.
V2 check their content - what they say.
V5-6 check their audience - who receives their message.
Test 1: is the content focused on Christ?
Let’s start with the first test, the content. 1 John 4:2 is a very precise statement. It is better translated ‘Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh’.
The heretics of chapter 2 were claiming to be speaking from God but were denying that Jesus was God become man. John confirms that anyone who denies the deity of Christ is not speaking from God.
In a wider sense it points at what the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, always and forever does; he defends and upholds the truth, and that truth is a person. In John’s gospel chapter 16 Jesus said ‘he will glorify me’ and that’s how we recognise him at work; the Holy Spirit always honours Christ in a world that continues to reject him.
Let’s try out this first test! A couple of weeks ago it was world faith day (apparently), and the Christian network was invited onto a diversity and inclusivity call with the Muslim and Jewish network. It was all about how “we all believe the same things really”, “forget all the detailed doctrine”, “we all believe in humanity and love and peace”. Everyone thought it was so progressive that to my horror they suggested meeting like this once a quarter.
Let’s put it to the test:
Test 1: Does it honour Christ as the Eternal Son of God become man forever?
Answer: No! Islam believes Jesus was not God. Judaism that he was a fake! As it turns out the diversity rep. was not speaking from God. We do not “all believe the same”. In this matter of supreme and ultimate importance – who is Jesus – we could hardly disagree more.
In more subtle ways this can creep into our churches. Satan is always trying to take our focus away from Christ. I will give you two possible ways.
We can make the gospel a formula about how to escape from hell and get to heaven, treating Jesus like the solution to a problem. It is subtle but dangerous. The Holy Spirit insists that the gospel is all about God. Heaven is not just a nice place it is his home.
I have heard many messages where the preacher was asking for loyalty to a denomination or a theological system or tradition rather than to Christ. John is saying we must learn to think and question, test the spirits. Is this preacher proclaiming loyalty to Christ or something else? All preachers, me included, can be tempted to seek a sense of loyalty to a denomination, like the Brethren, or a set of beliefs or theological framework, like Calvanism or Arminianism, or a place, like Apsley, or to themselves, rather than to Christ himself. We need to be constantly tested and challenged.
Test number 1 concerns the message – is the focus on the person and work of Christ and loyalty to him alone.
Test 2: who receives the message?
Test number 2 is the audience; how is the message received? Is it popular with the world of non-believers? Then it isn’t from the Spirit of God! Only the true children of God receive the truth, and we know it is true if they receive it. This is what Jesus told those who refused to listen to him in John chapter 8: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:47)
Or to Pilate in John 18: “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)
That was Christ but now John makes the same claim about himself and the other apostles in v6 ‘We [the apostles] are from God… whoever knows God listens to us’. Some claim from a mere man!! For anyone else to say this would be preposterous but John is speaking as one of Christ’s chosen apostles. And Jesus Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would come and guide them into all truth so that they would speak truth as his official spokespersons. Jesus said ‘you shall bear witness for me’ (John 15:27) and ‘whoever receives the one I send receives me’ (John 13:20).
We need to question whether preachers today are being loyal to Christ, but we do not need to question his official representatives. John and the apostles already have his stamp of approval. Jesus himself chose them to represent him and sent the Holy Spirit to ensure they did so perfectly.
Imagine a King sending an official delegation ahead to a city to tell the city to prepare for his arrival. And the city rejects the delegation, it could hardly claim to be loyal to that King who had sent them. The apostles teaching, as contained in the New Testament, is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is thus utterly and completely loyal to Christ.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit who inspired them also lives in the children of God so that when we hear the teaching of the New Testament faithfully preached the same Holy Spirit confirms the truth within us v4. Every time the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the children of God to validate the truth of it.
I have a friend who has always struggled with assurance, and yet every time I share the Word of God with him, his spirit soars in worship. We both find such rest and security in the words of Jesus and his apostles. It is like finding a solid island to rest on in a chaotic sea full of lies and half-truths. I showed him v6 “look, your very response to God’s word is a sign that you are from God”.
If I shared the same truth with my colleagues in work, they would not be interested, nor listen, nor understand, and certainly would not find rest in it. Whereas for them if the diversity rep. came along and shared how all faiths are “the same” they would be giving it the secular equivalent of Amen (clap emojis?!?). Those two messages are from very different sources so the two families respond to their own prophets. Any new lie that undermines the Christian gospel the world laps it up. Any Richard Dawkins or Dan Brown nonsense becomes a bestseller, they are the world’s prophets therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them (v5).
The second test, how it is received, could be split into a number of sub-tests:
Test 2a: Does it agree with the truth given to us through Christ’s official representatives in the New Testament?
Test 2b: Is it popular with the world? A sign that it is ‘from God’.
Test 2c: Do the people of God recognise it as true?
The fight for truth
This is the battle raging all around us even now: truth vs. lies. Not the truth about politics or covid, they are side issues compared to this ultimate question – who is Jesus Christ – is he just a prophet, a mere man, or God become man forever. The Holy Spirit has come to fight for the truth. He will not let this world forget that it’s very Creator walked in it and was rejected. Look at v4 – he will win - he is greater than all other spirits – he will not let the people of God lose this ultimate truth – just as he had in these believers.
That is his job, to create a loyal following to Christ in a disloyal world. I find it personally helpful to think of the Lord’s Supper as the loyal followers of an exiled King meeting to honour him in his absence. Professor Gooding tells the story of an ancient guard room discovered in the walls of the city of Chester that dates back to the 10th century. It had a wall with a mess of colours that made no sense until a silver tankard was placed on the table. Then the face of the exiled King (John?) would appear on the tankard. He was in exile in Ireland and in this small room in Chester his loyal followers would meet to drink his health, to honour him in his absence, until he could return to reclaim his throne. That’s a great picture of the Lord’s Supper. It is not just a quaint religious ritual - it is his command passed on to us from his apostles, his official representatives. Like that city we mentioned earlier they have come to tell us how to prepare ourselves for his coming, how he wants us to honour him in his absence, until he comes again to take his throne.
This section of 1 John begins with a reference to his coming again in glory in 2:28, and an appeal for us to abide in him so that we are not ashamed before him at his coming. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired John and the other apostles to teach us what we call the apostles doctrine: Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church order, church discipline, headcoverings, preaching, prayers, fellowship – so that we practise these things not out of loyalty to tradition but out of loyalty to Christ our King. So that when he returns and we see him face to face we need not be ashamed – but can truly say we sought to honour you Lord in a world that tried to forget you, we stood with the Spirit of truth in trying to keep you central in our lives and our churches.
Let's all co-operate with the Spirit of truth by putting everything to these tests. Next time you hear a message don't just pack away your stuff... question, think!
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