True community and connection with God and others requires that we put to the test what we are taught by others...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Connect. During this series, we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 John. During this series, we are going to discover the components that make for true connection and community. During this series, we are going to discover the landmines and roadblocks that keep us from true connection and community. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands, in a way that moves us to the place where we can experience the connection and community with God and one another that we were created and designed to experience. 

This week I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of John, we will see John reveal for us another timeless truth when it comes to how we can experience the connection and community with God and one another that we were created and designed to experience. So let’s jump into the next section of this letter together, beginning in 1 John 4:1:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

John begins this section of his letter to early followers of Jesus who were a part of the church in Ephesus, who were very near and dear to his heart, by making two commands. First, John commanded the members of the church at Ephesus to do not believe every spirit. Now when John uses the word believe here, this word literally means to consider something to be true and therefore worthy of trust. In other words, John is commanding the members of the church at Ephesus, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to not trust every spirit.

Instead of trusting every spirit, John commanded the members of the church at Ephesus to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. What is so interesting is that the word test here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to make a critical examination of something or someone so as to determine its genuineness. You see, John was warning the members of this early church, who he cared deeply for, to take the time and make the effort to make sure that they were carefully examining the messages that they were hearing to determine whether or not those messages were actually from God.

John then provided the reason behind his commands: because many false prophets have gone out into the world. When John uses the phrase gone out, this phrase conveys the sense of going out with the goal of fulfilling a mission. As we discovered earlier in this series, there were some people who had left the church at Ephesus and were trying to influence others to leave the church at Ephesus.

There were some people who had attend the church at one time, but had left the church who were claiming that you could have close connection with God while living their day to day lives in a way that is marked by moral and spiritual darkness as a result of selfishness and rebellion against God. There were some people who had attend the church at one time, but had left the church who were proclaiming that one could have close connection with God while living a life that was in disobedience to the commands and demands of God. There were some people who had attend the church at one time, but had left the church who were proclaiming that one could have close connection with God while finding their identity in what the world offered instead of what Jesus offered. And those who had attend the church at one time, but had left the church were now on a mission to influence the members of the church at Ephesus to abandon the message and teaching of Jesus to instead embrace their false teaching.

Now a natural question that immediately arises here is “Well Dave, what is John referring to when he talks about not believing every spirit, but testing the spirits? What spirits is he talking about? If that question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that you are asking a great question.

Last week, we looked on as John revealed the reality that followers of Jesus arrive at the knowledge that they are is close connection and communion with Jesus as a result of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It is the Holy Spirit who removes our heart of stone that resists and rejects the claims of Christ and message of the gospel and gives us a new heart that results in us responding to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. John reminded followers of Jesus throughout history that it is the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity in our lives that serves as evidence of our connection with Jesus.

However, there were false prophets and teachers who were also claiming to be sent by the Spirit of God to proclaim God’s message and were on a mission to influence the members of the church at Ephesus to abandon the message and teaching of Jesus to instead embrace their false teaching. John is pointing the members of the church at Ephesus, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to the reality that there will be people who will claim to be speaking on behalf of God who are not actually speaking on behalf of God.

And because of that reality, John commanded the members of the church at Ephesus to not just gullibly trust everyone who claimed to be speaking for God. Instead of gullibly trusting that everyone who claimed to be speaking on behalf of God was genuinely speaking on behalf of God, John commanded the members of the church to critically examine the claims of those who were claiming to speak on behalf of God in order to determine whether or not they were genuinely speaking on behalf of God.

And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we discover a timeless truth when it comes to connecting in true community. And that timeless truth is this: True community and connection with God and others requires that we put to the test what we are taught by others.  Just as it was for followers of Jesus in John’s day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, True community and connection with God and others requires that we put to the test what we are taught by others.

The timeless reality is that there are many people who claim to speak on behalf of God. There are many people who claim to have a message from God when it comes to how one can experience true community and connection with God. And because of that reality, as followers of Jesus, we are not just to gullibly trust everyone who claims to be speaking for God. Instead of gullibly trusting that everyone who claims to be speaking on behalf of God is genuinely speaking on behalf of God, as followers of Jesus, we are to critically examine the claims of those who are claiming to speak on behalf of God in order to determine whether or not they are genuinely speaking on behalf of God.

Now a natural question that could arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but how exactly are we supposed to do that?  How are we to critically examine the claims of those who are claiming to speak on behalf of God in order to determine whether or not they are genuinely speaking on behalf of God?

If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you are asking a great question. And fortunately for us we see John answer that question in what he says next.

Tomorrow we will see what John had to say next…