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Title: Testing the Spirits
Last week we spent some time looking at motivation. Namely: what causes us to make the decisions that we make? The reason I wanted to pause and ponder verse 24 last week was because this week is where John tells us how to put that into action.
The art of spiritual discernment is a topic that I’m not sure is taught well, if at all, in most churches today. There are probably several reasons for this, among them:
Why is spiritual discernment not taught?
- People confuse discernment with judgementalism.
- The climate of our culture in the American Church is to love at all cost, and to never, ever offend someone.
- It requires prayer, patience and discipline.
Why should Spiritual Discernment be taught?
- It’s completely Biblical.
- It’s the way we protect against false teaching, both inside and outside the Church.
- It draws us closer to Christ.
(Read Passage/Pray)
- Who is the great and powerful Oz?
All of us have seen the classic film, the Wizard of Oz and its startling climax where it is revealed to us by Toto that “the Great and Powerful Oz” is nothing but a mere man. This image of a God-like head is nothing more than a marionette, who’s strings are being pulled and manipulated by someone no more powerful than you or I.
Last week what we talked about was motivation. What steers your decision making process? Who is “in your ear?” Who are you trying to impress? Who do you serve, is the essential question of the day.
Well, when we look closely at verse 1, I think there are at least three Biblical Truths we can extrapolate from the text:
Three Truths of 4:1
- The Spiritual Realm is very real.
- There are two types of spirits: those of God, and those NOT of God.
- We are called to test these spirits to determine which one they are.
Essentially, the question we are called to answer, when we hear anyone talk, anyone offer insight, anyone offer instruction is this: Who are they serving? Christ? Satan? Themselves? Their friends?
Who is in their ear? What is motivating them to say and do the things they say and do? This isn’t judgementalism. It’s wisdom. It’s discernment.
- What is the Litmus Test?
The next thing that we must necessarily ask is: “Okay, HOW do we test these spirits, how do we determine if they are from God or from another?”
John gives us one (one of many) key questions. John’s answer is based on context. John is dealing with a very specific heresy and is instructing his disciples on how to safeguard against this heresy making its way into the Church. Does anyone remember the main heresy that John was refuting? (take answers)
John was refuting Docetsim.
What was docetism? (answers)
The belief that Jesus was never really flesh, just a spirit made to look like flesh.
Why is it crucial that Jesus was flesh? (answers)
Because the humanity of Christ was essential if He was to die to save humanity.
So John tells us plainly, “Ask these people if Christ was flesh. Make them give you a straight answer. If they waffle, you know who they serve. If they hesitate, it’s a good inclination of who is in their ear, who is guiding their decisions.”
John then goes on to say that this spirit, the one who will tell me to deny the humanity of Christ, the spirit of the Antichrist, is already here, he already resides in our world.
- Application
As we close, I want to leave you with three application points for today’s message. Because John’s letter is written long ago, to a specific audience for a specific purpose, sometimes the temptation is to contextualize the book so much that we have to stretch it to find applications for Christians living in 2009. I don’t think that needs to be the case at all with I John.
1. Your ability to discern false teaching is in direct proportion to your devotion to Truth.
- Whether you want to be or not, you will be a gatekeeper for Truth in the community you exist in.
- Docetism exists today.
Perhaps not as a formalized religion, although I would argue that there is a heavy docetic flavor in the cults of both Mormonism and Christian Science, but Docetism really exists in ANY system of thought that suggests, “Well, let’s not get into an argument so much about who Christ was, let’s focus rather on what He said and what he did.”
On the surface that suggestion may seek okay, but if you read and comprehend the scriptures they SCREAM one message over and over and over, and that message is this: The identity of Jesus Christ (who and what he was) is the most important thing any human being can ever wrestle with.
It matters that Christ was flesh. It matters that he said he was the son of God. It matters that he conquered death.
Docetism still exits, even in subtle schools of thought. But the heresy remains. We’d do well to hear John’s warning and be on guard. We’d do well to test the spirits.