Discerning Believers: 1 John #10
This is an exposition of 1 John 4:1-6. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 3, 2016.
Intro:
I really didn’t want to go but he was my friend and asked me to go with him. So there I was in a room full of preachers – most of them were charismatic. We had gathered for a “prayer meeting.” I say, “prayer” in quotation marks because it wasn’t much of a prayer meeting. Prayer time soon turned into “prophecy on parade.” One after another they prophesied about everything from health issues to the economy to world affairs. When we left the meeting my friend asked what I thought of the prayer meeting. I said, “I wish I had the rock concession.” He did not understand my Old Testament reference to the stoning of false prophets and when I explained it he didn’t appreciate it!
I’m often surprised by the “preachers” that people like. I was asked at a pastor’s conference once about a certain television preacher. “Do you listen to him?” I said, “No, but I know who he is.” My friend said, “I really like listening to him. He is dynamic and he’s built a really large church.” I said, “Do you listen to him? Do you listen to what he is saying? His teaching is far from orthodox.” The conversation moved in another direction.
I was talking to an older evangelist once and he was telling me about an up and coming evangelist in our state. He said to me, “He will go far because he says it well and he looks good saying it.” Nothing about content. Nothing about the truth of his message. Just that he says it well and he looks good. The sad thing is his words were prophetic. The evangelist has done quite well.
I realize that we are living in the 21st century and we must not violate the new tolerance – but DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR! Not everyone who claims to be speaking for God is speaking for God. The test of authenticity is not found in how large the crowd, how passionate the following or how great the result The proof is in the content and the spirit behind it. I know many would say, “If you don’t like him don’t listen.” Others would ask, “What harm is there in it? Don’t bring division to the body of Christ.” Well, should we go “heresy hunting?” Does it really matter?
Matthew 7:15
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
It would seem to me Jesus considered false teacher to be real and to be a danger!
2 Timothy 4:3-4
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
It seems to me that we have more than sufficient biblical warrant for exercising discernment in what we are willing to listen to and tolerate within the church of the Lord Jesus. The problem is that when you begin to call some things into question there is the cry of “judge not lest you be judged.” Usually followed by, “Touch not the Lord’s anointed.”
Of course most of the touch not the Lord’s anointed are found in 2 Samuel and have to do with the king not the prophet. There is the passage in 1 Chronicles 16:22, repeated in Psalm 105:15 but that is about the physical well-being of God’s true prophet not protecting a false prophet as he lies in Jesus’ name!
We must be discerning in what we allow to feed our hearts and minds. We cannot afford to be uncritical in our reading or listening. John weighs in on this issue as he expands on his concept of a doctrinal test. Our text this morning is found in 1 John Psalm 4.
Text: 1 John 4:1-6
John is writing to struggling believers so that they might know they are in the faith.
He sets out for them a series of tests:
- The moral – righteousness
- The social – love
- The doctrinal – truth
In our text he is going to expand on the idea of a doctrinal test.
His message is fundamental and yet often overlooked today:
Thesis: Genuine followers of Christ must reject error and embrace the truth.
The problem, as I see it, is that in today’s church there is widespread agreement that we should embrace truth but no cause for rejecting error! This is due, in no small part, to the redefinition of truth. “Truth is what you make it.” “Whatever truth is to you.” Rather than there being an objective truth out there apart from me, established by an authority. Such thinking is totally foreign to John.
A common theme throughout John’s writing is the contrast between light and darkness; truth and error; God and the world. As we explore our text I want to point three things out to you.
- Believers are obligated to exercise discernment. (4:1)
- Believers are commanded to carefully examine what is taught. (4:2-3)
- Believers must distinguish between truth and error: between God and the world. (4:4-6)
Conclusion:
We are called to reject error and embrace the truth.
That will require us to exercise discernment;
Carefully examine what is taught;
And distinguish between truth and error.