Delivered June 15, 2008
by Pastor Eric Henderson
I outlined the first 6 verses of I john 4 in a rather haphazard way to help us discover what God is saying to us through John.
I noticed that John puts people in two groups-dear friends, dear children, we who are from God, and they who are from the world. Its clear John has great concern for the welfare of his readers called dear children, dear friends, the ones God loves, the ones who are to show love for each other in concrete ways.
But I wondered, does John believe God loves the others? And does John love the others? Are we to love the others-those from the world who speak from the viewpoint of the world, those false prophets? What happened to God loved the world so much he gave his Son Jesus to be the Saviour of the world?
So I started skimming the book of I John and the beginning also creates the two groups of us and them. Those in the light and those in darkness, those who love God and don't, who love their brothers and sisters and those who don't, those who love God's ways and those who love the world, Christ followers and the antichrists, those who claim they sin and those who don't, those from God and those from the evil one, the coffee or tea drinkers, Protestants or Catholics, Jews and Gentiles, Conservative or Liberal, Charismatic or frozen chosen, male or female, anglo or a person of color, rich and poor, landowners and others, clergy and laity, -and on and on the lines of division and groupings go.
Dividing people into groups can lead to labelling which can move to bigotry and prejudice that motivates some of the atrocities of the past and present. Anglo Canadians believed their religion and culture was superior to First Nations culture and religion so began the forced re-education of 7-15 year old children in schools away from their families. Wickipedia describes another example of labelling which leads to making divisions. "Axis of evil" was a term coined by United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in his speech. Bush's presidency has been marked by this notion as a justification for the War on Terrorism.
Is John promoting the same mentality? If so, that doesn't seem to fit together with a God of love and a call to love one another which has already been stated numerous times by John. Perhaps I'm missing something. It seems that John's call to test the spirits and divide people into those who believe Jesus is the Son of God and those who don't contradicts John's call to love as God loves.
Do we live our lives dividing people into two basic groups-"we" the ones who believe in God and are in the love of God and "they" who do not and are of the world?
So I read the verses that follow.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
So God loves the world and has sent Jesus as the Saviour of the world. And if we know God, we will love one another. But does that mean we love just those in our group, those who also love God? Are we also to love those of the world, the antichrists as John calls them?
But perhaps I've missed what John is saying in these verses. Let's read them again. What is this spirit that John keeps mentioning? Is it like a ghost spirit, or a person, or what someone believes, or what?
According to vs. 1 you can either believe or not believe the spirit, test the spirits to see if they are from God. In vs. 2 &3 the Spirit of God confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and every spirit that does not is not from God and is the spirit of the antichrist. Vs. 5&6 describes the spirit of antichrist as from the world and the spirit of error in contrast to the Spirit of God which is truth.
To me it seems that John is using spirit to describe God's spirit, a person, and what a person believes. For more clarity let's read what else John says about spirit in 2.18-22. There are many antichrists once belonging to a group but left. And again anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ or lived in human form is labelled as antichrist. I conclude that John groups people according to their belief in Jesus as the Christ or not. But I checked study bible notes and other resources and come up with antichrist meaning opponent of Christ and false teachers who deny the human reality of Jesus.
But what is John all worked up about? What difference does it make if someone believes Jesus Christ is God in human form or not? Can't we all just get along?
John is concerned that his listeners fellowship with God and Jesus Christ now and forever. John's love for people's eternal destiny comes through as a protective warning. The elderly pastor deeply desires that people remain strong in their faith that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
Here are some of what it means to believe that Jesus came in human form.
Jesus provides purification for us and intercedes for us. John strongly desires that his listeners, dear children, are cleansed and purified through Jesus Christ and that they are not trying to be pure in other ways or ignore sin. John claims that sending Jesus was an undeniable indication of the full extent of God's love for us.
Denying Jesus as the Son of God places Jesus as one of many options for good living and softens the impact of God's love for people. Jesus crucifixion provides reconciliation with God or salvation for all people from eternal death. Jesus death and resurrection has provided life for us.
You and I may believe all that and live in fellowship with Jesus Christ and others who believe the same. We may follow the guidance of John to test what others believe. But let's get practical. What if we are conversing with a neighbour, a family member, or reading a book, or listening to Oprah who has started a church or Tony Blair who is trying to bring some unity among people of various religions and discover that the other denies Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?
Do we fight, take flight, or freeze?
Do we fight for the truth in a verbal battle trying to convince them, call them antichrists to their face and condemn them as heretics or Gnostics and declare it to the world? You could spend all your vacation time this summer reading what you find when you do a Google search on antichrist. Many people or institutions have been labelled the Antichrist including popes, US presidents, Roman emperors, various denominations and theologians. You could join with them.
Paul claims in Eph. 6 that we are to fight but not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Our fighting seems ridiculous and laughable to the spirit of the world. We speak truth, forgive, love enemies, pray, and continue to have faith, hope and love. Poverty and world hunger are on the rise, and what do we do? Keep praying, keep giving money, keep working through Mennonite Central Comm. and Ten Thousand Villages.
Do we take flight and refuse to speak to antichrists, separating ourselves and making certain we avoid their antichrist teaching? The Mennonite Church and others have taken this road in the past and present.
I reconnected with a college friend in PA and had lunch every couple of months. It wasn't easy to keep relating with someone who was uncertain of the existence of God, let alone Jesus. In the past Catholics, Lutherans and Mennonites were separate from each other and even persecuted one another, but in the recent past definite progress has been made to heal the deep wounds of the past. Rather than take flight I believe Jesus continually relating to all classes, both male and female, and all ethnic groups gives us a model of relating rather than taking flight.
Or do we simply freeze and remain silent? Content that we believe Jesus is the Christ?
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
If we are from God and Jesus is from God then Jesus life helps us know how the Spirit of God would have us relate to the world and the antichrists.
Jesus said in Matthew 5.44-48
I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing more than others. Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The religious leaders and the Romans were anti-christ or against Jesus. Jesus both spoke of his identity and was silent. He allowed himself to be put on trial and forgave all.
Matthew and Luke tell of Jesus speaking and eating with almost every type of person imaginable including those religious leaders who adamantly rejected Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus also proclaimed woes on the teachers of the law, calling them blind guides and hypocrites.
Paul has plenty to say about the Spirit of God or Holy Spirit. I Cor. 12 identifies distinguishing between spirits as one of the Spiritual Gifts. But Paul is emphatic that all of the gifts must be used with love and that faith, hope and love will remain.
Earlier John has said God is love, God is life, and God is light. Testing the spirits must begin by testing our own spirit to determine if we are being controlled by love, life and light. A man introduced himself to me as his wife's other half. I went into verbal orbit confronting him with Jesus being a whole person and not being married, and blah, blah, blah. The poor guy just stared wondering what my issues were. Upon reflection had I tested my spirit to see whether what I had come to mind was of God or not, I would have done something differently. If our words and actions are controlled by the Spirit of God the light of truth will expose darkness. We test our spirit first. If our words and actions are controlled by the Spirit of God the love, life and light of Christ will guide us. If our words and actions are controlled by the Spirit of God the love of God will help us love another as God loves us.
Our response to antichrist or the world is ultimately the same as Jesus. Jesus came to seek and save or as Paul puts it to carry on the ministry of reconciliation. The Spirit from God at work in us calls us to love another in concrete material ways as God demonstrated his love by coming in the flesh.
An early Anabaptist was trying to escape capture by running across a frozen river. His pursuer broke through the ice. Because of his love for another, the Anabaptist returned to pull his pursuer out of the ice resulting in his arrest and death.
The Spirit from God is at work encouraging us to continue meeting the material needs of families through Ten Thousand Villages. The Spirit from God called Mennonites to form the Coalition for Refugee Support. The Spirit from God calls us to seek the healing and reconciliation of the nations in a variety of ways.
The Spirit from God calls us to live in the love, life and light of God.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church