The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday
April 21, 2024
1 John 4:1-6
Resurrection Reality —
The Risen Savior Provides Good Shepherds!
1Dear friends, 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. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4You, 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. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. (NIV1984)
Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
“Stevie, use the brain the good Lord gave you!” Those are words that I heard from my Grandma on more than one occasion. When I did something that my Grandma didn’t like, when I did something that my Grandma didn’t think was very smart, she would look at me and say, “Stevie, use the brain the good Lord gave you!”
“Use the brain the good Lord gave you!” Those are words that I have often spoken to my children and now my grandchildren. While I still speak those words for the same two reasons my Grandma spoke them, I have also added another scenario in which my children or my grandchildren might hear me speak those words. That scenario centers on consciously trying to teach them to think before they accept what someone says to them. For example, if they are eating strawberries I’ll ask them, “How do you like those tomatoes?” When they get a strange look on their face, I’ll ask, “Are those really tomatoes?” They of course say, “No! They’re strawberries!” One of my grandsons has learned to look at me and say, “Papa, are you joking me— again?” Especially in our day and age I think it’s important for all of us to realize that we can’t simply accept what someone says to us— whether it’s a teacher, or a friend, or even a pastor!
Essentially that is what the apostle John is saying to us here in this portion of his letter. There are all kinds of pastors and all kinds of religious teachers who are trying to teach us all kinds of things. How do you know whether or not someone is telling you the Truth— God’s Truth? As we continue our sermon series on Resurrection Reality let’s see how John says to us— As you are listening to anyone who is speaking to you about spiritual matters use the faith the good Lord gave you! The faith that the good Lord gave us will enable us to see and discern this Resurrection Reality— The Risen Savior Provides Good Shepherds!
Since there were all different kinds of traveling preachers and all different kinds of religious teachers trying to get the attention and the allegiance of the Christians to whom John wrote this letter, John begins with a very direct yet very personal exhortation. He says, “Dear friends, 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.”
In the larger context of this letter it is obvious that John is using the word “spirit” as a synonym for “spiritual” teacher, someone who is proclaiming a “spiritual” message. What was true in the days of the apostle John is even more true today! With even just a little bit of effort you can find a whole spiritual “smorgasbord” of preachers and teachers, churches and organizations that are offering just about any kind of spiritual “food” that anyone could possibly want in their quest to satisfy their spiritual hunger. That’s why the exhortation that John wrote so many centuries ago is still just as relevant to us as it was to the people who first read this letter! That’s why it is important for us to listen to John when he says to us, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
The word that is translated here as “test” can also be translated as “examine,” or “discern.” “Testing” is something that we do on a regular basis, isn’t it. If we take something out of the fridge and wonder how long it has been in there we might open it up and see if it passes the “smell test.” Because of the world we live in, counterfeiters are able to make millions of dollars creating and selling “fakes.” As a result, experts have developed ways to “discern” whether or not something is “genuine.” When we stop and think about how often we “test” things and “examine” things to “discern” their authenticity, it doesn’t surprise us at all when the Holy Spirit has John tell us, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, examine the spirits, to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
How? How do we “test” a preacher, how do we “examine” a teacher to see whether they are “from God” or whether they are a “false prophet”? John gives us two ways to “test the spirits.” The first “test” is found in verses two and three. John writes, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
While we cannot read anyone’s mind and while we cannot look into anyone’s heart that does not mean that we cannot “test” them. The first “test” that we can apply, the first “test” that we need to apply centers on their confession. We listen to what they say. We listen to what they teach. If they “acknowledge,” if they “confess,” if they “declare” that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Son of God who was born into this world as the true Son of Man then we know that their message is “from God.” If they do not “acknowledge,” if they do not “confess,” if they do not “declare” the truth of Christmas— that Jesus is “Emmanuel”— “God with us”— then walk away! Do not listen to anything they have to say!
While the teaching of the Incarnation of Christ is not the entire Christian message it is indeed the heart and core of the Christian message. It is so central to everything we believe that Satan targets that message with all of his diabolical might. Any and every person— especially someone who claims to be a religious teacher— any and every person who denies that Jesus is “The word (who) became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) is spewing the message of Satan and his legion of “antichrists.”
Think about it. The truth concerning the Incarnation of the Lord’s Christ automatically incorporates the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, it automatically embraces the two natures of Christ— true God and true Man in one Person, it automatically forms the foundation for our salvation. If the Person who was nailed to the cross on Calvary’s hill (Pointing to the cross) was not both our Brother and our God then His suffering and death could not serve as the atoning sacrifice for our sins! Since the One who proclaimed from the cross “It is finished!” is “Jesus Christ (who) has come in the flesh” we have the confidence of knowing that our sins are forgiven!
You certainly don’t have to look very hard or very far to find a religious teacher who fails this test. Whether it’s Buddhism or Hinduism, whether it’s Judaism or Islam, whether it’s the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses they will not “confess” or “acknowledge” or “declare” that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” Many— hopefully not all— but many college and university professors would never “acknowledge” that Jesus of Nazareth is “The Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” That’s why we need to be so careful, my friends! We need to be careful about who we are listening to. We need to be careful about who we allow to influence and guide what we believe.
The second “test” that we are to apply is found in verses four through six. John writes, “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. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”
This second “test” concerning preachers and teachers centers on the question: Who are they listening to? There are only two possible answers to this question. Let’s start with the correct answer since it ties in so beautifully with the fact that today is Good Shepherd Sunday!
A faithful teacher, a faithful preacher is one who first “listens” to the apostles and then shares with you what the apostles teach and preach. Why is this a good way to “test” preachers and teachers? Think about it. The Good Shepherd said to His apostles, “He who listens to you listens to me” (Luke 10:16). The Good Shepherd promised His apostles, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:25, 26). When the apostle Peter boldly and confidently confessed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), the Good Shepherd made this promise, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock (i.e. Peter’s confession) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:17, 18). Through His servant the apostle Paul the Good Shepherd assures us that His Church “is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). And— the Good Shepherd Himself says to us, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14).
Since by the grace and power of God we are His sheep (Pointing to the cross) we recognize and listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd. That’s why and that’s how we can “test” a preacher or a teacher. If they are faithfully proclaiming the teachings of the apostles— the teachings which the apostles learned from Jesus Himself, the teachings that are recorded for us in Scripture— then we know that they are “from God.”
The only other answer to the question, “Who are they listening to?” is that they are listening to the world and “therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world.” Ultimately every false teaching is drawn from sources other than the apostles, other than
Scripture. Every cult is built on the authority and the say-so of a mere mortal human being. Every false prophet lays claim to some “new” revelation or some “new” insight that only they can share with you. While they may be very charismatic and very magnetic, while they may be both eloquent and intelligent, while their teachings may be exactly what “itching ears” want to hear (See 2 Timothy 4:3), while they may have huge crowds of people in their church week after week, the Holy Spirit has John encourage us to remember, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world.” That’s why as the children of God we do not want to listen to them!
If ever/whenever we start to feel a little “inferior” when we look at the outward “success” of these false prophets, if ever/whenever we start to doubt whether we and our church are on the true path, we need to remember John’s words, “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.”
When we were baptized in the Name of the Triune God our Good Shepherd sent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to live in our hearts. The Spirit of truth uses God’s holy Word and God’s holy Sacraments to keep us focused on our Good Shepherd— focused on the love that led Him to “lay down” His life for us (Pointing to the cross), focused on the authority that enabled Him to “take up” His life again on Easter Sunday, focused on the promise found in His words, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to properly understand why John says to us, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
“Use the brain the good Lord gave you!” While my children and my grandchildren may get tired of hearing me say those words, I am convinced that those words can and will benefit them in their life. “Use the faith that the good Lord gave you!” Those are words that can and will benefit us as we listen to the various pastors and teachers that we encounter on our journey through this world. Using the faith that the good Lord gave us means that we need to “test,” we need to “examine,” we need to “discern” if what they are saying lines up with the Truth. Using the faith that the good Lord gave us means that we need to follow the example of the Bereans who listened to what the apostle Paul was preaching to them and then “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).
The reality of Jesus’ resurrection assures us that our Good Shepherd will always provide His sheep with good shepherds. May God grant that we will indeed listen to them!
To God be the glory!
Amen