{"id":1261,"date":"2024-04-22T10:41:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2024-04-22T10:41:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:41:47","slug":"real-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1261","title":{"rendered":"Real Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(1 John 4:1-6)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you’re driving around a relatively new car or still chugging along in one that’s been around for a decade or two, chances are good that you’ve had the opportunity to become familiar with the dash board indicators that light up when something is wrong. When those light up, indicating that something has failed or needs maintenance, it\u2019s probably best to schedule an appointment with the mechanic sooner rather than later. The mechanic can then run a diagnostic test to determine with more precision exactly what needs to be fixed. Then he can put together a plan and estimate to let you know how much he’s going to overcharge you to fix it \ud83d\ude01. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how much you may dislike car trouble or dealing with mechanics, it would be foolish to ignore the warning and just keep driving your car. Doing so would likely cause more damage or could even end up leaving the vehicle unable to be driven. The indicators are there for a reason. They tell you something\u2019s wrong so that it can be tested and fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Car trouble is one thing. Spiritual trouble is quite another. Even in a worst-case scenario when it comes to your car, you could manage to get by without it for a time by depending on others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not the case spiritually. The ramifications of spiritual trouble going unchecked or neglected are potentially eternal. So John provides us with a warning that is to be taken very seriously – and not to be avoided or put off the way we might an auto repair. “Dear friends,\u00a0do not believe every spirit,\u00a0but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world\u201d (v.1).<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With he uses the word \u201cspirits,\u201d it might sound as if John\u2019s writing belongs in a Halloween story involving ghosts and spooky things. However, that\u2019s not the use of the word spirit <\/em>that John is employing here. With that term he means to include any and all groups or individuals that claim any sort of religious responsibility or authority. Examples of this today could include the online promo for this conference or that webinar sponsored by such and such ministries. Or any book or devotional by an author with a faith-related theme or goal. Or a clip or YouTube Channel of someone preaching or teaching anything from Scripture. Any group or individual speaking on a biblical topic\/theme is included with that term spirit. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does it matter that we test these spirits? Two reasons: 1) they aren\u2019t all from God, and 2) there are \u201cmany<\/span> false prophets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a clear conclusion we need to draw about every spirit that is not from God. If a spirit is not from God, then where is it from? Don\u2019t be fooled into thinking there is some wide range of answers to this question. There are no teachers in this category (those who are not from God) who are more harmless or less harmless than others. This isn\u2019t a multiple choice question. If a teaching is not from God, then it is harmful, because it is from only one other place, from the one who opposes God: Satan. John later identifies this type of teaching as \u201cthe spirit of the antichrist\u201d (v.3).<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lest we think this might just be a case of a few bad apples ruining the whole bunch, John\u2019s warning clarifies that there are \u201cmany false prophets [who have] gone out into the world\u201d (v.1)<\/em><\/strong>. What does that mean when it comes to the discernment we exercise in listening to other religious authors\/teachers\/singers\/preachers? Perhaps a little more caution is in order. Maybe rather than simply presuming that we\u2019re in safe waters every time the words \u201cChristian\/church\/faith\/pastor\/etc.\u201d are involved, our first step ought to be to exercise caution and tread lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was growing up in our WELS<\/a>, it was generally frowned upon to read books or use materials that were not produced by our own WELS Northwestern Publishing House. While that sentiment isn\u2019t as wide-spread today as it was then, the longer I\u2019ve been in ministry, the better I understand the reason for that concern (especially given the circumstances of that time – our church body was navigating the waters of having officially declared ourselves to no longer be in fellowship with another Lutheran church body that had a different spirit about it than it had in the past when we shared a common blessed unity and fellowship for many decades). False prophets that stand in opposition to God are everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if they are everywhere, that means you also have a responsibility to test me. Yes, I have been called by Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran<\/a> to be a pastor, under shepherd to the Good Shepherd. Yes, I have received some of the best theological training available at our Martin Luther College<\/a> and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.<\/a> Yes, I have twenty years of pastoral ministry under my belt this year. And yes… I am also capable of falling into the very category of spirits John is warning you about. So when he says to test the spirits, I must be included among them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you might be feeling inadequate. After all, who are you<\/em> to be qualified to do such a thing? That’s where you do well to follow the rest of the guidance John provides. \u201cThis is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh\u00a0is from God,\u00a0but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God\u201d (v.2-3).<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a specific doctrinal teaching here, the incarnation<\/em>, which refers to the Bible\u2019s teaching that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. However, we are not doing a disservice to John\u2019s words here to stretch that teaching to include anything and everything about Jesus Christ. If God in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ is the litmus test John wants us to use to identify real threats, then every teaching that pertains to Jesus Christ is fair game to help us expose threats. And by extension, since the whole reason we have the Bible is so that it can point us to Jesus, then all of Scripture is useful in helping us steer clear of those spirits that are not from God.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s like pulling a thread on a sweater. It doesn’t matter where you pull the thread from. The sleeve. The collar. The front or back. The hem. Wherever you start to pull on that thread, eventually it will do damage to the whole sweater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is with Scripture. Any attack on Scripture is an attack on Jesus. Therefore, any attack, any false teaching that is unchecked, will eventually undermine the whole point of the Bible – to show us our salvation in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a tall order! There is so much contained in the Bible and so many different ways it could be twisted or maligned. How can we ever really know for sure if what we\u2019re hearing or reading is true or false?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re more qualified than you may know. If you\u2019ve ever been to a professional theater production of a popular play or musical, you know what it means once the lights start to dim. It\u2019s exciting because you know the show is about to start! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But did you ever stop to think why the lights are dimmed in a production like that? Wouldn\u2019t more light – not less – enable everyone to better see everything that\u2019s happening on the stage? One might think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, depending on where everyone is seated in the audience, it\u2019s not always easy to clearly see which actors are doing the speaking or singing. But when the lights are dimmed, it allows the spotlight to draw everyone\u2019s attention to the appropriate actors carrying out the dialogue or song. The audience isn\u2019t left scanning the stage to try and figure out which actor is speaking at any given time. The spotlight makes that obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also how we identify spirits that aren\u2019t from God. When someone\u2019s teaching, speaking, singing, preaching, etc. does not shine the spotlight on Jesus Christ, it is a different spirit. Take caution. Be aware. When the spotlight isn\u2019t on Jesus, that ought to give us pause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to be more precise, I don\u2019t just mean paying lip service to Jesus, as if he gets a few mentions here and there. Specifically, I mean proclaiming the good news that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sin. He became man (here\u2019s why the incarnation matters\u2026) so that as one bound to the same law that we are all bound to, he could keep it perfectly for us. He became man so that he could die, and by his death on the cross suffer not only physical, but also the spiritual punishment our sins deserved. Though he himself was without sin, he took our sin upon himself so that real payment for sin could be offered up. And in this season of Easter, we celebrate that he really rose in that same physical body. That means that the payment for sin has been accepted by the Father and the sentence of eternal death has already been served for us. We have nothing to fear!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that Jesus is not central to the message of anyone you are listening to, then it\u2019s time to tune that message out. And whatever confidence we lack in being able to do so is restored to us through the Resurrection, which proves to us how powerful God is. Listen to John\u2019s encouragement. \u201cYou, dear children,\u00a0are from God and have overcome them,\u00a0because the one who is in you\u00a0is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world\u00a0and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.\u00a0We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.\u00a0This is how we recognize the Spirit\u00a0of truth\u00a0and the spirit of falsehood\u201d (v.4-6)<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our confidence comes in knowing that through Jesus Christ, God has overcome. He is greater than the evil one running roughshod over the world. That confidence allows John to implore his audience to keep listening to him. That isn\u2019t arrogance on John\u2019s part, but rather a confidence that his message is always going to be centered on Jesus Christ our Savior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it will be here on this site and in my preaching. I know that because it is the promise I made (along with all pastors in our church body) when I was ordained into the pastoral ministry. We make a promise to remain faithful to the Scriptures and what they teach as confessed in our Book of Concord. That promise is no more and no less than faithfully preaching and teaching Jesus Christ lived, died, and risen as our Savior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I am confident that Jesus will continue to be my main message because here his sheep know his voice and long to hear it. Ears will perk up if some voice that does not belong to the Good Shepherd begins to be heard. So then, never tire of listening to the Good Shepherd\u2019s voice. Hear it frequently, announcing your forgiveness in the absolution and Supper, and claiming you as his very own sheep through the water of baptism. For so long as you listen to his voice and believe it, you have nothing to fear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(1 John 4:1-6) Whether you’re driving around a relatively new car or still chugging along in one that’s been around for a decade or two, chances are good that you’ve had the opportunity to become familiar with the dash board indicators that light up when something is wrong. When those light up, indicating that something… Continue reading Real Threats<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[345,65],"tags":[119,349,5,109,120,36,108,350],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resurrection-reality-series","category-sermons","tag-easter","tag-falseteacher","tag-jesus","tag-preaching","tag-resurrection","tag-sermon","tag-teaching","tag-threat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p842FN-kl","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1263,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}