Dear friends in Christ.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) Even though we were sinners who wanted nothing to do with God or his Son, it was God himself who showed his love for us by sending Jesus to be our Savior. It was Jesus himself who showed his love for us by laying down his life for us when he went to the cross, just as Jesus told his disciples when he said, “Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) For it was Jesus who willingly took our sins upon himself. He allowed himself to be whipped and beaten and mocked and scourged so that he might be our Savior. He painfully watched as the soldiers drove the nails through his hands and feet knowing the pain and suffering that was yet to come. On top of all of that, he endured the rejection of his Father and the pain and torment of damnation that we deserved for our sins! In doing so, Jesus taught us what true love truly is, just as the Scriptures tell us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) It is this very love, the love that moved the Lord our God to hand over his Son to death for the payment of our sins and the love that caused Jesus to rise from the dead in assurance that our sins have been completely washed away that moves our hearts today. For today, as we study the great love our Father has lavished upon us, we will be moved to let our love for the Lord and his Word be revealed in all that we do! This, in fact, is the very thing that the Apostle John is encouraging each and every one of us to do as he writes in our text, “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. 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.” (1 John 4:1-3)
Though at first glance these words seem to say nothing about letting our love for God and his Word sine out in our lives, if you think about it, what better way is there for us to show this love than by following the Lord’s word and testing all the teachings of this world by the standard of his Word so that we will not be led astray. For the truth is, you and I are surrounded by false teachers on every side. We are living in a world where false prophets are leading countless Christians into the sprawling seas of unbelief by teaching them false truths wrapped up in Christian ideas. We are living in a world where opinions are more important than fact, where truth is seen from different points of view, and where countless false prophets are subtly but effectively twisting God’s Word into a license to do as we please rather than a message for our salvation. In short, we are living in a world where satan is doing everything he can to sweep us into the dustpan of half-truths so that he might drop us into the dustbin of Christian unbelief. This is why John is calling on us to reveal our love for our God and his Word by testing every teaching to make sure that it comes for God, just as cashiers are trained to test our money when we pay them with a $20.00 bill, a $50.00 bill or even a $100.00 bill. Though in some ways this may seem like a waste of time and a completely loveless act for a cashier to test our money and judge it according to the standards set by the banking industry, it is actually an act of love. For the truth is counterfeiters are just like false prophets, they are passing off worthless paper in the form of legal tender. So, if a cashier should simply take a counterfeit twenty, or a fifty or even a one-hundred dollar bill without testing it, that merchant would lose. However, by testing it, the cashier lovingly makes certain that the employer receives the money that he deserves and needs to continue growing and expanding his business.
This is the kind of love that the Lord wants us to show him and his word by testing the spirits. Rather than simply believing what you hear and figuring it must be right, he wants us to go back to his word to make sure that it is right! For the Bible is the manual the Lord has given us to determine if a teaching comes from him or not. Just as cashiers have special marking pens to make sure that a specific bill is legal tender, so also the Bible is our manual telling us exactly what God says. So, when you are in your home and you are watching one of those religious type shows on TV, don’t just assume they must be right because they are religious! Rather, check your Bible to make sure they are proclaiming the truth. If they aren’t either stop watching it, or constantly be prepared to correct it for yourselves. When you are listening to those religious broadcasts on Sunday mornings, be discerning listeners. In others words, listen carefully to anything that is proclaimed and if something doesn’t seem right pull out your Bible and check it out so that you can see if it is right or wrong. Even here in church, don’t just believe everything I tell you simply because I am your Pastor and I must be right! For the truth is, I am human just like you. I make mistakes just like you. Even though I spent eight years of my life training to be a Pastor, I am by no means perfect, and that is why you need to be checking up on me from time to time to make sure I am faithfully proclaiming God’s Word to you! You see, even though God has given me the responsibility of faithfully teaching you his word, he has given you the responsibility of remaining faithful to him.
So do just that, remain faithful to the Lord by studying his Word. Show your love for him and his word by reading through the Bible every year. Search in your closets and bookshelves until you find your old Catechisms. Then when you find them, study them from time to time to remind yourselves of the things you promised to die for rather than give up. Take time out of every day to read the one-page devotions in your meditation booklets and pray to God! Only make God’s Word a priority in your life and set aside time for it every day. For in doing this, you will not only be strengthening your faith in Jesus Christ your Savior; you will also be preparing yourself to recognize false teaching no matter how subtle it might be. When you do this you will find it easy to go back to the Bible to test whatever teaching you might come across to see whether it agrees with God’s Word or not. When you do this you will in effect be giving thanks to God for all the great things he has given you in his Word. When you do this you will be showing your great love for the Lord and for his Word which he has given you.
Only let your love for the Lord and his Word shine out in your lives as you reflect the love that the Lord your God has lavished upon you. For in the same way that the Lord showed his love to Saul by calling him to faith and sending him off to preach the Word to Jews and Gentiles alike, so also the Lord showed his love for you by calling you to faith. In the same way that the Lord showed his love for his disciples by appearing to them on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, so also the Lord Jesus has shown his love for us by appearing to us in the pages of Scripture for our learning. God’s love for us is boundless! Though we were once his enemies, he made us his children though Jesus Christ our Savior. Though there was a time when we hated him, though the work of his Son, we have come to love him. We have come to love him for what he has done for us and we have come to love him for all that he tells us in his Word! So then continue to make your love for him known to all the world by gladly hearing his word and always being ready to test whatever teaching might come your way to see whether or not it comes from him.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
