- Being in Fellowship with God
- Getting the Spirit Wrong
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When I first arrived in Australia in 1994, attending the church at which I became the Youth Pastor was a gentleman who belonged to a Christian motorcycle club. We became fast friends and, I bought a motorcycle from him and joined his motorcycle club.
Every year our club takes a long run together somewhere. A couple of years ago we went to a sand drag racing meet at Pondecherry, SA. We first checked out each others bikes to make sure they were in good working order. We ride in a staggered formation so that we can keep an eye on each other. When in ministry at the campsite, we stayed together should things ‘get out of hand’.
I was most impressed as we made our way home. As we drew close to our overnight stop at West Wylong, some of us became dangerously close to running out of gas (not I, of course). Those with larger tanks syphoned precious drops from their supply to share with others and we all made it into that “God-forsaken place” on fumes ☺ As far as I’m concerned, a wonderful picture of a community of faith in action!
Fellowship with God was important to John the apostle, who himself enjoyed such fellowship that he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 13:23; 19:26; 20:2). He knew such a love from God and that awareness came to be the focus of his faith and teaching. John knew, from Jesus’ prayers (Jn 17:6ff), that fellowship with God overflowed into fellowship with others —we are naturally drawn to those with common interests. Therefore, John instructed his community on how to be in right fellowship with one another, on how to be a community together by looking out for each other.
The problem is the fellowship of John’s community at Ephesus was under threat from some who had once belonged to the community (Jn 2:18-19). How did John, the evangelist and pastor, who loved his people with such heartfelt affection that he referred to them as “friends” and “my dear children” (cf. 1 Jn 2:1, 7; 3:2; 4:4; 5:21), how did he attempt to protect his community? What can we learn from their struggle?
May we learn from these lessons how to remain united as a portion of the church of Christ that gathers here at St John’s Sutherland.
Recap
Let me quickly remind you of the five purposes of John’s first letter:
- to promote fellowship (1 Jn 1:3);
- to produce happiness (1 Jn 1:4);
- to protect holiness (1 Jn 2:1);
- to prevent heresy (1 Jn 2:26); and,
- to provide hope (1 Jn 5:13).
Because fellowship with God was so important to him, and because John knew that not everyone always feels comfortable nor confident in their fellowship with God, he also provided three tests of fellowship:
- Have I confessed all known sins to God? (1 Jn 1:9);
- Am I walking in obedience to the light of God’s Word? (1 Jn 2:4-5); and,
- Am I demonstrating a love for brothers and sisters in faith and community? (1 Jn 2:9-10)
The apostle John, being possibly the last apostle remaining alive by the time of the writing of this letter, wanted nothing but the best that faith could offer to his communities. He wanted others to experience the same love and confidence of faith that he knew, knowing that only with such could they withstand the pressures that would come upon the faithful followers of Jesus —those very same pressures that eventually led to John’s exile to the island of Patmos (Rev 1:9), from which he wrote Revelation.
Indeed those pressures were exerting their demonic and destructive influence on the believers in Ephesus, and from those whom once they called “brothers” but now John identified as “antichrists” (1 Jn 2:18-19).
Getting the Spirit Wrong
Among the many instructions that John wrote about in this first letter is the instruction to steer clear of those who distort the truth:
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:18–19)
Here John practically named his opponents and identified the crisis engulfing his community: some among them not only claimed to not sin or have sin, but also denied that Jesus is the Christ of God (1 Jn 2:22). For John, such a person is an antichrist, both literally and figuratively, in that their presence in the community was a sign of the endtimes (1 Jn 4:3; 2 Jn 7; cf. Mt 13:24–30).
These people were a part of the community but, for some reason, they abandoned the faith of the apostles for something altogether different. Even worse, they continued to exert a negative influence beyond splitting the congregation in two (cf. Rom 1:32) and John was worried for those that remained.
For those that remained faithful, their hope was for eternal life and the certainty of that hope required that they hold onto the truth they had been taught by John, who was a direct witness to the truth in the person of Jesus Christ. John taught them consistently, “what you have heard from the beginning” (1 Jn 2:24), in contrast to the new and divergent teaching of those “trying to lead you astray” (1 Jn 2:26).
John could reassure his spiritual children not just with the authenticity of his witness and teaching but also with the “anointing” that is the Spirit of God, which they had themselves received (1 Jn 2:27). That anointing/Spirit was given to “remind you of everything [Jesus] has said to you” (Jn 14:26), “he will guide you into all the truth” (Jn 16:13). That Spirit confirmed the prophecy of Jeremiah that stated,
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time”, declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD’, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest”, declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34)
Because the Spirit and Life of God was in them, the people of John’s community knew the truth of John’s witness and teaching because it resonated with their spirits, in contrast to that of the defectors, whose new teaching would have caused discomfort and uncertainty. If John’s followers held fast to that conviction, blessed by a love from and for God, they would not need to fear the influence and attacks of the antichrists that split away from their community (1 Jn 2:27).
But hold on just a moment … here is where the plot thickens! John invoked the Spirit as proof of the truth of his message. However, the problem just may have been that John wrote about the Spirit at all, and what he wrote about the Spirit may have provided the shaky foundation on which his opponents built their case against his community.
Listen closely because this may get a little fuzzy: Of the four biographies of Jesus included in the New Testament, John’s gospel is unique in that he wrote about the ministry of the Holy Spirit that commenced after Jesus’ ascension. We know that, even today, not everyone ‘gets’ talk about the Holy Spirit —it is one area of Christian theology that is not very well developed, such that, even today, many people get the Spirit very wrong.[1. An adherent of the Toronto Blessing uttered what has come to be called the “Golden Sword Prophecy” (http://tinyurl.com/77bx6mr), a prophecy allegedly describing a “new thing” that God is doing. This is, in my humble opinion, a dubious prophecy which ignores the fact that a new covenant was inaugurated byJesus and that nothing more need be added. A former pastor at the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church spoke out against the movement in an article that can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/6o22owm.] We are all interested in the ‘power’, perhaps because it promises to make living so much easier and to bring with it ‘health and wealth’. John wrote about the Holy Spirit while he was living and ministering in Ephesus and was likely teaching about the Holy Spirit while in Ephesus, but his writing may have left more questions than answers.
As faithful followers of Jesus, we believe that God has given us his Spirit because that is what is taught in the writings of the bible. It seems that John’s community emphasized this anointing (1 Jn 2:20, 27; 3:24; 4:1–3, 13).
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. (1 John 2:20)
This “knowing the truth” goes hand-in-hand with the prophecy from Jeremiah mentioned earlier:
“No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. (Jeremaih 31:33–34)
Nevertheless, no one can be so naïve as to think that everything that a brother or sister tries to tell us is true. John recognised this himself, and so he taught his people to “test the spirits”:
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. (1 John 4:2)
Again, John gave a clue here as to what his opponents claimed of themselves. Not only did they see themselves as sinless, and denied that Jesus was the Christ of God, but they also claimed spiritual authority for their teachings. They claimed that God was speaking through them by the Spirit, in contrast to John who simply shared what he knew of the One he knew. Believers have the Spirit at salvation, but they claimed to have “new knowledge” from the Spirit.
This then brings up the concept of spiritual warfare. In John’s worldview, there are two spirits active in the world, “the Spirit of truth” and “the spirit of falsehood” (1 Jn 4:6). There is the Spirit who comes from God, who glorifies and elevates his Son, Jesus Christ (Jn 16:14), and there is the spirit of antichrist (1 Jn 4:3), which is welcomed by the world (1 Jn 4:5), yet sabotages the truth about Jesus (1 Jn 4:2). John provided two tests so that Christians will be able to discern the difference.
The first test to tell genuine spiritual authority was
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 4:2–3)
It almost goes without saying that the true Holy Spirit would not deny Jesus; the Spirit will always glorify the Son.
The second way to test the spirits is to recognise who accepts the teaching:
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. (1 John 4:5–6)
John wrote that if the world accepts a prophecy/teaching, then it is likely false. If the community is uncomfortable with the teaching, then it is likely false. We can trust the judgement of believers who together seek to discern the Spirit.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is a blessed gift from God. That Spirit works with our spirit to confirm for us —in other words, to help us to recognise— the truth about Jesus. That Spirit empowers our spirit with courage and strength for a purpose: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8). The book of Acts is a testimony to how the Holy Spirit worked in and through the first followers of Jesus who first discovered that truth about Jesus and then began to share that truth about Jesus wherever they went. That is what we need to know about the Holy Spirit —no more and no less— and 1 John is a testimony to those who got the Spirit wrong and to the damage wrought.
How to Live in Community
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
James, the Lord’s brother, another of the “pillars” in the church in Jerusalem, wrote, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (Jas 2:17). John made much the same argument to protect his community from his opponents. He wanted to protect them against falling into the same trap of bitterness and division.
John felt pain at the division within his church and wanted to prevent it from causing further disintegration. Despite whatever anger or disappointment John felt regarding his opponents, and what they had done to his community, he encouraged his followers to not be like them by loving them and each other instead. He appealed to them for love in action, rather than simply with words.
What does it look like for the people of a community to love one another? It doesn’t look like what Cain did to his brother in murdering him.
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (1 John 3:12)
Cain did not love his brother because he was jealous. Because he harboured that jealousy, Cain fell into sin and murdered his brother. This a negative example from John of what loving one another does not look like.
Unfortunately that sort of attitude may be directed at the children of God; in fact, John’s community was experiencing that sort of hate from John’s opponents. But John’s followers were not to be like that.
Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 John 3:15)
Jesus stated precisely the same thing in regards to lust (Mt 5:28): To harbour a sinful attitude is as bad as committing a sinful action. For John, the children of God do not hate brothers or sisters in faith because that is to follow the example of Cain; it might as well be murdering them.
Instead of harbouring negative thoughts towards others, the children of God should instead follow the example of Jesus:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)
One way to do this is by sharing with others from our resources (1 Jn 3:17). Love must take the form of actions more than words, especially since it was words which tore the community apart.
Loving in practical ways is the right thing to do because it is a command of God (1 Jn 3:23).
John wrote of perhaps a better test: Those who have the Spirit will live in the Light of God and will love their brothers and sisters in attitude.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God … (1 John 4:7)
To love is to know God in his essential nature. God has provided the purest expression and example of what it means to love by sending Jesus (1 Jn 4:10). To love others in attitude then is to demonstrate that we are in fact the children of God, that we have the life of God in us (1 Jn 4:12).
Even here though, there are dangers. When verse 8 says “God is love” (cf. 1 Jn 4:16), it is important to note what John has not said. He has not wrote that “God is loving” (though this is true). Nor is one of God’s activities “to love us” (though this is true as well). John has wrote that God is love, meaning that “all of his activity is loving”.
Love is the essence of his being but the reverse is not the case. We cannot say, in other words, that “love is God”, as if any display of affection suddenly qualifies as divine. Everything that God does is loving, even when what he does may be thought to be painful by us (Heb 12:6; Rev 3:19). John has carefully defined the character of who God is and what it means to live in relation to him.
We can know this love and live this love because when we become children of God the Spirit of God becomes present to and in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit … If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. (1 John 4:13-15)
More importantly than any ability to claim spiritual authority, when we love we are demonstrating that God lives in us. By loving others we are demonstrating that we know God (1 Jn 4:19-21). And that is how we individually, and this community united, will be his witnesses in all the world.
Conclusion
John highlighted the unity of his community because that unity itself was in danger due to his opponents, who had fallen away from, and were no longer acting in and through, that love of God.
Perhaps the message of John’s first letter for us to remember is that it is in community that we get to practice Christian faith and lifestyle safely. By “safely” I mean that if we screw up by treating a brother or sister poorly, through any number of bad attitudes or behaviours, at least in community there are processes for discipline, healing and reconciliation. If you behave badly in church, someone should correct you gently; if you screw up ‘out there’, you may get yourself fired or beat up and, even worse, you will bring dishonour to God.
Knowing God and his son, Jesus Christ, and thinking rightly about them is necessary for the free, full and forever life that Jesus promised … and that life is experienced firstly, and probably best, in the Christian community; then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that life overflows into our networks in the world. It is from the confidence we gain from being together that we can respond faithfully to the challenges that confront our beliefs and values when we are apart.
[delivered on Sunday, 11 December 2011, 7:00pm, at St John’s Sutherland]
Endnotes
