Scripture: 1 John3:18-4:6
To test God, or not – that is our “problem” today,
just as it has been for centuries. Deuteronomy6:16 tells us “Do not put the Lord your God to
the test as you did at
Massah.” It was at Massah, which means “testing”, that
Israel put the Lord to the test over the lack of drinking water. (Exodus 17:1-7) Moses tells the nation that God should never
be tested.
In Matthew 4:1-11,
Jesus is tested by Satan during his 40 days of fasting in the desert. And in response, he quotes the above
referenced passage from Deuteronomy 6. Jesus
was constantly being tested by Satan and the Pharisees, and every time, he
triumphed over the tests.
It
would seem that the command to never test God wasn’t so much that he didn’t
want to be tested, but that he wanted us to trust him. The Lord would always prevail over the tester, so why insult the Lord by
even trying? A test of God’s way is nothing
short of a sign that we don’t trust his wisdom, as well as the implication that
we know better than God! Who in their
right mind would ever think that they know more than the Lord God Almighty? I guess the answer to that quandary, at least
in my own mind, is that anyone who believes that they’re smarter than God is never
in their right mind.
But there are many
scriptural passages that speak of our testing. As an example, in Exodus 16:3-4, God
has just told Moses that he will be sending manna to the people for nourishment
every morning, and were to gather only as much as they needed for that
day. He says that this is a test
to see if they will obey him. In Luke8:4-15, Jesus tells the parable of the soils, and he says that the “rocky
ground” are those whose faith is so shallow that when the “time of testing”
comes, their faith fails. God’s testing
of our faith, many times, ends in failure.
And yet, in today’s passage,
we are told that we should test the Spirit that comes to us and calls us, to
determine if it is truly of God. Why the
need for this testing? Let’s see!
Read 1 John 3:18-20
Love not with words, but
with the example that we set before the world - for true love comes from
God, through our heart, and into the life of another. Love isn’t a matter of logic or personal decision,
but rather one that exists because of our love of God. And therein lies the need for “truth”. God’s love and God’s truth are mutually
dependent – without both, our “love” isn’t God’s love and our “truth” isn’t God’s
truth. As a matter of fact, in Psalm24:3-6, we read that those who have “clean hands and a pure heart”
will stand in the “holy place” of God.
Without Godly love and truth in our hearts, we should never expect to come
into the presence of our Lord.
And when our tongues
utter words that do not match the love and truth of God, implying that we
know better (!), the Godly wisdom that resides in our heart overcomes the
conceit of our mind and tongue. In James3:1-6, we read about the problem with our tongues, when he tells us that “6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil
among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole
course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” Our words and
attitudes will be our own condemnation, so we need to test the spirits that are
encouraging us and guiding us, for nothing that we will ever do or say or think
can ever be hidden from God.
Read 1 John 3:21-24
As John continues, he writes that IF our hearts do not
condemn us, that is, if the love and truth of God guides our lives, and if our tongues
do not deceive us, we will have “confidence” in our relationship with
the Lord. Our faith will be strong, we will
trust in the word that God has set down for us in the scriptures, we will have
the conviction that the Lord’s truth and love is for us to share with the
world, and that we will be loyal to him and he with us.
And the results of that “confidence” are confirmed. In John 14:10-15, Jesus tells us that if
we truly believe in him (in his life, his resurrection, his work, his
teaching!), we will be doing 1) all that he has done and even greater things,
and that 2) he will do for us whatever we ask for in his Name. And if we love him with a heart-felt and
Godly love, we will obey his commandments and teachings, and we will receive
the Holy Spirit who will help us in all things.
So it appears that if we trust and love the Lord, he will bring far more
to our lives than we could ever imagine.
But how do we know if we are truly living in the will of
Almighty God? It seems to hinge on obedience. When we obey the commands that Jesus has
handed down to us, life takes on a whole new perspective. A life in Jesus Christ is not one way – it isn’t
just that we give ourselves to him! He
also gives himself to us. John 14:15-21
reminds us that if we love Christ, then we will also obey him, and when we obey
him, the “Spirit of Truth” will live within us.
God’s Spirit is not available to those who love the ways of earth, but
only to those who love, and obey, the Lord.
But how do we know if the Holy Spirit lives within us?
Read 1 John 4:1-3
This is where the testing comes in. Notice that we aren’t being told to test God
to see if his word is true or false, but rather if the word we are receiving is
from God or the world. But you may ask
if that shouldn’t be obvious to us – that we should readily understand if the spirit
within us is of God or Satan! The problem
though, which I’m sure we have all experienced at some time or another, is that
Satan is known as the great deceiver, and he is readily able to convince us
that his way is far better, and makes far more sense, than anything we have
read in the Bible or anything we have heard from the Holy Spirit. And the test, if you will, is whether the
spirit that is speaking to us acknowledges that Jesus is truly from God, which
means that the words that are coming to us are in sync with what scripture
tells us about the Lord.
And the fact that the spirit of the world can never acknowledge
Jesus as Lord and Savior shouldn’t amaze anyone. That spirit comes from Satan, and Satan would
never openly acknowledge Jesus as God, and would never want us believe
that Jesus is God either. And the spirit
that he sends out into the world is of antichrist. And quite honestly, we don’t preach nearly
enough regarding the being of Satan!
So here it is in a nutshell:
Father God is of light, while Satan is of darkness; Jesus is the Son of
the Living God, while Antichrist is the son of defeated Satan; and the Holy Spirit
carries on the ministry of our Savior, while the False Prophet does the bidding
of antichrist. It appears that we have a
Trinity of Light, versus a trinity of darkness; a Trinity of Life, versus a
trinity of death and destruction. Within
each of these relationships, they all have one mission and one thought, and it
is all about us – whether we will know victory in life with our Triune God, or
defeat in condemnation with the trinity of death.
Read 1 John 4:4-6
The basic truth that surrounds testing is that it is far more
important for the student than it is for the teacher. And testing of the spirits that are striving
to teach us and guide our lives is relatively simple: 1) does it acknowledge
Jesus as the only legitimate Redeemer and Savior, and 2) is it in connection with
the heart of God that we have received through his word.
And what, more specifically, are the differences between these
two teachings?
1) If the spirit
sounds too much like the ways of earth, beware!
If it appears to contradict common sense and good reason, then grasp it
and hold on for Dear Life!
2) If it encourages
and enables obedience to the life and way of Jesus Christ, it is of God. But if it denies and maligns Christ’s
teaching, it is of the world.
But
that doesn’t mean that a cursory understanding of what God would have us
know is sufficient. It demands in-depth Bible
study, constant and regular reading of all scripture, of loving others
in the way of Jesus and not being judgmental or despising of some while embracing
others and their ways.
3) And always test and
trust in what the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and never doubt the word that comes
from God, for it is the best that our lives will ever know.
And may we never get the two mixed up!
