Mike: “We have a blast when we’re all together. I look forward to being with them each week. No one else at school wants to talk about God or discuss the Bible, so for me – having a bunch of peers who have spiritual interests – well, it’s a breath of fresh air!”
Sara: “But you really need to be careful. I’ve met some really nice people. But some of the things they were saying bothered me, and I wondered if I should even be getting around with them or not.”
Mike: “Nah! Sara, you don’t get it. There’s nothing wrong with hearing new stuff that you haven’t heard where you go. It’s good to be challenged in your thinking. You need to be more open-minded.”
So what are you going to add to Mike and Sara’s conversation?
The Apostle John was no spring chicken. When he first met Christ, he was young. A lot of water had gone under the bridge. After Christ’s ascension, the Gospel spread, thousands were saved, local churches were established, and things were booming. But when things are happening for God, you can be sure Satan will be busy too. He was, and he is. By the time John wrote his first Epistle, wrong stuff was being taught by supposedly Christian teachers. Satan was doing his best to worm his way into the heart of Christian testimony to corrupt, spoil, wreck, dilute, divide, obstruct, impede and weaken the work of God.
Godly old John issued a warning to believers not to be gullible. Don’t fall for every new thing you hear. Don’t swallow hook, line and sinker the words of people just because they have magnetic personalities and a way of making things sound so good and a way of making you feel wanted and accepted. Be very cautious and discriminating when it comes to matters of doctrine and the Word of God. Be on guard constantly.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1John 4:1
John had been writing about the importance of love in Christian living – but now he focuses on the importance of truth. His message is clear: never give an inch on truth – no matter what. Don’t compromise. He gives us at least two ways to check out what someone is teaching. Spiritual love does not go soft on truth.
- First of all, do they believe in the full humanity and full deity of Christ? That’s 1 John 4:3. Do they believe that Jesus came to earth in real human flesh? Maybe most in your little support group agree with that. But the next test may be more challenging:
- Are they committed to ALL the teachings of ALL the Apostles in the New Testament? That’s verse 6.
We’re not to just shrug off differences as minor discrepancies in our beliefs. We are to be very cautious. When John said ‘test the spirits’ he was NOT merely suggesting that we think twice about what our Christian friends are telling us. He was saying: rigorously test the stuff you hear as if you were a specialist in metals responsible for judging their purity and value. Get out your Bible and diligently search it out. Don’t treat it lightly – because it might be just the ‘small’ beginning of something that could take you a ‘great’ distance from New Testament Doctrine.
In addition to studying your Bible, if you hear something that challenges your thinking or conflicts with what you have been taught, run it by an older Christian whom you respect or an elder in your local assembly.
Paul said to Timothy: Study, be diligent about rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Timothy 2:15) Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers: Prove or test or evaluate everything you hear and only keep what is good. (1Thessalonians 5:21). In other words, be extremely careful.