There are few ways better to deride holiday merriment than to echo the words of Ebenezer Scrooge: "Bah, humbug!" There is within my own darkened soul a bit of Scrooge, to which my own family can testify. A cynic since youth, I’ve sneered at the sentimentality of the season; I’ve mocked the materialism of the holiday. There have not been a few times when family has compared me to that wizened miser made famous by Dickens. In that Victorian tale of redemption the phrase "Bah ... Humbug!" uttered by Scrooge when confronted by nephew Fred’s pronouncement of "Merry Christmas," was a stock phrase. But what does it mean to say something is "humbug"?
While Scrooge was dead wrong in his unbelief that Christmas was a humbug, we must all be able to know when we are confronted by a bit of humbuggery. The difficulty we often face is striking the right posture between cynicism and credulity, between believing nothing and believing everything, between a critical attitude toward all and a naiveté regarding truth and error. So as we face that season filled with belief, the Scrooge in me needs to spread a little holiday doubt at this time of year. It is so easy to become caught up in the festiveness of the season that we can check our brains at the door and be duped far too easily. This is a season filled with wonderful stories which warm our hearts, but if we are not careful we might find ourselves relegating the Gospel to just another myth which magically propels us to morality. As much as the message of Christmas calls each and every one of us to believe, that same truth demands a discernment to disbelieve. There is at Christmas a call to assurance as well as suspicion, for when confronted by the variety of spirits of our day we must be quick to know truth from error, fact from fiction. Faith demands our minds; we must differentiate fact from fable. The Apostle John as an aged elder, encouraged Christians to be cautious about the content of what they heard. In his brief letter he commands Christians to love deeply, but love properly, to love people, but not the world. Likewise, he makes it clear that we are to believe, but believe with discernment. Christianity puts a great stress upon believing, but not believing myths and legends, as many seem to think, but believing facts. Faith is not a way of convincing yourself that something is true when you know it is not, as the adorable little girl in "Miracle on 34th" Street once quipped. But faith is believing something that is true. But it is equally important that every Christian is also called to be an unbeliever. There is a time when unbelief is the right thing. The very same Scriptures which encourage us to believe likewise urge us not to believe. In fact, they not only urge us, they command us not to believe. As much as we must confess some things to be true, we must pronounce others as humbug. And that is what John wants us to understand. Christmas calls us to distinguish truth from error.
The need to test the content of the message - verse 1 In the apostolic age as well as today, whereever there is truth there is error; whereever God is at work, so is the evil one; where ever there is anything of value there are counterfeits. John was concerned for the young Church that it be godly not gullible, susceptible to anyone claiming the power of God. John explained in the end of chapter 3 that the indwelling Holy Spirit is a gracious gift of God. But how can we be certain what we believe is true or that we are just duped? We must remember that unbelief is as much a mark of spiritual maturity as belief. This is such an important section of God’s Word for us today as we seek to maneuver our way through the maze of maniacal ideas soliciting our support. With the proliferation of pseudo-solutions to all that ails us, it is crucial that we know how to distinguish between truth and error. The predicament that we find ourselves in today is not a new challenge to the followers of Jesus, but there is uniqueness to our situation. The uniqueness to our challenge is in the explosion of mass media to bombard us with so many counselors from so many places. (Can You Pass the Test, Mike Hays, 9/8/96) Notice where our disbelief is to be directed: the spirits. When faced with a plethora of opinions, a smorgasbord of faiths, our attention goes toward the philosophy not the person. Discrimination is directed toward the content of the message, the spirit of the prophet. John is clear: there are false prophets in the world, but our concern is with what informs their faith, not they themselves. How often do we accept uncritically all teaching which seems to be given under inspiration? Just because a person is well respected, well educated, manifests powers or abilities which exceed the norm doesn't mean we shouldn't look beyond those things. We must put his beliefs to the test. How can we do that, since we can not look into another’s heart? We can listen to his words, for you must never conclude that the heart is healthy if the words are diseased. We must test the spirits The word "test" was used of verifying the authenticity of a coin to determine if it was counterfeit or genuine. To do so, one would examine carefully and if authentic, it was approved. Questions are being raised about the Hoan Bridge now that it is falling apart. Last summer a WI DOT worker checked out the Bridge – it passed the test – until this past week when it buckled. We expect a test to tell us when something is faulty, unsafe or dangerous. If it was critical the bridge be checked out for the safety of travelers, how much more is it vitally important to verify what is taught, to ascertain what we learn, whether it is from God or not. Just because someone stands on your front step with a Bible in his hands or uses religious jargon on the TV does not guarantee he is speaking truth. Just because a book sits on a shelf of a Christian bookstore does not mean it can automatically be trusted. Just because a person is in agreement with our political or moral agenda on certain issues does not imply that what he says about God or Christ is also trustworthy. What is more, we are easily duped by the slight of hand, by the events we cannot explain. Something appears miraculous because we do not have all the facts and we ascribe it the quality of a sign from God. In the words of Ronald Reagan when dealing with the old USSR: "trust, but verify!" The method to test the content of the message - verse 2There is a confession What the NIV translates as "acknowledge" the Greek has homologia – "saying the same thing." This word means to confess, to say the same thing. The first part of the test is to look beyond whether a teaching says good things, insightful things, powerful things, but to be in line, in sync with what God has already revealed. The test given here is theological. Yet this does not exclude the moral test either. John also applies moral tests, too. In 3:10 and 4:8 there are the tests of godliness and love. But here it is an adherence to truth that is also important. The confession must profess that Jesus is the Christ When we read this we see Jesus Christ as a name, first and last. But the construction has the names as a double accusative: the second name further describes the first. The person must acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one of God, the Messiah. The confession must profess that Jesus as Christ has come and is now in the flesh. The heretics taught that Christ, a divine being, ascended upon the man Jesus at His baptism, withdrawing from Him before His death. John repudiates this doctrine. It was not that the Christ came "into" the flesh of Jesus, but that Jesus was the Christ come "in" the flesh. John’s construction leaves little wiggle room with its simple, but exquisite, precision. It is not enough to talk of Jesus as a good person possessing a good message. What is necessary is that Jesus is God Incarnate. The tense here is important. The confession is not just that Jesus came in the flesh, not just that 2000 years ago a wonderful event took place. John uses the perfect tense here to stress the abiding nature of the Incarnation: Jesus has come and now is in the flesh and He is from God. The wonder of the baby in the manger should grip us still, for the eternal Son of God is still fully God and fully man. During this time of year Newsweek or Time will have a cover story about Jesus. The AP will report what scholars are saying today. This past Tuesday PBS’s "Frontline" had a special: "From Jesus to Christ." On that show a bevy of scholars espoused views that whoever Jesus is, He was not the Christ, but was made such by well intended and earnest followers after His death. Whatever fine degrees they hold or good qualities they possess, when we put their thoughts up against this test, they fail the test. They have denied that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is God in the flesh. At Christmas we receive a gift, perhaps well intended, but doesn’t fit or is not us. We return it. If we use discretion with a sweater how much more with eternal truth? When you hear truth, put it to the test: Does it cohere with the rest of Scripture? The Spirit that indwells each of God’s people will guide us only as we subject our thoughts to God’s Word. Scripture must always be our final arbiter of every thought, idea. Does it have Christ and His work on the Cross as the central feature? Is the message Christo-centric? This simple test given here assumes our sinfulness, requiring God to come to us to save us from His wrath. It contains the centrality of the Incarnation which leads to redemption for our reconciliation. What is more, it calls us to see the present value of Christ’s intercession as He still pleads with the wounds on His nail-scared hands. The test of truthfulness is truth. It is not whether it feels right, whether it produces results which jive with our preconceived notions. The only test of truth is truth. If the message about the God we serve or the person of Christ does not mesh with these facts, then there is only one conclusion possible – it is the spirit of antichrist. John here simply states the origin as that which opposes Christ. This title is common in the Church today to refer to some geo-political ruler. But just as the Gospel is not good news of political salvation, so the anti-Christian message is not one of politics either. We don’t find the antichrist leading the WTO or the UN; we find him in the false thinking we engage in each and every day, the uncritical acceptance of bad theology. Character of the audience - (verses 4-6)Our character is determined by our savior - verse 4 It is easy to become discouraged when faced with the daunting task to discriminate truth and error. There are those who, taking serious this task, become overwhelmed with fear, seeing heresy behind every rock. They mistakenly imagine that weight of Christ’s Body rests on their shoulders. While the we must discern the content of the messages we hear, we have good news – our victory is guaranteed by Christ. His victory is now ours. John says we have overcome them. You have already won the battle. The verb is in the perfect tense, meaning that victory is won and secured. Fear must never grip us as we face the world, for we are overcomers. The word there is nikao, the noun being nike. The sneaker uses this name with its trademark swoop, signifying the wing of the god Mercury. But whereas the slogan there forces those who wear the shoe to "just do it" we are told: "It is done!" This is the benefit of the above confession. If Jesus has come and now is in the flesh, our victory is secured. That one who is in the world, the antichrist, is no match for Christ. When humbug comes our way, when the lies of the evil one abound pronouncing evil good and good evil, we have this confidence. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. This is borne out in the Christmas story itself; it is seen on Calvary, too. Despite the stratagems of Satan, that helpless babe in the manger is God Incarnate, so that all the forces which sought to destroy Him were themselves consumed. Our character is distinct from the world - (verses 5-6)The message we believe is from outside our world - verse 5 John gives another means to verify the source. When the content of the philosophy is tethered to the earth, be careful. When the teaching is warmed over mush from ages gone by touting a cyclical view of history, a constant flux of good and evil in a never-ending cycle of life – watch out. Christ broke through history to tell us there is an end. The Incarnation tells us that life is not an endless cycle filled with despair, but that there is a beginning and an end. The first coming tells us that there will be a second and then the end. The message of the Cross runs counter to the desire for self-sufficiency and personal ability to make oneself better. The Cross breaks the back of the teaching which promises a better life if we make ourselves better people. In the place of these earth-bound lies comes the promise of an alien righteousness, given to us by God. Our standing before God comes not on the basis of what we know, of what we do, of who we are – but who God’s one and only Son is and has done and is now doing for us.The message we believe is from outside ourselves - verse 6 When I first read this, it sounds rather conceited. It rings of the old ploy of the cults who demand complete allegiance. Yet this is not a claim you or I can make of ourselves. I would never claim, "If you disagree with me, you disagree with God!" John here is making a special claim, as an apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is the second stage of the test, the first being a test of doctrine, whether one confesses that Jesus is God Incarnate. This second test is whether this is accepted. We are to first test the content of the message and then the conduct of the audience to determine the truth of what is being taught. There is a relationship between God’s Word and God’s people. As Jesus said in John 10, "My sheep hear my voice." Test the teaching, don’t just accept it. You and I should not simply test the teachings being offered by society; we should test the teachings being offered in the Church. You should search your Bible to see if the sermons you hear here each Sunday are biblical or if I am off base. You should scrutinize your Sunday school teachers' lessons to make sure they are teaching God’s Word. Look closely and see if the teachings are from God. So on this Christmas Eve, as we warmly embrace the truth of the Gospel, as we are reminded that Christ has come in the flesh, let us embrace the truth and in so doing, set aside error. |
