Thursday – Letters

Reading – 1 John 4

Highlight Verse:

“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have said before that having different denominations is a good thing as different people will be attracted to Jesus through different styles of churches.

But there are limits.

This chapter lays out two tests to identify those who are teaching or preaching or prophesying falsely.

The first test is whether or not someone preaches that Jesus physically came to Earth as a man (v. 2-3).

If it only looked like Jesus sacrificed himself, then there would be no real sacrifice for our sins. Without that sacrifice, we cannot have a true relationship with God.

But He did come as a human and the sacrifice on the cross was real!

Secondly, love (agapē – selfless, sacrificial love) is a proof of genuine faith in Jesus (v. 8 )

This is not a warm fuzzy feeling for your fellow believers.

This kind of love puts your fellow believers’ needs before your own.

It is the same kind of love that motivated Jesus to come and give His life for us.

If a church – meaning the whole body, including but not limited to the pastor(s) – does not show genuine care and concern for people, there’s something seriously wrong there.

Does your church pass the two tests of this chapter?
Do we?
If the answer is “no” to either of those questions, what should be our next step?