I John Revisit - Part 3

Today we finally wrap up the series on I John 4:1-6. By way of review, we are addressing the question of testing the spirits. How does a Christian know what teachers are true or false, what prophets are true or false, and what teachings are true and false. The way that John addresses the issue is stated plainly in verse 1, "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." (ESV) At issue then, is the discernment of the Christian with respect to teaching that he/she would receive. From what I can see, there are at least six critical questions that the discerning Christian can ask to determine whether or not a teacher/prophet/teaching is true or false. Questions 1-3 can be seen on the post on 11/21, and question 4 can be seen on the post from 11/23.

Before we get into questions 5 and 6, I thought that it might be helpful to point out some of the natural ways that we might evaluate teaching. These questions are not necessarily bad, they just don't help us to ultimately determine the truth of the teaching. Some of the questions that we ask ourselves (consciously or subconsciously) are:

• "Do they make me laugh?" - Like it or not, we live in an entertainment culture, and that culture has infiltrated the church. We have now come to the unfortunate place in Christianity that we are comparing the teaching of the word of God with programming that we see on Comedy Central. Now I'm a funny guy, and I like to laugh just as much as the next guy; however, we have taken this idea to extremes when it comes to preaching and teaching. Countless times I have sat in a church service where the teaching was thin at best, and the preacher's main goal seemed to be to spend 75% of their time telling funny stories or jokes, and 25% of their time reading Scripture and making comments about it. Often times, I've walked away thinking that they should have spent 100% of their time with the funny stuff, since the stuff that they did say about Scripture was, um, unhelpful, only to have other Christians that heard the same stuff say, "Wasn't that good!?" What they really mean is, "Wasn't that funny?" Now it is very possible to be funny and good, and all humor contains an element of truth (so does all false teaching), but funny cannot be the goal, nor can it be the sole criteria by which we evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching. My encouragement would be to let humor be a non-issue when evaluating teaching. Whether a teacher is funny or not should be as pertinent as whether or not they have a dog. It just doesn't matter.
• "Are they good-looking?" (or worse, "Am I attracted to them?") - I can think of several well-known ministries that have attracted people that I know to them with little more than physical appearance. Again, it should be a non-issue (see Isaiah 53:2).
• "Are they charismatic?" - By charismatic, I don't mean in the theological sense. I mean, spitt'n and holler'n and carry'n on, as they say in the South. Now, I believe in being passionate about the things that you believe in, especially when what you believe in is the greatest truth on earth, but nowhere in I John, or anywhere else in the New Testament are we encouraged to judge whether or not someone "got their preach on".
• "Do I want to be like them?" - Often times we are drawn to a teacher/preacher because they have some admirable quality that we would like to emulate in our own life. This is not all bad because all Christian teachers should be setting an example in life in love in doctrine, etc. However, sometimes it is not these Biblical qualities that we are holding up as our examples. Sometimes it is just that they dress nice, or have a measure of material success, or are a very powerful and commanding personality, or they have achieved some personal milestone. All of these things can be said of Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. Surely we should hold higher standards for our teachers.
• "Are they 'spiritual'?" - And by 'spiritual' I mean eccentric. Unfortunately we have often gotten these two terms confused in Christendom. I thought about giving specific examples, but that would seem to be ungracious. Turn on your TV. You'll get the idea.

My contention is that these (and many other criteria) are what the typical person uses to evaluate teaching. Instead, let's look to I John and find out what questions we should ask to determine whether or not a teaching is true or false.

Question 5 - Does the world listen to them?

• I John 4:5, "They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them."
• Not a lot needs to be said from this question other than what has already been said in question #4. The only thing that I would add is that this removes the pragmatism that rules the day in modern Christian thought. See John 6:66 and 8:31-59 where Jesus gives teaching that drives away people that had already believed in him. If the crowds are large and everybody likes them, that doesn't necessarily qualify them as a true teacher. Large crowds don't disqualify the teaching either; the question is if the world listens to them and embraces their teaching without ever being confronted on the larger scriptural points of sin and gospel.

Question 6 - Do they listen to scriptural rebuke?

• I John 4:6, "6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
• When someone rises to the level that they cease being humble and teachable, they are in grave danger for error.
• James 3 says that all teachers stumble in many ways, and we all need spiritual brothers and sisters to reprove and rebuke us in grace and love.
• Don't ever stop listening to rebuke.

Well, here's hoping that your ears are open to all scriptural teaching, and that your hearts are guarded from all false teaching.

Soli Deo Gloria!