Sun 14 Jun

Going shopping can be challenging experience. You are asked to pop down to the local supermarket to purchase some milk. You walk into the milk section expecting to find one type of milk, after all milk is milk isn’t. Apparently not! Do you want full cream, low fat, skim, calcium enriched, and a few more, and you come away wishing you had paid more attention to the instructions you were given when sent for the task of purchasing what you thought would be simple bottle of milk.

In 1 John 4:1-6, John gives some simple instructions for determining who to listen to when it comes to hearing the good news of Jesus. With so many denominations, so-called Christian cults, and religions all purporting to have the truth, who do you believe?

John challenges his readers and listeners to consider some easy tests. Is the Christian preacher or teacher you are listing to stating the obvious – Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is the only way to peace with God? It is a simple test. What does your teacher believe concerning Jesus? For the matter, what do you  believe concerning Jesus?

John likes tests and so he imposes a second test. Is your favourite teacher walking and teaching in accordance with the Holy Scriptures? When John writes about people listening to “us”, the “us” are the biblical writers. So does our favoured preacher teach in accordance with what God had revealed in His Word?

It is easy for us to apply these tests to someone else. Ask yourself, “Is what you believe concerning Jesus in line with what John has written? Are you walking obediently to God’s Word?