Test the Spirits: A Meditation on 1st John 4

As we continue looking at the first epistle of St. John, we read some clear distinctions being made in chapter four between the Holy Spirit given to Christians by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the various false spirits that pervert every age.  This was necessary in John's time, because people went about claiming to have the Holy Spirit, or to have communications from Him, but conflicted with the Word of Christ given through the Prophets and Apostles.  The fundamental issue for the Christian community, was how to know who to believe, when someone came to town claiming to have been inspired by God.

Far from unique in John's time, this problem has plagued the Church and the world from the beginning.  In the Garden of Eden at the temptation and fall of our first parents, the devil proposed to have a better word than what God had given-- the consequences of which has been suffering, sin, and death for the whole human race.  After God gave His Word to Noah, the world still disregarded it, until it was swept away in the great flood.  When God gave His Word to Moses, there were rebellions against it from both inside and outside the people of Israel.  The Prophets often called the people back to God's Word when they wandered off after other gods, even through captivity and war.  The Word of God became flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the nation crucified Him.  The Apostles bore witness to Jesus, and the world persecuted them.  The Church has born the Word of God throughout the ages, and from age to age, persecution has arisen against that Word by those who bring another word... another spirit.

Given how common the resistance of sinful men has been to the Word of God ever since the fall of man, we should not be surprised to see the same resistance and rebellion in our own day.  Inside the Church, we have people claiming to hear the Spirit tell them that God now approves of sexual deviance (adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc,) and murder (abortion, feticide, infanticide, suicide, etc.).  We have self proclaimed prophets, claiming that the Holy Spirit has told them that God no longer wants us to walk in the way of Jesus' Cross and suffering, but rather wants us to be prosperous and wealthy in this world.  We even have these prophets teaching the people a new definition of faith which turns God into their own personal valet, grace into material opulence and moral laxity, and the Gospel into social or political liberation.  Some of these prophets teach that man is not created in the image of God, but evolved from the mire by chance-- an accident of inanimate matter and energy, somehow now seeking a God who may himself be evolving along with us.  With such a cacophony of disparate voices all claiming to be from the same God, how is the Christian to sort it all out?

St. John gives a clear and simple method for doing just that.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits
to see if they are from God, for many false prophets
have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not
confess Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist,
which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them,
for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world,
and the world listens to them.
We 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.
(4:1-6, ESV)

The simple rule St. John gives to Christians in his day, and every day, is to test the spirits-- the proposed teachings of self proclaimed prophets-- against the established witness of the bona fide Prophets and Apostles of God.  The ancient Hebrews knew this same principle, which is why they gathered together the writings of the Prophets into what we now call the Old Testament.  The first Christians understood this, too, as they gathered together the writings of the Apostles into the New Testament, and bound them together into our Bibles.  Since the last of the Apostles died, the canon of Scripture has been closed, though it may have taken a few decades to collect all the various letters together.  This authentic record of God's Holy Spirit, speaking and writing through the Prophets and Apostles, is the measure by which any new prophet must be judged.

And though our itching, sinful ears often yearn to hear the false melodies of lying spirits, John reminds us again that the Christian is of God.  As such, the Christian is bound to the authentic Word of God which comes to wash us of our sins, give us new life, and eternal salvation in the very Word Made Flesh:  Jesus Christ.  We have been given ears to hear the Law of God's wrath against all sin and evil, and ears to hear and believe His Gospel of redemption in Jesus.  The ears and heart of our new man-- of our new nature, born from above by water and Spirit-- resists the false and twisted words of false and twisted prophets, preferring the pure spiritual milk of Jesus speaking through His true Prophets and Apostles.

Are you confused today by the multitude of Christian groups, denominations, sects, and cults?  Do you wonder where you can turn for the truth, when the air is thick with lies?  Return to the Word of God.  There you will find Jesus, crucified and risen for you, that you might live forgiven and free forever.  If your church or your pastor has left the Scriptures, call him back to faith and repentance-- and if he will not hear you, find a church and a pastor that still clings to the inspired and inerrant Word.  There, the lies of the evil one will be put to flight, and the only thing remaining to hear will be Jesus your savior, calling you to repent, believe, and live in Him by His grace through faith.  There, and there alone, will you find the Truth that sets you free.

Amen.

Faith and Love: A Meditation on John 3

Among the things I appreciate so greatly from the writings of St. John, is his ability to show the inseparability of truths in tension.  John begins his epistle with noting the unity between the Father and the Son, the Apostles and Jesus, the believers and the Apostles, and all of them bound up together in the Eternal Word of God.  No heretic of any time or place can withstand what John writes about the unity of God and Man in Jesus, and the unity of salvation offered to the whole world in Jesus Christ alone… even though history is littered with the vain attempts of selfish and small minds, who try to pit Jesus against the Father, the Apostles against the Prophets, the Apostles against Jesus, the Apostles against each other, or even the Word of God against itself.  John reminds us that God is Truth, and Light, and Life everlasting, and that our only fellowship with Him is through His Son who is His Eternal Word.  This unity of God cannot be broken by anything in all creation, nor can the unity of man with God through Jesus Christ be broken by anything other than our refusal to abide in Him.

Now turning to the life of the Christian in chapter three, John reminds us that our fellowship with God will show up in our lives.  Anyone who says they love God and hate their brother is liar, because to love God is to love one’s brother, as well.  Anyone who says they love God and denies Jesus Christ is a liar, because to love God the Father is to love His Only Begotten Son.  Anyone who says they love Jesus and willfully remains in sin is a liar, because loving Jesus is to abide in Him by faith and repentance.  Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth, in whom there is no darkness or sin at all, came into the world to destroy the wicked works of the devil—not to encourage or support them.  Anyone who would abide in the life and salvation of Christ by grace through faith, will abide in His love.  There is no one who abides in Jesus, and does not abide in His love.

This is a hard pill to swallow for the modern Church.  Many of our communions have divorced the life of Christ from the life of the Christian, endorsing patterns of life that reject Jesus and His Word.  How can anyone honestly believe that they abide in Christ, and murder children?  Or indulge in sexual deviancy?  Or oppress the poor and downtrodden?  How can anyone who knows Jesus by His Word, claim to abide in Jesus while discarding His Word?  The truth that St. John points out to us is that no one can.  We should not be deceived, or deceive ourselves, into thinking that we have fellowship with God, when we have rejected the Word of His Son.

But such sins are not relegated to only the marquee blasphemies of our times.  Pride, malice, hatred, covetousness, sloth, lust, and all the dirty pleasures of our secret thoughts, are damnable, too.  Do you think that you have fellowship with Jesus, while you seethe with hate for your neighbor, even though you cover it up with a pious smile?  Do you think you abide in Jesus, when your lust boils just below your socially acceptable façade, hidden within your private internet web browser?  Do you think you share in Jesus’ life, when you allow your covetous eye to slowly and quietly disposes your neighbor of his goods or your company of money?  Have you convinced yourself that your sins are not so terrible, because nobody can see them, or because society has generally degraded to the point of embracing them?  St. John sends his warning to conniving and despicable sinners such as us, that no one who gives himself to such sins, has any fellowship with Jesus.

This is the clarity and severity of the Law and Gospel of God.  Jesus Christ has indeed died for the sins of the world, and He does indeed offer the grace of His forgiveness freely to all who will repent, believe, and trust in Him.  But such faith is a living and breathing thing, so that it must work out its life and trust in Jesus in the works of love which gave it birth.  Therefore there is no
Christian who does not live in both faith in Jesus, and repentance for their sins; there is no saving faith in Jesus apart from the love of Jesus lived out in the believing Christian.

And we, who live in this world as both sinner and saint, hear John’s words with both fear and hope.  That we are sinners down deep to our core, we know that we shall never have anything to boast of in ourselves, but that our whole life should be one of repentance:  the constant battle to subdue our sinful flesh, and brutally drown it in the waters of our Baptism.  And that we are saints, washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, we will trust in the forgiveness of our sins for Christ’s sake alone, casting all our hope upon His crucified and risen shoulders.  Thus the Christian lives by grace through faith in Christ alone, in constant faith and vigorous repentance before the Cross of Christ.

Where does this severe yet beautiful Word of God meet you today?  If it finds you comfortable in your sins, whatever they are, be warned!  Repent, that you might not die in your sins, apart from the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ.  If it finds you broken and bedraggled, waging your daily war against the devil, hell, and your own sinful flesh, continually wrestling with the wickedness that goes all the way into your core, be comforted!  For Christ has come to save sinners, of whom we are chief.  And to all mankind, the Word of Christ calls, that we may leave the paths of death and destruction, abiding in Him forever, sharing His blessed communion with the Holy Trinity, the Prophets and Apostles, Saints and Martyrs, Doctors and Confessors of every time and place, who have found their faith and love inseparable in Jesus.  Hear the Word Made Flesh as He calls to you:  Repent.  Believe.  Live.

Amen.

Repentance and the Forgiveness of Sins: A Meditation on Luke 24, for the 2nd Sunday after Easter

After rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples, Jesus proceeded to teach them what the point of His Cross actually was.  First He had to show His disciples that He was not some kind of ghost, but that He has arisen in the same body He was crucified in, only now glorified in a way that could never die again.  Still bearing the marks of the nails and the spear, His glorified body is real and tangible, such that His disciples could touch Him, eat with Him, listen to Him, and embrace Him.  His first lesson to them after the resurrection was that He is the Lord of Life whom death and hell cannot hold.  Jesus is victor over the greatest of man’s enemies, shattering the strength of sin and the devil.  Jesus showed in His resurrection what He taught them before His Passion:  that He is in His very Person the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

If the lesson had stopped there, it would be of no consolation to the disciples.  A resurrected and victorious Jesus as an example of how to merit eternal life is still a despairing sight.  Who among the disciples could think themselves capable of living the life He lived, from His miraculous conception in the Blessed Virgin Mary, through His prophetic and miraculous ministry, and even unto His death and rising again?  Who among us would think that we can replicate the footsteps of Jesus, drink the cup of His suffering, and do so without failure or sin?  Jesus in His example of victory is absolutely necessary to reveal Him for who He is, but His example alone does not bring peace to His disciples.  No one alive then, or alive now, could duplicate or approximate Jesus’ example, because no one in the history of the world will ever be like Him:  Fully God and Fully Man, the Second Person of the undivided Holy Trinity.

Knowing that man has no capacity to do what He had done, Jesus teaches His disciples what the whole of Scripture testify regarding Him.  His lesson continues:

And he said unto them, These are the

words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,

that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the

law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,

concerning me. Then opened he their

understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it

behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third

day: And that repentance and remission of sins

should be preached in his name among all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of

these things.

The point and the purpose of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was not simply to demonstrate His power and victory, but to give that victory to His people.  The death which stalks every human being since the fall into sin, and the devil with his legions of fallen angels who roam about the earth seeking someone to devour, are bound, condemned, and defeated in Jesus’ victory.  Jesus does not tell His disciples to attempt to earn eternal life by following His model, but rather gives to fallen and dying mankind the fruits of His labors.  When He sends out His disciples as Apostles (the eyewitnesses of His life, death, and resurrection) with the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, Jesus is sending forth His victory by His Word.  This is the Gospel—the Good News—that Jesus has saved us from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil, when we were incapable of saving ourselves.  This gift of salvation is freely given, because there is no way mankind can earn it.  Hence it is a salvation by His grace, received in faith, and not by our own works, lest anyone should boast in himself rather than Jesus and His victory by His Cross.

And what is this great Good News of salvation, except the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins?  What greater Word can we hear from the throne of God Almighty, than the call for us to turn from our ways of sin and death, and receive the free gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation that come by Jesus Christ alone?  What sweeter Word could ever be spoken to a humanity condemned to die, than that eternal life has been won for them in Jesus?  What greater peace can penetrate the stone of a cold and dying heart, than the love of Jesus which declares to you the forgiveness of your sins?  What greater joy can be given, than by the Living Word which calls us to lay down our pride, our avarice, our lust, our hatred, and all the tortuous tools of our slavery to death and the devil, that we might receive the riches of grace and mercy and eternal life?  Indeed, there is no greater Word that comes to man than Jesus risen from the tomb, preaching to us by His Apostolic witnesses the wonders of His victory by faith and repentance in His Name.  There is no greater joy, no greater peace, no greater sweetness, than the Lord of Life giving His life to dying man, forgiving him his sins, and calling him into His fellowship forever.

And so to you, dear Christian, comes the Word of Life, even today.  He who is victorious over all your enemies, all your pain and suffering, all your misery and sorrow, all your despair and abuse, all your persecution and confusion, all your sin and shame—it is He who calls you into His Life and victory forever.  Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary, calls to you, that you may turn from your ways of death, and receive His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Hear the sweetness of His call, the power of His victory, the peace of His embrace.  Hear Him.  Repent.  Believe.  Live.

Amen.

Why Listen? A Meditation on 1st John 1

Among all the noises and sounds of modern life, the voice of the Prophets and Apostles are significantly out of tune.  They don't sound like the wise purveyors of academic theory, or the sage disciples of political cohorts.  They don't sound much like philosophers seated on either university steps or bar stools.  They don't sound like entertainers or novelists or businessmen or advertisers.  In fact, they don't sound like anything this world would create or promote on its own.  But that's precisely why they are worth listening to.

Everything that people think or dream up on their own, is bound up in their human experience.  It arises from their passions and their fears, their hopes and their desires.  It starts from within them, and can only ascend as high as their own intellect.  To be sure, people have come up with beautiful works of art and thought, but they arise no higher than themselves, because a person cannot be more than he is... and any group of people cannot be any more than the sum of the individuals assembled.  Man is man-- finite, limited, and fallen.  And while he may have been created to do great things, some of which remain within his power, he is also capable of great evil, having lost his created purity.  But for all that man is, he is only capable of bringing forth out of his own resources, that which he is.  The world, awash in the ideas and ambitions of man, reflects him.

This reflection is not so endearing.  Ultimately, for all the wealth man accumulates, and all the power he amasses; for all the passion he pursues and all the dreams he brings to light; for all his works of art and literature, politics and philosophy; for all his great and terrible aspirations, man still dies.  From the earth we were taken, and to the earth we shall return, for we are bound in the death of our fall.  No one escapes it, from intellectuals to fools, kings to paupers.  As Solomon noted 3000 years ago, and wise people have observed ever since, death makes equals of us all.

This is why the words of the Prophets and the Apostles strike our ears so strangely.  They aren't really of this world.  They come through all too human people and languages, but the word they carry is not their own.  Those Prophets and Apostles were called by One who is above heaven and earth, beyond death and the fall, beyond time and space.  The word of Him who was here before the beginning, and will be here after the end, who is Himself the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  His word sounds strange and alien to our fallen ears, because He is from above, and we are from below, fallen and broken and dying.  The One from whom all life comes speaks, and those who are slaves to death find hearing Him hard.  He speaks words that curtail our passions, limit our aspirations, and guide our thoughts away from depravity.  He speaks words that convict us of our brokenness, and words of love that surpass our every attempt at love.  He tells us where we come from, how we came to be in this deadly state, and what our fate is apart from Him.  And most importantly, He tells us of the salvation He has been working out for us ever since we corrupted ourselves.  He tells us of His love and mercy poured out through His Only Begotten Son, His very Word Made Flesh, who bore the sins of the world, conquered death, and rose from the grave to save our fallen world.  He tells us of forgiveness, life, and salvation that death and hell cannot contain, and a hope that cannot fail.  He tells us of Jesus.

Why should we listen to the Prophets and Apostles?  Because they have fellowship with Jesus, living in Him by His grace through faith in Him.  And Jesus, having called them by His Word, sent them with His Word, to give that same fellowship of forgiveness and life to all who would hear and believe that Word.  Jesus sent His Word to seek and to save fallen, lost, and dying people, so that they might receive His eternal life.  The Prophets sealed the people of their day by the promise of God's redemption which was yet to come in Jesus, and the Apostles sealed the people of their day by bearing witness to the redemption which Jesus accomplished on His Cross.  Jesus the Word sought out the Prophets and Apostles to bear witness to Him, so that all might share that blessed fellowship with Him forever.

That same Word comes to you today, written by those Prophets and Apostles in Holy Scripture so many centuries ago, and born anew by the lips of His saints and martyrs in every age.  His Word comes to rescue you from brokenness and death, bringing to you forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.  His Word of Law and Gospel may strike your ears as hard, alien words, but that is because they are.  They are not human words, bound to rise no higher than this broken and fallen world.  They are the Words of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier-- of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God now and forever-- which come from above this world, calling everyone to a life beyond this world.  This is the Word of Life which accomplishes the purposes for which the Lord of Life sends it, calling you to life by faith and repentance in Him.

Hear His Word, strange as it may seem.  Hear the Word which heals and makes alive, which retrains evil and promotes holiness, which forgives and blesses and loves without measure.  Hear the Word of Jesus, who conquered death for you, that you might live in Him forever, bound together in the whole household of faith, which lives forgiven and free in His Eternal Word.  Amen.

Jesus saith unto her, "Mary": An Easter Meditation on John 20

In the deep, dark gloom of that first Easter morning, the disciples were consumed in grief.  Having followed Jesus through His ministry, witnessed His miracles, heard His teaching, and experienced His compassion, they were now wrestling with the stark reality of death.  Jesus, the Light that had enlightened their world, was gone.  The darkness of those three days must have been overwhelming, watching and waiting for the next shoe to drop, and their own death to come either sooner or later.

But as is often the case in grief, people find things to do.  The women who followed Jesus went to His tomb to finish the burial process that was so quickly executed the previous Friday.  But upon their arrival, the stone that had been sealed over the tomb by Pontius Pilate was rolled away.  Immediately they ran and told the disciples, and Peter and John ran back to the tomb… only to find the grave clothes set neatly in their places.  As the disciples wandered incredulously  back to the house, Mary Magdalene sat weeping outside the tomb.  One can imagine that into her darkness and despair, the seemingly unthinkable insult had been added to the injury:  Jesus body was stolen.  Through her tears, she heard the angels speak to her, but couldn’t understand that they were angels.  Then came the words of the risen Jesus to her, asking her why she wept.  To this repeat of the angel’s question, Mary’s terrible grief prompts her to think Jesus is just a gardener, and that she will demand to take Jesus’ body back from him.  Mary’s descent into the throes of lamentation have so clouded her mind, that she cannot even discern what is right in front of her.

Jesus pierced her gloom by speaking her name—and immediately His light and life broke through to her.  Her lovingly gasped reply of Rabboni shows that she both heard and understood Him for who He was.  Lost in grief and despair, Jesus changed everything for Mary in the instant He called her name.

So it is for us, too.  We who walk in the darkness of the fallen world, are often tempted to grief and despair.  We suffer in our own flesh, and we live alongside the suffering of others.  We see death working itself out in us, and in all the people around us.  We see communities and republics fall to the forces of evil, even as the ceaseless whispers of wickedness enter our own ears from the relentless deception of the evil one.  We are surrounded by disease, death, and despair, as the pillars of society crumble.  We watch our churches strain at gnats while swallowing camels, clergy more attentive to their own political interests than the good of the people, and people who demand clergy who will scratch their itching ears with anything but the Word of God.  It is a dark and oppressive mess in many parts of this world, brought on by the sin and wickedness we let loose upon it so many millennia ago.  We often sit weeping in our pain and suffering, unable to see what is right in front of our tear clouded eyes.

To you and to me, comes the call of Jesus.  He speaks your name just as He did Mary’s so very long ago.  He enters your death, your suffering, your pain, your despair, and gives you light, and life, and forgiveness, and hope.  He brings to you His own victory over death and the grave, and imparts to you a peace that can never be taken away.  The Light of the World is not extinguished—but rather, it shines with all the brilliance of God’s eternal love for mankind.  Jesus is the One who dispels our gloom, calling us out of our darkness, and into His marvelous light.

As it did 2000 years ago, so it does today:  Jesus changes everything.  Is darkness closing in upon you?  Is the devil whispering in your ear?  Are your eyes so full of tears that you cannot see a single step ahead of where you are?  Are you so full of fear that you struggle to rise up and pass the threshold of your door, let alone plunge into the world at large?  Hear Jesus call your name, ever so gently and lovingly.  Hear Him as He enters your darkness, your temptation, your sorrow, and your fear.  Hear Him as He takes all your troubles upon His almighty shoulders, and pins them to His Cross forever.  Hear Him as He passes through your death, and returns to give you life everlasting.  Hear Him call your name, giving to you faith to believe His promises of forgiveness, life and salvation, and His grace by which you are born again into Him.  He has made all things new by His Passion and Resurrection, and He calls to make you new today as well.  Hear Him.  Amen.