The title of today's blog post may seem a little odd, but John's purpose is to tell us how to know the difference between those who sincerely belong to the Lord and those who do not. He was living in a time when deceivers were busy trying to turn people astray. They were in the deception business for various reasons. Some were doing it for financial gain by charging people to hear their lectures. Others were doing it to satisfy a longing for attention and acceptance. Some were angry and rebellious toward God and wanted to prevent as many people as possible from worshiping Him. We could think of many different reasons why a person might want to entice others into following false doctrine, but sin is at the root of all these reasons.
False teachers weren't present only in John's day. They are present in our day also. The most dangerous ones are not those who openly promote traditional forms of idolatry (the type that involves bowing to an image), or those who are cult leaders (since most people who possess a normal amount of self-esteem and who function well in society will not be attracted to cults). No, the most dangerous false teachers are those who pose as Christian teachers and evangelists.
Why do so many people tune in to TV programs to listen to "prosperity gospels"? They want to believe (contrary to Scripture) that following the Lord is a guarantee of financial gain. Why do so many people want to hear what I like to call "feel-good gospels"? Because they want someone to tell them they are okay just as they are. They want to hear someone say, "You're basically a good person. God loves you. He created you and that makes you His child. He's not going to allow you to spend eternity separated from Him. You just need to do good works and give money to the church, and everything will be alright." You'll notice that in these "feel-good gospels" there's no mention of the fact that we are sinners who desperately need redemption. You'll notice that there's no mention of the blood of Christ. These teachers claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ, but they never honor Him by speaking of the things He did to secure salvation for all who will give their hearts to Him. They won't talk about the way He was rejected, or about how He was beaten mercilessly, or about how He suffered a torturous death on the cross. Talking about these things would require the false teachers to admit that we are all sinners, for if we aren't sinners then there was no need for Christ to come, and if we aren't sinners there was certainly no need for Him to suffer in our place. The next time you listen to a teacher or preacher on the radio or on TV, take note whether they make any mention of the sinful nature of man. Notice whether they talk about the cross and about the blood Jesus shed for mankind. Listen to see whether they tell their listeners how to obtain redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.
John begins by reminding us who we are---the children of God through Christ Jesus the Lord. Keeping this in mind will keep us from falling into a number of hurtful sins. John has been telling us this week that if we belong to Christ we will do and say the things Christ would do and say. Not only should we resemble Him in this life, but we who are faithful to Him will look like Him for eternity. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure." (1 John 3:2-3)
We know that Christ rose from the dead in an immortal body. He did not rise from the dead in spirit form, but in bodily form. He made this very evident by inviting the disciples to touch Him after the resurrection so they could see for themselves that He was still made of flesh and bone like human beings. (Luke 24:39) He ate in front of the disciples so they would know that His resurrected body was capable of eating food like human beings. (Luke 24:41, John 21:5) But His resurrected body was capable of doing things no human body can do, for He could appear and disappear at will. (Luke 24:36, John 20:19) We don't understand what kind of body this is, but we have been promised one just like it. So John says, "It's not clear to us exactly what our bodies will be like in eternity. But we know they will be like Christ's. We know that the Lord is going to take these mortal bodies we presently have and change them into immortal bodies like Christ's. Knowing this, we have a duty to keep our mortal bodies pure in reverence to Him."
Today we've taken a look at the first half of John's message in Chapter 3 regarding those who belong to the Lord and those who do not. Today's portion was about those who are in Christ---the children of God. In tomorrow's study we will look at those whom John calls "the children of the devil".
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