1 John 5:1-12 [NLTse]
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children, too. 2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding His blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, Who is truth, confirms it with His testimony. 7 So we have these three witnesses—8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. 9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about His Son. 10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about His Son.
11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
Sermon
We called ourselves to Worship this morning talking about a false teaching about Jesus that had begun being taught around the early church, and we talked about a modern parallel to that false teaching that is still being promoted today. Let me share with you some other beliefs about Jesus that are being taught today.
Jews believe Jesus was a rabbi, but nothing more than a popular teacher Who was respected by His followers and opponents alike. They do believe that Jesus had supernatural powers and that He worked miracles, but they believe His power came from the devil, not from God. Jews believe that Jesus claimed to be their Messiah, the King of Israel, but that eventually His claim was proven wrong. Although they believe that Jesus was crucified, Jews deny that He was ever raised from the dead…
We’ve already shared a little bit about what Muslims think of Jesus, but let me add some things. Muslims do believe that Jesus was conceived by God and born of a virgin. Muslims revere Jesus as one of God’s most important prophets. They believe He was a divinely wise teacher and an apostle sent by God specifically to Israel. But they do not believe He was God. Muslims believe Jesus performed many miracles even from childhood, and they even believe He ascended bodily into Heaven. And they believe He will sit beside Allah during the Judgment. But as I mentioned earlier, they deny that He was ever crucified, saying it was an illusion or that Judas was crucified instead of Him and was mistaken for Him. (There are some Muslim denominations that believe Jesus was indeed crucified, but they believe He survived the cross and continued to preach and teach and perform great miracles across a long life.)
Baha’i Faith believes Jesus was one of many manifestations of God and one of many messengers God has sent across history to gradually reveal His truth. They believe Abraham, Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster were other manifestations and messengers. All that Christianity teaches about Jesus Baha’i Faith teaches about Jesus, too, including his virgin birth, having both divine and human natures, working miracles, being crucified for the sins of humanity, and being raised from the dead. However, Baha’i Faith also believes that all of this is true for all of God’s manifestations and messengers, as well.
Hindus believe Jesus was one of the many gods that inhabit the cosmos and that have revealed divine characteristics to humanity. They believe He lived and taught superior ethics, and revere Him as a teacher, as well.
Buddhists believe Jesus was an enlightened man, that is, One Who lived His life by self-sacrifice and showing compassion to those in spiritual need. The teachings of Jesus are highly respected by Buddhists, especially His teachings about loving neighbors and demonstrating kindness and forgiveness. The Dalai Lama even speaks of Jesus and Buddha as being equally holy and enlightened.
New Age believers have a variety of beliefs about Jesus but widely agree that Jesus was a wise moral teacher. In general, New Age believers see Jesus as Someone Who completed the process of “spiritual evolution” that they believe all human beings are called to attain. (They believe such “spiritual evolution” occurs over successive generations of reincarnation.) (But, if you remember my sermon from several weeks ago, we’ve seen that the Bible makes clear that reincarnation is not true.)
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is God’s only direct creation, that everything else was created through Jesus Christ by means of God’s power. They believe Jesus served as a redeemer and a ransom-sacrifice to pay for the sins of humanity, consider Him to be the only intercessor and high priest between God and humanity, and believe that He has been appointed by God as the King and Judge of God’s Kingdom, but they also believe that references in the Bible to the Archangel Michael and Abaddon (or Apollyon) the Destroyer all refer to Jesus, as well.
Like Jehovah’s Witnesses and some others, Mormons believe that Jesus was/is a created being; that Jesus was first created as a spirit-being along with Satan. They believe He was born into humanity because He offered Himself to God to be humanities’ savior while Satan only offered to accuse humanity of all their sins. Mormons believe that Adam lived such a perfect life that he became God the Father. Likewise, they believe Jesus lived such a perfect life that He, too, was awarded deity, just as every human being can be.
So Jews believe Jesus was a great but deluded teacher, a demon-empowered miracle-worker, and a Messiah wanna-be who died on a cross 2,000 years ago. But in order to believe such things they are calling God a liar and they do not have eternal life.
Muslims believe Jesus was sent by Allah – God – to reveal God to humanity. But they don’t believe Jesus died for sins. Muslims believe He revealed Allah perfectly to us, but that we are still in our sins and needing to be perfectly righteous like Jesus was perfectly righteous in order to attain Heaven. But in order to believe such things they are calling God a liar and they do not have eternal life.
Baha’I Faith believe Jesus was just Who the Bible says He was and is, but so are all the other divine messengers and manifestations God has sent into the world across human history. But in order to believe such things they are calling God a liar and they do not have eternal life.
Hindus believe Jesus was one of many gods inhabiting the universe and one of many saviors. Buddhists and New Agers believe Jesus was an enlightened man, right alongside the Buddha himself. But they don’t believe Jesus died for sin. And in order to believe such things they are calling God a liar and they do not have eternal life.
Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe Jesus was God but He was the Archangel Michael born into humanity. And Mormons believe that Jesus achieved godhood by doing good works, just as any human being might do. But, again, in order to believe such things they are calling God a liar and they do not have eternal life.
But the Bible makes clear in our reading this morning from 1 John that “Jesus is the Christ”. He was not possessed by God’s Christ for a time, nor did He earn becoming the Christ by living a righteous life. He was not merely a good man, nor even a great man! And Jesus was not just God or even some angel or other spirit-being hidden in a human body. No, the eternal God the Son was born to be the Christ. He never stopped being God, and yet at the same time He was just a man, tempted with every temptation we face, except that He never gave in to sin. He is Jesus Christ: Jesus and the Christ are one. And John says that everyone who believes these things has become a child of God.
And this Jesus Christ has been revealed in His baptism, and He has been revealed in His crucifixion. The Holy Spirit baptized Him with water and the Spirit granting Him the grace to preach and teach and work all manner of wondrous miracles. And the Holy Spirit baptized Him with fire granting Him the grace to embrace and endure the cross, dying an agonizing and humiliating death; taking the sins of the world upon His shoulders and paying the penalty for them there. And the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead as a testimony to these amazing truths. So, God Himself has testified about His Son, Jesus Christ, through His teaching, miracles, and coming back from the dead. (And those who don’t believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, are calling God a liar since God did these many signs and wonders through Jesus Christ to point the world to Him.)
Yes, God has given us a life that will last forever, but this life is only in His Son. If you have the Son (and you have Him if you believe in Him) you have this everlasting life. If you do not have the Son (and you do not have Him if you do not believe in Him) you do not have everlasting life.
And this Jesus Christ asks you and me today to answer this question: [to the congregation] “Who do you say that I am?”