1 JOHN 3:1-7
WHY DOES IT MATTER IF WE BELIEVE JESUS IS THE MESSIAH?
INTRODUCTION
Last month, Jean McCloughry used an illustration of a person joining us on Zoom without their video on. Their screen name was H M ELIZABETH II. I’m nicking that idea to make a different point. Someone joined us on Zoom today and hasn’t shown their video. Their screen name is JESUS. Who is on the other side of the camera?
My theme today is, why does it matter if we believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ? Firstly, we need to know what Messiah means.
Messiah means an anointed one. Very helpful, you cry! It’s somebody set apart for a purpose or to an office. Prophets, priests and kings are amongst those who received anointing. In the gospels the expectation of the ultimate Anointed One is clear - one set apart by God to be prophet, priest AND king - to rule Israel, to speak from God, to deliver His people from their enemies. Son of the living God, descendant of King David, yet David’s superior; king of Israel, miracle worker, the Lord, the one to be obeyed. He would be the best of the best of all the old testament heroes of faith. This is what Messiah is - and then some! The Gospels and New Testament tell us this SuperMessiah is the Lord Jesus.
Why does it matter if we accept that Jesus is this person? This is one issue John addresses in his first letter.
Who was John warning the early Christians about? There was a false teacher called Cerinthus. Amongst other things, Cerinthus taught that the man Jesus was not the Messiah. Rather, a spirit called Christ came upon Jesus at His baptism. This Christ left Jesus before His sufferings and death. A bit of a scaredychrist, if you ask me. John mentions people left the church. It’s reasonable to think they left to follow Cerinthus or someone similar.
The first reason it matters that we believe Jesus is Messiah is that….
IT’S VITAL FOR OUR SALVATION
To separate the man Jesus from the spirit Christ is an error. An error which is still around today. Jesus was born Christ.
We read in Matthew 2:(4-5):
“Where will the Messiah be born?” “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea, …”
In Luke 2:11, an angel tells the shepherds of Bethlehem, “This very day in David's town your Saviour was born—Christ the Lord!”
At Jesus’ dedication in the Temple as a baby Simeon, who’d been told he wouldn’t die until he’d seen the Messiah, picked up Jesus and said, “Now, Lord, you have kept your promise, and you may let your servant go in peace. With my own eyes I have seen your salvation...” (Luke 2:29-30)
This baby was born Messiah. Otherwise, the angels and Simeon were wrong.
Jesus Himself said, “The Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later…” (Luke 24:46.) No Christ departed before suffering came. Otherwise, Jesus was wrong.
Jesus always was and is Messiah, not just some bloke on whom Messiah came for three years.
John has strong words for those who think otherwise. He calls them antichrists and liars.
In 1 John 4:1-3 (NIV), he warns: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist...”
1 John 2:22 (NIV): “Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist – denying the Father and the Son.”
1 John 5:10b: “...those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son.”
John wouldn’t go down well in our society.
The second reason it matters that we believe Jesus is Messiah is that….
IT’S VITAL FOR OUR UNION WITH GOD
In February, Jenny spoke about Jesus telling the disciples, “I am the vine.” In John 15:4-6, Jesus said, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
It’s vital that we remain in Christ to have union with God, because Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6.)
If Jesus is just a man, He cannot unite you to God any more than I can. But as Messiah, the way, the truth, the life, the one who’s in the Father and in whom the Father is, the God-man, we’re united through Him.
John has much to say about being united to God. Many had left the church. They didn’t “remain in Jesus”. John had to encourage those who stayed. Imagine the upset if a chunk of our congregation said a new prophet told them we’re wrong about Jesus and they upped and left.
John needs the Christians to know they’re God’s children, united to Him. How can they know?
By living like Jesus Christ did (tough ask!), by obeying God’s commands, by loving one another, by declaring that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s what being united with God looks like. It’s the basis for Christian living.
As is this awkward verse in our reading:
“So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.” (v6) Whoa! Which of us doesn’t sin? Are we all doomed? Clearly not. In this letter, John says we deceive ourselves if we say we have no sin, that God will forgive us if we confess our sins, that if we sin Jesus pleads with the Father for us, that if we see a believer sin we’re to pray for them. John is fully aware that Christians sin. So what’s he on about? The only thing that makes sense to me (and which I suggest for consideration) is that “continues to sin” means denying we do anything wrong, so we don’t change a thing, we live our lives as we always have, we don’t believe we need to change or ask God’s forgiveness and so continue as we are. That self righteous attitude is very different from wishing you hadn’t done wrong and saying sorry to God.
The third and final reason it matters that we believe Jesus is Messiah is that….
IT’S VITAL FOR A GOLDEN FUTURE
“We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.” (1 John 3:2)
God loved the world and sent His Son, but most spurn that love and refuse to believe. Many Jews didn’t believe in Jesus because He was the “wrong kind of Messiah”. Many non-Jews didn’t believe because a dead god is stupid and useless. “Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.” (John 1:12) This is down to God’s goodness and initiative.
When Christ returns, we’ll be like Him. Remarkably, He will share His glory with us! John saw this glory at the transfiguration, when Jesus’ face changed and His clothes became dazzling white. In Revelation 1(13b-16), John had a vision of Jesus, “wearing a robe that reached to his feet, and a gold band around his chest. His hair was white as wool, or as snow, and his eyes blazed like fire; his feet shone like brass that has been refined and polished, and his voice sounded like a roaring waterfall. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. His face was as bright as the midday sun.”
Our resurrected bodies will be beautiful, strong, immortal, spiritual, like Christ’s body. He shared our humanity that we might share His divinity. Not His deity, but His divinity. We’ll share His character, not His being. By grace we’ll be LIKE Him, but we won’t BECOME Him.
The infant church faced problems from false teachers and false prophets. Ever since, false teachings have become more sophisticated, more numerous, ever developing. It’s tempting to see something new and think “we must follow this exciting development because it’s new and better than what we have!” But no, we must follow the old ways, the old truths. John wrote, (1 John 2:28) “remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.” Why turn from truth only to be embarrassed as we stand before the Lord?
(1 John 5:20) “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God—in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.”
CONCLUSION
The apostle Paul warned against accepting a different Jesus. John warned about false prophets. As did Jesus Himself. He said they’d be like sheep on the outside but vicious, devouring wolves on the inside.
When Christians talk about false this and false that and point out error and fake Christians, we’re not merely trying to “protect the brand”. We’re doing it because eternal life is at stake. Some Christians get paranoid and angry and denounce as heretics anyone with a slightly different opinion on smaller issues. We should reserve the condemnation “heretic” for those preaching a different Jesus.
This JESUS who joined us on Zoom. Who do you say that He is? There are many opinions in the Bible. A reincarnated prophet of old, a king who will overthrow God’s enemies, a criminal, a deceiver, a demon-possessed Samaritan, a good teacher? Maybe it’s a trick - no one’s there because it’s all a made up story? Is it some poor stooge whom the Christ abandoned when the going got tough? Or is He Messiah, as the scriptures, as Jesus Himself, as God the Father say? Choose wisely and accept no substitutes!
