Authentic Christianity

1 John 4:7-5:1-11

Let me begin with a question. Are you confident that you are an authentic Christian?” If the answer to this question is negative then this message is for you. Perhaps, the best indicator of uncertainty is the feeling of anxious concern causing distress of mind. The apostle Paul stated “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 6:6)

If you were to die at this moment are you certain that your life is in good order and you are ready to meet your Creator? To put it another way; if the Lord was to return today are you certain that you are ready for the catching way or does the thought of it cause anxious concern or distress of mind? If this is the case you fear judgment and fear of judgment is an issue we need to address.

John saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of like. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:11-12)

What is your emotional response to the idea of standing before the judgment throne of God? The Lord is expecting you to be completely honest in your response to this question? Your answer can only be “Yes, I am absolutely confident” or “no, I’m not confident and I’m not certain that my name is written in the Lambs book of life.

For you who are uncertain I will read to you what is written in the First Epistle of John on this matter. It’s my role to show you the grounds on which a person may be sure with much confidence that your name is written in the Book of Life.

The first letter of John 4: 18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

In a loving relationship fear and love cannot coexist. We cannot love and fear at the same time. In a relationship of mutual love there is no possibility of fear. Where there is a perfect relationship of love, it drives out all fear of God because fear is bound up with punishment. A person who stands in a right relationship of love can look forward to the future day of judgment without fear and apprehension...there is no danger of condemnation and judgment. We need not be afraid of God. God is love. If a person is afraid of God, this is because the love of God has not yet filled his heart and driven out all fear.

Many believe salvation has to do with belonging to the right religion. There is not a single strand of teaching in the Bible that requires you to be affiliated with a particular religious tradition or denomination. On the contrary, the Christian life is completely relational not religious. We don’t have a religion that saves; we have a relationship with God that saves us. It’s your relationship with heavenly Father that count’s not your religion.

 It is similar but not the same as your relationship with your spouse, children, relatives and friends. 

“A crowd was sitting around [Jesus], and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers? He asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:32-34)

Their commitment to God’s will in sending Jesus created a bond with him and his disciples more intimate than those achieved through physical relationships. It is the doing of God’s will which is the deciding factor in determining kinship with Jesus. The pursuing of God’s will binds a person intimately to Jesus and His new family. Jesus said “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

The word of God gives a number of key indicators that show as to who is an authentic Christian.

Hear the words of the first Epistle of John 4: 7-12

Key #1   Love and Knowing

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7 and 8)  

John has already made it clear that love is one of the evidence of the new birth. The supreme demonstration of love for others is shown in the sending of God’s Son as an atoning sacrifice for sin. Now John goes on to claim that Christians ought to love one another because God loved them.

Romans 5:8 says, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The beginning of love is to be found in love shown by God, and the true nature of love is to be discovered by considering what loves means in the sending of God’s son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Anyone who shows this kind of love, the love that belongs to the divine sphere, must belong to the sphere.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

 1 Peter 4:8^, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Key #2           Love and Believing

 “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” (1John 4:15)

To be sure the statement of love is open to misunderstanding. One might conclude that anybody who shows love is a child of God, regardless of whether he actually believes in Jesus as the Son of God. This misunderstanding can only arise if this statement is plucked out of context in the letter.  John makes it plain that the true child of God must believe and love.

 Perhaps you are thinking, “how is possible for people who do not believe in Jesus to love one another- as they surely do?” There is love outside of the Christian faith, and sometimes non-Christians seem to love one another better than Christians. How is this love be explained and does it place them in right standing with God? The doctrine of creation can explain, in part, the answer to this question. It is because men are created in the image of God, an image which has been defaced but not destroyed by the fall and because this is true people have the capacity to love. Besides this, society is deeply influenced by the gospel and understands the obligation to love one another even though they fail to respond to the call to believe in Jesus.

Human love, no matter how nice it may feel, falls short if it refuses to include the Father and the Son. Human love falls short of the divine pattern, and by itself cannot save a man; it cannot compensate for the sin of rejecting God. Love alone is not a sign of being born of God. 1 John 5: begins by affirming that everybody who holds the true confession of faith about Jesus has been born of God. Faith is a sign of the new birth, just as love and doing what is right are also indicators that a person has been born of God. John is not trying to explain the new birth; his aim is rather to indicate the evidence which shows that a person stands in the continuing relationship of child to God his Father: that evidence is that he holds to the true faith about Jesus.

 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God...” (1 John 5:1) But this statement is to merely prepare the church for the point.

Key #3   Love and Obeying

   “...everyone who loves the Father loves his children as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome...” (1 John 5: 2 and 3)

We would expect John to say, “Everyone who is born of God must love his fellow Christians” But this is not what he says. John does not refer forward, he refers backward. Normally we would say loving our brothers is proof we love God.  It must refer backwards. Love must start with God and the keeping of His commandments. “We know that we ought to love the children of God whenever we love God and keep his commandments.” The content of loving God and keeping his commandment is love for God’s children, since love for God must involve love for his children.

Key #3   Love and Overcoming

“And this is not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.”  (1 John 5:1-5)

The world can’t love like this. An Atheist can’t love like this. A Moslem can’t love like this. A Hindu can’t love like this. A Confucianist can’t love like this. A Jehovah Witness can’t love like this. A Mormon can’t love like this. “Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” can love like this....What the Epistle of John is saying is “only an authentic Christian can love like this!” This level of love is too burdensome for anyone who does not “believe Jesus is the son of God.”  They simply can’t rise to this level of relationship. It’s only possible through the new birth, through the regeneration of the heart, through the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus. This kind of love is dispersed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

How may we be sure that “we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming” (2:28)? “This how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.” (1 John 3:24b)