Testimony of God

Spirituality is a large part of society, which is interesting because so many have moved away from traditional religious practices to something else. Most of those who claim to be “spiritual but not religious” do so because they believe that religion constrains their beliefs and limits how they can determine their lives. It is a notion that our spiritual lives are contained primarily within and do not involve others. This creates a spirituality that often becomes synchronistic or combines many different practices that take from Eastern mysticism and make Jesus out to be a guru among other gurus.

‌This has created an enormous problem in the church because some of these practices have found themselves being “Christianized,” like yoga, the Enneagram, and mindfulness. All of it is a search for secret knowledge that will unlock the door to a greater life now. Because these things have found themselves in the church, we have a tough time evangelizing to a culture infiltrated with spirituality. So many in our culture and even in the church refuse to state emphatically that Jesus is the only way to the Father. This kind of exclusivism turns people from evangelical Christianity because it is seen as too harsh and limited. We can hear people say things like, “Are you telling me that someone who is a devout practicing Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist will go to hell?” The simple answer is “yes.” But we must have more to say than that to explain why that is the case. Plus, it is not just about what happens when we die. It is also about living a life now that is in full obedience to God. All these religions and spiritualities that exist in our world have to do something with Jesus. They all lower him into something that he is not and deny the truth of who he is.

‌This is not unlike what John was writing against in his letter. He has been writing against the false teachings of his day that had seeped into the churches. Things such as Jesus not being the Messiah, that he did not come in the flesh, and that we can know God without knowing Jesus. These things are still around today in various forms, even within the church. Denying the truth about Jesus cuts us off from the life that we find in God. God has testified to the true nature of Christ through word and action. John helps us to see the reality of Christ and how we who live the resurrected life can be more effective in our testimony of God to the world.

1. God testifies about himself through Jesus. (vs. 9)

Apart from knowing Christ, our witness about God will not be true. If we receive a witness concerning the nature of God that does not place Christ at the center, it will lead to deception. But we must be careful. If someone is teaching or preaching and declares a different Christ than what has been preached for 2,000 years or that Jesus is one of many options to know God, run. Those who say this preach a false gospel contrary to God’s word and God’s own witness about himself. John says that God's testimony is greater than men's testimony. This is especially true if the testimony of men contradicts God. We are told in Numbers 23:19, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Those who declare that God changes are deceiving the people of God, and the truth is not in them. We can never proclaim that which contradicts God’s word. But so many do because it fits culture or makes humanity the universe's center.

‌Jesus tells us in John 8:18, “I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” Jesus is the whole witness of the Father because he is God incarnate. He is Yahweh. Jesus did not just start existing when he was born. He is eternal and has always existed. God has revealed these truths to us through the testimony of men - through scripture and the preaching and teaching of those centered on the true Christ. God is infallible and cannot be in error. It actually insults God if we mislead his people, and the work of Christ means nothing. That is what preaching and teaching does that is not rooted in the truth of Christ. It means that the work of Christ is not salvific. Jesus is just another religious teacher who made the wrong people mad.

‌Jesus is not a self-help guru who can make your life better. God incarnate has come in the flesh to redeem sinful humanity and reconcile us to God through his death and resurrection. This is God’s testimony and witness to the world.

2. We must believe in God’s testimony about Jesus. (vs. 10)

We do not have the authority to change who Jesus is. We cannot change what God has testified to about Jesus through his life, death, resurrection, and the witness of Scripture. Our trust in what God has declared about who Jesus is must be the basis of our faith. Belief in any other Jesus does not bring salvation. It promotes a false gospel that leads people away from Christ. Any other testimony about Jesus does not cure us of the disease of sin and raise us to new life.

‌Recognizing the truth of who Jesus is as the Son of God and the second Person of the Trinity brings an inner witness to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? The Spirit does not reveal anything to us outside of the truth of God as found in Scripture. The Spirit gives us inward evidence of who Christ is, and we can believe in him fully. This inner witness is given to us through what Paul says in Romans 10:9, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The witness of the Holy Spirit within us points us to the true Jesus, who brings salvation to all who believe in his name.

‌Those who proclaim a different Jesus are liars, and the truth is not in them. They proclaim a false Jesus that will lead people away from the truth and to hell. This may seem a harsh assessment, but it is the truth. It does not matter how this false gospel is delivered. Many try to disguise it through love - declaring that Jesus loves us the way we are because he made us this way. God did not make us to sin. He made us reconciled to himself and believed in the gospel's truth. We are to run away from sin.

‌It is the mission of the church to proclaim the faithful Christ and to trust him fully above all things. God has declared who Jesus is. We cannot change that fact to fit into our narrative.

3. Eternal life is only available to those who believe in the true Jesus. (vs. 11-13)

Our only hope lies in Christ. We have life only when we believe in Him. That is the heart of the gospel message. The life that we are given is not just mere existence. Everyone has that, whether they believe it or not. This new life we are given is a spiritual life that is the new birth. This is the moment we enter the heavenly kingdom and come under new spiritual laws, are moved by new motives, and exist in a new world. Eternal life is not something that begins only when we die but happens when we have the Son. Our faith in Christ gifts us the finished work of Christ on the cross. We are under the grace of God, and Jesus becomes the ground of our dependence. He is the one who guides our hearts and actions. As the great Charles Spurgeon put it, Jesus becomes the “supreme delight of our souls.”

‌John 3:36 sums it up well, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” If we do not have a spiritual life corresponding to the truth of Jesus revealed in Scripture, we stand condemned before God. Our life will not produce the spiritual fruit necessary to be in true fellowship with God. When we are in the Son, and he is in us, we will live according to his commandments. If not, there is no true inner life in Christ, and we are not in fellowship with God.

‌The call of the Christian is to live as kingdom people now. Eternal life is ours now. We do not have to wait on the fulfillment of all things to live focused on the hope of Christ. We are called to the resurrected life now. The resurrected life is rooted in the truth of the risen Christ. The hope in him is the only hope for the world. If we believe in any other Jesus other than the one who was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day - the Jesus who now sits at the right hand of the Father - we cannot live the life that we are called to live. We deceive ourselves into thinking that another Jesus will give us true life. No other Jesus will—a guru Jesus cannot give eternal life. A self-help Jesus cannot give eternal life. A Jesus who does not call out our sins does not give us eternal life. These Jesuses are deceptions and lies.

‌Let us proclaim the faithful Jesus to all the world so that the world might be saved!