A Package Deal

Introduction

There are a number of people who have went through divorce, lost a spouse through death or even had children before they decided to say “I do”. One of the reoccuring statements that you hear people say when they are single and raising children is that the person and the children are a package deal. I remember when me and Antwanelle reconnected, I knew that this relationship was not just about her but about Raynell as well. You couldn’t have one without the other.

God our Father works in a similar way. You cannot have God without Jesus. You cannot have Jesus without God. You cannot have either without the Holy Spirit. The Godhead comes as a package deal. We find ourselves today dealing with the consquences of this ideology. There are individuals that dimiss the diety of Jesus Christ. There are even religions that do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. There are a number of movements that suggest that Jesus is a fictional character and that Christianity is the white man’s religion. In this epistle of John, not only are we dealing with individuals that had rejected John, his teaching and the local church but also rejected the idea that Jesus is the Christ, and the messiah so much so that individuals claimed to be the Messiah, individuals discredited the teachings of the apostles and individuals discouraged the learning and attention of new converts.

You Don’t Know Me

To deny Jesus and His deity is to not know God like you say you do. The rejection is a irresponsible attempt to delegitimize the power of God. The simplicity of this text leaves no room for gray areas. Anti-Christ is deeper than just denial of Jesus and the Church. It’s the irresponsible neglect of Jesus and God.

Matthew 1:23 ““Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.””

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

What is a liar?

It’s simple to coin a liar as someone who is unwilling to accept or tell the truth. The challenge in this text is that it was just the lying, it was the misrepresentation. That misrepresentation led to a distorted belief system which misleads people. This is why false teaching is so dangerous today, simply because we must understand that just because someone claims to worship Jesus and there’s a sign that says church on the building does not mean that they aren’t capable of misleading people. The truth is more than a name, address and worship songs.

Understand that Jesus is God manifested in human form. This designation of anti-Christ is deeper than the allegation that something or someone else is the true savior of the world. It’s not just about alternative belief. The act connected with this ideology to deny is what makes one a liar. You cannot have God and Jesus be denying one or the other. It’s imperative that we understand that we must acknowledge the power of them both. Here’s where we come in as Christians. There’s one thing that a liar needs and that’s the truth. Truth brings a sense of accountability to the liar. The beautiful part about truth in Jesus is the fact that it’s combined with grace and mercy! Should you find a reason to accept the truth it will set you free and bring you life. The liar, the denier needs nothing more in life but the truth.

The Lack of Acceptance

The challenging part that John was dealing with was the fact that you had individuals that denied the power and connection of God and Jesus, but you also had individuals making belief in God so complex that they were misleading people and making it like people where not astute enough to understand. Because of this lack of acceptance I now have to ask myself where does the Holy Spirit fit into this narrative of being unwilling to accept Jesus.

John 15:23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”

John 5:23 “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

Failure to accept disrupts confession. The journey to becoming a Christianity has confession or acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is the son of God attached to it. Confession is the acceptance of Jesus as the son of God. There’s no way you can truly confess if you do not accept the connection between God and His son, and Jesus and his messiahship.

Denial leads to lack of possession, I can’t possess the opportunity of an eternal fellowship with God by denying Jesus. I miss the opportunity to experience Grace and Mercy by denying the power of Jesus Christ. What happens is we essentially suggest that we do not need God when we refuse to accept Him and His sovereignty.

To Deny is to Turn Your Back on His Authority

John 5:16–23“For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who …”

What we have to understand is the layered impact of refusing to accept Jesus, his deity and authority. From an eschatological perspective, to lie or refuse to accept Jesus as the son of God is to deny the power He has over judgment, and eternal life. The liar’s rejection of Jesus is a pattern of teaching. It’s not an isolated moment of denial. It’s a continuing practice in attempt to devalue the power and authority that God has over this world.

This is why we have situations where people will say things like, I believe in a higher power but I’m not religious. Much of the problem we see in the New Testament what the rejection of His messiahship, these false teachers could not accept what God sent as His son. Essentially this is what killed Jesus, this is what frustrated the Pharisees. Jesus came to restore mankind back to a healthy relationship with God. What we must understand is to deny that connection is to deny the triune being of the Godhead completely.

John 20:31 “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

To confess the son is to have the Father, that is to know and acknowledge God completely. Son refers to his relationship to the Father, Christ refers to his authority given by the Father. The two cannot be separated. This shows how the denial of doctrine is equivalent to the denial of the persons of the Godhead in which our doctrine is built upon.

Most restaurants we frequent typically have side dishes built into the price. You go to Longhorn steakhouse; you get a ribeye you expect to choose between some sides. Mashed potatoes, broccoli, Brussel sprouts etcetera.

Some restaurants you go to everything is A La Carte, meaning what you order has a separate price, typically these types of restaurants have MP by certain meat or fish dishes which can vary depending on how much the establishment paid for the meat. See if you are on a strict budget you might want to get clarification on the market price of the sword fish that day. The problem we face today is we want to blessings from the power of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit but we don’t want the responsibility that comes with the acceptance of all three. Often times we live this A La Carte lifestyle of convenience rather that truly committing to God in totality! Acceptance is more than just belief it reflects in my life, the way I talk to people, the way I treat people, the way I worship, everything within me is reflected by my relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.