4/21 Sermon - Listen to one voice: The Good Shepherd

1 John 4:1-6

It’s 7 o’clock in the evening. You’re tired. Supper is done. The dishes are put away. What do you do? Watch TV? Read a book? Scroll through your phone? Catch up on the news? Snoop on social media? There is so much ‘stuff’ to watch out there in the world. We consume so much of it! Should we be careful what we watch? Have you heard advice like that? Be careful what you watch.

God says the same thing in our reading. V. 1, 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. God says the same thing, “Be careful what you watch! Test everything. Why? “Many false prophets are out there.” God says. There’s a lot out there that can hurt you.

That’s an interesting word, right? What do you think of when you hear “test”? A school test? Yeah. That’s kind of what John means here. Take everything in this world and examine it intently. Look at it with a magnifying glass. Evaluate it. God says to take everything we see or hear in the world and test it. Test it!

And God first wants us to test churches, pastors, and spiritual ideas.

“Every church is pretty much the same.” Have you heard that before? Have we maybe sometimes even said it? It’s not true. Many false teachers have gone out into the world. God tells us, promises, that false teachers, false teachings are everywhere in this world. We need to be care whom we follow.

How do we know? How can we test? First: John writes. V. 3, But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. It’s simple: Don’t listen to any church or person that denies Jesus.

How do we know? Ask this: Who gets the credit? Who gets the glory? After we build a dresser, plant a garden with spring flowers, clean the house, finish a book, we kind of feel good, write? “I did that.” And that’s true, kind of. But that is not how God, our faith, or salvation works. It’s not our decision. Not our power. Not our work. From the beginning of time to now to eternity, salvation is a gift God, given to us through Jesus. Jesus gets 100% of the credit for our forgiveness and life. Anyone that denies this denies Jesus.

That’s a big deal! It’s not just a matter of minor importance. John even calls them an “antichrist.” Anyone who denies Jesus is a type of Antichrist.

It's not just denying Jesus. Second: They twist God’s Word. v. 5, We (John and the apostles) are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. Many people also twist and bend God’s Word, like a nail that’s bent in a board. They don’t deny God’s Word! They twist. They bend it to fit their own opinion, the world’s viewpoint.

We need to be careful, brothers and sisters, that we don’t do these things.
- It’s easy for us to start patting ourselves on the back, to think salvation comes maybe just a little by my power, that maybe I should get some of the glory.
- It’s easy for us to dismiss God’s Word, even just a little. We see something we don’t like, something that’s hard to believe, and we maybe ignore. Brush it aside.
Salvation comes entirely through Jesus alone. We listen exclusively to the Word of God and submit to what God’s Word.

This threat is very real. The result of this? We lose our salvation. I’m not saying every single Christian who isn’t Wisconsin Synod isn’t saved, no. But God says the threat of false teaching is real. The end result is the loss of salvation.

This doesn’t just happen in churches. It happens in the world too. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. The world around us talks with so many different voices: Politics? News? Fashion? Sports? Video games? Endless social media? In moderation, those things are fine, but what effect do those things have on us? It is impossible to consume something, to watch or listen to it, and not be affected. Repeat.

Think of a dessert. An apple pie. It’s not good for you. Sugar is not good for you. But one apple pie slice, in moderation, isn’t a big deal. What happens when we intake large amounts of sugar and calories? What would happen if we ate one whole apple pie each day? It’s terrible! It would ruin our bodies.

What happens when we eat and consume so much of what this world has to offer? Fear. Anxiety. Sadness. Loneliness. When we drink the water from this world, it does not satisfy us. When we listen to this world, it leads us astray. This world we live in is not friendly. And yet we so easily listen to it. We spend so much time consuming the things of this world. I will be the first to confess my sins: I pay too much attention to the news, I research and worry about the best ways to invest money, I spend too much time looking at a screen. It affects me, it hurts my soul.

Who should we listen to instead? Where can we turn? With so many voices, what do we do? Listen to one voice, the Good Shepherd.

v.4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. The Good Shepherd has overcome the world. The Good Shepherd watches over you.

Let’s let the wonderful, comforting picture soak into our hearts again. Sheep wander. They are weak and wild animals can easily pick them off and eat them. They are not good and watching themselves. But when their shepherd calls, what do sheep do? They recognize that voice. They know that voice. They trust that shepherd will protect them, fight for them, lead them to quiet waters, guide them, love them.

We are sheep. We wander away. The wild animals of false teachers and the powers of this world can so easily lure us away and attack us. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, calls us. We know his voice. We can recognize his voice. We trust his voice. We have the Word of God written for us. We trust that he will protect us, watch us, lead us to quiet waters.

And he does. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down his life all people, all who did not listen to his voice. He died to take away the sins of the world. His blood means that forgiveness is given to all people. We so often wander and listen to other voices. Jesus would have every right to cast us away, expel us from his flock. But he doesn’t. Jesus never, not once, took his eyes off of you. Not once did he step away from his path. He walked all the way to the cross. Then he took up his life again. He rose. Now he gives life and salvation to all people.

You have been baptized into Jesus’ name. The Spirit has made your heart alive. Jesus lives in your heart; he has made his home in you. Through Jesus, you are a sheep in his flock. By his power, we have overcome the world. The world, with all its lies and lures, has no hold over you. We can, through Jesus, reject the world. Do this one thing: Listen to one voice, the Good Shepherd.

Here is what Jesus says: “1. You are loved. I have taken your sin away. You don’t need to prove yourself, live up to a standard, put a mask on. You are a child of God. I know your failures, your shortcomings, your sin, your weakness, even the thoughts of your heart. And I love you. That’s grace. 2. I am with you. In the darkest valley, when sadness covers your heart, when anxiety makes your chest tight, when you feel alone, I am with you. I am your Good Shepherd.”

Jesus says so much more to us. Do you know the wonderful thing? We know what Jess says, because we have his Word. Written in our Bible. That is the voice of the Good Shepherd.

There is just so much in this world that pulls our attention. Screens, neighbors, friends, society all hold out so many expectations for us to live up to. The world is a dangerous place. It matters what we listen to. It important who we follow. It’s a big deal to not eat too much of a bad thing. We are what we eat. We are what we watch. We are what we hear. When we eat, watch, hear anything from a bad source, or even too much of something from this world, it damages our hearts.

One warning, one bit of advice: Cut back. Watch what you eat. Maybe don’t consume the things of the world as much as you have been. They will hurt you.

Spend quality time with Jesus.

Listen to one voice, the Good Shepherd. That happens here in church. It happens in Bible study. It happens when we read God’s Word in devotions. I promise that this church teaches God’s Word. I promise that I will. Test me and see. Let Jesus be our chief food, our bread, our shepherd.