John continues to write to his friends – to build up this vital reality of fellowship with one another and with God. Now we get to the thing that s troubling John: there is a maelstrom of ideas and people, moving in and out of the churches and creating powerful cross-currents like the water moving in different directions in the Corrievreckan strait creates the third largest whirlpool on earth. That's John's world, teh world of the Churches in Greek speaking Roman governed Asia Minor. And it's our world too... so we need to hear and understand what John says about the world...
The world
When John says “Don't love the world” he's not talking about the physical world or its people. "The world" is the whirlpool of ideas that pressures us, created by “mankind organised in rebellion towards God” ... the system that contains the
Lusts of the Flesh. That sounds kind of old-fashioned. The flesh means our “human nature separated from and opposed to god” which often longs for something so much that it will rush at given half a chance. That something might be a juicy bit of gossip, the nice feeling of a few moments' sexual fantasy, or the equally nice feeling of getting even with someone.
Lusts of the Eyes, are our greedy grabby longing for things, aroused by seeing them
Pride of life is pride in things, bragging or exaggerating to impress others, about possessions, the shiny stuff that is given us simply to support life.
And here the word “love” doesn't mean compassion, tenderness and caring, but is more about the pleasure we get from the thing we love. John uses the word like we sometimes do when we say we love strawberries and cream or sunbathing in Tenerife or a particular kind of music. We need to live lovingly in the world, caring for our environment and of all people. But we need to avoid pleasuring ourselves by participation in a system...
Antichrist?
John then goes on. Some things last; some things are only temporary... we are – like the earliest Christians, living through the extended period the New testament calls the last days. And in these last days Antichrist is seen. And that immediately stirs something in our thinking... For some of us, it's something kind of gothic; for others, it's the idea of a slick operator who is aiming for world domination... In the New testament, the idea of Antichrist is connected with those of
A terrible destructive thing, the abomination that causes desolation (Mk 13. 14)
A character called the “man of sin” 2 Thess 2:3-4,
And "the beast” in Rev 13:5-8
Some of you are thinking “Great, maybe he's going to tell us who the Antichrist is...” and others are saying “Oh no, we don't understand that second coming stuff...” But I'm not going there because the idea of a coming “Antichrist” is only the tip of the iceberg. It's the bit under the water that really matters... John says that there are many “antichrists” - the spirit of Antichrist is already at work in our world as it was in John's.... That maelstrom, that whirling current of ideas...
Antichrist doesn't just mean a fake Christ: it means someone or something that both replaces and opposes Christ. Like there could be an anti-king: one who sets himself up lo take the role and function of king, but in opposition to the rightful king. He is a usurper...
So what can we expect of “Antichrist”? Verse: 22 gives us a key: “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” Whether people, movements or spiritual beings, Antichrist is that which denies that Jesus is the Christ, and the relationships within the Trinity. And what that reveals is how important truth is...
The real Christ!
When the New Testament insists that Jesus is “The Christ”, it means he is much more than the Jewish Messiah, the one who would restore the Kingdom to Israel. This Kingdom is global is its scope and its influence. It touches every bit of life and is for every nation. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, (Isa 61.1). The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory. (Isa 62.2)
Messiah, literally means Anointed one. Christ, the Greek word, also means anointed one. He is the “Man of the Spirit” anointed by the Spirit from his conception. Te Kingdom things that he does – healing for the broken, good news for the poor – flow from the Holy Spirit's anointing upon him.
But the Christ is more than the man of the Spirit. There can be no suggestion that Jesus was just a nice guy whom god could use. The Antichrist denies the Father and the Son... He questions the relationship between the Son and the Father. To say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that He is God the Son who was with the Father in the beginning. “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. (1 John 4. 2)To recognise that Jesus is the Christ, is to say he was Conceived of the Holy Spirit yet eternally with the Father!
Jesus, the Christ, participates in the ultimate relationship, the original relationship, the most enduring relationship of all: the relationship within the Trinity, between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But this is not just theology, not just ideas to talk about. Verse 25 says “this is the promise that he made to us — eternal life” Jesus, the Christ is the Kingdom Bringer, the Sin Bearer, and the Life Giver. He holds this redemptive role: as Advocate, Atoning Sacrifice and one through whom we Abide in God. That's the kind of transformation that touches every tiny fragment of our lives....
More than theory.
See how important all this actually is? The true Christ reveals the true destiny of man in relation to God. He calls us to know God, to abide in him, to have life in him. The Antichrist teaches that man is divine apart from God in Christ. That leads to Pluralism; Relativism; Materialism; Secularism; Humanism. That's the maelstrom of ideas we are surrounded with. How are we to survive and thrive in the whirlpool?
Firstly, we need to hold on to what we have learned. What we know to be true from God's word, we cling to. We allow it to take root inside us. Our world needs a believers' Church that is secure enough in what it believes to listen with respect to other views, but in the end knows what it believes and holds on to what it believes.
Secondly, we need the anointing. Remember what Christ means? The Anointed one. Three times John talks about our Anointing. Te word is the same: Chrisma... We have received anointing; the anointing teaches us all we need to know. God gives us his Holy Spirit. The same spirit who overshadowed Mary when Jesus was conceived in her womb, has brought new life to us. The same Spirit who descended on Jesus falls on us. We have an anointing. We need to welcome the anointing spirit and let him live in us.
Thirdly, we need to abide, to live, hang around in Christ. We need to take item for fellowship with father, Son and Spirit and with each other.
We are called to define our relationship with our culture and our neighbours on the basis of our relationship with the relational Trinity. Like Jesus we stand at once over against our society and yet generously alongside it. We challenge its self-reliance and offer it something to rely upon. We deny that man is divine and master of his own destiny and offer him instead a true destiny in relation to God in Christ.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2012
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