Beware, Be Wise, Be Warned

Alba 8-25-2024

BEWARE, BE WISE, BE WARNED

I John 4:1-3

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, our county was in a state of cultural change. At that time, Coca-Cola, a giant in the beverage world, found itself contending with increasing competition from brands such as Pepsi, Royal Crown Cola, and a variety of regional soda producers. Pepsi, in particular, was gaining traction with its "Pepsi Generation" campaign, positioning itself as the drink for the youth and the future.

In this competitive environment, Coca-Cola felt the need to reaffirm its position as the original, authentic cola choice. The result was the “It's the Real Thing” campaign, a masterful combination of marketing and cultural insight. This campaign was Coca-Cola's response to the larger feeling of the time, characterized by a yearning for authenticity and genuine connection in a world that was changing.

The slogan, while emphasizing the drink's unique taste and history, also specifically suggested that in a world of change and uncertainty, Coca-Cola was a constant: genuine, original, and real. (Information from History Oasis website)

By describing itself as "the real thing", it implied that Coke's competitors were merely impostors and of a lower quality. So, you have the real thing, and then you have the pretenders; the counterfeits, or the wannabes. The real thing is better.

While the campaign was certainly a commercial strategy to outpace competitors, it also resonated with deeper global sentiments, and is considered one of the most iconic advertising campaigns in history.

People want the real thing. But to find the real thing, we need to look beneath the surface to find the source of what is being said or done. As they say, “Don't judge a book by its cover”. So don't judge something by how logical it sounds, how fascinating it seems, or how it is presented with charisma and power. Look beneath the surface.

The apostle John calls us not to be gullible, not to believe whatever we hear especially in the spiritual realm, but to look for the real thing. So he writes in I John 4:1-3 saying this: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

There is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error in this world, as it says in verse six of this chapter. We need to know the difference. We need to know what is fake and what is real, especially when it comes to the difference it will make in eternity. So first:

1. Beware: Do Not Believe Every Spirit

There are two spirits at work in the world. There is the Spirit who comes from God, who glorifies and elevates His Son, Jesus Christ. And there is the spirit of antichrist, which is welcomed by the world and sabotages the truth about Jesus.

We should not believe everyone who claims to be Christian. Our ultimate battle is with the spirit that is behind the false teachers not the people themselves. But we need to beware! That's why first, we need to make sure what they believe about Jesus, and does their teaching agree with the revealed Word of God. There are many false teachers out there.

The Message version of scripture is more of a paraphrase but I like the way it gives us verse one. It says, “My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.”

Any teacher or leader who does not give Jesus His proper place cannot be trusted. He is the centerpiece of our faith. If someone says that Jesus is only one of many ways to God, what should our response be? We should say, “I believe Jesus, Who said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”

Do you know what an anagram is? It is “a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase.” For example, take the word “dormitory”. Simply rearranging the letters in that word it can be made to say “dirty room”. Or the words “slot machines”. Rearrange the letters in those words and you can get “cash lost in'em”. And the phrase “mother-in-law” becomes “woman Hitler”.

False teachers are a lot like anagrams. They try to present themselves as something they are not. They will use some truth from scripture but rearrange things to support the error they are teaching. They become wolves in sheep's clothing. So beware!