Does what you believe really matter, when so many people say it is enough simply to be a good person? The sermon takes a schoolroom strip of litmus paper and the image of water with something dangerous mixed into it to read the First Letter of John (1 John 2) and its warning against teaching that sounds Christian but is not. At the centre stands one question: who Jesus really is, true God and true man. Listen if you want to know what to hold on to in a world full of noise and competing versions of the truth.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- John writes about antichrists who "went out from us, but did not belong to us" (1 John 2:18-19). Why does he say the danger came from inside the church rather than from outside?
- How do you understand John's words that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father (1 John 2:22-23), in light of teachings at the time that denied either Jesus' humanity or His divinity?
- The sermon compared false teaching to water with something mixed in, which you can drink without noticing. What "additives" in thinking about Jesus do you notice around you today, or in yourself?
- The speaker stressed that talking about Jesus and quoting the Bible is not enough. How can you tell whether someone is proclaiming the real Christ and not a Christ who does not exist?
- Why does it matter for your salvation and your relationship with God that Jesus is both truly God and truly human?
- John calls us to remain in what we heard from the beginning and to rely on the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What can you do this week to tell truth from noise and to share the truth about Jesus with someone?
