How do you know if you're a Christian? I guess you could say, like, well, I go to church or I do religious things or I buy Christian products or I vote the way I the most Christians vote, but come on, we all know those answers are lame and incomplete. This is a much more complex, robust, to the level of the soul, existential transformation of everything you value and think and trade in according to Jesus himself. Again, the guy for whom the religion is named. So he puts out this invitation in Matthew chapter 7. He's like, hey, there's this narrow little road over here that points to me. And there's this broad road over here, and it points to predictable places. If you want to follow me, look for this narrow road. And Jesus acknowledges not everybody's probably going to get on that road, which is kind of freaky, but okay, I'm glad I'm not in charge of that. So then the natural question, which is the one you and I were wrestling with yesterday as we were processing through all of this, is how do I know if I'm in? How do I know if I picked the narrow road? How do I know if I'm a Christian, if I'm a kingdom citizen, if I'm actually participating in this thing? And there is a beautiful answer to this in a tight little book toward the end of the New Testament called First John, where John, the disciple, the beloved disciple, breaks down the whole question of am I a Christian or not into what I believe could be called a threefold test that gets repeated several times as John just bangs this drum of threefold test of orthodoxy throughout 1 John. So yesterday we looked at the introduction to the letter of 1 John, where John lays out the idea that he is a reliable witness to everything that's happened with Jesus, to what he said and what he did, and that all of the threefold test, all of the whole Christian thing in general, flows out of a right understanding of Jesus. You get the understanding of Jesus wrong up front, the rest implodes calamitously. And what I gotta say is that whether you're talking about a more eastern expression of church, a more western expression of church, or even those groups that were kind of on the fringes that never really fell neatly into the orbit of one of the early power centers of Christianity, everybody knew this question was huge. John's words got through to the early church because what's the biggest thing theologically that the early church wrestled with? Who's Jesus? How do you be God and man at the same time? How do you die if you're God? What substance and essence are you if you are a God man? How does the Trinity work? All of these kind of things are stuff that people really put tremendous amounts of thought into reflecting back on the words and actions of Christ, reflecting back on the Old Testament, reflecting back on reason and the testimony of common sense and nature to try to land at a clear consensus of what the right Christian understanding of the nature of Jesus was, because the early church agreed with John that that was the linchpin in getting Christian theology right in your daily life and your relationships and how you behave and so forth. The more modern church has kind of flipped that around. The more therapeutic version of Christianity that's about behavioral modification and a certain type of profile of behavior and participation in society taken aside on culture wars and social issues. The more modern version too often seems to prioritize the relationships and the personal ethics thing first, and that somehow that's supposed to read back onto Jesus. But that's not what we're getting from John at all, and that's not how the early church did it. So the threefold test for orthodoxy in 1 John starts implicitly in chapter 1, verse 3. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you may also have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. That is not just a cozy opening line. That is test number one. Do you cringe when you hear the idea that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the Christ, the Messiah? If you do, you might be a swell person and you might be great at practicing whatever religion you practice, and that religion might even involve Jesus in some way. There are lots of modern religions born in the last couple hundred years that mention Jesus, even highly prioritize Jesus, but they would not be in keeping with the biblical teachings on Jesus that John is referencing. So test number one of orthodoxy is do you rightly understand, even if at times it may be difficult to believe, that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the Messiah? And over here in chapter two, he goes on to say Jesus Christ the righteous one, one who is sinless, flawless. Effectively, who's going to be that? God in the flesh, and this God in the flesh is the uh chapter two, verse two, atoning sacrifices for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. So the first block of chapter two and all of chapter one gives us this contrast between a flawless God, a flawless king, Jesus, Son of God, God in the flesh, the righteous one, the atoning sacrifice, and flawed us. It says at the end of chapter one, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth isn't in us. But if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. So there's who God is, there's who we are. Now we're going to start getting these reiterations of the threefold test. So we got one, here's who Jesus is, and then we get into verse three of chapter two. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. Do you remember what this whole exercise is about? Because I've used a lot of words. Remember, it's a threefold test for am I a Christian? Did I choose the narrow road? Am I in? Or did God choose me for the narrow road? However, you want to look at it. Well, there's your smoking gun verse. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. Okay, so one is a right understanding of Jesus. Two, right here, well, do you do what the king says? Well, these really go together if you think about it, because if we know who Jesus is, the biblical account of that is really obvious. He's the king, king of a kingdom. I mean, come on, you've been in the Sermon on the Mount with me. He's holding himself out as a king. Matthew is holding him out as the king who was promised from days of yore. So if he's the king, it's his call to make the rules and values of his kingdom, and anyone who's a part of that kingdom would obey the commands of the king. Moving on to verse four, the man who says, I know him, but doesn't do what he commands is a liar, and the truth isn't in him. Just to be clear, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm just reading this text. This text at times in my life is calling me a liar. I will grant that. But every now and then when I read a text that is pretty confrontational, I like to remind you that I am in no position to say this at you as though it's mine or I'm the arbiter of these things. I'm in the same boat as you as we look at this and think about what it means for us. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Boom! Another smoking gun. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Two times in three verses, we get the answer to our question or one of the answers. So ethics and morality is something that flows naturally out of obedience to a Christ who we understand properly. And then in the interest of time, I'm going to skip ahead to verse 9 for the third part of the threefold test. Anyone who claims to be in the light, oh, okay, so am I in or am I not, but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Oh, whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there's nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness, he doesn't know where he's going because the darkness has blinded him. Now, if we just read that verse, you might think there's only a one-fold test for am I a Christian or not? But John is assuming that you read the previous page and that obviously there were two other tests for orthodoxy, out of which this third test flows. Again, who is Jesus? If you get that, then obedience to Jesus is pretty obvious. And if you're doing that, well then who is Jesus and what did he say to do are the same thing? Love one another, even your enemies. This is the calling card of the Christian. And if it isn't your calling card or my calling card, then the text here is pushing back on us and suggesting that, oh, look out, maybe we're not quite in here. So skipping ahead to the latter half of 1 John chapter 2, verse, where is it at? 22. Who's the liar? It's the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist. He denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son as the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son, has the Father also. So now we're into the second cycle of the reiteration of this threefold test. We're back to orthodoxy. And I think John would understand if somebody had never heard of Jesus or was still in a place where they just out and out rejected this, said, No, I don't think Jesus is the Son and the Father. I don't buy any of this stuff. I think who he's talking about here are people who would claim to be in on the Christian thing, who are teaching and telling people what to do and they don't have this thing right. What he's saying is everything that flows out of that is going to be wrong too, because this starting assumption is wrong. Then as we roll into the end of chapter two and into the first chunk of chapter three, we reiterate the second test, the one about morality and ethics and obedience, and that rolls us right into the natural outflow of the third test. And this is the second repetition we get on both of those. Uh, chapter two, verse 29. If you know that he's righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. You see again, how that's a smoking gun verse. If this, then that. There's your test. And then we roll down, we're talking about the devil and stuff, and I'd love to break it down more, but I'm just gonna read it for what it is. This is how we know, verse 10, uh, verse 10 of chapter 3. This is how we know who the children of God are. Wow, again, crystal clear test language, and who the children of the devil are, yikes. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. There's all kinds of nuancing that needs to happen here in the larger context of John and Johannine literature in general, but on the most basic level, he's saying that the Christian wants to do the things that are in obedience to their king and wants to reject the stuff that isn't, and as mean as it sounds, he's also saying that you can only really, even if you don't know any better, can only have two kings. And he's suggesting that people who aren't part of the kingdom king are effectively doing the will, whether they know it or not, of another king that is of a very dark origin. But did you see how we get to the end here? Anyone who doesn't do what is right is not a child of God, and now we get into the third test again, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. And then he goes on to break that down. Verse 15 anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. And I would really like to take you through the rest of the book right now because we're gonna get at least one more full repetition of the threefold test, bringing the total number of repetitions of the whole thing to a minimum of three. But it's clever writing, and so the language is a little different each time, but I think at this point you see it. You're smart, you can catch the pattern, and you'll be able to find that as you look through the rest of the book. So, really simply put, somebody listens to the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, they're like, I want to be in. I want to be on the narrow road, I want to trade in this currency, I like the values of the kingdom, I trust the king behind it, I want to do it. I think I have signed up, I think I have sincerely prayed the Lord's Prayer, or at least if I didn't say those exact words, I am metaphorically assenting to that. That is where I'm at, even if I don't totally always want it with every fiber of my being. This is the direction I choose. I choose Christ as King, not me as king. But man, the world is tricky and tough, and I am tricky and tough. And how do I know if it's taking? How do I know if it's working? Threefold test. Do you obey the king in assenting to what the king says about himself? I understand that's a tough pill. When you're on the outside looking in, I'm cool with that discomfort just lingering between us. Second test that flows out of that is if you acknowledge the king for who he is and what he is, God in the flesh, son of God, righteous, atoning sacrifice for sin, then well, you would do what the king says, because this isn't even a kingdom that God inflicted on you. You signed up for it. So do you do what the king says? And one of the things that the king not only is but also says to do is to love and forgive unconditionally people who wrong you, people who hurt you, your enemies, your friends, your family, everybody. So the person who is in is going to be overflowing with love, compassion, forgiveness, patience, a lot like, again, the character for whom the entire religion is named. Hopefully, this was a really useful step aside. Again, I would encourage you to go through 1 John on your own. If you got a Bible, maybe grab a little marker or something and mark all the places that the threefold test manifests. Let me push it even further. Maybe get three different colors of markers and color code it. I'm sorry, now it sounds like I'm assigning you colors. You're smart, you know what to do. We're back to Matthew 7 next time around. Thanks for gaming this thing out with me. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do it again soon.