Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. 1 John 5:1a
We are what we wear! John in writing his first epistle is striving
to get his readers to wear the apparel of "Victory in Jesus" and to
"Just Do It" so as to gain the overcoming victory of living by
faith. We learned the word for
“victory” or “overcoming” in the New Testament language is “Nikao” which leads
us to share our own “Nike” Formula.
“Nike” Formula
of Belief - "Shoes of Belief"
Does it matter what you believe? Is doctrine really important?
John would have no problem
answering that with a strong "yes!"
Yes, it matters what you believe and yes, doctrine is important. John was writing to combat the false belief
of "gnosticism" in the church.
These believed in Jesus as savior but they had strange ideas about His
nature.
- Ebionities: denied the Deity of Christ (accepted humanity) Jesus is not really the Son of God.
- Docetists: denied the Humanity of Christ (accepted deity) Jesus is not
really human.
- Cerinthians: denied the union of Christ's two natures. Jesus
is one and then the other.
Today we live in a world where
many in the church want to deny there are biblical absolutes to live by and
therefore suggest you can believe what you want to about God and Jesus Christ
the Son of God.
Belief in God
We must begin by defining our
belief in God. Many believe in a
god. Who is God in your life? Cosmic kill-joy? The Man upstairs? Or is He the One True God who is the creator
and sustainer of not only the world we live in but also the very details of our
life? Is He the God who loved us so much
He gave His only Son for us? Our definition of God must be
defined in His greatest gift; His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Let not your heart be troubled; you
believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1
Belief in Jesus
Christ
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.
1 John 4:1-3
Our belief in Jesus Christ must exalt Him as both the deity of God ... the Son of God and humanity of God ... the Son of Man. Our belief in Jesus Christ, the only "begotten" of God, saves us to become the "begotten" of God. We become God's children! But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name… John 1:12
God is love. Our born again salvation reveals we inherited
our Heavenly Father's divine nature and so we must take on the nature of
love. Do we have the victory in what we
believe or are we tossed about by every wind of doctrine? It does matter what we believe. It is important to think about just exactly
what it is that you do believe and stand up for that belief; to know why you
believe the way you do. Think about it,
research it, and don’t just adopt a doctrine without any thought. Get the
facts.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
