If you had to make an important life decision tomorrow, who are three people you would ask for their opinions?
Why did you choose those people? What about them makes them trustworthy sources of advice?
What about spiritual counsel? What kind of person would you trust to guide you spiritually?
Okay, so God gives us the Holy Spirit, which will teach us all things… So why is it important for us to learn to discern?
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
1 John 4:1-3 (NLT)
How does the fact that John called his readers “dear friends” influence the way you read what comes next?
Are false prophets and teachers always easy to recognize? Why or why not?
What is the most important test we should place on any teaching?
A vast majority of people in the world would readily agree that there is a god of some kind in the universe, but the real litmus test of truth is what a person believes about Jesus. For John, what a person believes and teaches about the nature of Jesus is the dividing point between authenticity and lies.
Why is the nature of Jesus “ground zero” for determining whether a teaching is truth or a lie?
What does this indicate about the importance and centrality of the person of Jesus Christ?
Why is recognizing the humanity and divinity of Jesus at the same time the foundation for determining all truth?
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 NLT
Why is it significant that Jesus called Himself “the truth”? How does that make Jesus distinct from any other religious figure in history?
Every other major religious figure in history claimed to know the truth, but Jesus embodied the truth. He is the very manifestation, in His person, of the truth. As such, Jesus doesn’t just show the way; He actually is the way. Jesus accentuated His centrality and exclusivity in His statement that He is “the” truth; not “a” truth. If we want to know whether a message is true, then we should examine what that message says about Jesus. In the case of John, the false teachers of the day were denying that Jesus was actually human. Today we must be on guard against any teacher or teaching that seeks to lessen or departs from what we know to be true about Jesus who is at once both human and divine.
What are some teachings you have encountered that have either stated or implied that Jesus is less than He claimed to be?
If Jesus is less than He claimed, what implications does that have on the rest of Christianity?
How would you counter someone who denied that Jesus actually came in the flesh?
Time and time again, we must return to the basic truth we know about Jesus. As we do, we will be able to hold firm to truth if it falls in line with Jesus. If it does not, we must be on guard against it. Because Jesus is so completely central not only to Christianity but to everything we know as true, John rightly puts teaching to the test by holding it up to the ruler of the Son of God.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
1 John 4:4-6 NLT
What is the confidence of the believer based in according to verse 4?
How does remembering that God, in the Holy Spirit, is in you give you comfort and courage right now?
How does remembering that fact give you comfort when examining teaching to see if it’s true or false?
Conflict might be uncomfortable, but it is necessary when we contend for the truth of God. As we recognize, confront, and reject false teaching, our confidence is not in how much we know but Who we know. Because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we can know that He has already overcome any and all who come against Him.
And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:12–14 NLT
13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
How does this passage emphasize the necessity of being an active part of God’s church?
John offered the second test of false teachers and teaching, and it’s pretty simple: Does the world listen to them? If the answer is yes, they are from the world. Believers, meanwhile, are from God. These verses not only help us discern between truths and lies, they also remind us of the important to be in and with the people of God so that we might fill our minds and hearts with the truth from God and His Word.
Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives.
Are there any messages you need to put to the test that are currently being allowed into your mind and heart as truth?
How central is Jesus to the way you define truth in your life? What part of your thinking needs to be realigned to make Him more central?
What is one area of your life in which we can pray for you to trust the message of God more fully?
Close your group by thanking God that He is trustworthy. Thank Him that He is greater than any in the world. Pray that you and your group would be able to spiritually discern the difference between truths and lies.