Let’s face it – lots of people claim to be filled with the Spirit of Christ, but their words don’t really match up with what Jesus said. Some who claim to follow Christ insist that He wasn’t really the Son of God – He was just a wise teacher who was killed by the Romans. These so-called Christian scholars insist that stories about Him quickly degenerated into mythic tales of His bodily resurrection, and of His divinity. But even though they claim to be Christians, they insist that none of that is really true.

Well, in verse 9 John insists that Jesus was in fact the only begotten Son of God. And in verse 15 he makes it clear that it is only those who believe in Jesus’ divine nature who have the Spirit of God living within them. In short, believing the right things about Jesus always goes along with having Jesus living inside of you.

But right belief is not sufficient, for John makes it clear that those who have the Spirit of Christ in them will also love the way that Jesus loves. And again, there are lots of people who call themselves Christians who don’t act very much like Him. Think of all those Roman Catholic priests who abused so many young boys. And think of all the so-called Christians who hate people who belong to different ethnic groups, or who approve of parents killing their unborn children. No, if we don’t practice love for the least of these, it’s hard to imagine that Christ’s Spirit is directing our steps.

So, what do we do if we realize that either our beliefs or our actions don’t line up with John’s teaching, or with the rest of God’s Word? What do we do when we catch ourselves hating other people (v. 20) or being afraid of God’s punishment (v. 18)?

Well, no matter what makes sense to us, in verse 14 John insists that Christ alone is the Savior of the world. And in verse 9, John affirms that God sent Christ into the world so that we might live through Him. In other words, we need to turn from our godless thoughts and trust in Christ as our Savior, no matter how unbelievable the gospel may seem to be.

But we also need to bow the knee to Christ as Lord. That means doing what He commands, which includes loving even those who profoundly disagree with us, even those who have hurt us the most deeply. After all, Jesus didn’t just come to teach His disciples – He came to die for them, even though they all abandoned Him, denied Him and betrayed Him in different ways. And if we want to follow Him, He says we must take up our own crosses, dying to ourselves for the good of others.

So, no matter how we feel about it, and no matter what it costs, let us love another. And no matter how little sense it may make to us, let us believe and teach the truth about Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. For that’s the only way to know we’re really in step with the Spirit of Christ.

I John 4:7-21 (ESV)

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.