Christianity is the religion which offers the greatest privilege and brings with it the greatest obligation

1 John 2:3-6: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. {4} The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. {5} But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: {6} Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

2:3  We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.  While Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (2:2), only those who belong to him experience his forgiveness. Up to this point in the letter, John has been warning against the false teachers and those who left the church to follow them. The people who remained in the church, John’s readers, may have been wondering, “How can we be sure that we belong to Jesus Christ? How can we know that we have chosen the truth?” Today the question might be phrased, “How can I know that I’m a Christian?” This passage gives two ways to know: if you do what Christ says and live as Christ wants.

Throughout this letter, John used the phrase “we know” (the verb form of “know” occurs twenty times in the Greek). He repeated this phrase to encourage genuine Christians to be sure that their belief was not a matter for doubt but a fact that could be both known and experienced. All believers can be certain of their relationship with Christ and can be assured of his forgiveness.

People can know that they have come to know Jesus Christ if they obey his commands. This letter lists several proofs for how people can know Christ and belong to him. Obedience provides one clear indication. This does not mean that believers must follow a list of rules without one slip, nor does it mean that people must demonstrate obedience before they can come to know God. Instead, obedience comes as the natural outworking of a person’s faith and love for the Lord. True believers wholeheartedly accept and submit to God’s will as he has revealed it in his Word.

[John] does not mean that those who wholly satisfy the Law keep His commandments (and no such instance can be found in the world), but those who strive, according to the capacity of human infirmity, to form their life in obedience to God. John Calvin

2:4  Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist.  This verse illustrates the principle John wrote in 2:3. If people do not obey Christ, they have not come to know him. Christ’s Great Commission stressed: “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:20 ). Since anyone can claim to know Christ, you can check his or her authenticity by seeing whether or not he or she obeys God’s Word. John used tough language to convey the truth. Someone who claims to know God, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar. In fact, the truth does not exist in that person in any form. People should not look for leaders in those who refuse to live by God’s commandments because those so-called “leaders” have no true teaching to give.

2:5–6           But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection.  Here, obedience is linked not merely with knowing God but with loving him. There are three views on the meaning of the love of God. It may refer to (1) God’s love for people, (2) a godly kind of love, or (3) a person’s love for God. It could be that all three are included in John’s statement. For example: (1) As Christians obey God, they are showing their appreciation to God for what he has done; thus, they show that God’s love has “reached perfection” in them. (2) As Christians obey God’s Word, they continue to understand what God wants them to do; thus, they display his kind of love to others. Their ability to show this love has “reached perfection” because of their close relationship with him. (3) As Christians obey God, they are showing their love for God. By their constant obedience, they are “reaching perfection” in that love.

WHY OBEDIENCE MATTERS

This epistle mentions obedience extensively. For many people, “obey” is, in the worst possible sense, a four-letter word. It smacks of submission and humility. When we obey, we give up our own agenda, and we do the bidding of another. Obedience may not come naturally to proud people, and it may not be easy. But a lifestyle of complying with God’s will is very important, because

• it acknowledges God’s sovereignty over our lives (Leviticus 18:4);
• it leads to blessing (Deuteronomy 6:24; 12:28; 28:2; Joshua 1:7; 2 Chronicles 31:21);
• it demonstrates love for God (John 14:15, 23);
• it is how Christ lived (John 8:29; Hebrews 5:8);
• it results in fulfilling relationships (Ephesians 6:1, 5–6; Hebrews 13:17);
• it is evidence that we truly know God (1 John 2:3);
• it reveals our destiny (Romans 6:16);
• it fulfills the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20).

What steps of obedience do you sense God wants you to take today?

The words “reached perfection” here must be held up against John’s earlier statement that true believers will not claim to be without sin (1:8, 10). God considers believers to be “perfect” because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross on their behalf, yet they will not be completely perfect until Christ returns to take them into his eternal kingdom. Believers cannot reach perfection through their own efforts; only God can do this, working in and through them to help them become more perfect until the day, after this life, when he will make them completely perfect. So “reached perfection” refers to a continuing state of growing and maturing—not a final destination. This growing and maturing process reaches fulfillment, however, as the believers learn and practice obedience to God’s Word.

Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God. Charles Spurgeon

EXPERIENCING LOVE

This passage (2:5–6) suggests that obedience to Christ leads to a full experience of his love. Perhaps this same phenomenon prompts marriage counselors to advise their clients to “do loving acts” in order to “regain loving feelings.” This seems to be putting the cart before the horse, yet many counselees report great success with this assignment. By living as God desires, we realize more fully the depths of God’s affection for us. The more we obey, the more fully we devote ourselves to pleasing the Father. By obeying, “the love of God has reached perfection” in us.

This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.  This describes the close relationship between God and believers by stating that they are in him. Again the phrase “we know” (2:3) is used. How can genuine believers be identified? Believers can “know” that they are “in him” by obedience (2:5), and that obedience is further defined as “walking as Jesus walked.” In John’s epistle, “walking” refers to how people conduct their lives and express their attitudes in their actions (see 1:7). Jesus portrayed in human terms absolute obedience to the Father. Anyone who wonders how to obey God can look at Jesus. Anyone who truly desires to live in him must walk as Jesus did. “In him” refers to abiding in him (see John 15:1–7; 17:21–23).

To “walk as Jesus did” doesn’t mean choosing twelve disciples, performing great miracles, and being crucified. People cannot merely copy Christ’s life. Much of what Jesus did had to do with his identity as God’s Son and his special role in dying for sin. Anyone’s claim to live in Christ must be backed up by following his example of complete obedience to God and loving service to people.^[1]

After one believes on Christ, things should be different as far as his involvement with sin is concerned. Having received a new life, he should abstain from evil with a desire to please the Lord. It is refreshing to meet a Christian who is open and sincere and is not trying to masquerade!

Several proofs are given whereby one who professes Christ may substantiate his relationship to Christ. If one has truly believed on the Lord, this fact will be demonstrated outwardly.  We come to the first of three ‘tests’ which John’s epistle will bring before us throughout the rest of this study. We’ll see each one of them presented in several ways, and we’ll let John do it in the order he chooses.

The first one is a moral test: do we obey the commandments?

In the original what is said here is, “by this we may know that we have known him [perfect tense — something done in the past], because we are now keeping his commandments [present tense].”

The present willingness to keep his commandments is a sign of a valid relationship. It is proof that an act of union with Christ has already occurred, you have been born again through baptism in order to receive remission of sins. Your actions have changed, and because they have changed and you do not behave as you once did; you now have a desire to obey him.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of obedience.  If you’ve ever been in the military, you know about traveling under sealed orders. Your orders say go to this point and fly to this place, or take the boat to this place. You open your orders, and they tell you where to go next. That’s the way Abraham lived. “Abraham believed God…and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

Failure to obey these teachings is to negate one’s profession of faith: for The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

It is obvious that such a person has never had a heart-experience with Christ, regardless of what he might say. A verbal claim of believing on Christ is not enough. Visible evidence must be given by obedience to the truth.

The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith.  The two are at opposite sides of the same coin.    — A.W. Tozer.

God’s love does not end after one believes on Christ. It is at work in the believer’s life every step of the way. For what purpose? To enable us to obey the Word of God. Our obedience to the Word is an evidence of this fact: But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.

The word “perfected” is used in the older translations and is better rendered here “made complete.” It has to do with bringing to fruition. The intended purpose of God’s love is being fulfilled as the believer obeys God’s Word and does His will.

Think of the way we learned obedience when we were children. First, we obeyed because we had to. If we didn’t obey, we were spanked! But as we grew up, we discovered that obedience meant enjoyment and reward; so we started obeying because it met certain needs in our lives. And it was a mark of real maturity when we started obeying because of love.

“Baby Christians” must constantly be warned or rewarded. Mature Christians listen to God’s Word and obey it simply because they love Him.

Peter expresses a similar truth: “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (I Peter 3: 12). The contrast is seen between the obedient and the disobedient. Those who obey God experience His love in His watchful care and provision through prayer. The disobedient, on the other hand, have not yet experienced the love of God.

“To obey is better than sacrifice,” we are told (l Samuel 15:22). God will not accept anything in lieu of obedience. Thus the question must be asked frequently, am I obeying God in every area of my Christian experience? Knowing what we should do is not enough: we must do it.

Our Lord said, (John 13:17 )  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. Happiness is discovered only as we obey the Lord. It can be known in no other way. Knowledge of spiritual truth is not sufficient; it must be applied.

Let’s say you came to my house for a party and the cars were lined up along the street and you pulled in the empty driveway. A little girl came out and said, “Mr. Davenport has asked you not to park in the driveway because a caterer is coming later, and he wants the driveway free. Would you park in the street?” Even though physically you could overpower that girl, I suspect you would park in the street because of your respect for me. She is a delegated authority.  We show our respect for God by being obedient to his delegated authority.

To cling always to God and to the things of God–this must be our major effort, this must be the road that the heart follows.

A study was released by the Uersity of Southern California indicating that one-third of the medical patients in this country ignore what doctors tell them to do. Before the study was completed, the doctors didn’t think the figures would be quite that bad. Forty-two per cent estimated that almost all their patients were obeying orders, and forty-seven per cent thought that at least three-fourths were doing what they were told. The survey proved all of them wrong. Only fourteen per cent of the patients always obeyed the physicians and about forty nine per cent did so “most of the time.” Another twenty three per cent obeyed less than half the time. Nine per cent obeyed “very seldom,” and five per cent, “not at all.” Strange to say, persons with more severe illnesses were less likely to carry out orders.

The situation is not much different when it comes to the believer doing what God tells him to do. Believers listen to the Word of God preached and taught, but  many fail to do it. Indeed, the words of Hebrews 4:2 are most applicable: “But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” What a mistake it is to hear God’s Word, or to read it, and yet refuse to obey.

A little girl misquoted the words of a familiar hymn: “If there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, then trust and obey.” If we fail to respond to the truth, it is evident that many of us would have to agree with those lines.

We should obey the Lord for three reasons: first, whatever our Lord commands us, He really means us to do; secondly, whatever He commands us is always for our good; and thirdly, whatever He commands us, He is able and willing to enable us to do. Thus, let us obey the Lord in everything, that the love of God may be perfected in us, for then we shall know “that we are in Him.”

When the heart’s wrong, there can’t be peace.  Selfishness is a gangrene, eating at the very vitals.  Sin is a cancer, poisoning the blood.  Peace is the rhythm of our wills with Jesus’ love-will. Disobedience breaks the music.  Failure to keep in touch makes discord.  The notes jar and grate.  We have broken off.  The peace can’t get in.  Jesus made peace by his blood.  We get it only by keeping in full touch with him.

Obedience or Performance?

• Obedience is seeking God with your whole heart. Performance is having a quiet time because you’ll feel guilty if you don’t.
• Obedience is finding ways to let the word of God dwell in you richly. Performance is quickly scanning a passage so you can check it off your Bible reading plan.
• Obedience is inviting guests to your home for dinner. Performance is feeling anxious about whether every detail of the meal will be perfect.
• Obedience is doing your best. Performance is wanting to be the best.
• Obedience is saying yes to whatever God asks of you. Performance is saying yes to whatever people ask of you.
• Obedience is following the promptings of God’s spirit. Performance is following a list of man-made requirements.
• Obedience springs from a fear of God. Performance springs from a fear of failure.

I like to story of the little boy,  who was riding his tricycle furiously around the block, over and over again.  Finally a policeman stopped and asked him why he was going around and around.  The boy said that he was running away from home.  Then the policeman asked why he kept going around the block.  The boy responded, “Because my mom said that I’m not allowed to cross the street.” The point is clear – obedience will keep you close to those you love.

Not only should the believer obey God, he should reveal Him in his life. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

Abiding in Christ has to do with more than our position in Him. It is true that anyone who abides in Christ has been born again by the Holy Spirit and has passed from death unto life. But it also has to do with one’s present relationship with his Saviour. Is he walking in harmony with his Lord, or does his manner of life betray his profession? The word “ought” comes from a word meaning “to owe to another,” referring to a debt that must be paid. Believers are in debt to God to walk in a manner that is well-pleasing in His sight.

How can Christians walk like Christ? The Bible tells us that He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21); He “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22); and “in Him is no sin” (1 John 3: 5). Can we live like Christ without sin? Of course not. “To walk, even as He walked,” does not infer perfection. It means that we should pattern our lives after Him.

What are some of the characteristics evidenced in Christ’s life?

1. He prayed for His enemies. Even though His persecutors climaxed their atrocities by nailing Him to a cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
2. Christ always pleased the Father. Never did He act in opposition to the divine will. His concern was “not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22 :42).
3. Christ always showed love and kindness, regardless of what had been said or done against Him. It was He who said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

These and many other characteristics of our Lord should be visible in the believer’s life. If they are not, we might wonder if the conversion experience was real. Jesus declared, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7: 20). Are we walking like Christ, or are we bearing the characteristics of the ungodly? How we answer will give unquestionable evidence of our relationship to the Saviour.

The Lord tells us to walk like Christ, but He also gives us the necessary equipment to do this. Christ not only gives us a standard to live by, He gives us the power to live by the standard. In spite of all the hardships and afflictions Paul faced, he could say with confidence, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4: 13).

Paul knew full well that he was unable to do “all things,” but he also knew that as he relied upon Christ, “all things” were possible. Likewise, “all things” are possible for us. But there must be complete reliance on the Son of God. lie must be the Master of our lives. This demands unconditional surrender to Him. We must realize from the moment of our conversion until we meet Christ face to face that we are no longer our own but His to do what He wants.

Actually, this is what conversion is all about. Some “join church” and wonder why they do not feel any different. Others have a mere emotional experience, which simply stirs their feelings. These may satisfy for a time, but they do not last. Conversion has to do with a complete change: “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5: 1 7). When one has experienced conversion, he will walk like Christ. Many temptations will befall him, but he will keep his eyes fixed on the Son of God, and walk steadily, faithfully forward.

It will not always be easy to walk like Christ; there will be difficulties all along the way. But we can be faithful for “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Let’s settle for nothing less than for a walk that glorifies God. There can be no greater evidence to ourselves, as well as to the world, that we belong to Jesus.

When one is a follower of Christ and is saved, everyone around will know it. Not only because of what the new convert says, but by what he does. One thing he will do is to keep God’s commandments, the precepts of God which appear in both the Old and New Testaments.

Secondly, he will walk as Christ walked. In God’s strength, he will live like Christ. These two things will witness to the fact that he has really met the Lord. John offers a third evidence: “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning” (1 John 2:7).

A man really wanted to help his son understand the importance of making right choices, obeying, and doing right.  So, if his son made a bad choice or a wrong decision, he’d give him a nail, send him to a post out in the back yard, and have him take a hammer and put the nail in the post.  And every day that he went through the whole day making good decisions, he’d let him go out and remove one of those nails.

As the boy grew up from the age of about eight years until about fourteen or fifteen, there were always 2 or 3 nails in the post, and he’d be nailing them in and pulling them out.  But he got better, until finally all the nails were removed as he started to mature.  When all the nails were removed, he felt pretty good.

Then his dad took him out and said, “I want you to notice something about the post.”  The boy looked at it for a moment and realized that all the holes where the nails had been placed in the post were still there.  His dad said, “I want to tell you something, son, about bad choices.  You may be completely forgiven; there are no nails left — no problem there — but you do have the remaining effects.  That post will never be the same again.”

God, for this coming year Just one request I bring: I do not pray for happiness Or any earthly thing — I do not ask to understand The way Thou leadest me, But this I ask: Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee. I want to know Thy guiding voice, To walk with thee each day. Dear Master make me swift to hear And ready to obey. And thus the year I now begin A happy year will be — If I am seeking just to do the thing that pleaseth Thee.

Some Strange People I Know

• People who talk about prayer but never pray.
• People who say tithing is right but never tithe.
• People who want to belong to the church but never attend.
• People who say the Bible is God’s Word to man but never read it.
• People who criticize others for things they do themselves.
• People who stay away from church for trivial reasons and sing, “Oh, How I Love Jesus.”
• People who continue in sin all their lives but expect to go to heave

He that hopes to find peace by trusting God must obey him.

It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us.

God doesn’t want our success; he wants us. He doesn’t demand our achievements; he demands our obedience.

Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing, feeling is another.

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons. We learn more by five minutes’ obedience than by ten years’ study.

When we are obedient, God guides our steps and our stops.

^[1] Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, 1, 2 & 3 John, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1998), 31–33.