Do you ever wonder whether you really know God? How do you know that you know Him, and not just know about Him? How can you be sure that you do?
Let me add more to this idea of knowing God before we start to try to understand what that means better. The apostle John uses the word “know” in the passage that we’re going to look at today in two different ways, both at the same time. First, to “know” is intellectual, it’s a fact or truth that you know in your head. Second, to “know” is a deeper conviction that has sunk into who you are so that it consistently affects your thoughts, words, and actions. This second sense of the word “know” is intimate and based on personal experience. It’s the same kind of “know” that is talked about in Genesis 4:1 that existed between Adam and Eve, and in Amos 3:2 it’s the same way God describes His covenant with His people.
So how do we really know that we know God, in this deep, intimate, covenant type way that consistently affects our thoughts and actions?
Let’s look at our passage this morning, from 1 John 2:3-8, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked. 7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.” (NASB)
Quite simply, John says that we can know that we have come to know God if we keep His commands. Simple enough, and easy to remember, right? It really is! I want us to really dig in here though, to understand fully why it is that our obedience to God, keeping His commands, is a sign of our knowing Him in an intimate and deep, truly whole-life way.
Obviously we don’t want to be the kind of person described in verse 4, the one who says that they know God but is actually a liar because they don’t follow His commands. This isn’t a warning against Christians who sometimes sin and don’t always walk with God perfectly, this is a warning to any Christian who thinks that they can have a relationship with God, can say that they love God, but doesn’t think that they have to obey what God has said. John calls these kinds of “Christians” liars.
But, He says in verse 5, whoever follows His word, in that person the love of God has been perfected. This is the kind of person we want to be, right, church? We want to be the kind of person that has the complete love of God in us, living in us, working in us and through us and for us.
We want to be this kind of Christian. Go back to my opening question then, “How do you know that you know Him, and not just know about Him?” John says those who know Him will obey His commands, but in verse 5 he also adds that those who are in God will walk as He walked.
Okay. Let’s get this straight in our minds. If I want to know that I know God in a deep way, really know Him, all I have to do is obey His commands and walk like Jesus, right?
No. What John is saying here isn’t a checklist for knowing God. It’s not like I make a little to-do list for knowing God and item 1 is keeping His commands and item 2 is walking like Jesus, and then I will know God.
Rather, it’s like this: I gave my life to Jesus and I am forgiven, but sometimes I still don’t get it “right”, so then I start to doubt a little. Do I really know God? Do I really have a relationship with Jesus? So I examine my life. Do I obey God’s commands to the point that it shapes my life as a whole? Yes! My life has been greatly shaped by God’s commands! Do I walk with Jesus in such a way that His truth, love, and righteousness has shaped my character and behavior? Yes! My character is much more like Christ than it was when I first gave my life to Jesus almost 30 years ago! The same can be said about my behavior and my thoughts.
Obedience to God’s commands and walking like Jesus aren’t check-list items, they’re check-in items. They are evidence of knowing God, not things to do to know God. If I know God, if He is in me, working in me, then I will be obedient to His commands and walk like Jesus and those actions, words, and thoughts will be clearly seen in my life as a whole.
In fact, this is what John says about obedience to God’s commands and walking like Jesus as evidence of knowing God, in verse 5 he says, “in him [the person who is obedient and walking like Jesus] the love of God has truly been perfected.” Other translations use the word “complete”. And it’s not that our love is perfect or complete, but that when we see obedience to God’s commands in our life and we see that we are walking like Jesus, not only do we know that we truly know God, but we also know that God’s love has become complete in us. Obedience to God’s commands and walking like Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s love living in us! I just want to really emphasize that point again, obedience to God’s commands and walking like Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s love living in us!
Then John says this, in verses 7-8 which is where I want to spend the rest of our time, “7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.”
John says that this idea of obeying God and walking like Jesus being the sign of truly knowing God, Him truly being in us, is both an old commandment and a new commandment.
Here’s the old commandment John is talking about: “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 8 You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. 9 You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
This was and still is called the “Shema”. Literally, it means “Hear”, because the passage starts with the word “hear”, “shema”. This old commandment was to all of Israel, to hear who God is, what He’s like, and to respond to His love with your whole being, and teach others to do the same. They would, and many still do, repeat these verses to themselves every day, especially the first two verses.
Here’s what I really love about the “Shema”. The word “hear” or “shema” doesn’t just mean hear or listen by receiving auditory input. It’s not just, “Hey, listen to this,”. The “Shema” came with an expectation, and all the Jewish people knew this. The expectation was that you not only receive what is heard, but then because you had heard it, and it is true, you had the responsibility to act on it, and by not acting on it, you did not in fact actually hear it the way you should.
This connection throughout the Old Testament between hearing and doing or listening and loving is very clearly seen. In Job 36:12, one of Job’s friends said this about God’s commands, “But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword, And die without knowledge.” And here is the idea when he uses the word “listen” that this isn’t just the sense of hearing something with your ears, but rather that there is an expectation to do what has been said.
Think about it this way. Our kids have certain set expectations. They know what is expected of them at home, and at school, and here at church. We remind them of those expectations when needed, and it usually goes something like this, “I need you to listen to what I’m saying to you right now. I expect…x…y…and z.” And when we use that word “listen” it’s not just “hear” it’s “hear and do”. Action is expected as part of the word “hear” or “listen”. So much so that we don’t even say that action is expected, it’s an unspoken expectation because it’s so much a part of the word “listen”.
Hearing God’s commands comes with the EXPECTATION that you will obey them!
The “Shema” goes on to say that the command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. We are to love God with every fiber of our being.
We could read the “Shema” more literally by saying this, “Hear, obey by loving God with everything you are.”
John adds the new commandment to it as well, which we can see in Matthew 22:34-40, “But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
This passage repeats the “Shema” that the Jewish community was so familiar with, but adds to it that we should also love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that the whole Law and the Prophets hang upon these two commands. The old command is to hear (obey) by loving God with everything you are, and the new command is to love all others as you love yourself!
Jesus explained this love for all others in even greater detail to really make sure we understood it in John 13:34, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
The old commandment is to hear (obey) by loving God with everything you are and the new commandment is to love all others as JESUS has loved you!
You have heard this. This is the Word of the Lord. Hearing it comes with the expectation that you will love in this way.
Remember I had you cross off that checklist of things to do if you want to know God. What then should we do? Love Him with everything we are and love others as He has loved us. Prayer, worship, time spent with Him are all expressions of our love for Him, and as we love Him in these ways, and teach others to do the same, we will see obedience and walking like Jesus become the signs that we really do know God and we really do love Him.
1. Grow Up with God: What specific ways have you seen obedience of God’s commands and walking like Jesus as signs in your life of your love for God?
2. Go Deeper with the Body: How is the truth of the new command (love all others as Jesus has loved you) seen in you towards others in the church?
3. Go Out: How can you help a pre-Christian in your life to move from knowing about God to truly knowing God?