Do You Walk the Walk?

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1John 2:3-6

John has such a way of laying down the bare bones truth of a situation that he is able utterly convict a person without condemning them. I read this passage and thought, ’Lord, I have not always abided by this,’ and I am convicted of my sin but I do not feel condemned because I know that there is hope and I know these words were written through John to the church out of a deep, compassionate love. I hope that as we study these four verses you all are convicted of the truth; but even more I hope that you feel the compassionate love and hope that the Lord desires to show you...

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

This is so simple it almost requires no elaboration, but I’m going to use an example that I hope everyone will understand. Most everyone has watched or played baseball, and most everyone has a basic concept of the rules of that game. Let’s focus on the batter for this example. The batter is given three strikes—three chances to hit the ball. If the pitches are good and the batter swings and misses three times that batter is out. Likewise, if the pitches are good—in the "strike zone"—and the batter does not swing at them, the batter is out. But, many people who are casual observers of the sport do not know that if, when the batter swings he steps on home plate, he is automatically out…whether he has three strikes or not. So many times in Christianity, we become casual observers—maybe even casual partakers—of the faith. We step into the box, dig our toes in, and swing at the good pitches; maybe we even make contact, but before we can run to first, we are called out because we stepped on home plate when we swung the bat.

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." James 1:22-24

Oh, friends—how can we know the Lord if we don’t know His Word? And if we know his Word and don’t abide by it, how can we claim that we truly know and love Him? It isn’t enough to just know or hear the word; Satan knows the word and we know he is not godly. The word must be active in us; we must do that which is commanded of us in the word. And what is commanded? The word tells us to love the Lord and love each other.

There are moments when John’s bluntness takes my breath away. Verse four is one of those moments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Wow. If that statement doesn’t convict you, friend, you should check and see if you have a heart of flesh in your body or a heart of ice cold stone. Look at what he’s saying to us. If we claim to be a Christian and don’t live a life that is guided and directed by the things our Lord has commanded us, we are nothing more than a pack of liars who have no truth in our hearts. If we know our God, we will know his Word, and the fruits of His Word will be visible in our lives. If we keep his commands, we "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in due season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:3) But if we do not keep his commands, we shall be "clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up [our] own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." Jude 1:12b-13. And I don’t know about you, friends, but I want to be part of that first group, not the second.

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

How awesome is it that John follows the chastisement with a beautiful promise! If we claim to know him but don’t keep his word, we are liars. But, if we keep His word, God’s love is perfected in us. WOW!! Now, this does not mean that we are perfect. We are not capable of perfection, in the sense that we are carnal beings driven to satisfy carnal desires. There will always, as long as we are living in the flesh of these human bodies, be sin because our flesh strives against our spirit. So what does this mean? How is God’s love perfected in us? Simply in this: that we will begin to love others with the same love Christ has loved us. And how did he love us? He loved us unconditionally and without reservation. He loved us so much that he became cursed for us that we might be set free from our curse. (Gal 3:13) He loved us so much that he gave up his life for us. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you…These things I command you, that you love one another." John 15:13-15, 17

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus! And this is the same love we ought to have for one another—the same love we ought to have for the lost, because Jesus came for the lost and dying…not for the religious.

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

We know that we are in Him when we love one another in the same unconditional way He loved us. Jesus walked in power, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, casting out demons, restoring withered limbs, healing the sick and dying. And John says to us, if we abide in Him, we ought to walk in the exact same manner that Jesus walked. We ought to do all these things. We ought to be walking in this power, in this ability. "Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." John 14:12 But we don’t. And why? Because we haven’t gotten the "love one another" part down. If we don’t love each other, we will have no desire to heal broken hearts, to set the captives free, loose the oppressed, clothe the naked—none of that will matter to us. How can we walk this walk without love? It is impossible. If God is love, then abiding in Him means abiding in love. We cannot abide in the Lord and be hateful people. Love abounds in God and if we abide in Him, we will abide in that love. If we walk in the Lord, we will walk in love. If we don’t we are "a sounding brass and clanging cymbal." (1 Cor 13:1b) If we aren’t walking in love all we’re doing is talking big and making a bunch of noise.

So the question, in its simplest form is this: Do you walk the walk, or do you just talk?