Mensa Otabil - How to Know That You Know Christ
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First John chapter 2, verses 3 and 4: 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.
As I’ve been saying from the beginning, John the Apostle was one of the last living apostles of Jesus Christ, and by this time, all kinds of wrong teachings were coming into the church, so John is correcting them. There were people in the early church who believed that knowledge of Christ was the most important thing. Yes, knowledge of Christ is important, but you know the Greek society prizes knowledge above everything, so they just wanted to know about the thing. They spent a long time discussing matters, knowing about something, and trying to understand it, but doing very little about it. They brought that mindset to Christianity, and so some people felt all we need to do as Christians is know about Christ; we don’t have to live for Him or live righteously. They could live their own lives but only study about Christ. They had a good knowledge of Him; it’s almost like what people do in a Bible knowledge class: they study about the Bible, but they don’t live by it. These people knew about Him, studied about Christ, but were not concerned about the Christian life or living it out.
So that’s what John is correcting. The question he’s answering is how we know that we know Christ. He says if you say you know Him but do not live by His commandments, then you are a liar. John is saying you don’t know Him just by having information about Him; you know Him by turning that information into action, so you live for Him, you obey Him.
When we know, we obey what we know. If Christ says, «Thou shalt not commit adultery,» we know that, but we shouldn’t just know it and then commit adultery. He says don’t commit adultery, and then we obey that. He says you shall not lust after a person, and then we obey it. That’s what Christianity is: it’s not just knowledge but also obedience to that knowledge. Nowadays, there are people who have a knowledge of God but do not obey Him. They believe that all that is important is prayer, that if they can spend hours praying, that’s all they need in the Christian life. Yet their whole life is in disobedience to Christ.
People spend a lot of time praying but are full of bitterness, anger, hatred, and strife. Others spend a lot of time studying the Bible but are also full of bitterness, anger, and strife. Whatever it is, what John is telling us, what the Scripture is telling us today is that knowing about Him, talking to Him, experiencing Him, having an encounter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and having all kinds of spiritual encounters-maybe you see visions, maybe whatever it is-if you don’t obey Him, you are a liar.
That’s heavy stuff. Very heavy stuff, because it is the way for us to know we belong to Christ and are living for Him. We belong to Him not because we pray, or go to church, or have had a spiritual encounter, or have received a prophecy, or given a prophecy. Those may all be good, but the mark from John is obedience to Him. Doing His commandments does not mean a lot of rules and lists we have to avoid falling short of. He says we have to obey His commandments, that the perfect thing is to obey His commandments.
When we fall short, He says we have an Advocate, but we shouldn’t fall short and say, «Well, the commandments don’t matter at all; they’re not even important. All I need to do is pray or go to church.» He says, «No, no, no! There are commandments; there are rules you have to obey.» If you fall short, you go to the Advocate, and He’ll get you right. That’s what Christianity is аbout: obedience to Christ. I pray that we will commit to a life of obedience to Him.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I desire to know and obey You. Help me by Your Spirit to live my life according to Your word. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.» Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.