Obedience
Introduction
If we were to go to any busy urban area on a Saturday afternoon and ask people how they could tell if someone was a Christian, we’d probably get answers like this: “They go to church regularly.” Or “They wear a crucifix around their neck.” Or “They have a symbol of a fish on the back of their car.” Or “They have a Bible at home.”
Those are valid descriptions of some Christians. But what does the Bible say about how we can tell if somebody is a Christian or not? What are the characteristics of a believer? More importantly, how do each of us know that we’re a Christian?
The answer to these questions is in our text for this article, 1 John 2:3-6.
Let’s begin with a little background. 1 John 5:13 tells us to whom the book was written and why.
1John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
So 1 John was written to Christians for the purpose of reassuring them of their salvation. He wanted them to know that they had eternal life. Some of them were apparently unsure.
It was important for those believers to hear that message because a heretical movement called Gnosticism had infiltrated the church at that time. And one of the central teachings of Gnosticism was that there was no right or wrong.
Because of that, Gnostics taught that Jesus wasn’t really a man, otherwise he would have been evil, because all matter is evil. They also taught that breaking God’s law—including the ten commandments—was not wrong.
So Christians were confused about what true Christianity really meant.
I think we have a similar problem here in the 21st century. Our society just doesn’t know what to do sometimes. We don’t really know what’s right and wrong anymore. Our society tells us that it’s okay to kill unborn babies, it’s okay to have sex outside of marriage, and it’s okay to put our own needs and desires ahead of everyone else’s.
Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of confusion about Christianity itself. Liberal theologians have watered down the faith so much that even many Christians aren’t necessarily sure about what it means to be a Christian. And many Believers aren’t even sure if they’re saved or not.
Since the Bible is the Word of God and our only authority, only it can clear up the confusion and answer these questions. The Bible is so clear on this subject that by the end of this sermon I believe each one of us will see ourselves in one of three categories:
If you’re in category number one, you’ll be reassured of your position as a Christian, confident of your relationship with God. You’ll know that you’re saved.
Or, category number two, while you will know that you’re a Christian, you may be convicted of disobedience, maybe even gross disobedience, and you’ll need to repent.
Or three, you’ll realize, maybe for the first time, that you’re not a Christian at all, that you’ve never really given your life to Jesus.
As we come to 1 John 2:3-6, the apostle has already attacked the Gnostics’ false teaching by stating that Jesus was both God and man, and that he himself was a witness to Christ’s deity. John has also contradicted the Gnostics by saying that there is right and wrong, and that even Christians sin. The apostle has also clearly stated that we have forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ.
Then we come to our passage, 1 John 2: 3-6. Let’s read it:
1John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
1John 2:4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1John 2:5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
1John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Verse three sets the tone for the whole passage. Verses four through six elaborate on and explain this first sentence.
Know God
The “him” in verse three is God. But what does it mean to know God? The Greek word for both “knows” in verse three is the same Greek word that’s used in verses four, five and six. It means to take in knowledge, to come to know, to recognize or to understand completely. In this context, to “know” God is to be saved.
Obey God
But how do we know if we “know” God, if we’re saved?
The end of verse three makes it pretty clear: “…if we obey his commands.”
John’s readers should have already known about obedience. Romans 10:9 says:
Rom. 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
In order to be a Christian, we must confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. Lord also means boss or master. Romans 6:16-18 says that believers are slaves to righteousness and to the one they obey—Jesus. Contrary to some liberal Christian movements, Jesus is Savior and Lord. It’s a package deal or no deal at all.
The Greek word in our text for “obey” means to watch over, preserve, keep. It has the idea of continuous action. So in this context, the word obey means to continue to obey over a period of time. In John 8:31 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”
A true Christian obeys God over the course of his or her lifetime as a human being.
John 8:51 translates the same Greek word as “keeps” instead of “obey”:
John 8:51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
John 3:6 says the same thing in a different way:
John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
In both cases we again find the idea of continuous obedience.
Obedience—especially for a long period of time—is not always easy to do, is it?
When I was growing up, I hated authority. In fact, in some respects, my folks taught me to buck the system. They stressed independence and doing my own thing. They seemed to really like the 1960s, the way people rebelled against traditional values and authority figures.
As I approached my 18th birthday, I was really concerned about being drafted and going to Vietnam. My major concern was getting killed, but another big part of my concern was that I didn’t want to give up my lifestyle and conform to the Army’s rules and regulations. I wanted to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I didn’t want anyone ordering me around.
Before I became a Christian that’s what obedience meant to me: being forced to do what I don’t want to do. The word really had a bad connotation for me.
But obedience to God isn’t like worldly obedience. The Army forces people to obey. God doesn’t force our obedience. We obey because we love the Lord and want to please Him, and because it’s a natural result of being saved.
Let’s look at Romans 1:5, which reinforces this important Biblical truth.
Rom. 1:5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Godly obedience comes from faith. It’s natural. It’s expected. It happens with all true Christians. Obedience that pleases God starts with faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord.
Looking at it from another perspective, all true Christians, all people who have put their faith in Jesus, will obey God. That’s what this verse and many others are saying. Obedience goes hand in hand with true saving faith. You can’t separate the two.
In John 14:15 Jesus explains this idea of willing and loving obedience better than I ever could. Look at John 14:15:
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Look also at verses 23 and 24:
John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching…
We obey God because we trust him and love him, not because we have to. Listen to Romans 8:11-12:
Rom. 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Rom. 8:12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
We also obey because we want to pay God back for our salvation, even though that’s impossible to do. God’s grace can’t be bought. But when we truly realize what a precious and unspeakably wonderful gift salvation is, we naturally want to give something back to the Lord.
As Christians, our obedience is a result of our faith and comes from love and a sense of obligation, not from fear or force.
Verse 24 of John 14 shows us the other side of this Biblical truth on obedience. Non-Christians—that is, those who don’t love Jesus—will not obey God. Romans 8:7 takes it a step further. It says:
… the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Believers can and do obey. Unbelievers do not and in fact cannot obey God. They cannot please God.
Attempts by non-Christians to please God or to earn salvation are fruitless. God isn’t pleased with obedience that doesn’t result from faith in Jesus. Listen to Ephesians 2:8-9, a familiar passage:
Eph. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Eph. 2:9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
You’re not saved and you’re not a Christian if you just do good deeds and obey the ten commandments. Going to heaven and obedience that pleases God only comes after trusting Jesus. In order to be a true believer, faith comes first, then obedience follows.
So what have we learned so far? We know that we have come to “know” God—to be Christians—when we obey him after first trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of our sins. We obey out of love, respect, reverence and a sense of obligation.
But what specifically are Christians supposed to obey? What are we supposed to do? Let’s look at Matthew 22:34-40 and find out. This is one of the most profound parts of the whole Bible.
Matt. 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
Matt. 22:35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
Matt. 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Matt. 22:37 Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Matt. 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matt. 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matt. 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus says an amazing thing in this passage. He summarizes the law—the 10 commandments—by saying love God and love each other! When I first read this as a new Christian I was shocked! What about the Ten Commandments? What about lying, cheating, murder, adultery and all the rest? How could Jesus ignore commandments against doing those things?
When you think about it, though, it all makes sense. When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses in Exodus 20 the Lord said not to worship any other gods or to make an idol. If we keep Jesus’ command here in Matthew to love God, we’re not going to do either of those things. We won’t worship other gods or make an idol.
Likewise, if we love our neighbor—in other words everyone else—the same as we love ourselves, we’re not going to murder, we’re not going to commit adultery, we’re not going to break any of the 10 commandments.
So, as Jesus said in Matthew 22, the commandments to love God and others summarize the original Ten Commandments.
So Christians obey God. But what about people that don’t obey God? Verse four of 1 John 2 is pretty clear on that.
1John 2:4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
In other words, John is saying that if someone claims to be a Christian but doesn’t obey God’s commands, he or she is a liar and is not saved.
Examples Of Disobedience
That’s a disturbing thought, people in the church who claim to be Christians but really aren’t. This tragic reality is made even clearer later in 1 John 2:18-19:
1John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
1John 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Here’s a case of churchgoers who eventually left Christianity behind. John says that if they had been true Christians—if they had REALLY been saved—they would have stayed and continued to obey the teachings of Jesus.
Sometimes disobedience is easy to spot.
When I was an elder at my home church, I met with a missionary who lives full time in a foreign country. He came to the United States because he wanted to tell his financial supporters about the circumstances surrounding his upcoming divorce.
After he talked for about 15 minutes, I asked him if his wife was a Christian. He didn’t want to say one way or another, but he did say that she had demanded a divorce, had criticized his missionary work for the last several years, and, among other things, had literally thrown people out of their house during a Bible study.
In short, she didn’t act like a Christian should. At least the way an obedient Christian should.
I witnessed to a woman at work several years ago and she accepted Jesus as her savior and Lord. You’d never know it by her actions, however. In the weeks, months and years after that “decision,” she regularly used the Lord’s name in vain, cursed up a storm, talked openly about her many affairs with several men, and refused to go to church.
Become Like Christ
She didn’t act like a Christian, not by the standards laid down in 1 John and elsewhere.
After defining what a non-Christian is in verse four, the apostle John elaborates in verses five and six what he’s already said in verse one.
John 2:5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
1John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
When we obey God and his word, God’s love is made complete. That is, God’s desire for our lives comes about, and our love and commitment to him is evident outwardly by our obedience.
And, of course, no one obeyed like Jesus obeyed his Father. Listen to these three passages:
John 4:34: “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
John 8:29: “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
And John 15:10 says this:
John 15:10: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
We need to follow Jesus’ example of obedience. That’s the essence of verse six of 1 John 2:
1John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Jesus obeyed so we should obey. Jesus was holy so we should be holy. Jesus told unbelievers how to be saved so we should tell unbelievers how to be saved.
Let me add an important footnote to this point. If being a Christian means walking the way Jesus walked—in other words, following His example in our daily lives—we need to read and study the Bible. We need to read and study the Bible. It’s hard to pattern your life after somebody you don’t know anything about.
100% Obedience?
Let’s take stock again. What have we learned so far? In a nutshell, we’ve found out that true Christians obey God and model their lives after Jesus’ life. People who claim to be Christians but don’t obey are not really Christians.
I don’t know about you, but those two statements make me a little uncomfortable. I make mistakes. I sin. That means I’m disobedient at times.
A passage in John 17 makes me feel a lot better. It’ll probably make you feel better too. This is Jesus praying to his Father about his disciples.
John 17:6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
Did you hear that?! Did you hear the last five words of that verse?!
“… they have obeyed your word.”
Does that mean Peter obeyed God when he rebuked Jesus after He predicted His death? Does that mean the apostles obeyed God when they slept instead of praying in the Garden of Gethsemane? Does that mean Peter obeyed God when he denied knowing Jesus three times? Does that mean the apostles obeyed God when they argued about who among them was the greatest?
How can that be? I think one of the best illustrations of Biblical obedience is found in Romans 7:15-25. This is one of my favorite parts of the Bible because I can identify with it so much. This is the apostle Paul talking about himself.
Rom. 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Rom. 7:16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Rom. 7:17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
Rom. 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Rom. 7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Rom. 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Rom. 7:21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
Rom. 7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
Rom. 7:23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Rom. 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Rom. 7:25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Let me ask you a question. Do you think Paul was a Christian? Of course he was. But look again at verse 15:
Rom. 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And verses 18 and 19:
Rom. 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Rom. 7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Paul struggled with sin and disobedience just like we do! The key to this whole concept of Biblical obedience is that the inner desire of all true Christians is to obey, they want to please God.
This passage and others also show how difficult obeying can be sometimes and how important our efforts are to do so. Being saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that we just throw up our arms and say, “Okay, God, you’re in control; help me be obedient.” We have to consciously and deliberately obey God. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we’ll mature and get better and better at it. That’s what is referred to as sanctification.
When I think about obedience I think about my dog Beau. He’s a Labrador retriever and, for the most part, is very well behaved and was pretty easy to train. We took him to an eight-week obedience class when he was a puppy and he did well. When we go for walks now, however, sometimes he ends up walking me instead of me walking him. And at 85 pounds, he’s a handful.
When he disobeys I say “no”—my wife says I yell “no”—in any case, I pull back on the choke collar and give him the proper command again. But I can’t stay mad at him too long, because he looks at me with those big brown eyes of his and I can see that he’s sorry, I can see that he wants to obey. He just forgets, or gets too excited or just blows it.
In a way that’s like our relationship with God. True Christians truly feel bad for disobeying and sincerely want to please the Lord. And God, who sees all and knows all, forgives us when we make mistakes because He knows our hearts.
When God looks at us he sees us as righteous, because, as 1 Corinthians 1:30 and other passages say, Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness. It’s imputed to us. It’s ours.
And because He knows our hearts, and because we’re his children, believers in His son Jesus, we don’t lose our salvation when we’re occasionally disobedient. Matthew 5:19 is just one of many passages that confirms that truth:
Matt. 5:19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This passage says that true Christians can break one of God’s commandments—can sin—and can even teach others to do wrong! But the result of their disobedience is being the “least in the kingdom of God.” Proverbs 28:13 says:
Prov. 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Sinning Christians take themselves out of a place of blessing, but they DON’T lose their salvation.
So true Christians love the Lord and want to obey, but because we’re all human—in the flesh—we sometimes fail.
Because of this truth it’s dangerous to make judgments whether someone is saved or not. There have been times when someone could have seen me sin and concluded that I wasn’t a Christian.
In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul says that he doesn’t trust his own judgment. He was well aware that the human part of all of us can cloud our thinking and our perceptions.
So let’s save this assurance of salvation through obedience as a gauge for ourselves and not for others. Yes, scripturally we’re commanded to confront one another when sin is present, especially flagrant and ongoing sin, but let’s first examine our own lives.
By the way, Scripture says that the Holy Spirit also reassures us of our salvation. Listen to Romans 8:16:
Rom. 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
That’s a subjective way that we know that we’re saved. We know because God’s Spirit has told us. We know that we know that we know.
Conclusion
To sum up, then:
True Christians sincerely want to obey the Lord, and that desire comes from faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. We still sin and, like the apostle Paul, we’re in a constant struggle between the desire to obey and our human desire to sin. No Christian obeys 100 percent of the time.
Non-Christians cannot please God, and any obedience on their part is only external and forced.
Before we conclude, let’s think back to the categories I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Second Corinthians 13:5 says to examine ourselves to see if we’re in the faith. Let’s do that right now.
Has God reassured you regarding your salvation? Do you “know” God? Do you sincerely want to obey Him? Is the general pattern of your life one of obedience?
Or is God telling you that, despite “knowing” Him and being His child, you’re being disobedient? You love the Lord and you’ve accepted him as Savior, but you’re not doing too well in the Lord part.
If that’s the case, you need to repent right now and ask God for forgiveness and for the desire and the strength to obey him. James told his readers to show their faith by what they do. Prove you’re a Christian and obey God.
On the other hand, if you’ve hated reading this article and hate the idea of obeying God and can’t wait to get away from this Web site, you may be in trouble. Jesus said if you’re not with me, you’re against me.
To “know” God, to be a Christian, to be assured of going to heaven some day, starts with faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and results in a lifetime of obedience.