“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.” (1 John 2:3-6 NKJV)
Estimates suggest that the average Facebook user has 338 friends, but does the average person really have the capacity to keep a meaningful friendship with so many people? Likely, it would be better to replace the word “friends” with “acquaintances.”
Some people are okay with having only acquaintances, because you don’t really feel beholden to an acquaintance as you do to a real, genuine friend. Sadly, a lot of people feel the same way about Jesus, hoping they will get into heaven simply by having a mere acquaintance with Him. John teaches his readers that knowing about Jesus is not the same as truly knowing Jesus.
Consider an analogy. You could know all the rules of baseball inside and out, even know every skill for every position on the field, but if you yourself have never actually been on a baseball field to play the game in real life, you would have no right to say that you’re a player for an MLB team. You might have impressive knowledge of the game, but you would be an impostor, a liar, and nothing more than an armchair baseball player.
Sadly, there are many armchair Christians today who say they believe in Jesus, but completely disregard the Word and will of the Savior in their daily living. It’s like they want to own Jesus and deny Him at the same time. Claim to play on the team, when they have never even stepped onto a ball field.
In John’s day, there was a group of false teachers who would later be called Gnostics, a name that comes from the Greek word gnosis, or “knowledge.” Many Gnostics taught that the material body was evil and beyond redemption, and therefore one could indulge fleshly desires without harm. There was no such thing as sin, only ignorance. Therefore, for the Gnostic, salvation depended not on good works nor even on grace, repentance, and faith, but rather on overcoming ignorance through access to knowledge. For Gnostics, Jesus was nothing more than an example of how to access knowledge for oneself.
Claiming to know Jesus, Gnostics advocated a false religion that completely ignored everything Jesus ever taught or did. They didn’t really want to call on the name of Jesus to be saved. Instead, they simply wanted to abuse Jesus’ name to their own advantage. At the same time, they seduced true Christians away from the faith by telling them that they could know and love Jesus while ignoring His Word and way of life. If a man claimed that he loved a woman, but never made any effort to speak with her, spend time with her, or read her love letters, would you believe him?
It is impossible to know and love Jesus without first knowing and understanding the severity of your own sins, and the horrible eternal hell-fire they deserved. That’s when the Holy Spirit provides the saving gnosis the sinner really needs–not just to know about Jesus, but to know and trust Him personally as one’s own Savior from sin. That true knowledge and love for Jesus reaches its completion in the Christian’s keeping His Word. That is, the Christian, responding in repentance and faith to Jesus’ love, will want to do anything and everything to show thanks to Jesus for Who He is and what He’s done for him. May the fruits of repentance in your life show that you truly know Jesus by faith as your Savior.
Sadly, there are many armchair Christians today who say they believe in Jesus, but completely disregard the Word and will of the Savior
is pastor of a quad parish that includes four western Wisconsin congregations: Morning Star Lutheran Church in Fairchild, Trinity Lutheran Church in Millston, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Melrose, and Peace with God Evangelical Lutheran Church in Onalaska.