Do We Know Him?

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

-- I John 2:3-6

If we have truly studied the teachings of Jesus, without the conservative, patriotic, American filter, then this passage should make us very troubled, but it is amazing to me how many can read and/or listen to this passage and feel so comfortable and be so unfazed. I was wondering about this while listening to the sermon on this passage today, and it occurred to me that people feel most comfortable when they are ignorant of the truth. Most people feel comfortable with this passage because they believe that they are already doing what God has commanded of them. They believe that they are, in fact, following the teachings of Christ.

But are we...?

Are we willing to sell all we have (or anything at all) and give it to the poor? Are we willing to give up everything we own for the sake of following Christ? Will we lay down our lives for our faith? Would we really follow Jesus to the most depraved ends of the earth to spread the gospel? Can we love our enemies, even when they are Hamas, or Al Qaida or a brutal dictator or a communist or anyone else who would gladly kill someone who believes that Jesus is the Christ? Are we showing by the way we live that we are willing to make costly sacrifices for the sake of our brothers and sisters? Do we embrace suffering and “taking up our cross” for the sake of Christ? Can we love the unloveable?

The list goes on and on and the more I write the more a squirm. We have been duped into believing that Christian faith is all about going to church, being nice, singing fuzzy, feel-good songs, living morally and voting republican. We believe we are doing what God has commanded simply because of a single symbolic act of surrender and faithful or semi-faithful attendance at religious events. But many Christians don’t realize the depth of God’s commands because they have never truly studied his commands. Most Christians do not fully appreciate how costly and difficult (and how joyous and fulfilling) it is to follow the teachings of Jesus, because they have never taken the time to read, or study or try to understand the full scope of his teachings.  And even if they do read his most difficult commands they ignore the depths of the implications or they rationalize easier ways to fulfill what they consider the “intent” of the teaching. Or they believe that the teachings do not apply to them specifically because they haven’t felt the “calling” to do them. Too often our faith is shallow because we never even look for depth, we are perfectly content in our shallow ignorance. Why should I be threatened by I John if I believe all that matters is weekly attendance at church. If that is what God commands, I’m doing it and all is good. 

But all is not good. Most of us do little in the way of continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Seldom does our gratitude to God compel us to live radically different lives that Jesus demonstrated for us. And the problem is not that we are not doing enough, the problem is that we do not know God like we should. Because, if we did, we would do so much more. Our obedience is an indicator of faith in the one who has given us life and our ignorance and/or disregard for how to be obedient speaks volumes about how distant we are from God.