Knowing That We Know- Three Tests
1 John 2:3-11
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
October 10, 2021
1 John 2:3-11
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b] is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
There are three tests to our knowing Jesus: a love and desire to obey his commandments, being consistent and practicing compassion.
2. THE CONSISTENCY TEST (6-9) How consistent is your walk with the Lord? In vs. 6 John writes: This is how we know we are in him: The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked. John never beats around the bush. He just says that if someone claims to be a Christian but is inconsistent, that guy's lying. He's not telling the truth. Now it’s seldom that we walk up to somebody and put our finger in their face and say, “You’re lying because you’re not living right.” But John was not afraid to do that. And he said, “If there's a person who claims to be a Christian, but they don't walk the way Jesus walks, they're inconsistent. And that person doesn't really know Jesus Christ.” Do you basically act and talk the same way on Monday through Saturday that you act and talk on Sunday?
You see that was one of my big problems. When I was a teenager on Sunday, I had a Sunday vocabulary. I had a way I acted on Sunday when I was around my Sunday school teacher and my parents when I was at church. But when I went to school during the week, I had a totally different vocabulary. I used awful language, and it wasn’t until I was 16 years old that God convicted me of being a hypocrite, and I stopped using profanity. It was as if God was saying to me, “You're not being consistent. Get in or get out.” So how do we stay consistent? Consider two important factors:
(1) Our Example. Most successful people had a mentor or a role model that they tried to pattern their life after. I am not good at playing golf, maybe because I have only played golf a couple of times. This week a friend and his wife were going to Las Vegas for a couple of days of R&R and he was really excited about playing golf there with a few close friends and business associates. A few years ago the younger players on the PGA were interviewed about who they admired most – and the winner was Arnold Palmer. He was a role model because of his willingness to sign autographs as long as fans were there. He always had a kind word to the younger players. Once Arnold was with a group of pastors playing golf at his course at Bay Hill. He came in and shook hands with the pastors. Then he said, “Hats off in the clubhouse gentlemen.” You’ve never seen hats removed as fast as they were that day! The pastors told him they were praying for him and he said he appreciated it very much. The pastors could tell he was sincere. Arnold Palmer was a good role model, he passed away about 5 years ago.
But we have a role model better than Arnold Palmer. His name is Jesus. He is our example to follow. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:21: “For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
Our parents should be our role models, and as parents we should be role models for our children. This doesn’t always work out well. I’ve mentioned by dad several times. He was a man’s man – the town’s baker. He was liked and respected by many people. Additionally, my father did not go to church, and his vocabulary was not always good.
When I came home one Sunday morning I announce to my Dad that I was surrendering to the ministry he used and expletive and said I was making the biggest mistake of my life. Obviously at 16 years old I was crushed by his words, I still remember them today, 42 years later. I shed a few tears and quickly remembered God’s word: “But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters] (1 Corinthians 2:14). And God gave me great compassion for my Dad. I loved him and respected him until his death on April 15, 1992. He was 92 years old.
You know how I got in trouble when I was 12 years old and in middle school. My vocabulary with my classmates was not exemplary. I wonder if consciously or unconsciously my father influenced me in that character flaw. The fact is, my friends, our children are going to imitate us. And as members of God’s family we should use Jesus as our example.
(2) Our Experience. So what should be our experience? The Bible says we are to walk in his steps. That's our daily experience, walking in the steps of Jesus Christ. There’s a famous Christian book written by Charles Sheldon entitled In His Steps. It's a book about a group of people who decide to get serious about living the Christian life. And they anytime they're confronted with a moral choice, they would ask themselves this question, “What would Jesus do if he were here?”
In the 90’s the WWJD bracelets started showing up. Few people know that the origin of WWJD goes back to that book written in 1896.
Professional golfer Payne Stewart had a pretty bad reputation for being a self-centered prima donna for years. He won eleven PGA tour events including three championships. Then someone shared the Gospel with him and he became a committed Christian. At that time he started wearing a WWJD bracelet as a witness and as a reminder to him. When Payne won the 1999 U.S. Open he can be seen hugging the trophy and his WWJD bracelet can be seen. Four months later, at the age of 42, Payne was flying from Orlando to Dallas and the Lear Jet he was in lost pressurization. Everyone inside succumbed to oxygen deprivation, and the jet continued on autopilot until it crashed in South Dakota. But Payne wasn’t there. The plane went down, but Payne had already gone up – he was with Jesus, because he came to know Jesus.
So when you’re faced with a choice, a good question to ask yourself is WHAT WOULD JESUS DO. However, that’s only the starting place.
You can take the next step to the Spirit filled life – Christ in you. What would Jesus do if He were here? Praise God, Jesus is here, living and ruling in your heart, and you can have the mind of Christ.
3. THE COMPASSION TEST (10-11). The third way that you can know that you know that you know that you're a Christian is your love for other Christians. Vs. 11: The one who loves his brother or
sister remains in the light. Now, when we talk about the compassion test, John talks about two kinds of experiences. He talks about walking in the darkness. That's a life filled with hatred. And then he talks about walking in the light. That is a life characterized by a love for one’s brothers and sisters
Later in 1 John we come across that word “know” again. 1 John 3:14 says: “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.” Salvation is when you cross a line. It is a line between death to life; from darkness to light; from lostness to salvation. Through the years I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I’ve always been a Christian.” Not according to the Bible. There was a time when you were dead in your trespasses and sins and you heard about the free gift of eternal life. And you placed your faith in Jesus – at that moment you crossed the line.
And one of the best ways to know you have crossed that line is if you have agape love for all your brothers and sisters in Christ.
It’s easy to talk about love, but loving is a lot harder. There’s an old two-line poem that says: “To live above with saints we love; Oh, that will be glory! But to live below with folks we know – now that’s another story!”
Whenever I talk about loving others, people think, “Well, Pastor, you just don’t know who’s in my family – or in my neighborhood – or in my school. This person is just unlovable. That's not true. To be unlovable means no one can love them. And there's not an unlovable person on the face of the earth because Jesus loves everyone. Now they may be unlovely. They may be unlikable, but no one that God ever created is unlovable.
John says that if you say you are in the light, but you hate your brother, you are still in darkness. Hate is a pretty strong word. We have terms today labeled hate-speech and hate-crimes. But hate doesn’t have to be aggressive action. Hate can be passive. Hate is the opposite of love. We call 1 Corinthians 13 the “Love Chapter” because it gives the characteristics of love. Let’s reverse it. As I read through this, ask yourself if this is the attitude you have toward others: Hatred is impatient. Hatred is mean. Hatred is jealous. hatred is boastful. It is proud. Hatred is rude. It is totally selfish. Hatred gets angry easily.
Hatred keeps a record of every wrong. Hatred delights in evil and rejoices in lies. Hatred hurts. Hatred mistrusts. Hatred gives up on people. Hatred always fails.
CONCLUSION: So how do you measure up on the three tests? How about the commandment test? Is it your desire to obey God? How about the consistency test? Does your walk match your talk? How about the compassion test? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? So give yourself a grade.
Do any of you have any recurring dreams? One of mine is that I show up for class in school and I’m not prepared for the test or show up at church and I don’t have my sermon manuscript.
A colleague had a professor in Seminary who taught a course on Christian ethics. It was one of those boring classes, and although the professor always assigned reading assignments in the text book, he never referred to it. The textbook was thick and hard to digest, but he did try to take notes in class.
When it came time for the final exam the professor said that the test would consist of material from the book and from his lectures. So like everyone else in the class my colleague studied his lecture notes. When he got in class to take the test, he knew he was in trouble. The test consisted of twenty essay questions, all based on information in the book – none of it on his lectures. He said you could literally hear the moans and complaints as he and his classmates started taking the test. He hadn’t read the book, so he knew I was going to fail the test and get an F.
He was pretty angry thinking how unfair it was. After ten minutes the professor stopped up and said, “How is the test?”
All he got was complaints and comments about it being unfair. The professor said, “It’s not unfair. I’m the teacher. I created the test. All the questions came from the book you were assigned to read. But I chose to give you this test for one main reason. You all deserve an F. But I have already given each of you an A. You can tear up the tests. And that my young friends, is a lesson about grace.” Of course, my colleague said, “It worked for me, because I left that classroom relieved that I didn’t get the grade I deserved – I got the grade I needed.”
You don’t know that you know Jesus by passing any test, but by accepting His free gift of amazing grace. And if you think you deserved guilt, and got forgiveness instead, that’s a great sign that you know that you know Jesus.