How Is Your Walk? Series

1 John 2:3-6 NKJV

“How is your walk?”

January 14, 2024

A little over a decade ago George Barna wrote a book about trends of Christians in America called “Futurecast,” where he tracks annual changes starting in the 90’s for about 20 years and shows that all the major trend lines of religious belief and behavior ran downward except two: More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their Savior and expect to go to heaven, and more say they haven’t been to church in the past six months except for special occasions. In 1991, 24% were “unchurched.” In 2011, it was 37% and today I’m sure it’s far worse. Barna lamented: “People say: ‘I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want…” (USA Today, 9/14/11). We are an on-demand society. We want everything customized to our personal needs — our clothing, our food, our education, our news… Now it’s our religion. But today I want to talk about His Way, His Word and His Walk.

HIS WAY 1785. entole, (en-tol-ay') We know that we know Him v3 – because we keep His commandments. ILLS1: When my oldest son Aaron was about 3 or 4 years old he was bumping around in the kitchen while I was making dinner. Typically, I keep a dry town looped around my belt when I’m in the kitchen. Even though I keep the salad and vegetables on the center island and the raw meats on the counter near the stove I often find myself chopping something for the salad while the protein in browning on the stovetop. To help prevent cross contamination, I’m constantly drying my hands on the cloth. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s a good one. And while I was busy cooking, my wife whispered, “Larry, look at your son?” And there he was with a dish towel hanging from his waste as he was walking around the kitchen table. He didn’t know why he put it there; he just wanted to do whatever his father did. Do you find yourself doing what your father in heaven has done? How is your walk? If you want to live as Jesus lived, you need to look at verse 3: “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.” There’s a big difference between knowing about God and actually knowing God. I like how J.I. Packer puts it in his classic book, Knowing God: “What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself. Knowing God is more than knowing about Him; it is a matter of dealing with Him as He opens up to you, and being dealt with by Him as He takes knowledge of you.” The test of whether or not we know God has more to do with our behavior than with our beliefs. Real deal Christianity is marked by a life of obedience. To claim to know God without acknowledging His claim on us is shallow and hollow. The emphasis on the phrase “keep His commandments” is on the continuous nature of the action. One Bible teacher has called it, “daily, detailed and disciplined obedience.” John is saying that we can know that we know God by our desire to grow in obedience. If we truly know God then we should grow in God. Our knowing must lead to growing. If we claim to be in the light, then we must do those things that are right. We can know that we know if we do what He says we should do. Jesus said it plainly in John 14 “If you love me, you will obey what I command…Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”

HIS WORD 3056. logos, (log'-os) We know that we abide in Him v5 – because we keep His word. In case we don’t quite get this, John takes a less subtle approach in verse 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.” This verse is very emphatic and should make us do an inventory. My guess is that none of us want to be labeled a liar. This is similar to the teaching found in Titus 1:16: “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” Family, our profession of faith must be lived out in our practice of faith. ILLS2: I was at the barber shop the other day and we began to reminisce of old times when every 16-year-old kid we knew was looking for a job at the burger joint or the grocery store. The good old days when the streetlights came on how we knew it was time to come home from the neighborhood park. Her station was close to the window, and we were looking out at a smoke shop across the parking lot where young men and women were constantly flowing in and out. There was never a lull in customers from the time I sat at her station to the time I left the barbershop. We commented about the negativity of vaping and how it is destroying the lungs of the next generation and how America had done such a great campaign to remove cigarettes from the hands of children and how we have failed them with smokeless tobacco. She began to tell me of her late father’s awful smoking habit. And then she asked me, “Have you ever heard of Marlboro Miles?” I had never heard of such a thing, so I asked her to tell me more. What she told me was far more important to me than the hair cut I came in for. She said Yes, there was once a gift program by the Marlboro Cigarettes Phillip Morris Tobacco Company where you could mail in their proof of purchase coupons (5 "Marlboro Miles" per cigarette pack) and buy various products ranging from licensed Marlboro lighters to Marlboro denim jackets and Marlboro sleeping bags all from the catalog of the Marlboro Country Store. She said my daddy is gone but I still have that jacket. I said that is just how satan works! He is selling a lie. He dazzles our children with trinkets and all the while we have sold our life for it. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Just because you are wearing the jacket doesn’t mean that you are doing well. You are killing yourself and the Marlboro Jacket was the lie. How many Marlboro Miles is your life worth?