COMPROMISED CHRISTIANITY, LIARS, AND THE PATH TO AN AUTHENTIC, CONFIDENT FAITH
1 John 2:4-6 (NIV 1984) 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. 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: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Someone who claims to know Christ but disobeys Him is a liar and does not possess the truth. Here we see the markings of a false believer. The essence of knowing Christ is that of doing what He says, not merely saying we believe what He says (Jms 1:22). The conflict between word and action in a Christian makes them both a hypocrite and a liar. This is a deep and eternal miss-cue, so deep that even the liar himself is deceived. Some people lie so much that they lose touch with reality and believe their own lies. Jesus, on the other hand, not only tells the truth, He embodies truth itself (Jn 14:6).
Someone who obeys God’s word reveals that they have God's love. Here is cause and effect. God's love is the greatest motivator of obedience, and when we obey, that love is made complete in us. But what does that mean? Is love causing obedience, or is obedience the completion and fulfillment of love? It seems clear that it is both; obedience is inspired by love and is a marker revealing our level of love. By obedience, love is proven to be more than emotional sentiment or good intention. We may have a measure of love (or sentiment) in our hearts towards Christ, but that love is not mature, complete, or fulfilled until it is acted upon through obedience. John says something very similar in chapter four (1 Jn 4:12, 17). Love motivates obedience, and obedience expresses love. Obedience is the finishing touch of professed love. Without it love misfires. This is very practical and provides a road map to assurance.
One can know that they are a Christian by how they live; specifically, by living the way Jesus did. The assurance of one’s salvation is an exercise in practicality. Claiming the right doctrine does not prove one's status with God; we must live it out privately and publicly, like Jesus. How did Jesus live? He did what He saw His Father doing (Jn 5:19, 30). We don’t live independently from our heavenly Father but in dependence on Him. We lean heavily on Him and get involved in what we see Him doing. How many professing believers display a serious mismatch between their doctrine and their lives? How many politicians claim to be Christians, or upstanding members of a church, yet support unjust laws and immoral causes that are clearly defined in Scripture? Confidence concerning the genuineness of our faith comes as we live that faith out. “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Jesus, AD 30, see Matt 7:20).
There seems to be a removal of gray areas that have plagued the modern Christian, and this is a grace of God. It takes the discernment of a gnat to see where the lines are falling in modern Christendom. Once long-held biblical beliefs are being “reinterpreted” for cultural relevance, and once vocal truth-tellers have gone dark on cultural issues, strangely silent when their voice has never been more needed. This is compromise at best and apostasy at worst. Scripture tells us that there will be a great falling away (2 Thess 2:3). Are we witnessing it? More personally, are we participating in it? Here is the remedy: love Him by obeying His Word!
