Turning Our World Upside-Down!

1 John 2:3-6

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
 
According to researchers, those who claim to be Christians make up just over 30% of the earths population. With the current count of residents on earth at 7.6 billion (with a b) people, (If my calculator is right…) that makes the Christian population on earth well over 2 billion! Bringing it in a little – the USA is made up of 71% of those who claim Christianity which means over 230 million “Christians” here! Bringing it in even further – 39% of Georgia residents say they are Christians which adds up to over 4 million! I do understand that this includes all denominations and other groups who loosely claim to be of Christ – but you have to admit that is a lot of people either way!
 
I hope I didn’t lose you in all of those statistics! I know that was my least favorite class in college. I simply wanted to drive home the fact that there are a lot of people who claim to follow Christ in this world. Then why is it that our world seems to be so pagan? What impact are these “christians” making? You look at the book of Acts and see how a very small group of people who followed Christ were used to turn their world upside down (Acts 17:6), so you would figure that the more Christians the greater the impact. Sadly according to these numbers that just isn’t the case. So we must ask ourselves why. The answer is not a pleasant one. Many who claim to be Christians do not know Christ, and we can see this as we consider our passage for today.
 
John tells us that the proof of whether or not we truly know Christ is seen in our lives. Do we live what the Bible says? Lets break it down ever further to help us grasp what is being said here. Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was and His answer was to Love God and Love your Neighbor. He even said that the rest of the law and the prophets hang on these two!(Matthew 22:34-40) So If we truly Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind then we will do what He says. If we truly Love our Neighbor as ourselves then we will not be tempted to commit sin against them, rather we will seek to serve and support one another. This is the litmus test to know if we truly Know Christ. Does that mean that we have to be perfect and sinless? Thankfully no since that is impossible thanks to the sin nature that we still battle. But it is the battle that shows whose side we are on! 
 
If we are going to say we are followers of Christ then our walk needs to back up our talk. Jesus is our example and if we are going to live as He lived, love as He loved and see others come to God and watch Christ transform their lives then we must live out our faith as we live out His Word! In this God’s love is “perfected” (genuine and real!) in our lives and then we will KNOW we are in HIM!
 
Today as we ReFocus our hearts and minds on Christ let us ask ourselves; If we claim to Know Him, does our walk back up our talk? Do we Battle the flesh or give in to our sin? Is your desire to live as close to His word as you possibly can, to walk as Christ walked, and to see your life changed by the Gospel? Are we ready to let God use us to turn our world upside down as we follow Christ?!