What We Do Reveals Whether We Know Him

                      What We Do Reveals Whether We Know Him

John 16:2–3

“And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.” — John 16:3

Jesus spoke these words while preparing His disciples for persecution. He warned them that people would put them out of the synagogues and even kill them while believing they were offering service to God. Then He explained the reason behind such actions: “They have not known the Father, nor me.”

That statement should arrest our attention. These were not necessarily people who claimed to reject God. Some of them believed they were defending Him. They knew religious customs, traditions, laws, ceremonies, and theological arguments. Yet Jesus said that beneath all their religious activity lay a devastating reality: they did not actually know God.

There is a profound difference between knowing about God and knowing God. A person can possess information about God while having very little resemblance to Him. Someone can quote Scripture, attend worship, defend doctrine, and participate in religious activity while still responding to people in ways that reveal that the character of God has not deeply shaped the heart.

Jesus therefore gives us an important principle: What we do is often evidence of how well we truly know the God we claim to serve.

When We Do Not Know God

We May Mistake Religious Zeal for Godliness

The people Jesus described were not indifferent. They were zealous. Yet zeal alone does not prove that someone is walking with God.

Paul himself had once persecuted Christians because he believed he was defending the faith. He later admitted, “I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13). Sincerity cannot transform error into truth.

People may passionately defend traditions, institutions, denominations, political ideas, or personal interpretations and still misunderstand the heart of God. Religious activity is not the same thing as spiritual maturity.

We Become Harsh Where God Is Merciful

Those who do not understand God’s grace often become severe toward the failures of others. Jesus repeatedly encountered religious leaders who were eager to condemn sinners while remaining blind to their own condition.

The more clearly we understand the mercy we ourselves have received, the more difficult it becomes to look down on another person who needs that same mercy. Grace does not excuse sin, but it changes the spirit in which we address it.

We Attempt to Control Others

When people lose sight of God’s sovereignty, they often attempt to control outcomes themselves. Fear produces manipulation. Pride produces domination. Self-righteousness produces coercion.

But people who genuinely know God understand that transformation belongs to Him. We can teach truth, warn, encourage, pray, and lovingly correct, but we cannot change a human heart. Only God can do that.

We Can Hurt People While Believing We Are Serving God

This may be one of the most sobering lessons in John 16. Jesus said, “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (John 16:2). That means a person can commit an evil act while believing it is righteous.

The danger still exists whenever we justify unloving behavior by claiming that we are merely “standing for truth.” Truth and love are not enemies. Jesus perfectly embodied both. If our defense of truth consistently produces arrogance, cruelty, bitterness, humiliation, or hatred, something is wrong with the way we understand the God of truth.

What Happens When We Truly Know Him?

Knowing God Produces Love

John wrote, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). That is remarkably direct. John connects love with our knowledge of God.

The more deeply we know God, the more His love begins to shape the way we treat others. That includes difficult people, people who disagree with us, people who disappoint us, and, according to Jesus, even our enemies.

Knowing God Produces Humility

The closer we come to God, the less impressive we become to ourselves. Isaiah saw the Lord and immediately became aware of his own uncleanness. Peter encountered the power of Christ and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).

True knowledge of God does not normally create spiritual arrogance. It produces humility. We stop thinking of ourselves as God’s special consultants and begin seeing ourselves as grateful recipients of His mercy.

Knowing God Produces Mercy

Jesus said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). We show mercy because we know what our Father is like.

The person who knows the mercy of God should gradually become a merciful person. That does not mean ignoring wrongdoing or refusing to establish healthy boundaries. Mercy does not eliminate wisdom. But even correction can be offered without cruelty.

Knowing God Produces Obedience

Knowing God is not merely emotional intimacy. It produces obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Obedience does not earn our relationship with God. It grows out of that relationship. When we increasingly understand His goodness, holiness, wisdom, and love, trusting His commands becomes easier. We obey not merely because God has authority, but because we have learned that His ways are good.

Knowing God Produces Peace

People who know God do not need to control everything around them. They increasingly learn to trust Him. Circumstances may still be confusing, people may still disappoint us, and the future may still be uncertain.

But the believer begins to say, “I may not understand what God is doing, but I know who He is.” There is enormous peace in that difference.

Knowing God Produces Patience With People

God has been extraordinarily patient with us. When we understand that, we become slower to discard others. People grow slowly. They misunderstand things. They make mistakes. They occasionally disappoint us badly.

Knowing God does not make us naïve, but it should make us patient. We begin treating people more like God has treated us.

Knowing God Produces Truth Without Cruelty

Jesus never compromised truth. He confronted hypocrisy, condemned sin, and warned of judgment. Yet sinners were repeatedly drawn to Him. That alone should tell us something about the way Jesus communicated truth.

Biblical conviction does not require an abrasive spirit. The person who knows Christ should increasingly learn how to speak truth with both courage and compassion.

The Real Question Is Not Simply, “Do I Believe in God?”

A Deeper Test

Many of the people Jesus spoke about believed in God. The greater question is: Do I actually know Him? And perhaps an even more searching question is: Does the way I live demonstrate that I know Him?

Jesus said that some people would persecute His followers because they did not know the Father. John said that a person who continually refuses to love demonstrates that he does not know God. Jesus said that those who love Him will obey Him. Scripture consistently connects knowing God with becoming different—not flawless, but changed.

Knowledge of God Should Produce the Character of God

What Should Become Visible

If we truly know Him, then over time something should become increasingly visible in us:

His love should make us more loving.

His mercy should make us more merciful.

His patience should make us more patient.

His holiness should make us take sin seriously.

His grace should make us less self-righteous.

His sovereignty should make us less controlling.

His faithfulness should make us more trusting.

His truth should make us courageous.

His compassion should keep that courage from becoming cruelty.

The Christian life is therefore not merely about accumulating information concerning God. It is about knowing Him so deeply that His character begins reshaping ours.

Conclusion

Jesus’ statement in John 16:3 is both a warning and an invitation. It warns us that religious activity can exist without genuine knowledge of God. We can know Scripture and still misunderstand His heart. We can defend doctrine and still behave unlike Christ. We can even convince ourselves that we are serving God while doing things that grieve Him.

But the opposite is also wonderfully true. The more deeply we come to know the Father through Jesus Christ, the more our lives should begin reflecting the One we have come to know.

Perhaps one of the best ways to examine our spiritual lives is therefore not simply to ask, “How much do I know about God?” but, “What is knowing God producing in me?” Because eventually, what we truly believe about God will become visible in the way we treat the people around us.

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