Scripture Introduction
Can you hear the jazz man blowing his trumpet? The commentary from National Public Radio? What about the sweet refrains of the gospel music calling folks to praise? Or the neighbor talking to a friend in Illinois? Do you hear the many voices? You would if you had a radio or cell phone, for this room is full of sound, pushed through here by powerful transmitters. All you need is the proper receiver.
In a way, that illustrates the teaching of the Lord in our text. Love for God is like a receiver which tunes our hearts to hear his voice and obey his word. Jesus tells his disciples that even though he must go away, he will reveal himself to God’s children (to those who love him), and whoever loves him will keep his commandments.
[Read John 14.15-24. Pray.]
Introduction
The Coca-Cola company’s clever slogan for Sprite is “Obey Your Thirst.” In other words, many soft drink voices speak, but the wise lady listens to her own desires. She does not obey the demands of others; she does what she wants to do – she obeys only herself.
There seems to be much in that brief slogan which appeals to the spirit of the age. Many people imagine they will obey none other than themselves. Somehow what we really should do must bubble up from within, from our deepest passions and desires. Should we obey ourselves, or another? How will we decide whom we will obey?
A similar philosophy is displayed in the Outback Steakhouse slogan, “No Rules, Just Right.” We are to imagine them as fun-loving, carefree, happy-go-lucky, kind of mates – but we all know how terrible a restaurant can be without tight rules dictating quality control. So they have “no rules,” they just do everything right: “We are totally relaxed and nonchalant, but you will get the service and quality you demand.” Really?
I think many people imagine that they have a type of internal, moral compass which directs their choices. We might even say the Bible agrees, calling it our conscience. But God also says that, like the many unheard sounds travel through this room, many magnets exert unseen forces to spin the needle away from what is right. We may imagine we are obeying our own pure desires, when, in fact, we are the victim of outside forces and influences.
In fact, maybe we can go a step further – while many “magnets” fight for supremacy over our lives, true freedom comes when we are conformed to God’s will. A compass works, not when the needle does what it wants, but when it is directed to true north.
Similarly, the alternative to obeying God is not freedom, but obeying another authority. Because we are created beings, we cannot transcend authority and control. Past experiences, malevolent spiritual authorities, sinful desires and passions, college professors, television advertisers, our family of origin – these only begin to enumerate the voices calling for obedience. So, as we begin, I ask that you consider two things to frame this teaching of Jesus.
First, please realize that true freedom is not the license to do whatever we want, but the ability to do what is right. Consider the simple fact of playing the piano. I have the “liberty” to bang on the keys, but I do not have the freedom to play a Bach Concerto. True freedom comes through the rules of the instrument and obedience to the requirements of discipline. When God calls us to obedience, he is not constraining freedom, but offering the freedom to live as we were made.
Second, please keep in mind why Jesus claims your devotion. When he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” I am forced to ask myself, “Why should I obey Jesus?” To answer, I look back at his life and see many solid reasons. First, he is the Creator and Maker – he was there in the beginning and all things were made through him. Therefore, he knows me, what is right and best, and he alone knows the path to life and fullness. Second, he is the Sustainer and Keeper – he orders all things in the universe so that those who are conformed to his will and ways find joy and pleasure. He is also the Judge – one day all the other voices vying for my service will be silenced, and only his word will remain as the final standard. He is also the compassionate Savior – other authorities seek my submission for their own ends. Jesus came to serve – he alone seeks your perfect good in his perfect will.
Often in the Bible God unites love and obedience. For example, in the second commandment he promises to show his steadfast love to those who “love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 10.12-13 provides another example: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” So when Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments, he is self-consciously claiming equality with God and the right to dictate our lives and our loves. All of these reasons and more are wrapped around the call to keep the commandments of Christ.
With these things in mind, please notice…
1. True Love Issues Forth in Obedience (15)
It may help if we get a sense of what these men must have feel and thought. They have followed Jesus, seen his miracles, and heard his teaching. They realize that God is in their midst. They are excited about the possibilities. Then he says, “I am leaving.”
They must have thought, “But we love having you here. Look at what you can do: heal the sick, feed the multitudes, confound the religious leaders. Think of what we could accomplish with you here! Please stay, we love you!”
Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
There is always the possibility (even for those in the church), of imagining and hoping we have a sincere love for God when the reality is less clear. Therefore, God gives us this certain test and serious challenge: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” (1John 5.3).
Matthew Henry: “When they were showing their love to Christ by their grieving to think of his departure and the sorrow which filled their hearts on the foresight of that, he bids them, if they would show their love to him, do it, not by these weak passions, but by their conscientious care to perform their trust, and by a universal obedience to his commands. This is better than sacrifice, better than tears.”
I think Jesus is preparing his men for tough days to come. It is not that their love expressed by wanting him to stay is evil; but that he must leave and when he does, many voices will compete for their allegiance. So it is as if Jesus says: “Remember that love you have; and prepare to work it out in keeping my commands.”
I should note that I have used “obey” as a synonym for “keep.” I think that is correct and legitimate, but it may be accurate to say that “keep” is a slightly bigger word. It does not mean less than, “obey,” but it could have a bit more in it. To keep seems to include cherishing, valuing, holding on to, making it your own.
So while we certainly hear Jesus say that when we love him we will obey, he may have chosen a word which says even more. If we love him, we will love to obey, we will delight in God’s law, we will cherish his word and ways. We test our love for God by willingness to be conformed to his commandments. Could we not accurately say, “True love results in cheerful obedience”?
There is a second point to note, similar, but with a different nuance:
2. True Obedience Always Results from Love (21-24)
Jesus said (in verse 15) that if we really love him, we will obey. Now he adds that if we really have God’s commandments and keep them, it is a sure sign that we have a sincere love. I take this to mean, in part, that true obedience cannot be faked.
Here is a simple example that may help us grasp the point. God tells Christians that they are to give a portion of their income to the work of the Kingdom. In fact, in our worship this morning we read about that as an implication of the way we please God in remembering the Sabbath day: God’s will for us is that “the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained” and that we “bring Christian offerings for the poor” (Heidelberg Catechism, 103). But is it possible for a person to give money to the church from self-serving motives, thus displeasing God even while they obey outwardly? Yes it is. So can we obey yet not truly love?
To answer, we observe that, when speaking of money, Jesus commands not simply the act of giving, but a heart overflowing with generosity toward God and compassion toward others. So “having God’s commandments and keeping them,” requires that the outward act be the overflow of an inner reality; and that inner reality requires love for God. In a certain sense, outward forms of obedience may be faked; but true obedience only springs from the fountain of heart-love.
Brian Chapell, Holiness by Grace, 122: “The renewed heart has an affinity with, and love for, the law of God, resulting in cheerful, loving obedience. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1John 5.3). “I delight in the law of God” (Romans 7.22). Here again we see an important bond between God’s law and love.”
John Calvin, Commentary in loc.: “This is indeed useful teaching, for very few of those who seem to love Christ honor him aright. On the contrary, when they have performed mere trifles, they flatter themselves in self-satisfaction. But the true love of Christ is determined by keeping his teaching as the unique rule. But we are also warned how sinful our affections are, since even our love for Christ is not faultless unless it is joined to pure obedience.”
With this challenge from the Lord Jesus on our mind, let’s consider, briefly…
3. The Nature of Loving Obedience
It seems everyone claims to love God. Some say they love and obey through evangelism, others insist true love would not presume to tell others what is wrong with their faith. The irate Muslim declares his love for God as he plots the murder of Americans, and the religious liberal does the same as he supports the killing of the unborn babies. We can be confused as to what it means to love and obey.
Here are six Biblical principles to guide you in examining and correcting your heart and life (from Thomas Watson, “Introduction” in The Ten Commandments).
1) Loving obedience is free and cheerful. Hypocrites obey God grudgingly; cheerfulness shows that there is love in the duty. Isaiah 1.19: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.”
2) Loving obedience is devout and fervent. God deserves the strength of our affections. Romans 12.11 exhorts us not to be “slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit,” and Elijah (as an example) prayed fervently (James 5.17).
3) Loving obedience touches all of God’s commands. We must not deceive ourselves by imagining that God is pleased when we pick and choose our favorite areas to obey. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were right to tithe their spices, and they should have not neglected the weightier matters of the law – justice and mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23.23).
4) Loving obedience must be sincere. An action can be right while the heart remains far from God. Love longs to please the beloved, not simply to quiet their complaints.
5) Loving obedience must be in and through Christ. Our Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us: “Believers’ ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ” (WCF 16.3). That truth comes from Jesus’ teaching in the next chapter of John: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15.4).
6) Loving obedience must be constant. To obey for a time, especially when it is convenient, is no obedience at all. A servant cannot chose when he obeys or which commands, and Christians are consistently called servants or slaves of Christ. Remember well Revelation 2.26,28: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…. And I will give him the morning star.”
4. Conclusion
Maybe there are three groups here today. Some of you are honestly seeking the Lord and growing daily in love and obedience. This word from Jesus calls you to thankfulness for his favor and joy in the Lord. Give praise to God for the grace of obedience!
Maybe some of us need to be checked. We hear Christ speak and are drawn up short. We have allowed our love to grow cold and our keeping of his word to weaken. We must hear what the Spirit says to the church in Ephesus: remember from where you have fallen, repent and return to the Lord, and do the works that you did at first.
Some here may need to realize that your attempts at obedience have been half-hearted, or from fear or guilt, or simply because of the way you were raised. As a result, you cannot honestly say, “I have kept the commandments of Christ.” If so, will you ask him for forgiveness and grace to love? He is a merciful Savior, a gracious Lord, a compassionate God. “Come to me,” Jesus calls, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
He is God; he has the right and wisdom to command. Will you accept that and seek his hand and his favor?
