“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10).
Introduction
We have noted in previous studies on John 15 that there is a need for obedience to Christ and His word in the believer’s life. We see in our text that obedience and love are inseparable, meaning that it is impossible to say we are abiding in the Lord if we do not love Him, and we cannot claim to love Him unless we obey His word.
If
The “if” states the condition that must be kept or else we are operating outside of Christ. Surely a person of true trust and commitment to Christ would never object to hearing of the need for obedience. Someone who wants to know the abiding presence of the Lord would be delighted to fully surrender or consecrate themselves to Him. “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word … And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved” (Psalm 119:16, 47). How can anyone commit the safekeeping of their souls to God if they are unwilling to trust Him enough to faithfully follow His word? Is it that those who reject the need for obedience actually love their sin instead of the Lord? “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:20). Therefore everything that would hinder our relationship with Christ must be cut off, just as the parable of the vine indicates, and is in fact the only way we can truly please God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6) … “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
The “if” is the hinge the door to the deeper or fuller Christian life turns on. It all depends on if we think that keeping Christ’s commandments are too difficult for us or not. If we feel that it is impossible to keep His word, then are we not actually walking in faithlessness instead of faith? In fact are we not on the threshold of calling God a liar? “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:3-4). If we reject obedience then we are guilty of rejecting the Lord Himself.
Our model
There is a foolish notion that is prevalent amongst some which teaches that Christ’s sacrifice covers our wilful disobedience from the point of salvation. Somehow they think that they are continuously fit for Heaven regardless of what evil they do on earth, that because they consider themselves the elect, they can never lose what Christ has given them. The elect are made up of those who love and obey the Lord with all their heart, soul and strength; anything short of this is a figment of the imagination and another gospel. To obey the Lord takes purpose of heart, the will and total surrender to Him. Instead of obedience being tiresome, as many think it is, we will know and experience God’s enabling and sanctifying power in our lives. Plainly stated, obedience is easy for those who love the Lord.
Maybe we think that Jesus automatically obeyed His Father just because He Himself was God. So whenever we say that Jesus obeyed God, our minds tell us that there was no real difficulty in Him doing so, but how mistaken we would be! “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrew 5:8). We find that Christ surrendered His will to the Father as He came to the cross. “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). The apostle Paul in Philippians 2:5-8 writes, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Can we see then that He is our role model for obedience? His obedience made salvation possible, and to enjoy eternal salvation we must be obedient to Him. “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). Obedience “was the secret even of His own abiding in His Father's love!” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Bible Commentary).
Christ completed the work of salvation on the cross, but it is our responsibility to obey Him by living daily according to His commandments. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). He as the “forerunner” (Hebrews 6:20) has laid out the path that we are called to follow. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
Conclusion
The believer who wants to abide in Christ desires to be in the centre of God’s will, and just like Jesus, as portrayed by the psalmist, we live to obey Him. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8 see Hebrews 10:8). Surely that would be the place of blessed peace for any true Christian. If we see the connection between the “if ye” and “even as I” we will come to the conclusion that living the abundant life is simply not possible unless our unity with Jesus includes unconditional obedience to Him too. Love evidenced by obedience is the unbreakable link we have to the Lord, but love without obedience is not the love spoken of in Scripture. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3).
© 26/4/2010