In John
14:15, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My
commandments.” Before this verse, the disciples questioned Jesus about how to
get to where He was going. Jesus explained if they knew Him, then they knew the
Father and His love. He also said, the works He does, the disciples would do, too,
because He goes to the Father. Next, Jesus instructed them to pray to the
Father in His name asking for anything. He said He would do it-answer their
prayers.
Notice,
keeping Christ’s commandments comes after Jesus told them the Father loves
them, He is going to the Father, the disciples would do works like Him, and
they could pray asking the Father for help. Each of these assumes a personal,
impacting relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, they would not know the
Father. Without Him, they would not know the works to do. Without Jesus, their
prayers would have no intercessor. From this, Jesus next spoke verse fifteen.
With verse fifteen,
Jesus made a profound statement for which the disciples possibly had not connected
all the dots. He spoke a conditional statement with a command. Jesus said, “If
you love Me.” Jesus never demanded love, obedience, or people to follow Him.
Love should never have to resort to these, for these are not love. Demanded
loved is involuntary slavery. Jesus never required the disciples love Him. Love
of Jesus is willful; it is voluntary. Each person chooses to love or not love
Jesus. It is not a requirement for living on earth. What kind of love, then,
did Jesus speak about in this verse? This love is agape love. The love of Christ by any person is a preferring of Him
over all others, including one’s self. This kind of love is a choosing to
embrace Him and what He stands for in our hearts and our lives. Each person who
chooses to love Jesus and live in this kind of relationship with Him prefers to
do what Jesus wants and loves. This kind of love prefers the other person over
one’s self. It is a putting of self after loving the other, a doing what the
other wants instead of what you want. This love is self-sacrificial, voluntary,
and submissive.
When we
consider this kind of love beside the other part of this conditional command,
we understand better what Jesus said to the disciples. Jesus said, “If you love
Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you love me self-sacrificially like I
love you, you will choose to follow and do what I prefer, which is, in a
nutshell, love the Lord with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.
What Jesus said was more than that. His commandments to the disciples involved that
love, but it went further. He told them to go to their Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, make disciples of all nations, baptize
them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey
everything He commanded them. Basically, Jesus told them to do what they saw
Him do-love God, love people, and obey the Father by living in His power and
with His direction. “Keeping” as Jesus told the disciples is guarding,
preserving, and doing His commandments. “Keep” involved hearing the command, then
deciding it worthy enough to make one’s own so you act upon it. “Keeping” is
hearing, accepting, and acting upon.
“Loving” and
“keeping” are choices for something that requires understanding with our minds,
and accepting in our hearts and minds, which then results in actions because
of, in line with, and in the power and direction of God. “Keeping” comes out of
“love” for Christ and the Father. Loving Christ and keeping His commandments first
changes our hearts, then changes our lives.
By loving
and keeping God’s commandments, we become more like Christ, see the Father’s
face/presence more because we are closer to Him in relationship, and the people
around us experience God in our actions and words. Our “keeping” shows our love
of God. Our love of God shows itself to people around us. When we truly love
God, the “keeping” is inconsequential; it becomes an automatic result of our
love for God, so of course we will obey Him. Our deep, devoted connection with
God means we will do His will…period. There is no waffling on this; our love for
Him overwhelms us so we cannot not do His will. Our will becomes His will and
we must act upon it. It is who and Whose we have become. God’s will becomes our
will when we live as one with Christ. In doing God’s will, we fulfill God’s
plan for our lives and affect other people’s lives, so they see and hear about
God and have a choice to love and follow Him, too.
Verse
fifteen speaks of the preference to live with God, to choose to live with Him
in His power and direction, and to choose to do His will, knowing His will is
perfect and leads to others seeing, knowing, and loving Him. First, we must
decide for ourselves, do we love Jesus? Do we have such a deep, devoted
relationship with Him that obeying His commandments is second nature to us? How
will people hear about God and His grace unless we have a deep, impactful relationship
with Him? Paul stated it this way in Romans 10:14-15a,
How then will they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And
how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How
will they preach unless they are sent? [NASB]
Lord, please help me
love You so deeply and profoundly that You impact the lives of people around me
with Your love and presence. Teach me to love You completely and make my words
and actions come from obedience to You and Your commands. Use my life to help
people know You and choose to be in a relationship with You. Amen.
