“’If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“’I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.’” (John 14:15-24 ESV)
The love that we are to have for Jesus Christ, for God, is agape love, which prefers what God prefers. And God prefers all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to his commands. And for the believer in Jesus Christ this means preferring to live through Christ, embracing God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them through his power. It means we are actively doing what the Lord prefers rather than us doing what our flesh prefers. So love for God/Christ = obedience to God.
And this is not optional. We can’t just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then go on living in sin and for self and presume that God is going to let us into his heaven. For this love is not the mushy gushy kind that is based in our emotions and in how we feel at any given moment. Will we feel love for God? We should, yes! But a feeling of love is not what this is all about. This is love in action shown by our obedience to our Lord and to his commands, whether or not we feel like obeying at any particular time.
Many people today, though, are not teaching this. Many are teaching the opposite of this. They are teaching that no works are required of us at all, and that we don’t have to obey God, and that we don’t have to repent of our sins, for those are works. And even if some do teach that we should obey the Lord and his commandments, many do not teach obedience as critical to our salvation and eternal life with God, which is what Jesus was definitely teaching here, and which the NT apostles taught, too.
And then notice the progression of the conversation here. If we love Jesus, we will keep (obey) his commandments (New Covenant). Whoever keeps (obeys) his commandments, he it is who loves Jesus/God. And he who loves Jesus will be loved by God the Father, and they will come to him and make their home with him. But whoever does not agape love Jesus does not keep (obey) his words, (and so he will not be loved by God the Father, and they will not come to him and make their home with him – understood).
[John 8:31-32; John 10:27-30; John 14:15-24; John 15:10; Luke 9:23-26]
And Paul and the other apostles taught the same thing. John taught that if we say that we are in fellowship with God, but while we still walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin, wickedness), we are liars. And if we claim that we know God but while we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. But whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as God is righteous. So, whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God.
[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6,15,24-25; 1 John 3:4-10,24; 1 John 4:19-20]
And Paul taught that if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if obedience to God is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God. For if we are slaves of sin, the end of those things is death. And the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk (in conduct, in practice) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For if we live according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, its end is death, not life eternal with God.
[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23]
And, as a side note to all of this, lately I have been hearing of very large crowds of people “worshiping Jesus Christ.” But worship of Jesus Christ, which is biblical and true worship of God, begins with us dying with Christ to sin and being raised to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. True worship of God is in the surrender of our lives to him to do his will, the forsaking of our sins, and walks of obedience to his commands in daily living, in practice.
True worship of God, which is acceptable to him, is in the giving of our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but transformed of God in the renewing of our minds so that, by how we live, we prove what is the good and acceptable will of God for our lives. It is in us daily denying self and dying to sin, by the Spirit, and walking in the ways of the Lord in obedience to his commands in holy living. Music can be a part of worship, but alone it is not worship.
[Romans 12:1-2; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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