Sermon Cloud

When I first became a Christ Follower – I saw some huge discrepancies in those who claimed to follow Jesus – a lot of people seemed to be well versed in the Bible, attended church regularly, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference in how they lived. What seemed so simple to me, seemed so hard for others. Why did so many have such a hard time putting shoe leather to God’s commands? Why did so many struggle with simple obedience to God’s Word?... Then I saw that there were others who experienced a dynamic walk with God – their lives were marked by a constant joy, God seemed real to them, close to them and they talked about God like they knew him intimately. But their experience was more the exception rather than the rule. But I what was that exception? So I asked my friend who was leading the college group at the time, ‘Why this discrepancy? Why don’t more people obey God’s Word? And he told me something I’ve never forgotten: “When you look at what it means to be a Christian, look at Jesus, not at other Christians.” So that’s what we’re going to do today by following Jesus down the pathway of obedience. It’s obedience that makes a difference between going through the motions and really coming alive to God. It’s obedience that changes us and helps us change the world. And it’s obedience that characterizes an intimate relationship with God. Our God is a relational God and He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him. In fact, as walk with Jesus down the pathway of obedience that’s what we're going to see: how walking this pathway is evidence of our love for God.

And where He shows us this is from the Gospel of John 14:15-25. In coming to this conversation we find the disciples in shock. Jesus has just told them that he is leaving and returning to the Father. Most of them had been with Jesus for three and a half years. But now alone with them in the upper room, he’s about to reveal one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian life – that they will be able to experience His presence with them, and not only with them, but in them - and somehow the key factor to experiencing this new reality of His presence has something to do with their obedience to His commands. Let me read the text for us. I’m reading from John 14:15-24. As I read this, notice how often Jesus connects love and obedience:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

In this passage Jesus makes some pretty incredible statements as to what qualifies as love for God. Saying that you love God, does not qualify. Singing, “I can sing of your love forever,” does not qualify. Going to church every Sunday, does not qualify. Knowing your Bible really well, does not qualify. For Jesus it comes down to one thing: obedience – putting His Word into practice in our lives is the evidence that we love God. So as we unpack this text I want to begin by making some observations about what Jesus has to say about our obedience: And the first observation is this:

1. Obedience follows relationship: Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey my commands”
Jesus doesn’t say, “If you want to earn my love, you will obey my commands.” What I like about what he is saying is that Jesus starts with himself. If you say you have a relationship with Jesus, if you love Jesus, you will want to do what He wants. If he asks you to do something for him, you’ll do it because you know that He loves you. You’ll do it because you believe that He is worth living for. Obeying him will not be a duty, but a delight.

The best picture of this I know of is the marriage relationship. I didn’t marry Becky for what I could get out of the deal. I married her so I could love her - to seek her best. That’s what love does. It’s a privilege to obey her commands.

I think one of the things people struggle with when they hear words like “obey my commands” is that they hear something else. They hear “do what I demand.” If you do what I demand of you, then I will do something for you in return. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. We look at relationships as a fifty-fifty proposition. But that’s not the kind of love Jesus is talking about here. He’s talking about seeking the best for another regardless of what you get out of it. That’s what love does – love seeks our best without expecting anything in return. So Jesus is saying, if you love me, you will obey my commands. You will do what I ask because you will want to please me.

This is the way God has always worked. He never starts with our behavior. He always starts with our hearts. This is the way He worked with the people of Israel. He built a relationship with them long before He ever asked them to do anything for Him.

This is The Old Testament Way! Here’s the pattern:

Follow: God calls Israel out of Egypt to follow Moses. Israel goes with Moses into the desert to worship God. But at this point Israel has been captive to Egypt for 400 years. Think about it this way. It would be as if the first settlers to America, who came here for religious freedom, no longer had the opportunity to worship God, and today, we were just being introduced to Him. So even though Israel lived under the oppressive hand of Egypt, the only worship they had really ever known was idol worship, the only culture they had ever observed was the worldly and prosperous Egyptian culture. All the knowledge they had of their own faith was just a few stories handed down through the ages. They had little knowledge of this God who delivered them. So they were going to have to follow this God for a while to see what He is like. Could they trust Him? So that’s the next step:

Believe God is For You! Will God care for us better than the Egyptians did? Will He really have our best interests at heart? So God shows that He is for them. He provides water and manna and safety. For forty years their clothes never wear out. He leads them into a land of plenty. He defeats their enemies. He gives them this land. He proves that He is worthy to follow. And they see that they can trust Him. It’s at this point that God calls them to obey. Just before they are to go into the Land, Moses says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good." Deuteronomy 10:12-13.

God calls them to obedience after building a relationship of love with them, after they have come to trust that, indeed, God is for them. So now they are to obey the commands He gives you! When they do, they will show the world that they are God’s people. When they embrace a lifestyle of loving God and loving their neighbor, they will show the world a new way of life and they will show that God is worth trusting. We see the same thing now with Jesus..

The Jesus Way
Follow: Be with Jesus - listen to his teachings, watch him live. Plenty of people did this, crowds began to follow him.

Believe: God is for you – as they observed Jesus, they saw him deliver the captive, heal the lame, love the lovely, embrace the outcast. Those who followed were able to see that He was worthy of trusting. To see that God is for them. For Jesus disciples, it took them three and a half years to see this – to truly trust him – to love him enough that they were ready to take on His mission. And so it at this point Jesus calls them to

Obey: the commands He gives - These commands that come form this one they have learned to trust.

So that’s the first observation: Obedience follows relationship. It takes time to get to this point. But once you are there, once you know God and trust Him, you will obey Him. It’s not a matter of choice – it’s a reality. When you love someone, obedience to that person flows naturally. Which leads me to my second observation:

2. Obedience reveals your love for God. I love what Jesus says in verse 21: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21

Jesus is just stating a fact – a reality. Those who truly love Jesus will do more than just talk about it or sing about it, they will act upon it. They will pursue the life that Jesus calls them to. John says it this way in the letter of 1 John. He writes: We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:3-6 Why is Jesus making such a big deal about this? Why does he make obedience the proof of their love? Why? Because Jesus walked the pathway of obedience. Not only that, but since He’s sending the Spirit of Truth to be in them, it is only natural that the Spirit would act in accordance with his nature. Because cannot do anything else but be true His nature and do the thing Jesus would do – obey His commands. So when the Spirit of Christ lives in us He cannot help but reveal His love for Jesus. And the cool part about all this, is that when God gives us the Spirit, we get in on all that Jesus experiences in His relationship with God the Father. Which leads me to my third observation. And that is this:

3. Obedience results in Intimacy with God Listen to each of these statements of relationship. These are the promises in store for those who love Him by obeying His commands: “I will not leave you as orphans” True Christ followers are never alone. We have a God who will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus promises this. He says: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." When you trust him enough to obey Him by faith, the Spirit of Christ takes up residence in you. You will never be without God’s presence in your life! Listen to these descriptions of intimacy promised by Jesus:

• “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” When the Spirit takes up residence in your life you will know it.

• “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” When we live a life of obedience based on our love for Christ. When we obey His truth, the more we do, the more Jesus becomes real to us. He promises this. If Jesus doesn’t seem very real to you right now; if you want to cultivate your relationship with Him, then start digging into the Gospels and find our what He wants you to do and then do it! Jesus will become more real to you.

• “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” God gives us His Spirit so that we will naturally do what Jesus wants to do, and as we do, Jesus promises an experience for us that the world does not get – they can’t see it, they can’t fathom it – but we get in on it – we get to experience the very same fellowship that Jesus experienced with His Father. Jesus says, “We will come and make our home in you.”

Each one of these promises is a promise of intimacy, of belonging, of closeness of fellowship. Do you struggle with knowing if God is real in your life? Jesus has just promised that if we walk in the pathway of obedience, then God will make himself at home in our very hearts. We will know his intimate presence. Do you want an intimate walk with God? Then walk in the pathway of obedience.

4. How do I cultivate the pathway of Obedience?
Follow: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 Get into the Gospels and expose your self to Jesus. See if He is worth following, worth believing in. Keep coming to church, go to Starting Point, hang out with others who say they follow Jesus.

Believe: Now, not everyone who followed Jesus believed. They followed him as long as there was something in it for them. But once His teachings began to conflict with their convenience-oriented lifestyle many walked away: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69 So the question every one of us must ask about Jesus is this: Is he really who he said he is? Is He the Son of God? Does he really want what’s best for me? Does He have the Words of eternal Life? Ask yourself these questions. How you answer will determine whether you can trust him. And if you can trust him, then it will be easy to obey:

Obey: This is the attitude of one who has learned to trust God. David gives us a great picture of what it looks like to obey: I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32 And His commands are not burdensome. They are life giving. For those who have been set free by God’s truth, it’s a delight to have His commands and not just walk in the pathway of obedience, but also run there!