To Obey As He Obeys

 

 

“…but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.” John 14:31a.

 

One of the fruits of Jesus’ obedience to the Father, and one of His motivations for this obedience, is “that the world may know.” Even though a time has come when the world no longer “sees” Jesus (John 14:19), and even though the world is hostile to Christ and to His People (John 15:18 – 4), this does not mean that we disengage from the world, it does not mean that we do not love the people in the world. Rather, we are called to be God’s mission to the world, His testimony, His Word and His Witness, His City on a hill, His Light in Jesus Christ.

 

After all, we were all once in the world system; we were all once hostile to God and the Gospel; we were all once dead in our trespasses and sins and lived according to the ways of the enemy (Ephesians 2:1 – 9).

 

We are called to make disciples of all people groups, teaching them to obey all that Jesus Christ has commanded us (Matthew 28:20). Now how shall we teach others to obey Jesus if it is not by both word and deed? Our lives must demonstrate our words, what we speak is what we must live, just as it was in Jesus Christ, just as it shall always be with Him.

 

Witness to the world is a theme in the Upper Room. All men will know that we are Christ’s disciples if we love one another (John 13:34 – 35). Our oneness, our unity, in one another and in the Trinity is “so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21), and also that the world may know that the Father loves us, those who are in Christ, “even as You have loved Me” (John 17:23).

 

This is yet another point and counterpoint in the dance of the Upper Room, we are in the world but not of the world; the world sees Him, then the world does not see Him, and our mission in Him is that the world might see Him. Whereas when He first came the world did not know Him (John 1:10) even though the world was made through Him, now in His coming to the world through us the world is to know Him in His saving glory.

 

Just as Jesus obeys the Father so that the world may know that He loves the Father, so we obey our Lord Jesus Christ so that the world may know that we love Him. Let’s recall that Jesus has just said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…” (John 14:21, 23). This theme, these dance steps, continue in the Upper Room in 15:10 and 14 – in fact, the theme of obedience is woven throughout the Upper Room and is particularly found in 14:21 – 15:17.

 

Let’s keep in mind that chapter and verse divisions were not in the original manuscripts, they were added hundreds of years later. The Vine and the branches in John 15:1 - 9 connect the theme of obedience in John 14:16 – 31 with the theme of obedience in 15:10 – 17. As I hope we will see in coming reflections, the Vine and the branches shows us the “how” of our obedience, it shows us our Way of Life in Christ, it is a picture of our abiding and obedient Life in Jesus Christ – a life lived by His Life, for only the Life of God can obey the commandments of God – and Jesus Christ is the Life of God.

 

Our life in the Spirit is introduced in John 14:16 – 17, the Holy Spirit who was once with God’s People has now come to live within God’s People, and we have been placed in the Vine; God lives in us and we live in God.

 

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:2 – 3).

 

O dear friends, let us hear Jesus Christ and believe Him; let us believe what Jesus says about our life in Him and His Life in us. Let us delight to do His will and obey His commandments, let His will be our joy and our pleasure.

 

I hope you will ponder and meditate on what Jesus is saying to us in these passages. I hope you will hear what Jesus is saying to you. He loves you so very much.