Obedience to Christ

John 14 21 “Obedience to Christ” preached by Ron Smith
“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”
This Sunday’s topical verse is God’s promise of a special intimate loving relationship made up with individuals 1) who know His commandments, 2) who keep His commandments, 3) who are loved by our heavenly Father, 4) who are loved by God’s Son, and 5) to whom Christ continues to reveal Himself – that is “make Himself plain.”
1. Even cowboys can Know Christ’s commandments! The Old Testament’s 613 “halacha” or ways to behave (including the 10 Commandments) had become interpreted (but never completely obeyed) before Jesus arrived as the chosen Messiah. So God substituted His Son Jesus Christ to apply the law properly and thoroughly with His life, as the living Torah – the living Way to salvation and reconciliation with God’s law in spite of the rest of the human condition floundering in imperfection and sin.
Jesus fulfilled all the law and all the commandments by loving everyone. And He asks you and me to do the same. To share the love of Jesus obediently is not just a nice feeling. It means doing His will, which we find in his commandments (obediently loving everyone according to God’s law).
2. Keep Christ’s commandments! We have been created “in the image and likeness of God.” And we stand before God as His “you” capable of having a relationship with Him. “Bless the Lord O my soul” – means that God has made us so that we can bless God in return. You and I keep Christ’s commandments by loving God and others – by being God’s friend and by being a friend to others – by communicating with God and with others in loving ways.
3. Receive the Father’s love! Christ’s commandments are His way of showing us His love and His concern for our personal individual lives. When we serve others in ministry and care, then we follow His example of service and sacrifice for others. We receive our heavenly Father’s love when we share, serve and care for each other in the name of (according the loving commands of) Jesus Christ.
4. Receive the Son’s love! We especially want to live out the commandment that Jesus claimed as His own – the one that is the sum total of all the others (likened unto it). His “new commandment” is to . . . . . . .
In fact, love is the fulfillment of the whole law. It is the best way – one way we are called to obediently follow Christ.
5. Know Christ plainly and clearly! How do we experience Christ and know Him plainly as He has promised? Each of us are charged with doing “even greater miracles” than Jesus’ earthly ministry. But we can start in small ways and build on the relationships and people around us right now.
Maybe you can write your own story of how Christ makes Himself plain in your life . . .
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to see Christ in our everyday lives and obediently follow His commandments of love – in the name and according to the ordinances of love lived and practiced by Christ, Amen.