Love Calls for Obedience

GETTING STARTED

My late father was a senior agricultural officer in Uganda, and he loved farming very much. Despite the fact that my father wanted us to join him in the garden work, I did not love farming. But my elder brother was always willing to go with my father and was obedient to follow his instructions. At the end of the day, my brother was always given a token of appreciation after work. To me, who did not do what my father wanted, I ended up on the loser side.

  • Jesus calls us to be obedient and follow his commands if we love him, and the manifestation of the Trinity shall be influential in our lives. How do you respond to Jesus?

READ THE WORD: JOHN 14:15-31(ESV)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 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.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 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.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 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. 24 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.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

(Today’s questions focus on verses 15-17.)

  1. What description shows that one has love for Jesus, according to verse 15? How will this be accomplished (vs. 16)?
  2. How do we identify Jesus’ intercessory duty in verse 16? What are the descriptive names of the Holy Spirit (vss. 16-17)?
  3. Why is it difficult for the world to receive the Spirit of truth, and how can we receive him?
  4. What three things are said of the Spirit of truth in the last sentence of verse 17? How might these give you comfort and help you to be obedient to God today?

RESPOND TO GOD

In today’s passage, we get to know that it is possible for one to pretend as if he loves Jesus and neglect the principle of obedience. When we obey, we go beyond outer practices and engage the inner character. Loving Jesus is the fundamental factor of following him and obeying what he requires us to do and be. This obedience is manifested at the level of acknowledging his Word and how we follow it and respond to it. We need to obey Jesus, and he will intercede for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

  • Take a moment of silence and examine how obedient you are to the Lord Jesus. Pray that you can be helped by the Holy Spirit to repent, obey, and follow the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ.