Not a Matter of Doing Excellent Things
Yesterday in church our pastor made this statement: “Don’t refuse to obey the one you claim to worship.” It slapped me in the face and sent my mind racing down the road of “Loving Jesus=Obeying His Word.”
Fact—If a person loves Jesus, they will obey and keep His word.
John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Or “If you love me, you will keep my word.”
Love for Christ is inseparable from obedience.
Obedience is not optional for believers. Jesus stated a simple fact that must be clearly understood: “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” Jesus is not giving an optional commandment, He did not say, “If you love me, then you will keep my commandments.” He is saying that the man who truly loves Him will keep His commandments. Will obey His word. For those that are believers, there is no option. They love Jesus; therefore, they keep His commandments. The keep His word. In this the believer is not claiming perfection, but he is claiming to love Jesus and to believe with all his heart that Jesus is the Son of God. Therefore, he diligently seeks Jesus, and he seeks to please Him in all that he does.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
So, what it means to love Jesus must be clearly understood.
1) To love Jesus is not an emotional thing. It involves emotions, but it is not based upon emotions. It is not feelings: not feeling good today and loving Jesus, and feeling bad tomorrow and not loving Jesus. Loving Jesus is not a fluctuating experience, not an up and down emotion. It is not an emotional love that changes with feelings.
2) To love Jesus is not a rational or mental commitment. Of course it involves the mind, but it is not just deciding that Jesus is the Son of God and adopting His teachings and morality as one’s standard in life. It is not just living by His teachings and doing the best a person can. It is not a matter of the mind alone, not a matter of disciplining one’s life to keep the law and its rules and regulations.
3) To love Jesus is a matter of the heart and of the spirit: a matter of man’s most vital part, man’s innermost being, all that a man is. The heart is the seat of man’s affection and will, his devotion. The heart attaches and focuses our affection and will and devotion to an object or a person. The heart causes a man to will to give himself either to good or bad. To love Jesus means that a man focuses his heart and affections and will and devotion upon God by giving and receiving the love of God. It means that a man gives his affection and will and devotion, all he is and has, to Jesus Christ. It means he …
• freely accepts Jesus as his Savior
• cherishes and attaches himself to Jesus as his Savior
• sacrificially gives all he is and has to Jesus as his Savior
• commits all he is and has to serve Jesus and His cause because Jesus is his Savior
Jesus is infinitely worthy of being loved. He is perfectly lovely. He is loved not in spite of what he is, but because of all that he is.
“Loving Jesus isn’t a matter of doing excellent things. It’s a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior.” —John Piper
This means that love for him is a response to beauty and greatness and glory. It is not a response to need or weakness or defect. Which also means that love for Jesus is pleasurable. It’s desiring him because he is infinitely desirable. It’s admiring him because he is infinitely admirable. It’s treasuring him because he is infinitely valuable. It’s enjoying him because he is infinitely enjoyable. It’s being satisfied with all that he is, because he is infinitely satisfying. It’s the reflex of the awakened and new-born human soul to all that is true and good and beautiful, embodied in Jesus.
Again, “Loving Jesus is not a matter of doing excellent things. It’s a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior.” Jesus says doing excellent things — keeping my word — is the result of delighting in the excellent Savior. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”
So my question for you today is, “Will you love Jesus and obey Him not as a matter of doing excellent things. But, love Him and obey and keep His word as a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior.”
Jerry Bridges puts it this way, “Devotion is not an activity; it is an attitude towards God.”
