Love and obedience

April 26, 2021

14:1 – 15:17 Being in Jesus, just as Jesus is in the Father

Read John 14:21

Jesus came into this world not to do his own will but to do the will of the Father (6:38). His objective was to glorify God by completing the work which God had given him to do (17:4; Heb.10:5-7). That was his joy and delight – “my food,” he said to the disciples, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (4:34). This is expressed most clearly here in John 14 which concludes with him saying of his imminent death that “the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me” (14:31).

In other words, his own relationship with the Father was rooted in a love which led to glad and willing obedience. So it’s no surprise that if we want to be in Jesus just as Jesus is in the Father then love and obedience will likewise be the key. Jesus began this section by telling the disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (14:15) and the importance of the connection between love and obedience is now further underlined (21). Obedience is the mark of true love.

But it is more than that, for through obedience prompted by love (not by duty) we will have a deeper experience of the love and the knowledge of both the Father and the Son. God’s love towards us is not earned or increased by obedience – the Father already loved the Son perfectly before his obedience even to the point of death, yet Jesus could still say, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life” (10:17). The Father’s love for us is not conditional on what we do, but it will be experienced most clearly by those who love and obey him.