Secret Four: The Secret Of Obeying Is Loving
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The Secret of Obeying is Loving
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
(Jn. 15:9–10, NKJV)
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word …
He who does not love Me does not keep My words …
(Jn.14:23, 24, NKJV)
If you love Me, keep My commandments.
(Jn.14:15, NKJV)
There are three levels of obedience.
We can obey God because we have to; this is the level of fear. There is, of course, a proper fear of God that is holy and good. It is not the fear that a slave shows to a master, but the respect that a son shows to a father.
‘Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!’ (Heb. 12:9). If we wilfully disobey God, He will chasten us. For this reason, we fear Him.
But fear is not the best motive for obedience. ‘I no longer call you servants,’ said Jesus to His disciples (Jn. 15:15), indicating that their relationship was much deeper. Fear can rob us of the real joys that God wants us to experience because we obey Him. Because we are His children, we want to get closer to Him; and fear builds walls instead of bridges.
The next level of obedience is selfishness: we obey because we need to, because we get something out of it! Peter illustrates this level when he asked Jesus, ‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?’ (Mt. 19:27). Children obey their parents because children are afraid of being told off. Teenagers obey because they have learned that obedience can purchase favours! The young man who mows the lawn and cleans his room is going to have a better chance to get the keys to the car. And the girl who has helped mother in the kitchen is going to have a better chance to go shopping for new clothes. Selfish? Yes – but it works!
Many Christians live on this ‘bargain basement’ level. Their obedience is measured by what God gives them; and if they do not get what they want, they often turn against God. They do not have the kind of obedience shown by the three Hebrews when Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the blazing furnace. ‘If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up’ (Dan. 3:17–18).
The highest motive for obedience is love. ‘If you love me, keep my commands’ (Jn. 14:15).
Why is love the highest motive for obedience?
For one thing, love centres on the giver, not the gift. Love establishes a personal relationship with God no matter what He gives or what He withholds. Satan was sure that Job would curse God when Job lost his possessions and his health. If Job had been like some believers today, that is exactly what he would have done. Instead, he testified, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him …’ (Job 13:15). Where there is love, there can be no bargaining. Jacob, the greater schemer and bargainer, forgot about the contract when he fell in love with Rachel! He willingly worked fourteen years to make her his own; ‘they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her’ (Gen. 29:20).
Another reason is this: love does not measure sacrifice. ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (Jn. 15:13). Our Lord proved His love for us by going to the cross for us. He did not measure His sacrifice and give the least possible amount. He gave His all. If we love God, we do not measure the cost of obeying His Word. We simply obey. Like the father that rushes into the burning house to save his child, or the mother that plunges into the raging waters, we do not count the cost, but instead obey the loving impulses of the heart. Love that calculates is not true love.
Love is the highest motive for obedience because ‘God is love’ (1 Jn. 4:8). He gives His commandments because He loves us; and because we love Him, we obey His commandments. We do not question them or seek to change them. We do not fear His will. ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear …’ (1 Jn. 4:18). As we obey, we experience the love of God in our hearts in a deep and satisfying way. ‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him’ (1 Jn. 4:16, NKJV). ‘Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them’ (Jn. 14:21).
Love is the fulfilment of the law. If two people love each other, they do not need rules and regulations to govern their relationship. When a husband and wife love each other, they always try to do the things that please each other and help each other. There are laws that require mothers and fathers to care for their children, but no loving parent ever thinks of those laws! Parents care for their children because they love them.
God wants obedience from the heart. It is this truth that underlies the Book of Deuteronomy. The word means ‘second law,’ since in Deuteronomy Moses repeats the law for the new generation about to enter Canaan. But Deuteronomy is different from Exodus, because Deuteronomy emphasizes the heart. The word love is introduced in this book, because love is the motive for obeying the law. In Exodus, the emphasis is on judgment and fear; but in Deuteronomy the emphasis is on blessing and love. Of course, there are in this book warnings against sin; but the main theme is love.
Why did God choose Israel?
‘Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them’ (Deut. 4:37).
What is Israel’s confession of faith?
‘Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’ (Deut. 6:4–5).
Is Israel better than any other nation?
‘The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors …’ (Deut. 7:7–8).
What does God require of his people?
‘And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul’ (Deut. 10:12). ‘Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always’ (Deut. 11:1).
But is it not enough that Israel is circumcised? ‘The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live’ (Deut. 30:6).
Moses makes it clear to Israel – and to us – that the secret of obeying is loving. It is no wonder that Deuteronomy was our Lord’s favourite book when He was here on earth. He quoted from it more than from any other. In the entire New Testament, Deuteronomy is quoted or referred to over eighty times. It is the book of loving obedience and obedient love.
You and I cannot command others to love us, yet God commands us to love Him! He has the right to command us because He always must will for us that which is the highest and the best. Furthermore, ‘God’s commandments are God’s enablements.’ By his very commanding, He assures us that this love is possible. Of ourselves, we cannot love Him. ‘Apart from me you can do nothing’ (Jn. 15:5). But ‘I can do all this through him who gives me strength’ (Phil. 4:13).
It is possible for us to love Him, and to love Him more and more. And the more we love Him, the more we will obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more we will abide in Him. And the more we abide in Him, the more we will bear fruit. And the more we bear fruit, the more we will live!
There is a secret to loving.