“If you love me, you will obey what I command…Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

John 14:15-24

When Jesus came into the world He said: “…Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”  Hebrews 10:7  Everything Jesus said, did or didn’t do was in obedience to His Father. Jesus lived to honor and please His Father by obeying Him in all things. From His baptism to the cross, and everything in between, Jesus perfectly obeyed His Father’s will. So perfect was His obedience that He would declare, “I and the Father are one”. The raising up and seating of His Son in Heaven at His right hand was His Father’s testimony that Jesus had indeed perfectly obeyed and carried out His father’s will on earth.

Jesus sends a clear message to His followers that if they love Him they will likewise seek to do the will of God by obeying His commands and teachings.

If they do the Father will love them; He and His Son will make their home with

them. What a promise… but it hinges, not on what we may say or profess, not on the works we do, but on our obedience to Christ’s commands. Then, most assuredly, words of grace and works of love, the fruit of holiness, will spring forth from that obedience to the glory of God.

How may we say we are followers of Jesus Christ if our minds and hearts are given to anything less than obeying the will of God? How can an individual, a congregation or a denomination that professes to be Christian approve and promote a lifestyle that is plainly contrary to the will of God, such as sexual immorality?  Jesus warns: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” John taught: “Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” Matthew 7:22-23 1 John 2:4

Paul prayed this for the church: [We ask] “… God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding…in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”  Colossians 1:9

The life of a child of God is about growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. It’s about adding to your faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-11

“To obey is better than sacrifice” God said that.

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net