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The Keys to Life
Love, Obedience, and Joy
Scripture Focus
Acts 10:44–48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1–6; John 15:9–17
Theme
The Keys to Life
Sermon Summary
Due to our fallen and sinful nature, we may find it sometimes difficult to love others. Yet,
that is the command of God. Perhaps with this motivation we may find loving easier?
Introduction
What kind of person do we imagine to be the most unlovely, the most unworthy, the most
pitiful? Is it a person of another race? or religion? or someone on welfare? unemployed? a
panhandler, maybe? a criminal? an addict? a child abuser or rapist? How can we ever love
such people?
Yet, Jesus did exactly that when he entered the world and committed himself to reconciling
fallen humanity with his Father through his suffering and death on the cross. His example
of active love sets the standard for us, becoming our inspiration and motivation.
The Keys to Life
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If
you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my
Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy
may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love
each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay
down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I
have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed
you to go and bear fruit —fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever
you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other. (Jn 15:9-17)
In this passage from The Gospel of John, Jesus reveals a seemingly impossible link between
love, obedience, and joy. This link seems impossible because we do not like to obey, we do not
know how to love, and, thus, we rarely feel joy.
1) Love
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal
state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.
(Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904)
• while the emotion of love garners so much of our attention, love is only truly
present when it is revealed by action
– to say, “I love you”, is meaningless if one does not act in selfless ways on behalf
of the other person
• God loves us (:9; cf. Jn 3:16)
– this was overwhelmingly demonstrated through the reconciling gift of Jesus
– the laying down of one’s life is the ultimate selfless act and demonstration of love
• to love can be difficult when we are not free to think of others
– our sin and guilt distracts us from selflessness (Gen 3:6)
Love is revealed by action on behalf of others. God has, without a doubt, revealed his love
for us, the undeserving. Will we rise to the challenge and love both he and others as he has
loved us?
2) Obedience
• what better motivation to love exists than the command of Jesus? (Jn 15:12)
– even when we cannot find the power or desire within us to love, we do it anyway
because we are commanded to do so
We can only learn to love by loving.
(Iris Murdoch, 1919 - 1999, O magazine, February 2004)
• by loving, even under duress, our capacity to love grows
– if it looks like love, and acts like love, it is love
• if it is the case that for God’s gracious forgiveness to be efficacious we must have
faith, then should we be surprised that to remain in God’s love requires obedience?
(:10)
– how can we say that we love God if we don’t listen to what he tells us or obey as
he commands? (:14)
• considering the overwhelming immensity of God’s love and grace, our obedience is
trivial by comparison
• the obedience being commanded is not that of the servant, but of the friend (:15)
– in what situations do we obey a friend? (when she is telling us what is good for us)
While our postmodern sensibility questions any so-called authority who demands respect
and obedience from us, hasn’t God earned our respect? hasn’t he demonstrated his wisdom
and authority, so as to elicit our respect, even before he requires it? The funny thing about
God requiring our obedience is that he is not making an unreasonable demand of us, rather
Jesus is simply telling us the plain truth that our love for God is demonstrated by our
obedience.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: The reward for loving obedience far outweighs any burden
that we might expect!
3) Joy
• the reward of love and obedience is joy (:11)
• obeying God by loving others is not burdensome (1 Jn 5:3)
– we are rewarded for it with our greatest desire
– we yearn for those rare moments of joy
God has shown us “what is good” (Mic 6:8), how to live a full and enjoyable life: Love others
as God has loved us!
Conclusion
For whatever reasons we find loving others to be difficult, they are overcome by the
command to obey God, and particularly by loving others. Who is more unloving and
undeserving than we ourselves? Yet, God loves us. And for that love we had better love, as
he loves, in return.
The miracle is that, by loving when we would not or could not, we are rewarded far beyond
the warrants of our effort, which, in turn, calls for more love, which, in turn yields more
reward ... can you imagine the possibilities? We struggle, needlessly, in sin and guilt, for a
deeper and more rewarding life, and God shows us how to get it with little effort: In faith,
love God by loving your neighbours.
All praise, glory, and honour to the God who loves the unlovely, and confounds all of our
expectations, so as to give us the keys to life!
sermon delivered by Ian Forest-Jones
at Hurstville Church of Christ
on Sunday, 21 May 2006
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