How can we live the life Jesus describes in John 15?  How can we walk in Him and know Him and enjoy His presence?  You have to go back to something we mentioned last week—you have to see Jesus’ heart for us.  A group of people got together and came up with a question for Jesus.  These were not just ordinary people—they were the religious experts of the day.  They had the law down to a science and they were fanatics about keeping it.  They came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Now we know Jesus said, “Don’t dance, drink, smoke, or chew and don’t go with the girls that do! And go to church every time the doors open, right?  No, Jesus didn’t give any don’ts, He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Verse nine tells us that as the Father loves Jesus so Jesus loves us and then we come to verse 10, “If you obey my commands, you will abide in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and abide in love.”  Jesus teaches us that we cannot abide in His love without obedience.  In chapter 14 we are told, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (15)  “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He loves me and will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (21)  “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.” (23) Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (8:31) 

We often get the cart before the horse—we see obedience and set out trying to obey God’s commands in our own strength.  We start climbing that ladder I talked about yesterday and the higher we get the more applause and support we get from those who are climbing the same wall, but when we get to the top we find that all that we have struggled for is nothing.  We have skipped the truth of verse nine, we have skipped the relationship.  Obedience does not come from what you can do—obedience comes out of a love for Him and by Him working in and through you.

The context of all of this is found in the illustration of the vine—you cannot be obedient unless you abide—you cannot abide unless you see His love for you and abide in that love.  Once you see His love for you, once you abide in that love—the most natural thing for you to do is to obey.  Do you see the simplicity of what Jesus is saying?  He isn’t saying—go work for me and prove you love me…He is saying—see my love for you, love me in return and obey me out of that love by letting me work through you.  It is time to climb off of the ladder of personal talent and fleshly motives and open the door and walk out of the dressing room and simply abide in Him.  Are you ready to see how you can do that?  Tune in tomorrow!