Friday Devotional
Follow Me (1 John 2:1-17, John 15:9-17, 2 John)
In the modern day, many of us squirm at the idea of following rules or commandments. We think, “America is supposed to be the land of the free, right?” Willingly submitting to constraints or giving up our rights can feel shameful or even morally wrong. We love the narrative in Disney movies of characters following their heart and defying their rigid parents or rulers. We want to be like them and cast-off restraints, follow our hearts, and find true love in this way. But is this brand of love really love?
Moreover, when modern Christians hear the word “law” or “command”, some warning light in our heads starts spinning and its sirens blare, “that’s legalistic! We should just love instead!” Following biblical laws feel archaic and attending to them feels like is a chore. Sadly, I think we have been deceived and lost a crucial aspect of what it means to love. The disciple John states, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome for us. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:3-4 ESV). Simply put our obedience to commands comes from love and our love is a result of genuine faith.
READ 1 JOHN 2:1-5
When you were a child, before you ever knew about loving and obeying God, you first learned something of loving and obeying your parents. Some sources say that babies begin to understand rules, commands, and discipline from their parents as early as 7 months – around the exact time they exhibit the strong emotional ties that bring forth their first words, “mama” and “dada”. From the very beginnings of life, children automatically integrate love for parents and following their parents’ commands. Do you think it is possible to love a parent but not listen to them?
It is with deep parental affection then that John writes in 1 John 2, “my little children, I am writing things to you so that you may not sin.” (1 John 2:1 ESV). Like a father, he compassionately elicits loving attention from his spiritual children, eager to mature them in Christ. He wants them to be confident in Christ.
READ 1 JOHN 2:1-17
Both the Greek word for love used here agapaó and the Hebrew word love אָהַב connote affection and not mere duty. Love is something that is warm and intimate that if neglected can grow cold (Matthew 24:12). Yet the perfection of love is demonstrated in following commandments (2:5). Following commandments assures our confidence (2:2:5-6) and is the proof of authentic abiding (2:5 & 2:17). What do you make of this? Jesus said, “a tree is known by its fruits”, so someone knows they are unified Christ when they bear good spiritual fruit on Jesus’s behalf. Notice even here though, that attention is still given to faith. “but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”(2:1b-2). Do you lack confidence that Jesus would forgive your sins? Jesus is eager to forgive. He forgives all who call on him in truth! Call out to him in faith. Respond with love to the love you have been shown. Testify to your own conscience that you do believe by turning from your sin and obeying his commands. This is pleasing to your Father in heaven, whom you love, and whom gave you these commands for your good and flourishing.
READ JOHN 15:9-17
Jesus commands his disciples in John 15:12-14 ESV, “this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” In other words, rather than a mere list of rules, we now have a personal example to follow! What further commandment do we need to clarify true love? Jesus words declare to our consciences that if we find no desire to follow Jesus’s example after we have come to know him, we should be suspect of the legitimacy of our love. We are Jesus’ friends if we also love enough to lay down our lives for our friends. This is at the core of being Jesus’s disciples and making disciples.
Jesus says in his great commission, “go and make disciples… teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded them” (Matthew 28:18-20). He explains what it means to teach others in Matthew 5:17-20, “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Do you desire to make disciples of Jesus? It has something to do with practicing following commandments and teaching other to do the same. We are all prone to throw off restraint and to say we love God, while doing things that God would hate. We all are prone to say we love God and love others but loosen his commandments and teach things other than how to obey all the good desires of Jesus. Ironically, loosening God’s commands (Matthew 5:19) reveals in us a desire to justify ourselves by changing God’s commands to standards we already meet. We try to convince that we love our neighbors with the words, “who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). In truth we can never meet God’s righteousness on our own and trying will forever be a burden until we turn in faith to Jesus. Jesus’s burden is light. True discipleship is teaching others faith that results in love and obedience, while practicing the faith you preach.
READ 2 JOHN
Congrats! You just read a whole book of the bible. This is likely a follow up letter to further encourage the things written in John 15 repeated again in 1 John. As we speak this weekend about following Jesus and what it means to pick up a cross and die daily, I want us to consider what is compelling us forward. Do you love God so much that your heart burns to follow his commands? Do you see God’s commands as good and helpful? Do you aspire to follow Jesus’s example? Can you say with 2 John 6 ESV, “this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it” ?
One final note: do you worry after all this command talk that to follow commands is still to be legalistic? John Piper defines legalism as “the conviction that law-keeping is ground of our acceptance with God.” You can be assured that you are sinful and incapable of being accepted by God on your own merit. All your good deeds and lawful obedience to commands are like filthy rags, unfit to clothe you before a king. You have been saved by grace through faith. Yet, for those who have come to know the love and grace extended through Jesus, and who have victory over the world by faith in Jesus, it is a joy and not a burden to follow commands. We should crave together to be like king David, a man after God’s own heart, who said, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:32) and “lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (Psalm 119:35) and “I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments” (Psalm 119:131). Commands will never be grounds for God to accept you. God accepts you because of the loving sacrifice of Jesus. Our love originates from faith in Jesus and results in hearts that genuinely love God and delight to follow his commands!
Application: Do you see a connection between love and obedience to someone’s spoken word (commands)?
What are the most difficult commands for you to follow from the bible?
Confess the ways you have disobeyed God’s explicit commands and ask for him to change your heart to desire to obey.
Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word “discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart” and Jeremiah 17:9 says that “the heart is deceitful above all things”. In what way do commandments help you to discern your own intentions and motivations?
What is your favorite command, law, or instruction in the bible? What do you like about it?
Old Testament references for further exploration: (Deuteronomy 11:1, Joshua 22:5, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, Psalm 119, Psalm 19, Deuteronomy 6:5-9)