Podcast Blog – Season 2, Episode 7
The night before He was crucified, Jesus gathered His twelve disciples for one final meal together. He yearned to prepare them for the events that were about to take place – to give them words of comfort, encouragement, strength and reassurance. He spoke many such words to them that night, but these are the ones I’d like to focus on here: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
That statement was vital for the disciples. And it is vital for you – because it points us to the simple truth that obedience is the measure of love.
It’s not that common to put love and obedience together, certainly not these days. In many minds, obedience is about rules and regulations, about laws and those who enforce them. It is about doing something, not because you want to but to avoid the consequences of not doing it. Love, on the other hand, is nothing like that. It is seen as kind and tender, comforting and securing … and anything but demanding.
Yet, to those He loved so totally, and for whom He was about to lay down His life, Jesus said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command”.
I often refer back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, because that’s where this all began for you and me. When God placed them in that garden, He gave them just one simple command: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die”.
Adam and Eve were not created to die. They were immortal. When God gave them that one command to obey, He was not being ‘rulesy’ or threatening. He was loving them. He had created them to know Him heart-to-heart, and to live with Him in a love relationship forever. Which would have been impossible if He had not also given each of them a free will. They were not ‘programmed’ to love and obey Him. That would have been an impossible contradiction. For their love and obedience to be authentic it had to be the expression of their genuine free-will decisions … as also was their disobedience, when it came.
In an age of ‘church-planting’ and number-crunching there is not much appetite for any emphasis on obedience when the success of a church or Christian ministry is based on numbers. Obedience hardly rates a mention when the goal is to ‘grow a church’. Yet obedience to God, far from being optional, is fundamental to any true relationship with Him!
God loves you, and His requirement that you obey Him has nothing to do with Him wanting to lord it over you. But it has everything to do with the fact that obedience to God is for your good.
I am not talking about obedience to ‘the letter of the law’. Nor am I talking about obedience to the rules, regulations or doctrines of any particular church or religious body. I am talking about obedience in the context of a personal, intimate relationship with God.
When you come to God on His terms, surrendering your life to Him, He is quick to respond. As He speaks to your heart and opens your eyes, He will transform you from within. At the same time, He will also begin making you aware of what He requires of you – not only concerning your daily life, but also other things about which He speaks to you personally.
Surrendering your life to God means putting it into His hands. Most of us are familiar with the old saying, ‘Your wish is my command,’ and sometimes when God speaks to you it will be like that. He will make you aware of something you can do for Him, then leave it to you as to whether or not you pick it up and do it. But there are other times when God's command will definitely sound like a command!
There have been many occasions over the years when God has spoken to me about things He has wanted me to do. Some of them relatively small, but others beyond my ability, costly, or potentially risky … or all three. Yet the essential requirement has always been the same – simple, straightforward obedience. Many questions can spring to our minds when God asks something of us, but the only question that really matters is: who said it?
During the travels of the Israelites across the desert, their leader Moses set up a tent which he called the tent of meeting, because that was where he went to meet with God. There “the Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”.(Exodus 33:11) For their part, the Israelites loved having a leader who had such ready access to God. What a wonderful benefit it was to have someone who could freely approach God on their behalf, and then pass onto them what He had to say! Yet what God really longed for was that the people themselves would also want the same kind of relationship with Him as Moses.
There was only one other person in all of Israel who shared in those conversations in the tent – a young man called Joshua, who was Moses’ assistant. The time would come, forty years later as Moses approached the end of his life, when God would appoint Joshua as the next leader of His people. But that was still a long way off, and Joshua’s presence at those conversations between God and Moses had nothing to do with any ambition on his part. But it had everything to do with his heartfelt desire to be as close to God as he could be. So great was Joshua’s desire to be in God’s presence, that when it was time for Moses to return to the camp, Joshua stayed on awhile in the tent!
How beautiful it would have been if the people had said to Moses, “We too want to meet with God in the tent”. Sure, that tent would have had to be much bigger … but God would have loved it!
Whenever the Israelites saw Moses heading for the tent of meeting, “all the people rose up and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses as he entered the tent”. (Exodus 33:8) Then, when God immediately responded to Moses – as He always did – the pillar of cloud, which was God’s visible presence, came and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting. “Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent.” (Exodus 33:10) I can imagine some of them thinking, “I might not actually be in there with God, like Moses, but I’m still a part of it all as I stand here worshipping and acknowledging what is taking place between our leader and God”.
However they rationalised it, those Israelites really did prefer having a leader who would talk to God on their behalf. For many of God's people today, that remains the preferred option!
It is, of course, a great blessing to have godly people in your life – leaders and others who care for you, know God’s ways, and are able to reflect His heart to you. Yet no one else can substitute for you personally, intimately and vulnerably relating to God!
I am not saying there should not be leaders of God’s people. There should be, and there must be. God has always called and equipped individuals to represent Him and to lead His people. Personally, I am so thankful for those He brought into my life to lead me and to guide me, especially when I was new in the faith. Then, in time, God also called me into leadership and ministry. Over many years I have led, preached, taught, pastored, and been a friend to many. Yet all along, my deepest desire has been for those same people to draw so close to God that He could also speak with them “as a man speaks with his friend”.
However, there is also another attraction in having someone else in your life as a sort of intermediary between you and God. We all have our foibles, so you can always say of anyone in that position: “Sure, they’re good … and godly. But of course, they are only human, and their own views and feelings can get mixed in with what they bring to me. They can also be a bit biased or have a certain mindset. So, even though I love much of what they say, I do sometimes wonder.”
Related to that, you can also hide behind their lack of time and availability as a cover for your own avoidance or procrastination. Life is busy and most of us are time poor. Even the most loving and devoted person has limited resources … but not God! He is never too busy for any one of us – or for all of us at the same time!
Whenever God saw Moses heading for the tent of meeting, the pillar of cloud (that physical manifestation of God's presence) immediately moved from wherever it had been and stood beside the entrance to the tent. Moses never waited for God to give him a nudge and say, “Hey, we need to talk!” He knew that God was ready anytime. How incredible is that? The God of the Universe took such delight in having that one man who wanted to be with Him. What a beautiful combination – a man who wants to be with God … and a God who loves to be with Him!
Beautiful indeed, but of no benefit to you unless you believe it is also the kind of relationship God wants with you. Draw near to Him, as Moses did, and He will draw near to you. Not only will He make Himself known to you beyond anything you have ever experienced, but He will also reveal to you His will, His thoughts, and His ways.
In Psalm 103:7 we read that God “…made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.” As they talked together in the intimacy of that tent, God revealed His ways to Moses – how He saw things, how He felt about them, how He approached them, what His desires were, and so much more.
And while that amazing conversation was taking place inside the tent of meeting, where were the rest of God’s people? Preferring to be spectators at a safe distance, they stood worshipping at their tent entrances. How many of God’s people today still prefer the security of their own ‘tents’ to the awesome and totally consuming presence of God!
Down through the ages, God has constantly sought to make Himself known to His people. He wants us to know His purpose and His plans. He longs to reveal what He is doing in this world and how He is taking it back from the devil’s clutches. This world is God’s by right, and His Kingdom is coming.
When one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He responded by giving them those now-familiar words known as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. I’m not sure Jesus intended for those words to be the set-piece prayer they have traditionally become … but I am sure that in them we find a clear order of priority regarding what God wants us to pray for. Above everything else, we are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come into this world, and for His will to be done here on earth as perfectly as it is done in Heaven!
Did you get that? God wants you to pray for His kingdom to come into this world. He is not merely longing for that to take place. He is right now in the process of bringing it about! God's Kingdom is coming to this world. That is sure. But whether or not you are among those who have a part in that depends entirely on you. Which, in turn, depends on whether you prefer to relate to Him from a distance, like those Israelites who stood at the entrance to their tents, or are like Joshua who chose to be right there in God’s presence with Moses.
If you do follow your heart right into God’s presence, and He makes Himself and His ways known to you, He will also reveal His will to you concerning things that require your obedience. Almighty God is above all things. You cannot draw near to Him without also discovering what pleases Him … and what does not.
Tell God you love Him, and He may well reply: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Does that daunt you? Are you afraid of what He might ask of you? The apostle John wrote: “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome…”.
What an amazing thing it is to have the Living God as the ultimate authority in your life! Who else would you rather have instead of Him? Whatever you do, don’t make the tragic mistake of trying to run your own life! The world is a mess … the nations are a mess … society is a mess … so many families are a mess … individual lives are a mess. All because they are still trying to find purpose and fulfilment, to have an identity and to really know that they are truly loved. So few know, and even fewer believe, that the Creator of the Universe loves them beyond anything they could imagine, and has given everything to make them His own.
God loves you and yearns to be your God. There is no greater truth. Believe that and let Him be your God. Abandon yourself to Him and be willing to do whatever He asks of you.
Because God is love, everything He does is motivated by love. When the Father sent His Son Jesus to the cross, that was His love for you. When Jesus totally gave Himself to suffer and die on the cross for you, that was His love for you. The ultimate expression ever, of obedience being the measure of love, was Jesus going to the cross so that His Father and you could be totally reconciled.
Because God is good, His purpose in all He says and does in your life is for your good.
Everything that was true of Jesus is meant to be true of you. You are meant to intimately know God the Father as Jesus did. Read the many things Jesus said to His disciples at that last supper (faithfully recorded in John, chapters 13-17) and you will see how His whole desire was that He, and they, and the Father – as well as everyone who would subsequently come to believe (that means you and me) – would live together forever in the same oneness with one another as Jesus had with His Father.
God’s intention is for you to live in wonderful oneness with Him – out of which there is such but joy in being able to say: “Father, whatever you ask of me … whatever you command me … I will do. It is the delight of my heart to delight your heart.”
This is what you, personally, are called to. And not only you, but each and every person on the face of the earth. No exceptions. As God’s eyes scan this world, He does not see a huge mass of people. He sees individuals. He also sees their hearts and responds to each one who is seeking Him. He says: “Love me as I love you … and out of your love for me, do as I ask.”