Peace in Loving Obedience

Today we will continue to talk about peace. We all want it but it’s obvious we don’t all have it, or at least many of us find it just a fleeting experience. We often think of peace as when everything is going well, and certainly we can have pace in those times, but Jesus has something much greater than that for us.

Let’s review our definition. I’ve revised it some with revisions in parentheses.

Peace

The (supernatural)capacity to maintain focus and identity despite troubles (or blessings) and, in doing so, experiencing a calmness of heart and mind pursuing a worthwhile purpose with the confident assurance of a favorable destination.

We’ve been in John 14-16, the Upper Room Discourse using these two passages as a springboard for our discussions:

John 14:27 (NIV)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 16:33 (NIV)

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Two truths: Jesus is giving out peace and he has told them “these things” so they can have peace. Our job has been finding “these things” and today we will continue that search in John 14.

Where have we been?

Peace is found in knowing we have heaven to look forward to.

Peace is found in knowing Jesus provides for us a way back to the Father.

Peace is found in knowing we are part of a great kingdom and that our kingdom prayers are always heard and answered.

Let’s move on. Today I’ll focus on Jesus’ statement in John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10 (ESV):

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

One of “these things” is obedience. If you want peace you have to keep my commandments. We don’t always like to be told what to do and in some ways this demand offends our tendency to insist on making our own decisions. We want to do things our way.

You know the song I Did It My Way made famous by Frank Sinatra. It really is a moving song and it’s in many ways has become the anthem of our day. My Way has become the highest virtue. I may have failed, but I did it my way. I may have hurt people along the way but I did it my way. Somehow doing it my way has become the highest virtue. We love people who stick to their guns, who chart their own course, who follow their hearts, who let their consciences be their guide.

That’s one of the dumbest songs you will ever hear. I’ve read recently that old Blue Eyes actually came to hate the song. According to his daughter Tina in an interview with BBC, she said "He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent."

I love it when someone sends me a message and it fits right into what I’m studying and this week I got one of those. It’s another excerpt from Paul David Tripp’s devotional guide New Moring Mercies.

So Jesus says, “You have to give up this idea that you can find your own way to peace. You have to abandon your own thinking and submit to me.”

But what does love have to do with it? We usually think of obedience in terms of obligation. Obedience and love are not often linked together but that is what Jesus does. He says it, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” In fact, instead of just asking ourselves if we are obedient, maybe the better question is if we really love Jesus. Jesus seems to think that if we really love him then obedience will come naturally.

Following Jesus is not about diligently keeping a set of rules or conjuring up the moral fortitude to lead good lives. It's about loving God and enjoying Him.

- Francis Chan

When Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” it in many ways so manipulative. Because that’s how we use that phrase or that’s how others have used that phrase to manipulate us. If anyone says that, watch out. So why don’t we run away when Jesus says that?

Manipulation is normally a way for a person to get you to do things that benefit the other person. Often times it is used by someone who doesn’t truly love you but is using you as a means to some sort of self-serving end. Make me happy. Meet my needs. Provide some pleasure for me. Manipulation is self-serving. It’s one sided. And that just doesn’t describe Jesus – he is not self-serving.

Earlier that night in the upper rom Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.

John 13:12–15 (ESV) — 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Jesus the foot washer is not trying to manipulate you. He’s trying to lead you into a life of peace and hasn’t he proven his selflessness not only in washing feet but by going to the cross. He didn’t do things his way he did it our way.

1 John 4:7–21 (NIV) — 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Love for Jesus must be our motivation to obey his commands. Obedience must flow out of a heart of love. Obedience without love is nothing more than the pursuit of self-righteousness. We will never obey his Word if all we feel is a sense of moral obligation.

The antidote for disobedience isn’t obedience but love. If you struggle to obey Jesus, then focus on loving him more. Beg God to give you a passion for Jesus. The greater your love grows, the easier obedience comes.

- Carter & Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John

How do we love Jesus more? Just like these couples whom we celebrated today fell in love. We spend time with him and as we do we will see how amazing he is. We get to know him more and more and in time we will trust him more and more in with that trust will come this willingness to obey. And because we have come to know him we will live in confidence that following him will lead us into a life of deep and abiding peace.

Near the end of John’s gospel we records an interchange that Jesus has with Peter. In fact, it’s the last story about Jesus he will tell. It’s after the resurrection. They are together by the Sea of Galilee having breakfast over a campfire. Jesus turns to Peter and asks him, “Do you love me?” And he asks him two more times, “Do you love me?” That’s how John ends his gospel and maybe he ends his story about Jesus that way because he wants everyone who will read it hear Jesus ask them the same question. It’s the question that will determine if you really are a disciple. It’s the question that you have to answer if you want to have peace. And it’s the question Jesus asks you and me today:

Do you love me?