Abide - Obedient Love (John 15:9-11)

Last week, we focused on abiding in Jesus Christ to grow spiritually as individuals and believers for the purpose to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus is our 1st and foremost.

Keeping our ship within the channel.

READ (JOHN 15:9-11)

Similar to the Great Commandent (Matthew 22:36-40), Jesus commanded the disciples to love God AND others.

Jesus enjoyed an intimate and loving relationship with His father.

Jesus wants every disciple to enjoy the same relationship.

“loved” is in the aorist tense which emphasizes complete action.

Remain in fellowship with me.

We are privileged to be brought into a community of love.

How do believers abide in the love of Jesus Christ?

Abide in Obedient Love

Obedience to God is an essential element to discipleship.

The Christ principle of love is included in borth the love a disciple has for Christ and the love of Christ for the disciples.

Obedience to Christ (John 14:21)

Jesus taught obedience as the path believers take to remain in constant enjoyment of Christ’s love.

Why obedience? Because we love the Father.

The more we obey, the more we love God.

Parenting. Eventually our children can learn to obey out of the primary focus of love.

Jesus claimed to have joy when the people of God obeyed.

He came to earth out of obedience to His Father.

He found joy in carrying out His Father’s will.

“But he said, ‘I have food to eat that you don’t know about.’ The disciples said to one another, ‘Could someone have brought him something to eat?’ ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,’ Jesus told them.” - (John 4:32-34)

A disciple cannot bear fruit until they fully realize the joy of belonging to Christ.

There is a “why” behind our obedience.

We don’t obey God because we “have to” or because it’s the “right thing to do”.

We obey because we have directed our love to a God who is lovely.

Obedience has become a poisoned word in our society.

Why are Christians and Churches Obedient?

1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the sources of life and our fuel for ministry.

READ (Colossians 1:13-23)

Because of the absolute power and soveriegnty of our Father, the redemption provided through Christ’s sacrifice/resurrection, and the Holy Spirit’s guidence to the church, we have nothing else to stand upon unless we embrace the world or self-worship.

If God’s will is not the forefront of who we are as a church body, we run the risk of doing ministry for ourselves without Him.

“Great ministry that is not fuled by a great God is the greatest tragedy.” - J.T. English

He is either our everything or our nothing.

2. God leads and we follow.

“Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doin. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things’” - (John 5:19)

Jesus never stepped ahead of his Father’s will.

There is a path for you that the Lord has already established for you to walk in His timing.

The body of Christ seeks the Lord to provide guidance for our next steps.

Going on a Mission Trip assuming how the experience will be.

God’s plan can potentially make us uncomfortable and frustrate our spirit. Are we willing to be obedient?

3. Obedience is a source of joy for our Heavenly Father.

v. 12 tells us of the expectation for believers to love one another.

Obedience is how we worship! (Romans 12:1)

We learn to love others as an offering of worship.

“Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake; spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake.” - Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Be honest with yourself:

Does my spiritual activity express a desire for God’s glory or my own?

Does our spiritual activity express a desire for God’s glory or GBC’s?