The problem with Christians today is….
Have you said that or heard it said? Were you able to fill in the blank? I have heard these type of statements for most of my young life. It goes right there with “the (or that) church is just full of hypocrites.” Christians have been accused of being both legalistic and acting just like everyone else. Like a pendulum, the culture of the Christian swings back and forth through time without any seeming balance or real truth. A Facebook friend enthusiastically posted a video describing the difference between a “Christian man” and a “man of God” in effort to warn fellow women of the deception behind religious titles. Part of me agrees. Part of me mourns. Many people are dropping the title of “Christian” in order to redefine their faith and stand out from the accused fake Christians. “I’m not like those Christians. I’m a follower of Jesus or Man of God.” I can’t say I blame these people too much because the idea of the Christian has become very muddied. There have been many people call themselves Christians who were not truly surrendered. There have been true Christians who failed and were left unforgiven by others. There have been still other true Christians who stopped surrendering in order to make up their own rules for living.
Me? I think every professed Christian needs to return to the Holy Bible, be a student of the Bible, and seek the Lord for understanding. With that said, let’s continue on in our study at John 15.
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
John 15:9
Can we stop at this first sentence? Read it a few times to yourself. Slow down and think about it. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to grasp what it is like for God the Father to love Jesus, God’s Son. My finite mind cannot grasp the idea of a three-in-one God, let alone their love for one another. I think that it is the strength of their love that unifies them as just one being. The first events that come to mind when Jesus mentions being loved by the Father is when Jesus was baptized and when Jesus died. When He was baptized, the sky opened up to reveal the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove settling down on our Savior, and the Father announced how proud and joyous He was over His Son. At the time of His death, the ground shook violently, the sky darkened, the veil tore from top to bottom, and later a blood moon rose up from the horizon. There is something about the love that they share that is fierce, loyal, and unrivaled in every way. I don’t know how else to unwrap that idea, but we have to continue on to read that in the same way that the Father loves the Son, so the Son loves US. Me and you. Mind blown! It was His love for us and His desire for reconciliation that drove Him to be born in flesh, die the worst possible death, and to rise back to life. It was a plan that He set in motion when He flung the stars into place, and He stayed committed to it even to this very moment. I don’t know if we can ever truly understand that kind of love.
Then, Jesus says simply, “remain in my love”. What? You can come face to face with this kind of love, take a swim in this love, bathe yourself in this love, and then walk away from it? How does one remain or stop remaining in the love of Jesus?
10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
John 15:10
Obedience. There’s that word again! Like a plague to our independent souls, we are pulled to our knees and given a choice. His grace is sufficient. Yes. His love is mighty and fiercely loyal. Yes. You experiencing the outpouring of that love is hinged on your obedience. Even Jesus was obedient!
What does it mean to be a Christian? The word itself means little Christ. To be a little Christ, one should be following Christ wholeheartedly and obediently. When I imagine a little Christ, I imagine someone who doesn’t belong to himself, but to the original and official holder of the title. This person walks, talks, sounds, and acts like Christ in every possible way as if he were the very shadow of Christ on a sunny day. Now, I don’t think Jesus is hung up on semantics much, so if we want to declare ourselves a committed follower of Jesus, I’m not going to argue. In a world of professed Christians who live life the way they believe is good, I’m all for shouting out how I am different. However your religious title is set, the question is this. Are you obedient? Are you surrendered? Are you still deciding what is right or wrong, or are you allowing Jesus to make those decisions?
What about those religious people who have been accused of being legalistic? The so called Holy Rollers who wouldn’t let anyone have any fun? The difference is in the motive, not the action, necessarily. The legalistic or religious person is, for whatever reason that is unique to them, motivated to earn themselves into God’s grace. Oftentimes, our pride drives us to prefer earning God’s favor rather than surrendering. We want to build that tower to Heaven by our own strength and determination. Anything done in independence will ultimately fail. It always has. It always will.
The dependent and surrendered is motivated to obedience by LOVE. This person has enough understanding and experience of the love that God has lavished on her that she is, in turn, obedient. It’s not enough to feel love towards God. True love drives us to obedience.
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[e]38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[f]40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
There are books devoted to breaking these verses down. To keep it simple, everything that we are to obey is based on these ideas of loving God with our heart, soul, and mind, and loving others. It boils down to denying ourselves. We stop following our hearts, we release the trust and peace of our souls to our Creator, and cleanse our minds from anything that would dishonor the one that we love. The one that we love. Christians don’t obey begrudgingly. They don’t earn anything. They simply obey out of love. Because we love God, we become students of the Holy Scriptures to learn as much as we can, and to find more ways in which we can obey.
I pray that our love for Christ will grow, and we become more hungry for His written Word. As a product of our love and learning, may we be obedient and ever surrendered. May we stand out from the world in every way as we are emphatically obedient to a fault, and may we do it out of a motivation of love. As a result, may we experience incredible joy along the journey.
Next week, we will be diving into this concept of joy. Until then, SUBSCRIBE to get these posts sent to your email, SHARE with a friend who needs to read this, and COMMENT to generate healthy discussion. Always feel free to send me a private message to discuss anything concerning Christ and what I have written.
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