Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from our Father.
John 14
is another great chapter on obedience. Before
we look at what Jesus says, let’s examine why Jesus says these things. Jesus is about to go to the cross. Jesus is about to die for the sake of
humanity. Jesus is about to crush all
the dreams of anyone who is hoping for a worldly Messiah who would rise up
against Rome. Jesus does not want His
disciples confused. Jesus wants His
disciples to understand that obedience to the Father is our highest goal.
In that
spirit, we now turn to Jesus’ words.
John 14:12 tells us that whoever believes will do the works that Jesus
does. Belief is inherently tied to
obedience. If we believe, we do. We don’t earn our salvation by doing; rather
we do because we believe that God has saved us.
John
14:21 tells us that “whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who
loves me.” In this verse we hear Jesus
tie obedience to love. If we love God,
we will obey. If we love God, we will
keep His commandments. John 21:23-24
reinforces this idea in both the positive and the negative.
In this
chapter, faith, obedience, and love are all tied together. Obedience is a very important perspective of
faith. We have a great model of
obedience in Christ, who not only teaches us about obedience but puts it forth
in action as we’ll see in a few chapters.
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