There is a profound truth that every Christian must face: the Bible is an inexhaustible treasure. Talk to a pastor who has spent a lifetime reading, studying and explaining the Bible and he will tell you, I’m sure, that the more he comes to understand, the more he realizes he does not understand. I have heard John Piper compare this to climbing a mountain. As he scales a sheer cliff and comes to the top of a great mountain, he looks to the distance and sees that beyond it lie more mountains still. And so he begins to scale the next mountain and sees beyond that more, bigger, taller, grander mountains. And so it will continue into eternity as we gaze towards the eternal, infinite God.
A week ago I posted a review of Alexander Strauch’s Love or Die (click here to read it) and in that review said “I can think of few books I’ve read recently that have had so immediate an impact on me and have given me so much to think about. I trust, that with God’s help, the implications of this book will be with me always.” In the back of the book Strauch provides a list of “50 Key Texts on Love.” In my devotions I have been going through those texts a few at a time, seeking to understand the contexts in which they were given, to understand what God means by them, and to understand how I can apply them to my life.
To this point I’ve looked at key texts in the Old Testament and in the gospels. I haven’t encountered any texts that are new to me; I have read them all before and have memorized or studied many in the past. But I continue to learn from the Bible’s inexhaustible store of treasure. Just this morning I came to Matthew 22:34-40.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
This is one of those foundational texts and one I have undoubtedly read or heard hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Jesus quoted two Old Testament passages, both of which would have been familiar to his hearers and to Matthew’s readers. One of them was recited by pious Jews twice daily and was written on their doorposts and phylacteries. He chose these two out of the 600+ laws the Pharisees had deduced from the Scriptures. Love God first and best and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the heart of the Christian faith.
This morning I began to think about that phrase, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and wondered, “why love?” Why is it that the greatest commandment is not to obey or fear or follow? Why are we commanded to love? And here I had to pause and ask myself whether I love God first or whether my love is secondary to obedience or submission or to something else. I wonder if that command, in the Challies Standard Bible, reads, “You shall obey the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Is love as central to my faith as it ought to be?
I suppose it is possible that I am drawing something of a false distinction here. We do not need to go too much further in the Bible to find that love and obedience are inextricably connected. John 14:15 says clearly, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” But I do not take this to say that love and obedience are one and the same. Rather, I take it to mean that obedience is proof of love. Obedience proves love to God but is not the sum of love to God. Do I love God? I can look to the Scripture to see if I am obeying him. If I obey God, I can take it as proof of my love. But isn’t my day-by-day love to be composed of more than obedience? Isn’t “how do I know I love God?” different from “how do I love God?”
I began to think of how Jesus loved his Father and came up with at least a few ways (and I’m sure this is but a drop in the proverbial bucket). I wanted to see how people may have answered this question: “How did Jesus love his Father?” And here is what I thought of: He loved his Father by defending him. When the Pharisees showed their appalling ignorance of the character of God, Jesus would step in to defend God. He loved his Father by communing with him. Jesus constantly escaped from the crowds so he could spend time alone with God. He communed with him in prayer and undoubtedly in meditating upon the Scriptures. He loved his Father by loving his Father’s people (see, for example, John 17:12). He loved his Father by obeying him. He loved his Father by doing his Father’s will. He loved his Father by making his Father’s glory his first priority and by making much of him. And I’m sure this list could continue.
And I got little further. I began to look to my own life to see if I am primarily obedient to God or if I primarily love God. I can’t help but feel that, if I am motivated primarily by obedience, then I am missing out on something important. Does this mean that I read the Bible every morning just to obey God? Or do I read the Bible in order to spend time with God and enjoy some moments of communion with him? Do I love his people because I want to ensure I am following his edicts, or do I love his people because he loves his people and I want to be like him? Is there a purity in love that is missing from obedience?
I’m going to turn to you for your thoughts and see if you can bring some clarity here (though by this time I may have so muddied the water that you are completely and utterly confused). Am I making a false distinction, or is there really a difference between “how do I know I love God?” and “how do I love God?” And if so, answer what should be a simple question: how is the Christian to love God?
Comments (30) »
1. J.P.H.
September 19, 2008
10:03 AM
There’s definitely a distinction between love and obedience, otherwise the commandment would have simply been to obey. You point out that obedience is proof of love. I don’t think I agree. It is the case that acts of disobedience (sin) imply a (temporary, at least) lack of love, but acts of obedience of themselves do not necessarily imply the presence of love.
Note that John says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” not, “If you keep my commandments, then you love me.” There’s a key difference there.
2. Nathan Rutman
September 19, 2008
10:21 AM
Tim, I think you’re onto something very profound. This is hard to do in a blog/comment setting, but I think that the definition of “love” has been too closely wedded to behavior, hence your distinction between love and obedience. Obedience is a behavior, love is an affection. The relation, I believe (and this just comes from men like Edwards, Pascal, Piper and others), is that we have been made in such a way that affection fuels behavior. I’m sure this isn’t new to you. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” The opposite is also true: love resides in the heart.
The problem is that our culture has been heavily influenced the notion that love is “more than a feeling”, that it is also how we act: “if you love me you would…” The problem is that we now have love as behavioral instead of fueling behavior. And so we mistakenly think that to love God is to be obedient, to pray, to read the Bible, to be nice to people, to evangelize, and a bunch of other Christian behaviors.
This is false — those things are not love. The reason they are not love is because they can all be hypocritically imitated with no regard to God whatsoever. Just look at main-stream “Christianity”. No, love is a feeling. It is an affection. It’s an affection of passionate admiration, delightful attraction, satisfying reveling in the Beloved.
So how do we love God? We seek to see and savor (a wonderful phrase from Dr. Piper) Him. When we taste and see that the Lord is good, when we see His sovereignty overpower His enemies, when we see His tenderness among the brokenhearted, when we see His creativity expressed through Creation and Redemption, when we see His wisdom confound the world, when we see His humble power that conquers sin and death we will necessarily be attracted, impassioned, and zealous to love Him who is the most Supreme.
Getting back to behavior, this kind of love has pronounced affects: loving God means we won’t shrink back from telling others about our Beloved, just like many of us husbands can’t stop telling others how wonderful our wife or kids are. Loving God means we will trust Him, that when lust comes promising pleasure we will throw ourselves on the promises of the Beloved, that “at His hand [not pornography’s!] are pleasures forevermore”. Loving God will mean that we want to spend more time with Him, just as we want to spend more time on the basketball court, in front of the computer, or doing whatever else we love.
Love is an affection, and it is relational. It will crave the One loved over and above other things. This is why loving God is the first commandment. In my experience, it is also by far the hardest, and impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Nick Mitchell
September 19, 2008
10:52 AM
I dunno Tim. Sometimes I feel that some go too far in saying that obedience is different from love. In light of the text you quoted it is evident that you are right to say that obedience is a sign of love. Never the less the Bible will not less us over analyze. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). It is the love of God to obey his commandments. It is God’s command to love him and others. It is love to obey his commandments.
4. Matt Sees
September 19, 2008
11:07 AM
Funny thing is, the natural man would rather live a life of dry, joyless, even painful obedience than a life of happy love. Why? I think it has to do with control. I’ll give up a lot to maintain final control of my own life. I’ll do a lot of hard stuff to complete my checklist so that when that’s done, I can finally do what I really want. But any of us who have fallen in love on a human level know what happens to our heart under those circumstances. Someone else gets control of it. We give over access to the control panel of our life. To the outside onlooker, this giving-over looks like slavery. But to the one who loves, the comfort of autonomy cannot compare to the joy of giving yourself to the one you love.
As to how we get to that point with God, see Nathan Rutman’s post above. The only thing I’d add is that obedience to God, done rightly, is one means of seeing and savoring him. When we apply God’s promises in the context of real life, we get a taste of their reality that reading and memorizing and meditating alone could not give us. John Owen expressed this well: “as we learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice”.
Another helpful post, Tim. Keep us thinking.
5. Nathan Rutman
September 19, 2008
11:09 AM
Nick, how would you interpret, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me?” Over-simplification can also be a danger…hence the notion that God cannot have righteous wrath against sinners because “God is love.” It’s humbling to me how hard Bible interpretation can be.
6. Mike Reynolds
September 19, 2008
11:14 AM
I understand the key distinction between mere duty and delight, but I also believe that our duty is not fulfilled to God until we do delight in Him. In other words, obedience doesn’t happen until we love — without love, there is no obedience.
7. Justin Keller
September 19, 2008
11:15 AM
I appreciate your reflections, Tim. In the book of Hebrews we see something similar with faith and obedience, in which they are so closely linked that they are metonymous for each other, but nevertheless not to be confused with one another. But I’ll be honest. I find statements such as this one confusing: “I began to look to my own life to see if I am primarily obedient to God or if I primarily love God. I can’t help but feel that, if I am motivated primarily by obedience, then I am missing out on something important.”
Is that not a false dichotomy? I am not sure what it even means to be “motivated by obedience.” I would go so far as to say that no one is motivated by obedience. Obedience is not a motivation. We are motivated to obey, and the reasons can be varied: pride, envy, fear, greed, love, etc. I have met lots of people who obey for lots of motives. But I have never met anyone who is motivated by obedience.
I recently finished preaching through the Gospel of John, and a repeated theme is that the Son shows His love for the Father by obeying Him, even calling it His food in Jn 4:34. The primary way, even dominant way, the Son shows His love for the Father is to do the will of the One who sent Him. That is the context for the instructions given regarding love and obedience in the Upper Room, and it provides much (though not all) of the content of what it means to be sent as the Son was sent (Jn 20:21).
It seems safe to say that where love of God is present — whole-person submission to and treasuring of God — obedience will be present. It must be present. The inverse does not necessarily hold. But we could even nuance it a bit more carefully. The Pharisees were motivated by love of the glory men more than love of the glory of God (Jn 12:43). But it might be more accurate to say that they were selectively obedient rather than disobedient. What motivated them determined what they were obedient to, and to what extent they were obedient. We are the same way. If I am motivated by fear of punishment, I will obey just enough to avert punishment. If am motivated by envy, I will obey just enough to be better than the next guy. If I am motivated by pride, I will obey just enough to draw accolades from others. If I am motivated by love, nothing short of a full and complete obedience will satisfy me.
I found this statement from one of the comments confusing as well: ‘The problem is that our culture has been heavily influenced the notion that love is “more than a feeling”, that it is also how we act.’ While I appreciate any reference to the group Boston, I’m not sure I can agree that this is where our culture is, if by “culture” we mean North American society at large with its attitudes and practices. It just isn’t that cut-and-dried. I would offer that as a society we believe that love is “more than a feeling” when it suits our purposes, and minimize love to mere sentiment when that suits us. A teen boy pressuring a girl to have sex to prove that she loves him — that might be “more than a feeling” logic. But no-fault divorce because “I’m not in love with you anymore” is sentiment removed from behavior. And even if we are talking about church culture, it isn’t that simple. I am surrounded by people who call themselves Christians who say they love God but will not get out of the pew and into their Bibles or their world — and for some getting them into the pew is quite the accomplishment. I would offer that in different parts of the country, or even in different congregations, you will see the problem of love and obedience manifested differently.
So please let’s not drive a wedge between love and obedience by asking whether we are primarily obedient to Him or primarily love Him. That sort of distinction is just not found in Scripture. The real issue is what motivates you, what has captured your heart and imagination. Or to put it the way the Puritans or Calvin might have put it, do you worship God or an idol? Because even fear, envy, pride, etc., are all manifestations of loving and treasuring and worshiping something or someone above our God.
8. Laurie
September 19, 2008
11:22 AM
Yes and amen to what you’ve said, and all those in the above comments. But what I find most convicting and challenging - when I ask myself, “Do I love God?” - is this:
“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother., whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God mus love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, tha we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensom. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world…” 1 John 4:20 - 5:4a.
and this:
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren….My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:14-16, 18
And so it goes with John, around in circles with obedience and love. But it seems the main test is the love for the brethren. I find that also to be where the rubber meets the road. As a member of a small and recently planted church, we are by necessity a close-knit group. The longer we’ve been in close proximity, the more we have all been challenged in this area. Loving each other has not been easy. It’s much easier to loftily say, “I love God!”, than to be there for my brother or sister, who’s attitudes or opinions I find tiresome at the moment.
9. Robert Williams
September 19, 2008
11:50 AM
“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… You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:10, 14).
It seems to me that, while a form of hypocritical external obedience may be possible, in general there’s no difference between loving God and obeying God. Or to put it in more general terms, loving someone is largely about how you treat that person. God shows His love to us by sending Christ to die for us (Rom 5:8). “Love your neighbor” is a summary of the last 6 of the 10 Commandments (Romans 13:9).
10. Rachael
September 19, 2008
11:51 AM
Perhaps love can also be cultivated by repeatedly looking to Christ, remembering who He is, and what He has done. Perhaps a spirit of thankfulness and appreciation can enhance a love for God. But I don’t want that to remain as just words…. I want to practice that and feel more affection and understand the depth and power of “salvation” and “redemption”. If I meditate on those things and meditate on who God is, perhaps my spirit will feel more of a sense of love and joy in who God is and His power. It is exciting to experience what may be His work. Perhaps if thankfulness is given to Him in those situations, it will cultivate love.
My mom recently pointed out Is. 26:3 to me: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” My mom’s firm belief in looking to Christ and deep sense of understanding of the word redemption are amazing to me. Perhaps for her dwelling and looking to Christ cultivate in her a sense of love for God.
I think there’s something powerful that I want to really understand in practice about looking to and dwelling on God. And I think an understanding of who God is can motivate obedience. I want to understand that in my practice, though, and not just words.
In the book “Transforming Grace” by Jerry Bridges (on p.93-94), Bridges talks about how he was asked to talk about the “Lordship of Jesus Christ”. He writes about how he first “spent fifteen or twenty minutesw on the goodness of God” before talking “about the lordship of Christ in our lives”. He mentioned that he did that “Because submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ should be in response to the love and mercy of God.” He points out the “in view of God’s mercy” part of Romans 12:1 (about offering the body as a living sacrifice) and writes “We must respond with a similar motivation to His lordship in our lives today”. Bridges is not talking about motives for obedience as feelings, but as a reason for obedience as being “a loving response” (p.96).
We might not always be able to tell the difference between love as a feeling and action. But I guess I want to cultivate a love for God by looking into who He is and what He’s done (Psalm 77 comes to mind). And my hope is that through looking into Christ He would transform my heart and motivate obedience through a loving response.
At this point I feel these are more mindset things I want to learn and experience in practice, but, thought I’d share them….
11. J.P.H.
September 19, 2008
11:55 AM
Justin writes:
“Is that not a false dichotomy? I am not sure what it even means to be “motivated by obedience.” I would go so far as to say that no one is motivated by obedience.”
I don’t think its a false dichotomy at all, given my understanding of what Tim means when he says “motivated by obedience”. If one’s ultimate goal is simply to obey, then one can do so doggedly and without love for the one who commands obedience in the first place. If one’s ultimate goal is to love, then obedience will flow out of that as an expression of that love.
It is the difference between following a King and a loving Father. You obey a king because he’s the king and you’re not, and it’s right that you should obey. You may not love him, but you’ll obey him because it’s the right thing to do. When you obey a loving father, as is often the case with our earthly fathers, you do so because of your love for him. Now, its also the case that one’s father, both earthly and heavenly, is in a position of authority and should be obeyed simply because obedience is the right thing to do. But if that’s our primary reason, then we’re missing out on the “meat” of that relationship and are obeying an impersonal King.
I just came up with that analogy on the spot, so I won’t be surprised if it fails to hold up under scrutiny. :)
12. lizzykristine @ Uplifted Eyes
September 19, 2008
12:00 PM
It is hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins. But I think there have been times in my life that I was obeying just because that’s what I was supposed to do, which is what I’m guessing you mean by obedience motivated by obedience. It reminds me of 2 Chronicles 25:2, when Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of God, but not with a loyal, or whole, heart.
That verse was one the Lord used to teach me to focus on loving Him. When my heart and affections are turned to the Lord, obedience almost flows of its own accord. It doesn’t look much different: obedience is still the end result. (My heart isn’t always right, and obedience is still necessary at those times — obedience motivated by obedience is better than disobedience!) But I can’t help thinking that Scripture indicates He is more blessed by it coming from love. He wants my heart.
Love is a subject too grand to be clearly expressed in human words. We can go to any depth of understanding and still not exhaust it. Our words will still be inadequate, our knowledge too limited, our tongues too deficient. Grappling with it, applying it, growing in it — all these associations with love are so wonderful now, what will it be like in heaven when we have a so much greater grasp of the love of God?!
13. Kim
September 19, 2008
12:01 PM
I confess I didn’t read all of the comments thoroughly, so this may have been addressed already. My thoughts lately are along the lines of whether I can actually will myself to love God or if it is something He must do in me. I know I don’t love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I love Him more now than I did several years ago, but I am not necessarily more obedient now than I was then (maybe I am and it’s just the mountain-climbing thing…the more I know Him the more I know how sinful I am). I do know I have been asking Him to increase my love for Him, and I don’t know how else to love Him more.
Just my inadequate observations…
Kim
14. Trevor
September 19, 2008
12:26 PM
Thanks for your insights Tim.
What always seems to get me when I think of “the first and greatest commandment” is that regardless of my motivation - love or obedience or both - I will never, this side of glory, be able to keep it. Like David says, “my sin is ever before me”. That said, I know that one day I will look upon my great and glorious Saviour, in all His glory, and not have to look away. And I will love Him, perfectly.
I long for that moment, and that makes me love Him more each day He, in His infinate grace, chooses to give me.
Love in the Truth,
Trevor
15. Larry Geiger
September 19, 2008
12:50 PM
Love and obedience to God are the same. They are the same in heaven. Here on earth there is a clear distinction. Perfect love and perfect obedience are exactly equivalent (Jesus Christ). We love imperfectly and we obey imperfectly. Our obedience does not always flow from love. Our love does not always inspire obedience.
John 10:30 - I and the Father are one.
9”As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
16. Justin Keller
September 19, 2008
1:21 PM
J.P.H., part of what I was trying to say is that no one is ultimately motivated simply to obey. I apologize if I wasn’t clear in my first comment. There is no such thing as sheer obedience. There is always a motive for obedience. This is part of what I think John Piper means by calling himself a “Christian hedonist” — it’s a recognition that I act out of some sort of interest, some sort of pursuit of pleasure. If I obey and it is not out of love for God, it is not ever sheer obedience.
So my objection to the way love and obedience are put in opposition to each other here is that it misses the point the Bible makes about the way the human heart works. I would even offer that it obscures it. It leads to a question such as, “Is there a purity in love that is missing from obedience?” which I have read several times and still do not understand, I think because my starting points for thinking about this stuff are so different.
17. Justin Keller
September 19, 2008
1:27 PM
I’ll share too a quote from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity that might provoke some discussion:
Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.
Lewis was talking about love of neighbor. Does the same apply to love of God? Or do we disagree with Lewis’ comment altogether?
18. J.P.H.
September 19, 2008
2:14 PM
Justin:
How about this. In your terms, what I’m calling “obedience for obedience’s sake” is essentially obedience motivated by an idolatry of righteousness. Such a person obeys simply because it’s right to do so, and he desires above all else to be righteous. I suppose this is basically an attempt at self-justification. However, the one who is attempting to obey for those reasons could still admit the impossibility of perfect obedience and his need for a savior. That doesn’t make his motivation suddenly okay, it just means he’s being realistic about his chances of success (at being perfectly obedient).
Such a person may enjoy little affection for or intimacy with God, which seem pretty inherent in a “love” relationship, even while remaining steadfast in his obedience.
19. SteveE
September 19, 2008
2:33 PM
Tim, I have often in my life pondered if I loved God. We, in reality, it filled me with fear that I might not; that I was merely obeying out of fear, or threat of punishment. Yet somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that there was more to it than that. Something that I simply didn’t understand.
I came back to scripture and though I searched, I couldn’t seem to find a specific answer to my struggle. At least not at first. When I stepped back, I realized that the answer was not simply a scripture, but a collection of them. I wondered why God chose to continually refer to us in terms such as: Children, marriage, Father, brothers and sisters and more. Why He described much of what we do as “…growing up into Christ…”
The actual answer came to me in the form of my own children. As infants and young children, they obey because of the threat of punishment, as they grow they understand more and are given more lee way, yet still required to hold to rules and regulations, with punishment still an option. In the end, as adults the rules, the values, the morals are no longer things we enforce upon them….it is a part of who they are. Their relationships with us are more adult, with respect and deference given to us. They seek us not out of duty, but because they love us and see in us (hopefully) a wealth of life and wisdom and experience.
Growing up into Christ is much the same. As you stated, Christ retreated often to be with the Lord, and He has told us to do much the same. As in ‘marriage’ our relationships can only be built by time spent together, communication, and involvement. All the same elements are required to make and hold a relationship with God.
I believe that as we grow and mature; as the Spirit within us teaches and guides us, our relationship…our love…for God will keep pace. What we do for God is no longer simply obedience…it is born out of who we are becoming in Christ. We may, while we live in this fallen world, never fully realize the full depth of that love….but as scripture tells us…”in the end, we will know, even as we are known.
20. Peter No
September 19, 2008
2:55 PM
I didn’t know there was a version of the Bible out called the Challies Standard Bible (CSB). Where can I get a copy?
21. Mark O
September 19, 2008
3:18 PM
I think I hear many Christians talking about loving God in terms that sounds more in line with a “strong like.”
Can a Christian love God in moderation?
The Shema declares, no, demands: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with your might.”
Disobedience against God of any size, shape or description is an unloving act against God. We are quick to question God’s loving care for us when things in our lives don’t go just right, but we hestitant or even fail to explain our disregard for His commands as unloving. If we keep really, really close to God in everything we do, think, plan, work, listen to, watch, say, rest and play, then we will be not only be preoccupied with giving our love to Him, but also having His holiness in us.
22. SteveE
September 19, 2008
3:54 PM
I thought about another aspect of your question. Obviously ‘love’ and ‘obedience’, are entwined. I think back to the Lord’s prayer, just before His trip to the cross. How He agonized over it, and pleaded for some other way.
In the end, He obeyed. Not because He felt good about it, but because it was best for us. Although love has some emotional aspects to it, it is primarily a commitment. A commitment to do right, no matter how we ‘feel’ about it; just as Christ did on the cross.
Our Love for God is, more often than not, an act of doing what He’s told us, not because we like it, but because it is ‘what He told us’. Scripture gives us a long list of things such as “if you love only those who love you, what good is that…even sinners do the same.” I believe that when He is commanding us to love Him, it is not only in the sense of an emotional bond with Him, but one where He is telling us that doing for “our neighbor” is how we demonstrate that love.
Every command that we have is almost a self help or refinement of who we are, so that we can ‘do’ for those that do not know Him….no matter how we feel about it.
23. Laurie
September 19, 2008
5:29 PM
I think this quandary is just what the apostle John is dealing with in his first epistle. Like faith, love is an ethereal thing. Much as “faith without works is dead”, “love” for the Father in the absence of love for the brethren is mere sentiment. If we cannot love the brethren, it could be that what we love is not really God, but the idea of God - an abstraction.The way to best express our love for God is in the way we treat the brethren. When Christ restored Peter, He told him as much, “Do you love me?” - “Feed my sheep”. So, out of love for the Saviour, love the brethren (which, by the way is obedience to His command).
24. J.P.H.
September 19, 2008
6:13 PM
SteveE:
I’m not picking on you, but something you said I think serves to highlight the point I’ve been trying to make:
“Our Love for God is, more often than not, an act of doing what He’s told us, not because we like it, but because it is ‘what He told us’.”
Within the context of obedience, I think what each of us should examine is why we are motivated to do “what he told us”.
Is it purely because we recognize God as being in authority over us, and as such feel obligated to obey him? If so, then we treat God as if he were simply our ruler, or boss. While he clearly does have authority over us, the relationship is described in terms of father and children, rather than ruler and subjects. It certainly seems as if God seeks more than just submission to his authority.
When we are actively engaged in loving God, we seek to obey because we know that disobedience grieves him, and we do not want to grieve those whom we love. In contrast, when we regard God merely as the ultimate authority and not as the object of our love, we obey out of fear of the repercussions of doing otherwise.
It’s not too hard to imagine a person, perhaps a seeker, who has come to believe that God is the ultimate authority in the universe and that, as such, his commandments should be obeyed, but who does not actually love (or even like) God. Such a person might say, “God seems sort of mean, but I can’t deny that he created me and is sovereign over all creation. So I will obey his commandments, but only because I recognize that he holds my life in his hands.”
When Paul speaks of crying, “Abba, Father,” that suggests to me a relationship vastly more intimate and affectionate than what exists between a ruler and subject.
25. Mark O
September 19, 2008
9:47 PM
“The love of God, and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity, and that so irreconcilable that they can not dwell together in the same bosom. We have already affirmed how impossible it were for
the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it, and thus reduce itself to a wilderness. The heart is not so constituted, and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.”
Thomas Chalmers, ‘The Expulsive Power of a New Affection’
“Love for God is not one love that we add to a collection of other loves. Love for God if it be genuine and divinely blessed is one love unrivaled. It is the threshold over which all other affections are allowed to enter or turned away.”
Mark Olivero
26. John D. Chitty
September 20, 2008
3:29 AM
The Love Song
by John D. Chitty
copyright 2004
We love God
because he first loved us
by sending us his Son
Jesus kept the Lord our God’s commands
by him the work was done.
Every day we break God’s Law
in thought, word or in deed
Jesus died and rose again
for the forgiveness we need.
How do we give thanks to him?
What did the Savior say?
Jesus said, “If you love me,
my commandments you’ll obey.”
We love God because he first loved us
and our love is of this kind:
Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.”
“You shall have
no other gods before me;
“You shall not
bow down or serve carved images;
“You shall not
take the name of the Lord your God in vain;
“Sanctify the Sabbath day
and so rest in the Lord—
in six days God made the world
and rested on one more.”
That’s not all the Savior said
would praise the Lord above
Jesus said your neighbor, too,
needs you to show your love.
“Give honor to your father
and at your mother’s knee;
“And you shall not murder,
nor commit adultery;
“You shall not take away
your neighbor’s belongings;
“Neither lie about him,
nor desire to have his things.”
We love God because he first loved us
by sending us his Son
Jesus kept the Lord our God’s commands
by him the work was done.
Every day we break God’s Law
in thought, word or in deed
Jesus died and rose again
for the forgiveness we need.
How do we give thanks to him?
What did the Savior say?
Jesus said, “If you love me,
my commandments you’ll obey.”
If it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks, and, I would argue, we do anything, then love is an affection that motivates action, even if at times the way we identify our loving affection is by the actions that result from it. There is a distinction, but perhaps the distinction can be over drawn. If the Bible says that “faith works by love,” then the logical order is first faith, then love, then works or obedience. My answer to your question, “How does a Christian love God?” then, is that first he feels a genuine, believing affection for God in response to what God has done for him in Christ, then he naturally desires to obey and follows through on it in his fallen and fallible way.
27. Jason Nolte
September 20, 2008
9:24 AM
Great post Tim. Thanks for going beneath the surface. I had a thought.
My 14yr old daughter just entered public school for the first time this year and is faced with being quite different from all the other kids. She’s not allowed to date, she has to dress modestly, we don’t watch certain movies, etc. She thus far is completly obedient is all these areas. But do I want simple obedience or do I want her to desire these truths for herself. It seems to me love is more than simple obedience. It entails a commitment of the heart, soul, and inner man. I want my daughter to honor me because she loves me and is devoted to the truth I teach her. I don’t want her to simply obey.
Thanks again. I am going to share this blog with my family this morning at devotions.
By the way, I am asking these question of my self and my commitment to Christ. I need to be the example of this love that my daughter sees.
28. Brian
September 20, 2008
12:14 PM
Tim,
Great post. I don’t think John 14:15 should be considered out of context with John 13:34-35.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
I believe this is the only time Jesus commanded His disciples to do something.
When he talks about obedience in Ch 14, He is relating specifically to this command in Ch 13. It could be translated. “If you love me, you will love others and others will know by this (selfless) love that you are my disciples”.
Love and obedience are not intertwined as much as they are exactly the same thing!
When we love, we take our eyes off ourselves and place them on others. There is no taking for ourselves. The laws of entropy should tell us that when we take, there is decrease. In the spiritual sense, when we take, we separate ourselves from God’s intention, which is sin. When we give, there is increase (fruitfulness, life). This is God’s intent since the beginning of time. His Promise is Life Eternal. His Son defeated death. We enter Life through His Son and are never separated from Him again. God is love and we become like God, to His glory, when we love one another.
29. Steve
September 21, 2008
8:17 AM
Tim:
What a fabulous meditation, and lots of good posts. To my simple mind it seems fairly straightforward: if one truly understands what God has done for me - descended from Heaven, suffered humiliation and torture in my place, implanted within me the gifts of faith and Spirit, provided for me salvation and eternal life, and on and on - how can one NOT love God? As to the question of obedience, i would submit that one can be obedient without love, but not willfully disobedient with love. Key word there: “willfully”.
Thanks again for a great post.
30. SteveE
September 22, 2008
5:10 PM
J.P.H…
Indeed, you are correct. If you’ll look just above the entry you commented on you’ll note that I expressed a completely different view of our relationship/love for God, than one simply being obedient because God has the power to enforce His commandments, or that we obey because of a sense of duty. In all of this discussion all of these elements remain a part of “love’. That we are self aware enough to question whether we are loving Him as He deserves and we truely want to, should tell us that we are at least on the right road to finding the “love’ that we need.