107 John 14:15 SERVING JESUS OUT OF LOVE Introduction: The disciples of Jesus were on a very low limb. They were greatly disturbed. They were deeply grieved. They were emotionally depressed. In our imagination I want to direct some questions to them to find out just exactly what this is all about. I want to ask those disciples, "Why are you grieving so? Why are you so deeply depressed?" I can almost hear their answer, "We are grieved because Jesus has told us that He is going to be crucified and also because He has told us that He is soon going to leave us and go away." I say, "But there are two other fellows who are going to be crucified with Him. You don't seem to be disturbed about them being crucified or them going away. Why does it bother you so that Jesus is going to be crucified and that He will go away when it doesn't seem to bother you that the other two men will also be crucified?" I think they would say, "But we don't know those other two fellows. We know Jesus and we love Jesus. We have walked with Jesus daily for the past three years. We have become very attached to Him. We love Jesus. We love Jesus deeply." I. Love, a great motivating factor in obedience Then we hear Jesus as He speaks to them the words of our text. V. 15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." They had all made a profession of faith and had been baptized by John the Baptist, but their profession of faith and their baptism was not enough to prove their love for Jesus. Even Judas Iscariot had done that and Judas has already proven that he did not love Jesus. Likewise, the fact that their hearts were grieving that Jesus was to be crucified was not enough to prove that they loved Jesus. Almost anyone would grieve at the death of another person, especially an acquaintance and friend. Look at how the nations of the world have grieved at the death of Princess Dianna and they could not have been all that much attached to her. They could not have really loved her that much. The fact that the disciples were grieved that Jesus was soon going to leave them and go away was not proof that they really loved Jesus. It does show that they were very much attracted to Him, but it does not necessarily show any deep love. I have known people to cry bitter tears at the death of a dog or cat. I have seen them grieve for over a dog or cat. Just what would it take for the disciples to show that they really love Jesus? Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Jesus said that there is a better way than tears and grief by which they could show their love for Him. They could keep the commandments that He had given to them. During the three years that they had walked with Him Jesus had given them a number of commandments. But let me ask another question. What is it that causes one human being to be obedient to another? There are only three things that I know of which can motivate one person to obey the commands of another person. One may be motivated to obey either by fear, reward, or love. Or, perhaps, he could be motivated by a combination of these things. Fear can be a very effective motivation to obey. A child can be afraid to disobey his parent because he fears that he will be punished if he is caught disobeying. A worker on the job may obey his boss because he fears that he will lose his job if he disobeys. A person in the military may obey orders because he is afraid that he will lose his stripes or even be court-martialled if he disobeys. Many people obey out of fear. You may obey the speed limit because you are afraid you will have to pay a fine if you don't. Even so, there are times that a Christian may obey the commandments of the Lord because he is afraid that he will be chastised if he disobeys. One who misunderstands God's plan of salvation may try to obey the Lord because he is afraid that he will go to hell if he doesn't. He is counting on his obedience to get him into heaven. He is mistaken, of course. He needs to repent and trust Jesus for salvation. Salvation is not by works. It is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. One does not get saved by being obedient. On the other hand, rewards may be the motivating factor in his obedience. One may be obedient because he hopes to be rewarded for his obedience. A person on a job or a person in the military may seek to be obedient because he hopes to be rewarded by a promotion to a higher position. I understand that this is one of the motivating factors in the training of animals. When an animal does what the trainer wants him to do he is rewarded with a treat. This is the way that animals are trained for movies and other shows. Even Christians may obey the Lord simply for reward. One may live a very strict Christian life because he knows that God will greatly reward those who are faithful to Him. Love is the highest motivation for obedience. When a Christian obeys the Lord because he fears the chastisement or because he is working for reward, people who see cannot really know his motive. They do not know that he is serving the Lord out of fear or out of a desire for reward. They may think he is serving the Lord because he loves the Lord. But the Lord sees not only the deed. He sees also the heart. Just like when you call someone who has a caller ID you do not have to tell him who you are. He already knows who you are when he answers the phone. Even so when one renders service to Jesus Christ, one does not have to tell Jesus his motive. The Lord already knows. But Jesus did not tell those disciples, "If you fear chastisement, keep my commandments." He did not tell them, "If you desire rewards, keep my commandments." What Jesus said was, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." II. Some of the Commandments which Jesus had given Now let me raise still another question: What commandments had Jesus given those disciples? Jesus personally gave them numerous commands during His ministry. For example, In Matthew 5:16 Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." In this He commanded them to live a good clean moral life. He commanded them to live an upright and honest life. He commanded them to live a godly life. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Jesus commanded them not to put material things first in their lives. They were to put God's will first. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, "...ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Jesus commanded them to witness to the unsaved and tell the people that it is Jesus who saves. Tell them that they are to put their faith and trust in Jesus so that they can be saved. Those disciples were to spread the gospel message a lost and dying world. They were to spread the gospel to the whole world .... to every creature in this world. In Luke 18:1 Jesus said, "...that men ought always to pray." Jesus commanded His disciples to pray. This is the kind of life that those Christians were to live. They were to have a very active prayer life. In Matthew 9:38 Jesus said, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." Jesus specifically commanded His disciples that they should pray for more laborers into the spiritual harvest. In John 13:34 Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another. They were actually to love all men. But they were to have a special love for their fellow Christians. There are other commands which did not come directly from the lips of Jesus, but which did come from Him through other writers of the New Testament. For instance, in Hebrews 10:25 we read, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Through this scripture Jesus instructs that Christians should be regular and faithful tin attendance at church. In I Corinthians 16:2 we read, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him..." Through this scripture Jesus has commanded that every Christian should give his tithes and offerings on a regular basis. In II Timothy 2:15 we read, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Through this Scripture Jesus has commanded Christians to study the Bible and learn to rightly interpret it. III. How the words of Jesus in our text apply to us I have been talking to you about how this text applied to those disciples to whom Jesus spake. I now want you to see how it applies to us. Just as those disciples could not prove their love for Jesus by an outward show of their love, such as weeping, wailing and moaning and groaning, even so we cannot prove our love for Jesus merely by an outward show of religion. A mere profession of faith in Jesus and getting baptized is not all that Jesus wants from us. Sitting in a church pew, carrying a Bible, singing, "Oh, How I Love Jesus" is not all that Jesus wants from us. If we love Jesus He wants us to demonstrate our love by obeying His commandments. He wants us not only to obey in our actions, but He wants us to be have an obedient spirit in the heart. Men can see our outward conduct, but Jesus sees not only the conduct; He sees the heart. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." That applies to us as well as it did to those disciples. What commandments are we to obey? We are to obey the same commandments that they were to obey. Just as those disciples were to let their light shine, even so we are to let our light shine. We, too, are to live clean, moral, upright, honest lives. We ought to live this way -- not to please men, but because we love Jesus. This is the kind of life that every Christian should live. Just as those disciples were to put the kingdom of God first in their lives, even so we are to put it first in our own lives. We are not to give God just a little of our spare time. We are to put God first in our lives. We are to put God first in our lives -- not because this is what people expect of us -- but because we love Jesus. This is the kind of life that every Christian should live. Just as those disciples were to witness to the unsaved, even so we are to spread the gospel to the whole world. We are to witness to our family. We are to witness to our friends. We are to witness to our fellow workers. We are to witness to our community. We are to send the gospel to the entire world. We are not to spread the gospel message -- not in order to be more respected in the world --, but because we love Jesus. This is the kind of life that every Christian should live. Just as those disciples were to have an active prayer life, even so should we. We should make prayer a constant part of our life. We should especially pray for more laborers to help us to carry on the work of God. We should have this kind of prayer life -- not in order to have people complement us for our prayers --, but because we love the Lord. This is the kind of prayer life that every Christian should have. Just as those disciples were commanded to love one another, even so should we. We should actually learn to love all men even though not all men are easy to love. But we should especially learn to love our Christian brethren even though some of them may not be easy to love. We should have this kind of love life -- not in order to make us popular with men --, but because we love the Lord Jesus Christ. This the kind of love life that every Christian should have. Just as those disciples were not to forsake the assembling of themselves together in church services, neither should we. We should be just as regular as the clock in church attendance. We should be regular at church -- not simply because we love the Christian people, -- but because we love the Lord. This is the kind of church life every Christian ought to live. Just as those disciples were to give their tithes and offerings on a regular basis, even so should we. We are not to give for show nor for praise nor anything of that nature. We are to give because we love the Lord. This is the kind of giving that every Christian should give. Just as those disciples were to zealously study the word of God and learn to rightly understand its teaching, even so should we. We are to study it prayerfully, regularly and zealously. We should study God's word --- not to please the Sunday school teacher nor the pastor nor any other earthly man. We are to study the word of the Lord because we love the Lord. This is the kind of Bible study that every Christian ought to do. Conclusion: If you are saved, then I am going to ask you to set your heart to the task of living your life to please the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going to ask you to commit yourself to the task of keeping these commandments of Jesus and to all of the commandments of Jesus. I am going to ask you to do this not for me, but because you love the Lord. If you are unsaved, then you do not yet love the Lord. So what I am going to ask you to do is to become aware how much the Lord loves you. I am going to ask that you turn to Jesus today and call upon Him for the salvation of your soul. Will you come while we have an invitation hymn?