If you say you love the Lord, you will keep His commandments

John 14:15,21,23 (NASB)

If you love Me you will keep My commandments.  He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Jesus is speaking to His disciples at the Last Supper knowing that soon He will be arrested and beaten and crucified for the sins of the world.  Thus, His last words (recorded in John chapters 13 through 16) to those who He will be entrusting to carry on His ministry throughout the known world take on even more significance.   I’ve always thought that if you had to concentrate on a minimal number of chapters in the gospels, the two best sections are the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 through 7) and John chapters 13 through 16.  These “sermons” are the cornerstones of Jesus’ ministry on earth and emphasize what it really means to be His disciples. 

These three verses (John 14:15, 14:21, and 14:23) show a connection between loving the Lord and keeping His commandments.  The word Jesus used for “keep” is “tereo” that means “to attend to carefully, take care of, guard, or observe”.  Therefore, when He says to keep His commandments, He is stressing the vital importance of holding tight to them, reverencing them, and doing what they say to do (or not do).

Keeping Jesus’ commandments is a result of true love for Him.  It is not that you first have to be obedient before you can love Him.  It is love that drives obedience.  It is obedience that proves our love.  You love Jesus because He first loved you (I John 4:19).  When you accepted His salvation by faith, you received the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14) and the Holy Spirit enables you to love the Lord (Gal 5:22, Rom 5:5)     

You say that you love Jesus because He is your Savior and Lord.  Then you know His commandments and you keep them.  However, if you do not know His commandments (His word) and you do not follow them, your testimony about your love for Him is phony.  I think that it was Andy Stanley whom I heard preach from this passage some years ago where he was role playing a dialogue with others who claimed to love Jesus and he kept responding, “No, you don’t”.  Why was say “no, you don’t”?  He was using examples of people living carnal lifestyles, not knowing their Bibles, not living the life of a disciple.   If you don’t read and study your bible, if you don’t make the effort to understand and apply biblical teaching, and you don’t practice the love that Jesus taught (love God and love others as yourself), how can you dare say to anyone that you love Jesus? 

When you think of keeping Jesus’ commandments, think of the action words He used, e.g. “go”,  “believe”, “give”, “pray”, “ask” “hear”, “learn”, “abide”, “do not fear”, “repent”,  and, of course, “love”.  You can review Jesus’ commands on several websites (here is one: http://www.hallvworthington.com/Scripture_Grouping/commands.html) although, of course, the better way is to spend the time reading the gospels carefully yourself.  

What does Jesus promise if you love Him and keep His commandments?  He and the Father will love you and make their abode in you.  What does that mean?  Abode can mean “home”, “dwelling”, or “to abide in”.  Also when you include the context of the other verses in John chapters 14 through 16 you learn that the Holy Spirit will be dwelling in you to help you and teach you God’s will and ways. 

Think about what it means to have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make their home in you.  Really think about this.  Do you believe that they exist in you?  Do you believe that you have eternity within you?  Do you believe that you have everything they can offer---peace, protection, provision, guidance, courage, and sacrificial love for others?  Yes, you have all this if you love the Lord and keep His commandments.