In this meditation we want to continue identifying how Jesus characterises ‘Christlike love’ for God the Father and for Himself as God the Son.
As we said last time, it is not a series of commands to obey. We could never manage that by our own efforts. Only God’s Spirit is able to empower us to such love. It is the way Jesus lived on earth. Only such love shows what it means to be created in God’s image:
c.) To love God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ wholeheartedly means to obey them unconditionally.
The evening before Jesus died, he spoke with His disciples a great deal about loving Him and His heavenly Father. He explained that such sacrificial love would express itself in wholehearted and unconditional obedience:
“If you love me, obey my commandments” (John 14:15).
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” (John 14:21-24).
“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.....
Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
(John 15:10-14)
Also in his first letter the apostle John relates sacrificial love for God with wholehearted obedience:
“We know that we have come to know him [Jesus Christ] if we obey his commands.
The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his Word, God's love is truly made complete in him.”
(1 John 2:3-5a)
“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands” (1 John 5:2).
d.) To love God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ wholeheartedly means to live in uninterrupted fellowship with them.
Twice in John’s Gospel Jesus emphasises the importance to love Him continuously:
“As the Father has loved me, so [in like manner] have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9).
"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”
(John 15:10)
Later in his ministry, the apostle John repeats Jesus’ words to his followers:
“And now, dear children, continue to live in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame” (1 John 2:28).
e.) To love God the Father wholeheartedly means to love His Son Jesus Christ in the same way.
According to Jesus’ words it is not possible to truly love God the Father without loving God the Son wholeheartedly as well!
Jesus told the Jewish leaders who proudly claimed that God was their Father: “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me” (John 8:42)
“The Father leaves all judgment to his Son, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
But if you refuse to honor the Son, then you are certainly not honoring the Father who sent him” (John 5:22-23).
The evening before He died, Jesus taught his disciples:
“Anyone who hates me hates my Father, too. If I hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be counted guilty. But as it is, they saw all that I did and yet hated both of us-- me and my Father.”
(John 15:23-24).
John proclaims the same truth again in his first letter:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ [the Messiah] is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves his Child [Jesus Christ] as well” (1 John 5:1).
"Anyone who denies the Son doesn't have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also."
(1 John 2:23)
The followers of Jesus in the wealthy and pagan city of Corinth were seemingly confused by a host of problems and false teachings.
I think that’s why the apostle Paul finished his first letter to this church with the royal battle cry:
“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ [the Messiah], let him be accursed. O Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22)
In today’s meditation as well as in the last meditation, we see that Christlike love for God the Father and for His Son Jesus Christ, expresses itself in sacrificial love and wholehearted devotion, in unconditional obedience, and in uninterrupted fellowship with them.
In his life and words Jesus revealed the characteristics of such divine love. The apostles reverberated it in their letters and in the way they lived among their fellow men.
As we said last time, we never could live such a life of love by our own efforts. Only God’s Spirit is able to empower us to such love. It is the way Jesus lived.
Such love truly restores in us the image and likeness of God. It’s a love that God’s Spirit plants in our hearts by our conversion and rebirth. It is a love He causes to grow ever stronger until it reaches full Christlike maturity.
Next time we want to see what else the apostles tell us about such divine and Christlike love for God.
(to be continued)
The Bible verses John 14:21-24, John 15:9-14, 1 John 2:3-5a and 1 John 5:1-2 are quotes of the New International Version. 1 Corinthians 16:22 is a quote from the New King James Version. The other texts are quoted from the New Living Translation.
About being made in God’s image, see meditations 13-16 and 18.
About Jesus' love for God the Father, see meditation 15.
About conversion, see meditations 19-26.
About rebirth or baptism in God’s Spirit, see meditations 27-34, 37 and 44.
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