II. Relationship With God

Introduction
ILL: Obedience…Every parent recognizes how difficult it is to exercise their God-given authority over their children. The delicate balance of being tough yet tender is not easy to maintain. Many parents intensify a rebellious spirit by being dictatorial and harsh. Others yield when their authority is tested. When a strong-willed child resists, the pressure to give in for the sake of peace can become overpowering.

There was a mother who wanted to have the last word but couldn’t handle the hassle that resulted whenever she said no to her young son. After an especially trying day, she finally flung up her hands and shouted, “All right, Billy, do whatever you want! Now let me see you disobey THAT!” (Our Daily Bread, August 7 10,000 Sermon Illustrations)

ILL: Obedience…Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in ‘71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a “genius mind” when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.  Roger later said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.” (10,000 Sermon Illustrations)

Can you guess the topic of today’s message? Obedience…obedience to God our Heavenly Father and how it’s possible.

Question: Why is obedience to God’s Word so hard?

Truth is, we can’t obey God without God’s help. And that’s why we have the Holy Spirit; he helps us to love God so that we will obey him. You see, there is a very real connection between loving God and obeying him.

    •    Here’s the key; our obedience to God’s Word is directly related to the depth of our love for him.
    •    Since our or love for God is active and growing, so should our obedience to God be active and growing.

With Jesus gone, the disciples would have a hard time obeying what Jesus told them to do if he wasn’t there.
    •    Unfortunately the old saying ‘When the cats away the mice will play’ is all too true.

So, Jesus promised another Comforter, one like him, to help them obey by deepening their love for Jesus. Love and obedience to Jesus are forever connected through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 14:15 (pg. 824 in the Bible under the chair in front of you). Let’s see what Jesus makes of the Holy Spirit’s relationship to our love and obedience of God’s Word.

A. John 14:15, 21-24   The Holy Spirit: Love  and Obedience
Read: John 14:15, 21-24

ILL: Calvin Miller once wrote ‘Love reaches for the hurt and takes bold steps without self-interest. It can accomplish unbelievable things merely because it is so void of self-interest. Some time ago, a teenager, Arthur Hinkley, lifted a 3,000-pound tractor with bare hands. He wasn’t a weight lifter, but his friend, Lloyd Bachelder, 18, was pinned under a tractor on a farm near Rome, Maine. Hearing Lloyd scream, Arthur somehow lifted the tractor enough for Lloyd to wriggle out. Love was the real motivation. (Calvin Miller, “Rethinking Suburban Evangelism,” Leadership, 1988, p. 68  (10,000 Sermon Illustrations))

Jesus is telling his disciples that love for him is what will motivate them to obey all that he has told them. Love. Not fear. Love, not duty. Love.
    •    In the upper room Jesus has already demonstrated his love for his disciples by washing their feet.
    •    In the upper room Jesus has already commanded his disciples to love one another demonstrating they belong to Jesus.
    •    In the upper room, Jesus for the first time, speaks of their love for him.

He taught them that one way to demonstrate their love for one another is by serving one another.

He is now teaching them that one way to demonstrate their love for him is by obeying his commands.

In vs 15 Jesus says ‘If you love me you will obey what I command.’ That’s a big if…because truth be told, we can’t love Jesus to the point of true obedience. It’s not in us to do that.

But that’s why we have vs 16 ‘And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.’

    •    The glue that holds love and obedience together is the indwelling Holy Spirit.
    •    It’s not ‘what’s’ in us but ‘who’s’ in us that matters.
    •    We can love Jesus, we can be obedient to Jesus, because the Holy Spirit is in us forever
    •    He is there….he is here, everyday, every challenge, every choice, to obey or not to obey
    •    The Holy Spirit is in you to help you choose to love and obey Jesus.

In vs 21 the phrase ‘To have’ Jesus’ commands means to understand and agree with them with the emphasis on obedience. You see, the one who loves Jesus…obeys Jesus.
    •    It’s easy to think about the sentimentality of love, the emotion and passion of love, but much harder to live out the choice to love…which is obedience.
    •    Love produces obedience.

Transition: Let me sum it up.
    •    Jesus will ask the Father to send the Comforter to the disciples…and all those who place their faith in Him.
    •    The Holy Spirit will help them and us to love Jesus more deeply so that we will obey him more completely.
    •    Our obedience to Jesus is a demonstration of our love for him.

Transition: What does love and obedience look like? Let’s look at Jesus.

B. John 14:28-31   The Example Set By Jesus
Read: John 14:28-31

Plain and simple…Jesus set the example for love and obedience to the Father.
    •    Jesus said ‘I love the Father and I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.’

Jesus’ love for the Father was perfect that’s why his obedience was complete. Our love for Jesus is progressive, the more we know him the deeper our love for him becomes.

But to know Jesus more depends upon our willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. We must invite the Holy Spirit to fill us so that we can know and love and obey Jesus as he knew, loved and obey the Father. That is our goal. Jesus’ example of love and obedience is our example to follow.

Jesus in vs 30 says ‘the prince of this world is coming for m. He has no hold on me.’  What an amazing statement! Jesus is saying that Satan has no power over him, he has no influence over him. Satan is not leading Jesus to the cross, he is going in loving obedience to the Father.

If Jesus is our example, than what is true of Jesus, can be true for us too.
    •    That means Satan can tempt us, but he has no hold on us,
    •    Satan can put a stumbling block in our way but he has no power over us.

Like Jesus we can make the choice to love God by being obedient to him when we trust in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in us.  When you are filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, Satan has no hold on you! Isn’t that great?

Conclusion
ILL: Pastor D. Greg Ebie wrote: All of us as parents know that our children will obey us for many different reasons. I know there have been times that my kids have obeyed to get something that they wanted; at other times they have obeyed because they were afraid of being punished, and believe it or not there have even been times that I have had to make them obey. Yet there is no better feeling that I have as a dad then when I know my kids obey me simply because they love me.

Let me ask you a question: Why do you obey Jesus?
    •    Do you obey Jesus because you want to go to heaven?
    •    Do you obey Jesus because you are afraid of being punished? Or
    •    Do you obey Jesus simply because you love Him?
                            (D. Greg Ebie)

Our love for Jesus, like the Holy Spirit, is a free gift of God’s grace.

Read: 1 Jn. 4:19 ‘We love because he first loved us.’

It all comes back to relationship with God thru faith in Jesus Christ. That’s where it all begins…
    •    God’s grace, initiated by his great love for us, opens our eyes to who Jesus is and then draws us to him.
    •    God’s grace, initiated by his great love for us, gives us faith to believe in Jesus .
    •    God’s grace, initiated by his great love for us, gives us the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our love of and obedience to Jesus.
    •    God’s grace, initiated by his great love for us, develops, maintains and nurtures our love relationship with him.

Read: Gal 5:16-25

The mark of a Christian is the demonstrated presence of the Holy Spirit in their life. A life in which we allow the Holy Spirit to actually influence and control our thoughts and actions.

The active presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives will produce fruit…not of our works, but of the Holy Spirit at work in us…the first of which is love.

Bottom line. Christianity is a love affair with Jesus Christ. And the one who makes us know and experience both God’s love for us and our love for him is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit living in those who believe.

If you are having a hard time obeying God’s Word don’t just pray for strength… ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your love for Jesus.