"This is love for God: to obey His commands.”
 

I want begin this morning with a simple word association test. I want you to say outloud the first thing that comes to your mind.

Salt and (congregations response – Pepper)
Peanut Butter and (congregations response – Jelly)
Batman and (congregations response – Robin)
The Lone Ranger and (congregations response – Tonto)
Husband and (congregations response – Wife)
This one I’m asking in honor of Andy and Stacy, New Born Baby and (congregations response – sleepless nights, 2 am feeding, formula, diapers, etc.)
Love and (congregations response – marriage, trust, faith, etc.)
Notice that new born baby was not the only association test that produced multiple answers.

John’s response to love is OBEDIENCE.

“This is love for God: to obey His commands.”

John also said,

“This is how we know that we love the children of God:
by loving and carrying out His commands.”

John makes it very clear that God expects us to obey Him, to love one another and to OBEY his commandments. What parent doesn’t want this from their child? Is there any parent here this morning who did not want their children to obey them?

I guess this is why I have a tough time with those Nanny reality shows, which I might add I have never watched. Yet what I have seen from the commercials it is obvious that the Nanny is called into homes where children are definitely disrespecting, disobeying and ignoring their parents. I think it is safe to say disobedience reigns.

Who is to blame for it? The parent’s! I don’t believe for one second this is what they envisioned when they decided to have children. Nor do I think that the children’s disobedience is a result of lack of attention or not being loved. No, the children’s disobedience is a result of the parents not demanding obedience. Have you ever heard a parent say I just can’t say no? Have you ever witnessed a child having a temper tantrum in the store and being rewarded for it? You know what I am talking about. To stop the tantrum Mom or Dad or grandparent buys the child what they wanted. When did NO stop becoming a loving word. If you love your child you are going to say NO and mean it. If you love your child you are going to teach him or her obedience from birth. Put let us not teach obedience from the prospective that we are the parent and therefore we have every right to rule over you. You know what I am talking about. I am talking demanding obedience because “I said so.”

That isn’t the kind of obedience God wants from you so neither should you want it from your child. God wants you to obey because you love Him. We should desire nothing less. Obey me because you love me. This what John meant when he said, “This is love for God: to obey His commands.”

Learning the importance of obeying is a lesson of great value which will be lived out over and over and over throughout their life. It will be lived out in the classroom, in the school yard, in the board room and everywhere else.

For example, I once brought a board game to a youth group meeting. It was a game that no one knew how to play. I told them they had a certain time limit to play the game and the winning team would get a prize. The first question I was asked is what are the rules. I told them they could make them as they go. It was pure chaos. There were disputes about how to set the game up, what was the purpose, how to play win, etc. It became very obvious that in order to play the game they need rules and they needed to obey the rules.

Does this sound like life? If we are to live in peace and in harmony and in love we need to obey God’s commands.

“This is how we know that we love the children of God:
by loving and carrying out His commands.”

James 1:22
“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.”
Doers of the word know instinctively that loving words have to be translated into loving action.

Perhaps you heard the story about the husband who forgot his wife’s birthday and their wedding anniversary. When she made him aware that he forgot he profusely apologized telling his wife over and over again how much he loved her. She responded, “I will believe you when I see something in our garage tomorrow that goes form zero to 200 in 2 seconds flat.” When she came home that afternoon she found a small package in the garage. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.
As a side note the husband’s funeral is this Wednesday.

No is exactly the kind of loving action James and John are referring to. Our love of God or one another is not primarily an emotion or expression of affection, or a gift but instead it is obedience to God’s commandments.

If you say you love your parents, show it by honoring them. If you say you love your spouse, show it by not committing adultery. If you say you love your neighbor, show it by not stealing, or gossiping, or envying. When it comes to love actions do speak louder than words.

For the love of God is this that we obey his commandments.

This past Wednesday in confirmation class we talked about Time with God. When you love someone you want to spend time with that someone. Your love for God is evident in your prayer time, reading of God’s Word, service time, worshipping, time you spend in fellowship.

Baptism vows that we all took this morning say the same thing. We promised to pray for Caitlin and to show him the joy of new life in Christ how by faithful attendance to worship, service, the offering of prayers and gifts.

Sadly we have come to see these very things and we have come to see obedience to God’s commandments as burdensome. 1 John 5:3 states that God’s commandments are not burdensome. This is not to say that obeying them is easy. But the hard work and self-discipline of serving Christ is not a burden to those who love Christ.

Mother Teresa spoke about the importance of love and obedience. She said, “People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind people may accuse you of selfishness and ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest anyway.
What you spend years building someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.
If you find eternity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and may it never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it is never between you and them anyway.

The power of God comes to us through our faith in Jesus, our love for God and one another, and our obeying of God’s commandments. Faith, love and obedience are going to guard and guide you.
You can conquer the world when you mix faith, love and obedience. As John said,

“This is the victory that conquers the world our faith.
Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

This victory has nothing to do with domination. This victory has everything to do with obedience.