John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Some years back I preached a message on John 14:15 in a high school chapel service. The next morning, I found an unsigned note in my mailbox, saying “How dare you tell me that I don’t Love Jesus.” While I did not say that in my message, it was clear this student was under deep conviction.
Evangelist Charles Finney wrote a booklet entitled, Love is not a special way of Feeling. In this booklet he stated that love is not a special way of feeling, but a special way of acting.” Love is better demonstrated by our action than our words. Stated love which does not produce a corresponding action is not true love. While it may create a warm fuzzy feeling that we call love, real love always causes an action on our part.
Jesus said very clearly, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Action is the true measure of our love for Christ. The action required is to keep Christ's commandments. This truth is repeated in John 14: 22, “Jesus answered and said unto him, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” It's like the childrens' song we learned in Sunday school, “Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe, doing exactly what the Lord commands, doing it happily. Action is the key, do it immediately, the joy you will receive! Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E. Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.” After all, love is not a special way of feeling it’s a special way of acting. The emotional feelings we have follow our actions.
When a man and woman start dating, they first enjoy each other’s attention and company. Their actions toward one another trigger deeper connections. These connections then blossom into the action we call love. The emotional attachment or feelings naturally follow. This love grows as we show more loving actions toward each other. Because love is an action, we do not "fall" in love or out of love, for that matter. God did not command husbands to "fall in love" with their wives, He commanded them to love their wives. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Ephesians 5: 25. Love is demonstrated by the things we do, not by the words we say or the feelings we have. Biblical love is an action word not a state of being word.
In Luke 7:1-4 we read, “And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, that he was worthy for whom he should do this: 'For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.'” How did the Jewish elders know the Centurion loved their nation? He built them a synagogue. His act showed his love for Israel.
Our relationship with Christ Jesus works the same way. “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. We show our love for Christ by our obedience to Him and His commandments. One can said, oh, yes, I love Jesus, but never read the Bible, never attend church, never share the gospel with a lost person, never keep any of God's commandments, and continue to live a worldly life, which does not produce the actions of love in their life for Christ. Jesus said, "If you love me keep my commandments."
Love requires associated actions to be real love. We can sing, "Oh, how love Jesus," with our words, but without our actions of obedience they are only merely words. Action is the key to true love. 1 John 2:4-5 “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
