A DISCIPLE LOVES JESUS BY OBEYING

“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.”
(John 14:21)

I really connected with the conference speaker and made a beeline to him after the message. I invited him to coffee so I could pick his brain about his relationship with Jesus. He had some great things to say about abiding in Christ and then he asked me about my relationship with Jesus. I excitedly agreed with his story because it sounded very similar to mine. And that’s where the similarities ended. He blew my mind when he said, “I’m so glad you never mentioned the word obedience.” What?! The conversation took an abrupt turn south. How in the world could a person divorce obedience from their relationship with Jesus? He is our King and our Lord. He commands us to obey Him. He says if we love Him, we will obey. Jesus’ disciples are not only commanded to obey Him, they want to obey Him. 

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A DISCIPLE HAS FAITH IN JESUS

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
(John 6:29)

I was dangling underneath a helicopter on a rope 100 feet off the ground. Needless to say, I was a little nervous and the thought had crossed my mind more than once was, “is all this equipment strong enough to hold me?” It took a lot of mental discipline to trust my equipment and training and by the time I hit the ground, I had worked up a pretty good sweat. Trusting Jesus can be a lot like my experience. Sometimes, when people talk about faith in Christ, they make it sound so easy. Well, for those of us who have been down the trail a little bit and have had to wade through some of the tougher things in life, we know that faith takes a little work. It’s resolve in the fact that Jesus has our best interest at heart. It’s enduring and pressing on because we know He holds the victory. And ultimately it’s believing He will use our lives to advance His kingdom.

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A DISCIPLE LOVES LIKE JESUS DID

Naked Mole Rat

 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:34–35)
Have you ever tried to love the unlovable? Sure you have. And if you’re like me, you found it very difficult. We're confronted every day with people who are rude, insensitive, and downright mean. But we know better than to write them off, because when we take a close look in the mirror, we can see some of the same characteristics in our own lives. The Scripture says that “…while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God” (Rom 5.10). We really didn’t have the image of a cute little puppy. It was probably more like trying to hug a buzzard. In fact, our actions proved us to be hostile to Him (maybe more like a ticked-off Naked Mole Rat). And yet, He loved us…to death. That is how Christ loved us and how He commands us to love others. We have the ultimate example to follow.  Keep loving the unlovable. 

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A DISCIPLE SUBMITS TO JESUS AS LORD

“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.”
(John 13:13)

So you’re smokin’ down the interstate and suddenly you see a Trooper’s car in the median. What is your automatic response? Apply the breaks to slow down, Right? Even if you’re doing the speed limit, it’s an automatic response. Why? Because you know the Trooper in the car has the authority to give you a ticket. There is a healthy sense of fear attached to violating the law. But in today’s prevalent preaching of grace without the balancing principle of responsibility, there is almost no such reaction when we sin. I believe we have lost the sense of Jesus’ lordship in place of not grace, but licentiousness. So in many cases in American Christianity the State Trooper is treated with more respect than the Creator of the universe. We need to regain the reality of the “Kingship” of Jesus and rightfully have Him rule and reign over our lives. Those who do not may be in for a very unpleasant surprise (Mat 7.21-23).

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