1 00:00:02,690 --> 00:00:13,910 Speaker 1: Life Audio Thank you for listening to your daily Bible verse. 2 00:00:14,930 --> 00:00:18,590 Speaker 1: The podcast that examines one verse each day to learn 3 00:00:18,610 --> 00:00:21,660 Speaker 1: more about God and His will for our lives. I'm 4 00:00:21,700 --> 00:00:25,619 Speaker 1: your host, Kyle Lorman. After a brief message from one 5 00:00:25,660 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: of our sponsors, we will continue with today's verse. Today's 6 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:46,540 Speaker 1: verse can be found in 1 John 5, verse 3. 7 00:00:46,540 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: In fact, this is love for God, to keep His commands, 8 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,650 Speaker 1: and His commands are not burdensome. Does anyone remember the 9 00:00:56,700 --> 00:01:00,350 Speaker 1: bus campaign that ran for the British Humanist Society in 10 00:01:00,370 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: the 2008. Buses all around London, England declared, quote, there 11 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life. Now, obviously, 12 00:01:13,580 --> 00:01:16,709 Speaker 1: the charge of this campaign was that God is some 13 00:01:16,790 --> 00:01:22,110 Speaker 1: heavenly tyrant, a narcissistic despot who demands blind obedience and 14 00:01:22,150 --> 00:01:26,539 Speaker 1: complete subservience. All the commands of God are the list 15 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: of thou shalt and thou shalt not, will they simply 16 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:37,190 Speaker 1: remove from us our individuality, our freedom, and our joy? So, commandments, 17 00:01:37,370 --> 00:01:41,330 Speaker 1: it was argued, are the antithesis of love. And anyone 18 00:01:41,350 --> 00:01:46,070 Speaker 1: who demands obedience, arguably, does not have our best interest 19 00:01:46,130 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: at heart. The argument is essentially this. Would you be 20 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: friends with someone who said, We can be friends as 21 00:01:55,020 --> 00:01:58,060 Speaker 1: long as you do what I want. You know, what 22 00:01:58,100 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: if I had said that to my spouse? Darling, I 23 00:02:01,180 --> 00:02:04,140 Speaker 1: will happily marry you as long as you agree to 24 00:02:04,220 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 1: carry out all my commands. Do you think that I 25 00:02:08,100 --> 00:02:13,190 Speaker 1: would be married today? No. So, most of us would 26 00:02:13,210 --> 00:02:15,750 Speaker 1: agree that this is not a solid basis for any 27 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:21,450 Speaker 1: human relationship. So, given that, how do we understand that 28 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,910 Speaker 1: the scriptural statements that connect our love for God with 29 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,690 Speaker 1: our obedience to God. What exactly is the connection between 30 00:02:30,770 --> 00:02:36,989 Speaker 1: love and following God's commands? Because John writes definitively that 31 00:02:37,110 --> 00:02:39,929 Speaker 1: our love for God is seen in this, that we 32 00:02:40,030 --> 00:02:45,669 Speaker 1: keep God's commands. Now, the obvious question is here, what 33 00:02:45,770 --> 00:02:51,679 Speaker 1: do we mean by God's commands? The Jews understood 600-plus laws, 34 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,500 Speaker 1: laws that they could never fully keep. The Old Testament 35 00:02:55,540 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: law was so complex and detailed that one was never 36 00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: able to keep the entire thing, and because of that, 37 00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:07,299 Speaker 1: you never really knew where you were with God. People 38 00:03:07,340 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: would talk about the, quote, yoke of the law, which 39 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:13,590 Speaker 1: meant that trying to keep all of the commandments of 40 00:03:13,650 --> 00:03:17,239 Speaker 1: God seemed like a burden that rested upon your shoulders, 41 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: a burden that weighed you down, a burden that you 42 00:03:20,860 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: could never fully remove. Is that what John was talking 43 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,380 Speaker 1: about when he talks about God's commands? Or was he 44 00:03:29,419 --> 00:03:34,130 Speaker 1: talking about how Jesus restates the law? Jesus sums up 45 00:03:34,169 --> 00:03:37,710 Speaker 1: the law as love God and love your neighbor. And 46 00:03:37,750 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: that might sound quite simple. But before we think that 47 00:03:42,900 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: it is simply being nice to people, let's remember that 48 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: living in the way of Jesus is not as easy 49 00:03:49,460 --> 00:03:54,490 Speaker 1: as we might think. Jesus asks us to forgive others, when, 50 00:03:54,810 --> 00:03:58,370 Speaker 1: let's be honest, we would rather not. We are asked 51 00:03:58,790 --> 00:04:01,910 Speaker 1: to bless those who curse us, when what we would 52 00:04:01,950 --> 00:04:03,690 Speaker 1: really like to do is give them a piece of 53 00:04:03,750 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: our mind. And let's not begin with loving the people 54 00:04:07,460 --> 00:04:10,510 Speaker 1: that we call enemies. or who we feel simply don't 55 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: deserve our time or our effort. Sometimes living like Jesus 56 00:04:16,220 --> 00:04:22,020 Speaker 1: creates more complications rather than less. Now, John writes that 57 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: the commands of God are not burdensome. They are not 58 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: weights that weigh us down and crush us. But that 59 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:34,099 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they're always easy. See, loving God enough 60 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: to live in the way of Jesus is It pushes 61 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: us against the ethic and practices of the world around us. 62 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,260 Speaker 1: As Christian people, we willingly take the commandments of God, 63 00:04:45,860 --> 00:04:49,730 Speaker 1: incarnate in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and 64 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,610 Speaker 1: we implement them in our lives as much as we 65 00:04:52,670 --> 00:04:58,230 Speaker 1: are able. Loving God is about allowing God to dictate 66 00:04:58,350 --> 00:05:01,270 Speaker 1: how we are to live and how we are to 67 00:05:01,370 --> 00:05:06,380 Speaker 1: treat others. Now, John writes that we keep his commands, 68 00:05:07,180 --> 00:05:10,460 Speaker 1: and the image employed here is holding the commands of 69 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: God lovingly. See, John isn't talking about blind obedience. He 70 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,580 Speaker 1: isn't talking about trying to fulfill God's wishes out of 71 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: fear or out of this desire to earn our place 72 00:05:23,610 --> 00:05:29,090 Speaker 1: in heaven. No, we live out God's commands because our 73 00:05:29,170 --> 00:05:32,909 Speaker 1: love for Jesus means we want to live as close 74 00:05:32,970 --> 00:05:37,150 Speaker 1: to him as as we possibly can. And doing so 75 00:05:37,630 --> 00:05:40,750 Speaker 1: means that we live with a strength, a peace, and 76 00:05:40,790 --> 00:05:44,270 Speaker 1: a resilience that is deeper than anything else in existence. 77 00:05:46,270 --> 00:05:50,390 Speaker 1: The fact is, our obedience to Jesus and His words 78 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:54,610 Speaker 1: does not make Jesus love us. That's not why we 79 00:05:54,650 --> 00:05:59,770 Speaker 1: are called to obedience. Obedience to Jesus' words and deeds 80 00:06:00,270 --> 00:06:03,390 Speaker 1: is our response to to the love that we have 81 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: received by him. We love others because he first loved us. 82 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:13,099 Speaker 1: We forgive others because he first forgave us. We give 83 00:06:13,220 --> 00:06:17,669 Speaker 1: of ourselves to others because Jesus gave the biggest expression 84 00:06:17,850 --> 00:06:23,550 Speaker 1: of love towards us. Now, living this way doesn't limit us. True, 85 00:06:23,630 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: it might challenge us, but it doesn't stifle us. It 86 00:06:27,060 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: doesn't restrict us. It doesn't remove our sense of self 87 00:06:31,339 --> 00:06:34,740 Speaker 1: or our sense of freedom. And what John goes on 88 00:06:34,779 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: to say is that this love for Jesus expressed in 89 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:43,849 Speaker 1: our willingness to keep his commands is actually what testifies 90 00:06:44,510 --> 00:06:48,430 Speaker 1: to his gift of eternal life. So what does it 91 00:06:48,470 --> 00:06:52,350 Speaker 1: mean for you to love God enough to live out 92 00:06:52,410 --> 00:06:57,190 Speaker 1: God's commands? How do you express Jesus' loving presence in 93 00:06:57,230 --> 00:07:01,210 Speaker 1: your life? Is there a particular command from Jesus that 94 00:07:01,270 --> 00:07:05,620 Speaker 1: you are struggling with? How might the Spirit of God 95 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,460 Speaker 1: help you further incarnate the way of Jesus in your life?