Jesus and Holiness

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  John 14:15

Keep – How many of us would be included in the Kingdom if Jesus came back right now and said, “Now I’ll take only those who have obeyed my commandments.”  Would you be able to step forward and say, “Lord, I have obeyed.  I’m ready,” or would you try to slip to the back of the crowd, remembering some act that profaned your life?

Amazingly, most of us don’t really believe Jesus.  We imagine that He is just using hyperbole.  He can’t really intend that only those who keep His commandments love Him.  After all, we reason, we have been forgiven.  So what’s a little mistake among friends?  Jesus has it covered, right?

We don’t understand that Jesus does not forgive in order for us to go on with our lives.  Forgiveness removes (at great cost) our guilt in order that we can go on in obedience.  We live with a bastardized view of grace.  We sell spiritual indulgences with the catch-phrase “once saved, always saved.”  I can’t find anything in the Bible that indicates that obedience has been replaced with forgiveness.  Even if the law is set aside with the coming of new covenant grace, Jesus’ words are still the final measure of my life.  Did I obey?  Is my life governed by His holiness?  Do I pursue God with a passionate zeal to fulfill His desires and glorify His name?  In a word, do I keep His commandments?

The word is tereo.  This is prison and military language.  It has the nuance of guarding, watching over, observing and fulfilling a duty.  You are to be the warden of His commandments.  But that isn’t all.  This verb is in the future, active tense.  This action is going on now and will keep going on into the future.  If you love Jesus, your life will be about keeping His commandments, not just today but every day from now on.

Of course, the opposite applies.  If you are not keeping His commandments, today and every day, then you clearly do not love Him.  Love equals obedience.  The two concepts cannot be divorced.  There is no such thing as someone who loves Jesus but does not obey Him.  I don’t know who invented the idea of the carnal Christian, but it certainly doesn’t apply here.

Jesus calls us to active duty.  Get up!  Get going!  Stand guard over His words.  Put them to work in your life.  It’s a matter of life and love!

Oh, yes.  If you have some house cleaning to do before you can bear arms for Him, get to it.  Heaven can’t wait!