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The second is that whose who do receive these gifts — these promises, this love — are not simply called Christians or believers, they are described repeatedly — four times as those who love Jesus.
Verse 15–16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”
Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father.” This is not a love God has for the world. This is a personal, intimate, relational, affectionate, committed love from the Father only for those who love Jesus.
Verse 23: “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.’” We know from Romans 5:8 that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God didn’t wait for us to love him before he loved us. And we know that’s what John believed too, because in 1 John 4:19 he says, “We love because he first loved us.” No doubt about it. Gloriously true.
And now here is another glorious truth. Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father.” Or again in verse 23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.” In other words, God’s love precedes and enables our love (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:19). AndGod responds to our love and loves with a unique, personal, intimate, affectionate, caring, committed love that belongs only to those who love his Son.
Those are the two introductory observations. The promises of these verses are not for the world. They can’t see them, know them, or experience them. Rather, this love is for those who love Jesus.
Now just two more questions. What does it mean to love Jesus? And what are we promised if we do?
1. What does it mean to love Jesus?
Jesus tells us four times that this love is of such a nature that it results in the keeping of Jesus’s “commandments,” or, more generally, his “word.”
- Verse 15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
- Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”
- Verse 23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”
- Verse 24: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
The first thing to notice is that loving Jesus is not the same as keeping his commandments. It precedes and gives rise to keeping the commandments. Keeping his word is the result of loving him, not the same as loving him.
- Verse 15: “If you love me, [the result will be that] you will keep my commandments.”
- Verse 23: “If anyone loves me, [the result will be that] he will keep my word.”
So, what is this love for Jesus that gives rise to keeping the commandments of Jesus? Jesus has no defects. He has no demerit. Therefore, we cannot and dare not love him graciously, the way God loves us. We dare not love him with a love that overcomes some fault or ugliness or sin in Jesus to treat him well. No. Love for Jesus is entirely deserved. He is infinitely worthy of being loved. He is perfectly lovely. He is loved not in spite of what he is, but because of all that he is.
Which means that love for him is a response to beauty and greatness and glory. It is not a response to need or weakness or defect. Which also means that love for Jesus is pleasurable. It’s desiring him because he is infinitely desirable. It’s admiring him because he is infinitely admirable. It’s treasuring him because he is infinitely valuable. It’s enjoying him because he is infinitely enjoyable. It’s being satisfied with all that he is, because he is infinitely satisfying. It’s the reflex of the awakened and new-born human soul to all that is true and good and beautiful, embodied in Jesus.
In short, loving Jesus is not a matter of doing excellent things. It’s a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior. Jesus says doing excellent things — keeping my word — is the result of delighting in the excellent Savior. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”
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