Beech Tree News Network

Sometimes folks’ recoil at emphasis on bible obedience. Sometimes they will counter by offering “love” and “just being like Jesus” as if they are alternatives that stand in opposition to any emphasis on obeying God’s will. Consider what John, the Apostle of Love, recorded regarding Jesus’ example of obedience.

 Jesus & Obedience in John’s Gospel:

4:34 – “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.’”

5:19 – “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does likewise.’”

5:30 – “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

5:36 – “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent Me.”

6:38 – “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

7:16 – “So Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 – If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 – The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.’”

8:26 – “I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 – They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 – So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me. 29 – And He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

10:18 – “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority’ to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

12:48 – “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 – For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak. 50 – And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say just as the Father has told me.”

14:10 – “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

14:31 – … but I do as the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

If we want to be like Jesus, we will do the will of the One who sent Him. We will not do anything by our own authority, but always do the things that we know are pleasing to God. Obedience. That’s the portrait of Jesus painted by the Apostle of Love. Don’t you want to be like Jesus?

Bob McPherson lives in Warren County, but spends as much time as possible in Butler County.  He preaches for the Eastside Church of Christ in Bowling Green.  He can be reached at bdmcpherson2@gmail