Loving Jesus Means Obeying Him

Introduction

Pastor Jean-Blaise AMOUGOU opens this message with a simple observation : we live in a time when many claim to love Jesus. We sing to him, we pray to him, we confess it : “Oh Lord, I love you. Oh I love you, my God, you are so good to me.” But Jesus sets a standard that goes beyond all our words and all our emotions.

That standard fits in one sentence, taken from John 14:15 : “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus doesn't measure your love by your emotions, your tears, your years in church, or how many activities you take part in. He measures your love by your obedience. So the preacher asks you the real question, the one that isn't satisfied by Sunday songs : does your love for Jesus show up in the way you live each day?

Outline of the Message

1. True love for Jesus shows itself through obedience

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus doesn't say “if you love me, talk about me,” or “sing for me,” or “perform miracles.” Anyone can evangelize, sing, recite. But above all, Jesus asks you to keep what he teaches you and to do what he asks.
The preacher recalls that stern passage where many come to Jesus saying, “Haven't we prophesied in your name? Haven't we done many miracles in your name?” And Jesus answers them : “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:22-23)
1 John 2:3-4 locks it in place : “If we keep his commandments, by this we know that we know him. He who says, ‘I know him,’ and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn't in him.” You can show up at church every day ; if you don't put the Word into practice, you've never known Jesus, and he doesn't know you.
“Obedience is the visible proof of an invisible love.” Biblical love is a commitment, not just a feeling. God committed himself first (“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son…”), and he asks you to commit yourself in turn to what he commands you. If he tells you to love your neighbor as yourself, you commit to it. If he tells you to forgive your enemy, you commit to it.
Illustration : King David fleeing from his son Absalom. A man (Shimei) comes and curses him, hurling vile insults. David, a formidable warrior surrounded by soldiers capable of routing thousands upon thousands, could have had him killed on the spot. Instead he restrains his general : “Don't touch him. Maybe the Lord has sent him to test me.” David had learned to obey what God wanted from him, in him, through him, and for him alone. That's what it means to love your enemy.

2. Do you still love Jesus when his commandments disrupt your habits?

It's easy to obey when it suits you : “Oh, he gives me candy, I'll always love him.” But the day he stops giving you what you want, he suddenly becomes “the mean God, the one who doesn't love me, who prefers other people.” You start grumbling, criticizing, growing jealous. Jesus, meanwhile, comes and puts his finger on the way you talk, act, look at people, walk, eat, sleep. Do you still love him then?
Forgiving for real. Forgiving doesn't mean “I forgive you but I won't forget,” keeping the file open so you can pull it back out forty years later at the first stumble. If God forgave you that way, you'd be lost. Matthew 6 is explicit : “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Whatever way you forgive (holding a grudge, grumbling, criticizing), God will treat you exactly the same way.
Loving your enemy. The preacher pauses here : who is my enemy? Is it my brother, my sister, my spouse, my coworker, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the freemason, the Jehovah's Witness? “Love your enemy as yourself.” The person who hurts you (love them the way God himself loves you. Remember the wrong we do to God every single day), from the moment we wake up, in our thoughts, behind the wheel, and yet he keeps on loving us.
Denying yourself. “Deny yourself, forget yourself, surrender yourself. You are my private property,” says Jesus. Denying yourself means offering yourself to God, recognizing that you are nothing on your own. Real pride isn't strutting around ; it's when you refuse to deny yourself, when you keep trying to prove to God that you're something, even after all you've received.
Carrying your cross. Carrying your cross (Luke 9:23) means bearing hard trials with patience (a fruit of the Spirit), without criticizing, without grumbling, without envy, without hurling hurtful words. Carrying your cross means dying : “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” If Christ lives in you, then you are dead.
Living in holiness. Live constantly in God's presence, set apart for him. It's not about strutting around like a nun or a priest to prove you're a Christian. A Christian is recognized by their works. Sometimes you don't even need to say a word : people see that this person is different, that they don't act, speak, or react like everyone else. A Christian draws people in (the good and the bad alike, like a small hook that catches both big and little fish), and it's God himself who does the sorting in you.

3. Many honor Jesus with their lips, but their heart is far from him

“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” We then become like whitewashed tombs. Go to a cemetery : outside, beautiful gravestones, flowers, striking images. Ask the caretaker to lift the slab : what rises isn't a Chanel or Dior perfume, it's a horrible smell.
Many honor Jesus with their lips, but their heart isn't in it. They don't carry in their lives the heart, the love, the peace, the joy, the victory, and the deliverance of Jesus. They don't even recognize his greatness or his authority ; they've reduced him to a “little Jesus.”
Yet Jesus died and rose again. He lives forever. He is no longer on the cross, that's finished. He is King of kings, he reigns eternally, and his name is above every name, “on earth as in the heavenly places” (Philippians 2:9-11).
So let's not stay as we are today. Some sing, preach, serve God, give their offerings, but refuse to let go of certain things. Jesus is looking for a heart that is fully consecrated, someone who truly gives themselves to him.

4. Loving Jesus means abiding in his Word

The pastor recalls a sister's prayer : “Lord, I love your word. Make your word live in us.” Loving the Word doesn't mean staring at it morning, noon, and night. But you're at work, alone, and a verse comes back to you. Your coworkers say horrible things ; God's Spirit whispers into your heart a simple “Keep yourself from impure thoughts,” and you don't jump into the argument, because God is keeping watch over you.
Psalm 119:11 puts it this way : “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Failing to keep God's commandments and his Word isn't a minor detail : it's sinning against him. And God will not bless someone who deliberately sins against him.
You cannot love Jesus while neglecting his Word. Whoever loves him must read it, meditate on it every day, and put it into practice. If he is love, you love. If he asks you to forgive, you forgive. If he calls you to obey, you obey.
This is how God transforms you. Romans 12:1-2 : “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God… don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” That renewal comes through the Word.
“Knowledge without obedience produces spiritual pride.” Go ask Satan, ask the demons : they know, and they don't obey. They were rejected. God doesn't just ask you to know : he asks you to obey.

5. Loving Jesus means loving your neighbor

Who is my neighbor? It isn't only the person you pray with, eat with, laugh with. The preacher turns the tables : “My neighbor is also the one who gives me dirty looks.”
Jesus always ties love for God to love for one's neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). And 1 John 4:20 settles it : “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” You can have every spiritual gift, pray loudly and boldly ; if you strike your brother, if you slander your sister, you're lying.
You cannot claim to love Christ while living in bitterness, jealousy, gossip, and unforgiveness. It's impossible, no matter what titles you claim, bishop, archbishop, prophet.
Luke 9:23 confirms it : true love reveals itself when obedience costs you something. Loving the way Jesus commands costs you : you must deny yourself, your preferences, your grudges. Are you willing to fully surrender and to put into practice his commandments, just once, to see what happens?

6. Don't abandon your first love

To the church in Ephesus, Jesus declares : “You have left your first love.” (Revelation 2:4) Many congregations today are in that place. Yet loving God is what brings you into his presence, and it's what pushes you to love the person next to you until they, too, become a person of love.
It's this love of Jesus that grows in us : “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jesus must grow in you so that what is of you disappears.
So here's a personal question : do you love Jesus more than before, or less than before? Do you still thirst to pray? Do you still hunger for his Word? Do you still feel the joy of serving him? Does your heart still burn for Christ?
The real danger isn't only falling into sin. The real danger is letting your love for Jesus grow cold. Is God's presence still tangible in your life, in your home, at work, in the street?

7. Whoever loves Jesus receives his promises (John 14:21)

“One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.” (John 14:21) The promise is enormous, but it comes with a condition : you must first keep his commandments, hide his Word in your heart, and put it into practice.
Examine yourself before the Lord : Do I obey Jesus even when it costs me? Have I let certain habits take Christ's place in my heart? Does my life back up the words I speak? Is my love for Jesus growing or has it grown cold?
Jesus isn't looking for a love that's only for show. He's looking for disciples who obey out of love. “Obedience is not a means of earning his love, but the response of those who have been saved by grace.” We are saved by grace : obedience is our loving response, not our payment.
Even today, Jesus asks you the question he asked Peter : “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17) If your answer is “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” let it be confirmed by a life of obedience, holiness, faithfulness, and consecration. Loving Jesus isn't just saying it, it's living it every day according to his Word.

Key Takeaways

Jesus measures your love not by your emotions, your tears, or your years in church, but by your concrete obedience to his Word.
Loving Jesus means loving him even when his commandments disrupt your habits : forgiving without keeping the file open, loving your enemy, denying yourself, carrying your cross, living in holiness.
Many honor Jesus with their lips but their heart is far from him : outside the tomb looks beautiful, inside it smells of death. Jesus is looking for a heart that is fully consecrated.
Knowledge without obedience produces spiritual pride. The demons know, and yet they are rejected. You cannot love Jesus while neglecting his Word or despising your neighbor.
The real danger isn't only sin : it's letting your love for Christ grow cold. Do you love Jesus more or less than before?

Personal Application

On what specific point is Jesus “putting his finger” on your habits right now? A word, a look, a way of acting? What do you want to hand over to him this week?
Who is “your enemy” that Jesus is asking you to love today? A brother, a sister, a coworker, someone you look at sideways?
Is there someone you've said you forgave but whose file you regularly pull back out? What do you want to do with that file before God?
Is your knowledge of the Word ahead of your obedience? On which specific command do you need to move from theory to practice?
Do you love Jesus more than before or less than before? What will you put in place this week so that your heart burns for him again?

Verses Cited

John 14:12-17 · “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John 14:21 · “One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me.”
John 21:15-17 · “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”
Matthew 7:21-23 · “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.”
Matthew 6:9-15 · “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Matthew 22:37-39 · “You shall love the Lord your God… you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 9:23 · “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily.”
1 John 2:3-4 · “He who says, ‘I know him,’ and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar.”
1 John 4:20 · “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.”
Revelation 2:1-7 · “You have left your first love.”
Psalm 119:11 · “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Romans 12:1-2 · “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Galatians 2:20 · “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
John 3:30 · “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
2 Samuel 16:5-14 · Shimei curses David as he flees ; David refuses vengeance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Jesus really require perfect obedience from me before he'll love me?

No. The preacher makes it clear : “Obedience is not a means of earning his love, but the response of those who have been saved by grace.” You are first loved and saved by grace ; obedience follows as a loving response, not as payment. And when you fall, 1 John 2:1 reminds you that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

“I forgive you, but I won't forget” : is that really forgiveness?

According to this message, no. Forgiving while keeping the file open so you can pull it back out at the first stumble is not the forgiveness Matthew 6 describes. The “as” in the Lord's Prayer sets a standard : you're asking God to forgive you to the measure of your own forgiveness. If God forgave you that way, pulling out each of your sins at the first offense, you would be lost.

How can I know if my love for Jesus has grown cold?

The preacher offers a few simple questions : do you still thirst to pray? Do you still hunger for the Word? Do you still feel the joy of serving? Does your heart still burn for Christ? Is God's presence still tangible in your life, your home, your work? If the answers feel weak, your first love is probably growing cold, and Jesus is calling you to return, just as he called the church in Ephesus.

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