M-G: 7.21.22 // What’s Cooking in Your Kitchen, John 14:15, Part 2 of 2

“The Bible doesn’t yield its treasures to the lazy soul.” 2

We are to love (agapao, verb form of the noun agape) Yahweh with the totality of our being (heart, soul, mind, and strength). No other object of love (person, place, or thing) is to pose as a rival to our love for Yahweh, not even the second command! We see this truth in the priority of position: love God (first command, Mk 12:30); love neighbor (second command, Mk 12:31). A proper loving relationship with Yahweh (according to the Scriptures) is foundational and enables a loving relationship with others (cf. Rom 12:18). 

We are reminded of the words of Jesus as recorded by Mark in 12:31b,

There is no other commandment greater than these [two]. 

So, the second command by its very connection and position to the first command by Jesus subordinates the Law and the Prophets to both commands (cf. Mt 22:40). This prime directive (Mk 12:30-31) for all believers is considered (1) personal (you), (2) comprehensive (repeated source with [out of]: heart, soul, mind, strength), and (3) wholehearted (repeated all, the whole of). 

These terms are relative to human personality:

(1) heart (the control center of our cognition [Prov 10:8; 15:14, 28], emotion [Prov 12:25; 13:12;14:10, 13], and volition [Prov 5:12]. All three have been referred to as our “thinker, feeler, chooser”),

(2) soul (self-conscious life [Mk 8:35-36],

(3) mind (thought capacity),

(4) strength (bodily powers).

If this seems a little bewildering sorting all of this out, what is abundantly clear is what emerges from the prime directive on just how comprehensive the nature of this command is as seen from these other passages: Mt 22:35-40; Mk 12:28-34; Lk 10:25-28. God is expecting nothing less than wholeheartedness! Any half-heartedness or lukewarmness or cafeteria-style obedience is clearly an indicator that there is a love problem of the heart for God which is a clear violation of the prime directive (See comments on the second command in footnote 3.).

In reality, we are inviting a recipe for trouble rather than blessings into our lives by not knowing our way around the kitchen and remaining unable to rustle up a healthy spiritual meal for ourselves simply because we choose to be willfully spiritually ignorant of the Scriptures. Recall Yahweh’s words to Joshua (Josh 1:8, 9)? We are not going to get the victory down here if we neglect the Word! Saved, yes! Winning spiritual battles left and right, no. 

God is looking at this disobedience as unloving towards Him. In fact, agape (love) for God and obedience to His Word are inseparable (cf. Jn 14:15, 21, 23, 24, 31, NASB, et al). Jesus sure can cut to the quick on unacceptable behavior that we have been heavily painting over with coat after coat of an ugly shade of color of inexcusable excuses,

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say (Lk 6:46)?

The truth is that we can’t do what we don’t know, right? However, there is no tolerance for excuses because there are no legitimate excuses in the mind of God. All that we need to know is found in the kitchen. Disobedience has a way of keeping us out of the kitchen if you hadn’t noticed! “The real reason why we don’t have an appetite for the Word,” suggested by Dr. James Merritt back on 4.24.22 in a televised worship service, “is because we don’t have an appetite for the God of the Word!” Ouch all over me! This is the main reason why many do not know their way around the kitchen and are unable to fix a spiritually healthy meal. We have an appetite for religion but no appetite for God.

Throughout my pilgrimage, I have lost count of the times the Holy Spirit has confronted me with Luke 6:46 because I became willfully disconnected from God (fellowship was broken, not salvation) due to sin as a result of my own spiritual stupidity! We can measure or gauge our love for God by compliance with His will, but you got to go into the kitchen to find it! Sometimes, we might even be guilty of trying to calibrate a fleshy love with serving God; that will, of course, never fly because the love Jesus was referring to in John 14 was a higher standard of love (agape), not a familiar attribute of love of the human heart that all men possess (contrast a love on a higher plane in Rom 5:5). 

Carnal believers do that, living on the horizontal plane with an earthy, fleshy kind of love that has no standards like agape. Ironically, they accuse spiritual believers of being unloving for not having their kind or brand of love! If that doesn’t beat it all?! 

Let me state the obvious, obedience to God’s will is being like Jesus; disobedience is being like self. Read a word from Jesus in Jn 14:31a,

But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do… (emphasis mine). 

I love the S.I.D here, so I do! Let me paraphrase what Jesus is telling His disciples, “I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.” Christlikeness is loving obedience, yes? An obedience that is motivated by the prime directive of all of Scripture – love (agape). Religion or rule-keeping forces us to do this or that whether we love it or not. Our obedience to the Word of God is active because our relationship with Jesus as a son or daughter of God is vibrant and strong.

Often, I think of how sad it is that many believers are claiming to be of the Word but rarely do you find them in the Word because they obviously do not know their way around the kitchen or Bible to be able to put together a decent spiritual meal that is spiritually nutritious on their own; they are in reality, totally dependent on others to feed them spiritually! Their spiritual maturity is stuck at babes in Christ like a broken phonographic vinyl record (cf. 1 Cor 3:1). They want to be with Jesus for all eternity, but on this side of eternity, they do not care to spend time with Him, to get to know the One who died for them. We can blame the other guy or gal who may have taught us incorrectly, but we are still personally held responsible for what we believe, which is a sobering thought, yes?

Let’s look at John 14:15, NASB,

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

This verse is sandwiched between a promise made by Jesus of answered prayer (Jn 14:13-14) and the promise of the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16) to His disciples. This is what Jesus is going to do for His disciples. In verse 15 is what the disciples can do for Jesus – if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. There is no bargaining or bartering going on here, but v15 is set between some very enriched heavenly bread, yes? Blessings are always found in obedience to the will of Yahweh (cf. Psa 1:1-3). Let’s take a quick look at the ingredients used in John 14:15, NASB.

If. This word is a conjunction that often introduces a conditional clause. In this verse, it is considered to be a third-class condition (meaning that the future is more probable if thus and so happens).

You. This second person pronoun is plural, referring to all of the disciples.  

Love. Grk., agapao (verb form of the noun agape). The mood of the verb is subjunctive [contingent or possible] / The verb tense of love (agapao) is in the present tense [a continuous action] / the voice is active [you (subject) are doing the action].

Me. The object of love (agapao) – Jesus.

A literal translation thus far – “If you [the disciples] keep on loving Me.”

You. This second person pronoun is plural, referring again to all of the disciples.

[Will] keep.  Grk., tereo, to watch, to guard, to keep, to obey. The mood of the verb is indicative (meaning, it presents the action or event as an objective fact) / the verb tense is future (self-explanatory, yes?) / the voice is active [you (subject) are doing the action. FYI, there is some disagreement among scholars revolving around this verb keep as to whether its mood is indicative (objective fact) or imperative (commanded). I prefer the former as the more probable position, echoed by Jn 14:23. Since we are expected to obey the words of God at all times and not treat them as optional, it stands to reason there is always a sense of impetus with an imperative feel, yes? Again, the indicative mood here in Jn 14:15 is the correct mood, respectfully speaking.

My commandments. This is very specific referencing the commands or words of Jesus exclusively; no other sources are involved.

There is this inescapable truth that keeping the commands or words of Jesus is a direct result of loving (agapao) God. Obedience is the natural result of genuine unending love for God. Drone obedience does not require a love for God at all. There is no profit in a loveless service to God (cf. 1 Cor 13).

“If you [the disciples] keep on loving Me, you will keep my commandments.” In other words, as long as you continually love Me, you will produce these expected results in the immediate future – obedience to my commands. It comes across as a foregone conclusion, the greater the probability, if.

What’s the best way to learn our way around the kitchen? Keep in mind that you can’t do what you don’t know or refuse to know, and disobedience is interpreted by Yahweh as being unloving towards Him.

The Best thing for us to do, therefore, is to repent of losing our first love; hit the books (66); obey going forward; don’t stop; don’t quit; fail forward, but never stop moving onward in our objective to be more like Christ! It is a lifelong pursuit because we never arrive on this side of eternity.

To address our inadequacies in the kitchen, it is wise for us to listen to Paul and Peter so we can learn our way around the kitchen. Give a hungry man a fish, and he will hunger tomorrow; teach a man to fish, and he will never grow hungry again. It is not as fishy as it sounds, yes?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Col 3:16).

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (2 Pet 3:18, NASB).

If we love Jesus, we will do His will, yes? Recall the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount when He provided a pattern for prayer. One of those petitions was,

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10).

How is God’s will carried out in heaven: willingly, immediately, and completely! Our obedience needs to be calibrated to that high and holy standard, yes!? Obedience to His Word is the only meaningful “I love You” to Yahweh. If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then surely, the Bible is at the heart of our life service to Yahweh. What’s cooking in your kitchen? <><

“We must search the Scriptures deliberately, consistently, and intensely.” 4 

End of Series

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2. Charles R. Swindoll, Searching the SCRIPTURES, (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2016), 36.

3. Keep in mind that the Jews were prequalifying who their neighbors were; there was a lot of bias and hatred in circulation in Israel. Jesus addressed that with the parable of the good Samaritan. Generally speaking, Judaism excluded Gentiles, Samaritans, lawbreakers, iconoclasts (breakaways from tradition), etc. The following remarks on Mark 12:29-31 are from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.

Jesus then spoke of a similar commitment to one’s neighbor by quoting a second inseparable (cf. 1Jn 4:19-21) and complementary command. Love (lit., “you shall love”) your neighbor (plēsion, “one who is nearby,” a generic term for fellowman) as, in the same way as, yourself (Lev 19:18). The love a person has naturally for himself is not to focus solely on himself — a constant tendency — but should be directed equally toward others.

No (Gr., “no other”) commandment is greater than these two because wholehearted love for God and one’s neighbor is the sum and substance of the Law and the Prophets (cf. Mat 22:40). To fulfill these commands is to fulfill all others.

 4. Charles R. Swindoll, Searching the SCRIPTURES, 37.