Your Will Be Done 2 (John 14.15-27)

In the second message of the ‘Your Will Be Done’ series, we look at the first aspect of God’s ‘revealed will’: obedience is God’s will.  From the beginning of the Bible story to the end, obedience to God’s commands are directly connected to one’s love for God.  It is always God’s will that we obey him.

As Jesus taught his disciples in John 14, we learn that obedience is enabled by the Holy Spirit, is deeply connected to both assurance of God’s presence and God’s peace, and was perfected by Jesus, himself.  God is actively at work in us to understand his commands, obey them, know his presence and peace with us, and follow the example of Jesus, who demonstrated his love for the Father by his obedience in suffering and death on the cross.

In terms of application, we learn that obedience is often much more straightforward than we might think.  God’s commands in Scripture are often quite clear so we should simply obey them.  We also learn that obedience helps bring order in the midst of chaos.  The more difficult and uncontrollable our circumstances are, simply obeying those things we know to be God’s will because he commands them can create a place of calm in the storm.  We also learn that obedience to God’s commands is a good filter for decision making.  Which option that I’m faced with leads best to loving God (devotion vs. distraction) or loving my neighbor (service vs. selfishness)?  Finally, a good habit of obedience to God’s commands, even in very small things, best positions us to God’s leading in our lives.