1 John 5:3-5: Obedience Made Easy by Love and Faith

We come today to my second favorite verses in all of scripture: 1 John 5:3-4. I use these verses as the basis for all of my mentoring and counseling, and run to it for personal encouagement. The truths that are contained in these verses' words are so convicting yet strengthening all at the same time. Let us walk through 1 John 5:3-5 this morning to find how obedience can be made easy.

1 John 5:3a. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments."

I have to admit that this verse is difficult to exposit, but I will take my best attempt at it this morning, being aware that there may be other opinions.

The first section of this verse tells us that God's love is that we keep his commandments. God's love is directly tied to our obedience, not because it depends on our obedience, but because it asks for it and delights in it. The disctinction is important here. The Lord does not stop loving us when we stop obeying--that is one of the main tenants of the Gospel, God's unending love and mercy. However, God's love is that we obey his commandments, meaning that his love asks for our obedience and even implies its necessity. In other words, if God loves us, why should we not obey? The King of Kings and Lord of Lords gave up his life to save us because he loves us, therefore we ought to obey. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love" (John 15:10). God's love is our obedience.

1 John 5:3b. "And his commandments are not burdensome."

Here in this verse, John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that God's commands are not burdensome. Huh? How does that make sense? Surely we will find out in the next section, but let us first not the beauty of this: Scripture tells us that following God's ways is not hard.

1 John 5:4. "For everyoe who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith."

The word "overcome" here ties directly back to the preceeding verse, meaning that to "overcome the world" is to "keep God's commandments." This is easily seen in the context of 1 John because whenever John speaks of "the world" in this book he is referring to the sinful tendencies it contains. To "overcome the world" is twofold: keeping God's commandments and not sinning as the world does, which are two sides of the same coin.

John says that we overcome if we have been born of God, that is, if we have been saved. But how? How do we overcome? Or as John put it in the preceeding verse, how are following God's commandments not burdensome? Last time I checked, it wasn't very easy to do all that God commanded of me. Many of his commandments are difficult and close to impossible. Try going one day without having an impure thought, gossiping, complaining, or being selfish. Yikes! Surely John doesn't call attempting to do that easy...but he does. But how? Answer: by faith. For everyone who has faith, following God's commandments is easy because even though sin might appear better, they have a conviction of the unseen (Hebrews 11:1) that God's ways are better. They give up the momentary pleasures of this world to pursue eternal pleasures in Christ because they have faith (Hebrews 11:24-25). They follow God's commandments easily because they have faith that they are best. In other words, choosing God's ways and rejecting the world isn't hard if we have a confidence that God's ways are better. This is how obedience is made easy.

I often tell young men who I am counseling that the key to overcoming your sin is realizing what love really is, and realizing what faith really is. Firstly, love is obedience. God's love is our obedience. Or as Pastor Chuck puts it, love obeys. If you really love God, you'll obey him (John 14:15), and God's love is that you obey him (1 John 5:3). Secondly, faith is realizing that God's ways are better, even if you cannot see that reality. Faith is the absence of sin (Romans 14:23). Faith is how we overcome this world. Obedience is made easy when we realize what love and faith really are.

So, has obedience been difficult for you lately? Are you feeling burdened by God's commandments? I encourage you to take a leap of faith and a leap of love. Discover the truth of what love and faith really are. Stop feeling burdened to do God's will, but feel the love of God and let your obedience flow out of your great faith. Go and do likewise this morning.