Lesson 21: Now - How Do I Get Beyond Despair? (4)

We began looking at why we work for Christ in our last lesson. We said we have been set free in Him. Please do not misunderstand what I say about freedom – we are free to choose to obey or not obey, but we do so in the context of being God's children. God saved us for His own purposes, and His purposes will be accomplished even if this means He has to discipline us to become what He wants us to be. We read about this in a previous lesson.

Then what about the 10 Commandments, you might ask; do we not have to obey them? The answer, very simply, is no. Then what about John 14:15 and 15:10 which clearly state that if we love Christ we will keep His commandments? Jesus was not talking about the Law of Moses when He said this. If you look at John 14 and 15 in the context, you will find that Jesus was talking about His commandments as being that the disciples were to love each other. He extended this love from Himself to other believers, and equated that love with the fulfillment of the entire Law. We must look at the rest of the New Testament teaching on this subject to get the full picture, and one of those passages is Romans 13:8-10: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”


In context, the commandments in John 14 are “do not let your heart be troubled” and “believe in God and also in Me.” In context, there is only one commandment in John 15, “love one another.” When we compare those with what Jesus affirmed as the two greatest commandments of all in the Old Testament, found in Matthew 22:34-40, where Jesus said these two covered everything else, His commandments to us are the same. Then, the command in Romans 13, above, is also in line with Jesus’ commands. It all comes down to love, and this is exactly what 1 Corinthians 13 teaches.

Therefore, if we love Jesus/God, we will serve Him willingly. If we love each other, we will do all we can to let Christ work through us to reach the entire world for Him.

*Have you been trusting your own good works to keep you saved?
*Write down what you’ve been doing to try to serve God.
*Now, beside each, write down how that task changes (if it is God’s desire that you continue it) when you do it only for the love of Christ.