Keeping God’s Word
John 14:15-29[1]
One of the criticisms regularly leveled against the church
by those who avoid it is that “the church is full of hypocrites.” That notion
has been around for a long time, and we’ve developed a lot of ways to deflect
that criticism. One of them is by responding that we know we’re sinners, but
we’re here because we’re forgiven, not because we’re perfect. While I agree
with that statement one hundred percent, I think it misses the point. It
doesn’t really address the criticism that we in the church are “hypocrites.”
That’s because we don’t typically take the time to find out what people mean when
they level that criticism against the church.
I think when people call us “hypocrites,” they may be
referring to the fact that they hear us say one thing but they see us doing
something very different. We claim to follow Jesus, but we fail to practice the
love that Jesus said would be the defining characteristic of those who follow
him, as the Gospel lesson from last week reminds us (Jn 13:34-35). We say we
believe the Bible to be the “Word of God,” but we fail to live out the
fundamental principles of the Bible in our daily lives. Principles like “you
shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Or, “See that justice is
done—help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend
widows.” (Isa 1:16-17, GNT). Or, “The Lord God has told us what is right
and what he demands: Seeing that justice is done, letting mercy be your
first concern, and humbly obeying your God” (Mic. 6:8, CEV). Or, as
Jesus put it, “In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to
you” (Mt 7:12, NIRV). When people see us living in a way that contradicts
those basic principles, I’m afraid our actions speak much louder than our
words.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus addresses this issue.
He says quite bluntly that “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn
14:15). That might sound strange to those of us who are used to the language of
grace promising us salvation as a gift and freeing us from the bondage of
living by rules. But in Jesus’ day, “keeping” the commandments was a perfectly
normal way of expressing a life of faithfulness to God. “Keeping” God’s word
meant internalizing God’s truths to the extent that they shaped every aspect of
one’s daily life. It meant practicing God’s love and God’s mercy in every
aspect of life. I think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he told his
disciples that others would know that they follow him by how well they
practiced the love he showed them.
I think we can get confused about how the gift of salvation
relates to how well we keep God’s word. There seem to be two extremes. On the
one hand, there are those who obsess about every little detail of Scripture in
a compulsive effort to obey God perfectly, as if their very souls or their
eternal destiny depended on getting it all just right. At the other extreme are
those who think of biblical teachings as “suggestions” and instead adopt a way
of life that looks more like “doing your own thing.” Of course, life is rarely
“clear-cut” enough for us to know what the “right” thing to do is in an
absolute sense. But that doesn’t mean we throw out the teachings of Scripture
altogether.
I would say the true test of how well we keep God’s word is
not how much we read it in worship, or how well we can quote it from memory.
The true test is whether our actions back up our words. That only happens when
we’ve internalized the central principles of Scripture enough, we’ve made them
so much a part of who we are, we’ve taken them into our hearts and lives so
deeply that we follow them as guides for living when it’s not always clear what
the right thing to do is. In our ever-changing world, we are going to be placed
more and more into situations where that’s the case. I think when we have truly
embraced God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s kindness, God’s fairness, and God’s
forgiveness as our basis for living, then those are the principles that will
define our actions.
One of the challenges we face when it comes to “keeping
God’s Word” is that many of us still think that Jesus somehow makes it “easier”
for us. But in my mind that’s clearly
not the case. If we just look at the way Jesus deals with some of the Ten
Commandments in his Sermon on the Mount, we can see this. When it comes to the
commandment, “You shall not kill,” Jesus said not only should you not kill
anyone, you should also not give in to the hateful anger that devalues the life
of others by the way you speak to them or about them! That one can be pretty
hard to live up to! And we might also wonder about what it means to “keep”
Jesus’ commandments. In case there’s any doubt, I would say there’s really no
distinction at all between the essential commands of God in the Hebrew Bible
and the teachings of Jesus. Throughout the Scriptures, the calling is to love
God with everything we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The fact that Jesus said that one of the distinguishing
marks of those who follow him, of those who love him, is whether or not we
“keep” his word doesn’t mean that our relationship with God is something we
have to earn. One of the hallmarks of our Reformed tradition is that it teaches
us we can never do that. Rather, it’s like a relationship where two people love
each other and want the best for each other—not because of some external rule
or code of conduct, but because of the love they have for each other. Jesus
said that if we love him, we’ll follow his teachings, his way of life, his
example—simply because the love we have for him compels us to do so. When we do
that, then the people around us will see our actions line up with what we say
we believe.
Mohandas Ghandi famously said that he would become a
Christian if he ever met one. Of course, he had met many who professed to be
Christians. But his point was that he never met anyone who actually put Jesus’
teachings into practice. He may have been a little hard on some folks, but that’s
the challenge we all face. When our love for God and for Jesus Christ truly
define who we are, from the inside out, then our lives will publicly display
what it means to keep God’s word. We will do it just because that’s who we are,
because our love for God and for Jesus compels us to live that way. Fortunately,
learn in our Gospel lesson that it’s not a do-it-yourself project. Jesus
promised the disciples that “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything” (Jn. 14:26). And the idea is
that the Spirit is the one who will help us live this way. With the Spirit’s
help, with the guidance of Scripture, we can live a life of keeping God’s word,
which means a life where our actions line up with what we say we believe.
[1] ©
2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by
Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 5/25/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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