love and obey

Jesus told us it is the one that keeps His commandments that loves Him (John 14.15, 21; 15.10). The postmodern innovator is anxious to speak of God's love and loving God but not of God's commands. They do this because the rightly reject the legalism that is often found in religion but sadly also because they do not know true love and the true God who can have obedience and love go hand-in-hand without contradiction.

Kevin DeYoung, basing his thoughts on Ecc 12.13, reminds us of how we are to live our lives:

So the end of the matter is this: Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.

And R.C. Sproul posts a piece on Defining God's Will.

“It is the will of God.” How easily these words fall from the lips or flow from the pen. How difficult it is to penetrate exactly what they mean. Few concepts in theology generate more confusion than the will of God.

One problem we face is rooted in the multifaceted way in which the term will functions in biblical expressions. The Bible uses the expression “the will of God” in various ways. We encounter two different Greek words in the New Testament (boule and thelema), both of which are capable of several nuances. They encompass such ideas as the counsel of God, the plan of God, the decrees of God, the disposition or attitude of God, as well as other nuances.

Augustine once remarked, “In some sense, God wills everything that happens.” The immediate question raised by this comment is, In what sense? How does God “will” the presence of evil and suffering? Is He the immediate cause of evil? Does He do evil? God forbid. Yet evil is a part of His creation. If He is sovereign over the whole of His creation, we must face the conundrum: How is evil related to the divine will?

Questions like this one make distinctions necessary—sometimes fine distinctions, even technical distinctions—with respect to the will of God.

Coram Deo: What is your response to the questions raised in this reading: How does God “will” the presence of evil and suffering? Is He the immediate cause of evil? Does He do evil?

Psalm 40:8: “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.”
Matthew 6:10: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Note that loving God and living His life is integral with obedience. I integrate this with Mt 22.40. Postmoderns love to quote Mt 22.36-38. The problem is the put a period there. Jesus is clearly saying that without love, the following of the rest of commands are empty, results in bondage, and is impossible. But, He is in nowise saying that we stop at love. In fact, he is reinforcing the link between love and obedience. He is clearly saying, out of love flows these behaviors/commands. If you are not doing them, you have not love. And even better, in Mt 22.29 he reminds us that it is in Scripture and the POWER of God that we find life and freedom to both love and obey. The postmodern innovator cannot speak of sin and absolutes because their version of love is not based on either Scripture or power, it is a false warm fuzzy human sensation that is defined by their own set of rules. In rejection of today's pharisees, they have become today's pharisees.