God’s Rules are Not a Burden

We’ve been talking about John’s use of the three tests he gives his readers — the Doctrinal, Love, and Obedience tests. These are designed to help them evaluate the false teachers who have left the church. Now John rolls all three tests together into one paragraph. And, as usual, he gets right to the point: 

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5:1)

One of the evidences that we have been “born of him,” that we are truly born again as his children, is that we believe the truth about Jesus. We believe that he is God the Son, fully God and fully man. All believers recognize and accept this truth. Anyone who does not believe this is providing evidence that he or she is not a Christian.

Another evidence that we are God’s children is that we love our fellow believers. Faith and love are linked. We can’t have assurance of our salvation if we love rightly but believe wrongly. Neither can we have that assurance if we believe rightly and love wrongly. It isn’t necessarily that we aren’t saved, but we can’t have assurance of being saved.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. (1 John 5:2)

Now this verse seems completely backwards from what John has been saying. Up to now the question has been, “How can we be sure that we love God and have a relationship with God?” John has said over and over that if we believe correctly, act in obedience, and love God and fellow believers, then we can know that we love God and belong to him.

In this verse, though, John reverses things and asks how we can know that we truly love our brothers and sisters. And John’s answer is that we can know we love them if we love and obey God.

This shouts loudly to our world today. We’re suffering through a crisis of confusion over what love is. We’re told that love means accepting and affirming anything that anyone does or believes without reservation. After all, who are we to judge?

But accepting and affirming anything that anyone does or believes is not real love. Its fake. It’s counterfeit. Authentic love is always guided by God’s direction and teaching. It always leads to action, but only in obedience to God’s commandments. 

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

So here’s John’s train of thought — we can know that we love others by how we love God. And loving God is not just a feeling. It’s a feeling that naturally falls within and flows into obedience to his commands. 

And God’s commands are not given to us to steal all the fun out of life. It’s just the opposite. His commands reveal his heart to us and are only meant for our good. God’s commands are an outflow of his love for us. They aren’t burdens. Jesus said: 

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

Jesus didn’t die just to give us another set of rules we have to follow in order to make God happy. His rules are given to us because he loves us and wants what’s best for us, and following his rules is what’s best for us. 

And we don’t obey God’s commands by gritting our teeth and doing so against our will. We obey because we want to. If you truly understand what Jesus did for you on the cross, you’ll delight in serving the one who came to first serve you. 

The world tells us that obeying God is boring, stifling and keeps us in chains. The truth is just the opposite. God gives us rules because he knows they’re the way to peace and joy. He also does it for our protection. His rules are the guardrails on the highway that keep us moving in the right direction and from veering off the path into danger and harm. 

His rules are given to us out of his love for us. Because that is true, his commandments are the best thing for us. And if we believe that, we’ll thank God for his rules and gladly obey them. Not to keep him happy with us, but out of love and gratitude for him; not from a place of obligation, but from a place of worship and thanksgiving.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)

The world tells us to stop wasting our time obeying the Bible. “Those rules are outdated and meaningless. This is the 21st century, things have changed.” This same world hates us, and yet we still listen to it.

God gives us all the strength we need to ignore the world and obey him from a place of love. We can overcome anything the world throws at us because he’s overcome the world. 

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

And what is it that John says gives us the strength to overcome the world, to resist the lies our enemy tells us every day? It’s our faith. It’s our trust in our Savior.

And where does this faith come from? It comes from the One who actually has overcome the world. God gives us our faith, and he allows us to see that following Jesus is better than following any temptations the world offers. Our faith comes from the One who has already overcome every temptation in this world, who “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Years go, the restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse had the slogan, “No Rules. Just Right.” That spoke to a whole generation of people who hate rules. But God’s rules are what’s actually just right. Knowing that his rules are given because of his love for us should help us want to obey. Is that true for you?

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