Latest / Reformed Thinking / Love That Obeys: Why God’s Commandments Are Not Burdensome (1 John 5:3–5)

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Love That Obeys: Why God’s Commandments Are Not Burdensome (1 John 5:3–5) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. We are.
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We are so thrilled you were joining us for this special deep
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dive into a really curated stack of theological sources.
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Yeah, thanks for having me. Today, our format is just a
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little different than usual. We're setting our sights on a
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very specific portion of Scripture.
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Right first John, chapter 5. Right, verses 3 through 5.
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And we are analyzing this passage through the lens of two
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rigorous theological essays. The first is titled Love that
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obeys why God's commandments are not burdensome, and the second
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is called the law of liberty, Love as joyful obedience 2.
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Really stellar pieces of writing.
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They really are, and our mission for you today is clear.
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We want to understand how God's law can be a joy rather than a
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well, rather than a crushing weight.
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And we are viewing this entirely through the framework of
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Reformed theology and the Westminster Confession.
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Because that framework is key to getting this right.
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It is. If you are listening to this
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right now, you probably feel a certain tension when the topic
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of obedience comes up. I mean, we live in a culture
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that defines love as simple affirmation.
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Yeah. So the idea of rules or a law,
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it feels restrictive to a lot of people.
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It feels oppressive. Oh.
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Absolutely. So the goal today is to resolve
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that tension for you, showing how genuine love and obedience
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are perfectly united in the Christian life.
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That tension you mentioned is very real for the modern
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Christian. I mean, when people hear the
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word commandments, they often brace themselves for just an
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exhausting list of demands. Like a checklist.
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Right, a chore list. But the sources we are looking
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at today argue that this reaction misunderstands both the
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nature of the commandments and, quite frankly, the nature of the
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believer. Right?
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The apostle John writes to provide objective tests for the
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regenerate soul, and he insists that the moral requirements of
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the king are not an oppressive weight for those born of God.
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Which sounds completely counterintuitive at first
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glance. It does, but by looking at these
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texts we will see how the law is altered from a ministry of death
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for the unregenerate into a rule of life for the Saints.
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And we're going to look closely at the Greek grammar, the
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historical context of the 1st century church, and the precise
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theological distinctions made by the Reformed tradition to see
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how this all fits together. Because the grammar and the
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history really unlock what John is doing here.
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OK, let's unpack this by looking at how our sources redefine
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love, moving us far beyond mere sentimentality.
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The text begins with a very direct statement from first John
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chapter 5, the first half of verse 3.
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It says, for this is the love of God that we keep his
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commandments. It's.
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Just so blunt. It really is.
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The authors point out that John's first exegetical move
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isn't to praise love in the abstract.
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He defines it. He tethers love to God's self
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revelation. Which immediately confronts the
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sort of sentimental spirituality of our modern era.
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Yeah, our current culture often views love is a completely
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private feeling, or just that, you know, a formless, affirming
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sentiment. A blank check, essentially.
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Right, but John gives love a concrete covenantal shape.
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I would love for us to look at the historical background here.
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What was happening in the 1st century that caused John to be
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so blunt and practical about defining love this way?
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To understand why John writes with such stark clarity, we
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really have to look at the historical context surrounding
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his audience in the late 1st century.
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Mostly around Ephesus, right? Right, a community likely
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centered around Ephesus and they were actively battling early
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proto gnostic influences. Yes, movements led by figures
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like Sorenthus. They attempted to separate
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spiritual knowledge from moral conduct.
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Which is always a disaster. Always they operated on a
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philosophical dualism borrowed from Greek thought, which
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suggested that the spiritual realm was entirely good, while
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the material realm, meaning the physical body and the physical
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world, was entirely evil. So matter equals bad, spirit
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equals good. That's the gist of it.
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And because they believe the physical body was fundamentally
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corrupt and disconnected from the spirit, they suggested that
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what you did with your physical body was irrelevant.
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Yeah, they taught that as long as you possessed a certain
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elevated mystical knowledge in your mind, your moral conduct in
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the physical world simply did not matter.
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So it led to vastly different behavioral extremes.
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It did. Some of these groups fell into
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extreme asceticism, punishing the body, but others fell into
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absolute hedonism, arguing that since the body is just a
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temporary evil shell, you could indulge in any sin without
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affecting your pure spiritual soul.
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So in John Links Love directly to Keeping Commandments, it
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functions as a sharp polemic against those novel revelations.
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Yes, he is stating unequivocally that you cannot claim to have
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fellowship with the holy God while treating his moral will as
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optional. True spirituality always
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manifests in physical moral obedience.
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That makes perfect sense. He is grounding their faith back
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in reality. And I noticed the sources spend
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a lot of time analyzing the specific Greek words John uses
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to make this point. The verb translated as keep the
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phrase keep his commandments is terish.
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A fascinating word choice by John.
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The author's note that John doesn't just use a basic word
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for do, as if love is just checking boxes on a chore list.
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It seems like the grandma itself carries a lot of weight in
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showing what his obedience is supposed to look like.
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Can you explain the nuance of that specific Greek verb and how
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it changes our understanding of keeping the law?
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That is a crucial distinction made in the essays.
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The Greek verb tortoise implies guarding, holding fast, and
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observing with care. Like a watchman.
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Precisely. Furthermore, it is used here in
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the present active subjunctive. So we are talking about ongoing
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action. Yes.
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In Greek syntax, the present tense signifies a continuous,
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habitual action. It is not describing A singular,
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flawless performance or a one time event.
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It describes A persistent, vigilant lifestyle of keeping
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watch. And the active voice.
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The active voice means the believer is the one actively
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engaged in this guarding. The analogy used in the text is
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that of a century guarding a precious deposit.
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I'll love that image. Imagine a soldier standing watch
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over a treasury. The soldier does not just
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casually look at the treasure. He protects it.
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He values it. And he ensures it is not stolen
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or corrupted. He is invested in its safety.
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Right. In the same way the believer
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guards the commandments of God against the corrupting
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influences of the world, the flesh and the devil.
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You do not keep the commandments like a slave earning a wage, you
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keep them like a child treasuring a father's words.
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That shifts the whole paradigm. It is a protective watching over
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the commandments because you value the one who gave them.
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The continuous nature of the verb also means that while we
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may stumble, the overarching trajectory of our life is 1 of
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guarding God's Word. I really appreciate that century
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analogy. It shifts the focus from anxious
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perfectionism to loving vigilance, and this creates a
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massive contrast with how modern culture talks about love today.
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Oh, a total collision. The secular world often
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redefines love as moral neutrality.
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The prevailing narrative is that love means affirming whatever
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you desire. If you love someone, the culture
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says, you validate their choices, regardless of what
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those choices are. And if you don't validate them,
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you are deemed unloving. Right.
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To say no or to point to an objective standard of right and
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wrong is often labeled as hateful.
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The text points out that this secular definition of love is a
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counterfeit A. Complete distortion.
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By insisting that love is measured by God's commands, John
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rebukes the idea that love is just a blanket tolerance that
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ignores moral boundaries. The sources also point out how
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this confronts specific modern ethical debates.
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They do touch on that. They note that the biblical
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definition refutes modern shifts in sexual ethics and the bluing
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of gender roles because love for God requires submission to his
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created order and his moral law. Now, as always, we are just
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reporting on the theological arguments presented in our text.
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We're not endorsing a specific political platform here, but
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simply trying to convey the ideas contained in the original
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source material. That is a helpful clarification.
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But you can see how the author uses this objective definition
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of love to draw a hard line against contemporary cultural
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shifts. Love is not a blank check.
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It has a specific shape, and that shape is God's law.
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The direction and source of that love are also carefully outlined
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in the text to prevent any misunderstanding.
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To avoid the idea that we muster up this vigilant love on our
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own, the sources look back to First John chapter 4, verse 19,
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which establishes the absolute order of operations.
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We love because he first loved us.
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Right God, Love is the fountain. Our obedient love is the stream.
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We do not generate this love from our own natural resources
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to persuade God to accept us. That would be a complete
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reversal of the gospel. It would we love in response to
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grace. Our keeping of the commandments
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is the responsive fruit of a heart that has already been
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loved by God. So the affection comes first.
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Yes, when God's love is poured into the heart, it creates an
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answering love that desires to please Him.
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The authors stress that if you get this order wrong, you ruin
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everything. Because then it just becomes
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works righteousness. Precisely if you think your
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obedience is the fountain that produces God's love, you will
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end up in despair. But when you realize that His
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prior electing love is the source, your obedience becomes a
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joyful echo of His grace. That brings us right to the
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paradox, which is the second major theme in our sources.
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We see this tension. How can commands that restrain
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our desires possibly be light? It is the natural question to
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ask. Because right after John says
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Love is keeping the commandments, he adds this
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phrase that sounds almost impossible to a modern ear, and
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his commandments are not burdensome.
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It stops you in your tracks. If we are honest, the natural
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human response is to say, wait a minute.
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These commands restrain my flesh, they expose my failures,
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and they call me to holiness in a hostile world.
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They tell me to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow
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Jesus. How can they be anything but
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heavy? Right.
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It feels heavy. It seems like a blatant
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contradiction to our lived experience.
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What's fascinating here is the specific word John uses for
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burdensome The Greek word is berries.
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OK, let's dig into berries. In the extra biblical literature
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of the Greco Roman world, berries was used to describe a
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physical weight that exhausts the bearer.
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Like a physical load. Yes.
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For example, it was used to describe the cargo of a ship
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that was so heavy it threatened to sink the in a storm.
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That is a vivid image. It was also used in political
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context to describe crushing taxes extracted by the Roman
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Empire, taxes that would bankrupt a citizen and leave
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them in absolute poverty. So it implies something
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oppressive. Something that crushes the life
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out of you. But the authors contrast this
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specific word with the phrase heavy burdens, the forshia Berea
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mentioned by Jesus in Matthew chapter 23, verse 4.
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Oh, when he is talking to the Pharisees.
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Right in that passage, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for tying
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up heavy burdens and laying them on people's shoulders while they
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themselves are not willing to lift a single finger to move
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them. That is Pharisaic legalism.
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It binds the conscience with man made rules and the terrifying
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demand for self salvation, but it provides absolutely no
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strength to actually obey. So it is just raw demand.
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Exactly. By using the adjective berries
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and negating it, John is declaring that for the
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regenerate believer, God's law has lost that stinging,
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oppressive quality. It is not an instrument of
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condemnation that sinks the ship of your soul.
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I think it is really helpful that the sources clarify what
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not Burnsome actually means by looking at what it does not
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mean. Because we can easily swing to
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the other extreme, right? The authors are very careful to
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state that not burdensome does not mean free from struggle.
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The Christian life isn't marketed as an effortless glide
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into glory where you never have to try.
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No, not at. All our texts bring in Galatians
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chapter 5, verse 17, which talks frankly about the intense
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warfare between the flesh and the spirit.
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Believers still battle and dwelling sin.
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It is a daily fight. It requires discipline,
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striving, self denial, and sometimes agonizing choices.
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You might lose relationships or status or comfort because you
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choose to obey. So there is a cost.
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But the nature of the weight has fundamentally changed.
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The crushing weight of condemnation and alienation from
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God is gone. The fear of being cast out of
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the family because you stumbled is removed.
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To illustrate that change in the nature of the weight, the text
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provides a fantastic analogy drawn from the historical
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reformed tradition, the. Bird wings analogy.
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I really like this one. It is so good.
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God's law for the believer is compared to the scales on a fish
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or the wings on a bird. Yes, stales and wings have
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physical weight. If you take the wings of an
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albatross and put them on a scale, they register a
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significant mass. They they are heavy.
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But they have a purpose. They are the very things that
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allow the creature to function in its proper element.
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A bird is not weighed down by its wings.
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The wings are the exact mechanism that allows it to fly.
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So removing the law wouldn't help.
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If you freed the bird from the weight of its wings, you would
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not be giving it liberty, you would be grounding it forever.
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For the Christian, the commandments are the wings.
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They provide the structure. They provide the structure that
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allows the believer to function in the element they were
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designed for, which is fellowship with God.
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The Law provides the aerodynamic shape, so to speak, that allows
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the soul to soar in communion with the Creator.
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When we view the Law as wings rather than chains, our entire
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disposition toward obedience changes.
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That is a brilliant way to visualize it.
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I love the idea that removing the law wouldn't make us free.
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You would just leave us grounded and unable to the function as we
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were designed. We need the structure.
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And it leads us perfectly into the theological foundation for
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all of this. Why exactly are the commands no
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longer crushing? John doesn't just give us a
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moral pep talk and tell us to try harder to view the law
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positively. He gives us a massive
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theological reason. Right in first John chapter 5
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verses four and five, he gives that reason and it is the new
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birth or regeneration he says, for everyone who has been born
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of God overcomes the world. The new birth changes the whole
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equation. The reason the commands aren't a
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burden is because the Christian has experienced A radical root
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change. It is family language.
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You are born of God. You have a new principle of life
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within you, new affections, and a new capacity to receive God's
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Word as good. Which naturally leads to
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overcoming the world. Can we look closer at this
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concept of overcoming the world? What exactly is John referring
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to when he uses the word world here?
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We absolutely need to define the world in Yohanian literature,
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because he is not talking about the physical planet, the trees
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or the mountains. The Greek word is cosmos.
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Yes, in John's writings, the cosmos refers to the fallen
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order of humanity and active rebellion against God.
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The world system. It is the invisible spiritual
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system of values, desires and false promises that stand
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opposed to the Creator, currently under the sway of the
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Evil 1. So is an act of rebellion.
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The world's narrative dictates that true freedom is found in
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complete self rule and that obedience to an external
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authority is sheer misery. The world says that you are your
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own king, and any law outside of your own desires is a threat to
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your happiness. And if you buy into that?
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If you believe that narrative, God's commandments will
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absolutely feel like suffocating chains.
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But the believer overcomes this false narrative through the new
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birth. Because your eyes are opened.
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Regeneration opens your eyes to see that the world's promises of
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freedom are actually a cruel slavery to sin.
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The new birth gives you a new heart that recognizes God as a
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loving father, not a tyrannical dictator.
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You are no longer captive to the world's lies about what
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constitutes the good life. The text highlights that this
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victory over the world's false narrative isn't achieved through
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sheer human willpower or intelligence.
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The victory is intimately connected to faith.
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Faith is the instrument. John writes.
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And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
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But the sources are quick to point out that this faith is not
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some vague optimism. It isn't a generic spirituality.
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Right where you just believe in yourself or believe that things
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will work out. It is highly specific and
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Christological. John immediately asks who is it
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that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus
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is the Son of God? It has a definite object.
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Faith has a definite object. It is looking outside of
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yourself to a specific person in history.
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That object is the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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If you approach obedience apart from Christ, maybe as a self
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improvement project, a way to impress your neighbors, or a way
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to earn a reward from God, the commands will crush you.
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Because you can't measure up. You will inevitably fail and the
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law will condemn you, but when your faith is fixed on Jesus as
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the divine saving Son of God, you receive the commandments
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through Him. As mediated through a savior.
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You receive them as the good rule of your King, who has
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already secured your salvation. Faith recognizes that His blood
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answers your guilt, and His spirit answers your weakness.
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It is a total provision. True faith unites you to the Son
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of God so that his victory over the world becomes your victory.
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You share in His triumph. This is why the commandments are
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not burdensome, because faith connects you to the ultimate
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burden bearer. So what does this all mean for
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you, the listener in your daily life?
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It means there's a massive shift in your core identity.
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Identity is everything here. Because of the new birth and
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conquering faith, the moral will of God is no longer experienced
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as an alien tyranny. Because you are no longer an
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alien, you approach the commands as an adopted child.
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That Roman adoption context is so helpful.
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It really is. In the Roman world, when a child
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was adopted, all their previous debts were cancelled and they
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received a new name, a new status and a new inheritance.
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A total clean slate. You are not an outsider standing
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at the gates trying to perform well enough to earn admission
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into the Kingdom. You were already in the house.
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You already have a seat at the table.
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Your. Pressure is off.
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Your debts are cancelled. You were just learning how to
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live like a member of the family.
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The rules of the house are not there to determine if you get to
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stay, they are there to show you how the family operates.
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This shift in identity is the precise mechanism that protects
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the believer from the two most common distortions of God's
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commands. The two ditches on either side
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of the road. Yes, human nature instinctively
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twists God's commands in two dangerous directions, legalism
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on the one hand and antinomianism on the other.
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Both are deadly. John's pastoral genius in this
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letter is that he steers the believer safely between these
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two catastrophic errors. A healthy Reformed understanding
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of the Christian life requires us to identify both of these
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cliffs so we do not fall over either edge.
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Let's look at the first error, legalism.
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The sources define legalism carefully.
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It is not just taking holiness seriously or trying hard to
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obey. Which is a common misconception.
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It is treating obedience as the ground of your acceptance with
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God. It is the religious reflex that
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says if I perform well enough, if I read my Bible enough, if I
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avoid enough sins, then God will love me and accept me.
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It turns the gospel upside down. Completely upside down.
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Illegalism essentially puts the law back on the throne as a
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covenant of works. In Reformed theology, the
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covenant of works was the arrangement with Adam in the
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garden. Do this and live.
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But we broke that covenant. We shattered it.
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Legalism tries to reinstate it. It turns the entire Christian
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life into a miserable project of anxious self justification, and
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the psychological result of legalism is always either pride
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or despair. There's no middle ground.
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None. If you think you are doing well,
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you become arrogant, judgmental, and harsh toward others who are
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struggling. If you are honest about your
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failures, you fall into crushing despair because you know you can
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never do enough to meet God's perfect standard.
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It also breeds hypocrisy. Because you end up spending all
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your energy managing your outward reputation rather than
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confessing your actual sin. John rules this out entirely.
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The child does not obey to get adopted.
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The adopted child obeys because they already belong to the
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father. The status precedes the
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behavior. The second error is
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antinomianism, which comes from 2 Greek words meaning against
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the law or lawlessness. The opposite ditch.
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The sources define this is treating God's commands as
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negotiable or even irrelevant simply because we are under
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grace. It is a posture that claims
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fellowship with God while refusing his authority over
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daily life. It is the idea of cheap grace.
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It is the voice that says I love Jesus.
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My sins are forgiven so I won't be told what to do.
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How I live does doesn't matter. Our essays stress that grace
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does not erase God's moral will. Grace creates a new person who
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begins to love what God loves and hate what God hates.
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A gospel that excuses ongoing, unrepentant rebellion is a
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counterfeit gospel. It is.
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To navigate safely between these two errors of legalism and
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antinomianism, the authors rely heavily on the theological
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framework of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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Specifically regarding justification and
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sanctification. Yes, the precise distinction
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between justification and sanctification.
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These are two graces that are absolutely inseparable in the
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life of the believer. You never find one without the
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other, but they are distinct in their nature and confusing them
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causes massive pastoral problems.
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What does Chapter 11 say? According to Chapter 11 of the
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Confession, justification is God's once for all legal
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verdict, pardoning all our sins and accepting us as righteous in
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His sight. It is grounded solely in
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Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us, and it is
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received by faith alone. So it is a legal declaration.
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It is an act that happens outside of us in the courtroom
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of God, and it is instantaneous and perfect.
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Now, according to chapter 13, sanctification is God's ongoing
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work by his Spirit inside of us, gradually conforming the
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believer to the image of Christ in real, practical obedience.
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So that one is progressive. It is progressive and involves
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our active cooperation, and it is never perfect in this life.
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That distinction is so helpful. Legalism collapses that
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distinction by smuggling sanctification into
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justification. Exactly.
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It makes your ongoing growth and holiness the basis for your
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legal acceptance in God's courtroom, which ruins grace.
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And antinomianism collapses it the other way.
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Right. Pretending you can have
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justification without any resulting sanctification at all,
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which ruins holiness. Yeah, the Reform framework holds
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them together without confusing them.
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You are justified by faith alone.
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But the faith that justifies is never alone.
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It always produces the fruit of sanctification.
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The sources also bring in the reformed dogmatic concept of
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that uses normatifis, or the third use of the law, which is
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outlined in Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession.
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The three uses of the law are brilliant.
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The Reformers identified 3 uses of the moral law.
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The first use is pedagogical. It acts as a mirror to show us
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our sin and drive us to Christ. So that is the condemning use.
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Yes, the second use is civil. It restrains evil in society
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through the threat of punishment.
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But the third use is the normative use for the believer.
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And this changes everything. Under the Old Covenant, the law
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functioned as a ministry of condemnation for those in the
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flesh. But for the justified believer,
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the law is no longer a covenant of works that condemns.
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It becomes a rule of life. It guides grateful obedience.
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Calvin had a great analogy for this.
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John Calvin and the Puritan theologians use the concept of
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the law as spectacles. Just as a pair of glasses
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corrects your physical vision so you can see the world
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accurately, the moral law acts as spectacles through which
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believers can clearly see their duty and understand what pleases
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the Father. Because otherwise we are just
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guessing. Without the law, we would be
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guessing about how to show our gratitude.
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The commands show us what love looks like in action.
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But this entire ethical framework, all this talk of
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obedience and the third use of the law falls apart completely
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without Jesus. We.
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Have to get to Christ. That is the focus of the next
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major section in our sources, Christ at the Center.
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The authors insist that John's moral claims are deliberately
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Christ shaped. You cannot talk about obedience
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in a Christian context without talking about the Savior.
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Otherwise you just have dry moralism.
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We have to look at both Christ's active obedience and his ongoing
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work in the believer to fully grasp why the commands are not
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burdensome. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture of redemptive history, we see that Christ obeys.
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For us, the gospel does not start with the command to keep
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the law. It starts with an announcement.
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It starts with the historical announcement that the Son of God
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has come and fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf.
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In Reformed Theology, we talk about two aspects of Christ's
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work, his active obedience and his passive obedience.
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Let's define the passive obedience first.
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His passive obedience refers to His willingness to suffer the
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penalty of the law on the cross, shedding His blood to answer the
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penalty for our guilt, He took the curse of the law.
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He paid the debt. But his active obedience refers
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to his lifelong perfect conformity to the Father's will.
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From his birth to his death, he lived a life of perfect,
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flawless obedience that we failed to live.
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And that record is given to us. His perfect record is imputed or
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credited to us by faith because Christ obeyed for us.
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The law's voice is fundamentally altered.
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It no longer thunders from the bench as a judge's sentence
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demanding perfection for survival.
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It instructs from the home as a father's wisdom guiding his
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beloved children. That act of obedience handles
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the legal demand of the law beautifully.
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It secures our standing. But Christ also does an ongoing
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work to empower obedience in us. He doesn't leave us alone.
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He doesn't just pardon rebels and the McLean record and then
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leave them alone to figure out holiness on their own.
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That would still be a heavy burden.
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Instead, He unites believers to Himself and gives them His Holy
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Spirit. He produces in them the very
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obedience He commands. He works in us that which is
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pleasing in His sight. This is where we see the
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beautiful Reformed doctrine of union with Christ.
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The believer is hidden in Christ.
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The victory that overcomes the world is not our native human
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resolve, our grit, or our determination.
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It is the Spirit enabled clinging of the soul to Christ.
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It is a supernatural work. Christ's kingship in our lives
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is effective. He actually subdues our
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rebellious heart, breaks the dominating dominion of reigning
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sin, and trains us in holiness. He changes our underlying
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desires so that we begin to find sin bitter and holiness
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beautiful. The.
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New covenant promise. The Holy Spirit writes the law
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on our hearts, fulfilling the promise of the New Covenant in
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Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We begin to obey, not out of a
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terrifying fear of hell, but out of a genuine affection for the
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King who saved us. The authors tie this reality
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beautifully to the famous words of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 11
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verses 28 through 30 where he says, Come to me, all who labor
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and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
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lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for My
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yoke is easy and My burden is light.
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The yoke imagery is so profound. Let me rephrase that, it is so
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deep. A yoke is a wooden beam used
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between a pair of oxen to allow them to pull a heavy load.
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It is a mechanism of Labor and authority.
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Taking his yoke means willingly entering into a saving
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authority. You are submitting to his
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direction. You are a yoke to him.
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But it is an easy yoke because Christ carries what he lays upon
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his people. In a yoke with two oxen, a
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stronger, older ox is often paired with a younger, weaker 1.
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And the older ox does the heavy lifting.
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The stronger ox bears the vast majority of the weight and sets
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the pace. The commands are not heavy
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because the believer is not left alone under them.
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The resurrected Christ lives within the believer by His
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Spirit, providing the strength to walk in His ways and bearing
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the true weight of the load. That theological reality leads
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us directly into the practical application.
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John did not write these things for abstract contemplation in an
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ivory tower. He wanted them live out.
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He wrote them so that first century believers and believers
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today could know they have eternal life and walk in steady,
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practical joy. Joyful obedience is cultivated
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through ordinary channels, which we in the Reformed tradition
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often call the means of grace. God has provided specific,
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tangible ways for us to receive the strength we need to carry
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the yoke. Here's where it gets really
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interesting for the daily life of the believer.
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How do we actually experience this light yoke on a Tuesday
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morning when we are stressed, tired and tempted?
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It isn't through chasing a feeling.
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The sources tell us that the not burdensome life is not found by
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chasing emotional highs, waiting for mystical shivers down your
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spine, or looking for continuous supernatural signs.
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It is found by utilizing the ordinary quiet channels God has
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ordained, the reading and preaching of the Word, prayer,
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gathered corporate worship, and the sacraments.
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Those ordinary rhythms sustain us.
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When these ordinary channels are neglected, the noise of the
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world grows louder, the false promises of sin become more
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enticing, and suddenly obedience starts to feel like dragging
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heavy chains again. You lose sight of the Father's
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love, and the law goes back to feeling like a tyrant's demand.
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The sources place a special focus on the sacrament of the
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Lord's Supper, which is vital for maintaining this joyful
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obedience. Let's talk about the supper.
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The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines a sacrament as
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a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible
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signs, Christ and the benefits of the New Covenant are
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represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
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Augustine called it the visible word.
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At the table, the believer encounters that visible word you
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see with your own eyes and taste with your own mouth the elements
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that represent Christ's body broken for your lawlessness.
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The bread and the cup are tangible.
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Physical reassurances that you're standing with God is
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based entirely on Christ's performance, not your own.
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It grounds us in grace. You are nourished by his person.
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In the Reformed view, we are spiritually feeding on Christ by
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faith. The table brings to mind the
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reality that the heavy burden of sin and wrath was laid upon
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Christ at Calvary so that His yoke could be easy for us today.
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It fuels your hands for active service.
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It fuels your service in the world because your heart has
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been captivated afresh by His grace.
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You leave the table ready to keep the commandments because
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you have just tasted the love that fulfilled them.
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The authors also point out a surprising concept regarding
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repentance, which ties right into this daily walk.
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Our modern culture, and often even our church culture, views
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repentance as a gloomy, miserable, agonizing exercise.
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We treat it like a penalty. We think of it as groveling, but
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the text present repentance as a daily practice of joy and
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relief. Repentance is not the enemy of
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your happiness, it is the doorway back into fellowship.
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It restores communion. When we sin, we experience the
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bondage of the flesh. We feel the heavyweight of a
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guilty conscience, but when we confess and turn away from that
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sin, we experience the immediate healing of our souls.
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First, John makes this clear. First, John chapter one verse 9
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assures us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and
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just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
31:22
unrighteousness. Notice it says He is just to
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forgive us because Christ has already paid the penalty.
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It would be unjust to demand payment twice.
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That cleansing restores our communion with God and renews
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our strength for joyful obedience.
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Repentance is just dropping the heavy bags of sin that you were
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never meant to carry. Finally, we must look at the
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communal aspect of all this, because keeping the commandments
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is never done in isolation. We need the body.
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Obedience is intensely personal, but it is never private.
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In the wider context of John's letter, the apostle inextricably
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binds love for God to love for God's children.
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You cannot separate the 2. He states plainly that you
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cannot claim to love the invisible father while despising
32:04
his visible family. The local church is the primary
32:07
arena where this covenant to loyalty becomes tangible.
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It is the proving ground for love.
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It is where the rubber meets the road.
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It is where we bear one another's burdens, where we
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forgive one another when we are wronged, where we serve one
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another's physical and spiritual needs, and where we guard one
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another from the lies of the world.
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Glad, committed fellowship with other believers is a primary way
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we experience the joy of God's commands.
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When you were struggling under the weight of temptation, a
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brother or sister points you back to Christ, helping to lift
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the yoke. We really do carry each other.
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That brings us to our final summary of this deep dive.
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We've covered a lot of ground today, from the shores of 1st
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century Ephesus to the theological halls of
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Westminster. It has been quite a study.
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But the core message for you today is a resolved paradox.
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Love for God is objectively measured by your obedience to
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His commands, but that obedience is sustained entirely by His
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prior grace. You do not obey to become a
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child of God. You obey because you already are
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child of God. Bought with a price and indwelt
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by the Spirit. As a listener, you are presented
33:14
with a stark contrast between the options available to you for
33:18
how you will live your life. Let's lay out those options.
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The world offers a counterfeit love, a formless, ever changing
33:24
affirmation that ignores objective moral boundaries and
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leads, in the end to spiritual death and relationship chaos.
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Legalism offers a heavy burden, a religious treadmill of self
33:36
justification that leads only to arrogant pride or crushing
33:40
despair. And the third option.
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But the gospel offers a holy love that leads to true,
33:45
abundant life. It offers the easy yoke of a
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Savior who kept the law perfectly on your behalf, died
33:51
for your law breaking, and now lives inside you to provide the
33:54
strength to walk in His ways. I want to leave you with a final
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provocative thought to Mull over as you go about your day.
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What if the moments you find God's commands the most
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suffocating, the most restrictive, and the most
34:05
burdensome are the exact moments you're trying to lift them with
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your own strength instead of letting the resurrected Christ
34:10
within you carry the weight? That changes the perspective
34:13
entirely. Think about that the next time
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you feel overwhelmed by the call to holiness.
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Are you looking at the law through the lens of your own
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performance or through the lens of Christ's finished work?
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive on Reformed
34:25
thinking.