v. 3:22 - and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
What commandments? Actually, two: Believe and Love. Note: this is a conditional statement (a nice lady in Mountain View Christian Church always said, "Promises in the Bible come with strings attached...") I don't necessarily agree with her, but there are several such statements, e.g., "...the truth will set you free." John 8:32,33 There not exactly a string attached to this, but there is a condition: you must hold to Christ's teachings before you can see the truth, that is - knowing the truth requires you follow Christ. Likewise, here in this passage, IF you keep his commandments, AND Do the things pleasing to Christ THEN you may ask and know you will receive.
Note there seems to be two (2) conditions "keep the commandments" and "do what is pleasing". You may ask, "How are these different?" (I know I did.) Can you keep His commands and still not do things that are pleasing? I think that was the problem the Jews had almost from the beginning, and why much of the Jewish religion at that time devolved into a 'works' type practice. They did things they knew they had to do, but there was no spirit of love or relationship to God. It may have been an assembly line faith. Have you ever worked in a factory or food processing plant where your job consisted on one small task - tightening a bolt on a piece, or trimming the bad spot out of a potato, picking the bad green bean from a conveyor loaded with green beans streaming passed? There is very little connection to the end product - whether a Cadillac or a bag of French fries or a can of green beans.
There is so much of life that is not proscribed by rules or instructions. Jesus wants us to rely on Him for our daily lives (not receiving stuff only, but living out, demonstrating Him living in us). This means living to please Him, and not guessing at it but to live empowered by Him in us. The Holy Spirit was given to instruct and help. See John 14:16, 17, 26ff.
| Commandments Keeping them = pleasing God |
Commandment = believe and love
v. 3:23 - This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
Keep the commandment; that is – living in Christ (picture making a home, settling down, making a nest – that is, abiding).
There is only one really important commandment - believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The second command is love one another.
Are there any unimportant commands? I don't think so. That's why, I think, there are so few commands from Christ in the new covenant. Three are paramount: (1) Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; (2) Love one another; (3) Share with others so they may believe, have fatith and be saved. Without faith in Christ, all else is basically useless. Loving fellow Christians flows from our faith. Our faith means we live in Christ; likewise, Christ living in us. There are some other commands, but these are the most important (I do not think I am stomping on any doctrinal issues.)
How do we know? We will have the Holy Spirit! Tying actions to motives, i.e., motive is as serious as action it indicates heart/mind/spirit turning away from God. How do we know Christ lives in us (makes his home in us) – we don’t hate! God wants us to be aware of, and in control of our thoughts and motives. We are not to be ‘eat, drink, and be merry…’ types. See John 14:16, 17, 26ff. The Holy Spirit is ours if we are Jesus's believers. He will never leave us. He will teach us what we need to know to live pleasing lives. The Holy Spirit will act as God and Jesus act - always 'on-call', always ready to lead, and empower us. He will never force us to do or say anything. That is the paradox of our faith - He stands at the door and knocks. If we invite Him in, He comes in. This is not a smash-and-grab operation, where He storms in like a SWAT team, battering down the door, rushing in grabbing us and dragging us into the light. His voice is quiet. We do not need to strain to hear. Yet amongst all the noise of the world around us, we do need to filter out what is not important. He is there to guide us. See Isa. 30:21 "Do this", or "Go there", or "Talk to that person." These are directions for us, and if we do not follow, can we say we are pleasing Him?
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