28/08/2026
Glory to God for the joint care group of Cookstown and Magherafelt Harvest event 🙌🏻🔥
Thank you po Pastor James for the reminder of Gods Love🤍
Genuine Love for God Is Demonstrated Through Obedience
Text: 1 John 2:3–6 NLT
“And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”
1 John 2:3-6 NLT
Ask your neighbour, "How complete is your love?"
“It’s easy to say, ‘I love God.’ But 1 John tells us that genuine love is demonstrated through obedience. So the question is not simply, Do you love God? The question is, How complete is your love?”
“Because complete love doesn’t remain in words—it expresses itself in obedience, surrender, and a life that looks like Jesus.”
So can we say that some of us demonstrate incomplete love?”
Absolutely. We may genuinely love God, but our love can still be incomplete in its expression.
We love God when it is convenient, but struggle to obey when obedience is costly.
We love God in worship, but struggle to love people who hurt or disappoint us.
We love God with our words, but sometimes our actions tell a different story.
The issue is not whether we have love for God—the question is whether our love has reached the point of obedience.
John says, “Those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.” (1 John 2:5)
Incomplete love says, “I love You, Lord, but…”
Complete love says, “I love You, Lord, therefore I will obey You.”
John gives us a very practical test of genuine love for God.
“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.”
— 1 John 2:3
Genuine love is demonstrated through obedience, not by words alone.
Say to your neighbour, "Words are good. But actions are better."
God has given us the gift of words to express what is in our hearts. We can say, “I love You, Lord,” “I worship You,” “I honour You,” and “You are everything to me.”
And there is nothing wrong with saying these things. Our words matter.
But the Bible teaches us that our words must eventually be proven by our actions.
Because if our words are not backed up by our actions, they eventually become empty.
Jesus said of the Pharisees:
“These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
— Matthew 15:8
Their lips were saying the right things, but their lives were not reflecting genuine devotion to God.
Words can express love, but obedience demonstrates love.
Love is fully expressed through obedience.
1. OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES DEVOTION — A DESIRE TO PLEASE
When we genuinely love someone, we care about what pleases them.
Jesus said:
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
— John 14:15
Obedience says:
“Lord, I don’t only want to know what You can do for me. I want to know what pleases You.”
Real devotion moves us from asking:
“What can God do for me?”
to:
“Lord, what would You have me do?”
A person who genuinely loves God develops a desire to please God—even when nobody is watching.
2. OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES TRUST
Obedience becomes especially meaningful when we don’t understand everything.
There will be moments when God says:
• Forgive when you have been hurt.
• Give when you feel you don’t have enough.
• Wait when you want an immediate answer.
• Go when you don’t know everything ahead.
• Let go when you are comfortable holding on.
At those moments, obedience says:
“I may not understand, but I trust You.”
Faith trusts God’s character even when it cannot yet see God’s plan.
We cannot have a healthy relationship without trust.
Likewise, genuine love for God says:
“Because I trust who You are, I can obey what You say.”
3. OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES HONOUR AND RESPECT — SUBMISSION
Obedience acknowledges that God is God and we are not.
There is a difference between saying:
“God, bless my plans.”
and:
“God, I surrender my plans to You.”
Submission is not weakness. Submission is an expression of honour.
When we obey God, we are saying:
“Your Word carries greater authority than my feelings, preferences, opinions and desires.”
Jesus demonstrated this perfectly in Gethsemane:
“Not my will, but yours be done.”
— Luke 22:42
That is love expressed through surrender.
4. OBEDIENCE DEMONSTRATES WILLINGNESS TO FACE CHALLENGES — SACRIFICE
Sometimes obedience is easy.
But sometimes obedience costs us something.
It may cost us our:
• comfort,
• time,
• pride,
• money,
• reputation,
• relationships,
• or personal plans.
This is where genuine love is tested.
Jesus said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
— Matthew 16:24
The cross reminds us that love is not merely emotional—it is sacrificial.
If we only obey God when obedience is convenient, we have not yet allowed love to reach its fullest expression.
Love that costs us nothing has not yet been fully tested.
BUT JOHN DOESN’T STOP THERE: DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD
In the same chapter, John gives another important instruction:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world.”
— 1 John 2:15
This creates a powerful contrast.
On one hand:
Love for God produces obedience.
On the other:
Love for the world produces compromise.
John is essentially asking the church:
Who do you really love?
Many of us say:
“I love God.”
We sing it.
We pray it.
We preach it.
We declare it.
But eventually, the way we live reveals who truly has our heart.
Jesus said:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
— Matthew 6:21
The question is not simply:
“What do I say I love?”
The deeper question is:
“What does my life demonstrate that I love?”
Because our choices reveal our priorities.
Our time reveals our priorities.
Our money reveals our priorities.
Our relationships reveal our priorities.
Our desires reveal our priorities.
And ultimately:
Our obedience reveals our love.
WHAT DOES JOHN MEAN BY “THE WORLD”?
John isn’t telling us to hate people or withdraw from society.
He is warning us against the world’s system of values that operates independently of God—desires, ambitions, pride and pleasures that compete with our devotion to Him.
John describes it as:
The lust of the flesh
What I desire.
The lust of the eyes
What I see and want.
The pride of life
What I want to possess, become, or prove.
These things can quietly compete with our love for God.
And here’s the danger:
We can love God with our lips while loving the world with our lifestyle.
We can say:
“God is first.”
But our decisions can demonstrate that comfort is first.
Success is first.
Money is first.
Recognition is first.
Pleasure is first.
Our own desires are first.
WHO IS REALLY SHAPING YOUR LIFE?
This is the challenge of 1 John 2.
God’s Word—or the world’s values?
God’s will—or my desires?
Kingdom priorities—or personal ambitions?
Obedience—or compromise?
Because what we consistently obey reveals what we ultimately love.
You don’t have to tell me what you love.
Show me what you obey.
Your lifestyle will eventually reveal what your lips are claiming.
JESUS IS OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE
John concludes:
“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
— 1 John 2:6
Jesus didn’t merely talk about obedience.
He lived it.
His life demonstrated:
Devotion — He lived to please the Father.
Trust — He trusted the Father completely.
Honour — He submitted Himself to the Father’s will.
Sacrifice — He willingly went to the cross.
Therefore, if we claim to live in Christ, our lives should increasingly look like His.
LOVE THAT CAN BE SEEN
We don’t obey God to make Him love us.
We obey because He first loved us.
And when we truly understand His love, obedience stops being merely an obligation and becomes a response of love.
Genuine love doesn’t stop at the lips.
Genuine love moves the heart.
The heart moves the will.
The will produces obedience.
And obedience produces a life that reflects Christ.
So the challenge today is not simply:
“Do you say that you love God?”
The deeper question is:
“Does your life prove it?”
Prayer
Lord, let my lifestyle agree with my confession.
May I never merely say that I love You.
May my obedience prove it.
May my choices prove it.
May my priorities prove it.
May my sacrifices prove it.
May my life prove that You—not the world—have my heart.
Who do you really love?
Look at what you obey.
