“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. … 21 And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
John 14:15-17, 21-24
Obedience to Jesus is required if one wants to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. Terms like “Spirit-filled” or “to be filled with the Spirit” are hot terms among Christians of various stripes. For some, it simply means that a person has been born-again, and the Holy Spirit lives within them. In that sense, every believer is “Spirit-filled.” On the other end of the spectrum are those who believe that being filled with the Holy Spirit is a second special work of grace that happens after one has been born again. For this camp, there is the initial indwelling of the Holy Spirit when one is born again (this is identical to the first camp above), and after being born again, one seeks the “infilling” or “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Depending again on the Christian camp one lives in, this may be evidenced by speaking in tongues, or it may not. This issue of how we relate to the Holy Spirit can make fellowship between believers difficult.
Regardless of which camp you may find yourself in, it is clear to me that walking in the power and love of the Holy Spirit involves two key elements, love, and obedience.
Our obedience to Jesus does not earn the joy of walking in the Spirit. But obedience is essential to a Spirit-filled life. Then what is the relationship between obedience and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Jesus addressed this by saying. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Proper obedience flows out of a heart of love for Jesus. It is not a religious duty to be fulfilled and then receive the reward of the presence and power of the Spirit.
The Spirit is promised to those who love and obey Jesus. He is our helper, our counselor, our advocate. He enters into our fellowship with Jesus and the Father. Being the third person of the Trinity, he has always been in fellowship with the Father and the Son, but when we fall in love with Jesus and then obey Jesus, the Holy Spirit fills us and draws us into that beautiful Trinitarian fellowship of God. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”
And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
John 14:21-24
This is a fantastic picture of Divine/human fellowship. When we love Jesus, we are loved by the Father. And Jesus will love us and manifest himself to us. We can join with Judas in his question, “How you gonna do that?” Jesus lays it out, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” When someone moves into your home, you know it. In this case, they are the most excellent, most wonderful guests one could host; Royalty that makes it feel like old home week on the one hand and their fearful, holy, awesome inspiring presence on the other. I guess it is in my DNA to be opposed to the idea of Royalty. My ancestors fled the English Monarchy for the colonies close to 350 years ago. However, I have to admit that if the Queen of England were to come to stay in my humble home, I would be impressed.
I think that, regardless of one’s Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit), we can agree that the key to a Spirit-filled life is to do two things, love Jesus and out of that love, obey Jesus. This is entirely in line with Jesus’ Great Commandment.
“Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31
Many Christians claim to love God, but their disobedience betrays their true heart. “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” If you are living a life that you would not characterize as “Spirit-filled,” ask yourself, do I truly love Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is it possible that you need to repent of your coldness of heart toward the Lord? Or, that you are harboring some sin that you love more than Jesus?
