Lets jump a little further in the chapter of John cited in the previous post.
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.
John 15, 12-17
If anyone has any doubts that Jesus had commands he told us to follow the above verses should strike down that doubt. Again and again in these verses Jesus used the word “command”. I’m sure there are some of the ever-present theologians out there that will somehow take the word “command” and turn it into something else. After all they have had almost two thousand years to hone in on that task. But for me I take the word command to be what the current dictionary says it is:
com·mand [kuh-mand, -mahnd] verb (used with object)
1. to direct with specific authority or prerogative; order
2. to require authoritatively; demand
3. to have or exercise authority or control over
4. to deserve and receive (respect, sympathy, attention, etc.)
All of these definitions certainly point to what Jesus says. Jesus certainly had the authority to direct, demand, and have control over us. And what did Jesus command. The first command here was to love one another as he loved us. That is an impossible command but we should strive to do it just the same. Jesus said you are my friends if you do what I command. So, if we try to do what he commands we are no longer slaves to our weaknesses; in other words we are no longer just poor miserable sinners but are now friends of Jesus and therefore God. What an exhilarating feeling this is if we just take these words to heart. Yes Jesus did come to us when we were in a far less than noble shape but now through Jesus we have the ability to do what he commands. As is common with many of his talks with us Jesus closes out this one repeating one more time what he commands us to do.
