Tag: Obedience

Lent 2019 | Day 13: The Simplicity of Obedience

Obedience is simple, but it is rarely easy.

I want to make sure that I make this distinction right from the beginning. To say something is simple does not mean it is easy. Obedience is simple, but it is rarely easy.

As we have seen over the last couple of days, the call and difficulty of obedience are related to the problem we have to submit to what we have been told to do by God. The more we seek to know and do God’s will, the greater our chance of confronting the greatest obstacle of our faith: We do not want to do things God’s way. We wonder quietly (and sometimes openly) if God really wanted to he could make it easier for us to obey.

Let me answer this simply: NO! God will not make it easier.

Obedience will always be a challenge because it will always ask us to actions that challenge our comfort. I don’t know why we want to make obedience to God easy. It is not easy. It’s not supposed to be because God is working to remove the vestiges of sin from our lives. That means that until all God sees is Christ in us, there is a continued need for obedience.

The miracle is that God has not left us powerless. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised to send another. One who would be both our comforter and our source of strength. When I say this I mean two specific things. First, the Holy Spirit comforts us not in our sinning. No, the Spirit of God comforts us by reminding us that in spite of our sin, we have been forgiven; that in spite of our tendency toward failure, Christ’s success on the cross cannot be revoked or rescinded.

Second, the Holy Spirit is our strength. What I mean by this is that we are not going to win the battle for obedience against sin in our own ability. It is divine enablement that makes the life of a born-again believer of Jesus possible to live until we see Jesus face-to-face. The Holy Spirit pokes and prods our conscience, letting us know we are moving away from God’s will and purpose. When we heed this prompting we are drawn away from danger and reset on our journey.

Obedience is hard, but not because God has made it hard. It is hard because we make it hard. When we fail to obey, it is not an indictment on God, but on us. We have failed to obey because we found something of lesser value than God more worthy of our time and efforts.

Obedience is simple. We just want to make it complicated. And this is what makes it hard.

Lent 2019 | Day 12: The Power of Obedience

The soldier does not need to know why the given task is important. The soldier is only responsible to doing everything within their power to see it done.

One of my favorite stories in the entire Bible tells about a soldier who came asking Jesus to heal one of his servants. It is found in the seventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel. What is interesting to me is how the Centurion captures in just a few words the essence of faithful obedience. It is one of the most important events in Jesus’ earthly ministry because of how Jesus characterizes the Centurion’s understanding of faith and obedience.

6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luke 7:6-9 ESV)

The Centurion, as a soldier, had been trained to follow orders. To hear the commands given by his superiors in the chain of command and to follow them. He had also been trained to give orders and expect them to be obeyed. There are several implicit realities here.

  • The personal cost of the soldier was not a consideration when given a task to complete.
  • The task to be accomplished was to become the most important reality for the soldier, and nothing else should deter the soldier from completing the objective.
  • The soldier does not need to know why the given task is important. The soldier is only responsible to doing everything within their power to see it done.

The Centurion was speaking in military terms. He was making a reference to the fact that in the same that he was a soldier who would give and take orders and expect them to be done, he expected Jesus’s words to have the same power over disease! Jesus was a man both under and with authority. And Jesus responds to this by describing a soldiers obedience to commands and faith. It truly is an amazing story.

What makes this exchange even more impressive is that it is, as far as I can remember, the only place where Jesus commends the faith of a Gentile as being greater than all those who were a part of Israel. This is high praise indeed for this man.

What this means is that God is looking for a people who learn and know how to obey. In our obedience there is power because it is one of the simplest and greatest evidences of our faith. Without obedience, any discussion of faith is mere lip service.

Lent 2019 | Day 11: The Difficulty of Obedience

The great difficulty about obedience is that it is runs counter to our instincts to do what we think is best.

The great difficulty about obedience is that it is runs counter to our instincts to do what we think is best. We don’t like the idea of substituting our judgment for that of others. Whether we realize it or not, our tendency is to trust our emotional responses to the circumstances we find ourselves in and the decisions we have to make. This can be a dangerous method to making important decisions in life.

The irony is that the season of Lent calls us to forsake our own impulses and tendency and intentionally do one of two things. We can set something we value aside or we can add something we know we need to do that is of spiritual value.

In the Christian faith, obedience is vital if we are going to see anything resembling maturity. If we cannot control our tendencies, insecurities, impulses, or whims we will find it difficult to make progress. This is why obedience is such an important aspect of maturity.

The greater our obedience the easier it becomes to know that we are living in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Our obedience is the expression of our inward  convictions and understanding of God’s character and his commands.

The apostle John said as much when he said in his first letter.

3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3 ESV)

Not only does the apostle equate our love for God with our obedience to his commandments, he adds this extra reminder. John lets the reader know that for those who are children of God, obedience should not feel like a burden! That is a remarkable thing to say. And it is an even more remarkable thing to experience. But, it all begins with a commitment to obey.

Lent 2019 | Day 10: The Call to Obedience

Obedience is the greatest challenge of the Christian life because we are called to put aside our judgment of what is best and submitting to God’s judgment of what we should do.

We have spent some time looking at the reality of God’s grace in the life of believers. I would like to turn our attention for a few days to the call of obedience. What I mean by this is that now that we have been born again to a new life in Christ, we must submit ourselves to live in a manner of life “worthy of the Gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27).

This idea—live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ—is something I have encountered in several places in the New Testament (Eph. 4:1, Col. 1:10, 1 Thes. 2:12). It is interesting because every single time I read it, I intuitively know what it means. It is a call to conform all of my life so it reflects the person of Jesus. If this is what Paul is asking of believers (and I believe he is), we have to confront our tendency to buck at what it entails for our lives.

There is another passage that I find horribly inconvenient. It is found in 1 Samuel 15:22-23. The context is Samuel’s admonition to King Saul about how he had disobeyed the command of God to destroy the Amalekites and all their possessions. Saul did not do this, he saw the spoils of war before him but failed to control the people. Then to make matters worse, Saul tries to “make things right” with God by saying that what was kept was going to be sacrificed to God as an act of worship!

It is in this context that the prophet tells the disobedient king,

22And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23 ESV)

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Obedience is the greatest challenge of the Christian life because we are called to put aside our judgment of what is best and submitting to God’s judgment of what we should do. Every time we fail to obey, we guarantee displeasing God. Every time. There are no exceptions here. We struggle to see God at work, we miss seeing God’s favor in our lives, we falter in our labors because we are not obedient.

In this season of Lent, I want to challenge you to consider where you are not being obedient to God. Once you have identified it, the proper response is to repent and begin to obey. God is faithful and just to forgive. His word has promised that he will (1 John 1:9).

The Beautiful Lightness of God’s Commands

When we are able to see God’s words as if for the first time, there is a freshness to them, and a refreshing by them, that we can experience.

My Bible reading group has been reading through 1 John this week. There have been several times this week where I have felt as if I was seeing these words for the first time. It has been refreshing and convicting.

When we are able to see God’s words as if for the first time, there is a freshness to them, and a refreshing by them, that we can experience. I was really made away of the way that John calls us to a deep and consistent obedience of God’s commands. God has said so much, more than we can every really accomplish. But, we are called to obey each and every one of these commands. Not just the ones that are easy, but especially the ones that are hard.

This is where the conviction comes in. I was convicted by the fact of how easy it is for me rely on my own strength, my own abilities and wisdom, to accomplish what can only be done by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The call of God to obey his commands is not made to the fallen sinner. It is made to the redeemed and Spirit-filled saint.

Are all people under the burden of the commands of God? Are all people, whether saved or lost, responsible conform their lives to the reality of a living God? Yes, on both counts. The issue is that the weight of this reality will feel differently. Or at least it should. This is what I was convicted of this week. I had lost sight of the lightness of God’s commands because I had not really been relying on God’s enabling power like I should have.

Let’s stop a moment and look and what John said:

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3 ESV)

His commands are NOT burdensome. I really had to stop and take that one in this week.

If you are feeling the weight of God’s commands in your life, it may be time to stop and do a check on your obedience. When we are living out the reality of the Gospel in our lives by trusting in the enabling power of God’s Spirit, we are living on our own power. Every single time we do this we are doomed to reach the end of our own strength faster than we want to believe. We are not able to obey God on our own. And the truth of it is we are not supposed to do.

The primary reason the commands of God are not burdensome is because the one who bore our burdens has told us that our yoke is in reality his yoke, and that his yoke is easy. And his burden is light (Matthew 11:30). We need to stop pretending that we having this life all figured out. We need to stop trying to squeeze joy out of every cell of our bodies.

Joy is not something that we can manufacture in our own abilities. Joy is the byproduct of our souls rejoicing in the wonder, beauty, and power of the Gospel. That is where joy is found. And the way we tap into that fountain of joy is by trusting in God to give us the power and the will and the strength to do his will. That is the attitude of a child of God.

Look at what the apostle Paul said to the Philippians about their obedience.

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV, emphasis added)

If we have to muster up the strength to keep our obeying the commands of God, we are seeking for help from the wrong place. Of that there can be no doubt.

Lent 2018 | Day #20: Obedience

What surprised me was that throughout the Scriptures there is a consistent connection between our obedience to what God commands and God’s blessing of that obedience.

In the last few weeks I have been surprised by something that has been in the Scriptures the entire time. What surprised me was that throughout the Scriptures there is a consistent connection between our obedience to what God commands and God’s blessing of that obedience. I don’t have time to going into many of the examples, but I would like to provide one example that is representative of what I mean. The example is phrased in the negative sense—describing disobedience—but the positive principle is still present.

The context the writer is discussing is the exodus of the Hebrew nation of Egypt.

16For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16-19)

Now, what makes this an interesting commentary on the events surrounding the Exodus is the interaction between two ideas. The question that popped into my mind when I read this section was this: Did those who were restricted from entering into the promised land, where they kept out because of disobedience (v. 18) or because of unbelief (v. 19)?

The way the passage is structured I was left with the impression that disobedience = unbelief, and by extension, obedience = belief. The writer of Hebrews draws a straight line between the concepts of obedience/disobedience and belief/unbelief. It was something that I had never noticed before, and definitely not with this implication.

To put this in more practical terms, the evidence of my belief is not my confession, but my changed conduct. My actions are the physical manifestation of what I claim to believe, which is exactly what James was arguing for in James 2! The problem is that most people understand WHAT James is saying, but not WHY. Why are we supposed to have good works? We have good works because in doing these good works our faith, what we believe, is proved; both to the world and to me.

Another reason this link is so significant is that it provides an answer to a question I have heard a lot of people ask and have asked myself. It is this: How do I increase my faith? According to this passage and a few more, we are able to increase our faith when we increase our obedience. Or said another way, when our obedience increases it is because we have internalized the commandments of God. We have accepted the cost and call of conforming our lives to God’s will.

I will grant that there may be many who already knew this, but I was new to me. And, it has greatly affected how I understand what God is doing in and through his word in my life. And what God is calling me to do in my daily walk with Him.

Allow this season of Lent to be a time of intentionally growing in our obedience to God.

3 Reasons Lasting Disciples are not Made in the Church

We have to see that the reason we study, memorize, and teach what the Bible says is so that we can become what Jesus was. While the cliqué has become tired, the truth it contained has not. If we want to do what Jesus did, we have to become who Jesus was.

Over the last several years, the subject of discipleship has become an important topic for me. One that occupies my mind most days. I have spent a good amount of time reading, studying, discussing, and engaging in discipleship as much as I can. Of all the things Jesus said to his original disciples, and were written down for us to read in the Scriptures, what Jesus said about discipleship requires careful consideration. Continue reading “3 Reasons Lasting Disciples are not Made in the Church”

“Faith is…” Series, Pt. 9 | Faith is… Surrendering to the Will of God

39And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-45, ESV)

One of the most difficult realities of the Christian journey is this: It’s not about me. Jesus did not die so that I could have everything I ever wanted. God did not orchestrate the greatest rescue mission in the history of the cosmos so that we could gather around dinner tables and reminisce about how bad it was “out there” before we were rescued. This kind of thinking goes in the face of what the bible teaches and, more importantly, it diminishes the worth and glory of God. Any and every failure on our part to live our lives according to the sacrifice of Christ is a travesty and an insult to God’s grace and love.
Continue reading ““Faith is…” Series, Pt. 9 | Faith is… Surrendering to the Will of God”

Romans Series (Pt. 25) – Romans 5:18-21

Christ’s Obedience Brings Righteousness (5:18-21)
Paul returns to the thought that he began in verse 12 about the source of humanity’s sinful nature. Let’s look at the complete thought here.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—…Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 5:12, 18-21, KJV)

Here is Paul’s full theological statement about the relationship between Adam and Jesus, between sin and redemption. In Adam all were found guilty of falling short of God perfect standard, God’s glory (Romans 3:23).  It cannot be stated too often, that the nature of sin’s offense must be measured against the perfect nature of God’s character.  Paul then gives us the opposite reality found in Christ. In Jesus, all who believe will be restored into right relationship with God.  God will no longer require payment for the offense of sin, but will rather count the righteousness of Christ to the account of all who place their trust in Jesus. What we often fail to realize is that what Adam did in the Garden was to place his faith in himself. This is the ultimate reality.  Pride is the springhead of all sin. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they withdrew their trust from God and placed it on their own understanding and wisdom.  Did the devil play a role in this?  Absolutely.  But the responsibility for falling into sin rested at the feet of Adam and Eve who committed the sin. The devil has his own sins to answer for, but the fall is not one of them.

In Jesus God is reestablishing the proper object of faith. This is why faith is the required means for salvation. When we do not believe in God we are believe in something else to be the source of our lives, and this is the sin that cast humanity from the Garden of Eden. When we come to grips with the fact that the universe is guided by the principle of faith we will understand why Adam’s sin affected all of his descendants. Verses 20 and 21 help us to make sense of the parenthetical statement found in verses 13-17. The law came to let all know why God was upset with our actions.  The law is what provides man with accountability to God.  Culpability is found in the act of sin.  We sin because we are sinners.  And it is also true that we are sinners because of sin. Just look at what happens in Genesis, specifically the generation of Noah and during the time of the building of the tower of Babel (Genesis 6, 11).

This is why Paul says that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more (v.20). When we understand the terrible offense of our sin (through the law’s revelation); we can see why grace is so much more powerful and wonderful. When sin looks as if it has had its final victory, grace comes and reveals the true weakness and impotence of sin. God loves to show that He can lift us up from the most desperate of places if we would jut trust in Him. But the power of God’s salvific work in found in the work and person of Jesus Christ (v. 21).  To turn to any other place is to place our faith in the wrong object, i.e., ourselves.

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