Faith + Obedience Moves God

Faith + Obedience Moves God

Scripture: Matthew 17:20-21; First Samuel 15:1-9; 19-22; Luke 5:1-11

I started out in life as a child. I started off as a small baby and grew into what I am today. I came into this world with some things already within me, things that may have given my parents many headaches. For example, when I was a baby, no one taught me to cry when I was hungry or when I needed to be changed. None of us had to teach our children when they were babies to cry when they were hungry – it was already within them. When I did it, I learned without understanding it, that I would receive something when I screamed at the top of my lungs (some adults still think this way). Life was good back then. I went places without having to walk or drive because there were always people willing to carry me if I smiled and drooled enough. I was fed whenever I cried, so I learned to cry a lot. My grandmother once told me that she hated to feed me as a baby because it seemed like I would never get enough to eat – you know how wonderful it is to be fed as a child? Someone prepares your meal and then holds you and stuff the food in repeatedly in your mouth? Those were some good old days!

But one of the main things that I did not have to learn, and seemed to have a natural gift for, was being disobedient – not obedient, but disobedient. I came into the world with that being a part of my makeup. There were things that I did that I knew I was not supposed to do, and yet I felt compelled to do them anyway. I find it interesting (as many of you did also) that I had to learn how to be obedient. For me, this came through the form of lectures, switches, and belts. I do not believe that my parents understood much about “time out.” Time out came after the other lessons were taught or dispensed. Now as I grew older and became a Christian, I learned two key doctrines that would impact my relationship with God. The first was about faith and how without it I could not please God. The second was about obedience, without which I could not accomplish what God commanded me to do. Are you seeing a connection here? The title of my message this morning is “Faith + Obedience Moves God.”

Before I go into the heart of the message, I want set the stage with a story about emotions – I will go into a lot more details of this story in my message next week. Do you remember the story of why Moses was not allowed to take the Children of Israel into the Promised Land? You will find the story in Numbers chapter twenty. We will not turn there today because, as I said, it will be the subject matter for my message next week. But if you remember anything about Moses, you know that before he began his faith journey, he would, at times, let his emotions get the better of him. We see an example of this in Exodus 2:11-14 which records,“(11) Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. (12) So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. (13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, ‘Why are you striking your companion?’ (14) Then he said, ‘Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ So Moses feared, and said, ‘Surely this thing is known!’” (Exodus 2:11-14)

In the heat of a moment he killed an Egyptian which led to him fleeing Egypt setting him on a path to have a meeting with God at the burning bush. After meeting the Lord at the burning bush, and receiving His commandment to lead the children of Israel out of bondage, Moses developed a strong relationship with the Lord where he talked with Him like we talk with each other. Moses was a man of faith, and yet, one act of disobedience kept him from entering the Promised Land. What was that act? He hit a rock out of anger versus speaking to it like God had commanded. I told you last week that I experienced moments where my anger fought against my faith. Emotions can cause the most faithful of us to disobey God if we are not very careful. I wanted to remind you of Moses’ story as a foundation for what I am going to share with you about the relationship between faith and obedience.