Understanding Obedience
1 John 3:21-24, James 1:22-27
May 17, 2009
Morning Service
Introduction
Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, "Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip." Everyone agrees.
He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, "What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?"
You say, "Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ’letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt the employees would respond, "Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!"
This may sound silly but this is the way that many Christians try to follow Jesus. They may hear the Truth but do nothing about it. American culture has created a passive form of Christianity that is totally unbiblical. We are meant to make active attempts to live out the message of God’s Truth
Passive Christianity is morally wrong – Bruce Barton
Obedience is one of those issues that we seem to struggle with. We tend to think that obedience is for animals or children. We often think like this because we forget the simple fact that we are not in control. Obedience is an act of surrendering your eill to the will of the Master. An essential trait to living as a disciple of Jesus.
The issue of obedience is one that you deal with every day. Each day you make the decision to obey the traffic laws and drive the speed limit. You make the decision to obey the guidelines set by your employer. You decide to obey your conscience. You decide to obey the divine direction that God gives you.
Each time that you live with an obedient heart you add to the foundation of your life. Each time that you decide to disobey you tear away and piece of that foundation. Every day you are either building your foudation or you are tearing it apart.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 3:21-24
It is clear that the blessing of God flows to those who obey Him. Disobedience is one of the things we least like to talk about because deep down we know we are guilty. At some point we know that we are disobedient.
"Those who believe in the Holy Scriptures are bound to observe its teachings. Those who do not are to be bound by its consequences." William Bradford
Obedience is part of knowing Christ
The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God’s holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him. I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established.
-- Andrew Murray
Obedience is the completion of our relationship with Christ. When you obey Christ, comes and dwells within your life. The obedience to Jesus allows Him the opportunity to take up residence in your life. The more you obey, the greater place He can have in life. When you disobey it gives Jesus less and less place.
We live in Jesus
A few years ago, one of the families in my church had suffered from a fire and that fire totally destroyed their home. The house was not burned to the ground but it was a complete loss. They used the insurance money to build a new home on a piece of ground they already owned outside of town.
When Christ comes into your life, it is like building a new home. Our old life has been gutted by the power of sin and a new home is needed. How many of you would build a new home and then not move in? When we live in Jesus it is like moving into a new home. Jesus becomes the center of our lives. He becomes what fills us, surrounds us and keeps us.
Jesus lives in us
The most amazing thing about all of this is the fact that God Himself wants to live within our lives. Jesus comes and makes a place of residence in us. He comes to live in our life. Why would he do this? God once had a dymnamic personal relationship with humanity. He literally walked side by side with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This dynamic of that special relationship was lost when Adam and Eve sinned. Through Jesus coming and living in us that aspect of the divine human relationship is restored.
If this were not enough, God sends the Holy Spirit to live within us as well. So we are given a double portion of the presence of God to fill our lives and draw us closer to Him.
Obedience gives us victory
Over and over again John writes in his first letter about the issue of obedience and it’s vital role in the life of a disciple. Obedience brings us a share of the eternal victory of Christ Jesus.
2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 5:2-4
When we make the commitment to obey Christ, we win. We win the blessing of God Almighty. We win the power of the resurrection. We win with the prescene of the Holy Spirit.
Obedience in James
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:22-27
James reveals a pattern for life change here in chapter 1. It is one that literally can change the lives of people if they would just follow it. The pattern is extremely simple in concept but much, much harder in practice.
Three Step Process to Life Change
1.) Listen – Being ready and willing to obey the Word of God
2.) Learn – The only way to learn is through personal obedience. It is putting what is heard into action. Turning the hearing into habits. It only takes 21 days to form a habit. If you can change your habits you will be able to change the way that you live
3.) Live – Change our way of life. This is a total change of lifestyle. This happens when we change enough of the old habits that it affects the entire way that we live. All of this starts with a willing heart and openness to hear God speak through His divine Word
James said that we should be quick to listen to the Word. This literally means that we should be constantly ready to obey when God’s Word connects with our lives. James carries on with this theme when he calls his readers to obey the Word. We need to always be ready to obey and then follow through with actual obedience. It is not enough to say that you will obey or have the intent to obey.
God does not call us to be successful, but to be obedient. -Billy Graham
Obedience must be completed through our actions. We cannot settle for just hearing God’s Word or even have a willingness to obey. Anything that falls short of actual obedience is not being a doer of the Word.
James continually talks of listening and hearing the Word, why such a strong focus. One thing is that the early Christians often heard the scriptures read to them. Copies of letters or books of the New Testament were difficult to obtain and at times illegal to possess. The church would hold one copy of every letter that they had and would spend time together reading the scripture. The goal was to listen and learn the Word of God.
1.) Only hearing the Word leads us to deception
You cannot hear the Word, know the Word and then live however you please. Just listening to God’s Word does not make you acceptable with God. This makes it too easy to slip into sin. The acceptance of God flows through the fact that we confess our sins and repent of them. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—Romans 3:21-25
2.) Only hearing the Word leads us to forgetting
When you do not put learning into practice is will soon be forgotten. The Word then never becomes part of the person’s life. James uses a powerful illustration of looking into a mirror. The understanding is of a person looking into the mirror and then never doing what needs to be done. The bed head hair would stay in place, the makeup would never come on and the clothing might never be straightened.
3.) Hearing and doing the Word leads to blessing
When the Word is heard and obeyed it leads to freedom. We are set free by the grace that comes from the gospel. The only way to freedom is by surrendering yourself to obedience to the Word of God.
Conclusion
Dr Charles Stanley defined obedience in action. Obedience is doing...
* What He says
* When He says
* How He says
* all He says
Anything less than this is not obedience, but disobedience
Let me ask you a few questions this morning, by that definition are you living in obedience with Jesus? Are you truly living your life as a disciple?
You call Me master and obey Me not.
You call Me light and see Me not.
You call Me the Way and walk Me not.
You call Me life and live Me not.
You call Me wise and follow Me not.
You call Me fair and love Me not.
You call Me rich and ask Me not.
You call Me eternal and seek Me not.
If I condemn thee, blame Me not.
