A week of Obedience

“If you love me you, you will obey my commands.” John 14:15

Sometimes I think that I write off disobedience as a minor thing. I know technically it is a very intense sin but I don’t act like it. Sometimes I tend to think that it is not as bad to disobey your parents as it is to lie or yell at your parents. I kind of just blow it off and saw, “So what! I didn’t make my bed when I was told at least I am not doing…..”

But the Bible is very clear about this issue in 1 Samuel 15:22-23 it says, “So Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as the iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king’”

This is some pretty powerful stuff, because of disobedience Saul just lost the kingdom. DO I still think that disobedience is just a small deal? And this verse brings clarity to as to why it is a big deal. Because our obedience is a sign of our love for God. When we disobey what the Lord has told us to do I am essentially saying to Him, “I do not love you.” Do I get the picture? I want to obey God not out of a sense of duty but because I want to show my love toward Him. That is what should motivate me, this is why I should obey.

“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”” Acts 5:29

This is a response to what the high council said to them in verse 27 and 28. They basically said did we not tell you to stop talking about Christ? Why are you still doing this? And that is when Peter responded, “We ought to obey God rather than man.” And when I look at this verse in light of the context I am completely amazed. They could be put to death and yet here they were proclaiming the gospel.

How many times have I not obeyed Christ and instead obeyed man. I was sometimes intimidated but with all do honesty I obeyed the world because it was easier. It is easier to follow what the flesh says because there is really not any battle going on. It is what comes naturally and because it comes naturally I don’t really have to think about it so it of course easier. But the consequence of choosing the easy path is very clearly laid out for us. Wide is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the gate that leads to life. Yes choosing to obey the world was easier at first but soon that obedience takes its toll.

Growing up in Southern California there are a lot of old people. And especially old hippies. If you sit there and just spend time with them, you will see the toll very evident in every aspect of their lives. Their faces are more haggard because of the drug abuse and the Carpe Diem attitude. You will see the sadness in their eyes from all the horrors that they saw. And when you speak to them almost all of them are completely filled with regret of a life wasted this is where obedience to the world leads.

But when I look at an older person that has followed Christ and obeyed his commands, I can’t help but smile at the thought of them. They are the most precious and uplifting elders. You walk into church and there is a light in their eyes that the world cannot take away. There is a sparkle in their eyes as they tell you the wonderful works that Jesus has done and that sparkle adds a whole new perspective on their appearance. They have seen the horrors of this life but they have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the words of our testimony. They have had to make tough discussions but they followed God so in the end they are the ones that can say God I have redeemed the time.

It is easier at first to obey the world but in the end the ones who will stand are those who followed Christ. Choose this day who you will serve!

Application:

I will write on my arm, “Choose this Day who you will serve.”

Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

There were a couple of things that really stuck out to me in this verse but one of the things that really stuck out was the fact that you present yourselves. I am the one that says to death, “Here I am willing to do what you bid me!”  And the funny thing is, is that I expect sin leading to death to lead me to life. I expect death to change every fiber of its being to become something that it is not.

The same thing goes for me, I was born to serve. I cannot change that, it is who I am. But the one thing that I control is who I serve. I can either serve death or life. Even when I think that I serve only myself, I have really just chosen to serve death. I think sometimes that we think that there are a lot of different things that we serve but in truth it is either death or life. There are many roads leading to death but they all end in death. But there is one way that leads to life and that is through the blood of the lamb, through Jesus Christ.

It seems to unintelligent and illogical to purposely serve death. When life more abundantly is crying out, “Come and follow me! I have paid it all! I have died for you to take away your sins and I have risen that you may conquer death. I love you! My thoughts toward you are good and I want to give you a future and a hope! Come to me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest!”

Obedience to Life gives life more abundantly and Obedience to death gives death. Choose this day who you will serve, for as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

Colossians 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.”

Ok, let the record state that choosing these verses is just cruel. I with all due honesty do not want to acknowledge these verses because they hit too close to home. I was honestly the most rebellious child who has given my parents more grey hairs than I would care to admit. And honestly this is a shameful thing to admit.

My God put my parents over me and I found every reason not to obey them. You see I would always throw my parents failures in their faces. I would see my parents’ failures that no one else saw. I would see their weakness in a way that no one else could imagine and I knew what they were ashamed of. And I used these as excuses to not obey. I would say something along the lines of, “How could you tell me that when I have seen you do this?”  Oh, how wretched am I!

MY own reason for not obeying has come back to bite me. Because if I was demanding perfection in order to obey, did I count God’s word out of that? The only one that has truly not sinned, who has every right to tell me how things need to be is telling me to obey my imperfect parents. And my imperfect parents are following Christ and trying to point me to Him.  Wow, isn’t that a reality check?

I am without excuse. My God gave me parents that loved God and I that have never asked me to do anything contrary to His word and I still fought. Wow my heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it. And the answer is God, he knows and in Eph 6:1 it gives us the key to being able to walk this out. Obey your parents IN THE LORD. It’s funny how all of the IBS always start off with me realizing how depraved I really am only to finish With Jesus. He really is the answer to everything. You want to learn obedience look to Jesus. He was obedient to His Father in Heaven and His parent on earth. And because of this He grew in knowledge and stature. God help me to be obedient in the little everyday things just like Jesus, who was led by the Spirit.

“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” Hebrews 13:17

I am about to state the obvious but unpleasant truth. We are to obey those who God has put over us no matter if we think that we could do a better job or if the people over us ask nicely. There you go! Now live like it. No? Is this one of those easier said than done type of things? Oh, well I guess it is.

It is easier for me to look at those that are over me as bossy people that just got randomly placed over me than somebody that God has put in that position. Because if I looked at those people as God put them there I would think twice before even thinking about not listening to them when they ask me to do something. Because by disobeying them I am essentially saying, “God I think that you made a mistake by putting them over me. So I am not going to listen to them because I think I know better than the plan that you had.” Now we wouldn’t think about actually saying that to God but we can sometimes do that with our actions.

I personally need to realize that God has a plan for every situation and that He is in control. I may not know what God wants me to learn from being under this person but I do know that He wants me to obey. So I will do what I know and let God handle the rest. Because that person will one day stand before the Lord and give an account for how they handled what God has given them to do and I will too.