GUEST POST
In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked the question, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” He addressed this question to people who openly professed Him as Lord but did not yield to His Lordship.
My prayer is that the Holy Spirit Himself will speak specifically to you as you read through this post and meditate on the Scriptural references.
A Call to Obedience
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to OBEY (observe, attend carefully to) ALL that He has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20).
After praying the sinner’s prayer in repentance through faith, and being baptized, it is Jesus’ desire for us to obey ALL His commands (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38). We are not to pick and choose which commandments to obey. Instead, through God’s power within us, we are to strive to do ALL Jesus’ instructions (Philippians 2:13).
From the beginning, God’s plan was to create a group of people who would wholeheartedly seek to obey Him. In 1 Peter 1:2, we learn that according to God’s foreknowledge, He knew us, chose us, and made us holy (He set us apart for His good works) so we can OBEY Jesus while being continually cleansed by His blood.
“We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that He prepared beforehand that we should walk in” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV). When we obey His Word, we are doing His good works.
Jesus has called all believers to obey Him. He said: “If you love me, obey my commandments” (John 14:15 NLT). Through His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus has done everything to put us in the spiritual position to obey God. Jesus “bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might DIE to sin and LIVE to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV).
From reading Scripture, we know that the essence of a true believer is to seek to obey Jesus at all times and in everything. Jesus recognized members of His family as those who hear (attend to, consider what it says, understand) the Word of God and follow it (Luke 8:21). Jesus was very clear about how we should follow Him: the only acceptable way is to obey Him. We MUST deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
God’s expectation for us is to wholeheartedly obey the Scripture (Romans 6:17). Therefore, let us spend time daily in His Word, careful to pay attention to what it says to us, and taking the time to meditate on what we are learning. Through prayer, we must ask God to give us the desire and power to obey irrespective of the circumstances (Hebrews 4:16).
Why Obedience is Not Optional
We cannot overemphasize obedience because it brings God glory. God gave the apostles grace and authority to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles so that they will believe and OBEY Him and bring GLORY to His name (Romans 1:5).
As believers, the one thing we can do to bring glory to God is to live our lives according to His Word. As we obey God, unbelievers witness our good works and give glory to God (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12).
Rewards for Obedience Here On Earth
By yielding to God’s power in us, and putting Jesus’ words into practice, we become like the wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7: 24-25). As the rain, floods, and winds of life come at us, we will know exactly how to handle them from our knowledge of Scripture. We will know what to say, what decisions to make, how to keep our joy, e.t.c., as we obey God through it all.
It is not God’s intention that we should be devastated by life’s circumstances, but that through obedience to Him, we would be made spiritually stronger (James 1: 2-4). When we obey God through difficult circumstances, it’s a reflection of our genuine faith (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Our obedience to God breeds confidence in us which allows us to come to Him freely in prayer (1 John 3:21).
James 1:25 specifically states God blesses the person who practices His Word. Because we obey and please Him, God answers our prayers (1 John 3:22). We also know that God’s eyes are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but He turns his face against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:10-12).
As we make a practice of obeying the Word of God, we walk in the light. Therefore, we enjoy the benefit of having true and unbroken fellowship with fellow believers as the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all sins we unknowingly commit (1 John 1:7).
Eternal Rewards for Obedience
Obedience is crucial because living a life of habitual obedience to the Word of God guarantees that we will never see death. We will not experience the misery of hell (John 8:51), neither will we be harmed by the second death (that is the Lake of Fire, see Revelation 20:14) if we remain faithful by obeying Jesus till the end (Revelation 2:11).
Jesus guarantees that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand (John 10:28). However, He was very careful to qualify those who are His sheep. According to Jesus, His sheep are those who hear (attend to, understand) His voice and follow Him. They deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). 
When we live our lives in this way, Jesus acknowledges us as His sheep (John 10:27). He gives us eternal life, we will never see the misery of hell, and no one will snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28).
Consequences of Disobedience
When we know the right thing to do and fail to do it, it is a sin (James 4:17). If we fail to embrace a lifestyle of practicing obedience to God, we fail to accomplish the purpose for which He saved us.
God did not call (invite) and elect (choose) us to continue as sinners. On the contrary, through Christ, He poured out His love onto us and called us to be His saints (holy, set apart) (Romans 1:7). God has called us to be morally blameless, set apart for Himself through Christ to do the good works that He prepared for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).
Continuing in disobedience does not bring God glory!!!
God made us His chosen race, a royal priesthood, holy nation, and His own possession that we may display His character to the world (1 Peter 2:9). The world sees us as hypocrites when our behavior is no different from theirs. God’s will is that our honorable way of living would silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:15).
Our lives should exude the fragrance of Christ to believers and unbelievers as God uses us to accomplish His purpose (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
Scripture warns us in Hebrews 10:26 that if we deliberately continue to sin after salvation:
- There is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins (Hebrews 10:26).
- We should expect to be judged by God because we have made ourselves His enemies by continuing in sin (Hebrews 10:27).
Any Christian who deliberately continues in the lifestyle of sin tramples on the Son of God, treats the blood of Jesus as common and unholy, and insults God’s Spirit of grace. Therefore, such a person will incur even worse punishment from God than people who broke the law under the law of Moses (Hebrews 10:28-31).
The church at Sardis in Revelation 3 had a reputation of being alive, but to Jesus, they were dead (spiritually dead). They had drifted from the Gospel they initially heard and believed. Jesus didn’t commend them or make light of their actions. Instead, He commanded them to KEEP His Word (hold firmly to it) and repent, or the consequences would be dire (Revelation 3:1-3).
Jesus promised those in Sardis who did not soil their garments with evil that they would be considered worthy to walk with Him in white. Their names will never be blotted out of the Book of Life, and Jesus will confess/announce their names before God and the angels (Revelation 3:4-5).
The eternal consequence for any professing Christian who does not seek to obey God daily is GRAVE. We have several warnings in Scripture that we cannot ignore. Jesus warns that only those who do the will of His Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21).
Final Words
Living a lifestyle of radical obedience to Christ does not imply that any of us can achieve sinless perfection in our thoughts, words, and actions throughout our lives. If that were so, no one would get into Heaven.
Jesus requires us to yield our hearts completely so that we are consistently pursuing obedience to Him out of the overflow of the love that we have for Him. As we get to know Him through His Word, He reveals Himself to us and directs our lives to align with His will. If we sin, Jesus has provided His blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess to Him (1 John 1:9).
I encourage you to incline your hearts to the Word of God, seek His face in all that you do, and commit yourself to a lifetime of uninhibited obedience. God is the one who invited you into a loving relationship with Himself. He is more than able to equip and empower you to do all that He has called you to do through the power of His Spirit who lives in you.
I pray over us that we would fulfill the call that God has placed on our lives. I pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen and empower us to be quick to obey everything God has placed on our hearts to do. Most importantly, I pray that we will see Jesus face to face and hear Him say “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). Thank You, Lord, for loving us so much.
Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash
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© 2020 Beautiful in Jesus
Beautiful reflection, as always, Chizobam. Thanks for the posts!
Loved this! Walking in the Spirit in the path of obeying and honoring God. It is a delightful journey! Loved the article!
Absolutely, Sally. It’s a delight to honor and obey God.
God’s grace!
You are welcome, Donna.
I needed this fresh reminder today. Thank you, Chizobam. xo
My favorite part:
“It is not God’s intention that we should be devastated by life’s circumstances, but that through obedience to Him, we would be made spiritually stronger (James 1: 2-4). When we obey God through difficult circumstances, it’s a reflection of our genuine faith (1 Peter 1:6-7).”
Yep, Mirka, we all need reminders.
That’s why we must be in the Word daily.
Thank you for stopping by.
Thank you so much Chizobam for the Spiritual food. The Word of God always keep me on check. “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the Land” God’s promise in Isaiah 1:19 God bless you.