Obedience the challenge – By Pastor George Lehman
(The natural life the old man) knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that” C.S. Lewis
Obedience is not just a word, it’s a lifestyle of a child of God.
God has a plan for a victorious life with MAN. We were not saved to live defeated lives.
1) 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV) – This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
In other words, all men are NOT saved.
2) Ephesians 4:13 (LB) – Until finally we all believe alike about our salvation and about our Savior, God’s Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord – yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ.
Would you all agree that it is God’s will that we be SAVED and GROW in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ?
2 Peter 3:18(NIV) – But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
If it is God’s will, why is it so hard for most Christians to live obedient lives?
If God is working with us, should this not be easy? Why the challenge?
Your response may be:
– Well, I guess it’s just that I am so evil.
– I’m just human, it’s our nature we aren’t perfect yet.
– I’m so bad God doesn’t hear my prayers.
What I have seen and experienced over many years is that Christians get so weary with the difficulty that they say, “God will just have to except me
as I am”.
All these justifications may indeed be factors. But they are NOT precisely correct.
Because most of us have some besetting (persistent) SIN or SINS that we fail miserably to overcome and deal with time after time after time. Why?
If it’s God’s will why do, we not overcome them more easily?
The sin need not be easily recognizable to others.
You know what’s in your heart and so does God. We are all aware of it.
Paul writes to Timothy…
1 Timothy 5:24-25 (Amp) – The sins of some men are conspicuous (openly evident to all eyes), going before them to the judgment [seat] and proclaiming their sentence in advance; but the sins of others appear later [following the offender to the bar of judgment and coming into view there]. So also, good deeds are evident and conspicuous, and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden [indefinitely].
It can be hidden sin, though you are well aware of it, you know it is wrong or evil. You feel a constant guilt and self-condemnation because of your weakness before it.
It can be: unforgiveness; bitterness; pride; lust; secret habits; drug abuse; selfishness; rebellion.
The key to understanding why spiritual growth appears so hard.
Think about the day you were converted – why did it even happen to you?
Romans 2:4 (Amp) – Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?
This happened only because God revealed Himself and made us conscious of our sinful lives. We realised we needed a Saviour.
The only answer was to throw ourselves on His grace and mercy.
We realized we were powerless to save ourselves – it was the only way.
Therefore: The key is our awareness of our powerlessness as the first element to spiritual growth.
2 Corinthians 12:10 (Amp) – So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).
Paul adds to this in…
2 Corinthians 13:4 (Amp) – For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He goes on living by the power of God. And though we too are weak in Him [as He was humanly weak], yet in dealing with you [we shall show ourselves] alive and strong in [fellowship with] Him by the power of God.
Just as a requirement to conversion is recognizing and acknowledging our utter failure in the face of sin and death…and we can’t save ourselves!
So too is a deep consciousness of our frailty is required in the face of overcoming and growth in following God’s way and glorifying Him with and obedient life. Without God we are not going to live obedient lives.
Without this overriding sense of dependence, we will never turn to God in the first place.
Without this sense of need, we will not continuously turn to Him because our refusal to co-operate in this will show in our lives.
Like the Laodiceans…
Revelation 3:17 (Amp) – For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Deuteronomy 28:45-47(NIV) – 45All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees, he gave you. 46They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity.
Like the great Apostle Peter, boasting he said, “He will not, unlike others, dessert Christ”, immediately fell flat on His face in spiritual failure.
The secret of growth and overcoming the challenge of disobedience in the life and character of a Christian largely lies in realizing our powerlessness and acknowledging it before God.
When you attack the roots of sin, fix your thoughts more on the God you love and desire, than on the sin you abhor. Walter Martin
If I keep doing what’s right, what’s wrong will leave my life.
Perhaps John 15:5 will now have more meaning, Jesus says…
John 15:5 (Amp) – I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
It does not mean that without Him we could never design motorcycles or send rockets to the moon…
It means we can produce nothing of a true, godly, spiritual, fruitful nature within the calling of God that truly glorifies Him.
We cannot play church anymore. Time is short. Judgment is now on us.
1 Peter 4:17 (Amp) – For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God?
We must constantly keep in mind that God is the Potter with the Power to mould and shape as He wills.
As the clay, our job is to yield, realizing even the power to submit comes from Him.
1 Corinthians 15:34 (Amp) – Awake [from your drunken stupor and return] to sober sense and your right minds, and sin no more. For some of you have not the knowledge of God [you are utterly and willfully and disgracefully ignorant, and continue to be so, lacking the sense of God’s presence and all true knowledge of Him]. I say this to your shame.
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