Obeying God

It’s important to obey God. Throughout the Bible, those who obeyed God were blessed, and those who disobeyed him faced problems.

A flood was coming to destroy the world. God told Noah to build a big boat in order to save himself, his family, and the creation. Building this massive boat was the smartest thing to to at this time, but it wasn’t easy. It took a long time. No one else was building such a boat because no one else was hearing from God. But Noah didn’t care what others were doing, he just cared about what God said.

God told Noah how to build this boat. He told him what wood to use, what size the boat should be, and where to put the window. He told him what waterproofing method to use and what day to enter the boat. Specific obedience was the key to Noah’s deliverance.

Jesus said that the condition of the world in the end times will be same as it was in the days of Noah. A flood of judgment will come on the world, and only those who hear and obey God will be safe. Everyone else will be destroyed.

God is looking for people like Noah who are willing to do radical things in order to obey his word and prepare for the future.

Obeying God is reasonable. God knows much more than we do. He has all power to accomplish whatever he wants. Why would we not obey his words?

Jesus said obedience is essential.

Luke 6:45 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ but don’t do the things that I say?”

John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

John 14:21 “He who loves me keeps my words”

John 15:10 “If you keep my commands you abide in my love”

John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.”

The apostles emphasized obedience.

1 John 5:3 Obedience is loving God

1 John 2:3 Obedience is knowing God

1 John 3:22 Obedience leads to answered prayer.

We have a responsibility to obey all the teachings of Christ and his apostles in the New Testament. This is basic Christianity. Obedience is fundamental to our life as God’s children. We are not here to do whatever we want to do. We are here to do whatever God wants us to do.

In the Old Testament, people obeyed the word of God in order to be saved. Today, we are not saved by our acts of obedience, but we are saved by grace through faith. When we believe the gospel, we are born again, and we receive eternal life. Today we obey God not in order to be saved, but we obey God because we are saved.

In the Old Testament, the strength to obey God was the flesh. Today, we have the Holy Spirit inside us. Now the strength to obey God comes from the Holy Spirit. When we discover what God wants us to do in his word, as we begin to obey that word, then we will find the Holy Spirit empowering us to do what God said.

Obeying God is the best thing we can do, because God is the most awesome, satisfying, and glorious person in the universe. He knows everything. All true love, joy, and peace is found in him. The word of God is a key that will unlock and release the presence of God into our lives. When we obey God, we will experience more of him and fulfill our purpose.

Although obeying God is the best thing we could possibly do, there are many reasons for disobeying God.

Flesh. Our flesh is sinful. Our flesh has no power to obey God. If we are relying on ourselves and our own power, we will not be able to obey God. We need to put off the flesh, crucify the old man, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Satan. The devil hates obedience to God because he hates God’s presence and power. The devil tempts us to sin, do evil, and doubt God. He doesn’t want us to obey God because he doesn’t want God’s kingdom to advance. We defeat the devil’s lies by the word of God.

Peer Pressure. People around us often disobey God. Cultures normalize disobedience to God. Society puts pressure on us to think in ways that are not according to the word of God and do things that are contrary to God. “The fear of man brings a snare” (Proverbs 29:25). We need to trust in the Lord and be willing to stand alone against the tide of people and society around us.

Christian Peer Pressure. There may be things in the word of God that many Christians around us are not following. We need to follow those things anyway. Many churches may be doing things that are not based on the Bible. We need to reject those things. We need to stand on the word of God, not being moved away from it by the ‘Christian culture’ around us that may be compromised.

Money. We need to put God first over money, because the love of money is the root of all evil. We cannot serve God and money. Don’t put money first and then add God on at the end. Put God first, and then God will provide what you need.

Procrastination. Sometimes we know what God wants us to do, but we put off obeying because we think we can obey God later. But God wants us to obey today. “Today if you hear is his voice, don’t harden your heart” (Hebrews 12:10). When the Holy Spirit prompts us to obey God, we need to follow this prompting. Tomorrow may be too late.

Too Hard. Sometimes it might seem too hard to obey God because he might ask us to do something beyond our own ability. But as we obey God, we will find him supernaturally working in our lives. This will make obedience easier. Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:30). His commandments are not burdensome or heavy (1 John 5:3). God’s word is the pathway of life. Our job is to obey and leave the results up to him.

Think We Know Better. Sometimes we think that we know a better way of doing something. We come up with clever ideas. But our own ideas often won’t work. We need God’s ideas. His way sometimes won’t make sense to our natural mind, but his way is always perfect.

Impatience. Sometimes obeying God takes a while. We want things to happen fast, so we do things in a different way thinking that our way will have quicker results. But we need to wait for God. He will come through. He will act according to his word in his time. And when God works, it will be the best.

Unbelief. Sometimes we don’t believe that God will actually bless us as we obey him. But whenever we obey God, we will be blessed.

Fear. Sometimes we are afraid that obedience to God will cause problems. But whenever we obey God, God will bear the consequences for our obedience, and he will get us through safely. Other people will be blessed as we obey God. Our own life will be blessed. The challenges of obedience may be great, but God is greater.

Ignorance. Sometimes we disobey God because we don’t know that God wants us to do something. No one has taught us some commands of the Bible. We might have read a verse, but it somehow didn’t register in our minds that we need to obey it. “My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). We need to read the word of God for ourselves and set out to obey it, whatever it is. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth.

Accusations of Legalism. Sometimes we hesitate to obey God because we think if we focus too much on obeying God we’ll become legalistic like the Pharisees. But the Pharisees did not obey God. They replaced the word of God with their own human traditions. Legalism expects people to obey man-made religious rituals, not the word of God. In addition, our works of obedience are not the way of our salvation, but obedience is a normal and healthy sign of our salvation.

Times Have Changed. Sometimes we don’t obey instructions in the New Testament because we think that times have changed and those instructions are not for our culture. However, the word of God is eternal. It transcends culture. Christ’s words are going to last forever. No matter what culture or time period we are living in, we are obligated to obey the word of God completely. God’s word stands over all cultures and time periods, and someday it will judge everyone.

We need to obey God regardless of the cost. The bride of Christ will be characterized by obedience to Jesus, her husband. It’s time for the bride to get ready. Let’s not add to nor take away from the word of God. Let’s keep pressing toward the goal. And if we encounter something in the word of God that we are currently not practicing, let us implement it. We have nothing to lose.