Obey God
And Do It For The Right Reasons
We in the churches of Christ have always insisted, and rightly so, that the Bible teaches that a man must obey God in order to please Him and demonstrate love for Him. This has been a distinguishing mark between us and the denominations, most of whom insist that man is saved by faith only without any further acts of obedience. But God has always required that men obey Him. He told Israel, "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasured unto me above all people" (Exodus 19:5). Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him (Hebrews 5:9). "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Indeed, even loving God is not fully possible apart from obedience: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15); "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" (1 John 5:3). There is no hope of the heavenly home unless we submit ourselves to God's ways: "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14). Obedience does not mean that we believe in the Lord, because we believe what He says. How can we truly have faith in Christ, and then deny what He says about obedience? No, faith demands obedience or it is not true faith. We must preach this to the world.
However, where I fear we have sometimes fallen short is in emphasizing the right kind of obedience! Beloved, obedience, of itself, is not enough, either. We must obey from a pure heart, for the right reasons, or our obedience is vain. In 2 Chronicles 25:2 we read that Amaziah "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart." Here is a man that did what God said, but not for the right reasons. Was he approved of God? In Hosea 1 we read of the results of the sin of Jehu. God had told Jehu to put the offspring of Ahab to death (2 Kings 9:1-10). Jehu had done what God told him to do, not in order to please God, but because it served his own selfish advantage in the kingdom. And from Hosea 1 we learn that this was the "straw that broke the camel's back" with God; He was now going to obliterate Israel from the face of the map for their sins. And this final act that ended God's longsuffering was an act of obedience! - but not done from a pure heart, and thus not really pure obedience. We must learn that their is much more to obedience than simply fulfilling a duty. If we obey God to be seen of men and praised by them (Matthew 6), or out of a "bargaining spirit," i.e., just what's in it for us (Matthew 20:1-16), or for our own selfish advantage (Hosea 1:4), we obey for the wrong reasons, and God will not be pleased. The right reasons for obedience are to glorify God (Matthew 5:16), to receive His praise and not man's (Matthew 6:4), and out of trust and thanksgiving (Matthew 20:1-16 - indeed, this beautiful parable teaches that if we will obey Him for these reasons, He will reward us far more than we could ever bargain for).
The cold, legalistic approach to obedience that characterizes many Christians is one thing that is wrong with the church. We obey out of a sense of duty rather than love, appreciation, and thanksgiving, and this makes our religion cold, formal, and meaningless. I fully believe this is one reason we lost many people back to the world - they do not see the true spirit of Christianity living in us. They see us burdened down with duty rather than full of joy, thanksgiving, and love for our Redeemer. No wonder people aren't catching on fire for the Lord - there's no fire for them to catch! Let's restore the spirit of Christianity as well as the doctrine and order, and we'll probably have more people listening to us.
Yes, beloved, let us preach obedience to the world. Let us shout it from the rooftops. But while we are at it, let's preach it to ourselves, too; especially the kind of obedience that comes from hearts full of gratitude, praise, and benediction to the Lord. The denominational world doesn't understand what we mean by obedience because of what they see in our lives - a cold, formal, "sense of duty" religion. When we practice true obedience, people will see the Savior in us.
From Our Archives, 1984
By: Mark K. Lewis