Obedience

At Living Stones we talk quite a bit about the grace of God. Every week in our sermons, music, and welcomes we talk about God’s grace. This is a very good thing. If you don’t talk about the grace of God then you aren’t talking about the gospel. After all, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8). Romans 9:16 says that your salvation depends “…not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” You cannot work for God’s favor, he grants it to you by the work of his son Jesus and by the indwelling of his Holy Spirit.

Should we minimize the grace of God in any way? By no means, so please do not read that such a thing is my intention with what I am writing. I think the grace of God deserves the attention it gets, and even more so. But I do believe that our appropriate response and reverence for the doctrine of God’s grace also comes at the expense of another extremely important concept in the teaching of Scripture.

Obedience.

What often happens in churches, and I think I see it from time to time when I talk with people at Living Stones, is that we focus well on the extension of God’s grace to the elect, but we are so celebratory about this doctrine and about Jesus offering our pardon from sin as a free gift that we often neglect to focus equally on what our appropriate response to this doctrine should be. As such, we become what we think we have been saved from, ungrateful and rebellious. You see, according to the Scriptures, celebrating the grace of God through word only is not really celebrating at all. The Scriptures teach that one of the greatest ways to celebrate God’s grace is through obedience to his teachings and his call on your life. What most Christians fail to realize is that the Scripture also says that if you fail to celebrate the grace of God through obedience, then you probably haven’t actually experienced his grace at all, even if you show up at church a couple of times per month blindly believing that your safe as you completely ignore most of what God has called you to do. Romans 8:1 says that we are no longer under condemnation for sin, but remember, Romans 6:1-2 also remind us that this is not a license to continue smoking weed, getting drunk, looking at porn, sleeping with people you aren’t married to, or spitting filth from your mouth. Paul writes, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Now don’t get me wrong, the Corinthian church was into some really terrible stuff and Paul still said that he was confident that the Grace of God was upon them. But he then sent 3 different letters to sternly warn them that they were possibly on a path to destruction, and in 1 Corinthians 5 he even commanded that a man in the church be thrown out of the congregation for unrepentant sin.

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus tells his followers to make disciples. This doesn’t only mean to lead them to Jesus; it means to train them in the way of Jesus. Of future disciples he said that they needed to do 2 things, be baptized, and “observe all that I have commanded”.

In Luke 6:46 Jesus asks his followers “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?” Ephesians 2:10 says that were have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works”. 1 Peter 1:15 says “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct”.

Are you saved by the grace of God ALONE? Absolutely. Is it necessary for your faith to be accompanied by obedience and good works in order for your faith to be alive and legitimized? You better believe it, or you have more trouble than you realize. James 2:14 says “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” This is a rhetorical question – the answer is no. In verse 17 James says “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

So what does it look like to obey Jesus? 2 Timothy 2:21 says “if anyone cleanses HIMSELF from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” The Holy Spirit definitely cleanses us through sanctification, but the Bible also says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. This Timothy passage says that it’s your responsibility to cleanse yourself from what is unclean, unholy, sinful, and dishonoring to God. How do I do that? 2 Peter 1:3 says that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”. The power of God in your life delivers to you the necessary means to obey God. When you think you can’t shake a sin pattern, then what you are actually saying is that you think that your sin is more powerful than God. Do you really want to say that? I hope not.

So if you’re sleeping with someone you’re not married to, drinking too much, looking at porn, speaking in ways that are not becoming of the calling to which you’ve been called, dealing with people in business with a lack of integrity, or dealing with any other intentional sin, I think the Scripture and the power of God lead you to one great piece of counseling for your first action step – you should stop doing that.