OBEDIENCE MATTERS!

Obedience matters! Obedience matters! In spite of what many say today OBEDIENCE MATTERS! Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only those who believe obey and only those who obey believe."

If you read the book of James, the writer seems to have the idea that obedience matters. He thinks that we can and that we must obey the Word of God. It is not enough to know what you’ve heard or read in the word of God about what God wills for you. James calls it the "good", "the right thing", but literally it means "the excellent" or "beautiful". Your life is excellent and beautiful when you are obedient to the word of God. What matters is that if you know what to do, that you do it!

James tells us quite a few things to do:
James 1:2, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds”
James 1:5,6, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God…but let him ask in faith”
James 1:9-10, Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation”
James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial”
James 1:19-21, “Every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 1:26-27, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
James 2:1, “show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”
James 2:9, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.” James 2:18, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
James 3:13, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”
James 4:7-10, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
James 4:11, “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers” James 4:16, “You ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
James 4:17, “Whoever knows the right thing to Do”

Obedience matters doesn't it? In Matthew 7:26-27 Jesus warned those who don’t do what He teaches, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Another time He said in Matthew 5:19, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 28:18-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go (in obedience) therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” Jesus has all authority and lays claim upon every nation and on you. And He does it by saying that they should be taught to obey all that He commanded His followers. Between all of His explicit and implicit commands there are over 500 found in the Gospels. So knowing what Jesus commands, making followers of Christ, and teaching others to live in God glorifying obedience to Jesus Christ’s 500 commands is essence of the great commission.

Jesus said, “If you know these things, you will be happy if you do them”. (John 13:17). Jesus spells out the formula for happiness: First, knowing the right things to do. Secondly, doing them! No wonder, for when we obey, we start doing the things for which He made us and redeemed us. As a result, He is gloried and we are happy!

OBEDIENCE MATTERS TO GOD, OH, CHRISTIAN , LET IT MATTER TO YOU!
Striving and resolved to obey the sweet, excellent, and beautiful, commands of God,
Pastor Bill