THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE TO GOD

Leading Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:1-14; John 14:15-24.

Introduction:

The first Passage was by Moses and was written in his old age, it is a series of a farewell messages to the Israel; At that time they were still on their route to the land of Canaan, in the plain of Moab. So this was more or less like a guide as they anticipated to go into the Promised Land. We notice that Obedience is a key message in this book. Second was by Jesus near his betrayal and Crucifixion.

Our theme today is the importance of obedience to God

• All of us know that we must obey God, but somehow we still act in rebellion and many times end up into trouble as a result of our disobedience.
• How come even when we know what God wants us to do we act otherwise?
• Could it be we don’t really understand the meaning of Obedience or we forget how important it is? Or we need help on how to obey

What does OBEDIENCE mean?

• In simple terms it means hearing the word of God and acting on it.
• It implies aligning our will to God’s will; doing what God has asked us to do.
• It is when we completely surrender to His authority and base our decisions and our actions on His Word.

What is the importance of OBEDIENCE?

Obedience is so important for every Christian, in fact without it we fall short big time.

1. It is an act of worship as it demonstrates our love for God and sets us apart.

• Obedience is the hallmark of our salvation.
• Although we are saved by Grace through the redemptive work of the cross and by the blood of Jesus; It is our obedience sets us apart as authentic children of God.
• Obedience is our way of showing God that we love Him; and it is through our obedience that God recognizes us and enables us to enjoy His Love.
• Thus, our primary motive for obedience must be “to show God that we love Him”
• This in turn will allow God to reveal himself to us, and activates God’s power to work in our lives.

John 14: 23-24 Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them

Questions:  If we call ourselves that we are children of God and claim to love God, do we demonstrate that love by obeying His commands. Can God truly count you as one of His Children? Do we align our daily actions with God’s word as an act of worship?

Can others around you testify that indeed you are a child of God because your actions are in line with God’s word?

How do you treat your family members? How do you behave at work? How do you relate with your friends? How do you talk about other people?

Remember; coming to church is good, singing in the choir is good, doing all religious thing is good. But it is an obedient heart that God loves.

2. It shows God that we trust Him. (It is a demonstration of our faith)

• Obedience can mean; following God’s lead even when we are not sure of the outcome.
• Obedience can be tough; many times it means taking the higher road even when there is an the easy way out as an option.
• Obedience may require sacrifice; discipline and stretching ourselves outside our comfort zone.
• Our choice to obey therefore demonstrates our trust in God. It shows that even though its hard, even though it doesn’t make sense we will still do it.

Hebrews Chapter 8 gives an account of God’s men from the Old Testament who are recognized as heroes of faith as a result of their acts of obedience

• By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.
• By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
• By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.“
• By faith Joshua and the children of Israel obeyed and went round the walls of Jericho before they went crumbling on the 7^th day.

Question: Are there things in your life that God is asking you to do that are tough? Or that do not  make sense? Your obedience will show God that you trust Him. It will be accounted as the evidence of your faith. Obey God to give even when your budget is tight; Obey God and forgive even when it hurts so bad; Obey God and work hard even when you have been passed for promotion; obey God and love your unlovable spouse unconditionally. There is a reason why God has put you in that situation.

3. Reward for Obedience

• Obedience shows God that we love Him and we trust Him which in turn activates His power in our lives; but most importantly there is a reward for obedience.

1. Success

• Everyone wants to be successful at what they do; to prove some of the bestselling books in the modern day world are books that talk about success.
• Interestingly, God in His Word gives us a simple secret for success which is reading His Word and obeying it
• God has a plan for each and every one of us; Plans to prosper us and plans to give us a future. (Ref Jer 29:11)
• God’s will for our life is that we must be successful. Success not as the world defines it but as God defines it; that means accomplishing that which we were created for. God never created us to fail or just to be average. God created us to be excellent.
• But we need to align with God’s will for God’s plan to be manifested in our life.

If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you[a] shall meditate in it day and night, which you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Questions:

• How do you rate your success? In this case success not as the world define it but as God defines it? Is God’s plan in your life being fulfilled? Are you successful as a mother or a father? Are you successful as a wife or a husband? Are you successful at work? Are you successful as a leader?
• Are there areas where you feel like you are not doing well? Are there areas in your life where you seem to struggle or you are stagnating?
• Could it be the reason why you are not accomplishing your goals is because you are not doing the things that God has asked you do? Is God’s word your guide?
• For example at work, are you diligent and working as unto the Lord; In your finances are you giving and tithing; In your marriage husbands are you loving your wives the way God wants to? Wives are you respecting your husbands?
• Perhaps all you need to do is to go back to the basics; Read His word and act on it

2. Blessings

• God has promised to bless us if we fully obey Him
• The challenge with the twisted gospel today is that we are sometimes misled that for as long we believe in God, pray we will be blessed.
• The prosperity gospel emphasize on rewards without necessarily emphasizing on obedience. But the Bible is so clear… We must fully obey first 

Deuteronomy 28: 1-14 outlines the blessings that God has promised for us if we obey them. Notice the blessing will come if we FULLY obey God.

The rewards for obedience are clear:

• You will be blessed where ever you go
• Your children will be blessed
• God will protect you
• He will grant you abundant prosperity
• Everything you set your hand on will be successful
• The Lord will help you to stand out

13. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Examples

• In the Bible, Abraham, Isaac and their children enjoyed God’s blessing because of obedience
• David even though he made a mistake was blessed and even called man’s after God’s won heart because of his obedience
• Today, some people are so blessed, they have so much wealth, thriving families successful children because of obedience

Questions:

• Do you want to live a life that overflows with blessings? Then obey God. It is a precondition. Not partial Obedience but full obedience.
• Our God is a rich God; He is capable of blessings with success, favour and prosperity; But He commands us to obey Him first for him to bless us with all these things. 

How to Obey

Obedience is not easy; it can be hard. It takes sacrifice

1. By having a relationship with God: Decide to honour God with our decisions and actions by doing what He tells us. Our primary motive for obedience must be to please God because we love Him. It’s easy to do something  when we do it out of Love even when it’s uncomfortable.

Have you noticed how a man behaves when He is in Love with a woman, He will go out of His way to do things that He would ordinarily not do for other people because he wants to please that woman. He can spend huge amounts of money for that woman, he can kill for that woman. 

Likewise, we must Love God with all our heart, mind and soul then obedience will be easy because our desire will be to honour God.

2. By reading the Bible every day as the primary basis for all our decisions and actions.

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, which you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

3. Through Prayer

• Sometimes even when we know the things that God expects from us, acting on them will not be easy. Many times obedience means sacrifice; sometimes obedience can be painful; sometimes it can mean stretching ourselves outside our comfort Zone. On our own we may not be able to do it. We therefore need God’s help through the Holy Spirit to help us.

In the Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus was tired and stressed up. The Human side of Him wanted to give up, He even prayed if God could take away the cup from Him but remembered to say “Not my will but your will”

• That’s the same prayer that we must pray every day; when obedience becomes difficult, when we are tempted to choose the easy way…we must always say “Not my will but your will” and act accordingly.
• Prayer will also make us sensitive to God’s word and will help us to hear His voice and know exactly what we must do.

4. By focusing on the reward

• Despite our main focus of obedience should be to show that we Love God, we should always remember there is a reward for obedience either in this life or the life after.
• When the devil tempts us to take the easy way out and act in rebellion always remember what you are missing out on.
• Be willing to do the hard things even when it doesn’t make sense because you know a blessing will follow, for yourself, and for your family.

Conclusion

• Obedience is act of Surrender, it is when we as Christians say “not my will Lord but Your will and align our actions with that will.“
• Obedience is not easy, many times it means taking the higher road doing things that are against our fleshly desires.
• Although difficult, obedience sets us apart as authentic children of God. God will know us by our obedience, even those around us will be inspired by our obedience.
• Obedience demonstrates our faith and trust in God; Obedience is the key to our success; Obedience is the sure and promised way for unlocking blessings for our lives.
• For us to be able to fully obey, we must read His word every day and ask God to empower us with His holy spirit so that our life is going to honour Him.