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What Does It Mean to “Obey God”?
There is probably no more important subject to a believer living and experiencing a victorious life in Christ than to properly understand what true obedience to God is all about.
“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17).
If you don’t understand what it means to “obey from the heart” then you won’t understand what true obedience to God is all about. Many people today overlook or simply don’t understand why “obeying from the heart” is crucial. They skip that part to only focus on being obedient. When you disconnect the heart from being the source of obedience, you deny yourself God’s grace flowing from your heart to enable the obedience God requires.
Our relationship with God isn’t based on what we do, but on what we believe. God relates to us from our hearts, not our performances. The same is true for our behaviors and lifestyles. They are all reflections of what we believe in our hearts. Obedience isn’t a performance issue; it is a heart issue.
For many believers today, obedience is motivated by two powerful emotions: fear or greed. Fear because they have been taught if they don’t obey God, He will punish or withhold blessings or the help they need. Greed because they have been taught you must earn your blessings from God by being holy. So to get their needs met, they conform their lives to what they have been told will cause God to bless and help them. Both views are filled with deception. They deny the true nature and character of God, as well as stand in direct opposition to what the finished work of the cross is all about.
Some teach the “just do” approach to obedience but true obedience isn’t based on “just doing.” It is about first believing. If what you do isn’t motivated from a heart established in truth, your obedience is no different from how the Pharisees believed they were obedient to God.
Jesus warned His disciples to “beware” of the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6). Leaven is a type of yeast. A baker adds yeast to the dough to make bread rise. Jesus used the term leaven to illustrate a person who is prideful, self-righteous or entitled. The Pharisees prided themselves on keeping God’s law. Therefore, they saw themselves as better followers of God because they believed they were more obedient than most in their eyes. This leaven aka pride made them feel God owed them for their so-called holy lifestyle.
They didn’t trust in God’s goodness or mercy; their faith was in how good they had been. The same is also true for their confidence; it wasn’t in God being a good God but in themselves. So outwardly, it appeared the Pharisees were obedient to God but inwardly, Jesus knew their obedience was based on a false belief and trust in their self-righteousness.
Paul, being a former Pharisee, and one of the all-time best, saw the difference between obedience to God based on self-righteousness and obedience motivated by grateful hearts. Those with hearts of gratitude understand righteousness has nothing to do with what they have done but what they believe Jesus has accomplished for them in His death, burial, and resurrection. The latter doesn’t feel entitled but overjoyed that Jesus has qualified them to be blessed with everything that pertains to life and godliness. This is why the Bible teaches that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5).
The humble understand they don’t earn anything from God by what they do. They know everything they have comes by the grace of God. On the other hand, those who embrace the leaven of the Pharisees believe they are entitled to God’s blessings because of their personal holiness and performance in obeying God’s laws. This attitude reminds me of the elder brother of the Prodigal Son. He felt cheated by his father who was throwing an extravagant party for his sinful, younger brother. He reminded his father that he had kept all his laws and commandments and was never rewarded for his hard work. His father reminded him, that everything he owned was his for the taking.
The elder brother was so blind, he could not see the abundance his father had graced him with because he never knew or understood his father’s heart. He knew his father’s laws better than his own father’s heart. This is the classic bait and switch of religion. It tries to get you to work for what God offers you freely. Those who work for God’s free gifts are like this elder brother; they are clueless about what is in their father’s heart for them.
The obedience God is looking for from believers is a heart established in what Jesus has done for us in His death, burial, and resurrection. In fact, everything we do or say revolves around that essential truth being established in our hearts. This is why Paul talks about “obeying God from the heart.” Obedience to God comes from a heart that trusts in God’s goodness and mercy. It doesn’t come from a heart that trusts in their goodness or holiness as the Pharisees did.
The Pharisees only obeyed God to get blessed. Believers obey God because their hearts are convinced He has blessed them. Their obedience comes from hearts of gratitude, not hearts in need or want.
We don’t obey God to get Him to love us; we obey Him because He loves us.
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