Building up believers and the New Testament church

The Discipline of Obedience

"And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32). "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23). "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (I Peter 1:13-16).

Obedience is a word that may seem very dry to us. Our first response may be, "I know I should obey." But somehow, by the mercy and grace of Jesus, obedience must be lifted in our vision to a place of sweetness and strength. We must see the value obedience has in God's eyes, and see what takes place in our lives as we obey. Many times, we are waiting for God to do something that He will never do. God is faithful to do His part, but He does not do what we must do, and one of those things He has called us to do is to obey. In Jesus Christ, we have the ability to obey His word to our hearts.

As we have already seen in the scriptures above, the fruit of obedience is rich. The price of disobedience is also very high. "Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Heb. 3:17-19). "For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience" (Heb. 4:10,11). "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 5:6). We do not want to concentrate on the negative, but only to see that the end of disobedience is separation from God and eternal judgment. God has made a way that we can be set free from every hindrance that keeps us from God, and in that place of liberty we find joy in doing the will of God from the heart. Let our hearts be encouraged to know that Jesus has made the way for us to be obedient sons, pleasing our heavenly Father.