You Can't Have One Without the Other

“It is hard to believe, not because it is hard to understand, but because it is hard to obey.”  - Soren Kierkegaard

Difficulty with obedience is not so hard to comprehend. Men train many different types of animals to perform various tasks. I can't think of any animal that naturally meets expectations without some sort of motivation. The same applies to people.

My own children come to mind. As they were growing up, if I sought a certain action or reaction from them, I had to demonstrate by example the desired behavior. Fortunately, they had faith in me, and obeyed. Yes, it took time, a little work and patience, but they turned out beautifully!

The military is also famous for setting standards of faith and obedience in what they do; which in turn produces men and women who highly motivated and disciplined. Schools, teams, and various organizations follow certain guidelines requiring faith and obedience, as well.

When it comes to faith in God, however, we are asked to believe and obey in something that we cannot see, hear, touch, feel, or taste. This is where many people hit a roadblock when it comes to God. They want to believe that there is something bigger than us out there, but who, what, or where is it?

With God there is no kinda-sorta, meet you halfway, or sitting on the fence. It's true with many things on this side of heaven that you can get by with a weak, watered down kind of faith that changes everytime the wind blows in a different direction. But not so with God!

I will lay it out for you as simply as I can: faith is the unconditional acceptance of, and obedience to, God's absolute word. He will accept nothing less. There is nothing else; not good living, giving, or praying that carries as much weight as does faith and obedience.

When God approached Abram and asked him to pack up, pull up stakes, and move from the only home he had ever known to a strange, new land, did he balk? Drag his feet? Whine about it? No, He might have been a little nervous about it, but He did not question God's intentions. He believed and obeyed (Genesis 12:1-9).

This was great for Abram, you say, but what about the rest of us? As I mentioned earlier, some actions, or behaviors require motivation in order to get the ball rolling. The same holds true for faith and obedience to God. So then, what is our motivation for the unconditional acceptance of, and obedience to God's fundamental word?

For starters, the believer is assured of salvation from hell and is eternally secure, since that salvation is based solely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ (John 10:28,29; Romans 8:38,39). It's inconsistent with the Gospel and with Scripture to seek to gain or keep eternal salvation by godly living.

That alone might be good enough motivation for some, however, Scripture also presents additional motivation for obedience in the Christian life, such as: a powerful motivation for living the Christian life is gratitude to God for saving us by His grace (Romans 12:1,2; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15; Galatians 2:20).

Believers should also be motivated by the knowledge that their heavenly Father both blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience in His children (Hebrews 12:3-11; Leviticus 26:1-45).

Finally, every Christian must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not to determine his destiny in heaven or hell, but to assess the quality of his Christian life on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 22:12).

Anticipating either reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat should also motivate believers to perseverance and to faithfulness to God's revealed will (1 Corinthians 3:10-17, 9:24-27; James 5:8,9; 1 John 2:28).

Now, this message is by no means an exhaustive discourse on faith and obedience. My purpose today was to bring these two important elements of belief in God to your attention. Men will not obey God until they believe in Him! That is why faith is expounded so strongly; so that we might be brought to obedience.

In closing, I remind you that the gospel strengthens our faith so that we will live obedient lives. I cannot stress this enough. It (the gospel) is the means to obedience because it is the means to faith; and obedience comes from faith.

Someone once said that, "Whoever takes God at his word, will take all His words." Beloved, there is no faith without obedience, and there is no obedience without faith! Keep these words close to your heart, always.

Scripture: John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14: 23, 24; Romans 1:5; Hebrews 11:8

Prayer: Dear God, my faith in You is strong; as is my love. Along with loving obedience and grateful reliance do I ever place my trust in You, Holy Father. Amen

- special thanks to the Grace Evangelical Society, Irving, TX.

May God bless you,

Elise