Living
out your faith is often as difficult as it is confusing. Determining how God
wants us to live our life seems as out of reach as actually living it out. So
how does the Bible instruct us here? How
does God want us to live our life?
Keep
His Commandments
·
John 14:15
If
you love me, you will keep my commandments
·
What is Obedience?
o
Dutifully complying with the commands,
orders, or instructions of one in authority
o
For the Christian, obedience means
complying with everything God has commanded because it is our duty to do so
o
It’s how we show we love God
·
Loving God is the greatest commandment
o
Matt 22:36-38
o
Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
great and first commandment.
·
Obeying your Father is loving
o
**Think about disobedient children**
o
How does it feel to you when you’re
child disobeys?
To Obey Is Better
Than Sacrifice
·
1 Samuel 15:22
And
Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
·
We have our time, energy, & money
to sacrifice
o
That’s not a substitute for obedience
o
God doesn’t need anything from you
·
God desires obedience from love
o
Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags we all shrivel up like
a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away
o
Empty following is not love
o
**Look at the Pharisees**
·
Don’t
deceive yourself
o
James
1:22-25 (NIV)
o
Do
not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks
at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and
immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the
perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they
have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
And All These Things Will Be Added To You
·
Matthew 6:30-33
·
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which
today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more
clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What
shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the
Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you
need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you
·
Trust and obedience are bound together
o
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for
good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
o
The more we realize in our thinking and
experience that God always seeks our good, the more we will be willing to trust
and obey him in what he asks us to do and to avoid
·
Our place in his design is predicated on our
obedience & trust
o
It’s a choice
o
** My story on trust **
