INTRODUCTION
Overview
Obedience is to submit. Every person on the earth is subject to authority. God placed different authorities above us, and we have to submit to them all. We have authority in the family, in marriage, at work, in the church and civil authorities. God put them there to ordain our lives and to protect us and those around us.
Romans 13:1,2 NKJV Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
We can only wield authority when we submit to authority. The policeman who directs the traffic is obeyed not because of his own personal power, but because he stands under a higher authority ‐ that of the government. When he is disobeyed, the government will back him up with all of its power. This is how authority works in the spiritual as well!
In Matthew 8 we read the account of the centurion who sent to Jesus a request to heal his servant who was critically ill. He had an amazing revelation of the power of authority:
Matthew 8:8‐10 NKJV But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one ‘Go’, and he goes; and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.
Learning Objectives
- Understand what authority is and what it means to be obedient towards the different authorities in our lives.
- Realize the importance of being able to submit to authority.
- Know that obedience is the secret to power and Life.
DEFINITIONS
| Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
| Obedience | Compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority. |
| Authority | The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. |
| Wield | Have and be able to use (power or influence) |
| Disobedience | Failure or refusal to obey rules or someone in authority. |
| Abide | Accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation) |
CHRIST’S OBEDIENCE
We should seek to be continuously in God’s presence ‐ to hear from Him and obey Him. When we abide in His presence continuously it would be hard not to obey. This was the secret of Jesus’ power.
John 5:30 NKJV I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Obedience must be learned, as Jesus also did.
Hebrews 5:8 NKJV Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
As humans, sometimes we only learn when things go against us and life become hard and difficult. Jesus paid a high price for His obedience to the Father. In the garden of Gethsemane He prayed with tears of blood that the cup of suffering He was about to drink to take away our sin, might pass from Him, yet He also said “Not My will, but Yours be done.” It is not always easy to obey the Lord. But it is even worse when we do not obey Him! Paul found that out on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to him:
Acts 9:5 NKJV I am Jesus, whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
A goad is a sharpened stick which one uses to drive cattle. Sometimes the cattle do not want to be driven in any direction, and kick backwards against the stick ‐ and hurt their heels.
The key to true obedience is to abide in His presence. That is why Jesus declared, when He spoke about His teachings:
John 12:49‐50 NKJV For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.
This does not mean that the Father gave Him everything when He sent Him into the world, but that He received from Him moment by moment as He walked in His presence, at the point of need. He says:
John 5:19‐20 NKJV Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
John 5:30 NKJV As I hear I judge.
John 8:16 NKJV I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
John 14:10 NKJV The words that I speak I speak not of Myself, but the Father dwells in Me.
OBEYING THE WORD
Even though Jesus was the son of God, and lived in His Father’s presence all the time, and had direct communication with Him, He never became independent of the Word. The Word was always in his mouth.
Luke 24:27 NKJV And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
When the devil tempted Him in the desert, Jesus responded “It is written…”
We see in Luke 4:17and 18 that Jesus started His ministry by reading of His mission in Isaiah 61:1,2, after which He began to fulfil that calling. Scripture is not given to increase our knowledge, but to guide us in the will of God.
Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher ‐ to bring us revelation, to give life to the letter. This is the work of the Holy Spirit ‐ to draw the Word we read and meditate upon and put it into our hearts and make it powerful there to influence our life, our love, our whole being. This is something we need to understand. It is the living Word of a living God to us!
OUR OBEDIENCE
The best way to learn anything is by doing it. We need to obey the will of God in the Word, and as we progress in it, He will reveal His specific will for our individual lives, step by step.
Galatians 2:20 NKJV I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live; but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
This is following Jesus’ example ‐ dying to our will and obeying God’s will!
Read John 2:50 again: “And I know that His command is everlasting life..."
This is the essence of the gospel! Life is in the commandment of God, and we receive it when we obey Him. Obedience is the key to life!
Shall we obey Him, Who gave us His Word in wisdom and divine insight, or follow our own limited insight and wisdom and knowledge?
Isaiah 48:17 NKJV Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
Isaiah 1:18,19 NKJV If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
