The Power of Obedience

The Failed Test

2009-04-15T17:08:00.006-03:00

Before exploring "The Power of Obedience" let's take a short detour and look at the effects of disobedience.

In the beginning God created man and clearly a major purpose in this is that they would enjoy continuous, intimate relationship with Him. He gave Adam total dominion over the earth and every living thing on it. With all the blessings came only one restriction and that was he was not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen.2:17)

We know from Scripture that God is love, therefore any restrictions He would place on people would only be for their good. The LORD had no interest in making life difficult for people. All He wanted was to see them blessed and living in right relationship with Him. The serpent, on the other hand, wanted then what he wants now: to steal, kill and destroy. (Jn.10:10) When Adam and Eve were tempted by him, they chose to disobey the LORD and so entered the cancer of sin into God's perfect world.

In God's instructions to Adam and Eve, He made it absolutely clear to them what the consequences of disobedience would be. They would die. He also made it very clear when that death would take place. Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. It would come the very day they disobeyed. Scripture reveals that the death referred to was not physical. Gen 5:5 - Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. The day Adam disobeyed (sinned) he died spiritually and as a result he and his entire family (the human race) was spiritually cut off and separated from God and His eternal family.

Adam's spiritual death included being dominated and controlled by the "sin nature", a nature submissive to the powers of darkness and resistant to God. Rom 8:7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. (NLT) One act of disobedience has plunged the entire human race into sin and separation from God. All the wars, murders, hatred, sickness, lies, that have wreaked such havoc in the world is all a result of Adam's one act of disobedience.

Obviously God knew what evil would fill the world if Adam and Eve came into the knowledge of good and evil prematurely. God placed one restriction upon Adam and Eve yet they refused His instructions, resulting in immediate spiritual death and ushered in temporal life to the physical body. The point that I feel is important to receive from this is just how serious disobedience is to God and how it effects His eternal purposes for us. Rom 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

Reversing The Situation

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Disobedience is what got the human race into its spiritual dilemma. What could possibly reverse this situation? Who could help? More importantly who would help? Rom 5:19 - Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Only the perfect sacrifice could appease the eternal death penalty that the holy and righteous God pronounced upon the sinful human race. That sacrifice would have to be a God-provided one.

When Adam and Eve sinned and plunged the human family into sin and eternal separation of God, God was not left in the lurch nor was He surprised. He had a plan. He had a Savior. He had a sacrifice in place that would take away the sin of the world. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming these are the words he spoke. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". (Jn. 1:29) There was a plan in place with the potential of fully reversing the damage of Adam's sin.

The divine antidote for Adam's disobedience would demand the absolute obedience of the Lamb of God. When God came to earth and the Creator took upon Himself the form of the created he did so for the purpose of destroying the devil and his works.(Heb.2:14; 1Jn.3:8) The works of the devil are spelled out for us in Jn.10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. The stealing from people, the killing and destroying people is all accomplished by causing them to sin (disobey God). Jesus, on the other hand, would destroy the devil and the power of sin through His absolute obedience. He was tempted in all points just as all people are yet He remained sinless as He chose to honor the Father through His obedience. (Heb. 4:15)

The ultimate test of Jesus' obedience would come as He was mercilessly beaten and then nailed to the Cross. There He would suffer one of the cruelest of torturous deaths. Jesus chose to humble Himself and become obedient to the Father's will. He chose obedience at all costs, even death by crucifixion. Ph.2:6-8 - who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV) Isaiah gives us an accurate picture of what this looked like. The description gives us a glimpse of understanding into the severity of Jesus' suffering and His determination to obey the Father. Isa 52:14 - But many were amazed when they saw Him. His face was so disfigured He seemed hardly human, and from His appearance, one would scarcely know He was a man. (NLT)

It's one thing to obey God when it's easy. What Jesus experienced at the hands of the Roman soldiers was anything but easy. There's somethings about all this that I feel is important for us to see and this something that was made easy for Jesus during His incredible suffering. Yes something was very easy for Him, something, however, if chosen would have left humanity without any hope of redemption. This "something easy" is found in Mt.26:53. The context of it is Jesus' Gethsemane experience when betrayed by Judas. The soldiers had come to arrest Jesus and Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. Jesus heals the man (Lk.22:51) and says, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?". There was about 5000 men in a legion of Roman soldiers. The easy thing for Jesus to do at any time during any part of His suffers was to call out to the Father for deliverance and there would have been at least 60,000 angels sent to His aid. I'd like to ask you just to stop and prayerfully ponder this. Jesus' suffering was never out of His control.

To the very last gasp of air Jesus could have chosen deliverance but instead he chose obedience. Jesus' obedience resulted in the Father accepting His sacrificial offering and then raising Him from the dead and seating Him heaven's throne at the right hand of the Father. Ph. 2:9-11 - Therefore (because of His obedience) God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(ESV)

The sacrifice Jesus gave of Himself on the cross was all sufficient. With the Father's righteous judgment upon sin paid in full the way is now made for people of Adam's earthly, natural family to be forgiven and cleansed of sin and through faith in Jesus Christ be "Born Again" and be taken from Adam's temporal family placed into the eternal family of God. Heb 10:12 - But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.

Through Jesus' act of obedience He became the Only Savior. And now whoever will call upon Jesus for forgiveness will saved. Acts 2:21 - But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.' (NLT)

Acts 4:12 - There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."

Moving Forward

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Ph. 2:8,9 - And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (ESV)

The reality of Jesus' resurrection was determined as a result of His obedience. Applying this spiritual principle in our life will successfully move us forward in dynamic Christian living.

Let's explore how to make the practical application of this very powerful principle. First it's important for us to understand the connection between Jesus death and His obedience. It was the Father's perfect will for Jesus to be the sacrificial Lamb of God. For Jesus to walk out the Father's will required that as the "Son of Man" He humble Himself and accept

the Father's call upon His life. Lk. 22:42 - saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."(ESV)

The 1st. Step:

When talking about experiencing the resurrection power of God in our life it all begins with humbling our self to accept the Father's will as our own. Jms 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (ESV) It really goes without saying that in order for us to accept God's will we must first know what it is. The pages of the New Testament unfold God's purposes for us. The short version of God's will for New Covenant Believer's is for them to live "Holy Spirit filled" lives.

The 2nd. Step:

Having humbled our self and submitted to God's will the next step is to follow through with obedience. Rom 6:16 Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. I've been involved in various aspects of Christian ministry for over thirty years. It seems that whenever the subject of obedience comes up its as if someone throwing water on the fire. This happens because is very common for Believers to view New Covenant obedience through Old Covenant eyes. There's something very important, wonderful and powerful for us to understand about New Covenant obedience. It's found in Ph. 2:13 - For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. God is at work in our hearts. He's the One giving us the desire to obey Him. BUT it doesn't stop there! He also gives us the power to follow through with obedience. How awesome is that!

The 3rd Step:

Believing is an integral part of New Covenant life. It's impossible to please God without it. (Heb.11:6) Without it there's no salvation. Eph 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. Christianity is all about taking the Lord at His Word. So it is in this all important third step to experiencing the resurrection power of God effecting our life. It all starts by believing in the power God makes available to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph.1:16-21 - I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

The power available to us is the same power that raised Jesus physical body from the grave and seated Him at His right hand on the throne of Heaven. It's impossible to obey God through human will and determination, however, that's not what New Covenant Christianity is all about. It's about living for God by the power of God.

Getting It All Working

2009-04-10T18:08:00.002-03:00

In concluding this let's walk through a possible scenario together to help reinforce the "how to" of the resurrection power principle.

It all starts with us understanding that God has purposed that we experience a "Holy Spirit filled" life. One that expresses Christ- likeness in all situations of life. Jesus expressed to His world the exact character and nature of the Father. Heb 1:3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God. (NLT) 2Cor.4:4 - They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. While Jesus was on earth He revealed the Heavenly Father to everyone who came into His personal sphere of influence.

We need to understand that God saves sinners and begins the spiritual transformation in the "Born Again" human heart (spirit). His goal and objective is to bring us into Christ-likeness. 2 Cor. 3:18 - So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

Once we're personally convinced that Christ-likeness is God's will for us, we then purpose to humble our self and accept this as our goal and objective. We then begin to make right choices. We choose to obey the Word of God, understanding that as we make the choice to obey, God will release the power needed to walk this out. For example if a fellow Christ says something derogatory about me, most likely I will be tempted to render evil for evil. I most likely will be tempted to harbor bitterness and wait for an opportunity to get even. It is common New Covenant Christianity to experience these battles raging within us. Gal. 5:17 - The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

We are never free of the spiritual battle. What are we going to do? Who will we choose to obey?The Word says that we are to love our enemies, to do go to those who curse us, etc. How will we respond to this fellow Christian who has slandered me in public? Everything inside screams out to get even yet we know what Jesus would do. How can we be found doing what Jesus would do? How can we be Chris-tlike in this situation? Certainly not through the power of the old self that is for sure. It is at this point we turn to the Lord, believing that there is resurrection power awaiting my decision to obey the Lord. I was must to put to death (crucify) the old sin nature that screams out to have dominion in this situation. The Apostle Paul gives us inspired instruction as to how to work through this kind of situation. Rom. 6:11,12 - So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. When we say "no" to sin and "yes" to the Lord, He will back us up with His power. It's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father on the throne of Heaven.

When we are being faced with situations that would cause us to become involved in thoughts and actions that are contrary to those of Jesus Christ we are to consider, reckon or count it as fact that the old sin nature is dead and at the same time we are to consider, reckon or count it as fact that we are live to God through the the power of God. Paul says it this way in Gal. 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ.(the old sin nature) It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It's as we learn to walk in obedience to the Word we will experience more of Jesus' resurrection power being released in us. Ph. 2:13 - For God is working in you, giving you the desire AND the power to do what pleases Him.