Obey: Living with Integrity Overview: The Christian life is a life of obedience. That is not saying that it is a life of rules. It is a life of relationship. The word obedience might conjure up all sorts of negative things, but obedience is simply doing God s will. Since we are in relationship with God and have been brought into his family, it follows that we should try to please him. We live in relationship with the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit, who lives inside us. In all healthy relationships, we try to bring good into the relationship by acting in such a way as to bring peace to the relationship. Not only do we try not to offend, but we also try to please those with whom we are in relationship. No one comes to a right relationship with God by obediently and perfectly following him. Rather, we come to him through grace and faith. We can t work our way to forgiveness and peace with God. Instead, he gives salvation to us as a gift, and he paves the way for it through Jesus sacrifice on the cross. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 4:4-5, Titus 2:11) When we obey God we are on a path that brings health to our relationship and the most joy and fulfillment to our lives (although life can still be hard). As Christians, we are sons and daughters of God. When we disobey him, we are still in his family, but it does cause some strain. Our disobedience can bring harm into our own lives, it can affect others, and it can negatively reflect on our Father. When we disobey, we can be sure that as a loving Father God will lovingly discipline us to put us back on course (Hebrews 12:4-11). It is important to understand that outward obedience isn t all that God is after. God wants to conform us into the likeness of Jesus inside and out. He doesn t want us to merely have decent outward behavior. He wants us to have inner strength of character, which is. Integrity is your moral compass. Integrity is demonstrated when you will do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. There are many different motivations that help us choose to do right. Sometimes we have the fear of getting caught or exposed. Sometime we have a fear of punishment and consequences. Sometimes we want to look good in the eyes of others and do what is expected of us. It s not necessarily bad to do the right thing with these motivations, but when these motivations are removed, will we still do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do? As you study this topic, evaluate your own actions and motivations. Have you allowed God to change you at your very core, or are you merely performing to appease the expectations of others? Think long and hard about your inner motivations. Why do you obey? Why do you disobey? In light of the love God has shown you, what can you do to foster a healthy, loving, and obedient relationship with him? Memory Verse James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. NIV84/11 Discipling the Heart Obey: Living with Integrity 1
Obedience Personal Study Obedience Exo. 19:5-6 Blessed if you obey Num. 32:23 Your sin will find you out Deut. 5:29 Fear God and keep commands Deut. 26:16-17 Follow, observe, walk in his ways, keep his commands, and obey Josh. 1:7 Careful to obey 1 Sam. 15:22-23 Obedience better than sacrifice Ezra 7:10 Study, observe, teach Job 34:21 His eyes are on our ways Prov. 19:16 Obedience brings life Matt. 7:21-23 Do the will of the Father Matt. 7:24-27 Hear and put into practice Matt. 28:19-20 Teach them to obey Luke 11:27-28 Blessed are those who hear and obey John 14:15-24 If you love him you will obey him John 15:10 If you obey you reside in his love Acts 4:19-20 Obey God first over human authority Acts 5:29 Obey God first over human authority Acts 5:32 God has given Spirt to the obedient Acts 10:34-35 God accepts those who fear him and do right Rom. 1:5 Obedience comes through faith Rom. 6:16-18 Slaves to righteousness Rom. 16:25-27 All nations might believe and obey 1 Cor. 7:19 Keeping God s commands is what counts. 2 Cor. 8:21 Do what is right in eyes of God and people 2 Cor. 9:13 People will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your faith 2 Cor. 10:3-6 We make our thoughts obedient 2 Thess. 1:8-10 Obeying the gospel 2 Thess. 3:13 Never tire of doing right Titus 2:11-12 Grace teaches us godliness James 1:22-25 Don t just listen to the word. Do it. 1 Pet. 1:14-16 Be obedient and holy 1 Pet. 1:22 Purified by obedience 1 John 2:3-6 Obedience evidence of genuine faith 1 John 3:21-24 Obey commands and do what pleases him 1 John 5:2-5 Love is obedience. Victory comes through faith 2 John 1:6 Walk in obedience and love Rev. 3:3 Hear, obey, and repent Integrity Gen. 6:9 Example of Noah Exo. Moses leaders Deut. 9:5 Israelites not favored due to Deut. 32:20 People without Joshua 24:14 Follow the Lord with 1 Sam. 26:23 People are rewarded for their 2 Sam. 22:26 To those with you show. NLT 1 Kings 9:4-5 Walk with as David did 1 Chron. 29:17 God is pleased with 2 Chron. 19:8-9 Fear Lord with Nehemiah 7:2 Example of Hanani Job 1:1,8 & 2:3 Example of Job Job 6:29 Job s at stake Job 27:5 Job refuses to lose Psalms 7:8 Judge us according to Psalms 25:21 May protect me Psalm 31:23 Lord protects those of Psalm 37:3 Maintain your Psalm 51:6 God desires inner Psalms 78:72 David led with Psalm 101:6 Those with attend God Psalms 119:1 Happy are people of Prov. 11:3 Integrity guides the upright Prov. 11:20 Lord delights in those with Prov. 19:1 Integrity better than riches Prov. 20:7 Righteous walk with Prov. 28:18 Deliverance for those with Habak. 2:4 Those with will live Malachi 2:6 Example of Levi Matt. 22:16 Jesus known for Mark 12:14-15 Jesus known for John 7:18 Man of desires honor for God 2 Cor. 1:12-13 We have conducted ourselves with 1 Tim. 3:8 Qualifications for deacons Titus 2:7-8 Set an example of 2 Obey: Living with Integrity Discipling the Heart
Questions for Personal Study and Reflection What is? How are and obedience related? Read Genesis 39:6-18. What are some reasons that it might have been particularly hard for Joseph to do the right thing in that situation? Why is this a particularly good example of? Read the following accounts of David s life: David spares Saul in cave (1 Samuel 24:1-22) David spares Saul s life at Saul s camp (1 Samuel 26:5-25) David commits adultery (2 Samuel 11:1-17) David spares Shimei (2 Samuel 16:5-14) David buys Araunah s threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:17-25) Do you think you would have been able to demonstrate such as David did in his dealings with Saul, Shimei, and Araunah? How could a man of such act with such a lack of as David did in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah? Read 2 Kings 5:1-27. Why did Elisha refuse the gift from Naaman? Gehazi took the gift that Naaman offered but Elisha refused. Which of his actions might indicate that he was acting without? Read Daniel 6:1-14. How did Daniel demonstrate? Was Daniel obeying a specific command from God when he prayed at the window? Could he have obeyed the king without dishonoring God? Why do you think Daniel chose to disobey the king s edict? What application did Jesus want us to get out of the story of the man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27)? In John 14:15-24 and in 1 John 2:3-6, why does God connect the concepts of love and obedience? Can you love God without obeying Him? Can you obey God without loving Him? Suppose someone said they loved you, and then turned around and did something that they knew was offensive to you. How would you feel about the sincerity of his or her love? How can we obey God without turning our relationship into one that is marked by legalistic lists of dos and don ts? Do you think God is displeased with us when we don t obey? Why or why not? Sometimes it is easy to put more emphasis on learning than on obeying. One man said, If I only obeyed what I already knew, I d be busy for a long time. Do you think this is a healthy perspective? Why or why not? Discipling the Heart Obey: Living with Integrity 3
Do you think most people focus more on learning what God says, or on obeying what God says? Which do you focus on more? Are there things you know that God wants you to do that you are not doing? Are there things that you know that God wants you to stop doing, that you are still doing? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, what do you think God thinks of that? How would you like to respond to him? I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me. Abraham Lincoln Jesus Christ is not teaching ordinary, but supernormal, a likeness to our Father in heaven. Oswald Chambers God wants to develop the same character traits in us as exist in Christ. We are to react to the situations of life as Christ did. Erwin W. Lutzer Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing, feeling is another. D.L. Moody A free Christian should act from within with a total disregard for the opinions of others. If a course is right, he should take it because it is right, not because he is afraid not to take it. And if it is wrong, he should avoid it though he lose every earthly treasure and even his very life as a consequence. A.W. Tozer The term obey would be better expressed by the word use. For instance, a scientist uses the laws of nature; that is, he more than obeys them, he causes them to fulfill their destiny in his work. That is exactly what happens in the saint s life. He uses the commands of the Lord, and they fulfill God s destiny in his life. Oswald Chambers 4 Obey: Living with Integrity Discipling the Heart
Verses: Ezra 7:10 Now Ezra had dedicated himself to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching its statutes and judgments in Israel. Matthew 7:24 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Luke 11:28 But he replied, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it! John 14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. John 14:23-24a Jesus replied, If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. 24 The person who does not love me does not obey my words. 2 Thessalonians 3:13-14 But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right. 14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed. Romans 1:5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. Romans 6:16-18 Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Instead, keeping God s commandments is what counts. 2 Corinthians 10:5b And we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. James 1:22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 1 Peter 1:14-16 Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, 15 but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, 16 for it is written, You shall be holy, because I am holy. 1 John 2:3-6 Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who says I have come to know God and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked. 1 John 3:21-22 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. 1 John 5:2-5 By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down, 4because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith. 5Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 2 John 1:6 (Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it. Discipling the Heart Obey: Living with Integrity 5
Obedience and Integrity Discussion Questions Icebreaker: Suppose you were getting a Coke out of a machine when no one else was around and it gave you back some money. If it was a quarter or two you d probably keep it. If it was several hundred dollars you might send it to the company that services the machine. At what dollar amount would you start thinking about sending it back to the company? Read through the verses on the back. Do any of them stand out to you? We know we are supposed to obey God. It is one thing to know it and another to do it. What are some things that make it difficult to obey? What is legalism? Why is it difficult for Christians to talk about obedience without the topic of legalism being raised? Are there things that God still wants us to obey as Christians? (Consider 1 Corinthians 5:10-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 4:31-32, Ephesians 5:3-5, and Colossians 3:5-9) What is? How is it related to obedience? Our commitment to faithful obedience to God may not be as firm as we think. Studies have shown that various factors affect our behaviors. For example, if we think that everyone else is doing a certain behavior we might be more prone to do it (think about speeding among drivers or steroid use among cyclists). If we think that no one will know it will affect our behavior (think about anonymous comments on the web). If we feel our disobedience won t have a significant harmful impact we ll be less likely to take the high road (think about pirating a copy of Microsoft Office vs. stealing a copy of a CD from a small music store). If we think that our offense is just a minor bending of rules we might be willing to give in a little (think about the NFL s deflate gate or making personal copies on the work copier). What do you think? Are you committed steadfastly to obedience, or do your standards waver? Are there rules that do not waver, have no exceptions, and shouldn t ever be bent? Are there rules that waver, have exceptions, and should ever be bent on occasion? Is it possible to always do the right thing no matter what? How can we obey God without turning our relationship into one that is marked by legalistic lists of dos and don ts? Are there things you know that God wants you to do that you are not doing? Are there things that you know that God wants you to stop doing, that you are still doing? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, what do you think God thinks of that? How would you like to respond to him? 6 Obey: Living with Integrity Discipling the Heart