The Rewards of Holiness: Pursuing Complete Obedience to Jesus I. THE REWARDS OF PURSUING COMPLETE OBEDIENCE A. The key to spiritual growth and vibrancy is found in the reward (or enjoyment of God) while pursuing complete obedience. 1. Obedience to God separated from enjoying the affections of God is like an engine with no oil it doesn't work well. It's trying to incorporate a godly behavior without any of the relational aspects of enjoying God Himself. 2. Enjoying God separate from the pursuit of complete, 100-percent obedience, is a unbiblical definition of grace and causes our hearts to become dull and our spirituality to be diminished. C. Jesus offers us the invitation to rewards in the Sermon on the Mount, saying, "Blessed are ". These are invitations to experience the blessing of aligning ourselves with the values of God's heart. We shouldn't miss that the commands of Christ are ultimately and in large part invitations to experience the very same depth of life and emotion that Jesus experiences. D. Through His commands, Jesus is sharing with us from His own experience the keys to walking in a dynamic and exhilarating life in God, devoid of spiritual boredom and dullness. No other man has a life as exhilarating as Jesus. He's been anointed with the oil of gladness more than any other (Ps 45:7). Jesus understands pleasure. No one understands and experiences more pleasure than He does. His life and personality flow out of a heart filled with extreme fascination, wonder, hopefulness, jubilation, and affection. E. Jesus invites us into His lifestyle and gives us the key for how to experience it. We must respond to His invitation on His terms. Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." E. It is His yoke, because it is the way He lived and related to God and others. To experience the peace and blessing of God on the inside, it requires us to be totally yoked to Jesus, meaning we must be fully committed to His ways. If we're not totally and completely surrendered to His ways then we'll short-circuit the blessing of abundant life that He promised. F. His yoke is easy because He gives us clear understanding of the ways we should go and what response He is looking for. It is not too complicated or too difficult to understand. It's accessible and workable for everyone regardless their intelligence, education, experiences, or background. P a g e 1
In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus gives us insight into which attitudes and behaviors are in agreement with His heart and which are not. He doesn't leave us guessing as to what kind of life we should be living. There are no hidden motives or political agendas in His leadership style. G. His yoke is light for two reasons. First, He helps us do it. He gave us the Holy Spirit to us to enable us, strengthen us, and encourage us when we're weak and ready to quit. Secondly, it is light because there is a personal benefit that comes with obeying Him in that we experience joy on the inside, and when our hearts are awakened to these emotions we pursue God more earnestly. H. Yes, there is a cost to following Jesus, but it is only costly to the natural man, to the flesh. The natural man does not understand the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14) therefore the ways of God are burdensome and costly to our flesh. This is why Jesus said we must deny our flesh and take up our cross to follow Him. Luke 9:23 - Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. However, our human spirit and emotions were made to thrive under the leadership of Jesus, therefore while externally we may be dying to the flesh, inwardly we are being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16) I. The benefit of enjoying God in the secret place of your inner life far surpasses in value anything you might "sacrifice" in terms of external pleasures. The cost of discipleship is better reframed in terms of the cost of non-discipleship. The cost of not following Jesus is actually much higher than the cost of following Him because we do not function well under the burden of any other yoke, or any other leadership system. We begin to break down into dysfunction. Luke 17:33 - Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Only in totally surrendering our life to the Lord and submitting to His leadership will we find a quality of inner life that prospers our soul. II. THE BLESSING IS IN THE PURSUIT, NOT THE ATTAINMENT A. 100-percent obedience is measured in the pursuit of complete obedience, not the attainment of it. None of us ever attain to total obedience in this life, but rather the Bible tells us to reach for it with whole-heartedness. Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. B. Wholeheartedness is a commandment and a promise (Luke 10:27). We're commanded to love God with all of our hearts because this is the only proper response to a God who loves us with all of our hearts. When we give all of our hearts to Him, we're equally yoked to Him in love. We cannot love God with the same measure of love, but we love with the same quality of love; that is whole-hearted love. P a g e 2
C. Wholeheartedness means we set our hearts to obey in every area, without sin and without compromise. We apply the full force of our energy and resources toward loving and seeking God. This requires that we actively discern areas of our life that diminish our love for God. D. We must remember that God is rewarding the pursuit, not the attainment, which means we can have confidence that God still enjoys us when we fail. If we don't have confidence that God is still glad-hearted Father who understands and rejoices in when we give Him our weaknesses, then we will struggle to have confidence to move forward in holiness. E. When we stumble, fall and fail, we repent and press delete and get right back into the pursuit of the Lord, trusting His forgiveness and having confidence in His enjoyment of us in our weakness. You do not need to put yourself in a spiritual timeout to prove that your repentance is sincere. F. Anything less than the pursuit of 100-percent obedience will short-circuit the power of God available for you to walk in. Grace to walk in holiness with the inner reward of a burning heart of Divine love is only available to those who pursue the Lord on His terms. His terms are total surrender and pursuit of complete obedience (Matt 5:48; 1 Peter 1:16) III. ACTIVATING GRACE A. Grace is the power of God available to walk in holiness with the reward of a burning heart of Divine Love. B. Grace is not a license to sin and be free from the consequences. Grace does not give you permission to live any lifestyle you choose or condone any behavior. Grace is Gods divine strength made available to you so that you can be free to live in victory over sin and every entanglement that weighs down your heart and keeps you from experiencing the pleasures of God. Jude 1:4 - For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. C. Some teachers minimize the pursuit of obedience in their teachings on grace in an effort to be helpful to those struggling in sin. I believe in the unmerited favor of grace, but the Bible is clear that grace is also the power of God to walk in holiness and to overcome sin. Our challenge is to help others have confidence in God's enjoyment as they are cooperating with grace to overcome sin without minimizing the pursuit of holiness. D. Teachings on grace that minimize holiness are unhelpful because when we abandon the pursuit of obedience to Christ we are no longer cooperating with grace and our hearts become dull. A casual Christianity and lifestyle of disobedience leads to a working of the spirit of lawlessness in our lives which causes our love to grow cold (Matt. 24:12). We cannot afford to have cold-hearts in this hour of history or in the days ahead. Matthew 24:12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. P a g e 3
E. God sees the sincerity of our heart when we set our aim at perfect obedience, even when we're still struggling to gain victory over an area of sin and compromise in our lives. The sincerity moves His heart and He responds by releasing grace to us so that we have confidence in His enjoyment of us even while we're still weak in an area. God enjoys us in our weakness, because though our love is weak it is real. He understands the difference between an immature believer who is sincerely aiming to obey and one who is casual and careless in their relationship with Him. F. Grace requires cooperation. We activate grace by cooperating with God by sincerely setting our hearts to obey and asking God to help us obey. God does his part and we must do our part. We cannot do God's part and He will not do our part. We can activate grace by faith activities including renewing our mind in the word, becoming accountable, aligning the way we spend our time and resources with God's priorities, etc. These are all activities that flow out of a heart that is resolved to walk in complete obedience. G. The throne of God is called the throne of grace, which can also be thought of as a throne of power. It is a throne of grace because God is gracious with His power and He enjoys strengthening the weak. Hebrews 4:16 - Let us come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in every time of need. 1. In order to receive power we must come to the throne. We will not receive strength if we don t respond to the invitation and come to the Lord. When we come to God s throne, it means that first we are acknowledging and are submitting to God s leadership. We must come on His terms. It s impossible to come to the throne of grace without submitting to His leadership over our life. There is no help unless you come humbly by coming on His terms. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). 2. We receive mercy for our failures as we repent. We can trust God has forgiven us and there is no condemnation. The Lord delights in mercy and it is offered to us but we must lay hold of His mercy. The idea of receiving in this passage is related to actively taking and laying hold of mercy with aggression. When we stumble and fall we must be actively lay-hold of His mercy. 3. We find grace to help our needs. Mercy is laid hold of. Grace must be pursued. It is discovered, learned, especially after searching it out with intentionality and diligent pursuit. Grace requires patient obedience, submission, and perseverance. Don't say God as long as you'll give me grace for such and such I'll do it. John 14:15-13 - If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, P a g e 4
I. 4 Steps to Activate Grace: 1. Thank God for bringing it to the light. Eph 5:13 - But everything exposed by the light becomes visible--and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. When the powers of darkness which are hidden in the spiritual realm are manifested in the natural realm they lose strength. It can seem like things have gotten worse because suddenly you re confronted with it, but in reality it s been operating the whole time and you ve just now become aware of it. Now that you know the enemy you re fighting you can better address it. 2. Own your failure. James 5:16 - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. Repent both in how you think and behave regarding that area. Call it what it is (sin, compromise, etc.) and when you do you'll agree with God. Avoid rationalizing away those areas that He wants changed. The Bible calls this hardening your heart and it robs you of tenderness to His presence. If he puts his finger on something He wants changed, then you really want to agree with Him about changing it. 3. Go to war against that area of sin or compromise. Matthew 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Ask the Lord what lifestyle or attitude changes you need to make and then make them. Involve others in your decisions if you need help with accountability. Set your heart to obey and refuse to give up until you re walking in total victory. Thank Him for the victory over it. Victory is guaranteed the moment you say yes, in a sincere way. It may take you 5 minutes or 50 years to walk in the victory consistently, but the moment you say "Yes" to bringing that area of your life into the obedience of Christ, then you have, by the grace of God, certain victory over it. 4. Receive God s Delight 2 Cor. 12:9 - My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God is not only unafraid of our mistakes and failures, but He really enjoys us in our weaknesses. Our hearts are sustained through the process by His tender-mercies and loving-kindness and when we connect with His delight for us, even in our weakness, we ll have courage to continue to press-in for more of His grace and victory in our lives. P a g e 5
J. In order to walk in complete obedience we must pay attention to the little areas of compromise that God puts his finger on. The "little foxes" (song 2:15) of sin and compromise really do rob us of our inheritance. They steal from us the ability to experience and enjoy the manifest presence of the Lord upon our heart and in our lives. John 14:23 - If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. IV. COMPLETE OBEDIENCE INCLUDES PURSUIT OF GOOD WORKS A. The pursuit of complete obedience doesn t only mean resisting areas of sin or compromise, but it also includes giving yourself to works of faith. The pursuit of complete obedience moves us beyond merely abstaining from certain things and propels us into the good works that God has prepared for us. B. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus lists both the negative attitudes and behaviors we must resist as well as the positive attitudes and behaviors we must pursue. The negative elements are similar to the weeds that must be pulled from the soil of your heart. If you allow them to continue growing they will rob the nutrients from those things that you desire to prosper. Likewise, we must cultivate the garden of our heart with those positive things that serve as nutrients to the soil in which our lives are cultivated. C. Good works are the result of sincere faith. Faith requires works as evidence of salvation. D. The Bible talks about two kinds of works: works of the flesh and works of the Spirit. We cannot earn salvation by our own works (Eph 2:9), but works of the Spirit are evidence of the salvation that we received by faith in Christ Jesus. (Eph 5:20). Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works [of the flesh], so that no one can boast. Ephesians 5:20 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works [of the Spirit], which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Hebrews 5:9 - and being made perfect He became the eternal source of salvation for all who obey Him James 2:14 - What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Titus 2:14 - who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 3:8 - The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. P a g e 6
Hebrews 10:14 - And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, Romans 1:1, 5 - Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus through Whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, V. AFFECTION, ALIGNMENT, & AUTHORITY A. Affection-based obedience is obedience that doesn't count the cost, because love is the reward. When our hearts are devoted to someone, we put all of our energy into pleasing them for the sake of love. We wouldn't weigh the cost-benefits of pleasing someone we love. We go to extremes to find ways to show our devotion. B. We do not pursue complete obedience to Jesus because we are trying to prove our worth to Him We are not working to earn His love because we already have it all of His heart. We pursue complete obedience to Jesus because we are compelled by love to demonstrate His worth to us. C. When obedience seems difficult it should inform us that our minds need renewing. Following Jesus is very simple. It only gets complicated when we don't want to do it. You already made Jesus Lord the moment you gave your life to Him and asked Him to save you from your sins. We can t turn back to the old ways of living our life independent of Him after we ve received salvation. D. Obedience is Jesus love language. Becoming a disciple is about learning and then following Jesus commands while enjoying the reward of His pleasure for us. E. Alignment requires submission, submission requires obedience. If we obey Jesus, were submitted to Him and are in alignment with Him. Your daily decisions to obey or not to obey are aligning your life with His values, priorities, and purposes, or not F. Greater alignment produces greater authority in the kingdom of God. Jesus has complete authority because He is completely aligned with the Father's heart, values, priorities and agenda. Angels have God's authority because they have aligned themselves to do the will of the father. Demons have authority over the people who align with them. Kingdom authority has nothing to do with spiritual strength, or discipline, or size, or charisma, or zeal it comes from the level of alignment we have to the Father. H. When we are aligned with God in affection and submission, we have the ability to put a demand on His time, attention, and resources. When we move in faith in obedience to His word we actually place a demand on the word of God in our own lives and in the lives of others. Matthew 5:19 - Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. P a g e 7