Word of Salvation – Vol.36 No.17 – May 1991

 

Obeying God’s Commandments

 

Sermon by Rev. M.P. Geluk on Lord’s Day 44, Q&A 114

 

In the first part of Lord’s Day 44 the Christian church confesses the meaning of the tenth commandment.  It is about coveting.  In the middle part of the same Lord’s Day the church confesses the nature of Christian obedience.

It is good for Christian believers to reflect on their obedience to God’s will.  And now is a good time to do this.  We have worked our way through the Ten Commandments and learned again about the will of God for our lives.  The commandments are to Christians as a roadmap is to a traveller.  It points to the right way of Christian living.  The Ten Commandments really cover all of life and the Catechism’s application is very practical.  We can be thankful for that.  It’s not much good to hear a lot of theory and philosophising about the commandments.  What needs to be spelled out clearly is what God requires from his children.  Therefore, this question about the nature of the Christian’s obedience is a good one.

So how has it been for us?  Have we grown spiritually?  Are we more conscious of how we need the Lord in everyday living?  If the traveller has a good map, you can imagine him feeling good about it.  In difficult situations his map shows him where he is and where he has to go next.  He might well say to his companion after he has consulted his map again, ‘Good map this, I love it.  I’d be lost without it.’

Do the Ten Commandments and their application have that kind of effect on you?  It did for the author of Psalm 119.  To most of us Psalm 119 is known because of its length.  But we should really know it for its contents.  It is a beautiful song of praise for the law of God.  The psalmist loved to think about, to dwell on, to meditate on God’s law.

But when you think about God’s will for our daily life, then you cannot help thinking about your obedience.  The psalmist did not look at the law and simply say how nice it was for him.  The reason he was so happy about it was because he found obeying it became a pleasure.  Just like the traveller enjoys working with his good map.

Having heard in detail as to what God’s commandments are saying to us, let us look at our obedience to the Lord.  How are things with us in this department of our lives as people who profess to be Christian?

Question and Answer 114 of Lord’s Day 44 are about the kind of obedience we give to God’s commandments.  In the first place we see that it is comprehensive; in the second place we see that it is imperfect; and in the third place we see that obeying God is a blessed thing.

The first thing we want to say about our obedience to God’s commandments is that it is comprehensive.  We know the meaning of that word from the people with whom we insure our cars.  If you are not comprehensively insured then you will be up for considerable costs if you run your car off the road and into a tree.  But when you are comprehensively covered then you can claim compensation for losses against theft, fire, accidents whether caused by you or the other person.

The Christian’s obedience to God is to be comprehensive.  That is, we are to obey all of God’s commandments.

One would think it unnecessary to point this out, but it has been shown repeatedly that Christians have a tendency to work with only some and not all of God’s commandments.  Of course, in one sense we ought to do that.

No Christian today, not even with a limited understanding of the Bible, would think it necessary to obey the Old Testament commandments about sacrifices as it was done then, or the New Testament instruction to greet each other with a holy kiss.  Sanctified common sense tells us most of the time what commandments were time-bound, or reflecting the custom of the day, or for all time.  Without going into detail, we know by and large which commandments are to be obeyed by God’s people, no matter when or where you live.

Generally speaking, we find these covered by the teaching contained in the Ten Commandments and the catechism does a good job in spelling that out for us.  We know what is meant when we say that it is necessary to obey all of God’s commandments.  We are referring to those that are for all time.

But knowing that and doing that are two different things.  We are all inclined to work more with some than with others, even though we would straightaway admit all are equally important, if we were challenged on it.

We all know, for example, how some Christians have tended to give a lot of emphasis to those commandments that, as far as they can see, absolutely forbid smoking and drinking.  Yet, these same Christians seem to happily gorge themselves on sweets and cakes, whilst the one abuse of the body can be as damaging as the other.

But then there are other Christians who have discovered weaknesses in the claim for total abstinence from drinking and smoking, and therefore somehow justify themselves in continuing to abuse their health by too much smoking and drinking.

Again, others are horrified when they hear of sexual immorality within the Christian church.  For them the sins of a sexual nature are simply the worst.  But these same Christians seem to think nothing of a bad gossip session where unholy tongues do terrible damage to the good name of others.

Therefore there is a tendency in all Christians to somehow work with some and not all of God’s commandments.  We readily admit they are all equally serious to God but it seems to suit us more to work with what is really our own set of rules.  Others are expected to toe the line as we conceive it to be.  The spirituality of other Christians is measured by our personal perception of how Christianity and the church ought to be.  It all has to be according to the law of brother or sister so-and-so.

Now the reaction to this sort of thing must not be in the way of not caring what other Christians say or do.  It’s no good adopting an attitude that says, ‘I am not here to please others, I’ll just go my own way.’  If we all did that it would be the end of the church.

The church is the body of Christ and we must take notice of one another but in such a way that together we humbly listen to all of God’s commandments and encourage one another, in love, to practise them.  To speak of Christian love here is not out of place.  Love to God and love to the neighbour fulfils the whole law.  If we fail to love God or the neighbour at any one point then we have failed to keep the whole law.  A chain is made up of many links.  But if only one link is weak or gives way then the whole chain is broken.

Our Christian obedience to God’s commandments is to be comprehensive.  We should live Christian lives according to all and not only to some of the commandments.

Then in the second place we see that our obeying of the commandments is imperfect.  Now we must remember that we are speaking about the children of God.  Question 114 says: ‘Can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly?’ The Bible teaches and we know that the unconverted cannot obey God.  Their hearts are not renewed, they are still dead in their trespasses and sins, and they are totally depraved.

But we’re not talking about those now.  We are speaking about ourselves; those who profess to have received the Spirit of God, whose natures have been renewed after the image of Christ.  We are talking about the converted; Christians, the people of God who are the Lord’s by grace and the work of Christ.  Can they obey God perfectly?

The catechism’s answer to this is as follows:

‘No.  In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience.’

Now that is not the whole answer.  As you can see by looking at answer 114, the Catechism says more.  But unfortunately we have tended to overlook the remainder of the answer.  We hear the question: can we as people who are converted, as those who are made Christians, obey God’s commandments perfectly?  And we somehow fasten our attention on that word ‘perfectly’.  And then we say: of course not!

And we remind ourselves that we are sinners, inclined to all kinds of evil.  If even the holiest among Christian people have only a small beginning of obedience, then what can you expect of poor me?

But what we are doing is looking for reasons that justify our lack of spirituality.  Besides, we know of holiness movements where perfection is claimed or said to be within the reach of Christians.  We have rejected these holiness movements, and rightly so.  Those who claim perfection or think they can reach it, are often working with only some of the commandments.

But we have just reminded ourselves in our first point that our obedience to God must be comprehensive.  We must obey all of God’s commandments.  Those who say that it is possible to get to a point where they no longer habitually sin and where the power of sin no longer bothers them, have a shallow view of sin.  And when you have a low view of sin then you will have a correspondingly optimistic view of your ability to reach perfection.

But all that optimism is rather like a young boy who has been practising high jumping and who comes back to his Mum and Dad and excitingly says that he is really doing well and able to clear the bar without too much difficulty.  When his parents come to take a look they discover that their son has merely lowered the bar to a height which he can easily manage.

Christians who feel they are getting close to perfection have merely lowered the commandments down to a manageable level.

So we reject the holiness movements because they tamper with God’s idea of holiness.  But unfortunately there is danger in that we become content with a Christian lifestyle that has very little holiness in it.  We should not only emphasize the first part of Answer 114 but also the second part which says: ‘Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose they (i.e. converted Christians) do begin to live according to all, not some, of God’s commandments.’

Indeed, the children of God cannot obey God perfectly, but we must learn not to take a false comfort in thinking that our imperfection is to be tolerated as something normal.  The fact is that Christians can obey God.  No, not perfectly, but they can obey!  That’s what the second half of answer 114 is saying.

Has not God put His Holy Spirit into the hearts and minds of all those whom He has predestined, called, justified and glorified?  Christians are no longer totally depraved.  They may still be inclined to every sin, but since Christ has come to live within, they are no longer wholly under the control of sin and Satan.  They are made new and put on the pathway of life.  Therefore, Christians must not think of themselves as people who are still unsaved.  That would grieve the Saviour deeply.

Christians find a good description of themselves in the letter of John.  In ch.1:8 he says: ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ But that’s only part of the picture.  The other part is found in ch.3:9:

‘No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.’

We can now in the final place look at the blessedness of the Christian’s obedience to God’s commandments.  Imperfect our obedience may be, but it is also a blessing for us to obey.  If God’s Spirit is at work within us, causing us to live according to God’s will, how can that be anything else but a blessed expression?

Now we may not know that kind of experience.  It’s possible that we think of obedience to God as something that a Christian must do but which takes the fun out of living.  If that is the case with us then we have not yet tasted the goodness of the Lord and we have a very false view of what fun is all about.

Another reason for not knowing the blessedness of Christian obedience is that we may think of obedience as negative submission.  Something like: I have to, but I don’t like it!  Or we think of obedience as a crumbling under a powerful force that crushes.

But obedience that is biblical and good does not leave me bruised, hurting and unhappy because I am forced to do something which deep down I don’t want to.  It’s not like that at all.

Strange as it may seem, those who obey God’s commandments begin to experience the glorious liberty of being the Lord’s people.  They find the commandments pointing the way in a clear and positive manner, whereas the ways of the world are often confusing and contradictory.  In fact, it goes much further than that.  The commandments of God are proving to be life to those who follow them but the ways of the world end up in death.  The commandments enable God’s children to function as Christians.  What lubricating oil does for a car, the commandments do for a Christian.  Obeying God is a joyful experience because God is good and perfect, all-wise and all-knowing.  There is a blessedness in those who obey God.

Isn’t that what you find in Psalm 119?
‘I praise you…  as I learn your righteous laws.’ (v.17)
‘I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.’ (v.14)
‘I delight in your decrees.’ (v.16)
‘My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.’ (v.20)
‘Your statutes are my counsellors.’ (v.24)
‘Oh, how I love your law!  I meditate on it all day long.’ (v.97)

Now that does not at all sound like someone who gives God unwilling and grudging submission.  His spirit is not at all crushed.  He is not showing any resentment.

To the contrary, he is happy to obey, he likes it!  If you would meet such a person face to face then you would regard him as someone who is deeply blessed.  And so he is!

Remember the words of Ps.1?
‘Blessed is the man…  whose delight is in the law of the Lord.’ (vs.1,2)

And the apostle Paul wrote:
‘…in my inner being I delight in God’s law.’ (Rom.7:22)

But if you know where in the Bible Paul writes this then you also know that he complained of seeing something else inside him.  Within Paul there is that struggle that says on the one hand:

‘I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.’ (v.14,15)

But on the other hand he says:
‘… in my inner being I delight in God’s law.’ (v.22)

One part of him says,
‘What a wretched man I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?’ (v.24)

But another part of him says:
‘Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (v.25),
meaning that God delivers him from his struggle.

Obeying God’s law, was that for Paul a blessing or a struggle?  For the psalmist it was a blessing and if we believe and trust Christ’s saving work, and the application of that salvation to us by the Holy Spirit, then it was a blessing for Paul too.  Yes, it can be that for all Christians.

Why then does Paul speak in a way that seems to cast doubt on his blessedness?  That question has occupied Bible scholars for years.

It is interesting to read what Luther thought of this struggle.  Long before the modern debate on this question, Luther wrote in his preface to the epistle to the Romans that the apostle Paul offers himself as an example to teach us a right understanding of the Christian experiencing this tension.  Paul, says Luther, speaks of two forces or laws within him.  The one is of the Spirit who is pulling the Christian to live obediently and be Christlike.  The other force is that of human nature which is pulling the Christian in a direction that is opposite to what the Spirit wants.  Luther says that according to Paul this struggle lasts as long as the Christian lives in this world.  In some it may be stronger than in others.

But what we must not do is to use this struggle as an excuse for having a low spirituality.  Both the psalmist and Paul speak of a blessedness that comes when obeying God.  We must not see Paul as a despairing believer who found no joy in serving God.  All his letters simply do not allow us to see him in that way.

The answer is probably closer to us when we think of our own Christian experience.  When we find in us a force that wants to pull us away from God, then we can even want to go along with it.  But it’s not long before our Christian conscience tells us that God is grieved and the wrong we do is really not that enjoyable after all.  Thank God when we feel like that for it is the Spirit pulling us back to God.  When we humble ourselves and pray God for deliverance then we find that God is wonderfully near.  More and more do we hate the sin that for a while gained the upper hand.  We long to be clean and to be forgiven.  We realise that being back in tune with God is really what we want.  We do want to be children of God, and we do confess that to belong to Christ is the greatest comfort there is.  That whole new mood and that sincere desire to obey God and to experience the good of that, is the real us.

Yes, we are God’s and we rejoice because of that.  We are once more determined to follow the Lord.  We know we must look forward and not backwards to our failures.  We live by faith in the Son of God.  He has overcome and so shall we.  We hate the times we fail but we know Christ is forever faithful.  We again follow the Lord, and we know we are blessed.

AMEN