Word of Salvation – Vol.48 No.36 – September 2003
Obedience That Honours God
Sermon by Rev M P Geluk
on Lord’s Day 44 (Q/A 114 Heid.Cat.)
Scripture Readings: Romans 7:14-25; Psalm 119: 89-104
Suggested Hymns: BoW 337; 98a; 1a; 527
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The tenth commandment speaks about coveting, and coveting is linked with the desires of our heart. Many desires of our hearts are normal and natural, they are part of being human. But when we covet something which is not ours to have, then our desires are impure. We are not content with what God has given or withheld from us.
In order to give God the obedience He wants, we must not start with mere outward acts but love Him with all our heart. The human heart is either ruled by sin or by God. On the one hand Jesus said: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Mt 15:19). And on the other hand, “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Mt 5:8). The pure in heart have no desire to break God’s commandments.
Now we know from the Bible that a sinner who has been born again and converted by the Spirit of God has had a change of heart. A new heart that loves God and wants to do His will has replaced the old heart, which was inclined to hate God and disobey Him. Conversion from old to new is altogether a work of God because by nature we are quite unable to convert ourselves. Yet, no sinner is converted whilst protesting with kicking and screaming. God’s Spirit brings the sinner to the point where he hates the sin he does and wants to become pure. In other words, God bends the sinner’s will in the right direction.
Now Lord’s Day 44, having already dealt with the sin of coveting, asks next: “Can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly?” How do we answer that? The question has to do with our heart. Are we, as Christians, now so pure in heart, that we can obey God perfectly? If we did, then we would never covet any more. In fact, if we had it in our heart to give God perfect obedience, then we would not sin at all any more.
We’re going to look at that now. We want to be clear on the kind of OBEDIENCE THAT HONOURS GOD.
1. The Christian’s obedience must be comprehensive
The insurance companies with whom we insure our cars use the word ‘comprehensive’. If your car is comprehensively insured, then you can claim compensation when your car is stolen, burned, or damaged in an accident. Here, comprehensive cover includes a number of things. But we’re now using the word to include all things. God requires from those who are converted comprehensive obedience. That is, not obedience to some, but to all of God’s commandments.
One would think it unnecessary to point this out, but unfortunately Christians have a tendency to pay attention to only some of the commandments instead of all. There are, for example, Christians who are convinced that smoking and drinking are among the worst sins a Christian can commit. They are not pharisaic about this. They have seen many times that drinking and smoking ruin people physically and financially, so they have come to regard these as especially bad sins. It is possible, however – and fellow Christians have noticed – that these same Christians who are strongly anti-smoking and drinking can, with little concern, stuff themselves with all kinds of unhealthy junk food, which also costs money and ruins one’s health.
Again, there are other Christians, who for some reason seem to think that sexual sins are the worst of all sins. Perhaps they have seen or experienced terrible consequences resulting from adultery and promiscuity, and so they come to regard these sins as the most terrible. But again these Christians may not blink an eye about getting involved in some unholy gossip.
We Christians, wherever we live, are influenced by our experiences, traditions and customs, and these cause us to be very serious about some sins and not serious about other sins. We ourselves may be blind to this, but other Christians not from our particular tradition will notice. You have these differences even in various denominations. Just look at the different ways Christians from different denominations observe the Sunday. And Paul Little, author of the book ‘How to Give Away Your Faith’, describes how some Christians from one part of the United States look on women wearing lipstick as being worldly and sinful, whilst Christians from another part of the States regarded women not wearing lipstick as not looking after themselves very well. (p 101)
Now some differences about living Christianly may legitimately belong to the Christian’s freedom. But regarding things the Bible clearly labels as sins, here, too, we as Christians are inclined to give God a measure of obedience that suits the kind of life we want to live.
It means, of course, that Christians are also tempted to see themselves as being more obedient than other Christians. And if more obedient, then also more pure and holy. What we are really doing, of course, is giving ratings to sin and obedience. We are comparing the different behaviours and attitudes of different Christians. We’re not evaluating our own obedience to God by looking at all His commandments. We’re using a human standard to see how pure our hearts are in comparison to other folk in the Christian community, and we neglect the standard of God’s own Word.
2.The Christian’s obedience is imperfect
When we immerse ourselves in God’s Word and allow it to shine its light over our lives, then we will very quickly see that our obedience is imperfect. Had Question 114 asked: “Can those converted to God obey His commandments?”, leaving the word ‘perfect’ off, then the answer would have been yes. The unconverted who do not have the Spirit of God in their heart cannot obey God. They are not even interested. But the converted are interested because being a Christian is about being obedient to God. God Himself speaks about this very clearly: “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Heb 8:10).
Christians, therefore, can obey God because God’s Spirit lives in their hearts. They love God and their neighbour from the heart and that love is seen in their obedience to God’s commandments. Love fulfils the law. Christians are not just pretending. We may sometimes do that and then we are being hypocritical. But Christians are also genuine and they willingly obey God, because they love Him and their neighbour.
However, the Catechism does not ask, “Can we obey God?” It asks: “Can Christians obey God perfectly?” And the answer to that question is, “No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience.”
Clearly the Catechism rejects perfectionism. Perhaps we should phrase that differently. The Reformation church has not rejected perfection as the goal of the Christian. It knows that the Lord Jesus has said: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). What the Reformation church has rejected is the belief that perfection can be attained in this life.
By contrast the Roman Catholic Church ascribes perfection to some of their so-called “saints”. A long drawn out process, with lots of investigation of claims and counter claims, takes place before the hierarchy in the Roman Catholic Church decides to declare someone a saint. It regards Jesus’ mother, Mary, as a saint, because it’s believed she obeyed perfectly. The Reformation church will say that Mary was a godly woman because that’s how the Bible portrays her. But we refrain from saying she obeyed God perfectly because of the Bible’s testimony that no one is without sin.
That testimony is found in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” This is not said about the unconverted, who, as we know, are not righteous, no not one (Rom 3:10), but about the righteous. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves…” John is saying this about himself and fellow believers who have been declared righteous because Christ had paid for their sins.
This testimony from the apostle John has been overlooked also by various holiness movements throughout the history of the church. From these movements well-meaning but misled people have claimed that they were so powerfully anointed by the Holy Spirit that they overcame the power of sin and were able not to sin.
But perfectionism is usually accompanied with a shallow concept of sin. In fact, it is because of their superficial view of sin that makes them think they are reaching a high level of holiness. Sin is seen as nothing more than noticeable acts of disobedience. The sinful inclinations of the heart are ignored or kept secret. And if a person keeps his life pure by living a morally clean life, then he could begin to think that he is obeying all of God’s commandments.
And that’s what the rich young ruler did. Remember how he came to Jesus asking what good things he was expected to be doing in order to receive eternal life? It was quite likely that he was a man of good moral character. He was the sort of person for whom one could write an excellent character reference. Jesus told him to obey God’s commandments and when the young man asked which ones, then Jesus mentioned a few. To that he replied: “All these I have kept, what do I still lack?” (Mt 19:20)
Now there you have a self-made perfectionist. He judged his outward and exemplary obedience as having met Jesus’ standards. Then the Lord Jesus tore away his shallow concept of sin by saying, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me…” (vs 21). Jesus could see right into his heart and knew that the young man coveted his own possessions so much that he could not bring himself to give them to the poor. The cost of following Christ consisted of letting go of all human possessions. That would show that he truly loved God. But he couldn’t take that step. He loved his possessions more, which meant he loved himself above God. The Bible says that the young man even went away sad (vss 21,22), but not so sad to make him part with his wealth.
When people begin to be impressed by their own holiness and obedience, then it’s because they have stopped listening to God’s analysis in Scripture of human nature. They see themselves as having reached a spiritual level where they feel they have outgrown a need to regularly hear God’s commandments. Forgiveness of sins is something they have received a long time ago. Their spirituality has reached the higher levels of praise and hallelujahs. In their singing they offer to God their spiritual deeds of love, trust and faith. But the Reformation church has always been wary of the holiness movements because it realises that in this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of the perfect obedience God requires. For that reason the Reformation church does not want to neglect the repentance songs where we sing, “Have mercy on me, O Lord.”
However, the Reformation church has to also warn against another error, namely, becoming content with a Christian lifestyle that lacks godliness. The second part of the Catechism’s Answer 114 says: “Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they (Christians) do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.”
So although Christians remain imperfect in this life, that must not become the excuse for not taking God’s commandments seriously. It has been the experience of some of our young people that they meet Christians of other churches who are more serious about obeying God than the people from their own church. Perhaps there are members in our churches, who know they are imperfect and have natures inclined to sin, but feel no great need to repent and become right with God. They may assume that they are Christian and yet are not converted. Under the “nobody’s perfect” excuse, things are done which Christians should not be doing, for they displease God.
If we have been born again and converted by the grace of God, then it will show in our lives that Jesus is our Lord and not the devil. If God has put us on the pathway of life, then the Spirit of God is in our heart and we will willingly live the Christian life. To think of ourselves as God’s people whilst continuing with sinful behaviour must grieve our Saviour deeply. Yes, we should continue to remember that John wrote in his letter, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But we must also remember that John said this as well: “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” (1 Jn 3:9).
So we saw that the kind of obedience God requires is to be comprehensive. Then we saw that our obedience is imperfect. And now…
3. The Christian’s obedience is a blessed experience
Here we must encourage each other as fellow Christians that beginning to live according to all God’s commandments is a blessed experience. Although our obedience may be imperfect, it is still a blessing to obey. If God’s Spirit is pleased to live in us, how can obeying God’s commandments not be a blessing? You obey God because you want to. It is to experience the glorious freedom of being the Lord’s people.
In fact, it goes much further than that. The Book of Proverbs frequently states 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 people to function as Christian believers. What lubricating oil and a good tune-up do for a car engine is what the commandments do for a Christian. They help the Christian run sweetly. There is a blessedness in those who obey God.
Isn’t that what we find in Psalm 119? We know this Psalm because of its length but we should really know it because of its beautiful contents. Hear what some of its verses say:
“I praise you God … as I learn your righteous laws” (vs 17).
“I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches” (vs 14).
“I delight in your decrees” (vs 16).
“My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times” (vs 20).
“Your statutes are my counsellors” (vs 24).
“Oh, how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long” (vs 97).
The psalmist is happy to obey. He likes it. If you would meet such a person, then you discover that he is deeply blessed.
Remember the words of Psalm 1? “Blessed is the man … whose delight is in the law of the Lord” (vss 1,2). And the apostle Paul wrote, “…in my inner being I delight in God’s law.” But if you know the passage where the apostle Paul writes this, and it’s Romans 7, then you also know that he complained of seeing something else in him that gave him no delight. Within Paul there was that struggle that made him say, 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” (vss 14,15). Yet, on the other hand, he says, “…in my inner being I delight in God’s law” (vs 22). One part of him says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (vs 24). But another part of him says, “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vs 25). It was often a difficult struggle for Paul to experiencing his imperfect obedience, yet he was deeply thankful to God who time and again helped him through his struggle.
But can we now say that for the apostle Paul obeying God’s law was a blessing? Or was it a struggle? For the psalmist obedience was a blessing. And if you believe and trust Christ’s saving work, and the application of that salvation by the Holy Spirit, then obedience had to be a blessing for Paul as well. In fact, on the basis of God’s Word, obedience has to be a blessing for all Christian believers. Why then does Paul speak in a way that seems to cast doubt on that blessedness? That question has occupied Bible scholars for years.
It is interesting at this point to read what Martin Luther thought of this struggle in the Christian. Long before the modern debate on this question, Luther wrote in his preface to his commentary on 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 within him. The one is the force 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 believer lives as a Christian in this world. The struggle may be stronger in some 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 experienced no joy in serving God. On the contrary, all his letters simply do not allow us to see him in that way.
The answer is probably close to us when we think of our own Christian experience. When we find in ourselves a force that seeks to pulls us away from God, then we discover that we might even want to go along with it. What we’re saying is that we never sin against our will. When we sin, then it’s because we want to sin.
But it’s not long before our Christian conscience lets us know that the sin we’re about to do is wrong and will grieve God. In fact this other force, telling us it’s wrong what we’re wanting to do, is right alongside the force that is tempting us to go ahead and do it. The force that tempts us to sin is our sinful nature and the force that says don’t do it is the Holy Spirit working what God’s Word says into our conscience.
If at that point we resist the Holy Spirit and go ahead with the disobedience, then after the wrong is done, if not during it, we feel terrible because we let God down. We know we are weak and realise our fellowship with God stays broken unless we repent, confess our sin to God, and try to be obedient again.
When we humble ourselves and pray for God to deliver us, then we find God is wonderfully near. In that state of surrender to God we hate the sin more than ever. We love to be rid of it and be clean and forgiven. We are experiencing the love and mercy of Christ. We know that being back in fellowship with God is what we really want.
Yes, we do want to remain a child of God, and we confess that to belong to Christ and experience His mercy and forgiveness is the greatest comfort there is. That whole new mood and the sincere desire to obey God and honour Him with our lives, is the real us. Yes, we belong to God and we rejoice in that. We are determined to follow the Lord and ask Him for strength to do it. We know that we must look forward and not keep looking back to our failures. We live by faith in the Son of God who gave His life for us. He has overcome all evil and in Him so shall we. We hate the times we failed, but we know that Christ is forever faithful. We serve the Lord and know that we are truly blessed.
Amen.