What is the role of obedience in the life of the Believer? I just discovered something I wrote over 20 years ago that addresses that question. Let me share it with you.

            What is the relationship of obedience to the life of the believer? Is obedience important? Does God care if I obey him? Am I saved if I do not obey God? If salvation is by grace, through faith, not of works, then where does obedience fit in? How does grace and obedience relate to one another? These are difficult questions that we struggle with for, on the one hand we do not want to develop a works centered salvation that somehow merits God’s approval. On the other hand we have too many verses in the Bible that talk about obedience to simply throw it out the window altogether. If I am to go on in my Christian life in the same way I began, and I am, then I must be careful that I do not develop a works centered understanding of sanctification either. Yet, I cannot ignore the fact that God calls me to obey him. Nor can I ignore the fact that when God speaks of obedience he speaks authoritatively, that is, I am to obey because of his authority, not just because I happen to feel like it. How do I put all this together? Let’s begin by asking and attempting to answer a few basic questions.

            

How was I saved? Was I saved by works or by grace? I was saved by grace, through faith, not of works (Ephesians 2.8-9). Did I come to God or did He draw me to himself? When I came to faith in Christ I heard that I must receive Jesus as my savior by faith. I did that. As I look back, however, I understand that both the desire to be saved, and the ability to believe Him were gifts of grace from God. Jesus said no one can come to him unless the Father draws them (John 6.44). So I received and believed, but I received and believed because the Father was drawing me even though I did not understand that at the time. My salvation, then, was not of works, but of grace appropriated by faith as a result of the Spirit of God convicting and drawing me to Christ.

          

How am I made holy? I am made holy, or sanctified in three ways. First, I am sanctified already by faith in Christ, that is, I have been separated from the penalty and power of sin. Second, I am in the process of practically experiencing, or living out sanctification in this life, that is, I am being separated from the practice of sin. Third, I will be eternally sanctified when I am with Christ, that is, I will be separated from the penalty, power, practice, and presence of sin for ever.

            

How does the process of being separated from the practice of sin work?  Through the Word, the Church, and the Holy Spirit, as well as His discipline, and the circumstances of life that God has complete control over, He is working in me both the desire and ability to do that which pleases Him (Philippians 2.13).

            

Does God really care whether I do that which pleases Him? Is obedience important? Absolutely! There are too many verses in the Bible that stress obedience for us to suggest that it is not important.

            

Why is obedience so important if I relate to him by grace instead of works? Obedience has nothing to do with gaining God’s approval or getting Him to like us. Why I obey is as important as how I obey. I do not obey to gain God’s approval, I obey in response to His approval. “We love him because He first loved us”(1John 4.19). It has everything to do with who we are in Christ. A diamond should never act like a piece of glass, though many a piece of glass has attempted to imitate a diamond. We are a diamond in Christ. When Paul was asked, “Should I keep sinning so God’s grace will be even greater?” He protested in response, “God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin keep living in it?” The motivation for obedience is not in attempting to find God’s approval or somehow trying to get on His good side. We are already approved! We are already on His good side. The motivation for obedience is simply that anything less is directly contrary to who we are. We aren’t sinners anymore. We are possessors of new life, God’s life. Disobedience is simply, and completely, inconsistent with who we are. But I still feel like a sinner. That is not the point. God never asks you to live consistent with who you feel you are, but with who He knows you to be on the basis or your relationship to Christ. Take it by faith!

            

But there is my problem. I keep trying to obey and I keep failing. I know that I am a new creature in Christ but I keep living like the old man. What am I doing wrong? Failure is a part of the process. Failure keeps casting us back in dependence on God until I finally cry out in total frustration, “Who shall deliver me?” God gently responds back, “ I have delivered you! What you cannot do, I have already done in Christ, and I have empowered you by my Spirit. Just trust me.” (Romans 8). In the same way that I appropriated salvation by faith as a result of God’s grace, I can now appropriate God’s power over sin by faith as a result of His grace.

            

So obedience is the result of the life of Christ reckoned to me and the work of the Spirit within me? Yes. Both the motivation to obey, and the ability to obey find their source in God. Remember Philippians 2.13, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

            

What is the relationship of obedience to the life of the believer? Obedience is the normal expression of the Spirit filled life. Is obedience important? Absolutely, because anything less is inconsistent with who I am. Does God care if I obey him? Certainly He does, for He loves me too much to be satisfied with sin in my life. He does not want to see me living beneath my position in Christ. Am I saved if I do not obey God? Yes, the gaining, and keeping of our salvation is not dependent on what we do, but on what Christ did. We will never completely escape the influence of sin in this life, we will only understand more and more how deeply that influence goes and how gracious God is in relating to us on the basis of Christ, not works. If salvation is by grace, through faith, not of works, then where does obedience fit in? Obedience is the practical expression of our salvation. How does grace and obedience relate to one another? Obedience is the result of God’s grace in my life.

             

Two more questions then. First, how should I view God’s commands in scripture, and how should I teach them? Every command of God is scripture that he expects you to obey is an expression of the life of Christ. For example, when God says, “Love your neighbor.” What He is really saying is, “I have shed abroad my love in your heart and I desire to express is through you to your neighbor.” (See Romans 5.5). I respond to God’s commands by recognizing them as expressions of the life of Christ and recognizing my dependence on Him to express them in keeping with His holiness. Someone once said that we should view every command of God as a promise. God is saying that this is what he will produce in us. Second, Does that mean that I shouldn’t do anything unless I feel like it in order to ensure that I am following the Spirit’s leading? No, that is not what it means. The Spirit speaks to us through the Word as well as in our hearts. Therefore, when God’s word commands, I respond in submissive, dependent obedience, recognizing my need for Him to work His work through me. The Christian life is a life of active obedience that flows out of rest in the provisions of Christ.

            

I must never back away from the concept of obedience, but I must always understand it in terms of submission and dependence, never in terms of acceptance and approval. I must never think of spiritual life as a formula, add 2 parts confession, 1 part prayer, 3 parts obedience and I’m spiritual. I must understand spiritual life as a process of growth. God is in the process of taking me through experiences in life that He will use to motivate me, hone me, guide me, mold me into His image by His grace as I appropriate His life through faith.