16 - Lesson 8: Obedience

Well, welcome to the Striving for Eternity Academy's School of Discipleship. This is the class on an introduction to discipling. This is where we hope to teach you, train you, help you in discipling other people, which is what the Great Commission is.

The Great Commission that Jesus gave to all of us, to His disciples specifically, before He left this earth, was to go and make disciples. And that's what we should be about the business of doing, but many of us don't really feel that equipped to do just that.

And so this class is hopefully going to help you to do that. Now we're using a book to help with that called Growing in Grace. Growing in Grace is something you can get from our store. You can pick up your own copy there.

They're not that expensive, maybe $7 .50 or something like that for one of these books. Good for teaching homeschooling or discipling someone in your church, whoever it is that God has given to you to disciple.

And so with that, we make those available to you for purchase and it's what we're kind of going through just as a tool. Now I keep saying this each week that this is a tool to discipling because really what we're using that is to facilitate the discipling relationship.

So as we've been kind of introducing how to go about discipling, we're talking about lessons you want to cover with someone that you're discipling, especially a new believer, and we're discussing the different issues that really you and I have to deal with as well.

So the first six lessons were more of the kind of the principles of Christian faith, the basic things for Christians to understand that maybe if they have no church upbringing like myself or if you're dealing with someone who is from maybe a Catholic church, there's confusion.

So we kind of dealt with those, but now we're dealing with the sticky issues. Last six lessons of this book deals really where you and I are kind of what we call counseling. That's really what discipleship is, getting to the root of issues in people's lives.

That's what we're seeking to do and help people to learn how to go to the Bible for answers. That's the goal of discipling is trying to take someone, a student who's new to the Scriptures and drive them to the Scriptures, which of course means you and I got to be doing that first.

So let us begin. By the way, we welcome any new students with us to the Striving for Eternity Academy. If you want to be a student, you can enroll at the website down there. We are making some changes to this year with how we do membership.

We used to say that that would include two syllabuses a year. We may, we're going to look to see what we're going to do this year because this year is going to be a transition to where we're going to have the syllabuses probably purchased separately and then what you're going to be able to do as an enrolled student is get access to a special area of the website which will have quizzes and tests and some extra reading and different notes that will be available.

One of those such notes is the reviews from the previous week and the review from last week as we see right here is something that was put together by a fellow believer, Wayne Smith, who put this together.

This is something that you can see that's just helpful to go over with students and we're going to make these available to you, but you see at the top, it talks about the mechanics of temptation, gives some definitions of words from the Greek, but you see are less than we talked about.

We talked about the surety, the source, and then the strategy for temptations and so as you see that and you look at this, you'll see that we have here basically some of the information that we went over in the class.

This is just to go through as a reminder with your students. There will be some new information here that Wayne has put in. You'll see some of the definitions of the Greek terms on top. You see something at the bottom of Proverbs 4, 25 -27, let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you, ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established, do not turn to the right or left, remove your foot from evil.

So he's given some extra things here that would be helpful in reviewing and again, when you do these lessons, you're not on a timetable, so don't feel that you must get this done in an hour or finish a lesson in a week if you're using these lessons with someone.

The goal is the relationship that you're building and driving them to learning all things that God has taught you, that's the goal. So as you're being taught, you want to teach others and so the goal is about the relationship, not the lesson.

So don't be in a rush, it's okay to carry over extra weeks, it's okay to go longer than an hour. Some people feel like, oh I've got to do one hour. If you have people that are just busy, you don't have time, cut the lessons up.

That's okay. Get as far as you can. That's why we kind of tried to break these down in major sections so you can finish a major section within the time that you're together. But sometimes students have a lot of questions, especially as you get to these lessons because we're going to talk today on lesson number eight, obedience, commitment to our Lord.

As we do this, we're going to get into some issues that become, as we dealt with already with testings, you're getting into sticky issues, you're getting into issues of life on life, which is what discipling is supposed to be.

So one of the things, the homework from last week is to memorize 1 Corinthians 10 .13. So you review this, okay, you review this without putting it on, without looking it up. Okay, we'll read it since it's up there, or you just say it from whatever translation you have.

But no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you might be able to endure it.

So review that. Remember, you're testing your student, ask them to recite the memory verse. As we look at the lesson on obedience, every believer faces numerous decisions every day, about 10 ,000 to 20 ,000 decisions every day, in which they must decide between doing what God wants for him, what God wants him to do, or doing what our own sinful desires desire us to do.

And that's really the choice that we have. We can obey God or self, God or our flesh. And the reason why this seems so hard is because your old nature is warring within your new nature. 1 Peter 2, verse 11 describes this.

Peter says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners or pilgrims and exiles to abstain from passions of the flesh which war against your soul. And that's really describing what goes on. We have this war within us.

Before we became a Christian, there was no matter of this warring, because there was one master, self, and self-ruled. I like what Chris Lungar says, and he may have gotten this from John Owens, but in his book, Chris Lungar's book, The Enemy Within, which is kind of a Cliff Notes version of John Owens' work on the mortification of sin, he says, when we, before we were believers, we were in a strong current of a stream, and we didn't realize how strong the current was because we were just kind of going with the flow.

We were just in that stream, being driven by the stream. But then, when we became believers and we started heading upstream, we now turned around, we stopped, and we felt the current. Now we realized how strong it was, and we are pushing against that current with every step that we take.

We're going against the current. It's kind of what it says in Romans, right, 12, that we're to be transformed, going against the world system. And so we're fighting that current with every step, and this is the thing that we have to understand that as believers, we can't just pick up our feet and just say, you know, it's been hard, and I'm just going to take it easy for a little while.

You see, when you pick up your feet and take it easy, when you stop walking forward in a strong current, you don't continue going forward and you don't stay still. You get dragged backwards with the current, and now you have to make up that ground that you lost, and making up lost ground is so much harder.

It is more difficult, and for that reason, it is just seems like when we have to make up for lost ground, that's like, oh, this is so much more difficult. And sometimes we're more tempted to pick up our feet again and just go with the flow, go with the current, but it just drags us back.

What we must be is obedient, constantly walking forward against the current, against the world system to serving God and being obedient to Him, and this is the struggle that we now have. Before one becomes a believer in Christ, there was only self that was a master.

When we enter into a personal relationship with Christ, we become slaves to God. Now, wait a minute, I don't like that term, slave, but that's what the Bible says. Paul says in Romans, but now that you have been set free from sin, you have become slaves of God, and the fruit you get leads to sanctification, and it ends in eternal life.

And that's the point here. You and I went from being slaves to sin to slaves to Christ, so we have to serve our master. I have a thing that hangs over my office just to remind me. It says, you are a slave, so serve your master.

To remind me that my life, even though I like to think it's free, it's not free. I'm either a slave to sin or I'm a slave to God. I'd rather be a slave to God, He's a much better master. But I am a slave to Him and must serve Him.

Christ is Lord in every believer's life. It is vital to yield to Christ as first place in one's life. This is what Paul says in Colossians 1 .18. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in everything He might be preeminent.

So He is the first. We are to give Christ first place. That is what we should be doing. Christ should have first place in every area of our life. And this is the thing that many people don't realize. They make a mistake of thinking that they can become believers and then somehow they don't really have to obey Christ anymore.

They don't have to submit to Him. They can submit to themselves. No. If you're a believer, Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. He is master. So let us begin in our lesson with the first point. And let's look at the characteristics of obedience.

And so when we look at the characteristics of obedience, let us start with recognizing Christ's authority over our lives. Recognizing Christ's authority over our lives is the first thing that we have to do when we want to think about obedience.

Because if we don't know who it is that is the authority, we're going to think we're the authority. And this is a struggle that most people have. You were a non-believer. You thought you were the authority in your life.

And this is back from the Garden, Genesis chapter 3. We see this is the struggle that has been going on. That ever since the Garden, Adam and Eve wanted to be the authority in their life. And they weren't.

They didn't like that. And they wanted to be the authority. And so it is with this reason that we say that we want to recognize who is the authority. And the authority is Jesus Christ. He is the authority in life.

So for that reason, I say that we need to recognize who He is. Now the first question you have there is who does one serve before salvation? Let's look at Romans chapter 6 and see. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves to what?

To sin. That's your blank there. Sin. We were slaves to sin. Let's read the rest of that actually. We were slaves to sin having become obedient from the heart to the standard of the teaching which you were committed.

So we were slaves to sin. That's who we were slaves to. So when people say, well, I don't want to believe in Christ because there's too much I have to give up. There's only one thing you have to give up.

Sin. And when sin, as we saw last class, when sin is conceived, when sin is fully formed, it gives birth to death. I mean, it's fully grown into death. Sin is not a great thing. But people think like, I'm missing out on something.

Before we were believers, or those of you who may not be believers yet, you are a slave to sin. And you say, well, I'm not a slave to it. You know, I've done enough counseling with addicts that I know that every single addict that I have had the opportunity to counsel always told me they thought they were in control of their sin.

They thought they were the ones in control. And they didn't think that they needed any help. They were always under the assumption that they were the authority and that they could stop at any time until they tried to stop.

And then they realized who was the real master. Sin was the master. But who is the servant or slave after salvation? Who is the servant? Who is one a servant to? Sorry, I was reading that wrong. Who is one a servant to after salvation?

Well, we already saw this in Romans 6 .22, and that is God. That's your blank there. We're slaves to God after salvation. And so, those are your blanks there. Before Christ, we're a slave to sin. After Christ, we're a slave to God.

Notice, we're still a slave. It's just that we were bought by a new master, a good master. So, this is one of the things we have to recognize in the issue of obedience is the authority. Who is the authority in our life?

It's either going to be our sin or it's going to be Christ. Who are you going to serve? One who died on a cross as a payment of sin in an act of love for you or one that wants to bring death upon you.

It should be pretty clear. Letter B there in your book, it is submitting to God's word. So, not only is the characteristic of obedience recognizing that Christ is the authority over our lives, but it is also submitting to God's word.

When did the Galatian believers, this is the question in your book, when did the Galatian believers stop running well in their spiritual life? Well, in Galatians 5 it says, you were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth?

And so, the answer to that becomes when they stopped obeying the truth. That's when they stopped running well. And that's your blank there, when they stopped obeying, when they stopped heeding the truth depending on your different translations.

But it's when they stopped being obedient. And when we stop being obedient, our walk, our running well is not going to run well. Okay, we're not going to do well. And James gives us a solution, and this is hard to explain to a new believer because they are still struggling with themselves being the authority in their life to then argue that not only do you have to recognize that you're not the authority, but you have to submit to God's word.

Well, James explains that a little bit. He says here, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. So, your blanks there in your book is that we need to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

But do you notice what it said there, not deceiving ourselves? Does that surprise you? I mean, think about that. What that's saying is that we could be deceiving ourselves when we are hearers of the word, but not doing what the word says.

In other words, when we're not obedient, we can actually deceive ourselves. And that is something that you often find. A new believer who's still struggling with this old way of thinking has a tendency to not do what's right.

And you don't want to be in the stage where you have someone trained to hear the Bible, but not obey the Bible. This is why it's important not only to go to church, but serve in church. See, there's plenty of people who go to church and they just go to listen.

They go to learn. For years, they've been used to just sitting and learning and not doing. And then what ends up happening is they're out of the stage where they're used to being a doer of the word. And after years, some people even leave the church thinking they know it all.

Why? Because they've walked astray from obedience because they weren't doing. They were only hearing. So, not only do we have to recognize that Christ is the authority over our lives. That's a hard pill to swallow.

We have to recognize we have to submit to God's word. Yikes. None of us like submission, but that's what the Bible says. And now we have to be submitting. Letter C. It is submitting to God's will. And you say, well, gee, that's, you know, people think of God's will as like a needle in a haystack.

Nope. That's not it. God didn't hide his will from us. But it is something that we need to be obedient to. And he made it clear in the scriptures. And that's why this follows from submitting to God's word.

Mark says, and he said, Abba, Father. Abba is an Arabic or Hebrew word for daddy. It's an intimate kind of word. Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but you will.

Now, what was the context of this? This was Jesus before the cross going to give up his life, something he didn't want. Really? I mean, have you ever done things you didn't want to do, but you knew it was the right thing and you did it anyway?

That's the idea here. And so the answer here, the question here is how did Christ conclude his prayer? Desiring to follow God's will. And you can have a different answer for that because that's a long blank and you let your students explain.

But desiring to follow God's will, you can quote directly what the verse says, but you want them to explain. If they give you the quote, if they just rewrite what the verse says, you want them to explain it to you.

What does it mean? Desiring to follow God's will. That's what it means. Okay, well, something along those lines. When we look at that and we see this, Christ was doing something he knew was right. He knew he was going to do, but he didn't desire to do it.

He didn't want to do it. And there is nothing that you and I are ever going to have to suffer that's going to be stronger than an eternal punishment for mankind. That's what Christ knew he was going to suffer.

He's an eternal being, so he knew that suffering would be an eternal suffering and he chose to do that. And he didn't want to do it, but thy will be done. That's what it means. It means knowing that you desire something and doing what God wants you to do anyway.

All right, letter number two there. Some will claim to know Christ as Lord, but how will Christ determine who really knew him? Well, we go to one of the scariest passages of the Bible, Matthew 7. Let everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, not everyone, sorry, not everyone who will say to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven.

But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that is scary. That says there are some people who think they're going to heaven because whatever, they believe that they're, you know, did all these good works.

They believe that they healed people, as it says in the passage, they cast out demons, they did miracles, they had all these great works. I never knew you, but why? Because you were not one who followed the will of God.

That's the answer there is one who doesn't, who does the will of God is what determines who's going to be a follower of Christ. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that obedience to Christ goes hand in hand with being seen as a believer.

Now, this gets into a sticky thing, and we're going to get into this in a moment. Actually, we might not get to it today. We'll get to some issues that deal with whether someone can ever stop sinning this side of heaven.

But let me just address it now just for the sake. When we talk about obedience and salvation going hand in hand, it does not mean that you must be obedient to be saved. It means if you're saved, the natural progression will be that you will be obedient.

So how can you see whether I'm a believer? You really can't unless you look at the obedience in my life. If I'm remaining obedient over time, time and truth go hand in hand. So you'd say, well, looks like he's a believer.

But that's the thing. You want to make sure that you're giving it time and looking for obedience. You got to trust what people are saying, but realize that there's false converts, those who claim to be believers that don't possess salvation.

And that's what the book of James talks about. And so we must be ones who are going about the business and looking to examine ourselves and saying, if we're going to say we are in the faith, are we being obedient?

Are we submitting to God's will? And you want to strengthen the walk of the person you're discipling by encouraging them. Obedience is difficult, but there are going to be times when we have great struggles if we give ourselves over to sin.

If we allow sin to reign in our life, we're going to question our own salvation. But if you're living an obedient life, that question goes away. Why? Because we can look at our life and go, yep, I know I'm a believer.

Why? Because of the obedience. So, let us look at the cost of obedience. The cost of obedience. And in this we have the cost of obedience could be seen really in Luke 14. And this is a little bit of a larger passage.

Luke 14, 25 to 35. Now great crowds accompanied him and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to mock him, saying, this man begins to build but was not able to finish. Or what king going out to an encounter, another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10 ,000 to meet him who comes to him with 20 ,000.

And if he and if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that has, all he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the mature pile, manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears, let him hear.".

So, what is he saying there? He's saying that discipleship comes at a cost. Now, there's again, we have to be careful with this because there are people who try to argue that you can lose your salvation if you stop being obedient.

There's even a cult, a group, and this is not uncommon with some cults, that use that verse we just read as a control thing to say, if you don't give up your family and give yourself totally over to the group that is common with the cult, they'll say, if you don't give yourself completely to the cult and deny yourself, give up all your money, give all your money to the organization, give up your family, don't let them talk you out of staying at this cult, you got to be totally indebted to them.

They'll say, they'll use this verse to say, see, you have to hate your family. No, that's not what it's saying. What it's saying is if you love your life or your family, if you love your family, goes through all the lists, those closest to you, or even your own life more than Christ, you're not His disciple.

And that's the point. It's not you have to hate all your relatives. No, you have to love them. You even love your enemies. The point is that you can't love them more than you love Christ. You have to love Christ more than even your own life.

That's the lesson, and that's a difficult lesson. But if you can teach that to a newer believer, to learn that lesson early, and they build this as a pattern of their life, it will help them through their walk in life with Christ.

So, which of our loved ones should we love more than Christ? That's the question you have there. And the answer is no one, none, okay? We don't love anyone more than Christ. Number two question, how about your own life?

Can we hold on to that and still be a disciple of Christ? The answer to your blank is no, you still can't. We have to follow Christ at all costs. This is talking about obedience. Be willing to follow Christ at any cost.

That's what we saw there in Luke. So, not only do we have to relinquish all rivals for our affection, that was the first point, but we also have to be willing to follow Christ at any cost. And that's verse 27 of Luke 14.

But what is symbolized by the cross? When people wear a cross around their neck, I understand now the thing is to wear a sideways cross to show that your sins are forgiven from east to west, but I don't really like that idea.

But what is the cross? You know, a better example for us would be hang an electric chair around your neck. I mean, what does it symbolize? Well, the symbol of the cross is persecution or death. And it's really, as it describes here, it would be the death of our old nature, the death of self.

We have to put ourself to death. That's what Galatians 2 .20 talks about. I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but the life that I live now in the flesh, I live by Christ. We've been crucified.

We're dead. We've been put on that cross with Christ, in a sense, our old nature. We now have a new life. That's what the cross symbolizes. Most people think of the cross, it's misunderstood. The cross is an emblem of death, of torture, of sacrifice in Christ's sense.

And that's what we have to recognize. We have to be willing to follow Christ. This is what Christ did. This is how far Christ was willing to go in His obedience. How much more should you and I go in obedience?

Third, in your book there, is that we have to renounce all personal possessions. It mentions that in Luke 14, verse 33. So, questions we have here is, what must one abandon if he is to be a disciple of Christ?

And the answer is everything. You have to be willing to abandon everything. And many people are not willing to do that, but that's what it takes. We have to be willing to abandon everything in life. That's very hard for people.

So, what expectations does Christ have? So, kind of, what does the, you know, what does Christ expect? Does He expect us to live perfectly? No, there's no expectations. What expectation does Christ allow?

None. Just none. You obey Him. There's no excuses you can make. There's, Christ knows that we are going to sin. It's not going to surprise Him. But, there's no exceptions. That, I was saying, oh okay, I was saying expectations.

Wrong exceptions, sorry. Yeah, okay, so it makes more sense if I say it that way? Yeah, thank you. What expectation, I said it again. What exceptions does Christ allow? None. When we look at this, there's nothing that, you can't make an excuse to say, well, Lord, I'm a new believer.

Nope, doesn't work. Lord, don't you understand that I, you know, this woman you gave me, Adam tried that one. Yeah, that God didn't accept that. There's no exception that you can make. There's none that are allowed.

That's your blank there. Number three there, what is true if someone is, what is true if someone that we, let me read this again. I'm having trouble today. I don't know why. What is true if something that we own or desire is more important than Christ?

Well, according to the text we read, we cannot be Christ's disciple. Do you see how the idea here, this is a different mindset. Then we're trained to understand. And this is what we have to try and teach the person we're discipling.

This is foreign to our former way of thinking. Completely foreign. This is something new. This is us completely living for Christ. He's the authority. We're obedient. We're the slave. Once you understand the idea of a master-slave relationship, you can understand obedience.

And this is where people struggle because a lot of people have trouble with the idea of slavery. And when you understand slavery, you understand, you know, people say, why would God allow slavery? Maybe so that he could picture the relationship that we have with him.

It doesn't mean he forced slavery, but he did allow it. But he had rules on slavery. And the slavery that he allowed in Israel is very different than the slavery that the world had. All right, that aside.

So, what's the next section there? What's the criteria for obedience? The criteria for obedience. And we get this in Romans chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. And it says here, this will be the verse we'll look at here.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That by the testing you will, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So, you see there, you determine God's will by passing the tests. Those testings that we just spent two lessons on.

So, the idea here is that a complete surrender of self to Christ is the criteria. That's the first criteria. Complete surrender of self to Christ. So, let us look at Romans 1. There's some questions we have here.

What does God want to make of our bodies? The answer, a living sacrifice. Not a dead sacrifice. In other words, we don't become the sacrifice after we die. We are a living sacrifice. It means every day as we're being obedient in those tests that we get, those trials and temptations, as we pass them, we're being obedient.

That is being a living sacrifice. So, that's your blank there, a living sacrifice. Number two, what should motivate us to take that step? Well, according to that text, our blank there is the mercies of God.

God's been merciful with us and that's what should drive us, recognizing that sin is not merciful. That master was horrible. But God is merciful and He's a loving master and we should serve Him. What kind of sacrifice does God desire?

Well, He says a holy and acceptable one. That's your blank there, a holy and acceptable one. Holy means to be set apart, completely set apart for God and acceptable in God's eyes, not our eyes. Then number four, is it an unreasonable demand?

No, it's not. Not at all. It's not unreasonable for God to demand for us to be obedient because of the fact that He has the right to request that. He died in our place. He created us. He gives us life.

He gives us breath in our lungs. He died on the cross to give us eternal life. It is perfectly acceptable for Him to make that demand. And if some think that is unfair, as many unbelievers try to argue, it is only because they don't understand the first part, the characteristics of obedience.

They don't have a right understanding of who God is. And that's why this all stems from having that right understanding of who God is. Letter B, daily separation from the pattern of the world. So the second criteria is daily separation from the pattern of the world.

So what's the criteria of obedience? First, complete surrender of self to Christ. Second, daily surrender to the pattern of the world. We see that in Romans 12 too that we read. What was the wrong pattern of a believer's life?

The answer there in your blank is being conformed to this world. That's the wrong pattern. And it can be phrased differently, but that's your blank there. Now the next one, how has the world attempted to impose its standard on your life?

Now with this, what you're going to do is you're going to be asking your student, you're have to explain what it is that's going on in their life. This is where you're going to get into some hardcore issues sometimes where people are going to tell you how things that have taken dominion in their life and you need to address that with them.

So be prepared to deal with that with your students. All right, a third criteria. So we need to, as we said, we need to have complete surrender of self to Christ, have daily separation from the pattern of this world.

Letter C there is constant change from self-centered living to a Christ-centered living. That also is in the same passage there in Romans 12 too. And what you see there is it says, you know, well, let's read this.

Let's read the questions we have here. How does this transformation take place? It says in that passage, by the renewing of your mind, by the renewing of your mind, that's how that transformation takes place.

What needs to be renewed in order for this transformation to take place? Well, your blank there is the mind. The first blank for number one is the renewing of your mind. Number two is the mind, right?

So your mind has to be, you have to be changed. It starts up here. It starts in the thinking. Remember that because that's what we talked about when we talked about trials and temptations, especially in temptations where the desires, the things up here, that's where it starts.