The Motivation for Christian Obedience (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, ìBut we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,î so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isnít for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as weíre called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Hereís our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry we have with us again after a long absence. Tuesday guy, it seemed like you just were here yesterday.

Well, you had to lure me back.

I think, actually, Steve, weíre going to play this show on Wednesday. What? Yeah, because weíre going to record two or three shows today, and so we have to play it on Wednesday.

I think we might own Twitter if we do that, because everybody will be like, ìDid you know the Tuesday guy was on a Wednesday show ?î. Itíll shatter all kinds of paradigms. Everybody will go out there.

They wonít even be able to drive. Have you recorded your Machen Men Saturday mornings with the other men?

You know, most of them, I think, I have, but Iíve never done anything with them. Theyíre just sitting on a disc somewhere. I wonder if our listeners might like those. I donít know. What, a dollar a download?

Do you think thatíll work? Just mail me a donut, you know.

The kids showed me something the other day. You can type in somebodyís name and net worth, and it pulls up. Well, thereís another, Michael Abendroth, and his net worth is 8 million, but the website shows my face, and the kids are like, ìDad, youíre holding out on us.

What do you mean. We canít order soda at the restaurant ?î.

I wonder if Whatís-Her-Nameís going to get a hold of this, and youíre going to be featured, you know. Julie Rowland. Heís living the millionaire lifestyle.

I did also hear that that website that is a clearinghouse, almost, for speakers, right? If you want Joe Osteen, it says, you know, 10 to 20 ,000 per gig, you know. Does it have you on there? No, no. Not that I know of, but it said David Platt, 10 to 20, Driscoll, 10 to 20, whatever the numbers were.

I know Platt was on there. And somebody who would be against charging money up front, right, itís one thing to get an honorarium. Itís another thing to charge up front. They would be against charging up front.

Their name was on there. But they just put their name on there. Thatís cool. Maybe. So, maybe Plattís not really on there. I have other issues with Platt, but maybe they just thought, ìHeís a big speaker, and we might try to make some money off of him .î.

Well, I mean, that does seem like a lot.

Yes. I mean, can you imagine, ìYeah, I can only come to your church if I get 20 ,000 .î. Wow.

That reminded me of the story, and, you know, obviously weíre going to talk about somebody controversial, but Jerry Falwell, the original Jerry Falwell, and he had a big deal with being home with his children on their birthdays.

And he would always make sure, no matter what, clear the schedule. And one time he overbooked, and I heard it was like a 16-year-old sonís birthday, and he overbooked. He was supposed to speak someplace.

You know, youíre a pastor, youíre a president of the school, et cetera, a politician. And he said, ìYou know what, son, Iíve double-booked this. I will cancel my engagement because I always promise to be home on your birthday, which Iím glad to do.

But they told me they would give me $10 ,000 to come and speak, and I can do one of two things. Iíll go and speak and give you the $10 ,000, or Iíll be home on your birthday .î. And the kid said, ìI want you home on my birthday .î.

Well. I know. I know. That could be a whole show. Before we get into the show today, tell us what youíve been preaching through. I was out of the pulpit for, I donít know, four months. What were you doing then when I was sick?

I mean, itís funny, because initially, not knowing how long you were going to be out, Iím like, ìOkay, what do I do ?î. Well, I finished John, and then I was like, ìOkay, Iím going to do some one-off messages .î.

I mean, I would just pick texts based on, you know, just something I wanted to preach or something I hadnít preached before, because I was trying to delay. I didnít want to read. I didnít want to start Acts until Iíd read some stuff, and then I was just like, it just kept getting longer and longer, and Iím going, ìI guess I have to start Acts .î.

Well, Iím not saying your older preaching was bad. I mean, we all learn and grow. Thatís true. But there were a few sermons there toward the end. I hated almost to come back, because you were on such a homiletical role.

I thought, ìPastor Steve has taken a preaching pill ,î and I think thatís the best you ever preached there toward the end.

Well, thank you. I mean, I think, you know, two things. One is, you know, we grow, but secondly, I think youíve, in the parlance, youíve coached me up, you know, soÖ.

And that was good. Iíd sit at home thinking, ìUh-oh, you know, thereís all these new people that have come in the last four months, and theyíre waiting for the pastor to show up .î And then I show up, and theyíre like, ìUhÖî.

But anyway, praise the Lord that you filled in. I think I said it the other day, and I thought, ìOh, thatís kind of a good littleÖî. Not a line, but true. While the church missed me, the church didnít miss a beat, thanks to you, soÖ.

Yeah.

I mean, it did, Iím sure, in ways that you canít even, or I couldnít even measure, but, you know, the Lord blessed, and we, a lot of guys really helped me out, too. I mean, Andrew and Corey and some of the other guys really pitched in Pradeep, you know, so Iím very thankful for all of them.

Iím sorry to interrupt you. You gave me a T-shirt, and you asked me if Iíd wear it today, so Iím wearing it today, and it says, ìThe government is not God ,î and itís got a lion down here. Whatís up with this?

Why am I wearing this? Because my brother Rashad sells those, and I bought you one while you, you know, and gave it to you when you got out of the hospital. I got one for me and for you and for Janet, and, you know, soÖ.

Okay, Iím representing. If today, if this was like wretched radio, TV, we would all see, but they canít see right now. Rashad, I didnít know you had a brother named Rashad. Oh, brother in Christ. Yes. Yes.

I mean, itís funny. You get to know somebody via the internet, and you meet them once or twice at a conference, but itís just like youíve known them, you know. I also saw him down in G3. His parents were there as well, and it was a lot of fun.

Of course, they were all enamored of, you know, can I say this? The current, Iíll just say the current celebrity pastor, I wonít, I wonít spill his name. I just will say heís from Canada, and Iíll leave it at that.

Oh, okay. ButÖ.

Yeah, itís kind of hard. Thatíd be a tough route to get to a celebrity status.

Yeah, I wouldnít, I wouldnít trade places with him. I mean, honestly, while he was going through all that, I just thought, ìMan, better you than me, bro, because I donít know if I could do it.

I really donít know .î I love the Christians that I know in Canada and have been to Saskatoon a couple times ministering there. And I met with Pastor Steve Flippen and his leadership team, but it makes me not like Canada.

Again, I donít mean the people, but just like the government that controls Canada,.

That is justÖ. Well, I mean, thereís so much going on, you know, in the Western English-speaking world right now thatís inexplicable to me. I mean, from New Zealand to Australia to Canada, you know, where we just look and go, I pretty much thought we had the right to freedom of religion and the right to freedom of speech and the right to, you know, fill in the blank, and all those things are imperiled, I think.

I thought if we had a constitution, the constitution would protect us against petty tyrants, right? So thatís why we have the constitution, because we say, ìWell, you know, youíre in leadership and you have to tell us all this stuff .î.

No, no, the constitution says we can do this.

Well, a man the other day, whom Iíll not identify, said, ìThe constitution is always evolving .î. I noticed that.

Uh-huh. I know. Today, with Pastor Steve here in the studio, we want to talk a little bit more about how are we motivated as Christians to obey, kind of buckle up, better do this or else, God loves me more when I have my devotions, He loves me less when I sin.

How do we motivate as Christians? Thatís going to be kind of part two today.

Motivation for Sanctification as Godís Free Grace

How do I motivate? Well, you know, even as you were talking, Iím like, I think the key, rather than sola bootstrapsa, you know, which is the commonóI mean, even if we donít think of salvation as something I do myself, we think of sanctification as something I do myself or something Iím responsible for or something maybe the Holy Spirit aids me in or maybe the Lord Jesus aids me in.

But certainly, Iím the man when it comes to, you know, the captain ofóIím the captain of my sanctification, right? And we forget that we are in Christ at all times, right? Not just when we get saved, but as we are being saved, in other words, as we are being conformed in the image of the Lord Jesus.

We are in Christ. It is in Him we rest. And, you know, whatís our motivation? Our motivation is, well, weíre in Christ. Gilís great. Gilís great. I mean, you know, we were saying this here a minute ago, but I donít need somebodyóI really donít.

Sorry, people do this from time to time, but I donít need somebody to make me feel guilty. I do that plenty. I wake up in the morning, weíre talking about our friend in the hospital, and you know what?

Itís just been going through my mind constantly. You know, Iím praying for him. Iím praying because I believe that as long as thereís life, the Lord can do whatever He wants, right? I mean, He can keep him alive for years, decades.

I mean, who can say? But I also just think itís just been a great reminder to me of how blessed I am, even that picture I showed you of my two grandsons. You know, I get to see these kids all the time.

I get to watch them grow. I get to watch them be raised in godly homes, and Iím like, ìI donít deserve any of this .î You know, so whatís my motivation? And I mean, do I fall short? Yes, all the time.

But my motivation is just gratitude. I just look and I just think, ìI didnít want any of this, and youíve granted me all this, and man, I have a lot to be grateful for .î I mean, I could just go on a gratitude tour, you know?

That could be the rest of my life, just telling everybody how thankful I am.

Steve, when I heard that G3 was this new thing and conference, I thought it was Gratitude, but I think itís something else.

Yeah, I donít even remember what it stands for. I havenít really memorized that. Sometimes, you know, they give you these little cool things like G3, and youíre like, ìOkay, G3, and I have no idea what itís about .î You know, I think itís Gospel Cubed or something.

I donít know what itís for.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q &A 35. Okay. All right. So weíre talking about motivation for sanctification, but letís ask what is sanctification. Good. Yeah. Sanctification is the work of Godís free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die to sin, mortification, and live under righteousness, vivification is what they would call that.

Itís Godís work. I think maybe when we think about holy living, thatís the first thing that goes wrong. We donít even know what sanctification is. Right. I think itís all on us. Thatís right. And tell me, Steve, donít we often think as Christians, hereís our model of sanctification.

If I do this, God then will respond. Yep. Itís a transactional deal.

God will love me more. Uh-huh. And you said that earlier, and Iím like, okay, and again, hereís the problem. Can God love me more than He does? When He transferred me into the kingdom of His dear Son and really sees me as He sees His Son, can He love me more?

And the answer is, can the Father love me more than He does right now? No. Can Jesus love me more now than He did on the cross? No.

Okay, does Jesus love me less now than I was rude?

I mean, these are just absurd ideas.

But this is our life. Itís a transactional, legal temper. I do this. Okay, letís talk about this one, Steve. For the most part, I would imagine you, like me, like me, like me, yeah, like I, like me, get up in the morning, we read our Bibles.

And itís good to do that. For the rest of the day, I have kind of a lens to see through things. But is my day more blessed because Iím, or does God love me more because Iíve read my Bible first? Will my day go better if my Bible readingís done?

What if my day goes worse, but at least I have enough, you know, today I read itís the 3rd of February.

Well, I mean, just imagine that. You get up and you read the Bible, and then your day goes downhill, and youíre like, ìWell, that didnít work. Iím not doing that again .î.

Thatís the punishment of the Amish, you know, you go read your Bible for five hours. Hereís a Horton quote, ìChristians today are often encouraged to obey God so that they can get something out of it.

If I do this, God will do that, many reason. But Luther insisted that the Gospel, now when I say Gospel, I mean the Lord Jesus, right, good news personified, incarnate rather, including the part about human helplessness and Godís omnipotent grace, needs to be so clearly preached, Luther said, that those who hear it will not need to be coaxed, harassed, or frightened into obedience.

The Gospel not bear commands is the motivation for thanksgiving. If we are unclear about this point, we cannot have thankful hearts .î.

Well, I mean, I think we say it this fairly often, ìIn light of my sin, you know, what do I deserve ?î. And so if thatís the lens through which we look through life, then how could we ever respond in anything other than gratitude?

Now will we respond in ways other than gratitude? Sadly, yes. But, you know, at the end of it, if weíre sober-minded and thinking rightly, how can we think otherwise? Well, we canít. Because in light of what I deserve, in light of what Iíve done, you know, if I were God, how would I treat me?

And holy smokes, it would be bad, it would be sad times.

If I was a human judge, how would I treat me? Sad times. Steve, weíre talking about the motivation for obedience. Why is this so important for older Christians? And Iíll set it up a little bit. When youíre a new Christian, basically for me it was, ìHereís a Bible verse that tells me what to do.

I want to do that .î. Right. Now, it really was out of gratitude, but you just tell me, ìYou know what? You should probably give 10 percent of gross your income to the local church .î Iím like, ìOkay, write the check .î.

Hereís what I want to do. I didnít have a problem with porn, but if somebody would have said, ìDonít look at porn ,î you know, I would say, ìOkay, Iím not going to look at porn .î. But what about as the years go on, 10 years youíre a Christian, 20 years youíre a Christian, 30 years youíre a Christian?

Why is that unsustainable outside of the gratitude model? Christian obedience, unsustainable without gratitude.

Well, because youíve basically turned it into kind of a checklist, you know, and so youíre like, ìWell, you know, Iím pretty far down the list. Iím doing pretty well. I think Iím smoking this whole sanctification thing .î.

By the way, yeah, we donít really watch R-rated movies, right? Yeah. Well, we just fast forward the things now. Doing well. Yeah, I donít smoke cigarettes or drink and donít look at porn. I think Iím kind of right up there.

Donít gamble. You know, even with all the proliferation, all these gambling places, you donít see me in there.

I donít watch that much TV, but I watched a lot of football in the last four months. You can imagine if I donít feel good sitting there, even in the hospital. I tried not to turn on the TV all day until the nighttime just to kind of give my mind a little break, but I did watch football.

And you can imagine, over those four months, I watched less football than ever. Thatís right, because you were busy. Oh, man. I was like, I didnít, until, I think it was until the Alabama-Georgia game or something like that, I hadnít watched a full college football game the whole season.

Not one. Not SC, Notre Dame, nothing. Iím just like, I donít have time.

I could feel your pain when I first got to the church. We had eldersí meetings at 8 to 9. That was really bad, by the way, because I was a young pastor, and Iím sure I had things that I needed to work on, but sometimes they got after me at 8 oíclock in the morning.

And then I had to teach Sunday school at 9, and then I preached at 10, and then I preached again at 6 p .m., and I would go home so tired. I thought, finally I get to read a good biography. Too tired to read a biography.

I just ended up watching Ken Burnsí Civil War documentaries.

So, I know what that tiredís like. Yeah, and I, yeah, the whole idea of an eldersí meeting on Sunday morning, I mean, at least, you know, Iíll give credit to the churches where they have, like, meetings like that in the afternoon or something.

You know, you go, okay, thatís better.

Right. Who needs to get whacked right before the sermon?

Yeah, at least, like, let me finish, and then you can whack away, because Iím, and you know what the funny thing is, and weíre getting kind of off topic, but. Which is fun. I mean, whoís a bigger critic of your own messages than you, right, or me?

I listen to myself preach, and I go, dude, you know, the Word was taught, but, oh, man, that was bad. That was really bad. I mean, you remember when I came in to you when Sunday morning was right before you were ready to physically to go back into preaching, and I just looked at you, and I go, this is going to be a disaster this morning, Mike.

I mean, Iím just like, I go, I know this passage, I just have no idea how this is going to turn out, you know, which is not normal for me to feel that way.

And I said either under my breath or out loud, itíll be your best sermon ever. You did say that. Well, there is a sense that, you know, we try to do the best we can in terms of study, but the Spirit of God is the one that has to wield the Word in the peopleís hearts.

Today, weíre talking about motivation for Christian living. Steve, thereís that story of Sinclair Ferguson, and he was supposed to be preaching on knowing Christ, and he got confronted, speaking of the confrontations of elders before the thing, before the service, and they pulled him to the side, and they said, youíve been preaching to us for two hours, and youíve not given us one law, one thing to do.

I was thinking about this last night, just oddly, but I was like, you know, imagine hereís a message like from Isaiah 6. Well, what am I supposed to do with that? And you can go, you know, be holy, even as I am holy, but thatís not the message of Isaiah.

The message of Isaiah is, ìBehold your God .î. I mean, you know, be in awe of the Holy One, just like Isaiah was, right? But heís like, Isaiah didnít go, ìWell, thank you, Lord, I understand, you know, now, got the picture .î.

He was like, ìIím undone. Iím unholy. The world is unholy. Iím surrounded by unholy people .î. You know, itís like, ìBah !î. And Iím supposed to give you three things, three takeaways.

The Foot-Washing Example and Christian Service

Steve, even if Jesus didnít say in John 13, ìIf I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anotherís feet, for I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you .î.

Even if He didnít say that, and of course, that was good and right for Him to say it, Iím not questioning that, but for theoretical sake, for theoryís sake, what if He didnít even say anything to those guys and just did that?

Do you think theyíd be convicted, ìWe ought to do this, too Î. Yes. Of course!

Yes, absolutely. And you know, I think, you know, there are probably Boy, I hope we never get to this pointóthat do this whole foot-washing thing.

Yeah, no, not under our watch. Right.

But I think, you know, people who do that are missing the big picture, which is, here is the Creator serving His creatures, you know, in a very explicit, very demeaning way to Him, right? In that culture, thereís nothing worse than the feet.

And, you know, scrubbing somebody elseís feet, itís just like, how low can you go? I donít even like my own feet. Right. Let alone somebody elseís, right? And, you know, to do that was just such a display of humility.

And, you know, so when He says, ìDo likewise, serve one another, love one another .î I mean, you wanna see how you love one another? Here, hereís how.

Amen. When you were talking about the feet and all that stuff, it just forces me to go back to Romans 10 and the quote from Isaiah, ìHow beautiful are the feet of those who preach the law .î Right. Who preach the law.

Sorry. Well, even theyíre beautiful, too. Right. But here, the text is the gospel. But the point there, you know, to the Jewish listener would be what? Theyíd be, like, feet. How can feet be beautiful?

Thatís right. Steve, tell me a little bit about the law versus the gospel. In terms of, since weíre looking for motivation, Jesus motivates us, His service, His love motivates us. But does the law, the nude law, the pure law, motivate us in any way, shape, or form?

Doesnít it just accuse or excuse us? It can point us, but it doesnít give us any engine to go do it. Do you think thatís a fair statement?

Doesnít give us any, you know, gas in the tank. No animation in the law. Hmm. Yeah, well, I feel thatís aÖ Trick question? Iím trying to see if itís a trick question. I mean, it doesnítÖ It just commands.

Hereís the law. Obey. Yeah, and it doesnít motivate me except that, you know, in those areas where Iím falling short and Iím like, well, I need to do that because itís the right thing to do. Like, evangelize, right?

Right. But you know itís evangelism from the Fatherís request and privilege to do. Yes. And here, the Spirit of God is convicting you to say, ìBecause of what the Fatherís done for me, Iíd like to go evangelize

Î Exactly. So I didnít mean to try to trick you. No, no, no.

But I think, you know, what does the law do? It makes us feel guilty, right? I mean, ultimately, and therefore, how do we get that relief? You know, itís like waterboarding. I posted this thing the other day, kind of making a joke out of waterboarding.

Forgive me for that because thatís just how I think. But it was about baptism, but it looked like waterboarding. Oh, I saw that. And that guy was rough. Yeah. He gives Baptists a bad name. But hereís the point.

You know, the law is like waterboarding. And you want, you need some relief, right? You need to breathe. You need something, you know? And so, I think there are plenty of preachers out there who just want to leave you submerged.

And basically tell you, ìGo and sin no more .î. And youíre like, you know, you just, you need that relief. And the release comes from believing in Christ, from looking at Christ and thinking, ìHe did it all.

He fulfilled everything Iím supposed to do and that I donít do .î. Thatís my, you know, thatís the relief. Thatís what we need as Christians. Itís easy to bury somebody in the law. I mean, I could do that.

You know, letís do a 60-partÖ. Howís your prayer life? Yeah. Weíll just every week come in and just bury people, you know? Well, we got some examples from the Old Testament. Weíre going to embarrass you this week, you know?

What about Daniel in his prayer closet, you know? Letís, I mean, we could do all those kind of things. Is that gospel preaching?

Thatís law. Well, if the law comes from a gracious father, it changes everything around versus a judge. All right, Steve, that was fast, 24 and a half minutes. It was super fast.

This has been a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of Godís Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. Weíre right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.