I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      Why does any person obey another?  There are two fundamental motivations – one negative, one positive.

                                                             1.      The negative motive for obedience is for fear.

a.       One who is motivated by fear feels that he is forced to obey his master.  He fears the consequences of disobedience, so he submits to his master.

b.       This type of motivation is negative because it stems from a desire to avoid something bad rather than a desire to receive something good.

                                                             2.      The positive motive for obedience is for love.

a.       One who is motivated by love wants to obey his master.  Because of his love and respect for his master, his desire is to please his master.

b.       An extension of this motivation is that one who loves his master hopes to receive a reward from his master, even if that reward is only praise or seeing the master’s pleasure.

                                                             3.      Therefore, obedience can be the product of fear through threat, coercion, and force, and it can be the result of love through trust, faith, and humility.

B.      In this lesson, let us consider how one may learn obedience to Christ.

                                                             1.      Our Lord Himself “learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8).

                                                             2.      By learning obedience Himself and being made perfect, Christ “became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9).

                                                             3.      Therefore, to have eternal salvation we must learn to obey Him who learned obedience Himself.

II.      UNDERSTANDING OBEDIENCE

A.      To obey is to perform the will of another.

                                                             1.      Jesus learned obedience to the Father when He performed the Father’s will even when His own will was to do otherwise.

a.       Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus expressed His will to the Father when He prayed, “My Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matt. 26:39).

b.       Yet He subjected Himself to His Father when He said, “Yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39, 42).

c.        Ultimately, Jesus performed the will of the Father by dying on the cross (Phil. 2:8).

                                                             2.      Followers of Christ must imitate His example of complete submission to the will of God.

a.       Peter wrote that Christ has left us “an example to follow in His steps” (1Pet. 2:21).

b.       Peter cites the example of Jesus for Christians who suffer for doing the will of God (1Pet. 2:18-25).  Like Jesus, they must learn to be obedient to God even if it conflicts with their desires to escape suffering.

B.      Incomplete obedience is not obedience at all.

                                                             1.      To obey only part of God’s will is to disobey another part of His will.  This is disobedience.

a.       Consider the example of King Saul, whose partial obedience was truly disobedience (1Sam. 15).

i.         Saul was commanded to utterly destroy the city of Amalek and all that was in it (vv. 1-3).  He defeated the Amalekites, but he was not willing (v. 9) to destroy the king or the best of the livestock.

ii.        Saul contended that he had obeyed God (vv. 13, 15, 20-21), but Samuel revealed to him that his actions were disobedient, rebellious, and insubordinate (vv. 19, 22-23).  For this, the kingdom was taken from Saul (vv. 23, 26, 28).

b.       In a similar example in 2Kings 3, Israel was defeated by Moab when they failed to completely obey God’s commands.

i.         Israel followed God’s directions except in the case of one city (vv. 18-19, 25).

ii.        Because they disobeyed, their victory was turned into defeat (vv. 26-27).

                                                             2.      One who follows God’s commandments only when they comply with his desires is disobedient.  He is truly governed by his own will, and God’s will is considered only when it is convenient.

C.      Obedience may be rewarded, but the reward is never a debt.

                                                             1.      Let us understand that we do not make God indebted by obeying Him.  He owes us nothing.

a.       God is not bound to compensate His servants for serving Him.  When they do all of His will, they are still unprofitable and deserve nothing (Luke 17:10).

b.       Compare this to a parent who rewards an obedient child.  The child does not earn anything for being obedient, but the parent rewards him for his righteous behavior.

                                                             2.      By His love, mercy, and grace, God has promised to reward His obedient servants (Matt. 7:21; Rom. 2:5-7; 2Cor. 5:10; Eph. 2:4-10).  Their obedience is only a condition of His gracious reward.

III.   HOW TO BE OBEDIENT TO CHRIST

A.      Know your master.

                                                             1.      It is nearly impossible for one to obey one whom he does not know and trust.  Thankfully, our Lord can be well known to us through the word of God.

a.       Certainly, we cannot do the will of God unless we know it, and we can know it through the Bible (Psalm 19; 119; 2Tim. 3:16-17; 2Pet. 1:3).

b.       Not only can we know His will, but perhaps more importantly we can know His character.

                                                             2.      Through the word of God, we know that Christ is not a cruel master.

a.       Notice Matthew 11:28-30.

i.         The Lord desires for us to learn who He is and that He is gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart.

ii.        Christ is our master, but His yoke is easy, and His load is light.  He will not give His servants a burden that they cannot bear, for He is their strength (Phil. 4:13).

b.       Christians know that Christ is a kind and benevolent master, and they choose to serve Christ because they love Him (John 14:15).

                                                             3.      The word of God also reveals that Christ is a trustworthy master.

a.       For us to voluntarily surrender our own wills and commit ourselves to do the will of Christ, we need to know that we can trust Him (2Tim. 1:12).

b.       The fact that Christ died for us shows that He is indeed trustworthy (Rom. 8:31-39).

c.        By having complete trust in Christ, we do not always have to know why He desires certain things.  We simply trust that His will is best, and we obey Him without doubt.

B.      Humble yourself.

                                                             1.      A necessary part of obedience is humility, for one must humble himself to be in submission to another.

                                                             2.      Christ is our pattern for humility in obedience.  Notice Philippians 2:5-11.

a.       Even though Christ was equal with God, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v. 8).

b.       Because Christ humbled Himself in obedience, God highly exalted Him (Phil. 2:9-11).

                                                             3.      To imitate Christ, we must humble ourselves in submission to the will of God if we desire for Him to exalt us (Jas. 4:10; 1Pet. 5:6).

C.      Obey from the heart.

                                                             1.      Obedience is more than an outward performance of works.  It is an outward sign of the heart’s conversion to Christ.

a.       Sometimes Christians try to have the form of obedience before having the heart of obedience.  This is to play the hypocrite, i.e., to be an actor, pretending to be something he is not (Matt. 15:7-10).

b.       True obedience flows from a heart that knows and loves his master (Eph. 6:5-6).

                                                             2.      Notice Romans 6:15-22.

a.       Our obedience reveals our allegiance.  If we obey sin, we are loyal to Satan, but if we obey righteousness we are loyal to God.

b.       This is because we become “obedient from the heart” (v. 17).  It is a loyal heart that directs a person to be obedient to his master.

                                                             3.      Therefore, if one is struggling to obey God, he needs to examine his heart to see if he is truly converted.

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      It is not easy to become fully obedient to another.  The learning process can be long and difficult.

B.      However, knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the rewards of obeying Him make it a joy to have the master of the universe as our master.

C.      Therefore, submit yourself to Christ, and obey His gospel today.