Jesus was once asked by a man what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus’ response was that the man should love God and love his neighbor. The man asked for clarification on the definition of neighbor and Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the end Jesus defined loving one’s neighbor as showing mercy to whomever we find in need of mercy. (Luke 10:25-37)
This seems like a simple enough command but in practice it is very hard. However, it really is essential to obey.
Jesus said in another place, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). Loving Jesus and obeying his commandments are then conditions of salvation. Oh, don’t get me wrong I know and agree that we are saved by grace through faith alone. I understand that. Jesus’ point is that the change in our hearts as a result of grace, if it is real and growing, will naturally result in a greater love for Jesus and a greater obedience to his commandments, especially in loving our neighbors.
What I have learned is that just as the man confessed his faith in Jesus but asked that Jesus would increase it, we must make it our heart’s plea to God that he teach us to love him more and that he increase our love for him all the more day by day. There are many ways in which he will and can do this, but we must seek it from him. I tell you that I believe with all my heart that if I am ever to be perfect like my heavenly father is perfect, which is my duty to work at, I must grow increasingly more in love with God, for without love for God I can do nothing else, and thus, I expose myself as an imposter of the faith.
So, let us pray today that God will show us more of himself, more of ourselves and more of his marvelous work on behalf of his creation so that our love for him will increase more and more and we find ourselves doing joyfully all the things that before seemed too be burdensome; all the things that we knew we must do but had no real heart to do.
I don’t normally comment on politics, but a quote in the Wall Street Journal today caught my attention because it appeared to be emblematic of so much modern thinking. I am even concerned that it is a root thought in the reasoning of many in the church.
Rep. Charles Rangel was charged yesterday by the House ethics committee with 13 counts of breaking House rules. He is trying to negotiate a settlement to avoid an ugly public trial. His reasoning is that he did not willfully break House rules, and if he did break house rules, the violations were an honest mistake. Now, I’m not commenting on whether he is guilty or not. I am commenting on his reasoning for declaring himself innocent. He told reporters,
“Even though there are serious charges, I am prepared to prove that the only thing I’ve ever had in my 50 years of public service is service. That’s what I’ve done. And if I’ve been overzealous in providing that service, I can’t make an excuse for the serious violation but I can have an explanation of my intent.” (quoted by the Wall Street Journal 7-30-10)
There it is, intent. The judgment of guilt or innocence, justified or condemned is, in so many minds, an issue of intent. Rep. Rangel intended to serve, and if in doing so he inadvertently broke laws, then the intent covers the violation and nullifies it.
I just have to say that intent has never been good enough for God. Yes, the condition of our heart is what God is after. He wants us to desire him and love him. He wants our hearts to be filled with a longing for him, but he clearly tells us that what we do matters for what ever is filling up our hearts will be seen in what we do. In the end, without grace, what we actually do, not our intent, is what God judges.
Take it a step further. Even under grace intent does not nullify wrong action. We see this in James 2:16 where saying to one in need “be warmed and filled” without given them food and clothes is sinful and condemning on the one who says it. Our desire or intent to have people warm and full is not enough, we must warm them and fill them.
My purpose here is really to expose a prevailing thought that many hold without really even knowing they hold it. They don’t articulate it in so many words as Rangel did, but the thought is behind how they live and how they judge the holiness of their heart. Such a rubric to judge the holiness of our hearts is faulty. Only by our actions, done is obedience to and love for God can we judge the condition of our heart. Wanting to do God’s will and doing God’s will are indeed two very different things.
Why do I sometimes struggle to obey God? If I am truly redeemed and a new creation, then why do I not live like it? Do you ever ask yourself these questions?
Well, aside from the fact that the Christian life is one of continual sanctification where the old self of sin is being overcome and the new self of Christ-likeness is being raised up, there are several reasons why we struggle to obey God. One very fundamental reason has to do with how we understand the concept of obedience.
There are two basic ways to understand obedience, each of which has a direct impact on how successful we are at being obedient. The first way to understand obedience is as an effort to repay God or make ourselves worthy of his love and grace. We see obedience as a simple means to an end. We reason that God expects obedience, and therefore, if we obey him, then we can expect favor from him. Obedience, then, is an observance of certain laws and requirements for the sake of gaining reward.
The problem with this form of obedience is that it doesn’t motivate us properly. For some reason we grow to resent this game of tit-for-tat with God, we feel guilty about our resentment and we either bury ourselves under more laws to try to atone for our resentment, or we flee from God altogether as one flees an overbearing, indeed, an impossible-to-please boss. In the end we haven’t grow deeper in love with God, and we are loosing the joy of our salvation.
The second way to way to understand obedience is as a response of the heart to a God who has freely justified you in the absence of and even in spite of your attempts to justify yourself.
Jesus often spoke to the Pharisees about their attempts to earn God’s favor. He quoted Isaiah when he told them that they had a habit of taking the commandments of men and turning them into doctrines of God. They justified themselves and thought God viewed them as just according to how well they kept all these commands. However, Christ condemned them because their obedience lacked a certain quality. It was not born out of a heart response to a God whose grace warranted and evoked words and activities that honored him. Oh, they honored him with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. (Matthew 15:7-9)
We say we love God and put all our faith in him, but we approach God and our duties toward him as if no amount of faith will ever save us. The true obedience of a Christian is actually not a replacement of faith, but an act of faith; it is born out of our faith. In other words, we should view our duty to obey God as our natural response to his favor freely given; as the activity that flows out of a heart that simply wants to honor God in every way possible. Viewed this way obedience becomes a joyful thing for us and we are happy living in it.
Image used by permission from Renjith Krishnan and FreeDigitalPhotos.net
