OBEDIENCE ENGENDERS FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2020.

SUBJECT : OBEDIENCE ENGENDERS FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD!

Memory verse: Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine." (Exodus 19 vs 5.)

READ: John 15 vs 9 - 11: 

15:9: As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 

15:10: If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

15:11: These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

15:12: This is My commandment, “That you love one another, as I have loved you.”
15:13: Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
15:14: You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.

INTIMATION: 

Obeying God in faith brings you closer to Him for an intimate relationship. Every time you trust God's wisdom and do whatever He says, even when you don't understand it, you deepen your friendship with Him. Obedience endears you to God, and makes you special to Him. Just obedience to our earthly parents endear us to them, so it does to our heavenly Parent. Jesus is our role model, He was obedient to both to His earthly parents and Heavenly Father.

Most people have always viewed obedience as submission to an authority, usually a superior authority. They rarely think of obedience as an attribute of friendship. It is usually reserved for relationships with a parent or the boss or a superior authority, not a friend. Though God is a superior being, He views our obedience as condition for intimate relationship with Him. And Jesus made it clear when He said, in John 15 vs 14, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command You." Obedience to God in faith endears you to Him, and fosters an intimate friendship with Him.

We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love Him and trust that He knows what is best for us. We want to follow Christ out of gratitude for all he has done for us, and the closer we follow Him, the deeper our friendship becomes. Unbelievers often have the illusion that Christians obey out of obligation or guilt or fear of punishment because He is awesome, and is ever ready to punish any misdeeds prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. Now that Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin, and we have been forgiven and set free, we obey out of love, and our obedience brings great joy! 

Take note of these two declarations in passage we read today, of Jesus' words; "My joy" and "your joy." (John 15 vs 11.) What is His joy? Jesus' joy is to do the Will of the Father, that is, obediently keeping the Father's commandments, and in doing the work of the Father and ensuring the work is completed. This is very important to Jesus that He called it His food; "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish his work."(John 4 vs 34.) In the same vein, our joy is to obey Christ's commandments. When we do, our joy will be full. Notice that Jesus expects us to relate with Him as He relates with the Father. His relationship with His Father is the model for our friendship with Him. Jesus did whatever the Father asked Him to do, out of love. We also are to do the same with Christ.

True friendship isn't passive; it’s active. When Jesus asks us to love others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives clean, offer forgiveness, and bring others to Him, love motivates us to obey immediately. The psyche of most of us is to do great things for God. Actually, God is more pleased when we do small things for Him out of loving obedience. They may be unnoticed by others, but God notices them and considers them acts of worship. Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day. Even through such simple acts as telling the truth, being kind, and encouraging others, we bring a smile to God's face. 

God treasures simple acts of obedience more than our prayers, praise, or offerings. The Bible in First Samuel 15 vs 22 says, "..Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." Jesus Christ was borne a child, He lived with His parents, worked with the earthly father, Joseph in his carpentry business, and started His public ministry at the age of thirty by being baptized by John the Baptist. At the event of His baptism, God spoke from heaven: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3 vs 17.)

What has Jesus done in thirty years that gave God so much pleasure? The Bible says nothing about those hidden years except in two passages:  First in Luke 2 vs 46 - 49, Jesus, at the age of twelve, exhibited great intellectual prowess in the temple. He sat in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. In answer to the parents quest of where He has been while they searched for Him, He said, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business." And in Luke 2 vs 51, the Bible says, "Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them." 

Being subject to the parents simply indicated He was obedient to them. Luke 2 vs 51 in sAmplified Version says, "And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was [habitually] obedient to them.."Jesus was habitually obedient to the earthly parents, and also the Heavenly Father, and went about the Father's business in total obedience to his Father's commandments. How then is your walk with Jesus? Are you habitually obedient to Him? This is what God demands from us, and in doing so you are endeared to Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to You in all things that I may have the privilege of being Your friend, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!