The Hope of Obedience
by Joe Thorn ~ May 2nd, 2008. Filed under: Church.I am preaching on Philippians 2:12, 13 this weekend on “Learning Obedience.” Preaching on obedience is tricky. If all I do is call people to keep the law (obey) it will only result in pride or despair. Pride for those who only superficially examine their lives and see themselves as good performers, and despair for those who see their inability to meet God’s standards. In preaching on obedience I have to be careful to show 1) our ultimate hope is not our obedience, but Jesus’ fulfillment of the law, and 2) that there is real hope for our own progress in obedience - but even that is found outside of ourselves. As Paul wrote, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
In The Gospel for Real Life Jerry Bridges says it this way,
…just as we by faith look to Christ for our righteous standing before God, so by faith we are to look to Him for the enabling power to live the Christian life. This power comes to us a result of our vital and living union with Him.
This is our hope; this is our encouragement to press on in the midst of our frequent falling and failing - the gospel itself!
It is the assurance in the gospel that we have indeed died to the guilt of sin; that there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus; that the Lord will never count our sins against us; and that we are truly delivered from the reigning power of sin, that will motivate us and keep us going even in the midst of the tension between the Spirit and the sinful nature.
Bridges goes on to quote Horatius Bonar whose words were the best thing I’ve read this week:
The secret of a believer’s holy walk is his continual recurrence to the blood of the Surety, and his daily [communion] with a crucified and risen Lord. All divine life, and all precious fruits of it, pardon, peace, and holiness, spring from the cross. All fancied sanctification which does not arise wholly from the blood of the cross is nothing better than Pharisaism. If we would be holy, we must get to the cross, and dwell there; else, notwithstanding all our labour, diligence, fasting, praying and good works, we shall be yet void of real sanctification, destitute of those humble, gracious tempers which accompany a clear view of the cross.
False ideas of holiness are common, not only among those who profess false religions, but among those who profess the true. The love of God to us, and our love to Him, work together for producing holiness. Terror accomplishes no real obedience. Suspense brings forth no fruit unto holiness. No gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor can subdue one lust, or correct our crookedness of will. But the free pardon of the cross uproots sin, and withers all its branches. Only the certainty of love, forgiving love, can do this….
Free and warm reception into the divine favor is the strongest of all motives in leading a man to seek conformity to Him who has thus freely forgiven him all trespasses.
Whether you are preaching, teaching or listening this Sunday - let the law and the gospel do their work, but do not confuse the two. The law should show us the way to live, expose our guilt and condemnation since we do not live that way, and show us our need for God’s mercy. The gospel shows us that Jesus fulfilled the law of God for us (our justification), and empowers us to obey (our sanctification) from a sense of love and joy.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Good post Joe. Not to add or bring any correction, but just to extend the conversation, are we a bit overly prone to take too much of the burden on ourselves? I know I am. Somewhere, there seems to be a need to recover the idea that living the Xn life requires that one be filled with the Holy Spirit. My hope is that as He comes in, the junk in me goes out.
100,000 blessings,
Jack Allen
NOBTS
May 5th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Yes, thanks Joe. I too worry about what Jack is bringing up. I worried about it significantly when reading Respectable Sins. Seems like we tend to focus more at times on the battle against sin than on fostering love for Christ and walking in the Spirit.
I remember the teaching of Francis Schaeffer, “All of life lived in faith is spiritual except for what is actually sin.” That sounds like a magnificently free life, doesn’t it?
Thanks to you both.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Good stuff, Joe.
Have you ever considered the Law as being descriptive rather than prescriptive? The Law wasn’t given to unregenerate man as method of self-sanctification–or even as an object lesson for the futility therein. It was given to a people who had been redeemed and delivered. It is this “new status” that sets the context for it.
The most functional word in all the Law is the word “therefore”. You have been redeemed, therefore love me. You have been cleansed, therefore do not become defiled.
Take this thought and then read Deuteronomy again. Note how the first several chapters repeatedly recount the Exodus, have the great “therefore” and then begin to describe how the people of God live (the Law). When we lose sight of our status as new creation, the “way of life (Law)” becomes the means by which we achieve that status. If we hold on to our status, the way of life becomes the only rational way to live in light of it. The Law is descriptive rather than prescriptive.
(”Once you have been joined to Christ, why would you join yourself to a prostitute?”)
In this context, obedience isn’t an adherence to rules but rather the only fitting outcome for a redeemed life. That redemption being found in Christ alone.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hi Joe
Just want you to know how much I am growing to appreciate your site. I am preaching on the 9th commandment in a couple of weeks and what you said about obedience really hits home for me as I wrestle and process through this. As I wrestled with the commandment (bearing false witness against our neighbour) I was hit by how often I do this in my own head. To the guy standing in front of me in starbucks with bad b.o (what a loser, why doesn’t he shower, bet he has no friends and if he does all they do is play world of warcraft), to my wife during or after a fight (she is so selfish, she doesn’t even want to see my side of things, She doesn’t want to work at this), I mean there are so many instances that this happens. This is when I realized that the commandments require not just an outward obedience ( I generally don’t stand up in court against my neighbour and lie about his character) but it also requires a heart obedience. The only way that can happen is through the work of the holy spirit. I can’t do it on my own, i am just not built to obey but through Christ I can do all things.