01.12. Obedience
OBEDIENCE Memory Verses:1 Samuel 15:22;Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.
"Obedience, compliance with command, prohibition, or known law and rule of duty prescribed; the performance of what is required or enjoyed by authority, or the abstaining from what is prohibited, in compliance with the command or prohibition. To constitute obedience, the act of forbearance to act must be in submission to authority; the command must be known to the person, and his compliance must be in consequence of it, or it is not obedience."—Webster.
TEST OF OBEDIENCE The essence of obedience is willing submission to authority. A man may do some things which God commands every one to do without, in the least degree, obeying God. He may do it because of the pressure of circumstances, or because his reason suggests it as the proper thing to do. Hence, in all ages God has had some test of obedience, some way to test a man’s loyalty to Him. We can see a reason for many things God commands, and, while we must, in all such cases, comply, there is no test of our loyalty in such cases. In a test of faith or loyalty there must be no apparent connection between the act commanded and the result promised, and there should be no outside circumstances or surroundings impelling us; the command must be such that the moving cause is our reverence for God and our devotion to him. Illustrations will be given as we proceed with the lesson.
LEARN OBEDIENCE
It is the nature of the will to assert itself; it is an inseparable quality of the will. This is seen early in child-life. It is not an indication of perversity, but of will force. The will must be trained; it must learn its lesson. The child very early learns some lessons of obedience to natural laws. He reaches forth his hand and touches a live coal, and learns a lesson in self restraint. Were it not for these lessons he learns early in life he would soon destroy himself. But he must learn obedience to his parents. Many parents fail to realize that obedience must be learned, but it is true. Paul says of Christ, "Though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). Every human being must learn obedience. The parent does his child an irreparable wrong when he fails to teach him obedience. Training the child to respect parental authority prepares him to be more respectful for all other rightful authority, both civil and divine. Failure of parents to discharge this God-given duty is flooding the country with men and women without respect for constituted authority, making of them criminals. One of the first lessons a soldier learns is unquestioning and prompt obedience. The purpose of much of his training is that he may learn to obey, as well as respect, the authority. THE GREATEST WAR From the time that Satan tempted Eve there has been waging a great war, before which all other wars, both as to numbers engaged, time of duration, and issues involved, pale into insignificance, involving, in some way, every human being. This is the war between right and wrong, between the forces of righteousness and the forces of sin, between God and Satan. There is, there can be, no neutral ground. "He that is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30). Every intelligent creature has by voluntary choice lined up on one side or the other. "Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16). Our obedience is the measure of our allegiance.
God seeks an enlightened, willing, whole hearted obedience. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds) ; casting down imaginations, and every high things that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). This is a war of complete subjugation; every imagination, thought, and action must be brought into harmony with his will.
GOD’S RULE IS FOR MAN’S GOOD
God seeks the present and eternal good of man; Satan seeks the present corruption and eternal ruin of man. It must be evident to every one who believes in God, that whatever God requires is for man’s good. His commands grow out of man’s needs. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23), hence God in his mercy and benevolence supplies man’s most urgent and fundamental needs by directing his steps. God’s rule therefore is benevolent, not tyrannical; and his commands are manifestations of his grace, and not antagonistic to it.
Commands and Grace. It is unfortunate that some religious teachers have placed the grace of God on the one side, and the commands of God over against it, thus making them antagonistic, and have taught that if man obeys God’s conditions of salvation he is not depending on the grace of God, and that if he depends on God’s grace the keeping of God’s commands is a matter of no consequence. But the person not blinded by false theories sees in all God’s commands his grace or favor for man. God has shown man how to live; he has taught him the true philosophy of life. It is easy, therefore, to see that man’s highest good and happiness lies along the pathway of obedience to God.
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES Their use to us. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). But these things written aforetime will not benefit us, unless we acquaint ourselves with them. It is encouraging and comforting to learn that God has never forsaken his own, nor failed in a single promise.
ADAM AND EVE
Genesis 2:1-25, Genesis 3:1-24. The happiness of Adam and Eve continued so long as they listened to the voice of God, but disobedience brought despair.
NOAH
Genesis 6:1-22, Genesis 7:1-24, Genesis 8:1-22. The world had become so corrupt by sin that the Lord determined to destroy it, but Noah found favor with God because he walked with God (Genesis 6:9). Only Noah and his family would God save from the flood. To this end God commanded him to build an ark. God’s power is not limited. He could have chosen other ways of saving Noah, but having selected this method, and having announced it, Noah had no choice but to disobey and be lost, or obey and be saved. It is not the province of man to legislate as to how he is to be saved. For Noah to have offered a substitute or made a change in any of the specifications would have been disobedience. But Noah, rejoicing in the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, and knowing his own limitations and helplessness, did not presume to do other than God directed. "And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him" (Genesis 7:5). THE BRAZEN SERPENT
Numbers 21:4-9. The Israelites murmured against God and against Moses. They were dissatisfied with their food. "And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." The people confessed their sins, and asked Moses to pray for them. This he did; but, instead of removing the serpents, God provided a remedy. "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live." Moses obeyed: "And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived." For the people there was no other way of escape. God might have chosen another way. But this plan having been chosen and announced, left the people without any choice but to disobey and die, or obey and live. No substitute on their part would do, and they offered none. Their case was too desperate to admit of delay or experiment. Of course none of them thought the brass cured them. And there was no blasphemous blatherskite present to call it "snake salvation." It was God’s cure brought about in his own way. But it was a test of their faith. Evidently they could see no reason in it, but their confidence in God led them through obedience to the point where God healed them. They knew the cure came from God. Thus that which was a test of their faith became also a means of strengthening their faith. Had God commanded Moses to make a strong decoction of herbs and bathe the wounds with it, the people, thus cured, would have attributed the cure to the solution of herbs and lost sight of God in the matter. But the whole circumstances, as arranged, strengthened their faith in the power, and benevolence, and mercy of God.
WALLS OF JERICHO
Joshua 6:1-21. When the Israelites had crossed the river Jordan into the land of Canaan, they first camped near the river. God had given them the land, yet they must, by God’s help, drive out the inhabitants. The city of Jericho stood first in their way. It is a mistaken idea to suppose, as some do, that, because God gives us a thing, we have nothing to do to gain possession of the gift. "And Jehovah said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor." He had given him the city, yet he told him how to get it. They were to march around the city once each day for six days, and on, the seventh day seven times. The priests were then to blow the trumpets, and the people were to give a shout unto God; the walls would then fall down and every man was to go straight before him and take possession of the city. Then, and not till then, might they have what God had given them.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray for their daily bread (Matthew 6:11), but no one expects the bread to come already baked and the hams already cured. He has provided the means by which we are to receive it, yet it comes from him, he gives it.
What the Israelites did in taking possession of the city was in no sense paying God. The whole procedure of taking the walls was a strange affair, and, no doubt, after it had gone on for some days, it excited a good deal of curiosity and discussion in the city. Human wisdom would never have suggested such a method of warfare. Every Israelite knew that their marching, blowing the trumpets, and shouting could have no effect on the walls; but God did not throw them down till the last act had been performed. A test of their faith. Yes; but their faith was sufficient for the occasion. Paul says, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days" (Hebrews 11:30).
NAAMAN THE LEPER
2 Kings 5:1-19. Naaman was captain of the armies of Syria. In some of the expeditions made by the soldiers a Jewish maiden had been taken captive and was servant maid to Naaman’s wife. Though Naaman was a great man with the king, he was unfortunately suffering from the loathsome disease, leprosy.
Though this Jewish maiden was a slave in a strange land, she was not bitter towards her captors, but was solicitous for the welfare of the husband of her mistress, and lamented his condition. We do not know the age of this Jewish maiden, but it is worthy of note that she had been taught of the God of Israel and his prophet, and, though amongst strangers and associated with people who worshiped idols, she was neither ashamed nor afraid to tell of Jehovah and his power. Indeed the Jews taught their children the law of Jehovah. This Jewish maid said to the wife of Naaman, "Would that my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, then would he recover him of his leprosy." The report of the Jewess is made known to Naaman, and then to the king. As is often the case, a correct report was not made, as is evidenced by the fact that the king of Syria sent to the king of Samaria, demanding that he cure Naaman. The king of Samaria was much disturbed, for he knew his inability to cure the man, and declared that the king of Syria was only seeking a pretext for war. The prophet of Israel sent word unto Jehoram saying, "Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came and stood at the house of Elisha, and Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servant came near, and spake unto him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" He was unable to see any connection between the act commanded and the end to be attained. He was quite certain there was no virtue in the water to cleanse him of his disease. In his rage he began to retract his steps. How many have their own idea as to how Jehovah is to save them, and are waiting, quite willing to be saved, so soon as Jehovah adopts their method of saving? At the solicitation of his servant, Naaman followed the directions of the prophet, went and dipped seven times in the river Jordan, "and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." Naaman’s faith was so weak that it came perilously near not standing the test. Surely no one thinks the water of Jordan cured Naaman. If such a view were entertained we would send all lepers to Jordan that they might be cleansed. Jehovah cured Naaman, but not till he obeyed. In every age of God’s dealings with men he has blessed them when they obeyed his commandments. No doubt there are people who would have cried "water salvation" had they heard the command of the prophet to Naaman.
Christ commanded proper subjects to be baptized (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-16). You may be unable to see how baptism can have any connection with salvation, but if you earnestly desire salvation, and your faith is of the character that will bring you justification, you will trust God for the promise and rejoice in being baptized. AN EXAMPLE UNDER CHRIST’S PERSONAL MINISTRY
Blind man.John 9:1-41. This man was born blind. Jesus "spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." Surely this was an unheard of procedure, and so far as the record informs us, Jesus did not indicate what the result would be, or whether there would be any. He left him with the command to go and wash. If Jesus so much as furnished him with a guide, the record is silent. But he had the spirit of prompt obedience. "He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing." This was no "water cure," nor clay cure; yet there was clay and water in the obedience which brought the cure. When questioned by the Pharisees as to how he received his sight, he replied, "He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see." But the Pharisees did not think for a moment that the water and the clay opened his eyes, for they asked him concerning Jesus. "What say-est thou of him, in that he opened thine eyes?" And the man who was given the power to see knew that the power was not in the water and clay, for he said, "He opened mine eyes."
Jesus says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved"; and every one who knows as much as those Pharisees or the blind man, knows that the water is not the saving agent any more than it was the curative agent in the blind man’s case.
NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING
We show our confidence in our physician by following his directions. When we decide to set aside some of his directions as unnecessary and follow only those that suit us, we show more confidence in self than in the physician, and, by such a course, take the case in our own hands. The same is true in our treatment of what God says. The soldier shows his confidence in his leader by unquestioning obedience. No good soldier acts on the supposition that some of his commander’s orders are essential and some are not, nor does he ever substitute. If a man performs the wrong act thinking he is doing God’s will he has the obedient spirit. There is in him no intentional rebellion; his guilt is that of ignorance. Jehovah requires whole hearted compliance with his will. "Though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5:8-9). That Jesus is the author of salvation no one questions, and that he is the author of salvation to the obedient this passage plainly shows; but who are the obedient? Certainly those who unquestionably do his will. THE PURPOSE OF OBEDIENCE
God is fitting and preparing us for eternal habitation with him. In heaven God’s will must reign supreme, otherwise confusion and disorder will prevail. In heaven they serve him (Revelation 7:15; Revelation 22:3). Joyful, loving obedience will be there, but it must be learned here. Here we form our characters. God is seeking in his preparatory school to train us in the art of obedience. "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth" (Matthew 6:10). No man can sincerely make that petition to God unless he is willing for God’s will to reign supreme in his own. heart. No one in heaven will urge that some of God’s commandments are non-essential. Such characters will not be there.
OBEDIENCE IN TEACHING
Parents are commanded to teach their children, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). God expects all his children to arrive, in reasonable length of time, at a point where they can teach others (Hebrews 5:12). Teach is the command, and it is our duty to obey.
What shall we teach? Here the command rings clear: "Preach the gospel," "Preach the word." Beyond this no teacher in religion has a right to go. In olden times God said: "He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully" (Jeremiah 23:28). The servant who delivers the word of his master has no right to change it by addition or suppression. To do so is presumptive disobedience. The teacher is duty-bound to speak God’s word faithfully, and the people are entitled to the pure word of God; to change it or withhold any of it is to sin against God and defraud the people—to steal the word of God from them. "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my word every one from his brother" (Jeremiah 23:30. The preacher or teacher today who withholds any of God’s truth from the people is as much a thief as were these false teachers of old. Jesus said, "He that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world" (John 8:26). Again, "For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak" (John 12:49). When the Jewish Council sought to restrict the teaching of the apostles, Peter and John replied: "We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard" (Acts 4:20). Paul pronounces a curse on him who preaches any other gospel (Galatians 1).
MORAL AND POSITIVE COMMANDMENTS The difference between positive and moral commands is not stated in the Bible; but a little thought will show the difference. A moral command, or law, regulates a man’s natural relationships. Some things are right within themselves and some things are wrong within themselves. The inherent relation between the creature and the Creator makes it right that we reverence God and have no other gods. In, our relationship with each other certain things are inherently right and certain things wrong. Stealing, lying, murder ai-e inherently wrong. Commands regulating us in these matters are said to be moral commands, or laws. These inherent rights and duties have always been recognized in all well ordered communities, even where they had no revelation from God. In this sense, perhaps, the Gentiles did by nature the things of the law (Romans 2:14-15). But it is not easy to see how some of God’s commands grow out of our natural relationships. In fact, some of them seem to be contrary to these relationships. When God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac (Genesis 22:1-24), the command seemed to violate the most natural and fundamental relationship between father and son. Such commands rest for their authority solely upon the will of the law giver. The law of the sabbath is another illustration. There is no inherent principle in man’s relations to his fellows or to God to suggest such a duty. This law, then, may be called a positive law. The command to Naaman to dip in Jordan seven times and to the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam were positive commands. So is also the command to be baptized.
TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION How does Faith Grow?
Foolishness of God.
Walking by Faith.
Relationship of Faith and Obedience.
Fear of Punishment, and Hope of Reward.
QUESTIONS
Repeat the memory verses.
Define obedience.
What constitutes real obedience?
How does God test man’s loyalty?
Is it possible to do what God says, and yet not obey him?
When are God’s commandments a test of loyalty?
Is there a test of faith in doing what our reason naturally approves?
What is the nature of the test of loyalty?
Why is man’s loyalty tested?
What is the nature of "a will"?
Is will force an indication of perversity?
Is will force sinful?
Name some ways in which the will early learns some lessons of obedience.
Why should children be taught obedience?
How did Jesus learn obedience?
What is the greatest world war?
What issues are involved in this war?
How does this war affect you?
Can neutral ground be found?
What is your natural relationship to Jehovah? To Satan?
How is your allegiance to your Master shown?
Is there any compromise between the forces of sin and righteousness?
Contrast the present and final results of God and Satan ruling in the heart.
Tell of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
How did God save Noah from the flood?
Could he have selected other ways?
What choice did Noah have?
Could Noah make any change in God’s requirements?
What is said of Noah’s obedience?
What sin of the Israelites is mentioned in Numbers 21:4-9?
How did God punish them?
What remedy was provided for healing them?
What was required of the people?
Could they have offered a substitute?
What cured them?
Would you call it "snake salvation?”
Could you see any reason in doing what God required?
Show wherein it was a test of their faith.
How did this test strengthen their faith?
What might they have said, had some medicinal remedy been used?
Describe the method of taking Jericho.
Would reason have suggested such a method?
How was it a test of their faith?
Was Jericho given to them unconditionally?
Name some gifts that are conditional.
Name some gifts that are unconditional.
Who was Naaman?
What was his affliction? What is leprosy?
Tell about the Jewish maiden.
To whom was Naaman sent?
What prophet heard of this?
What message did he send to Naaman?
What did he tell Naaman to do?
What effect did this have on Naaman?
Who prevailed on him to obey?
Would you call it "water salvation?" If no, why?
How was Naaman’s faith strengthened?
Is baptism a test of faith?
What did Jesus command the blind man (Jno. 9) to do?
Could the blind man see any reason in this? Can you?
What did Jesus promise him?
Why was this a test?
How did it strengthen his faith?
What did the water and clay have to do with curing him?
Tell of the conversation he had with some of the enemies of Jesus.
Does water have anything to do with saving folks now?
How do we show our confidence in Jehovah?
To whom is Jesus the author of eternal salvation?
Whose will must reign supreme in heaven?
What would the result be, otherwise?
Why must obedience be learned in this life?
Whose duty is it to teach?
What must we teach?
How may we steal God’s word from the people?
Discuss "moral" and "positive" law.
Give some illustrations of each.