O-B-E-Y. Obey. Even the sound of the word evokes rebellion within us. The thought of someone or something having dominion over us or telling us what to do smacks of centuries gone by. The new order is one of entitlement, self-discovery and freedom right? The problem is, scripture is full of commands and full of instruction to us to obey those commands.
There are usually two camps on either side of this issue. The first would be the camp of legalism. Legalism says, “follow the law and God will be pleased with you”. The second camp would be the camp of antinomianism. This is a big word that simply means “against (anti) “the law” (nomian). Antinomianism says, “follow love and God will be pleased with you.” So it would seem that these two are on opposite ends of the spectrum. But are they really?
Stick with me here. First, let me point out that God is only pleased with His Son. We don’t follow the law or love to the point of pleasing God. Paul even stated that if the law was able to save there would have been no need for Jesus (Gal. 2:21). Likewise, if “love is all you need” but truth says, “God is love” then without God we would not know love. So we are stuck between two seemingly opposing viewpoints.
Granted, these are both very extreme ends of the spectrum and generally, the truth lies somewhere in between. In this case, it does. Paul says that the Law is a tutor that drives us to see our need for a Savior (Gal. 3:24). So, if the Law drives us to the gospel then why would it ever be bad? On the contrary, scripture says that the Law is good (Rom 6:16b).
Love is also good. I don’t think I need to argue this point because I don’t know of anyone who would disagree. If we had to choose between the two camps likely we would choose the camp of “love” as a safer bet. But, scripture is also full of love talk. The thing is, love is a LAW. Yes, love is commanded. “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Lv.19:18; Matt. 22:39), “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”(Luke 6:31), “as God so loved us, we ought also to love one another: (1 Jn 4:11). So, if we disregard the law then we disregard love.
Furthermore, Jesus also said “if you love Me keep My commandments”(Jn.14:15) and “if you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (Jn.15:10). In Jesus’ mind - which would be the mind of God- the two cannot be separated. For those of us wanting to choose a side, we are left straddling the proverbial fence. But, it is so important for us to realize the importance of loving God by keeping His commandments. This will be foundational to our study but also foundational to our lives as believers.
Ladies, obedience without love is legalism. Love without obedience is license (antinomianism). Both are hypocrisy. If we are simply following God’s “rules” but we don’t love the Lord then we are only living an outwardly moral life but inwardly we are “full of dead men’s bones.” This is hypocrisy. God is not snowed or pleased by outward morality. On the contrary, He hates it. Outward morality with a heart that is far from God is simply another form of idolatry.
Likewise, love without obedience is hypocrisy. Jesus had scathing criticism for hypocrisy. He said to the Pharisees, “why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not what I say?” The truth is, we cannot claim a genuine love for the Lord and then willfully choose disobedience to the commands of scripture. This too is idolatry. We have once again placed ourselves and our selfish desires above the Lord in our hearts.
Hebrews 10:22 states, “let us draw near with a sincere heart.” The term “drawing near” is a term of endearment. When we draw near to someone we are moving close to them in love. I almost picture a child snuggling up to a Daddy. Ladies, we can be obedient to the Lord, we can follow His right and rule and never draw near to Him in love with a sincere heart.
The Shema, based out of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, is the most important prayer for the Jew. They recite this when they wake in the morning and when they go to bed every night. The focal verse begins, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and strength. In the gospels Jesus was asked to identify the greatest commandment. What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment? The Shema. He reiterated it and then He added this phrase, “and the second is LIKE it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Then he adds, “all of the law and the prophets hang on these” (Matt. 22:36-40).
Love for others grows out of a love for the Lord. Love for the Lord has to be a singular-focused love that encompasses every part of who we are: heart, soul, mind and strength. Therefore, we are to have no other gods before the One True God, including self. Jesus is completely satisfying, completely filling and when we encounter Him through this study we will realize that He alone can rescue, complete and redeem us! Jesus alone provides eternal soul satisfaction.
Next week we are going to identify and examine idols in our lives. Then we will sacrifice those idols and replace them with worship of the one true God. As we study we want to be fully aware of God’s rightful rule in our lives as He LOVINGLY exposes our idols to bring us out of bondage, out of the house of slavery!
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