Why Do You Obey?

Proverbs 9:10, Genesis 3:4-5, John 10:10, Psalm 34:8

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So you’ve been really trying to live out what God wants you to do because you know He is God and you are not. He’s in charge. He’s the boss, so you should do what He says, and if you don’t, after all, He has the ability to have there be consequences.

There’s value to that.

Or maybe you’ve been trying to do what God wants because you believe in Jesus. You’re a Christian, and you want to live a life of thanks. You know you’re supposed to show your thanks to God, and so you try to do what God wants you to do.

There’s value to that.

But what is missing in both of those?

Something is missing.

See, when you and I were brought to faith in Christ, we were set right with God. Jesus died for your sins and mine, rose again to set you right with God. But that also means that you have a restored relationship with God, and that now makes a difference for how we live and how we think about how we relate to God. If you go back to the scene where Adam and Eve turn away from God, when they are standing there at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, an opportunity to trust God, which actually is how they would gain true wisdom, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, (Proverbs 9:10) and wisdom has to do with really living well. If they were to trust God, it would be an opportunity to really grow in life and in living and all these things. But when the serpent appeared before them, the serpent pushed and said, “Hey, did God really mean this to be a good thing?” Or let me read it to give you the exact statement.

The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die. In fact, God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

In other words, God is holding out on you. He’s not good. You can’t trust Him. If you really want life, if you really want goodness, you have to do it your own way, and that’s what broke everything. So now, as someone who has been brought to faith in Christ, who has this relationship restored, part of the restoration is now I get to trust that God is good. That God isn’t holding out on me. And so then obedience isn’t just that I should obey because He’s God. I certainly should. And obedience isn’t just, okay, He could have consequences for that. Absolutely, he is God, there are. And obedience isn’t even just I’m supposed to say thank you.

The heart of this restored relationship means now that I believe and know that God is good, that He created me, that He designed life, that even when I turned away from Him and went towards death, Jesus has now restored life to me, and I get to receive life from God again.

It’s like Jesus said in John 10:10,

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

He is the source of life. He is the source of goodness, and we now get to begin to trust that. Now, does that mean that when we obey, everything is going to go smoothly? Of course not. We live in a broken world. Does that mean that God’s going to just prosper you with all kinds of great things through obedience? No. But as we live out our lives of faith, we do get to begin to taste life as it was meant to be, where we do walk and trust our Lord. It’s like Psalm 34:8 says,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in Him.” (Psalm 34:8)

We get to trust that He designed life, He has given us life again, and that there will someday be a point where we get to experience life in all of its fullness, the way it was meant to be, the way it was designed to be, where we live life from our God who has given us everything good, because He is good.

That’s why we obey.