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The Way I See It!
The Signs of Obedience: Part A.
William: keystone@suscom.net
As a believer/Christian we are given the choice of applying the cross to our life daily. Each believer who has been baptized in water understands the symbolic meaning of this first commandment which is to follow their confession of faith in Christ (see Acts 2:38).
Water baptism symbolizes our identification through receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. Death, burial, and resurrection become an outward visible sign testifying to an inward work. God has made us to be a new creation.
Unfortunately we still have a sin-nature. One that we were born with and will remain with us until we die, then it dies forever. In essence, we have two natures. Scripture tells us that the flesh (sin-nature) wars against (or seeks to control) the spirit which God created in us
Before we became a new creation we had a body, soul, and spirit. The spirit was dead and the soul and body corrupted through our inheritance of a sin-nature that has been passed down from Adam and Eve.
This sin-nature is made up of the body which has five senses:
Seeing.
Hearing.
Feeling (or touch).
Smelling.
Speaking.
The soul has three areas that are important to understand as we retain them along with the body senses. They are:
Mind (the thinking part of the brain which is not observable).
Will (the volitional part of a person which determines actions).
Emotions (feelings that responded to stimuli such as anger, love, and envy to name a few).
When we receive Christ as savior, our spirit comes to life. The spirit, like the soul, has three parts.
Conscience. (The Holy Spirit begins His work of conviction when we sin).
Intuition. (The human being starts developing insight not available before.
There is a worldly form of intuition that can be destructive and a heavenly form that is enlightening regarding all things holy).
Revelation. (We read in the Bible where certain individuals were given dreams, visions, or supernatural abilities like those listed in 1 Corinthians 12, and we understand that these are given by God. Satan can counterfeit some, so the wise Christian should test the spirit according to 1 John 4:1-3).
When sin entered into mankind the human spirit died. When we are born-again, our spirit is made new in that we are given a spirit (see above) that does not have a sin-nature therefore cannot sin and is incorruptible. (*I will address this topic shortly).
Something must be done to control the sin-nature and the Lord has provided us with just what we need. Jesus was crucified upon a literal cross which in reality made Him physically immobile. He tells us, if we choose to follow Him, to be His disciple, then we must determine to take up our cross to follow Him.
Luke 14:26-27, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (K. J. V). Strong words!
God is love! Consequently we are to love (Agape) with the same love as God does. Therefore, hate in v. 26 is a comparison in which our love for Christ is to be so great that by comparison it would seem to be hatred toward others. In v. 27 the use of cannot is not one of prohibition, but of inability.
The bearing of one’s cross is a sign of obedience and one necessary if a Christian is to go onto maturity. To not take up the cross makes one incapable of following Christ. Jesus had a cross and we have a cross.
The Apostle Paul had this in mind when we read from 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (K. J. V.), “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined to not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (Writer’s emphasis). It would seem that Paul was looking for believers who had taken up their cross to follow Jesus.
Now our cross is not a literal cross, but one that should have the same effect upon us: immobility of the flesh or sin-nature. At this point both the will and our new spirit come into play, for we must make decisions–daily.
John tells us a very important truth:
*1 John 3:4-6 (N. I. V.), “Every one who sins breaks the law (the Law of God); in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he (Jesus) appeared so that he (Jesus) might take away our sins. And in him (Jesus) is no sin. (Meaning Jesus did not have a sin-nature). No one who lives in him (Jesus) keeps on sinning. (Sinning means a life-style of living in sinful activities). No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”
*Verse 9 gives us a tremendous truth: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” This seed John refers to is similar to the one by which Jesus was conceived within Mary. It is imperishable and incorruptible. One significant difference is that we are not born-again as deity; we are not a god in any sense of that word, yet we do have resident within us the divine nature* of Christ represented by the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul gives us tremendous insight regarding our body, or sin-nature, because he uses the term members in describing parts of our body. In reading Romans 6:11-13a (N. I. V.), we see how Paul contrasts the decisions we must make regarding the use of the parts of our body. To understand this in context we need to read the preceding verses 8–10:
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” Having read this we can now go onto 6:11–13a.
Romans 6:11–13a “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body (members §) so that you obey its evil desires (the will determines this). Do not offer the parts, or members, of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness …”
Paul contrasts this offering of the parts our body by saying 13b, “…but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
Quite straight forward; when we lend our members to a sinful activity (or thought: mind)—lawlessness—unrighteousness—we not only quench the Holy Spirit, we have stepped out of the light of God we are supposed to walk/live in.
This contrast is easily seen in 1 John 1:7— “But if we walk in the light, as he (Jesus) is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” “Tough decision to make; right?” Either we determine we are going to live/walk in the light of Christ or not. If not, then the Holy Spirit is quenched and we come under God’s conviction, as this doesn’t please Him at all.
When we speak of the cross we must use the term very carefully. It is an instrument of death. For Jesus Christ it was a literal death. For truly born-again believers it becomes a battle. The battle is between the sin-nature (body members) and the spirit. Remember, the soul is the mind, will, and emotions. All three bear upon the decisions we make daily.
Then, of course, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who, as Jesus told us, will guide us into all truth. John 16:13 (N. I. V.), “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.”
What, then, can be likened to the Signs of Obedience? By any definition, a sign is observable. An example of a Sign of Obedience would be consistent Bible study. This is true according to 2 Timothy 2:15 (K. J. V.), “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Non-Christians lack the ability observe many Signs of Obedience, but believers are able to, not only understand these signs, but to emulate them in their own lives. An example would be: cleanliness and modest attire are two very important signs, both to believers and unbelievers.
We read: 2 Corinthians 3:6, 4:1-2 (N. I. V.), “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
The Apostle Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. Therefore, how do we want the world to view Christ when they look at us? Are the members of our body displayed for righteousness sake, or do they follow after the standards of the word?
One path a believer should seriously consider following is found in 2 Peter 1:3–11 (N. I. V.).
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Well, one sure path of obedience has been laid out quite clearly. Follow–on to 2 Timothy 2:15 regarding Christians obtaining God’s approval addresses more than rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This, of course, is of primary importance, but there are other areas in which Christians determine whether or not they obtain God’s approval.
Reading in Luke 16:1–13 we learn that Jesus addresses an unprofitable servant when it was learned that the servant mismanaged what was entrusted to him. He then compounds his dishonesty by defrauding the rich man of what was rightly owed to him.
Contacting three merchants he got them to agree to rewrite the bill of lading, thus reducing it to a much smaller amount. This, of course, ingratiated him to the merchants, and, surprisingly, the rich man commended the servant for his astuteness.
We read from v. 8: “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. He then contrasts the obedient servant–one who walks in light–with one that walks in the darkness of disobedience. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
Jesus continues the lesson with some startling truths. Beginning with v 10: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” What areas of our life can be excluded from this principle? (Writer’s emphasis).
Let’s look at the remaining verses, 11–13, for Jesus touches us at a most important place in our lives; money.
“So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Writer’s emphasis).
There is a need to put these principles of property and money into some sort of context to better understand what Jesus is saying. First, Jesus is not saying that it is wrong or a sin to own property or to have wealth.
We are stewards of all that we have for it has come from the hand of the Lord, and He expects us to use it wisely. For instance, He knows that we need money. So He provides us with it, but He will use it as a test at times. We need money for life’s essentials which would include saving some: no problem there. We need money for some non-essentials: no problem there. But, we also need money to give unto the Lord.
Giving and love go together as the scriptures tell us. Luke 6:38 tells us to, “… give and it will be given unto us …” Matthew 10:8 reminds us that as we have freely received we are to freely give. Yet, there is more to the principle of giving than just money. God gave sacrificially according to John 3:16. We need to think about this.
We find there is a doctrine of giving in 2 Corinthians 8–9. Instead of quoting both these chapters I will quote the Doctrine of Giving by Dr. C. I. Scofield, D. D. A concise summary along with these two chapters will enable us to better understand how God looks at giving.
“In 2 Co. 8–9, the apostle epitomizes the Christian doctrine of giving. It may be thus summarized:
(1) It is a “grace,” that is, a disposition created by the Spirit (8:7).
(2) In contrast with the law (Torah), which imposed giving as a divine requirement, Christian giving is voluntary, and a test of sincerity and love (8:8-12; 9:1-2, 5, 7).
(3) The privilege is universal belonging, according to ability, to rich and poor (8:1-3, 12-15). Compare 1 Co. 16:1-2).
(4) Giving is to be proportioned to income (8:12-14); compare 1 Co. 16:2). The O. T. proportion was the tithe, a proportion which pre–dates the law (Torah) (Ge. 14:20), as well as numerous stated offerings.
And
(5) the rewards of Christian giving are
(a) joy (8:20).
(b) increased ability to give in proportion to that which has been already given (9:7-11).
(c) increased thankfulness to God (9:12); and
(d) God and the Gospel glorified (9:13-14). See 1 Co. 16:2 note. ±
§The members of our body are:
Mind.
Ears.
Eyes.
Mouth/tongue.
Heart.
Hands.
Digestive System.
Reproductive System.
Feet.
* Participating in the divine nature is our willingness to use the members of our body for righteousness sake and not for evil desires. This becomes a daily undertaking.
± 1 Co. 16:2–“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”
16:2 set aside a sum of money. The essential features of Christian giving are stated here:
(1) the time of the giving;
(2) the regularity of the giving;
(3) the participants in giving;
(4) the basis of the giving; and
(5) the manner of the giving.
This brief study is a springboard to further research into the Word of God for there is much to be learned if we are to demonstrate Signs of Obedience.
Well, that’s the way I see it. I hope this information is beneficial to all who read it. Remember: be Bereans for they were considered, by Paul, to be nobler.
The Signs of Obedience: Part A.
The Sacredness of the Sanctuary: Part A1
A1: 1. What is our attitude when we enter to worship.
A1: 2. How will we exit to serve?
The Holiness of His Presence: Part A2
The Quietness of His Presence: Part A 3
The Sanctity of His Presence: Part A4
The Joy of His Presence: Part A5
The Revelation of His Presence: Part A6
The Deliverance of His Presence: Part A7
The Wholesomeness of His Presence: Part A8
The Table of His Presence: Part A9
A9:1. What will we do with His Cross?
A9:2 What will we do with His Broken Body?
A9:3. What does His shed Blood do for us?
Additional Signs of Obedience: Part B.
How do we walk with Jesus in the Spirit?: Part B1
The Cost of Walking with Jesus in the Spirit: Part B2
Sharing in the Suffering of Christ: Part B3
The Fellowship of His Presence: Part B4
Standing Before His Presence: Part B5
The Watchfulness for His Coming: Part B6
The Presence of His Mercy: Part B7
The Presence of His Love: Part B8
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