Obey the Word Week 5
Sermon notes from Minister David Walker at Linked UP Church. Connect 40, Week 5: The blessing is in the doing. Obedience unlocks the blessing of God's Word.
Obey the Word Week 5
Minister David Walker
Linked UP Church
Connect 40: 40 Days in the Word
The blessing is in the doing
Big idea: Obedience unlocks the blessing of God's Word.
2 And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God:
Obedience is a heart posture
Moses was speaking to the second generation of Israelites as they prepared to enter Canaan. The first generation came out of Egypt but failed to enter because of unbelief and disobedience.
Obedience to God's Word is essential to our growth and maturity. It should not feel like a chore. It should flow out of an overflowing love for him.
Obeying God means doing what he says, the way he says it. Compliance says, “I did what you said.” Obedience says, “I did it because I love you and trust you.”
1. Our obedience proves our love for God
Jesus connects loving him with obeying his commandments. He promises to love and reveal himself to those who accept and obey them.
Jesus is our pattern for life
Jesus would never ask us to do something he was unwilling to do. He loved the Father and did what the Father commanded.
We must love Jesus and do what he commands in his Word. Love is the motivation for obedience, not an attempt to get something from God. Our obedience is a response to his love.
When obedience is a struggle
Deepen your understanding of his love
Ask yourself: Do I really understand how much God loves me?
We gain that understanding by getting into his Word. God demonstrated his love by giving his Son.
2 in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
But God
Our lives were headed in one direction, and then the gospel interrupted them.
Because of God's love and mercy, he gave us life with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. We did not earn his grace or work for it. He gave it freely.
God loves you. You did not earn that love.
36 As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God loves me, and I can trust him
When you struggle to obey, return to the Word and remind yourself how much God loves you.
Meditate on Jesus, the sinless Son of God, taking your sin to the cross. Recognizing his love helps you trust what he says.
Our love for him begins with his love for us.
Keep his commandments before your eyes
You cannot obey what you do not know. If you do not get into the Word, you will not know the Word.
Keep it before your eyes and in your heart through reading, studying, meditation, and prayer.
21 Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
Make room for the Word
Minister Walker compared the spirit to a hard drive, the Word to software, and the Holy Spirit to the mouse that brings the Word back up. The Word must first be placed within us.
We make time for movies and shows. When was the last time we set aside extended time for reading, prayer, worship, and study?
Everything is competing for our attention. Prioritize time with God. The more time we spend with him, the more real he becomes to us.
Resist the belief that obedience is impossible
God would not require us to do something we were unable to fulfill.
His commandments are not burdensome. Minister Walker explained the Greek word barus as severe, heavy in weight, violent, cruel, or grievous. God's commandments are not oppressive, impossible, or unreasonable.
His Word gives life and freedom
God's Word is not designed to restrict your life. It is designed to give you the life he intended for you.
As you get into the Word, it directs you and shows you the adjustments you need to make. Jesus invites us to come to him, walk with him, and learn from him.
Minister Walker also encouraged participation in Connect to Freedom, a small group for growing in your relationship with Christ and your identity in him.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Three responses when obedience is difficult
- Deepen your understanding of God's love for you.
- Keep his Word before your eyes. Prioritize it, even when that means setting aside other things you enjoy.
- Resist the mindset that you cannot do what God has instructed you to do.
2. Knowledge without obedience produces deception
Hearing the Word is not the same as doing it. Listening without obeying is like looking in a mirror, walking away, and forgetting what you look like.
We need our own faith and our own relationship with Jesus. Our parents' faith, our upbringing, and our church attendance cannot replace personally reading, studying, and applying the Word.
22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
23 For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,
24 and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Guard against spiritual pride
Just because we know a lot does not mean we do a lot. We cannot dismiss a message by saying, “I already know that.” We need a fresh hearing.
Minister Walker observed that time in the Word makes him aware of how much he still has to learn. Distance from the Word can make him feel as though he already knows everything.
The freedom God wants us to experience is found in the doing, not just the knowing.
Drink the water
Minister Walker told an illustration about a dehydrated bishop who repeatedly declared that drinking water would save his life. The others applauded his words, but he never drank the water and died.
You can know it, but if you do not do it, it does not work.
Knowing about exercise does not make you healthier. Knowing a recipe does not feed you. Likewise, knowing we should forgive, love, give, pray, or watch our words is not the same as doing it.
We must put the Word we already know into practice.
Interested or committed?
The issue is not only what we do not know. It is what we will not do.
- Interested: Motivated by feelings, acts when convenient, and makes excuses when things get difficult.
- Committed: Motivated by a decision, makes a plan, acts on it, and continues despite circumstances.
Ask yourself: Am I interested in the Word, or committed to obeying it?
Practice obedience: Worry and anxiety
Instead of choosing worry, choose prayer. Tell God what you need and thank him for what he has done.
Minister Walker described the connection between obedience and blessing: we obey by praying rather than worrying, and we experience God's peace.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Practice obedience: Your enemies
Instead of fighting with your enemies, love them and pray for those who persecute you.
In doing so, you reflect your Father to a dark and dying world.
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Practice obedience: Relinquish control
Trust God rather than leaning on your own understanding. His direction is the blessing, but we must obey by surrendering control.
Minister Walker illustrated this by saying to give God the keys to your life. Do not keep trying to take the wheel. Let him take you where he wants you to go.
6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
3. God blesses action, not intention
A woman in the crowd praised the mother of Jesus. Jesus used that moment to teach that an even greater blessing belongs to those who hear God's Word and put it into practice.
Good intentions must become action.
28 But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Put the Word into practice
Ask yourself: What is God instructing me to do in his Word that I have not done?
Before asking for a new instruction, return to the last instruction you have not followed.
- Identify an area of your life to focus on.
- Find Scriptures that support that area.
- Memorize and meditate on them until they move from your head to your heart.
- Act on the Scripture. Do what it says.
- Choose a new topic and repeat the process.
Over time, you will be able to look back and recognize growth.
A personal example: Learning to govern the tongue
Minister Walker shared that he once used his words to cut people down. In college, he deliberately said something judgmental and hurtful to a friend. Afterward, he was deeply grieved by what he had said.
When he asked the Lord about his problem, he understood that he needed to renew his mind concerning God's love.
As he grew in love, he became less reactive to what others said about him. His encouragement: if this is your struggle, get into the Word and grow.
This week's challenge
Love God and obey what he says. Minister Walker emphasized that obedience positions us to experience the fullness of God's blessings.
- Identify one Scripture to obey immediately.
- Serve someone intentionally using God's Word.
- Repent and realign wherever you recognize disobedience.
A prayer of obedience
Lord, thank you for your Word. Help me to obey it and put it into practice in my life.
I admit that at times I have been satisfied with knowing but not doing. I ask you, in Jesus' name, to empower me by your Holy Spirit to obey your Word quickly when I hear it.
I will not hesitate. I will not resist. I am committed to serving you. In Jesus' name.
An invitation to respond
Minister Walker closed with three invitations:
- Accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
- Return to Christ if you have accepted him but are no longer walking with him.
- Commit to a church home and connect with Linked UP Church.
The invitation was to take a step of obedience in response to God's love.
A prayer to receive Christ
God, I thank you for sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. I thank you that he was raised from the dead for me.
Right now, Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you for dying on the cross and being raised for me. I declare now that Jesus is Lord.
Practice
Pastor Joel Gregory summarized his takeaway from the message in one word: practice.
