Obedience or Lip Service?
- Thread starter Bob Estey
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Lifelong_sinner
Well-Known Member
:
Hi Bob, if we settle for "lip service" we would be no different from the hypocritical Pharisees. God's not mocked...
ChristisGod
Well-Known Member
I will let Jesus and the Apostles answer the question.
Jesus teaching
Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Luke 6:46
Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I say?
Luke 11:28
Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it
John 8:31
If you hold to My teaching you are truly My disciples
John 15:14
You are My friends if you do what I command you
John 13:17
If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
John 14:15
If you love Me you will keep My commandments
John the disciple whom Jesus loved teaching:
1 John 2
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 2
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 2
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
1 John 3
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 4
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith
Paul's teaching:
Shall we continue in sin that grace might abound ? May it NEVER be !
Galatians 5
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Colossians 3
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Ephesians 2
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Titus 2:11-15
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; 13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. 15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one despise you.
Peters Teaching
1 Peter 1
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 4
As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.
2 Peter 1:3-11
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 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. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But I am hearing people say it's impossible to obey the Lord all the time.
Lifelong_sinner
Well-Known Member
ChristisGod
Well-Known Member
Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
All things are possible. So does obedience fall under all things ?
And Romans 6:1- shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? May it never be!
Personally, I think perfection is achievable, with God's help.
Well, you have a point there...the way I see it is that we are "growing" into perfection. We are NOT perfect...yet :) If we continue abiding in Him, we will grow more and more. I know that the sin I used to live in has definitely diminished greatly. I now struggle with studying to show myself approved (never had good study habits) and finding it very hard lately to pray fervently although, I do pray all day long as I do things around the house.
My prayer for you bro, is that you will grow in leaps and bounds!!!
Sing and play on brother, making beautiful music to our Lord!
ChristisGod
Well-Known Member
@Bob Estey I think you must already know the answer to that. I don't believe you don't and wonder why you asked the question.
I might ask: What is your definition of "perfect"? And I might ask: Is perfection achievable in this lifetime, with God's help?
But let me answer my own questions: I would say "perfection" is obeying the Lord's commandments - nothing more than that. And, with God's help, though I am not there yet, I think we can achieve this in this lifetime.
I think I know the answer, but I keep running into people who claim it's impossible to always obey the Lord's commandments.
A good article that can put the words much better than I.
What does Jesus mean when he says 'Be perfect...'?
It is impossible to be 100% sinless at all times but that doesn't mean that we are still sinners which is our human nature before we are born again. Once we are born again - which is to washed in the blood of Jesus - God then sees us as his own; just like a bereaved ewe will accept an orphaned lamb as her own if it is cover by the bloody skin of her own dead lamb. When we are covered by the blood of the Lamb we seen by God as righteous.
Desire Of All Nations
Well-Known Member
It's not true at all because Jesus did it. And don't bother with the "Jesus was God, so He was able to magically avoid sin" argument. The scriptures show Him saying in Matt. 19:16 that there was nothing inherently good about Him.
But Jesus didn't have the 'old nature' in him as we do because he was born without sin. The rest of us are born sinners, with sinful natures which we can't change and only through being 'covered' by the blood of the Lamb can we appear sinless to God. It isn't possible for those of us born as sinner to live a sinless existence. Even our thoughts can be sinful - rage and pride and hatred - but When we are 'in Christ' God see us as he sees his Son.
Bob, have you sold all and given the money to the poor to follow after Christ? Have you fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and taken in strangers that are homeless? If not then you have not obeyed the Lord.
You're posts seem to be surrounding the 10 commandments and obeying that. Those 10 commandments were even obeyed by the Pharisees. This is the reason for the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee. Some people proclaim the gospel from a self righteous level (Luke 18:9-14). Non are good nor righteous.
I would encourage you to try to obey the higher laws of God. (Matthew 25:35-40).
