As my thirteen-year-old son, Owen, and I were studying scripture together, he asked a question that I could tell even he was not prepared for. We were discussing the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:1-17 and I asked him why it was important for us to still obey these commands. He started to answer and then stopped. With an honestly confused look on his face, he asked me: “Why do we obey? I mean, God will still love us even if we mess up so why do we worry about doing what is right?” As the idea rattled around his mind, he broadened it a bit. “Why do I have to obey you and Dad? You love me even when I mess up or even if I’m bad so why do I do what you tell me to do?” I smiled as I watched him struggle with the question every born-again Christian must answer for themselves. We are forgiven. We are saved from eternal damnation by the grace of God and not our actions so… do our actions really matter?
The writer of Hebrews addressed this dilemma in Hebrews 10:26: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” Surely deliberately sinning is seen here as an act of treason and rebellion against the very God who sent His Son to die to save us. In essence: continuing in sin after salvation (deliberately) can be seen as spitting on Jesus’ sacrifice.
The Apostle Paul also addressed this issue in his letter to the Galatians. Galatians 5:13 says: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Though we are free from condemnation (Romans 8:1), obedience must be our goal.
My son may not know all of the scripture that speak about obedience to God yet, but he does know the simple and honest truth: God loves us, and he loves God. In the end, I watched as he struggled with his question only to answer it himself. As realization dawned on him, he smiled. “I guess I obey you and Dad because I love you and I’m grateful for everything you do for me and give me. It’s the same way with God. I should obey Him because I love Him and I want Him to know that I appreciate everything He gives me.”
There you have it: the simple answer to the age-old question of whether our faith requires obedience to the Law. We follow God’s law – not because we need to in order to be saved but – because we love the God who gave them to us. These are the things that God cares about. This is who He wants us to be. I don’t know about you, but I can think of no better way to show my appreciation for everything God has done than by loving Him by obediently following His commands.
Caring one another
We hear a lot about unity in the church. This, I feel, will become more and more important as Satan tries to divide and conquer God’s church during the last days. The Bible contains many verses which seek to encourage us to be a unified church, but how often do we get to see this play out on the stage of our real lives? I was blessed to see this in my home church in such a beautiful way that I felt I needed to share the experience with all of you.
One of the men of our church prepared to share a special song with all of us during the service. Unfortunately, there were some technical issues that fought against him. He had the accompanying music on his cell phone which was connected to the church’s sound system… at least it was before church started. When he tried to play the music, the equipment decided it couldn’t talk to each other. At one point, the music played momentarily, and he was able to sing a few lines only to have the connection be lost. As the frustration began to show on his expression, something magical and beautiful happened. It started somewhere in the back of the sanctuary, first an individual voice began to hum the tune then more and more joined in. In the end, the music may not have played but the song was sung with the beautiful accompaniment of many voices.
As I sat and listened, I could not help but smile. This was unity in action. When one of us stumbles or faces difficulties the rest of us carry them through. We need one another. Most importantly, we care for and about one another. That is unity. In fact, according to the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:2, when we carry one other’s burdens, “you fulfill the law of Christ”. None of us can navigate life alone, nor were we designed to have to. Let us carry one another and allow ourselves to be carried. This is love. This is care. This is unity in action.