Obedience


Matt 21:1-14 (NIV)
1    As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2    saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3    If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
4    This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5    "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
6    The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7    They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8    A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9    The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
10    When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
11    The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
12    Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13    "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"
14    The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

Last year as I read this passage, I heard “worship” and its important role in our lives . . . THIS YEAR I hear OBEDIENCE . . .

Jesus KNEW what He was riding into shortly . . . His sacrifice, His passion, the cross, bearing the sins of the world, but He rode into Jerusalem anyway! He knew it was God’s will for Him and He knew it would fulfill prophecy.


Heb 5:8-10 (NIV)
8    Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered(Greek = experienced or suffered)
9    and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
10    and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Its not enough to be obedient – God doesn’t want robots, He wants sons and daughters who have a relationship with Him and listen to Him and WILLINGLY do the things that God says (don’t worry, God is ALWAYS right and just, so what He asks of you is ALWAYS right and just).

OBEDIENCE with RELATIONSHIP

Luke 22:39-45 (NIV)
39    Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.
40    On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
41    He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,
42    "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
43    An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
44    And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45    When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.


Isa 1:19-20 (KJV)
19    If ye be WILLING AND OBEDIENT, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20    But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

If you are OBEDIENT, but not WILLING, where is your RELATIONSHIP to GOD ??? If you are WILLING and OBEDIENT, then you are expressing you TRUST in GOD .. you are showing that you KNOW Him . . . that you TRUST Him . . .

Follow me in this verse as well and you will begin to see the message that God through the Holy Spirit is teaching the church today . . .

1 Sam 15:22-23a (KJV)
22    And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23    For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry . . .

To OBEY is BETTER than SACRIFICE . . . let me take you to ANOTHER scripture that will help guide you thinking this morning . . .

Matt 23:23-24 (NIV)
23    "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24    You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.


Remember how Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees, “You strain at a gnat and yet you SWALLOW a CAMEL.” WHAT GOD WANTS IS AN OBEDIENCE WITH A RELATIONSHIP. Sometimes you sacrifice everything just to obey the smallest law. That is being a hypocrite in God’s eyes. What, you can’t go to the man who uses the Lord’s Name in vain and preach the GOSPEL to him. Are you so full of PRIDE that your “little ole ears” can’t take a little abuse while you show him the way of salvation?? WHO IS THE ONE USING THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN NOW ??

Not convinced?? Look at what JESUS said . . .

Matt 12:1-8 (NKJ)
1    At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2    And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"
3    But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
4    "how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5    "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
6    "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.
7    "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8    "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."


Obedience is BETTER than sacrifice


I Jn 5:3 (KJV)
3    For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1Jn 5:3 (CEV) We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.



John 15:12-27
12    This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13    Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14    Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15    Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.