Obedience of Faith
God is able to make you strong, just as the Good News says. It is the message about Jesus Christ and His plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they might believe and obey Christ. (Romans 16:25-26 NLT)
Hello Saints,
I have been reading through the book of Romans, studying for a sermon series through the greatest letter ever written. Romans is a letter to a church Paul did not plant, and that he never visited. He desired desperately to visit this congregation to impart to them the full message of ‘salvation by faith in Christ alone, not by works of the Law’ – this was the Gospel he died preaching. In reading through the letter, I noticed the same wording at the beginning and end of the letter, like bookends that framed the whole epistle. In my translation, it is the phrase “obedience of faith”, which the NLT translates “believe and obey”. This phrase appears at the beginning of the first chapter, and the end of the last chapter…coincidence; I don’t think so. “Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey Him, bringing glory to His name. (Rom. 1:5 NLT). What could Paul be meaning by framing his most important letter with these words? In an age of ‘easy believing’ in which we live, “just pray this prayer and you’ll be saved”, and with a false message of “Jesus died to give you the desires of your heart”, we might just have lost the real message of the Gospel, which Paul will expound in his letter to the Romans. In case you forgot, the opening chapters reveal a people on planet earth where every single person is guilty of sinning against a holy God, are under God’s wrath, and are therefore condemned to experience God’s judgment (Rom. 2:5). The Good News, or Gospel is that: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Jesus takes the wrath in the sinner’s place, and the guilty sinner is justified or declared no longer guilty and has peace with God: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Faith is trusting Jesus’ finished work on the cross for salvation, realizing we can add nothing of our own works to save ourselves, but wholly trust in Christ alone – His shed blood provides the remission (cancellation, removal) of our guilt for sins. Once we are forgiven, we continue to “live by faith in Christ”. Now that is the faith part! The ‘obedience’ part is ‘repentance’ – going in a whole new direction – turning from a life of sin to a life of obeying Jesus. A person who has put their faith in Christ for forgiveness of sins, cannot choose to continue living in sin. That’s as preposterous as a criminal delivered from a death sentence for a heinous crime, going back to a lifestyle of crime. Once freed, live as free not a criminal! “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!” The work of Christ does not free us to live our own life of self-indulgence but frees us to live our life for our Savior. We are freed to obey! Of course, we in our humble human state are unable to conjure up the faith to believe in Christ, let alone obey Him. It is all grace – that special enabling that comes from God Himself, the power of Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:5-10). We, after receiving our pardon for offenses against a Holy God, cannot go on living to please our own self, but to please the One who set us free. A true believer is indwelt by Holy Spirit who reminds us of the teachings of Jesus, so that we can obey Him. A true follower of Jesus is not led by the flesh, but by the Spirit of the living God (Rom. 8:1-13).
Do you remember Jesus’ words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew: “Go make disciples…teaching them to obey all that I have commanded” (Matt. 28:18-20). We make disciples by preaching the Gospel of salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Jesus alone and teaching the new followers of Jesus how to obey Him. There’s no other way…just trust and obey! “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and don’t do what I say” (Luke 6:46). If a person is not willing to obey, they don’t have saving faith, because true faith in the LORD, results in obedience…because He is LORD! What does that exactly mean? As Paul says in Romans 1:5, a person who ‘believes and obeys’ lives for the glory of the name of Christ – for His name’s sake. As Peter says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Pet. 2:9). We live to reflect our new life in Christ, bringing no dishonor to His name. We live to fulfill His will, exemplifying His character, accomplishing His purposes on planet Earth, which is to make Him and His plan of salvation known. We ourselves are living epistles declaring the Good News of salvation in Christ. Let’s continue to declare the truth of the Gospel, calling people to faith in and obedience to the one true Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ. Friends, the world is ripe for harvest! It desperately needs laborers who will go and proclaim the truth of a loving Savior who came to take away the sins of the world, who commands faith and obedience. “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
Live Loud! Preach the truth!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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