The Forgotten Fundamental

Sometimes the most simple, basic fundamentals of a life in Christ are the easiest to forget.  Yet God, according to His unchanging, faithful character, does not forget anything.  He fully knows what He has said, and He remembers perfectly what we have said.  It is not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night with perfect clarity.  Perhaps I have just experienced a vivid dream, or perhaps I remember something that I need to do.  Yet with the dawn of the day clouds drift through my memory and I find myself in a thick fog, unable to remember one detail of my thoughts which seemed at the time so clear and unforgettable.  God does not share my forgetfulness.

Being a Christian is much more than words affirming the reality of our faith.  Following Christ is more than a desire to remain in God's will.  So much of our struggles and troubles come not from temptations or trials, but through our lack of obedience.  We all know we ought to obey.  In the last century we have seen a departure from the emphasis on obedience to God and His Word in churches.  There are many factors which have contributed to this neglect.  Perhaps this is due to emphasis on God's grace, desiring to cast aside the scourge of legalism.  Maybe it is to avoid the appearance of "rules and regulations" of a Puritanical era.  It could be that we believe obedience is frankly unnecessary because Jesus has forgiven our sins and has imputed to us His righteousness.  Or even more sinister:  perhaps we feel that since perfect obedience is impossible, we might as well not strive to that end.  Why confront ourselves with our own pathetic attempts to obey?

I find great comfort in this promise found in 1 John 5:14-15:  "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."  What marvelous assurance this is, that if we pray according to God's will He hears us, and we know with certainty we have the petitions we have asked.  But like all scripture, you cannot take these verses by themselves.  There is a critical aspect we must address before we can claim this promise.  Two chapters previous to this wonderful promise, we read in 1 John 3:21-23:  "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²² And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."  So we see that we receive whatever we ask of God when we ask according to His will AND because we keep Christ's commands and do what is pleasing in His sight.  His command is that we believe on Him and love one another as He has loved us.

Though Christians are no longer under the requirements and justice of the Law, through being born again we have agreed to submit under the law of liberty.  We have been freed from sin and death to the end that we might glorify God with our words and deeds.  We are empowered to love God and one another as Christ loves us because of the indwelling Holy Spirit who has taken up residence within us, as we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Whatever He says we must do, otherwise we cannot claim to follow Christ.  Romans 6:12-17 says, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered."

Let us not only put off the old man but be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness.  Jesus always does what pleases the Father, and if we are in Him we must choose to abide in Him.  It is God who works in us both to will and do of His good pleasure.  We must present ourselves unto God as living sacrifices because that is our reasonable service.  It is good to pray according to the will of God, but it is just as important to live in obedience to the will of God.  To obey is better than a sacrifice of prayer.