To obey…

“To obey is better than sacrifice”

God here is stating that it’s in obeying we gain relationship and not in the value of what is given. Man had come to the point where what was given in sacrifices was of significant value in temporal terms and his eyes were focused on what he was giving and God reminded Him to obey; the motive for giving exceeds material value and is His value. This lesson still applies today.
What can we give God to impress Him, anyway?
Men had and have come to deal with God on every level of their thinking and personal values but God is not interested in our values or what we give, only in that we give in obedience; only that we understand it is in His motive, of why we do anything.
And the bottom line to that motive is that we obey.

Why should we obey?

Man had and has lost sight of the motive of the law which came from a covenant that God offered.
God did not offer a bad contract nor did He not reveal His motive. It was very much part of His covenant… God loves us. Man had and continues to have self love as a higher agenda then the love of God.

Selfishness is in opposition to the love of God.

The trust that was and is established between God and man begins and ends in faith. And this very root cause that brings us into action is of itself the work of the love of God.

“I love you with an everlasting love”
These are the words used by God just before the captivity of His people.
They failed to obey His warnings and their disobedience caused their uprooting.

In Christ we do not have a better covenant; we have the best that God could offer!
He gives us… Himself!
For, far too many of us… Jesus is still not enough.
There is a want of what He can do for us more then the desire for Him.
To obey in seen in Jesus… empty of ambition, empty of pride, empty of human selfishness, He is led by the Holy Spirit and obeys. He humbles Himself before man and God and out of love gives of Himself in perfect obedience… even giving His life.
He is the perfect sacrifice for His humble obedience. With perfect love as His motive He obeys unto death.

To obey…
begins with our need of God, Our absolute need of Him.
We cannot and will not receive the love of God in our selfish pride. Humility begins in need. Even seeing the need of others and giving to there need helps us realize our own need and humbles us.

To obey…
is not in we have to, but that we desire to…
What motive is pleasing to God?
Faith! And faith works by love.
To act in faith in serving others selflessly and sacrificially is to act in the love of God.

To obey…
is an act of love!
As is, submission an act of love, as is prayer an act of love, as is fasting, as is giving… for it is better to give…
How do we give? How much do we give? What do we give?
To obey... is to give.
We give to God… when we give to our brother.
We submit to God… when we submit to our brother.

We don’t pray for God… He has no need… We pray for our brother… the laborer.
We pray to hear and obey… that is why we pray for our brother. That is why we submit to our brother. That is why we give to our brother. We follow Jesus… who gave His all.

To obey is…
to know your neighbor and to serve his need…

To obey is…
to act in the will of God… by faith… with love…

To obey…
Is to hear and to act in behalf of Jesus…

Baptism is a step of obedience; it acknowledges we choose to follow Jesus publicly.
It humbles us… it is an act of faith that declares we have died to self for we know the love of God. We enter perfect obedience in Jesus by this act of declaration for we now know the motive to obey and join the family of obedient, called ones.
When we are called we have two choices; to follow or not; to obey the voice of God or to selfishly ignore Him. 
Baptism is an act of faith which declares “We shall now live by faith” we have died and we now live for Jesus.
Baptism is the obedient giving of self, having joined Jesus in His ultimate sacrifice.
Fully knowing He has died for us, we in faith by His grace give ourselves to die for Him, by dying for each other as He did.

We die to live. We obey for the motive is alive in us. We surrender our mind and body in baptism; washed of the sin of separation; we are joined by faith to live in Christ to obey Him. Baptism as revealed to the world means Love has found us and we willing obey Him who called us.
Baptism is an act of obedience, an act of faith, an act of love.
Baptism puts us on public notice to the world we have died to self and now live for Jesus!

To obey…
The call of God from the old covenant to the new is to obey. The motive was obscured in the law by mans selfish values which led to constant disobedience. God dealt with man by chastising him. In Jesus, God chastises us but with full knowledge of His method to restrain us in love. The law did not satisfy mans need to Have relationship to God. Although it was given in love it was to present man with opportunity to begin relationship by faith through obedience. This has not changed.

When Jesus is confronted by the rich young ruler the manner in which he speaks reveals his intent. He tithes more then is asked of him, he declares; thus putting the weight of his value on what he gives even more then on what is asked. To obey is better then the value he has placed on his giving. This is why he cannot obey the call of Jesus to give it away and follow. He speaks of obedience but values mammon more then to obey. He will not follow Jesus for his love of money.  

To obey...
is to be like Jesus!

What is our failure to obey?

Do we need God?
Then we need to obey above all else.
It all starts with His command to...
                                                   " Love one another as I have loved you!"

Jesus Christ’s Community at Hebron

 www.jesuschrists.com