GOD DOESN'T WANT YOU TO OBEY

God doesn't want you to obey Him!  Well, ... actually, He does.  But many live as if He doesn't expect it.  And actually, He expects even more than just obedience!

1 Samuel 16  "To obey is better than sacrifice."  Many feel if they are good on Sunday and worship God, God owes me, and I can live like I want to live the rest of the week.  Wrong!  God does want obedience--that is expected and better than a magical view of God (which is the view that "God owes me."

Matthew 28:18-20  "Make disciples ... teach them to obey all things I commanded you."  It seems from this that God expected disciples who obey Him and people making disciples that would obey Him, and that is true.

Jeremiah 31:31 ff.  “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.   It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors  when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,  because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.  “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.  "I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, '  (NIV, biblegateway.com)

"New covenant"--went beyond what they could do.  By the way, "new covenant" could also be translated "new testament."   People broke covenant with God because they could not obey.  It was not within their ability to obey--that is one problem of humans.  But God would provide a new covenant that would come from the heart. 

Ezekiel  36:25-28 (NIV, biblegateway.com)

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.    I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.    And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.    Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God."

"Heart of flesh rather than heart of stone."  God would give them a heart that would obey out of love for Him, and a heart of compassion rather than a heart that is stone-hard toward God, unwilling to listen and obey Him and do His will.

Matthew 5:17-21

 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.    For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.    Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (NIV, biblegateway.com)

 "Fulfil rather than abolish."  Provide forgiveness for sin, motivation to do what is right (to obey), to live differently.  Jesus wanted followers to live by the essence, the purpose, the motivation behind the law, not just by the law itself.  He came to fulfill the Scriptures.

"Greater than Pharisees and scribes"--more than exernal obedience; it was to be internal obedience--out of a changed heart--out of love for God and others (essence instead of just the letter of Ten Commandments).

God wants you to obey Him from a changed heart--a heart that only He can give--a heart of flesh (heart of obedience, of compassion out of love) not stone (hardened heart, disobedient heart, unbelieving heart toward God).

Sunday worship without weekly obedience is a magical view of God--presuming on God--assuming what I do does not affect my relationship with a Holy God.  God does not "OWE" you or me anything.

Weekly obedience from just mere obedience without love for God and respect for God is partial obedience to God--not what God wants.  He wants obedience for the right reasons--a heart of love and a heart turned toward Him and His purposes.

Obedience to God is a lifelong quest--lifelong pursuit--to obey God out of love instead of manipulation of God or just fear. We are constantly in "process" as we seek after Him and seek to obey Him.

God doesn't just want you to obey Him.  He wants you to obey Him because He loves you and you love Him back.  Loving Him shows a real change of heart, and that leads to obedience--the kind of obedience that God wants, that pleases and honors Him, and the obedience that shows a changed heart (heart of love, of compassion, a heart with God's Spirit living within).

Yes, God wants you to obey Him, for the right reasons and with the right attitude of love for Him.  That is what is meant about Jesus "fulfilling" the law.  He came to give an atttitude of obedience out of the right motives.  It went beyond mere obedience to external laws.  It came from within.  That is much harder than just law-keeping.  That is truly from God.

Do you?