Upward Series: Obedience

Intro - Just as there is specific outcome to God knowing you or not there is a specific outcome to obedience. I want to be clear from the outset that your salvation is not based on works…however, there needs to be a clear examination on what your foundation is for behavior...

Wise Builder

Wisdom is seen in obedient activity

Prior to this Jesus makes the clear statement that although there was much activity that was being performed by people who professed to know the Father…they themselves were not known by the Father.

This is one of the sections of Scripture that always terrified me.

What if I’m doing all of these things and believing that I’m saved when in fact I am not.

Imagine the anxiety and the fear that many of you may have or experience. After all there are many wonderous works that people have achieved.

I have watched over the past several weeks how people who believe nothing about God’s Word have fought for justice, for righteousness, and for equality....all great things

I have watched as people who have no regard for Jesus perform all manner of humanitarian works and believe that in doing so that they are in fact righteous...

That somehow because they have fought for a right cause that they themselves are intrinsically good or noble. Especially when contrasted with some believers it may seem that way.

So where does this leave the atheist and where does this leave the believer?

This section that we’re going over helps to resolve that anxiety and tension.

I recall a video I watched were Hall of Fame boxing trainer Teddy Atlas was describing Mike Tyson. He had trained Tyson for a number of years and had since falling out with him. However, he said Tyson was not a good fighter and definitely not one of the greatest. He went on to explain his reasoning. His reasoning was that while no doubt Iron Mike was a devastating hitting and multiple world champion…any time that Mike faced adversity, true adversity, he wilted. That almost everyone that he beat he had already won via intimidation. Yet when he faced someone like Buster Douglas or Evander Holyfield…who weren’t scared of him and actually gave him a fight he crumbled. Therefore a fighter…a true fighter…is only seen during adversity.

While I may not completely agree with Atlas’ assessment I do like his logic.

There comes a time when all of the activity and pagentry are pulled back. When all of your outreaches, protests, sermons, charitable giving, etc. is wiped away and a simple question is asked.

What did you do it for?

That’s the real question…you have indeed erected a mighty house but based…on....what?

You’ve loved your family, went to work, been faithful to your spouse or friends…but so what.

What was it based on???

The wise man is the one who has developed his life, built a structure, and has done so on the foundation of God’s Word and obedience to it.

Imagine the effort it takes to build on stone....to chisel and grind your way through it and to anchor it.

Yet the wise person knows…that in doing so it is worth the effort because the foundation is sure.

It is sure but there is another thing that makes this person wise…they know that a storm is going to come eventually.

They prepare for it, they anticipate it. They are less concerned with the magnificence of the structure than they are with the strength of its base.

So when they heard the Word of God, they sought to drink deep from its well and they KNEW that this was the thing that they wanted to root themselves in.

They knew that there would come a time when something would come that would try to move them…that it would be violent!

They knew the storm would try to drown them out, that it would be overwhelming, and that their only hope of surviving was to be rooted in something great!!!

What are you rooted in today?

There are a lot of philosophies out there right now. They are loud, persistent, and they drown you out. Do you believe God’s Word is firm foundation???

The wise man hears the Word and knows it is the place to make his dwelling. What they do springs forth from a response to that foundation.

See salvation isn’t displayed through simple activity…it’s displayed through activity rooted in God’s Word.

What source do you pull from for your activity? Can you see, that from Jesus’s own life, He was moved only through a foundation of the Word. His entire motivation came from fulfilling God’s Word.

I remember listening to a story about how grandma used to fry chicken. See some of us today don’t season the chicken…we only season the skin. The meat doesn’t have any flavor. We put some spices on the outside, fry it up and in less than an hour have a meal. But grandma used to let it sit in the spices, marinade it overnight, soaking up all the flavors, then fry it.

There is a reality that when you do the longer, harder, work of being rooted on God’s Word and it has seasoned you that no matter where someone interacts with you they get a taste of Him!

No matter what comes against you, you stand firm because you’ve already done the tough work, the wise work, of rooting yourself. So now your actions inevitably move in accordance with the Word of Jesus.

And when the storm comes…you will not fall.

TR: However such is not always the case…there is a fool and his base...

Foolish Base

A fool’s base is subtly different but the impact is devastating.

I want to make sure that we draw a parallel to the preceeding verses first.

The fool mentioned here as building his house on sand is the same fool who has heard the Word of God and yet has not obeyed it.

There is a reality with a lot of people that although they have been seated under the Word of God for a number of years, they refuse to respond to it.

The foundation of their activity is rooted in a trust in something else.

This is seen with people who “have a form of godliness” but I would argue is also seen amongst some actual believers. Let me explain...

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a apt metaphor for us. It was erected with a weak foundation and on unstable soil. Thus after the second floor was built it began to lean. After it began to lean construction was halted which allowed time for the soil to solidify. As construction later continued people went to the nearby mountains to gather marble to solidfy it. Construction was even adjusted on the upper levels to make one side of the level higher than the other in an effort to get it to lean back the other way, so the Tower of Pisa actually curves. However, still it wasn’t safe until after around the 1920s the foundation was injected with cement to make it more solid.

Now what does that mean to us? Just like believers we have sought to build our lives and in many cases have chosen a wrong foundation to do so. We were well intentioned but wrongly located…we were on sand.

We sought to build a life to God but to do so on our own terms.

Then we began to lean and in an effort to fix it we over-compensated to the other side.

This is usually seen with works, evangelism, study, seminary, blog posts, etc. yet our foundation is still faulty. We only do those things because we are being obedient to someone else’s word.

Although the activity looks the same…the foundation is faulty and will remain so until it is corrected to be on something solid.

Obedience…is the hallmark of the believer in many ways. Although it does not determine salvation it should be the natural outflow of it.

That obedience and rootedness in God’s Word however is only exposed in the midst of the storm!

Notice up until the storm came both of these people’s houses looked great…they lived comfortably in them, decorated them, etc.

Possibly even the man who built it on the sand would be better looking house because after all he put in less work on the foundation…he just wanted the house!!!

I’m often reminded about my own life that God has no less had to drill into stone to make the man you see before you today.

Let me be vulnerable. Here recently I had a birthday. I don’t think much of them for me but my mom and I have been at odds for some time due to her alcoholism. I love her dearly but we don’t talk much, it’s too hard for me. But on this day I decided to call her because I knew she’d love to wish me a happy b-day. I called and she’s drunk and ranting on about her boyfriend. I waited silently listening to her rant completely missing her opportunity. She eventually quipped happy b-day then continued on her rant.

After I got off the phone I wept…I wish she would get better. That she’d choose me over the alcohol. The storm had come...

The subsequent onslaught of the enemy over the next several moments pointing out all the people that have left me, that I’ve not performed well enough for, have slightly me brought me even more pain....the floods and winds.

LAND IT LOUD

And they beat on my mind beckoning me to quit…to collapse!!!

But then I prayed to my Heavenly Father and reminded myself of His promises…not some cliche mess to make yourself feel better but knowing that He LOVES ME!!!

That the reason why I seek to love people isn’t so they can return it but instead is an outgrowth of His love for me.

That although storms come, flood waters rise, and winds howl and beat against us WE ARE STANDING ON SURE GROUND!!!

We RESPOND AND STAND BECAUSE OUR MOORINGS HOLD FAST....when others have erected MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURES that we may envy…they collapse in devastating fashion because they’re rooted in MAN’S PHILOSOPHIES!!!

YET YOU CHRISTIAN HAVE A FIRM FOUNDATION…OBEY GOD’S WORD…IT WILL HOLD YOU UP DURING THE MOST TREACHOROUS OF TIMES!!!

Probe its depths and partake in the slow yet powerful work of building your life on it’s truths…in through the power of the Spirit, one day, you will be witnesses of it’s resiliency.