Listen and Obey

TENSION NEEDING REDEMPTION:

In our journey with Jesus, we can either fall into an understanding of obedience rooted in legalism or license, neither is rooted in a love response to a good Father.

CENTRAL TRUTH EXPRESSED (MAIN POINT):

Out of a secure attachment to God we are invited to listen and obey

GOD'S HEART REVEALED:

That we would know we are safe secure and loved

OUR RIGHT RESPONSE:

Trust his thoughts over our own

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

During this Revive Us Series the teaching team has sought to listen to the Spirit each week as we rest at the feet of Jesus, seeking to listen and experience intimacy with Him.

One of the themes that has emerged is this concept that our journey with Jesus is a Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

It is countercultural and feels borderline unnatural to a world that prizes speed, personal choice, and fluid direction.

Tonight we are honing in on the concept of obedience, what it means and why it matters.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about my father in law and I excavating a tree from my backyard.

It was a lot of work, thankful for a father in law who likes to tackle large tasks.

To cut down the tree we didn’t trim the branches, rake the leaves and call it a day. Our goal was to remove the entire root structure deep underneath. So nothing less would do.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, when we think of a life of flourishing we so easily focus our energy on the branches, while Jesus has in mind that real life flourishes when he deals with the roots underneath.

There are two different methods that are used in our human attempts to cut branches In our attempt to flourish on our own terms.

We utilize either the tools of license or legalism.

License - the belief that I can do whatever I want, either God wouldn’t ask me to do anything I don’t want to do, he wouldn’t desire for me to change my thoughts unless I want to, or maybe he does and I just don’t care

Legalism - the belief that if I just work hard enough, keep all the right rules, do all the right things, then I will be impressive to God and likely others as well.

I so easily pinball between the two depending on the circumstance.

God wouldn’t ask me to surrender my wants or dreams.

If I just try harder I can vanquish my struggles.

Here is the problem… I am attacking branches.

God has been revealing both of these tendencies to me in my own heart recently and it has been both terrifying and freeing as I have been coming to him in confession.

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

As I was doing this though He began to show me that these two tendencies are not just isolated to me, but penetrate deep into the hearts of our community.

Don’t worry there is no public shaming coming, this is not about that.

But instead tonight, my hope is that each of us would be open to asking God the question… where is this you?

Where are there spaces in your heart that you keep sealed off from God? Dreams and desires? Addictions? Beliefs? Unforgiveness? Bitterness?

On the other side, where are there spaces in your heart that you have been holding yourself or others up to rules of your own making? One’s inspired by God’s word but missing the heart of love behind his word?

God’s desire is that we would stop trying to go after branches and allow Him to do root work as we listen to His voice of power and affection.

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

So let’s dig in.

Read Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

This is an ancient prayer given to the people of Israel, it was memorized and recited daily… it is called the Shema.

I wanted to show you a quick video from The Bible Project about this prayer.

(Video)

Listen and Obey two sides of the same coin.

Why should we listen and obey the voice of God?

The reality is we don’t listen and obey God because we humans have trust issues with God…

From the beginning in the Garden, the serpent tells the woman…

Read Genesis 3:5

Genesis 3:5 ESV

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

From the beginning we get this image that perhaps God isn’t fully trustworthy.

The reason we see here for why God isn’t trustworthy is that he has bad intentions toward his people.

He is trying to hold out on humanity.

The other reason we can doubt God’s trustworthiness is that maybe he doesn’t know what he is doing, he is unwise.

You see this in the story of Abraham and Sarah being approached by the angel of the LORD and prophecied over that they will conceive a child in their old age… look at the reason for Sarah’s lack of trust.

Read Genesis 18:10-14

Genesis 18:10–14 ESV

The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

It’s not that she doesn’t think it would be a bad idea, she just doesn’t think it’s a possible one. So even though God said it would happen she didn’t trust his wisdom.

These are the same two realities for in any relationship that we can lack trust right?

With Asher and Abi, I am well aware that I will make imperfect decisions on their behalf, but my desire is that I would never make choices on their behalf or that affect them that are not rooted in a desire for their good and flourishing.

But still, because I am not always wise and will make bad choices, there is a reality where their trust in me might be shaken as they grow up.

And this is the same in any relationship right?

Maybe you had parents or a loved one who you legitimately had reason to doubt that their motivations were rooted in your good and not just their own.

But on the flip side, we also have the reality that in a secure trusting relationship there is a love born out of trusting the motivations of the other and the wisdom by which they will make decisions that affect you.

Here is the deal… no human on earth is perfectly trustworthy. Even the best person you know at times has broken motivations and incomplete wisdom.

God isn’t like us.

While we do actively doubt that his desires are good and his wisdom for our lives.

He is the only being in the cosmos who has proven himself to be consistently desiring good and fully wise in his purposes.

I realize that is not something I can convince you of, that is something you have to journey through with Him for yourself, but this is vital that we understand if we are to stop focusing on branches and allow him to get to the root.

If we don’t have a loving attachment with God rooted in trust then all we are left with is branch solutions.

Trying to fix ourselves, listening to the wisdom of our deceptive hearts and broken culture, looking to other humans for the connection only God can satisfy, attempting to work harder to impress God and others.

But God’s desire is that we would grow this secure, trusting, and loving attachment with Him.

In fact, this is the heart of the Gospel….

That God so LOVED the world that he gave his only son.

God displayed he is trustworthy but not holding back his own son to rescue and redeem us.

God displayed true love by not bludgeoning us over the head but going to the furthest extent to go after us and adopt us into his forever family so that we could rest in his embrace!

Remember last week when we talked about Jesus’ baptism?

What did the voice of the Father tell Jesus?

You are my BELOVED Son.

You are uniquely loved. You are secure and safe.

Jesus was fully known, safe, and secure even in the darkest moments of the cross.

This is the relationship that Jesus purchased with his body for you and I.

If God has pursued your heart, which I believe by virtue of you being here tonight that is exactly what he desires to do, then he wants you for his family!

He wants you to experience a secure, trusting, loving attachment with him!

Ali and I both had to do a decent amount of learning before adopting Asher on the importance of attachment, and have recently begun to do the hard work of learning and growing in a healthier attachment relationship with one another based on what is called attachment theory.

There are some excellent resources on the theory…

There are four attachment styles… secure (trustful in love), anxious (insecure and sensitive), disorganized (insecure and inconsistent), or avoidant (insecure and detached).

We have one of those four with each person in our lives and they have a style of attachment in return.

We also have the same with God.

Which attachment style do you believe you have with God?

Secure? Anxious? Disorganized? Or Avoidant?

Guess which one God desires for you to live in.

There is a correct answer.

It is only from a secure attachment with God that the word Shema makes any sense.

Listen and Obey.

What kind of attachment do you believe God has with you? Depending on your answer it will change the way you hear Jesus in this passage…

Read John 14:15

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Let’s read that from the four attachment styles…

Anxious… I don’t trust that you love me… so keep my commands so that I feel better about our relationship.

Fearful… SHOW ME YOU LOVE ME… so keep my commands so that you prove yourself to me.

Avoidant…. He likely wouldn’t have said anything at all.

Secure… My love for you is secure, I am not going anywhere, but you will know that you have a secure love with me as you listen and obey my commands and desires for you, even when it is difficult.

Which one sounds most like Jesus' intent?

There is a correct answer.

Jesus verifies that as he keeps talking…

Read John 14:16-18

John 14:16–18 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

God’s desire is that we would be secure in his love and live as loved. He wants you to know by the power of the Holy Spirit that he isn’t going anywhere. He is with you.

His desire is that you would live in that love. Form a secure attachment with Him, and if you are living in that love then you will listen and obey His voice.

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

It is only out of this secure attachment that we can pray like this…

Read Psalm 139:23-24

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

This is a prayer from a place of security.

When we live in license we live in a space of not listening and disobedience… as we say well that is just the way I am. Or this is who I believe I am. Or but these are my dreams and desires. Or this is what I want for my life, there is no way God would not agree. At the heart level what is happening is we are avoiding God not drawing near to listen. But God wants for us a heart of secure, trusting, love where we truly believe that Jesus is better and what he says you will follow and trust even if it's not your choice. Believing his ways are better than our ways. His thoughts are better than our thoughts.

When we live in legalism we live in a space of not listening and disobedience… as we say well I have to work harder. I have to prove myself. I have to do more.

Ultimately, when we are living out of legalism we do so out fear, anxiety, and disorganization… is God going to reject me, will I be poorly thought of, will I be able to live with myself? But God wants for us a heart posture of secure, trusting love where we believe that Jesus is better than surface level obedience but desires to go to the root if we will let him to give his own life each and every day.

Either option is just cutting at branches. Going at life on our own terms.

But do you remember when you first came to follow Jesus?

You laid everything at his feet. Or so you thought? The long obedience is the consistent process of finding new things to lay down at his feet. To surrender to his control. New root structures that you need to invite his work into.

The discovery of new ways of obedience to Jesus is not a bad thing! It’s a marvelous thing! The bad thing would be to go too long without discovering new spaces of obedience… because unless you are perfect, the Spirit of God is not done with you, and if you aren’t hearing anything then the odds are more likely you just aren’t listening.

Be formed, and continually reformed by His voice.

The beauty of the Shema prayer is that it was meant to be a formative prayer… helping the people of Israel remember who they are and whose they are.

When you are reminded of who the God is you love, you will know how to listen and obey.

5 | What would the world see if the church embraced this resolution?

We are going to now transition into a time of engaging together in spritHal rhythm through guided prayer, this is meant to be a prayer that would form you to listen and obey the one who loves you more than you could fathom.

As the Shema was a vital formative prayer for the nation of Israel, Jesus gave His followers a formative prayer to remind them of who they are and whose they are. We know it as the Lord’s Prayer.

Maybe you grew up in a faith tradition were it was prayed regularly you just didn’t know why.

The reason was supposed to be one not of religious ritual but out of a heart posture of being transformed, renewed, and guided by the loving Father who we are called to listen and obey.

Read Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The first line gives us a beautiful renewing picture of who our God is… he is first and foremost our father.

Whether you had a secure and loving relationship with your earthly father or not, know that God has come to bring us to safety and from that safety we hear his voice.

He is safe, secure, and loving. In fact His name is hallowed. Set apart. Holy. Nobody and nothing is like our Father.

Jesus gave us this prayer to help transform our thinking about God and our deep dependence on Him. We cannot bring His Kingdom about from Him, we need him for daily bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance.

This prayer is not meant to be a religious ritual but a blueprint of the heart of God and how we can draw near to Him each and every day for the security and care that we desperately need.

This prayer is a beautiful anchor to the one who calls us to listen and obey.

So tonight we thought it would be helpful to pray through this prayer as a spiritual rhythm of guided prayer.