Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
June 2, 2013 - W1322

Today we are going to talk about what the “key” to God’s delight is. The Bible says,  

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven”  (Matt. 7:21).

The following scriptures that follow this say:  “On that day many will say to me Lord didn’t we prophesize in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do many miracles and mighty works in your name?  Then I will declare to them, I never knew you – depart from me you workers of lawlessness.”

Upon our arrival in Heaven, I’m imagining how aghast we will be to meet people that we didn’t expect to see, and how surprised we will be to not see the people who we thought would be there.

The Bible says that the “key” to His delight is not how much you attend church or quote the Bible.  The key is doing the will of our heavenly Father.  God created us because He wants us to spend eternity with Him. As we learn to obey Him, we are preparing ourselves to spend eternity with Him.  This is the key to His delight.

If we have a tendency to disobey God on earth, then we will probably have that same tendency to disobey Him when we arrive in Heaven.  Therefore, “Discipline yourself for the purposes of godliness.  Bodily discipline profits little, but godliness profits to all things since it holds promise for this life and for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7).

The bottom line for this scripture is, “The end of the matter; all has been heard:  ‘fear God and keep his commandments,’ for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccles. 12:13).

In other words, the whole duty of man is to fear and obey God.  This is the key to God spending eternity with you.

Today, I want you to get a new perspective on obedience.

 Most of the time we think of obedience as drudgery, begrudging, or burdensome; however, God who knows so much more than us, will give us instructions because He loves us.  Therefore, obedience is not burdensome, because we are given the chance to obey Him.

Obedience is also the highest form of worship.

We can sing Christian songs at church, but if we do not obey what God asks of us, then we have not worshipped Him.  The book of Romans talks about God wanting us to have an obedient heart.

Today, many churches are lowering their standards because they believe that God should be more tolerable and more lenient; however, these beliefs fall short of understanding the love of God.  This is why God calls for us to be obedient to Him.  He does this by telling us how to cooperate with His laws or His design for our lives.

1.  OBEDIENCE IS GOD’S DESIGN.

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made…He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:6, 9 NASV).

God created the stars in heaven, the universe, our marriages, and the relationships between people, because He knows how they function together the best.  In the beginning, when God was forming the universe, He commanded light to travel at the speed of 186,000 miles per second.

He commanded the earth to be positioned third from the sun.  He commanded the moon to have a synchronized rotation around the earth.  God created the ozone layer and magnetic earth force to protect the earth and its people from solar radiation.  God also created us to best function in a certain way.  Therefore by cooperating with God, we are obeying Him.  This allows us to understand His design for our lives.

Many years ago, people stopped listening to God.  The cost of this disobedience is great compared to acting in obedience.  There are physical and spiritual consequences experienced from being disobedient.  The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

So God gives us His design for our marriages, and for our lives, because He knows the circumstances under which they will best function.

2.OBEDIENCE COMPLETES OUR FAITH.

A scripture in Romans says “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.”  However, your faith will only be completed by practicing what you hear. Acting upon what you hear, will allow you to receive God’s blessings.

In chapter three of the book of Mathew, Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize Jesus.  However, John the Baptist didn’t think that it was a big deal, and that Jesus should baptize him since He was God’s son.  “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, ‘Then he allowed Him” (Matt. 3:15 NKJ).

This means that by being obedient to God’s requests, the righteousness of God clicks into place allowing God’s plan for mankind to make one step forward.  I have told people that the first step of obedience is worth hearing a thousand sermons.

Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer told us a story about a momma duck who tried to teach her ducklings to fly. Momma told her ducklings that they had all been given wings to fly, and encouraged them to fly and soar above the houses and the bridges.   In response to this, the ducklings started flapping their wings.  However, when momma duck said to go out and practice it, all of the ducklings got scared and waddled back home.  As Christians we hear all of the things that God wants us to do - but we waddle back home.    Therefore, the Bible says to be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers.  God loves to bless His children.  But blessings are going to be released not through hearing, but through doing.

When I was thirty years old, Anna and I were planning to go to Hilo to open a church; however, I only had $1,500 to my name.  The Lord told me to do 1 step at a time.  He told me to buy the airplane tickets which I obediently did, leaving me with hardly any money left to support my family.  After putting the plane tickets on the table, the Lord spoke to me and asked me how much money I needed to live while opening the church.  I told him I don’t know, maybe $40,000.

Well this man named Alan Maxwell invited me to lunch. During lunch, he handed me an envelope and said the lord told me to give this to you last night.  Upon opening the envelope I saw $40,000 worth of stock certificates which Maxwell had given me, and which I cashed in to pay for expenses.  It was like the Lord was saying, “I want to reward and bless you, but I am waiting for your obedience.”

But isn’t faith enough?

FAITH REQUIRES MORE

Believing in God without action puts you at the same level as the devil.  As the Bible says, “You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that” (Jas. 2:19).  Therefore, faith has to have action.  When God speaks to us on obedience, He will not show you the end – He will show you the next step of what to do.  For example, He will show you the next step of what you need to do with your finances, or your marriage.  He will not give you the whole answer to your dilemma, because that would not require you to have the faith in Him to take that next step.  So start small, one step at a time.

Faith is going to require something more from you.  “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance…” (2 Pet. 1:5-7).

THE SECOND HALF OF FAITH IS OBEDIENCE.

“What use is it if someone says he has faith but he has no works?  Can that faith save him?...Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself” (Jas. 2:14, 17).

Chuck Swindoll in his book called Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, shares a story as he asks his audience to imagine working for a company where the president has to spend an extraordinary amount of time abroad.  Therefore, the president requests that his employees manage the business while he is away.  The president sent many letters requesting his workers to read his letters for instructions of what to do addressing concerns in the business.  However, when the president came back, he found his business a mess.  The receptionist was taking a snooze, the books were messed up, and the door was ajar.  This employee behavior is like the church of today.  We may read His letters, but the bottom line is obedience.

Obedience is so important to God that …

3. GOD ALWAYS REWARDS AN OBEDIENT FAITH.

“Whoever despises the Word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandments will be rewarded” (Prov. 13:13).  Therefore, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).

God delights in blessing, rewarding and giving.

What are some of the things that God has asked you to do?  Maybe He wants you to stop complaining, or may be it’s to write a letter of forgiveness to someone.  

God has created your life, and the events of this world.  Therefore He knows your finances, your marriage, and how you function in life.  Therefore you must obey Him if you want to see God’s blessings in your life.

I’d like to finish with an old Navy illustration.  A big battleship was cautiously moving through a coastal area that was shrouded with fog.  When the admiral of the battleship saw a light coming straight at him, he got on the loud speaker, and told the light to alter its course.  However, the voice from the light told the Admiral to alter his course.  The admiral was outraged and yelled back that he was an admiral!  However, the voice replied back that it was a lighthouse! Sometimes we may get belligerent with God.  So alter your course, and change your ways.  When you are a people of obedience, you begin to understand God as the Creator. When you understand this, you got the “Key to His delight”. Therefore, be a people of obedience. 

Let’s be those kinds of people.

Questions:

· Why is obedience the highest form of worship?

· What does it mean that obedience is God’s design?

· What is the cost of disobedience?

· Name something or some things that God has asked you to do.  Have you acted upon them? If not, how do you plan to do so?