Word of Encouragement (10/15/2020)

Today, we want to talk about God’s promise to grant us obedience.

“God has promised in His covenant to make us able to obey Him. Ezekiel 36:27 says, ‘And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules’ [ESV]. Though we cannot obey perfectly in this life because of our residual sin, God has promised to conform us to Christ’s image (Rom. 8:29) and thereby enable us to die more and more to sin and live more and more to righteousness” (p. 129).

This may puzzle some. Isn’t obedience something we must do? Isn’t that why God commands us to obey Him? True, but that is not all. “The law demands what it cannot give; grace gives what it demands.” By grace, God not only commands us to obey but also gives us the ability to obey. The authors mention Rom. 6:12-13 as an example of God’s command to obey: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” But they don’t just stop there: they also point out what the basis of this command is: our union with Christ (Rom. 6:1-11):

“...just as our union with Christ’s death has freed us from sin’s dominion, so our union with Christ’s resurrection has freed us to obey. Therefore, our holiness cannot even be considered outside of Christ, in whom we enjoy it. Holiness, or obedience to God’s imperatives, is not something we enjoy because of Christ, but rather... in and from Christ (Rom. 6:11-12)” (p. 130).

The authors point out the importance of the word, “therefore,” which highlights this dynamic. For example, Paul says, “‘Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12). Why? Because ‘our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin’ (Rom. 6:6)” (p. 130).

I hope you see the significance of the Lord’s Supper in this regard. In it, we receive the bread and the cup, the sacramental signs of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In receiving these signs by faith, we receive Christ’s righteousness—that is, His perfect obedience to the law. What a dramatic picture of God giving us the obedience that He requires of us! Not only is the credit of Christ’s obedience given to us (for our justification); the power of His obedience is also given to us as our nourishment to enable us to live by His obedience. As we are to receive the Lord’s Supper by faith, we are to live out Christ’s obedience by faith! I hope our appreciation for our weekly communion will increase and we will look forward to it every week!

Have a blessed day as you walk by faith in the power of Christ’s perfect obedience to work in us to conform us to the image of Christ for our sanctification!