Syncing Obedience with Grace

Jesus is the Gospel. He is our salvation. We receive all the benefits of who He is as we trust in Him and cast aside (repent of) all rival objects of trust. We then enjoy union and communion with Jesus as our Lord and God. Our lives are united to Him, and we share in His life, participating with Him in what He does.

The Bible relates and integrates grace and obedience as fundamental to Christian faith and life. For example, in Romans 1:5 and 16:26 the apostle Paul says that bringing about this integration was the goal of his ministry.

Most recognize the validity of both grace and obedience, but, at the same time, experience a “seesaw theology” where the connection between law (works) and grace (faith) remains vague if not altogether absent. The challenge is avoiding either lawlessness (antinomianism) or works-righteousness (legalism).

Jesus is both Savior and Commander [Lord]. Jesus saves us by grace and also commands things of us. Our obedience to His commands does not earn us salvation, so why is obedience important? Is it because we fear He will punish us? This is the obedience of a slave.

God’s grace is the foundation of a Christian worldview. Every command of God is tied to some aspect of His character:

We forgive because we have been and will be forgiven.

We love because we are first loved by God.

We love our enemies because God first loved us and also loves (wants his best) for his and our enemies.

We can be generous because God is generous with us.

We can be truthful and honest because God is truthful and honest and will bring out the truth in the end.

We can be creative and helpful because God is creative and helpful to us.

We comfort others in their grief because God comforts us in our grief.

We can be patient because God is patient with us.

We can be peacemakers because God is a peacemaker.

We can pursue justice and right relationships at every level because God is just and righteous.

We can be reconcilers because God is a reconciler.

All our doing by faith is participating in what God is doing through Christ and in the Spirit. That means everything we do is fellowship and communion with Christ. We never act alone—because we are never alone but are united to Christ as his brothers and sisters and members of the family of God.

Connected to every command in Scripture is some kind of reference to who God is. His commands to us (the imperatives) arise out of His own character, heart, nature, and purpose, including everything He has done for us in Jesus Christ. God’s will for us always is informed and controlled by His nature and character as the Triune God who came to us in Jesus Christ so that we might have fellowship and communion with Him in holy love.

Guidelines for witnesses to keep grace and obedience together in Jesus:

Never call for an act of obedience without first showing how that call to action corresponds to something we can trust God for.

Always look for the provision of grace that are the foundation for the commands in every biblical passage.

Always indicate the character of the gracious, saving, redeeming Commander.

Never present God as merely a commander with a strong will disconnected from his heart, mind, character, and purpose, which we see in Jesus Christ.

Always begin by answering the foundational question, Who are you, Lord? Doing so makes our preaching and teaching truly Trinitarian and Incarnational.

Never simply preach to a person’s will or power of choice. Behind every act of will and choice is a desire, a hope, a love, a fear, a trust, or distrust.

Preach to persons’ hearts, their affections, their yearnings concerning the character, purpose and heart of God and their desire for communion with Him.

Preach what God can be trusted for. He can be counted on to keep His promises. Feed people’s faith, hope, and love for God. Obedience will flow out of that.

Do not preach: “If you…then God.” Doing so tempts people into legal obedience and works-righteousness. Instead, preach: “Since God in Christ by the Spirit…then you ____.” For example, say, “As we confess our sins, we experience the forgiveness that God has already given us in Christ.”

Present obedience as “going to work with God”—as an act of fellowship with God that involves us in what the Spirit of God is doing.

Preach obedience as a “get to,” not a “have to.” Preach obedience as the privilege of a child of God, not the grit-your-teeth duty of the slave of a God.

Do not seek to motivate others on the basis of trying to close a supposed “credibility gap” between the “reality” of this fallen world and an ideal that we suppose God hopes for. Preach the reality of who God is and what He does (and has done), and the calling we have to participate with God in it. We have no power to change that reality, but only to choose whether we will participate.

Preach and teach the grace of God as a finished work—a reality that we can count on even if it is hidden for now. Do not teach it as a potential that God has made possible if we do x, y, or z—God is not dependent on our actions. Rather, He invites our participation in what He has done, is doing and will do.

Preach like Jesus: “The kingdom of God has come near, so repent and believe in that good news.” Preach like Peter: “Since God has made Jesus Lord and Savior, therefore repent and believe.” The desired action is presented as a response to who God is and what he has done.

Never preach as if God cannot be more faithful than we are—as if God is limited by what we do or don’t do. Paul says, “If we are faithless, He [God] remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). We may miss out on being involved, but God will still accomplish His good purposes. God does not need us, but He delights in having His children involved in what He is doing. He created us for fellowship with Him.

Do not grant reality-making power to human actions, as if what we do makes “all the difference.” Our actions are signs pointing to the coming kingdom of God. We are mere witnesses, and our sign-acts are partial, imperfect, temporary and only provisional. But by God’s grace, the Spirit uses these meager things to point people to Christ so that they may put their entire trust in Him.

Realize that you will have to trust in the unconditional grace of God to bring about the obedience of faith—in order to preach and teach this way and not succumb to the temptation to revert back to making it sound like God’s grace depends on our response (and thus conditional upon our action).

Know that you, like Paul, cannot control people’s response to the truth. You will be accused by some, as Paul was, of encouraging sin (antinomianism)! But Paul did not change his message of grace under the pressure of such accusations. We must not change our message to a conditioned grace, as happened in Galatia. Making that switch would be a denial of the Gospel of God in Jesus Christ. [1]

I googled for articles about syncing obedience and grace and found article above after I read the following verses from Deuteronomy 4:

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.” [2]

“Take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.” [3]

“You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” [4]

We do want keep God's commandments (by His grace and the power of His Holy Spirit) out of love for Him and out of love for our children and grandchildren.

[1] Edited and Abbreviated from an article by Gary Deddo entitled, “Grace and Obedience.” Attached please find the link to the full article: learn.gcs.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=4243
[2] Deuteronomy 4:2-4
[3] Deuteronomy 4:9
[4] Deuteronomy 4:40