Simple Obedience: Part 3
We are thinking about the concept of Simple obedience, the idea that the Word of God summarizes God's obedience requirements for His people in 3 commands that we know as the Great Commandments and the Great Commission.
Let me quickly say here that I am not saying that these 3 commands are taught in scripture as the method of personal salvation. We are saved, not by our obedience to any commands....these or any others, but rather by receiving by true faith the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ our Lord, based on His perfect obedience and His perfect sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
So it is by Faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the Cross, and in full assurance that God has raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10) that we are saved. Our works or for that matter and by extension our obedience to these or any other commandments are not able to save us, because in our fallen state we are unable to keep these commands perfectly and so salvation can only come to us by grace and through faith! (See Paul's discussion of this in Galatians 3, especially verse 10 that means that if we do not keep the law Perfectly in every single way, we are judged to be sinners!)
I point this out in order to make it clear that neither church planting movement principles nor any concept of Obedience Based Discipleship or the concept of "Simple Obedience" that I am discussing is meant to challenge the simple facts of Salvation by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, accomplished by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone! In fact if it did, or if any of these teachings did, they would be in error!
No, but rather Obedience Based Discipleship and the understanding of "Simple Obedience" affirms this truth of the Gospel that only through Christ are we saved, and continues on to realize that it is not a contradiction to Ephesians 2:8-9 to continue on to verse 10!
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
In other words, while we are saved apart from our obedience, we are not saved without reference to our obedience. Indeed, the good works which we will now do in obedience to God's word (summed up in "Simple Obedience", the Great Commandments and Great Commission) constitute God's purpose for our lives and His will for us as His children who He has saved by His grace.
And it should be pointed out that the methodology of Obedience Based Discipleship (teaching pre-Christians to obey God's word as the authority in their lives and leading them step by step to Discover God's requirements and God's answer in Christ through a study of God's word) leads people to see themselves as sinners and respond to Scripture's call to follow Christ as Lord and then begin a life of obedience to Him and His word. Not to mention it is a method that much more closely approximates the discipling methods used by Jesus Himself in the Gospels.
This excursion in this blog is to simply address for those of us who have been saved and discipled in much more traditional strategies the question of whether there has been some doctrinal shift and the answer is that there has not. In fact I would contend that the "Works" vs. "Faith" debate is one that is primarily held among those who in practice use what I call Knowledge Based Discipleship. I will never forget a meeting with some leaders involved in CPM work in Africa where a former Muslim, now Christian leader was asked about the relationship between "Obedience Based Discipleship" and salvation by Grace. Was there a contradiction here?
The African leader was silent for a moment and it soon became apparent that he did not really understand the question! The point is that the idea that our salvation could be by our own works was so foreign to this man, that the question did not even make sense to him. So here was a former Muslim, now follower of Jesus, implementing CPM and Obedience Based Discipleship, but for whom the idea that we thereby earn our salvation was preposterous!
Next time, back to Simple Obedience and its practical implications!
Let me quickly say here that I am not saying that these 3 commands are taught in scripture as the method of personal salvation. We are saved, not by our obedience to any commands....these or any others, but rather by receiving by true faith the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ our Lord, based on His perfect obedience and His perfect sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
So it is by Faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the Cross, and in full assurance that God has raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10) that we are saved. Our works or for that matter and by extension our obedience to these or any other commandments are not able to save us, because in our fallen state we are unable to keep these commands perfectly and so salvation can only come to us by grace and through faith! (See Paul's discussion of this in Galatians 3, especially verse 10 that means that if we do not keep the law Perfectly in every single way, we are judged to be sinners!)
I point this out in order to make it clear that neither church planting movement principles nor any concept of Obedience Based Discipleship or the concept of "Simple Obedience" that I am discussing is meant to challenge the simple facts of Salvation by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, accomplished by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone! In fact if it did, or if any of these teachings did, they would be in error!
No, but rather Obedience Based Discipleship and the understanding of "Simple Obedience" affirms this truth of the Gospel that only through Christ are we saved, and continues on to realize that it is not a contradiction to Ephesians 2:8-9 to continue on to verse 10!
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
In other words, while we are saved apart from our obedience, we are not saved without reference to our obedience. Indeed, the good works which we will now do in obedience to God's word (summed up in "Simple Obedience", the Great Commandments and Great Commission) constitute God's purpose for our lives and His will for us as His children who He has saved by His grace.
And it should be pointed out that the methodology of Obedience Based Discipleship (teaching pre-Christians to obey God's word as the authority in their lives and leading them step by step to Discover God's requirements and God's answer in Christ through a study of God's word) leads people to see themselves as sinners and respond to Scripture's call to follow Christ as Lord and then begin a life of obedience to Him and His word. Not to mention it is a method that much more closely approximates the discipling methods used by Jesus Himself in the Gospels.
This excursion in this blog is to simply address for those of us who have been saved and discipled in much more traditional strategies the question of whether there has been some doctrinal shift and the answer is that there has not. In fact I would contend that the "Works" vs. "Faith" debate is one that is primarily held among those who in practice use what I call Knowledge Based Discipleship. I will never forget a meeting with some leaders involved in CPM work in Africa where a former Muslim, now Christian leader was asked about the relationship between "Obedience Based Discipleship" and salvation by Grace. Was there a contradiction here?
The African leader was silent for a moment and it soon became apparent that he did not really understand the question! The point is that the idea that our salvation could be by our own works was so foreign to this man, that the question did not even make sense to him. So here was a former Muslim, now follower of Jesus, implementing CPM and Obedience Based Discipleship, but for whom the idea that we thereby earn our salvation was preposterous!
Next time, back to Simple Obedience and its practical implications!
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