Discipleship: Evidence of the Discipleship: Obedience

Obedience to His Word

• John 8:31–32 – To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
  
• John 14:23–24 – “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
  
• Matthew 7:21–27 | Luke 6:46–49 – “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
  • If loving others is a sign to other people that we are Jesus’ disciples then obeying the instructions and teachings of Jesus is how God tests our discipleship and is a sign to him that we love him and truly follow him. Obedience has two effects for believers, it allows us to be set free by the truth and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in them. Jesus’ teachings and instruction are the truth and the truth is freeing in that it allows us to not be slaves to sin any longer. This is what the religious leaders of the day could not understand about Jesus and the law. They were sinning by not following and obeying Jesus and his teachings and instead relying on the law as truth as if Jesus was opposed to it. He was in fact, not opposed to it, however, he spoke truth that they did not obey and so they sinned. If we disobey Jesus, we sin and thus are not set free from the hold sin has on our lives because we refuse to obey. A true disciple loves Jesus and obeys and because of his obedience finds life.
  • This means that, as believers, we have the Holy Spirit—God’s own presence—dwelling within us. The Spirit’s indwelling is both the result of and the reason for our relationship with Christ. Because we love God, we desire to obey Him, and it is through this Spirit-empowered obedience that our love is made complete (John 14:15–17, 23; 1 John 2:5). Jesus taught that those who truly love Him will keep His commands, and in turn, He and the Father will make their home within them. We cannot obey God without his Spirit. Romans 8 discusses this point directly. If we do not have the Spirit then we are living in the realm of the flesh which Paul says cannot live by God’s rules because it is by nature hostile. Therefore to live by God’s law we must have the Spirit which guides us unto obedience. 
  • Obedience, then, is not mere rule-keeping; it is the natural expression of love and the mark of true discipleship. We cannot claim to follow Christ and yet ignore His words. As we walk in obedience, the Spirit strengthens us to persevere through trials, transforming our hearts to reflect Christ more fully (Romans 8:9–11; Philippians 2:13; Galatians 5:16–25).