Bradford Baptist Church

 It was a great question.

When I arrived at my office on Monday morning I received an email from someone who had attended our service on Sunday morning.  The email had one question;

“I just have a quick question, besides the 10 commandments what exactly does obedience to God mean?”

Great question, and as I think you can tell our theme on Sunday was obedience.  What makes this question great is if we can answer this one how different all our lives would be.  Not only our lives, but our families, communities and our country. 

Couple of things regarding obedience.  One is to know God’s word – the Bible.  In the Psalms we read;

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalms 119:11 (NIV)

Our hearts are the seat of our will and emotions.  What this means is we have made God’s word a very part of who we are.  Scripture tells us to ‘guard our hearts’ (Proverbs 4:23) because everything of life comes out of it.  If we are to know what pleases and displeases God we must be regularly consuming His word. 

After 23 years of marriage I have an idea of what some of my wife’s likes and dislikes are.  If I brought her breakfast in bed I know she would like that.  But if I brought her a fresh fruit cup of nothing but cantaloupe and honey dew melon, the whole breakfast in bed thing would lose its lustre because I know she dislikes those two melons. (If you are a producer of these two, please do not take this personally!)  Knowing my wife’s likes and dislikes makes it much easier to please her.  Knowing God’s likes and dislikes makes it much easier to please Him. 

Next, Jesus was basically asked the same question when He was asked what the greatest commandment was.  His answer;

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)

Simply put, a life that is obedient to God is one that demonstrates love to Him and love to others in everything we do, say or think.

So now you have the answer to the great question.   The issue is not knowing the answer, but living out the answer.

(To listen to the Sunday message click on Audio Sermons, “Why Does This Always Happen To Me?”)

Fill my cup Lord,

I lift it up Lord,

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul…

If you have been around the church as long as I have then you will probably recognize the words to this old chorus, in fact you are humming it right now.  It is unfortunate that I could not attach an audio file so I could sing it for you.  Okay, so it is not all that unfortunate.  But let me ask you, does your cup feel full? 

One of the things I like to do is to cook.  I think I actually do a better job at it than I do singing.  I spent yesterday evening cleaning up the BBQ getting it ready for the season ahead.  Now here is a cooking question for you, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of say flour how much do you think you should use?  Now before you stop reading because you think I’m being loopy, there is a point.  The obvious answer to the question is – 1 cup.  All those who answered correctly, stick your arm straight out, bend at the elbow, bend at the wrist and pat yourself on the back.  If you were to use half a cup instead of the 1 cup that is called for what would you expect?  The results would not be what you were hoping for.  The end product would be somewhat lacking and very few would enjoy it. 

Consider now this verse;

 ”Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38 (NIV)

For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  This has great implications in every area of our lives.  If our cup does not feel full then it could be because of the measure we are using.  Are we putting out half a cup and expecting the results in our lives to be as if we put out a full cup?  Again, if we use half a cup when we should be using a full cup then the results will not be what we were hoping for, the end product will be somewhat lacking and very few will enjoy it.  What are you measuring out?

Another thing we can see here is where it says, “Give, and it will be given to you.”  What do you find yourself in need of right now?  Try to give that away because the principle here is you will get that back and in an even greater measure.  If you are in need of food, try to take some of what you do have and give it away.  If your need is in the area of finances, find a way to give some away.  If your need is relational, try to give into relationships. 

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”  Matthew 10:42 (NIV)

Fill my cup Lord…