Why obey?

Not to us, Lord, not to us
    but to your name be the glory,
    because of your love and faithfulness.

Why do the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
Our God is in heaven;
    he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear,
    noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel,
    feet, but cannot walk,
    nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

Psalm 115:1-8

Sometimes sermons are framed like, “Obey God in this way because it is the best thing for your life and happiness.” But that reasoning starts to feel self-focused and selfish after a while. Other sermons are framed like, “Obey God because God said so and He is worthy.” But that reasoning starts to feel like God is a glory hog who just wants servants and not sons and daughters.

So which is it? Do we obey God because of how it benefits us or simply because God commanded it?

This, of course, is a false dichotomy. If we find ourselves reasoning this way we’ve fallen for a kind of Judo that the enemy likes to do with truth. Judo uses the momentum of an opponent against them to take them to the ground. The enemy likes to use the momentum of a truth as a way to lead us into falsehood. So rather than the reasoning above, allow me to offer a series of truths that may help us to see more clearly.

Truth #1: God is perfectly kind, perfectly gracious, perfectly compassionate, perfectly wise and His love is endless. To be like Him is to be the best possible version of humanity (i.e. Jesus).

Truth #2: We become like whatever we worship. (Read Psalm 115:1-8 above). We not only see this truth in scripture but we see it play out in our society.

By combining Truth #1 with Truth #2 we arrive at an illuminating conclusion: The greatest possible thing God could invite us into is to worship Him with every part of our life and every part of our being. In other words, the invitation to obedience is one of God’s greatest gifts to us and it’s exactly what He deserves as the only One who is worthy.

What brings Him the most glory also happens to be what is the absolute best for us.