What Obedience Includes
When we preach to men and women that they must obey the Lord, we are not attempting to rob them of the freedom of choice. We freely admit that everybody ought to have the privilege of deciding for himself whether or not he will obey. No one can be forced to obey the gospel of Christ, for in its very nature obedience involves voluntary action. If I am forced to perform a particular action, I am not practicing obedience in the Bible sense of the term. The Lord accepts only willing service.
While all of the above is true, it is only fair that if one should decide not to obey the Lord, he ought to know what the consequences of his choice will be. In our preaching we warn the people that there is eternal punishment awaiting the disobedient, (2 Thess. 1:8,9.) On the other hand, those who wish to obey the gospel need to be taught what obedience includes.
First of all, obedience includes a proper motive. It may be possible to go through the motions of obeying the Lord with impure motives, but it will not be acceptable to him. If I perform an action just because I like to do it, I am obeying my own will and not the Lord's, even though the action may have been commanded by him. In order for our obedience to be accepted, we must have as our design to please God, and to secure a blessing from him through compliance with his will.
Secondly, obedience includes a proper understanding. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32.) In order to be made free from sin it is necessary first to know the truth, thus to understand what is necessary for our salvation. It is to be feared that many souls have been baptized without any notion of the importance of their actions. Too many times young people, and even older folks, "come forward" without any real idea of the relationship they are entering or the responsibilities involved in the step. Perhaps they are under pressure from parents, or from husband or wife. Maybe they have heard the preacher say over and over that one must be baptized. It is the responsibility of the gospel preacher to do more than just list the steps in the plan of salvation. He has the obligation of teaching his hearers the import and meaning of what the Lord requires. Only then can they obey with a proper understanding.
In the third place, obedience includes the proper action. It never ceases to amaze me to observe so many people who think they are obeying God by doing as they please! In our modern world we are offered a choice of which church we shall "join," what experience we shall confess, and what "mode" we shall use in being baptized. Evidently very few people stop to think about whether or not God is to have a choice. "It doesn't matter" has become the pass word to religious anarchy. And yet, we do not so reason in anything save the field of religion. If the boss at work tells his secretary to write as he dictates, that is what she writes. When the carpenter is handed a blueprint he knows that he must follow it in order to pass inspection. Then when the Lord says to believe on Christ (Acts 16:31), to repent (Acts 17:30), to confess Jesus (Rom. 10:9,10), and to be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), how can we obey hint without doing exactly these things ? What right do we have to say "Believe only?" or "Just pray through?" Or can we substitute sprinkling for baptism?
Fourth, obedience includes the proper order. The Bible teaches Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and Remission of sins — in that order. Some would change it to Repentance, Faith, Remission of sins, and then Baptism. The first constitutes the plan of salvation, the latter does not. Every housewife knows that some recipes require that the ingredients be mixed in a certain order. To obey God means to do what he says, in the order in which he says do it, for the right purpose, and with the right understanding.