A Sunday School Lesson On Obedience

Here is what the Bible says about obedience and what we can learn from it in a Sunday school lesson or Bible study lesson.

Obedience is…

Samuel the Prophet asked King Saul the rhetorical question, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1st Sam 15:22)? Samuel’s point is that we can live a life of sacrifice and giving to others who are in need, but if there is no personal obedience to God in our lives, what good is it? All the good we can do in a lifetime is nothing without obedience to God. To God, obedience is better than any kind of sacrifice there is. We are commanded to love one another and to live a life of sacrifice by loving God first but also loving our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). It’s easy to love ourselves but if we don’t love God, we naturally won’t love our neighbor, but if we love God, we should feel compelled to love our neighbor. It is the fruit of our abiding in Christ (John 15:5) that we obey Jesus by loving others as He commanded us (John 15: 12) and there isn’t any greater love than someone laying down their life for another (John 15:13), even an enemy (Rom 5:10! The point is, if we say we love God but not our neighbor, we are deceiving ourselves and not practicing righteousness (1st John 3) by living in obedience to God.

Why is obedience more important than giving sacrificially?

What makes obedience better than giving?

Why is God so concerned with obedience?

Were we enemies of God (Rom 5:10)?

Purifying by Obedience

First Peter 1:22-23 “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”

The Apostle Peter says so much in these two verses because he is attributing our souls being purified by our obedience. This isn’t saying we’re saved by works, which we know we’re not (Eph 2:8-9), rather our obedience to the truth is to believe the gospel (John 3:36a). When Jesus returns, He won’t be concerned with what we did but whether we believed in Him or not which asks, did we obey the truth of the gospel of repentance and belief (Mark 1:15) for “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire [He will be] inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2nd Thess 1:7-8). The point is we are purified by obeying the gospel (believing in Christ, 2nd Cor 5:21) which was the very first thing Jesus commanded at the beginning His earthly ministry; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). This is how the Apostle Paul expressed it as he preached publically to the Greeks and said God “commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed” (Acts 17:33b-31a).

Is believing in Jesus enough to be saved?

How does obedience to the truth purify our souls?

Is refusing to believe in Jesus, disobedience (John 3:36b)?

What did Jesus mean “The time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:15)?

Commanded Obedience

Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Obedience is commanded for children and just as Paul quotes from the Old Testament (Ex 20:12) there is an effect that stems from obedience to this command. It appears “that you may live long in the land” or on the earth because this is the first commandment with a promise; that of a long life. Paul never qualifies obeying parents but of course if parents ask a child to break God’s commandments, only then must they disobey since “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). The fifth commandment is the first given to human relationships (horizontal) as the first four are toward God (vertical) so the first order of importance is that children must honor their parents and they honor their parents by obeying them (Eph 6:1-3). The gospel itself demands obedience, just as Paul wrote in Romans 5:18, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed.” There is also a commanded external obedience given to Christians for how they must live in society and that is to “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” Rom 12:1-2). Only when it conflicts with God’s higher law can we disobey man’s laws (Acts 5:29).

What was “the first commandment with a promise?”

How does obedience to parents extend the life of children?

Can belief and disobedience coexist?

Does breaking the law mean disobeying God?

Conclusion

The Apostle John wrote; “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1st John 3:10). Obedience is love in action (“by word and deed;” Rom 5:18) and so this means loving God first and seeking Him above all things (Matt 6:33) but it also means loving our neighbor as ourselves. To God, sacrifice without obedience is vain and empty. It’s totally useless to God and to you. The state of living in disobedience is proof that someone’s not a child of God (1st John 3). Obedience means you have repented and believed in Christ as Savior. You have put your total trust in Him. Then, after having made a public profession of faith, you should follow that with baptism (Acts 16:30-34).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.