Partial Obedience Is Disobedience

In one paragraph

Week four of the Full Reward series worked through what it actually means to build with gold, silver, and jewels. Brian drew on 1 Corinthians 3, Revelation 3, and 1 Peter to press on a question most churchgoers skip: if scripture says there is a full reward, what does it mean to settle for a partial one, or none at all? The answer he kept circling back to was obedience, but not obedience as a...

Read together

1. 2 John 1:8 anchor verse for the series, warning not to lose what was worked for and to receive a full reward
2. Romans 3:10 cited as Isaiah, no one is righteous, not one, to show no one can stand before God on their own merit
3. Isaiah 64:6 Paul described as referencing filthy rags when standing before a holy God on self-righteousness
4. Psalm 139:16 before you were born every day of your life was recorded in God's book
5. 1 Corinthians 3:10-14 building on the foundation of Christ with gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw, and the fire of judgment revealing the work
6. Revelation 3:14-18 letter to Laodicea, lukewarm church told they are wretched and naked, advised to buy gold purified by fire
7. Isaiah 55:1 open invitation to come and drink even without money, used to illustrate that the gold Jesus offers cannot be bought with money
8. 1 Peter 1:6-7 trials testing faith as fire tests and purifies gold, faith more precious than mere gold bringing praise and honor when Christ is revealed
9. Song of Solomon 1:4 take me away with you and let us run, used to illustrate intimacy and obedience as two feet of the Christian walk
10. Matthew 6:19-20 store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust cannot reach it
11. Matthew 25:21 faithful in little, entrusted with much, referenced in discussing how calling is revealed through obedience
12. John 10:27 my sheep hear my voice and another voice they will not listen to, prayed in closing

What was said

• Take a few minutes this week to sit quietly with God and ask him specifically what he has called you to do, not what seems impressive or noble, but what he has written in your book.
• Think back over the past week and honestly identify one thing you did that looked good on the outside but came from your own initiative rather than a clear sense of God's direction, then bring that to him in prayer.
• If you are feeling overwhelmed trying to figure out your calling, follow Lanisha's word from this morning and focus on getting closer to God first, trusting that intimacy with him is what makes the path clear.
• Practice one small act of obedience this week that only God sees, something quiet and unglamorous, and let it be your way of trading what you cannot keep for what you cannot lose.
• If you are in Jackson, show up this first Sunday of the month to stand alongside the Jewish community as Tribe fam has been doing for nearly two years, calling for the release of the remaining hostages.

Talk about it

1. Brian said that many Christians have read the phrase 'full reward' without really stopping to think about what it means. When you hear that there can be a partial reward or even no reward, what is your honest reaction to that idea?
2. Watchman Nee is quoted in the sermon saying that dead works are not only sinful things but any works whose source is ourselves rather than God. Can you think of something you have done that looked good on the outside but was driven more by your own agenda than by what God called you to?
3. Amanda brought up the idea that all of this requires trust, and that trust is built over time through consistency. Where are you right now in that process of trusting God, and what has helped you move forward in it?
4. Lanisha connected obedience to intimacy, saying we obey not mindlessly but because we want closeness with God. How does that reframe the way you think about a specific area of obedience you are wrestling with right now?
5. The video Brian played showed a pastor being told he was called to the marketplace, not the mission field, and that the measure was his specific calling rather than what he accomplished. How does the idea that you will be judged according to what you were called to do, not just what you did, change the way you are thinking about your own life right now?