No Trust Without Obedience

This past Sunday in the series "A Brand New Focus" we paid close attention to the Trust of Rahab in Joshua chapter two. The week before we paid close attention to the Obedience of Israel's leader and the people.

In the sermon on Obedience I laid forth the challenge to "Embrace a lifestyle of Obedience." As a Christian, God is not going to make you obey Him. He's also not going to let you ignore Him either but that's a subject for another day. The challenge is that we constantly bring ourselves to the end of ourselves and constantly resolve to Obey - Embrace a lifestyle of Obedience.

Last week in the sermon on Trust I challenged the people to "Pursue a life of Trust." Drawing from the example of Rahab, who was a citizen of the pagan city Jericho, we can see Trusting God risks real physical danger, is based on who God is and what He has said and results in blessing. God wanted his people to trust Him like Rahab did and He wants us to trust Him in the same way today - Pursue a life of Trust.

Here's the thing though; you won't really Trust God consistently UNTIL you decide to Obey God. Many times in the Bible we see people called to Trust God. But, in order to do so they must do or not do something that God has said. Think about Abraham. God promised him and Sarah a son. Did Abraham Trust God? No. Not at first. He took matters into his own hands. It kind of makes the song "Trust and Obey" seem backwards and I think it probably is. First Obey, then Trust.

Occasionally I like to watch the reality show "The Biggest Loser." They bring together a dozen or so severely overweight people to help them get fit and the one who loses the most weight (percentage) wins. Actually, they all win because they are getting healthy and losing weight. My point is this, the coaches are not simply trying to help the contestant lose weight. They are trying to help the contestant learn what got them to the point they are and embrace a change in lifestyle that will naturally lead to greater health and weight management. Most people who struggle with their weight live a roller-coaster life in that area because they never embrace a new lifestyle. So they stay frustrated with their up and down weight. The same is true with Trust. I can Trust God today and Trust me tomorrow. Chances are great that I'll do just that if I don't first focus on Obedience. Obedience to God. Obedience to His Word.

For unbelievers, Trust does come first. An unbeliever won't Obey God until he first Trusts Christ. But believers won't really Trust God on a daily basis until they first learn to Obey God. How's your Trust? How's your Obedience?