There is a temptation in the Christian life to become so busy doing Christianity that we forget why we do what we do. How often do we stop and ask ourselves, “Why am I going to church today; why am I trying to keep my mind pure; why am I giving, serving, working, and obeying?” What we will find if we never stop to ask these questions is a kind of stressful, legalistic Christianity that focuses only what we can accomplish. Yet, Christ calls us to freedom, freedom from legalism and from anxiousness. So there must be a way to obey in which the acts of obedience are not the focus, but rather the attitude of obedience.
In Deuteronomy 6 we pick up on the story of the Israelites where they have been freed from slavery in Egypt and they are now receiving the Law that will guide their daily lives under God’s leadership. Imagining myself in their position, I think I would question why, having just been freed from slavery to the Egyptians, I am now being subjected to slavery under a harshly specific divine legal system. However the way Deuteronomy 6 talks about obedience is not just adherence to a list of rules. Better put, God through Moses offers the “why” of obedience, the motivation behind the actions.
Three key words come up in this chapter that can be motivators of obedience: fear (v. 2), blessing (v.3), and love (v.4). I think we should start with not assuming our obedience is necessarily driven by the same motivation all the time. For instance my motivation for driving the speed limit when my kids are in the car and my motivation for driving the speed limit when I’m by myself but there’s a police officer behind me are probably different. In the one situation, I’m concerned about my kids’ safety; in the other, I’m avoiding the consequences of speeding. So depending on circumstances, our motivation for obeying a law can change from day to day and moment to moment. I think that’s why Moses brings out these three motivations.
Fear
To begin with, we obey God out of fear. The reality is He is a holy God with wrath towards sin. An awareness of the greatness of my God should lead to a sense of fear. When both Isaiah and John the Revelator have visions of God their response is a fearful response, Isaiah saying “Woe is me” and John passing out from fear. In the frailty and sinfulness of our humanity, a vision of God would be immediately terrifying. The problem is some people either miss having this fear of God or they only ever have a fear of God. The people who miss it skip straight to the loving, gentle grandfather view of God and they never grasp a real sense of God’s holiness and our depravity. The people who get stuck in constant fear of God only obey out of fear of consequences and miss the joy and peace that comes in knowing Jesus Christ has satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
So fear of God is a starting point, and a very necessary one according to Scripture, but not the only motivator of obedience. Actually when I start with the fear of God, then I realize that, in Christ, this God for me (Romans 8:31), I can have incredible confidence and delight in the power and authority of my God.
Promise
The Israelites had experienced this fear, but they had also experienced God being on their side. God had fulfilled His promises to them again and again. Despite their all too frequent unfaithfulness, they could not deny that He would always make good on what He said. This is another reality behind obedience. We obey because we take God at His word. In New Testament Christianity, we don’t obey for promises of land, health, wealth, etc. (at least not until Christ returns and restores this earth), but for the protection of God, the satisfaction and peace of the Spirit, the future rewards that await us, and the promise of God to fully sanctify us. We know that God’s plans are sure, so going against these plans is pointless.
Love
Finally love. Jesus summed up the entire Law by teaching us to love God and love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Whether we are finding ourselves commonly obeying out of fear, for the sake of God’s promises, or for any other reason, the motivation we should always pursue is love. When I am obeying God out of love, my obedience is not forced, it is not guilt-driven, it is not obligatory, and it is not done begrudgingly. When I obey out of love, I obey joyfully, thankfully, and passionately.
Notice also that love for God is a command. It is assumed we will not always feel like loving God. Perhaps an example that would help here is the marriage relationship. I love my wife. But that love does not always equate to romantic feelings. There have been many times in our marriage where we have disagreed, hurt each other, and felt feelings other than love towards each other. However, my love for her is not dependent on my emotions towards her. So when we disagree or hurt each other, our loves drives us to make amends and to seek and offer forgiveness. Our love is far from a feeling. Instead of being controlled by feelings, our love for each other drives us to fix our feelings when they are wrong.
Often, love is something we have to fight for and pursue. Many times I will find myself loving things or people more than I love God and this leads me to disobedience. Many times I will find myself loving the gifts God offers me more than I love the giver and so my obedience is misguided. I should not assume that in the Christian life, I will always feel “in love” with God, at least not in the emotional sense. But I must, at all costs, fight to love Him above all else.
I believe these three motivations are built on each other. If I do not fear God, recognizing His power and holiness, I will not find great comfort in the promises He has made to me in Christ. And if I do not remind myself of these promises, cherish them, study them, and keep them close to my heart, I will not love the God who made these promises to me. But I should remember that obedience out of fear alone is not enough. That is a miserable and scared way to live my life. Obedience for the sake of rewards promised is not enough. In that, I tend to love the gifts more than the giver and I become frustrated when I don’t immediately receive what has been promised. But there is a great freedom and satisfaction in an obeying out of love for this holy, gracious God. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (I Corinthians 13:7)
