JOY-OBEDIENCE
Not only is
disinterested morality (doing good “for its own sake”)
impossible; it is undesirable. That is, it is unbiblical because it would mean
that the better a man became the harder it would be for him to act morally. The
closer he came to true goodness the more naturally and happily he would do what
is good. A good man in Scripture is not the man who dislikes doing good but
toughs it out for the sake of duty. A good man loves kindness (Mic. 6:8) and
delights in the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:2) and the will of the Lord (Ps. 40:8).
But how shall such a man do an act of kindness disinterestedly? The better the man, the more joy in obedience.
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, Bethlehem
Baptist Church, 2002, p. 48.
Where love is
the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in
doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and
empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart.
F.F. Bruce
Paul – Apostle of the Heart Set Free,
Eerdmans, 1977, www.eerdamns.com,
p. 21.
God would
have us part with nothing for Him, but that which will damn us if we keep it.
He has no design upon us, but to make us happy.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 159.
Joy is the
byproduct of obedience.
Author Unknown
No man should
desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. He should spend his efforts in seeking to
know and do the will of God, leaving to Christ the matter of how happy he
should be.
A.W. Tozer
Holy joy will be oil to the wheels of our obedience.
Matthew Henry
Jesus
said, “If you obey My commands, you will remain in My
love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have
told you this so that My joy may be in you and that
your joy may be complete” (Jn. 15:10-11). In this statement Jesus links
obedience and joy in a cause and effect manner; that is, joy results from
obedience. Only those who are obedient – who are pursuing holiness as a way of
life – will know the joy that comes from God.
Jerry Bridges
Copied
from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 154. Used by
permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com.
All rights reserved.
Tell the men
of the world, and, let them see by your example and spirit, that Christianity
is not the gloomy thing they imagine – that a life of holiness is a life of
real happiness – of happiness for time and for eternity. But, oh! tell them, there is something gloomy – the joy, which blazes
for a moment like a dazzling meteor, and then vanishes forever – the hopes, which
are dependent on worldly possessions and worldly pleasures.
John MacDuff
The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan
Publishers, 1865.
I do not know
when I am more perfectly happy than when I am weeping for sin at the foot of
the cross.
C.H. Spurgeon
I would
sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it possible
for a man always to sorrow and yet to be pure, I would choose the sorrow if I
might win the purity, for to be free from the power of sin, to be made to love
holiness, is true happiness.
C.H. Spurgeon
I cannot
conceive it possible for anyone truly to receive Christ as Savior and yet not
to receive Him as Lord. A man who is
really saved by grace does not need to be told that he is under solemn
obligations to serve Christ. The new
life within him tells him that. Instead
of regarding it as a burden, he gladly surrenders himself – body, soul, and
spirit – to the Lord who has redeemed him, reckoning this to be his reasonable
service.
C.H. Spurgeon