Encore - 988-Does Faith Produce Obedience? - John 3:36

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today I've chosen a passage from John chapter 3, verse 36. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”    This is from the New American Standard Bible, as I typically do, but there are several translations of this that either say “does not obey”; some say “do not believe.” “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”    This word is translated, “obey”, or “does not obey” is "disobedient" in some translations. And I believe that's the accurate rendering because that word is translated most often as disobedience throughout the remainder of the New Testament.   John the Baptist is speaking here, and he's the last Old Testament prophet. And he's explaining about Jesus to his followers, to his disciples. And this is the last thing that he says about Jesus. He actually says before this, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the son...” Now he's talking about us. He's talking about those of us who believe in Jesus. We believe in the Son, we have eternal life. These are present tense.   He who believes, has; they're linked together. This alternate version though says “does not”, “but he who does not obey”. He's talking about the opposite and this is why I think belief and obedience are tightly linked.   When we- Jesus is here to do a job. The Holy Spirit is here on earth, doing a job. He's calling all people to Him. He's redeeming us and challenging us to choose to follow Him. Following Him isn't just mentally deciding that He's right, or mentally acknowledging that He's in charge, as I did for the first 30 years of my life. I believe that God created all this, but He left me alone and I left Him alone, and I felt like we were fine, but I didn't understand the scripture, and I wasn't reading the Bible. As I start reading the Bible, I see that the Son and the Holy Spirit are actively involved in the lives of every person on the planet, calling us to follow Jesus.    And following Jesus grants us eternal life, and I believe based on this sentence, that eternal life produces obedience. It produces us doing what Jesus would have us do, and that's the challenge I have for us today in the workplace. When was the last time you asked Jesus “Okay God, what do you want me to do?” Here I am. That's our kickoff prayer. We punch in, “Here I am Jesus. What do you want me to do today?” If I do not obey the son, then I will not see life. The wrath of God will abide on me.    But I want to obey Jesus. That's my bent. That's something that the Holy Spirit has been growing in me since the day I first trusted Him. And I want to continue to grow, and I get more responsibility by doing more. We'll talk about that in another episode. Today, I want to challenge us. Ask Jesus what he would have us do, but then solve for how.   Solve for how you can do what Jesus challenges you to do. If you get a wild idea while you're praying that you should give somebody an exorbitant tip, or that you should stay after work and help someone today, figure out how to make that happen. Don't question the challenge, solve for how.    I want to challenge us today. Let's link. Let's keep our belief in Jesus and our obeying Jesus tightly coupled, because this verse does the same, John the Baptist challenges us. Because we believe, we obey. That's the proof.    Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for paying attention to your relationship with the Holy Spirit and your relationship with your coworkers so that you can take part in Jesus's work in your world.   I challenge you also, check out our website at followerofone.org. Join a community of us who are working together to try and help one another do a better job of believing and obeying and making a difference in the lives of people around us. Thanks very much.