FOLLOW | Obedience

Before we read our teaching text tonight, I want to take a moment to introduce who will be speaking tonight Very excited you guys are in for a treat tonight Tonight you get to hear from dr. Wanda Wahlberg Just so you know a little bit about her Ron has joined our team with our school of ministry. That's been getting started I'm so excited that he's on the team, but really we're more excited that his wife is here with us as well Just A little bit about her background. Dr. Wanda is a theologian a spiritual formation scholar and a woman of deep prayer She spent over two decades shaping emerging leaders at Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary And she is the founder of empower a program equipping women in the Bible and theology She and her husband Ron have walked closely with our church for years and their investment in New York City and the people of God Is raising up Is one of the greatest gifts we have as a community here in our church So we're so honored that she's here with us. If you guys could just give a round of applause for dr. Wanda Wahlberg Tonight's teaching text comes from Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 to 27 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts him into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock The rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house Yet it did not fall because it had his foundation on the rock But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice It's like a foolish man who built his house on the sand The rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash This is the Word of the Lord You can be seated It's exciting to be with you tonight I'm so happy to be here. If you are interested in what my team does with women you can go to the website in power Ww.org and you can see the work there we do with women Next month Ron and I will celebrate 42 years of marriage And on our wedding day I chose the vows from Ruth chapter 1 Where Ruth said to Naomi where you go, I will go where you stay. I will stay Your people will be my people and your God my God Now before you think oh how lovely you need to know that the reason that I chose those vows is

Because I refused to say the traditional vows from the Anglican book of prayer written in 1549 where women were supposed to say they would love cherish and obey and Husbands only had to say they would love and cherish You see I chafed at that word obedience Because it felt forced to carte blanche make a statement. I will obey you and Instead I wanted it to be a choice that I obey because I love you Ron wasn't putting that on me But I couldn't get out of my head the words of my angry father saying you will obey me Because I said so When we signed up to follow Jesus we sometimes chafe at this word obedience Because we too have experienced its abuse either seeing it or experiencing it But the hardest things one of the hardest things about discipleship when it comes to obedience is That we're saying Jesus if I follow you I Want your love I want your grace. I want your peace. I want your mercy. I want your joy But this obedience thing I'm not quite so sure Here in our text tonight in Matthew 7 Jesus is ending his sermon on the mount and He is ending it with contrasting between two builders and Between a life of obedience and a life of disobedience How ironic That the words assigned to me tonight is the word obedience Given my history with the word But let's start with disobedience. The greatest cost of disobedience is not merely what happens to us, but it is what we miss with God. You see, disobedience breaks fellowship with God. It puts up barriers, it divides, and we risk missing the life God longs to give us. Disobedience also hardens the heart. Israel's repeated disobedience kept an entire generation from being able

to enter the promised land. Disobedience also forfeits blessing and fruitfulness. The prophet Jonah was told to Nineveh because God wanted to save a city. Jonah said, no, I don't like them, I'm not going there, which is why he ended up in the belly of the fish. He reluctantly and sooner or later went there, but in Jonah 2, verse 8, it says, those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Disobedience robs us of peace and joy. In Jeremiah 3, it says, living contrary to God's will produces guilt and anxiety. And the last one I'm going to give you is that disobedience has a ripple effect on others. In Exodus 34, we love to talk about that one because those who obey God, His love is maintained to thousands for generations. But it also says in those same verses that the sins of the father will visit the sins of the children to the third and fourth generation. Your life and actions matter, and they affect other people. The immediate displeasure, the pleasure of disobedience may be convenience, but the delayed cost of disobedience is always far worse than we can ever imagine. Let me explain it to you this way. With over 20 years of working with college students, inevitably every year there would be a number of women that would come to me, and I'm not sure if they were trying to get permission or they wanted me to talk them out of it, but they would always say, I feel like I need to just come and tell you that while I'm here in college, I would like to spend a year or two just kind of sowing some wild oats. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents always made us go to church. I've always done the right thing, but I'm curious about partying, about clubbing. I kind of want to know what it's like. So I think I'm going to dabble into those things, but then I'll come back to the Lord. I calmly listen, and then I say to them very directly, your attitude is actually very dangerous, because what you don't realize is that sin changes you. And over time, when the grip of a foothold becomes a stronghold in your life, there is no guarantee that you will ever want to return to the Lord. The shame, the guilt, the painful memories of what you've done and who you've done it with bombard you, harass you. And the voice of the accuser is so good at constantly reminding you or telling you, because it's a lie, that you have disqualified yourself from ever being close to God again. Some of you maybe came to New York City for the same reasons, but you are here tonight to hear that God loves you, and He's calling you back because what He has for you is so good. You are not disqualified. You might need to repent

and start again, but you are in the right place. Let's move to obedience. what a biblical discipleship of obedience looks like. Obedience offers freedom. In John 8, it says, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. And that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Jesus says in John 14, 15, if you love me, then keep my commands. Obedience is relational. And in the same passage in John 14, verse 21, Jesus says, whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love them and show myself to them. Obedience also moves us toward our destiny. And in 2 John, it says, this is love, that we walk in obedience to his commands. You see, God knows how we're wired because he created us. And he knows the very best way for us to live. Obedience in this kingdom model is tailor-made for you. Yes, we have commandments and principles within the word of God, but it is tailor-made for you because the spirit of God may say, others can do that, you may not. Because God knows what's best for you in the optimum way in which you must live in order to reach the purposes and the destiny which he has for you. It is not to rob you of all the fun stuff. It's meant to open you up to what will be the most fulfilling thing of your life, more than you can imagine. In our text tonight, Matthew contrasts the wise and foolish builder. Those who hear God's word and put them into practice, and those who hear God's word but refuse to put them into practice. The people, the person who refused to hear ended with a dramatic crash. So my question for us tonight is what kind of foundation will you build your life on?

A life of obedience on the rock or a life of disobedience on the sand? See, I believe you are here at Church of the City because you want to build a life on the rock. You have given yourself to the Lord. You're not just attending church but for God to transform you into a compelling missional disciple. You've said yes to him. You want to grow. You are allowing him in to form you and shape you to become like Jesus and he knows the best way for you to get there. Now on an earthly level, it doesn't always look like Jesus is calling us to what is best for us. It seems at times that we're being overlooked. We're being forgotten, unnoticed. We seem to be in a holding pattern. But friends, I've got to tell you that God is good and he can be trusted. And as you wait for him and obey him, because for some of us, he's got to do some underground work there in our foundation to solidify some cracks that are there. You see, the immediate cost of obedience may be sacrifice but the delayed reward is a fulfilled life. So what does a foundation of relational obedience look like? I want to give you three characteristics tonight of a foundation that can weather any storm. But remember, it's not just you that you're building it for, it's for your children and your grandchildren and the children to come and for generations to come behind you. It will impact eternity. When we bought our current house in 2019, the first time it rained really hard, we had water coming in our basement, a lot of water.

And it made us nervous and we got quotes and people would say, this is going to... It cost thousands of dollars and you need to replace that entire wall. And we're thinking, it took everything we had to get into this house. But praise God for next door neighbors who are general contractors. And he said to Ron, hey Ron, why don't you just go get a caulking sealant and put it in that little crack and see what happens. And praise God for general contractors because that is what Ron did and we have never again had water in our basement for the last seven years. You see, it was a tiny crack, but it was fixable with the right instruction from a person who had built many foundations. Like our little house, some of us have a few cracks in our foundation when it comes to obedience. But tonight the Holy Spirit wants to fill those cracks with his presence and healing and call you back into a relationship of love through obedience. The first characteristic that builds a strong foundation is integrity. Integrity is the baseline for a foundation. It's the starting place. And I found three definitions so I'm going to give them all to you because I love the quotes. The first one is from C.S. Lewis. He is often credited for this and he says, integrity is doing the right thing when no one else is watching. The next one is from Elsie Robinson who was a female syndicated newspaper columnist in 1943. This woman knew hardship. But she says integrity is doing the right thing at all times without hesitation. But I think my favorite definition is from Charles Marshall in his book Shattering the Glass Slipper when he expanded a little bit on integrity and he says this, integrity is doing the right thing when you don't have to.

When no one else is looking or will ever know. When there will be no congratulations or recognition for having done so. Integrity does the right thing because it's the right thing. It reminds me of Jesus' word in Matthew 6, 1 when he says, be very careful then how you practice your acts of righteousness in front of other people to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven. He goes on to say, so when you give and when you pray and when you fast, go into your closet, shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret because your father who sees in secret will reward you. There's something cleansing and refining about doing the right thing in secret because it reveals to us our heart motivations. You see, we want credit for what we do. We want to be thanked, appreciated, noticed, compensated. But integrity doesn't need applause. It does the right thing because it is the right thing. For years as our family lived on Nyack College campus, my executive assistant Heather and I used to walk around campus in the afternoons to pray and to ask the Lord and to process what was happening and what we felt was happening in the spirit and how God wanted our office of spiritual formation to respond to what God was doing. This one particular day, it was a much longer walk than usual. But when we got back to the office, Heather said, oh no, I didn't have my watch on. I'm not going to get credit for my walk. To which I replied, Heather, your body got the credit. Your body got the benefit for every single step you took today, whether you have an app that recorded it or not. Every time that you and I obey God, we benefit from that simple act, whether or not anyone else ever sees or not, because God sees and he strengthens the soul of our foundation. Build with integrity because it's the right thing to do. The second characteristic that builds a strong foundation is consistency. The spiritual principle for this is called sowing and reaping, found in Galatians 6.

You sow to the flesh, you'll reap to the flesh. You sow to the spirit, you'll reap to the spirit. Our daily readings as a church in Matthew are set up as full, and they have rich nuggets in there to chew on as we give God space in our lives. The thing is, though, with seeds is that you don't see growth right away. It takes time for seeds to germinate. It takes time for roots to go deep. It takes time for the stem to finally poke up. It takes time for branches, for flowering, for the fruit, and eventually the harvest will come. But for a while there, it seems like nothing's happening. But it's also because we're used to an instant society that if I want it, I click and I got it right then. And see, we believe the lie that we will fall behind or lose out if we wait on God's timing. This is the spiritual principle called lag time. There is always a lag time between planting and harvest. A lot goes on in that time, and you cannot shortcut the process. Alicia Britt Cholet in her book Anonymous says this, storms do not prepare us for what's to come as much as they reveal what we've done with our lives up to this point. The decisions we make in difficult places today are greatly the product of decisions we made in the unseen places of our yesterdays. Reagan spoke a few weeks ago on Jesus in the desert, and the strongest influences on Jesus for the decisions that he made in the desert were the choices he made long before he went to the desert. And the strongest influences on the decisions that you and I make in the storms are the choices we make before the wind and the clouds even start. You see, the small decisions that you make every day become the foundation you stand on tomorrow. But it's often in this lag time that you will be most tempted to cut corners. You see, because there's a cultural message and then Jesus' message.

The culture says it's not that big a deal, it's not that serious. But Jesus says your foundation matters. Culture says follow your own truth. Jesus says follow me, the way, the truth, and the life. Hear my words and put them into practice. Culture says do what feels right. And Jesus says do what is right, even when it's hard. Culture says this is me, accept me as I am. Jesus says but who you are is revealed through obedience. Culture says intentions matter most. Well, I meant to, I was going to, I tried, I wanted it. But Jesus says actions reveal what you truly believe. Your life speaks far louder than your words, so let your life speak. The value of obedience is often invisible, until life gets hard. In calm weather, the wise and foolish builder appeared almost identical. The difference, though, was revealed only when the storm arrives and the pressure mounts. You see, the habits formed in the calm show up in the storm, and they become the spiritual reflexes when pressure mounts. If you have developed a habit of fixing your eyes on Jesus and listening for His voice in the calm, you will fix your eyes on Jesus and listen in the storm. If you've developed a habit of praying and standing on the Word of God in the calm, you will pray and stand on the Word in the storm. But if you have developed habits of anxiety, panic, suspicion, and blame in the calm, then you will be an anxiety-ridden person on steroids in the storm. You see, the players who just played the World Cup this afternoon did not start training yesterday. They have been playing for years, honing their skills, hours of practice, doing the same drills over and over. And the daily disciplines that are repetitive become the very reason that they could perform

under pressure and play that game. Likewise, for us, the spiritual disciplines that seem repetitive, they seem unnecessary, they seem like they're not doing anything, become the very reason you will either stand firm on the rock in the storm, or you will be a crazed person, full of fear, anxiety, not knowing what to do. Disciples have been preparing all along through ordinary acts of obedience. Jesus says in John 10, 27, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. This week on Instagram, I ran across a story of researchers who studied Navy SEALs for nearly a decade, and they were trying to find out what actually separates the ones who finish from the ones who quit. And what they found that it wasn't willpower, it was identity. You see, a habit is something you do, but habits can break. But an identity is who you are. An identity resists, but it will remain strong and true to who it is. After 14 days of consistent action, the researchers noted a shift. The top candidates said it best. I did not try to finish anymore. I became someone who finishes. Woo, I like that. And I thought, as disciples, let's switch in the word obedient, obey, for finish. I did not try to obey anymore. I became someone who obeys. Because I love Jesus, I am an obedient follower of Jesus. Only sowing good seed into your life will produce a harvest. Galatians 6, 9 says, then do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. And then the third characteristic that builds a strong foundation is called grit. I love this word. I ran across it for the first time in 2011 when I was doing my doctoral research.

I called up Dr. Angela Duckworth and said, can I use this in my, she hadn't written her books yet. She was still, she had done a TED Talk, and she was studying West Point cadets, national spelling bee champions, musicians. to find out what made them keep going. And I love this word because she defines it as, grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Is that not the essence of our faith? Because of our love and devotion to Jesus, passion, plus perseverance, I am in this until Jesus returns or till I die and go see him face to face. Integrity is the baseline. Consistency is the day-to-day. But grit, that's what's going to get you to the finish line. Now, this next part, you're not going to want to hear, but I got to tell you anyway. These three characteristics take time to develop. And it is right here in the journey that you will be tempted to shortcut, to disobey, to pretend you didn't hear God. You will say no directly to some things. You'll skip the hard stuff. You want to opt out of suffering. But that is why it takes faith to stay on the path of obedience. In our text today, earlier on in verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7 in Matthew, it says this. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. You see, because the cost is in the waiting, waiting for God to show up, waiting for God to fulfill his promise, waiting for whatever it is he says is going to be for my good. Jesus spent 30 years of preparation for three years of ministry. Jesus knows what it is to wait in obedience to do what the Father's doing. You don't need to grab, claw, strive, clamor to provide for yourself because you can. But as you are willing to wait for the Lord, believing his promise of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9-8 when he says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Wait for a God who is able to bless you abundantly. I'm going to show you a clip of a favorite place that I love to walk. Will you play that clip now, please? I had to take a picture of this for you to show you because this is what the Lord does to us in follow and obedience. It looks like it's a dead end. And he says, keep coming. And then at the last minute when you turn, there is a way that is made through the fence. And it goes into a broad and spacious place just for you. I love that.

I love that. You see, I have taken friends here. And when we get to that part when you can see the tree and the sidewalk ends, will you put that picture up just the beginning? When we get to that point every single time, my friend turns to me and says, where are you taking me? We got to turn back. We can't go further. To which I smile and say, oh, follow me. Because it's such a beautiful picture. From that angle, it is a dead end. The sidewalk stops. There's a big old tree. You can see the fence beyond it. And friends, in following Jesus in obedience, in the natural, it is a dead end. And Jesus says, keep coming. Keep coming. And there are several, there are many who will turn away and say, he's not good, it doesn't work what you say, I've tried that before. And he says, keep coming. And those who by faith step off the sidewalk, step over the roots, walk toward the fence, in some cases you will need to walk right up to that wall. Because it's only when you get up to that point does he say, turn to the left. And you turn your head and there is a way through the fence. And as you go through the fence, it's not just a way through, it goes into this beautiful field and park. It says in Psalm 16.6, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Friends, I urge you to build your life on the rock. Jesus doesn't say the wise person avoids the storms. Both houses experience the same thing, the rain, the floods, the wind. The difference is not the severity of the storm, but the depth of the foundation. Financial loss, criticism, suffering, temptation, all reveal whether our habits have trained us to obey or to give up, or to try to take a shortcut. The small decisions you make every day become the foundation you will stand on tomorrow. And there is safety in following the one you trust, the one leading you. When I married Ron, I knew he loved me, but it was taking time to correct my distorted views of love and marriage and authority. And one day early on in our marriage, I came home and I was excited to talk to him because we had been at church and I had been invited to get involved in a new ministry that was starting and I was all in, except I had no margin in my life whatsoever. I thought, oh well, you know, suck it up and work harder. I'm going to talk to him about it anyway. And when I talked to him and said, oh honey, listen to this, and I told him, his response was, are you sure you should do that? You know, your plate's pretty full. That's all he said. And I said, there it is. I knew you wanted to hold me back. You just want to control me. You don't want me to grow. And I had accusation after accusation to put on him. Wisely, he didn't respond. He wasn't trying to hold me back. He wasn't trying to keep me down. The truth is that he loves me. He cherishes me. He makes room for me.

He includes me. And I know by his loving actions toward me, day in and day out for years, that has corrected my distorted view. Because I believe now and know that he is for me and with me and on my side. Friends, your God wants to correct your distorted view of faith, of obedience, of authority, of what it means to surrender your life to him. And he wants to do that through loving relationship. That is what he wants to correct and fill in that crack with your distorted view. It is by love in relationship that he wants you to obey him. Our God is worthy of our obedience. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 24, faithful is he who calls you and he will do it. You just follow along. Will you build your life with integrity? integrity, consistent sowing, and with grit. I want to ask the worship team to come up, and as they come up and begin to play, some of you might be at the wall. Some of you might be in a season of sowing some pretty wild oats, or you're sitting in a pile of rubble you've already crashed. I'm not sure where you are on this journey of obedience, but I'm going to ask, can we just close our eyes for just a moment, and will you tell God where you are? Now I know He already knows, but you need to articulate to Him where you are. You need to admit it. And please tell Him what you want Him to do out of that. I'll give you a minute. Now I want you to ask Him, Father, what do you want me to do about this? And what comes to mind, I want you to write it down. And not just write it down, I want you to go one step further later today, or when you go home. You can open your eyes now. And I want you to tell someone else, so that this is not just a catharsis for you, oh good,

I went to church, and I had someone pray for me, and that's the end, and then you go out and do whatever you want. In order for transformation to occur, we need to be in community, in obedience. Look to your left and to your right, every single person in this room struggles with something when it comes to the spiritual journey. But the power that there is in walking together toward the cross, toward the freedom of Christ, allowing the Spirit of God in, encouraging one another, speaking truth to one another. It says in 1 John 1, verse 8, it says this, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. If this is the first time that you are responding to God's invitation, please come up and let someone pray for you and introduce you to Jesus. I believe your generation is looking for fathers and mothers to model integrity, consistency, and grit. And God is going to make a way for you to receive the healing you so desperately need. Do not neglect to pass on to your children and the next generation what you failed to receive from the previous generation. It is time to break the cycle of disobedience in your life and become a generation who are obedient followers of Jesus. Amen.