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AGAPE LESSON24
OBEDIENCE – THE ONLY KEY
Put together by Bongie Kuzwayo
[Isaiah55v1—3] Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come,
buy and eat: Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2) why do you spend
money for what is not bread; and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me and
eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. (3) Incline your ear and come to Me.
Hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of
David.
This is a direct invitation to obedience. The bible records that we have been blessed with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians1v3). Now to access these blessings from the
heavenly places – the only currency is obedience to the word of God.
[Deuteronomy6v4] Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Hear (shama in Hebrew) – to listen to obey, to have power to hear, — to hear with attention or
interest. To listen to understand – to give heed, to consent, to yield to, to agree, to yield to, to obey,
to be obedient.
One (echad in Hebrew) – from the root achad, meaning to unify.
The above Scripture in my own words = ‘Israel! Listen and do the oneness that you see in the
Godhead.’
[Psalm133v1—3] Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in oneness!
(2) It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running
down on the edge of his garments. (3) It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains
of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forevermore.
Jesus lingered in Jerusalem while everyone went home after the feast. Mary and Joseph went all over
looking for Him.
[Luke 2v49—52] Jesus said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about
my Father’s business?” (50) But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. (51)
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother
kept all these things in her heart. (52) Then Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour
with God and men.
• He went down with them = speaks of humbling one’s self. [Philippians2v8] And being found
in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross.
• Subject (Hupotasso in Greek) means to arrange under, to yield under one’s admonition
• Was subject to them = He obeyed them, He subjected Himself under their advice. [Titus3v1]
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good
work.
• Jesus increased I wisdom and stature – increase (prokapto in Greek) which means to go
forward, advance, proceed – metaphorically to make progress and increase. [Genesis26v13]
The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he was very prosperous.
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• Wisdom (Sophia in Greek) – it speaks of supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God; as
evidenced in forming and executing counsels in the formation of government of the world
and Scriptures.
[Hebrews5v8—10] Though He was Son, yet He learnt obedience by the things He suffered. (9) and
having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, (10) Called
by God as High Priest according to the order of Mechizedek.
• He learnt (manthano in Greek — to be increased in knowledge, to hear, to be informed.
• Obedience (hupakoe in Greek) – means compliance, submission
• Perfected (telioo in Greek) – to complete, to perfect – to be found perfect (wanting nothing).
• Became (ginomai in Greek) – to begin to be, to arise, to be made
[Mark 4v24—25] (NKJV) Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure
you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. (25) Whoever has, to
him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from
him.”
[Mark 4v24—25] (ISV) He went on to say to them, “Pay attention to what you are hearing! You will
be evaluated by the same standard with which you do your evaluating, and still more will be given to
you, (25) because whoever has something, will have more given to him. But whoever has nothing,
even what he has will be taken away.”
• Heed (blepo in Greek) – metaphorically, it means you see with the mind’s eye – to have
power to understand – to discern mentally, to observe, to perceive, discover, understand – to
weigh carefully
• Hear (akouo in Greek) = to be endowed with the faculty of hearing – to hear – to attend to –
to consider what is, or has been said – to perceive the sense of what is said – comprehend.
• Measure (metron in Greek) Proverbially, the rule or standard of judgement. How you
perceive and act on what you have heard.
• Will be taken away from him = to take away from another what is his, or what is committed
to him, to take by force. Disobedience comes to take away even what you thought you had.
It actually comes to plunder you, and you wonder why things are getting worse. You begin
to toil in the true sense. Disobedience is equivalent to not hearing at all.
[Matthew 6v22—23] The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body
will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
• Lamp
• Eye (opthalmos in Greek) – metaphorically, the eye of the mind, the faculty of knowing, to
discern memtally.
• Darkness (skotos in Greek) = blindness. Metaphorically
• Good/single
[Jeremiah25v6—7] Do not go after other gods to serve them, and do not provoke Me to anger with
the works of your hands; and I will not harm you. (7) Yet you have not listened to Me, says the Lord,
that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your hurt.
The outcome of not heeding/listening/ obeying was seventy years of exile in Babylon.
A word received will manifest in one of three ways:
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• It will come to test you as in the case of King Saul who was sent to destroy everything of the
Amalekites. [1Samuel15v9] But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep,
the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy
them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. When people saw
the best, they spared them contrary to the instruction to destroy everything. The instruction
they had received was now testing them. King Saul was rejected by God and demoted from
the throne.
• God will bear witness with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy
Spirit, according to His will. [Genesis26v12—13) Then Isaac sowed in the land, and reaped in
the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. (13) The man began to prosper, and
continued prospering until he was very prosperous.
• God will be watching over His word to perform it, depending on your response.
[Jeremiah1v11—12] Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah what do
you see?” And I said, ‘I see the branch of an almond tree.’ (12) Then the Lord said to me, “You
have seen well for I am ready to perform My word.”
When the tyre meets the road and situations look at you squarely – obeying sometimes seems
difficult and may even appear foolish.
(1) There is famine in the land and God says, “Do not go down to Egypt, live in the land of which
I will tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your
descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your
father (Genesis26v2—3). The greatest enemy is logic. Logic says that God must be mistaken
because nothing grows during famine; besides, Abraham went down to Egypt during famine
and God prospered him there. That will be the most sensible thing to do. Logic will argue you
out of God’s perfect will. Logic will throw you completely out of balance. You sincerely desire
to do what is right, but logic gives you whims of fear and says, “What if?” [Isaiah55v6—9]
Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. (7) Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He
will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. (8) For My thought
are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. (9) For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts.
(2) There is no rain, there is only a handful of flour and a little oil in a jar; the very last. A man
you have never seen shows up and asks you for a little water; and he asks you to prepare a
meal for him first. You were preparing to make the last meal for yourself and your son; your
mouths are already dry. The command says, “Make for me first” (1Kingsv17v11—16). You
know the story. Obedience had the upper hand and a miracle happened.
(3) A woman broke a flask of very costly oil of spikenard and poured it on Jesus’s head. Here we
see obedience moved by love and gratitude (Mark14v3). Logic from the indignant crowd was
late to stop her.
(4) Abraham was commanded by God to go sacrifice his only son he loves (Genesis22v2)
Obedience woke him early in the morning. Logic did not have a chance to even discuss the
matter with Sarah. His obedience earned him a generational blessing, of which we are also
recipients – [we are the seed of Abraham (Galatians3v29)]
(5) God says, “Two and a half hours in twenty-four hours belongs to Me –it is My Tithe.” Logic
says, “God understands I am busy – I don’t have time. Obedience (David) says, “O God, You
are my God; early I will seek you; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for you in a dry and
thirsty land where there is no water (Psalm63v1).
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(6) God says, why are you running around selling? Why are you compromising valuable time
when you should be studying the word? Logic says, “I need airfares and enough pocket
money to travel the nations.” God says, “Have I ever failed to provide for you? Obedience
says, “I repent in dust and ashes; I will never do it again.
(7) During lockdown I finished nine sets of bed linen. Those around me were pleading with me
wanting to place orders. I had all the chance to do it. Much as I need money but I would not
dare – I want to remain faithful to my assignment.