Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 John 2:1-11
Related Sunday School Lesson, Family Bible Series, May 2

Does it seem to you that some people are making the Christian life more difficult than it should be? The glorious thing about the gospel is how wonderfully simple it is. Yet these days’ strident voices are calling for a kind of faith that requires intricate knowledge of deep spiritual truths in order to fully experience God.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for going deep and staying long in the faith. I fear, however, that a new “gnosticism” has arisen in our world that makes the faith into something most never attain. In case you are not familiar, Gnosticism was an early heresy that plagued the church. It was a very complex system of beliefs. It taught that there were secret and hidden truths necessary to truly experience Christ. I get the feeling when I watch some religious television that these folks know something hidden from the rest of us. Is the faith really supposed to be like that? I don’t think so. In fact I think the song writer summed it up quite well with these words. “Trust and Obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”

This lesson begins a series of studies on relationships. The purpose is to help us improve our relationships according to biblical principles. Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on the relationship between husbands and wives; parents and children; brothers and sisters; and between friends. But we must start at the top of the relationship pyramid – our relationship with God.

How can I know what a right relationship with God is and whether I am in it? Two passages of scripture will shed light on this question. In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told to trust the Lord. And in 1 John 2:1-11 we are told to obey the Lord.

 

Trust

The beginning of our relationship with God is trust. In fact, without trust we have no relationship. The Christian life begins not when we believe the facts of the gospel concerning Christ. Salvation comes when we believe those facts to the degree we are willing to trust our eternity to them, or more correctly, to Him. A relationship with God begins with a sinner’s trust of the Savior. But God does not want our relationship with him to merely be the relationship of a sinner and his savior. He wants it to become the relationship between a child and a Father.

The writer of Proverbs emphasizes this in the first nine chapters of his book. Proverbs is part of a group of writings known as the wisdom literature. The first nine chapters emphasize the wisdom of trusting God. The focal point is Proverbs 3:5-6. These verses are among the most familiar in this book. They describe a trust relationship. But it is not the trust of a sinner in his savior, it is the trust of a child in his father.

The kind of trust being called for here is an intimate trust. Note the language, “Trust the Lord with all your heart ... ” The thought is clear. Rest your cares into his keeping as a child does his father. Don’t depend on your own take of things, but like a child knows that his father knows best, “in all your ways acknowledge him.” He will guide his children down the right path.

I am a father of three grown children. There is nothing more precious to me than the trust my children express when they call me and ask for my opinion, or when they have a problem that they are sure I alone can solve. I know our relationship is healthy when I know that they trust me. I suspect the heavenly Father is like this as well. The first element of a healthy relationship with God is trust. But there is more.

 

Obey

Words are cheap. To say we trust the Lord with all our heart means nothing if it is not evidenced by an obedient life. Obedience does not save us. Keeping his commandments cannot suffice. Christ alone is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2). Only his death, burial, and resurrection fully satisfy the requirement of my salvation. However, obedience is the evidence that we truly trust Christ alone (1 John 2:3-6). This obedience is in two directions. First, it is moral. To keep his commands is to live our life according to his moral standards. If we are people who trust the Lord, our moral life should show it. It would seem that many wish to have faith without moral obedience. You have no doubt heard of some celebrity who gives a sexually lewd performance and then comes backstage and bows for a word of prayer to thank God for the ability he has been given to do it. Words are cheap. Real faith shows. I have always agreed with the statement, “If your faith has not changed you, you really should consider changing your faith.”

But there is more than just the moral question; there is also the question of walking in his will for our lives. I am convinced that God has a will for our lives. Every person is called of God to serve him. It is one thing to say we are people of faith; it is another to step out on faith and live a life of His choosing and not our own. When we truly trust, we will surely obey. “There is just no other way.”

Someone has wisely said the Christian life is full of prayers. There are two that begin it all. First there is the prayer, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.” Second, there is the prayer, “not my will but thine be done.” After that, all else will take care of itself.