It Really Is Good NewsSample

Motivated by Love

What's motivating our discipleship?

I’ve always loved doing the “right thing”. It’s easy for me to slip into being motivated by a desire to get things “right”. I'm an enneagram 1, and I can honestly say that deep down I just want to get a 100% A+ on things I put my hands to. The hard reality is that sin has corrupted the perfection of what God created - that means me. That means us. We aren’t able to meet the mark, and we mess up every single day. But, the good news (might even say REALLY good), is that God sent His Son Jesus, who lived a perfect sinless life and died on the cross so that me and you could taste His goodness, and be made whole in Him.

The problem with trying to be “good” or meet the mark in our own ability and strength is that it can turn into a kind of religious performance. The desire for goodness is not a bad thing, it's actually a Holy desire. Sometimes our motivations can get out of line and we forget that it's the pursuit of Jesus that is our aim, not a pursuit of perfection. But a spirit of legalism can twist this, leading us to measure our worth by how well we perform. It's operating out of the lie that "If I perform well, God will accept me". We end up keeping score rather and following Jesus out of our own strength instead of from a love for Him.

Yet we know that according to the Gospel, Jesus’ sacrifice frees us from the pressure to get everything right. It’s only by Him and through Him that we will look more like Him.

What motivates you to seek Jesus? If you are noticing in your heart that your motivations are off, there’s freedom in Jesus today to lay down the heavy burden, and receive his light and easy yoke. It's yours. The weight is off. He is that good!

Being disciples of Jesus is about Jesus Himself being our all. His goodness and love sets us free from striving and earning. He has freely given. This is really good news! That our inability to get everything right is satisfied in Jesus Christ. He was perfect because He knew we couldn't be. His goodness makes us complete, and when we can't get things right, He is there to remind us that He is sufficient. His work on the cross was enough, and He wants to help us walk in His ways. The image of Christ, not our performance or rightness, is where we are healed, forgiven, and set free over and over again. It's why it's vital to center our motivations around Him!

Another way our motivations can get twisted is when we replace the freedom in Christ with a spiritual license to do whatever we want. This can look like making an idol out of freedom and forgetting that following Jesus means freedom from the world and obedience to Him. It’s operating under the truth that Jesus is Lord of our lives. It may seem temporarily satisfying and even enticing to live out “worldly freedom” but this false freedom is actually enslaving. We end up forming idols and chasing things that leave our hearts feeling empty. This way of living out our faith also devalues the gift of the grace of God - one that calls us to obedience to Christ out of His love for us.

Spiritual license is operating from the lie that says “Because God has forgiven me, I’m free to disobey." The rules and boundary lines given to us in His Word are for our flourishing. His Word is for our goodness and out of His steadfast love for us. We have been crucified with Christ, and now he lives in us. And that means a completely new way of living according to Jesus’ leadership in our life.

So, what motivates us as disciples of Jesus? The gospel of Jesus Christ motivates us! He really is what propels us into lives lived for Him, with Him and in obedience to Him.

1 John 5:2-3 says “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (ESV)

We have to start with the heart. When we keep our eyes on Jesus and what He has done for us, we will begin to see that it’s only by way of love that we have received the gift of new life in Him. From this revelation flows abiding love and delight in Jesus. A joy-filled motivation for discipleship! It propels us into action - we begin to see following Jesus as the greatest privilege of our life. When our heart loves and delights in the abiding Word of God, our discipleship comes from a place of love for God instead of duty. After all, he who is forgiven much, loves much. (Luke 7:47)

So, let's talk about the good news of Jesus Christ expressed in our lives as disciples of Jesus. The gospel motivates us into a life of abiding delight, belief in God’s promises and warnings, and through daily repentance and turning away from sin and selfishness.

Abiding delight:

We have to start in the heart. We can ask ourselves the questions “who or what do you delight in? Who or what do you worship? What do you spend the most time thinking about, meditating on, and praising?”

Tracing these trails shows us what our heart desires. Jesus taught his disciples that true goodness comes from the heart. Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (ESV) The gospel changes our motivations and gives us the joy of the Lord. An infinitely greater and satisfying joy than anything in this world has to offer!

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” - John Piper

Abiding love and delight in Jesus is a joy-filled motivation for discipleship. It propels us into action - we begin to see following Jesus as the greatest privilege of our life. When our heart loves and delights in the abiding Word of God, our discipleship comes from a place of love for God instead of duty.

God's warnings and promises:

But what do we do when we have days where we don’t feel joyful?

Faith is trusting God when we don’t necessarily feel like it. We have limitations as human beings and thankfully we don’t rely on our emotional power to fight for faith, we have spiritual power through the work of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit comes through trusting in the word of God.

So, another gospel motivation is belief in God’s warnings and the promises in His Word.

In Psalm 19:11 David says, “Moreover, by them, the decrees of God, is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (ESV). There are many warnings in the Bible. Paul talks extensively about them.

Galatians 5:19-21 says, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (NIV).

These warnings are because God loves us and He knows what is best for us. His warnings strengthen our faith, promote their joy and obedience to them honor God.

Warnings remind us how serious God is about discipleship and what is and what is not characteristic of His followers. Belief in God’s holy warnings should always bring us back to the gospel of Christ as we acknowledge how quickly we can go down the wrong path, and how grace filled the Lord is to keep us from destruction.

God's warnings and promises:

And then there are His Holy Promises!

Repentance and faith go hand in hand and the good news of Jesus should produce this in us! The unconditional love and grace of God should be something that we continually seek through daily repentance. Martin Luther said, “The entire life of believers is to be one of repentance.” Every single day, in all of our failures and sin, we have every opportunity to turn to Jesus for grace and forgiveness! He waits with open arms. Repentance should overflow in loving obedience - turning from our idols and the things we have made our gods to the one true GOD. That his promises are true!

It is a privilege to trust the promises of God!

Prayer:

Father God, I come to you asking you to help me see where my motivations have been misaligned. Lord, thank you for giving your Son that I may freely receive the gift of eternal life. I long to live with your love motivating all that I do. Help me to trust that the cross is enough, and lead me into the peace of Christ.