“Everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.” (Exodus 35:21 [NIV])
We each know of or are a person who grudgingly did what someone asked. A parent would have asked you to clean your room and you delayed in obeying. With a threat of disciplining (the compulsion), you did the task. This unfortunate part of our nature shows itself because we chose to exercise the freewill God gave us by rebelling. In this instance, you rebelled against your parent because you chose to follow the desires of your natural heart. Any rebellion we do is against God since He created the moral laws from His own holiness. The opposite of a negative compulsion (disciplining by grounding, loss of privileges, etc.) is a positive compulsion. A positive compulsion comes from an inner calling to your spirit to obey because of love and/or respect for the person, the law, and God. A person often obeys this calling because of who compels him or her, his or her care for the one calling him or her, and the result or reward for obeying.
The Bible tells of compulsions, desires, impulses, heart-stirrings, and urgings within our hearts, minds, and spirits. We can note these from as early as Adam and Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden. First, they wanted to be with God and grow in their relationship with Him. Next, they learned of something more enticing to them than their relationship with God. The compelling and urging by the serpent led to their desire and choice to go against God’s commands. Adam and Eve’s freewill led them to choose self over God. This instance is not exclusive to this one passage. People rebel and sin against God like the Bible writers recorded throughout the Bible. They choose to follow the desires of their own heart intent on themselves. Other instances in the Bible show people respond to God’s urgings, compulsions, and impellings by following Him. Let’s consider a few of these instances and understand what they meant at the time and what they mean for us, identifying the of what God urged, what action occurred, and what reward or result occurred for the person and/or people following God.
After the Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they lingered at Mount Sinai. At this mountain, God instructed them through Moses. Moses spent much time with God on the mountain and received His plans on how to build His tabernacle. He told Moses of the fine wood, gold, silver, and linens He required for building His tabernacle. The Egyptians gave these things to the Israelites before they left Egypt (Exodus 3:22 & 12:35-36). What happened after Moses told the Israelites of God’s requirements is what we must notice. Moses recorded their actions in Exodus 35:20-35. He said in verses twenty through twenty-one,
Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. [NIV]
Three things happened in these verses. The Israelites recognized God. They responded to Him. Something happened. These three things we will call the impetus, action, and result. Through each of the Scripture passages we consider, we will look for these three things.
Exodus 35
In Exodus 35:20-21, the impetus for the Israelites’ action came from their hearts’ moving. In other translations, the passage says, “their hearts were stirred.” Notice the verb is passive. The Hebrew word from which this “stirring” comes means to be carried away by an external force to oneself. The Israelites did nothing to cause their hearts to stir. It occurred by God’s calling to them. As Moses relayed to the Israelites what God said He needed for the tabernacle to be built to His specifications, God’s desires moved the people’s hearts and as He called them. God moved their hearts. The people recognized God as divine and almighty. They knew He rescued them from slavery.
Their recollection of what He did for them and who He is caused a reaction to the impetus. The Israelites heard with their ears, their hearts, and their spirits. They responded to God’s love with their own love for Him shown through obedience. They responded by giving back to Him that which He gave to them-love and tangible items. Remember in Exodus 3:22 and 12:35-36, God told the Israelites through Moses to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver, and fine cloths. Back before these people understood why God gave them these fine things from the Egyptians, He had a plan for them. The Israelites did not yet understand God’s plan for them when they received the gifts from the Egyptians. He provided what the Israelites needed for themselves and what they needed to give back to Him to build His tabernacle. God gave the impetus by stirring the hearts of the Israelites. The Israelites action occurred because they chose to bend their hearts toward God in love and obedience. They gave to Him what He requested to build the tabernacle.
Whenever calling by God and an action toward that calling occurs, a result in obedience to God takes place. The result for the Israelites was four-fold. Physically, God would continue to give what they needed for life; He would continue to bless them. Mentally, the Israelites acknowledged God as the One who provides and realized they could trust Him. Emotionally, they received God’s love and returned it to Him. They deepened their connection with Him. Spiritually, they recognized God as almighty and eternal, the God of their forefathers, the One who never left them. With this recognition, they responded with faith and trust in Him by loving Him in return and trusting Him to provide all things. Notice, each of these four parts of a life is intertwined with the others. One does not exist without the other on this plain.
To sum this passage up, the people recognized God and His call on their lives. They responded out of love because of His love and care by acting on His stirring their hearts by obeying His plans for building the tabernacle. The Israelites grew in their faith in God, in their relationship with Him, and proved their covenant with Him. The stirring of the Israelites’ hearts did not occur at their bidding, but at God’s Spirit. God was the force outside of them that stirred up their hearts to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and heed Him. People from neighboring nations watched the lives of the Israelites to see how their God worked among them. They sought, too. The Israelites answered God’s stirring of the hearts and brought Him glory.
As we continue to consider God’s stirring of people’s hearts, we must recognize He did this throughout the Bible. From Adam and Eve in Eden, to Moses at the burning bush, to Mary when God spoke to her, to the apostles, Paul, and other Christians, God stirred hearts, compelled, urged, entreated, and impelled them for His service.
1 Corinthians 9
In 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, we read part of Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. In verses sixteen through eighteen, Paul said,
16For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. [NIV]
In considering this passage, what or who compelled Paul? Notice, Paul said, “I am compelled.” He did not compel himself. God did. This word “compel” comes from a Greek word meaning necessitated from external conditions. God compelled Paul when He saved and called Him on the road to Damascus. God gave the impetus for Paul’s resulting actions. He placed it in Paul’s heart. Paul desired to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and obey Him out of love for Him.
What action did Paul say occurred because of God compelling Him? He said in verse sixteen God compelled him to preach. That preaching is not of what the people in the Greek world heard before, but of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like with the Israelites, God’s compulsion was specific. Out of love for Him and for people who did not trust in Jesus, God called Paul to preach the gospel. He recognized in this calling, this compulsion, a negative occurred if he did not preach the gospel. How do we learn this? Paul said at the end of verse sixteen, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” Not only did Paul recognize God and accede to His authority over his heart, spirit, and life, he realized consequences came from living contrary to God’s compulsion. When a person walks life contrary to God’s best plans and desires, he or she is rebelling against God. Many stories tell about rebellion against God and its consequences. Noah and his family remained the face of the earth after the great flood. Two of Aaron’s sons died for performing their daily services in the tabernacle in the wrong way. The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. Judas Iscariot died a sinner’s death for betraying Jesus. The stories of rebellion and their resultant consequences can be found throughout the Bible. Paul recognized God’s calling Him came with a warning for not complying. He did not want to experience that discipline.
We have knowledge of Paul’s life story. He accepted God’s compulsion to preach the gospel. What result came from his loving obedience to God? Paul’s preaching free of charge in obedience to God’s compulsion made him a voluntary slave submitted to God’s will. By submitting to God’s desire for his life, he aimed to tell as many people as possible about Jesus so they could become children of God – Jews and Gentiles, slave and free. He summarized this life of service to God and humanity with verses twenty-two and twenty-three, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” [NIV]
Paul ran to get the prize, he said (vs 24-27). For him, the goal of his life revolved around completing the race as an obedient child and servant of God. Paul’s reward of receiving the prize of being perfected in Christ’s image, being with Him in heaven, came only from God. This prize represents three motivations for Paul’s life. He obeyed out of love for God, out of love for others that Jesus put in him, and for God’s glory. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Paul’s goal and the result of His life’s obedience to God’s compelling and love for him was to give God glory. He recognized and acknowledged God’s call on his life as the impetus, the desire of God for him and accepted that desire as his own. Paul responded to this impetus from God with action by telling every person he met about the gospel. His action led to people receiving salvation through Jesus and God getting glory.
2 Corinthians 5
14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. 15And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 [NIV])
In these verses, just like in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul spoke of God compelling Him. This word “compelling” means urging, impelling, and compelling of the soul/spirit, heart, and mind. This compelling is an urging of one’s being to respond with action according to what is asked. What came with this urging that would make a person more favorable towards doing what the Spirit compelled? See at the beginning of verse fourteen-Christ’s love. Paul left no doubt in a person’s mind as to Who compelled him. He recognized the call of Christ on his heart because Jesus saved the Pharisee, the one who persecuted and killed Jesus-followers. Paul understood he did not deserve Jesus’ love.
Because of Jesus’ merciful love for a sinner like him, his response to Him could only be to love Him. Paul’s acknowledgement of Jesus’ right to his life and his own love for Him led him to answer God’s calling to preach. Out of love obedience came. Paul would do what Jesus called him to do because of this love. Jesus’ love for sinful Saul/Paul compelled him to do what He asked of him. That impetus, Christ’s compelling, led Paul to preach the gospel. Paul recognized Who called him to preach. He acknowledged that call and the reason, His grace though he himself sinned, and obeyed Jesus’ calling. Paul’s action, internally, was loving Jesus and, externally, was preaching to every person to whom he could.
The result of Paul’s recognizing, acknowledging, and being obedient to Jesus’ compelling him to preach affects the four spheres of a person-mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Paul yearned to be “fully clothed” by being perfected by Christ on the day he entered heaven. He no longer wanted to groan and be burdened because of not being clothed in His heavenly dwelling (vs 3-4). Paul received courage from Christ while at home in his body (on earth) and away from the Lord (vs 6). He was called Christ’s ambassador (vs. 14). Paul worked for Christ (vs 21). He carried within himself the hope of becoming the righteousness of God through Jesus (vs 21). These are the result of Paul acknowledging and acting on Jesus’ call on his life. Each of these brings glory to God. God would be seen in Paul’s life in each of the actions and the results. People would seek God and glorify Him because of who He is and what He has done as they saw in Paul’s life and their own.
Impetus leads to action then to result. What one allows to cause their actions shows what his or her desires (impetus) are-self or God. From those actions come results, either praise of self and what one did or acquired or praise of God for what He did and Who He is. Paul chose to act on God’s compelling of him. He gave all the glory to God.
Luke 24
Luke wrote about two disciples of Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death and resurrection in Luke 24:13-53. As these two disciples walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus (about 23 miles distance), a man met them on the way and walked with them. As they walked, the third man explained the Scriptures to them from Moses and all the prophets that told about the Messiah. When the three men arrived in Emmaus, the two disciples invited the third man to stay with them for the night. Roads were unsafe at night and people were often robbed. This third man stayed with them and when they sat to eat, He broke the bread and prayed to God. At that moment, the two disciples realized Jesus had risen from the dead alive and walked with and talked with them throughout the journey. Jesus then disappeared. At this point, Luke recorded what the two disciples said and did in verses thirty-two to thirty-five. He said,
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven (Jesus’ first disciples) and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread. [NIV]
What or Who caused the impetus, the action, and the result of the actions of these two Emmaus-traveling disciples? What compelled these two men to action? Upon looking at the statement they made to each other after Jesus disappeared from their sight (vs 31), we read, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” The idiom of “hearts burning within us” is what compelled the men to action. Their “hearts burning” within them means they experienced movement in their hearts to recognize, acknowledge, and respond to someone with action. The word “burning” lets us realize the urgency of this compelling, desire of their hearts. The fire within the men required quenching with action immediately. Upon reading verse thirty-three, we realize these two disciples left Emmaus immediately to return to Jerusalem. The two men disregarded their safety by walking at night on a road with boulders that provided hiding spots for robbers. The care for their safety came second to declaring Jesus rose from the dead. They had seen, heard, and eaten with Him. The impetus for these two disciples began with the burning in their hearts. It came from Jesus.
These two disciples did not manufacture the desire, but obeyed God’s compelling. They desired to tell the disciples in Jerusalem about what they saw. Because of the burning in their hearts caused by Jesus, they felt compelled to tell the disciples about Him being alive. The two men acted immediately, walked urgently to Jerusalem, and gave testimony of Jesus’ resurrection. They understood the importance of Jesus’ resurrection because of what the women told the disciples that morning, what Simeon Peter verified for himself, and what Jesus explained from the Scriptures as they walked to Emmaus. The testimony of these two men became a stabilizer for Jesus’ followers’ faith in Him and an impetus for sending them out to testify about Him. Jesus revealing Himself to the two disciples impelled the men to return quickly to Jerusalem.
Their actions and words testified to Jesus being alive. Their actions resulted in the other eleven disciples and the other Jesus-followers to believe for themselves when Jesus met them (vs 36-49). It resulted in belief by His disciples and worship of Him and praise to God (vs 52-53). Jesus speaking to them opened their spiritual eyes. The two men recognized Him and responded with an urgency. They acted upon the compelling. The actions of the two men resulted in others trusting Jesus fully. It also led to worship and praise of God.
Philippians 2
Paul often wrote letters encouraging Christians to be like him and/or to be like-minded. For him, Paul sought to live his life so like Christ that he could teach people to be like Christ by being a living example for them to imitate. In Philippians 2, he urged (compelled) the believers to be of the same mind as Christ. Here again, the one doing the urging is someone outside oneself. The people would have known Paul from his visits and would realize he preached the gospel. This means they might heed the urging of Paul. The Philippians would do this because they looked up to him as a man being close to the Father and Jesus, and one who learned the gospel very well. Paul became their spiritual father. When urged, out of consideration of Paul’s life and the gospel he preached and out of the truths God taught them and Who they recognized as the One who loved them salvifically, the Philippians would consider the urging/compelling of Paul. They would recognize its validity and author. The believers in Philippi would acknowledge the intent came from God. They would seek to heed the urging/compelling to be like Christ because of love for and out of obedience to Him. The impetus, in this instance, was Paul’s urging of the Philippians as their spiritual father, which he wanted them to consider as Christ’s urging. Paul wanted them to respond to his urging so they would respond to Jesus. Paul explained what being like Christ meant in verses five through eleven.
If the Philippian Christians followed through on Paul’s urging, they would be humble, servants of others, and obedient to God. Their actions would resemble how Jesus acted. The result of their being like-minded with Christ would show they live humble and obedient to God. Their lives would show a striving to grow in relationship with Him and people. God would continue to sanctify them. He would be pleased and would receive the glory.
Paul continued teaching, in Philippians 2:12-18, about obedience to God. In these seven verses, each parent can relate to what he wrote because of raising his or her own child. Paul taught against grumbling while serving the Lord and each other. It appears some Philippian believers did what they felt the Lord required, but they made it known they did not like doing it (vs. 14-16). If a person seeks to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” (vs 12), he or she strives to grow in likeness to Christ-grow in sanctification. Grumbling is not growing. Grumbling while doing what an authority said is grudging obedience. Paul told the Philippians if they obey God’s will and grow in Christlikeness, then they will become “blameless and pure children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation” (vs 15a). That would result from obeying the compulsion without grumbling. The life of the Philippian believers who obeyed the urging of Paul to be like Christ without grumbling would grow the believers in their walk with Christ (in their sanctification). It would also make their lives a testimony to God’s praise and glory.
More
Many other passages in Scripture tell of God compelling/urging, moving a person or a group of people to action in love and obedience to Him, that resulted in a testimony of Him and praise and worship lifted to Him. Paul urged Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 to “preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season.” Paul told him to keep his sense of urgency from God to proclaim the gospel. That urgency, the impetus, came from God. The action of obedience caused him to preach. The result would be people hearing about Jesus, professing faith in Him for salvation, and praising God. Timothy would bring glory to God.
In 1 Peter 5, Peter wrote to the elders of the church. He urged them to keep the compelling God placed on their lives, even if they must share the sufferings of Christ. By doing that, they will also “share in the glory to be revealed.” Peter urged the elders to shepherd God’s flock, just as He called them to do. He told each Christian to humble themselves. Be alert and of a sober mind. Resist the devil. Stand firm in the faith. Each of these commands Peter wrote to the dispersed Christians in the Roman empire, reminding them of God’s compelling them. Peter concluded the body of his letter to the Christians in 1 Peter 5:10-11 by writing, “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” Peter reminded the Christians they answered the calling God put on their hearts to trust him. They acted on it by trusting in Jesus as their Savior and living as a Christian, though persecuted. The result of their obedience would give God glory. They would recognize God’s power and praise Him just as Peter did in this closing.
Conclusion
God speaks to each person. He created humanity with a desire (a compelling) for relationship with Him and other people. The freewill He gave each person allows him or her to choose what he or she will do with their desires. God calls to each person to come to Him. He urges him or her to seek, recognize, acknowledge, and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Belief in Jesus as the Son of God causes that close communion with God, for which He created each person. It involves the heart, mind, spirit (led by God’s Spirit), and body. A person’s seeking, recognizing, acknowledging, believing, and obeying this call from Him and the call to tell others about Jesus is obedient action, the physical part of the covenant with God a person makes when he or she trusts in Jesus. The result of a person’s obedient action to God’s calling, compulsion, urging, impelling, and movement of one’s heart, mind, and spirit, results in praise to God by other Christians and heavenly beings. It may result in people coming to faith in Jesus because of that person’s obedience. What we must remember, God does not call a person once, just at the time of trusting in Jesus Christ. God calls to a person compelling and urging him or her to follow Him daily. Jesus calls His disciples to pick up his or her cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Alternately, a person can choose to fill his or her own desires and experience fulfillment only on a mental and, maybe, physical level. Contrarily, the desires of one’s heart, when fulfilled, do not give complete satisfaction and peace because every facet of a person does not receive fulfillment. Most often, the spiritual side of a person remains unquenched.
God wants a close relationship with each person. He does not coerce anyone. He lets each person choose to seek Him or seek to fulfill personal desires. Each person gets to choose what will guide his or her way. To have a close relationship with God requires communication and communing with Him. Because of this, God will talk to you each day if you will listen for Him. He will move your heart, stir your spirit, urge, and compel you to do and be for Him in this world. Your obedience to what He says will bring Him glory. If the glory does not spotlight God, then the urging and compulsion you followed did not originate from Him, but from yourself.
Each person will feel compelled by things. Wisdom and communion with God will illuminate if that compulsion or desire is from God. If from God, it will lead to Hi, receiving the glory. If it originates from a person, the result will cause the glory to shine on one who is not God.
The
urgings you obey determines who you love most and who will get the glory,
you or God.
Who leads you? Who do you follow?
Who receives the glory at the end of your day?
Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24 [NIV])
