Obedience

Wow!!!  Jesus had to learn.  Think about how much this expresses His humanity.  While being the incarnate Lord, He humbled Himself to the human level…and had to learn.  He had to learn how to walk like we did; He had to learn to talk like we did; He simply had to learn.  He did this in order to experience humanity to it’s fullest.

“And being found in apperance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  Phil. 2:8.

Jesus knew obedience.  Yet being human, He had to learn it.  And so do we.  This is where the Christian life turns a lot of people off.  Obedience is not an easy thing.  While there is a war going on around us all the time pulling us in several different directions, God expects obedience.  Why?  Because it is an expression of our love to Him Who sacrificed all for us to acquire salvation.  Jesus says in John 14:23, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.”  And in verse 24, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”  Our obedience to Him brings a joy to the heart of Jesus that we could never comprehend.  He was, and is, our prime example of obedience.  During the transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appeared to Him, I seriously doubt they were asking Him how things were going and if He needed anything.  No.  They had one thing on their minds, I believe; His obedience to God’s will and His shed blood on the cross.  Heaven’s only concern was His obedience.  And knowing that, while He was all God, He was still human and could have chosen to disobey.  Thank God He didn’t!!!

We have that same choice everyday.  And it’s what we do with that choice that makes all the difference.  Another way to look at this leads me to Romans 6:16, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone (or something) to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  Big words there.  Paul doesn’t pull any punches.  Basically what he is saying here is if you obey someone, or the temptation of something, you become it’s slave.  I was a slave to drugs because every time I was around the powder, I was given a choice –  obey the temptation, or walk away.  I chose the temptation nearly every time, thus making me a slave to the drug.  Once you become it’s slave, it rules over your life.  Which way would you rather have it – obey those people or things that lead to sin, and eventually spiritual, or even physical death, or obey Christ and follow His example which will always lead to righteousness?

What people see when they look at the Christian life is everything that they will have to give up.  But what they don’t see is that in giving those things up and being obedient to God and His teachings, thus expressing your love for Him, that God would break the chains of slavery to the things that hold us in bondage.  Not only that, He promises to supply our every need according to His riches in glory.  And in today’s world there are so many things that we become slaves to; work, money, acceptance, drugs, pornography, and on and on the list could go.  Obedience is key to freedom…Christ’s freedom.  He was obedient to death in order to set us free from slavery to sin.  So how should we repay Him?  By being obedient to His commands and teachings.

Obedience is not easy.  It requires, at times, to have a warrior mentality.  Jesus Himself was under so much pressure in the garden of Gethsemane that He sweated blood.  I have no doubt that the enemy was telling Him that He didn’t have what it takes to be obedient to the cross.  He obviously had no clue that His obedience to the Cross would ultimately end in his own defeat.  And I have no doubt that he speaks the same to us.  But through Him all things are possible and He will provide us with the strength in our time of need.  If we love Him, I mean really love Him, we will obey Him.  Through this He guides us through our afflictions and temptations, leading us to His righteousness.

Obedience is painful.  I seriously doubt that the pain we suffer for being obedient will lead us to die on a cross, but it still hurts.  It may cause us to lose friends, change how we think, how we act, what we speak, what we put into our bodies.  But that is the Holy Spirit purging our souls and refining us into His likeness.  Taking us from a life of slavery to sin into a life of obedience to Him Who loved us enough to die for us.  Peter says to “purify yourselves by obeying the Truth.”  It is painful, and we will suffer.  But “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Now, I’m sure we could get a lot more theological on this topic, but God didn’t create me to think that way.  So let me know if you agree or disagree.  And feel free to elaborate if you would like.  Be blessed.  In Christ’s Love.