Astonishing Obedience

It’s day five, the day where we told you we were going to ask you to take a step of faith towards obedience. Over the last four days we’ve worshipped God for who he is as the one most rightfully deserving of our obedience, and we’ve thanked Him for Jesus. We’ve confessed where we are falling short, willfully or obliviously, in obeying what Jesus told us were the most important two commandments, and we’ve taken a long look at what it will cost us to try and change those patterns of thought and behavior. For anyone who has made it this far, we pray that the Holy Spirit of God has brought a few things to mind where He is asking you to, in obedience, live differently moving forward, and so the most natural question might be, “what opposition will I face if I do?” When we are facing a challenge, it’s only natural to want to know what awaits us, how dangerous the opposition may be, and how much effort it will take to overcome it. That’s okay, and it’s okay to have those thoughts now. These are not small decisions we’re asking you to make. So, in order to take a look at the roadmap ahead, let us turn to one of Jesus' final commands:

I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:28-33

To put it plainly, the underlying reason that most Christians do not make the choice to take up their cross, to die to themselves, to put God and others above or even equal to their perceived needs, is fear. On some level, we’re afraid that He won’t come through this time, that we’ll be taken advantage of, that we won’t get what we want, or we’ll miss out on what we could have had. In the West, we are terrified of the kind of persecution that people in other parts of the world endure for their faith, and so we make choices to try to control the world around us rather than changing society as the early church did through our obedience to the most central of Jesus’ commands. Fear turns great intentions into abandoned morality, and perceived scarcity tricks us into sinful hoarders. In so many ways, we have been duped into believing that our lives as believers should be carefree. But look at Jesus’ words a second time. 

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Trouble is not a negative consequence to being a disciple of Jesus, it is a promised outcome. The degree of trouble you will face, and what form it will come in are as unique as you, but inconvenience and difficulty are on their way, and the actions you will have to take to avoid them most likely tread dangerously close to the riverbanks of disobedience and sin. But Jesus doesn’t advise his disciples to run from them, he prods them to “take heart,” in other words, to “fear not,” because Jesus himself has overcome and is greater than the world. Remember day one, when we talked about the momentary affliction for eternal reward? Here it is. What are you willing to endure for the sake of obedience to Jesus commands? Because at the end of the day (recall the Matthew 25 reading from day three) the reward is eternal. Here’s a little secret we hope will encourage you as well: while there is an eternal reward awaiting faithful and obedient disciples, it’s also just the right way to live. No, you may not see it in the immediate, but that place inside of you where the writer of Ecclesiastes said God has set eternity will know it. When you lay down your desires so that you can love God with all your heart, mind, and soul; and when you love your neighbor as yourself, no matter the cost, you can take heart knowing that you have pleased your Father in Heaven, and succeeded in bringing a bit of Heaven to the world around you. 

Jesus, thank you for this command to take heart. When I consider the cost before me, help me to keep it in the right perspective, set against the reward of loving you, and obeying you, my king. Lord, if you have already brought to mind the step of obedience you are asking me to take in order to love you and love my neighbor as myself, please help me to see it through. Holy Spirit, please keep it on my heart, and in your mysterious ways, lead me to the opportunity to take a step. If you haven’t already brought one to mind, I ask you now to do so so that I may practice the sanctification of my faith in my obedience to you. My life is for you, please help me to live that way. Amen.