The Call of Loving Obedience

Have you ever wondered what God is actually looking for in your life? Our relationship with God depends significantly on how we might answer that question. Various religious answers would claim that God is looking for certain religious rites and ceremonies, certain kinds of worship, consistent religious practices. Some would say that God is looking for moral excellence and judges us to the extent that we fall short. Others have a central focus on God’s grace and claim that God really isn’t expecting anything from us. In fact, they might claim that we are simply passive receptors of grace and that any attempt to do anything for or with God is always “dead works.”

Fortunately, the Bible clarifies what God is looking for, what God expects. (“What does the Bible say?” is always our beginning place.)  “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12 NAS). It’s obvious from this foundational passage that God is looking for certain relational qualities from us. God is not looking for performance or religious duties. God wants us to fear him – to reverence/respect him, to place him at the center of every aspect of our lives. God wants us to serve him, to listen to his word and respond with obedience. Most of all, God wants us to love him, “with all your heart and with all your soul,” to put our whole heart into our relationship with him. Put simply, God is looking for a relationship of loving obedience.

There may be many people whom we love, but we aren’t necessarily committed to a response of obedience to them. On the other hand, we are committed to obey some people without necessarily loving them. It’s pretty rare to have a relationship that includes both love and obedience. But remember: God is not our friend or our neighbor, God is not our co-worker or a family member; God is God! A love relationship with God necessarily implies a life of obedience. Because God is God, it’s not possible to say we love God and then not obey him. Both Testaments of Scripture confirm this simple truth. “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will [bless you]” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14). “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching’” (John 14:23-24). “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them” (1 John 2:5).

So what does “obedience” really mean in the context of our relationship with God? The New Testament word translated “obey” or “obedience” (Greek hupakuo) is a compound word literally meaning “to hear under.” It means “to listen to a command, to be obedient to a word.” It describes a relationship with someone in authority that includes a certain quality of hearing, i.e., hearing that begins with a commitment to trusting and doing whatever we might hear. It is a “hearing under,” a hearing that assumes a position of respect and submission. Godly, loving obedience is recommended by the early apostles as an essential character quality. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance” (Romans 6:17). Those with a relationship with God through Christ obey his teaching from the heart. “[Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). More than mental assent to the truth of the Gospel is required. Our new life in Christ can be understood as “obedient.” “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14). Our growth in Christlikeness, the quality of our relationships with each other as brothers and sisters, is marked by loving obedience. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). Even final judgment is understood in terms of obedience. “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).

It can be difficult finding the balance of love and obedience, made possible by always understanding that the God we love is God, and is worthy to be obeyed. If Jesus himself walked up to you right now, told you how much he loved you, and then asked you to do something, anything, for him, how would you respond? It’s not hard to understand that if you truly love him, you will obey him, trusting that he always has your best interest in mind. Whenever God speaks to you in whatever way, you always have two choices: to obey or to disobey. Your choice will not only be a sign of the quality of your relationship with God, it will also open the door to all the blessings God has in store for you, to a bright future of hope. May God give us the grace to always hear and obey his word. 

The Blessing of the Father's Training

This summer my challenge to you has been to think about how you see God. How you see God will determine the focus of your faith, the way you relate personally to God. It will set the course of your life, defining your personal sense of purpose and mission. The motivation to grow and the pattern of your growth will be formed by how you see God and your relationship with God.

Our problem is that we have so many unhelpful (if not false) images in our minds and culture. Some see the “God of the Philosophers” or the “God of Science,” a vision that sees God as a very distant, all-powerful being who got everything going but prefers to not get involved in our mess, and certainly is not relatable in any personal way. Others see God as a benevolent, sentimental “Santa Claus” or “Fairy Godmother” figure who looks out for us, gives us good things, and keeps bad things from happening. For many God is a “Righteous Judge” who holds the moral balance in his hands, looking to weigh you and all your deeds and declare you to be “found wanting.”

The most common description of God in Scripture is that of “Father” (or “Parent”).  The problem with that idea is the sad fact that so many of us have had not just imperfect but seriously defective fathers. (I’ve been blessed with an excellent, godly father.) It’s hard for us to even use the word “Father” without having a spasm. On the other hand, the Bible not only refers to God as our Father, but as our Abba (Daddy) Father – our Father in the best, most personal, most ideal sense (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Somehow we need grace and help to see the Fatherhood of God in the beautiful, perfect way that image paints for us in God’s Word.

I remember a beautiful move of the Spirit of God upon the college campus where I was serving in 1995. It just so happened that almost every member of the freshman class that year had grown up without a present father. I witnessed the many times that God revealed himself to these precious young people as their Father in the sweetest, most intimate way, and how healing and empowering that experience was for them. There are still many among us who could benefit from that kind of experience today.

The thing about a true Father is that he does not just love and support and protect. A true Father trains and disciplines his children. Our ability to reflect on that important truth immediately runs into other obstacles. One is the fact that not every child growing up in our culture experiences positive, consistent, loving discipline, and so has no way to picture the discipline of the Lord. Another problem is our confusion of discipline with punishment. “Discipline” simply means “training” and refers to the positive, consistent, effective forming of character leading to maturity. “Punishment” is about exacting revenge and protecting ourselves from the possible misdeeds of others. God does not punish his children, but God does faithfully discipline them.

The best way to understand the Father’s training is to examine how the Bible describes it. When describing the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness Moses summarized God’s plan as “discipline”: “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:5). The Bible is clear that being disciplined by the Lord is a blessing. “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17; Psalm 94:12). The Lord does not discipline anyone who is not a son or daughter; the Father’s training is a sure sign that we are his children. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:11-12). In fact, the lack of discipline is a curse. “For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly” (Proverbs 5:23).

There are rich benefits available when we experience the Lord’s training. However, those benefits can only be experienced to the extent that we embrace and submit to the Lord’s discipline. We can stubbornly resist God’s discipline and find ourselves wandering in a wilderness of our own making with the danger of dying in the wilderness. “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble” (Proverbs 5:12-14). In fact, at some point it is possible for God’s discipline to come to an end as God simply gives us over to the consequences of our moral choices (referred to as “judgment” in Scripture). The nation of Israel ultimately came into judgment because of their refusal to embrace the Father’s discipline. “Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline” (Jeremiah 17:23; see also Psalm 6:1; 38:1.) On the other hand, we can intentionally cooperate with the Father’s training. “Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life” (Proverbs 10:17), and “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge” (Proverbs 12:1). The prophet Jeremiah’s prayer was, “Discipline me, Lord” (10:24). The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes the truth that true sons and daughters experience the blessing of the Father’s training. “God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all” (Hebrews 12:7-8). Embracing the blessing of discipline requires honesty and humility with no attempt made to cover up or sugar coat the need for discipline (see Psalm 51). Only then will we grow into the mature sons and daughters God has designed us to be. 

Equipping the Saints for the Work of the Ministry

One of the most difficult Bible ideas we wrestle with is the nature of the church as the Body of Christ. Jesus came to build his church, but the church we see so often today bears little resemblance to the church Jesus came to build. We tend to see the church as a place we go to; if enough people go and give, the church is able to hire professional ministers to obey the Great Commission as representatives of the church. (Obeying the Great Commandment is optional.) Church is where we earn brownie points that might eventually earn us a place in heaven.  Church functions as a human institution, a social agency, a lonely hearts club band.

But is that the church Jesus came to build (and is building)? The very word “church” (Greek ekklesia) refers to a gathered people, the assembly of God’s people gathered in covenant relationship under the banner of the Lordship of Jesus. The church is called the “Bride” of Christ (Revelation 19:7), a corporate people in love with Jesus, engaged to be married, faithful to the Groom. The church is the “Body” of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:18; Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 1:18), a unified, harmoniously functioning community of faithful, Christ-followers, together answering to the Head, who is Christ. The church is the Temple the Holy Spirit is building to be a place where the presence of God can dwell (Ephesians 2:21). What is made clear from all the images of the church is that it is not a group of disconnected, disengaged “Christians” trying to be religious by “going to church.” The church is the Church to the extent that it has committed Jesus-followers in covenant relationship with Him and with each other, expressing the nature of God’s Kingdom and extending the influence of God’s Kingdom as Christ’s representatives on the earth.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture about the church is found in Ephesians chapter 4. Whenever we are starting to lose sight of what the church is and why we are committed to being a part of Christ’s Bride and Body, we should go back and review the profound truths clearly set forth in this chapter. Although I don’t have space in this short article to take apart the passage verse-by-verse, let me draw attention to a couple of thoughts: In verse 1 Paul introduces his subject by saying, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Being a follower, an apprentice of Jesus, is a life-style issue, a matter of calling. It’s OK to move beyond our religious sense of being worthy of heaven or hell and realize we have a need, indeed a commitment, to be worthy of our calling as representatives of the King on the earth now. Paul then begins to explain what our faithfulness to our calling means in practical, relational terms. We are to “be completely humble and gentle . . . patient, bearing with one another in love” (verse 2). It’s not possible for disconnected, autonomous “Christians” to communicate our calling to a watching world. Being “worthy” is all about our relationships in community and the way we reflect Jesus and his Rule together. It is the unique quality of our relationships that demonstrates our faithfulness to our calling. That’s why Paul goes on to say, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (verse 3). It’s easy to conclude that the enemy of the church is wrong doctrine or philosophical (political, economic) perspective, or even sin. The simple fact is, the main enemy of the church is division. If we can “keep the unity” as a result of our mutual submission to Jesus, we can face any other enemy and triumph. Whether we always see it or not, the fact is, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called” (verse 4). No matter how divided we might be as sinful human beings, if we are “born from above,” we all share the same Spirit and are therefore viewed by heaven as “one.”

However, we can’t live a life worthy of our calling, we can’t keep the unity of the Spirit, by just having good thoughts about it or even praying for it. We come into the Body of Christ as broken vessels. Before you and I can make a positive contribution to God’s Kingdom mission for his church, we need to be healed, mended, repaired and restored. After talking about certain leaders Jesus has given to the church (verse 11), Paul describes their function: “to equip his people for works of service” (verse 12). It’s possible to misunderstand “equip” to refer to a teaching or training function. If we can have enough Bible studies, God’s people will be equipped. However, this word “equip” does not convey that meaning. (Other Bible versions render it “perfect” or “prepare.”) The word literally means “restore,” and refers to setting a broken bone or mending a net. It’s the word that means, “returning to a former condition so as to fulfill an original function.” Think of the church as a net used by fishermen. If a net gets too many holes or holes that are too big, it becomes less and less effective for catching fish. The net is broken and needs to be mended. However, the net can’t be mended unless there is a focus on the fact that specific connections on the net have been broken. Places on the net have experienced division, and the broken unity has resulted in a broken net. What is needed is restoration: the net needs to be restored and that will be possible only if specific places and connections on the net are restored.

The “equipping / restoring” work in the Body of Christ will result in a new unity, “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). Now that’s what I call living a life worthy of our calling as the King’s representatives in our communities. May God bring mending and restoration into our lives and into our congregation so we may continue to be an effective net for Jesus.