Obedience All the Way Through

Transcript

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[0:00] We're going to talk about obedience, as I said. Obedience is something that we all struggle with. Obedience is something that has been around since the beginning of time, and not just something that's been around since the beginning of time, but something that has defined relationships with God's people since the beginning of time.

[0:40] Something that God has called the Israelites to since the beginning of time. In the Old Testament, this is what defines, God's relationship with his people. In fact, God's relationship with his people were covenant relationships.

[1:09] They were based on treaties. If you do these things, A, B, and C, I will do these things. God would give land or descendants or increase these numbers. God would demand a certain obedience from his people. A certain holiness from his people.

[1:47] But the most important thing in all of this is that there would be a relationship. In all of this, if we were to end our life with God, there was obedience in return for a covenant relationship. It was a must. Obedience led to a great and full relationship with God. And relationship was the defining factor here. And then we move on to the New Testament and we see that relationship hasn't really changed. Maybe the law of the Old Testament has changed somewhat in how we define this, but relationship with God is still at the center. And so we still need obedience, but obedience moves more toward faith in Christ. And faith in Christ is now what defines our relationship with God. So the Old Testament relationship with God translated in three ways into covenant law and following the law. And then in the New Testament, the Bible kind of talks more about faith in Christ and relationship with God through faith in Christ. But in all of it, obedience is this factor that we can't move around or get around. Obedience is a central, critical, absolute in our walk. And so we need to be able to walk with God and our walk with Christ. And so as we move into this time of Lent, I know that not everyone has grown up in a tradition where you celebrate Lent or give

[3:38] something up for Lent. But we're kind of in a culture where Lent is about giving up something trite, right? I'm going to give up candy for Lent, or I'm going to give up something that I kind of care about but don't really care about for Lent. But Lent was never really about that. Lent was always about giving up something that you were dependent on that was unhealthy to your relationship to God. In return for deepening your relationship with God. Lent was always about deepening your obedience to God. In a lifetime. lifelong obedience cycle. So obedience is key. So as we prepare for Lent, whether you grew up in the tradition of celebrating Lent or not, one thing as we prepare for Lent to think about is what God is calling you to in obedience in this season of your life. So we're going to read along in 2 Kings with the story of Naaman. So here's 2 Kings 5, 1 through 14. Now, Naaman was commander of the Lenten people. Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and taken captive a young girl

[5:40] from Israel, and she had served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, if only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy. Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. By all means go. The king of Aram replied. I will send a letter to the king of Israel.

[6:07] So Naaman left taking with him 10 talents of silver, six thousand shekles of gold. and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read, with this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.

[6:31] As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he's trying to pick a quarrel with me? When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message. Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.

[7:19] Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. But Naaman went away angry and said, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of, the Lord his God and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Farpar the rivers of Damascus far better than all the waters of Israel?

[7:58] Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed? So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman's servants went to him and said, my father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?

[8:17] How much more than when he tells you wash and be cleansed? So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had told him. And his flesh was restored and cleaned like that of a young boy.

[8:44] So his life was restored. So his life was restored. So his life was restored. So his life was restored. these things we pray in Jesus name amen now Naaman was a great man and it seemed he was great not just in wealth and in power but it seemed that he was an upright enough person to have earned some kind of favor with the lord of the Israelites and even his servants had some kind of regard and care for him the the young Israelite girl didn't need to reach out to her master to tell of this prophet and yet she she demonstrated this trust in both God and Naaman in doing so so he had good qualities of any decent human being um but !

[10:31] the prophet was a little bit harder for him when the directive was to see the prophet instead of the king but it was downright insulting when that prophet wouldn't even step out to speak to him face to face and it was even more insulting when he sent messengers and then sent him to a filthy river and he simply wouldn't do it um if you remember if So I don't usually do these linear one, two, three outlines, but if you're taking notes this week, I'm going to make it easy. And the first thing I'm going to emphasize here is that obedience requires genuine sacrifice.

[11:48] Almost everybody will obey when it is easy. That's when obedience becomes difficult. That's when sacrifice sets in. And that's when it becomes challenging and people feel tested and people start to not obey.

[12:13] So for somebody of Naaman's rank and position, traveling to Israel was nothing. Even having a job, having leprosy back in that time, for most people, that would have been almost a death sentence. Really, it would have been awful. They would have been cut off from all of society, from everything in life. But for someone of Naaman's rank and position, it seemed like it was almost not a challenge for him at all.

[12:48] He had the king himself seem to want him back in the kingdom. He had the king himself seem to want him back in the kingdom. And so the king sent him with a whole entourage to another king. He really had everything he needed.

[13:04] Maybe he even had a chance to gain a little from it. Because it seemed like the king of Israel was in a bad position here. So it almost seemed at first that Naaman was going to gain a little political power. A little bit of political favor here. Because the king of Israel seemed awfully threatened by his presence. So Naaman's very presence in Israel seemed to be working in Naaman's favor.

[13:39] Naaman didn't seem to be suffering at all. And if he could get his leprosy cured to boot, this was a good move for him. And if he could get his leprosy cured to boot, this was a good move for him. He was not sacrificing himself. He was not sacrificing anything at that moment.

[13:55] And then, when he had to be obedient, it seemed so silly. Really. To us. Or to me, at least. It seemed silly to me. The only thing he had to sacrifice was something so small when you think about it. All he had to do after he had journeyed so far. He only had to travel a little bit further and then ceremonially cleanse himself seven times in a river. And that's it. And yet, at the same time, it's the Jordan River. And it is muddy. A number of us have been there. It's hard to stand upright at first. Because the mud is so thick and slippery. It's silty and gross. And the man said there were cleaner and more dignified rivers where he was from. And he just felt ridiculous. He'd been insulted. And he felt silly. He had to sacrifice his dignity. And for him, that wasn't silly. That hurt him.

[15:20] And he was so silly. And so that required real obedience from him. It was not silly for him. That hurt. And why? I don't know. But if it were me and I had to sacrifice something that hurt me on that kind of level to my person, I wouldn't find it silly either. And I know if it was you. And you had to sacrifice something that hurt you on that kind of level to your personal space, that wouldn't feel silly to you either. That would hurt. Again, why? I don't know. That's just how we are. It wouldn't seem silly. It would seem serious.

[16:11] Maybe you'd feel a little defeated. That's just how we are. Now, why did God ask him to do it specifically in the middle of the desert? Why did he do it in the Jordan? Again, I don't know. Maybe there were cleansing materials in the makeup of the mud. Sometimes that's true. Maybe it was something historical about the Jordan River itself that God wanted to be symbolic. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, I don't know. And I don't need to. We don't need to know why God chose the Jordan River. Because the point of the matter is that God chose the Jordan River.

[16:52] That is why. God chose the Jordan River and he said, do this. And Naaman said, do I have to? I've been obedient. But his obedience hadn't required sacrifice up until that moment. And it was the moment that it required sacrifice. That was important.

[17:18] When God says, this is what matters, that's when you do it. We get so caught up on the why. And God always has a reason. And his reason is so hard to balance. Because God's reason has to take into account the whole good for us. And the whole good for all of history and all of the future and all of mankind and all of his glory.

[17:50] That's a hard balance to maintain. And we don't need to know the why. But God always has a reason. What we need to know is that God asked us to. There is a reason we're asked to obey. And we need to obey. The good news about God is, maybe we don't always figure out the reason. But actually, usually, I find in my life that often I usually do find out the reason eventually.

[18:25] I usually do find out some reason for God having asked me to do something. Maybe it doesn't come for some time later. But I've never gone through my life and thought, wow, that was completely and utterly meaningless. There are times. There are times when things seem meaningless. And I think we'll get the answers to those someday.

[18:55] But what we need to know about obedience right now is sometimes we need to obey simply because God asked us to and he has our best interests in mind. Now we're going to mess up, and we know that. And thankfully, we do have a perfect redeemer. And we have an ever perfect example in Jesus Christ.

[19:26] Philippians 2, 6 through 8 tells us that Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

[19:58] Jesus humbled himself from the highest realms of the greatest authority in heaven to die a humiliating criminal's death on behalf of our sins in order to be obedient to the point of death on a cross. Jesus sacrificed in obedience.

[20:19] Even Jesus had to sacrifice in obedience. Obedience takes sacrifice. So in this season, whether you're preparing for Lent or not, in this season, is there an area where God is stretching you to sacrifice something of yourself? What does it look like for you to respond in obedience?

[20:54] And how can this season prepare you for that or help you on your journey? The second point kind of stems from the first, and that is that obedience goes hand in hand with faith. And of course it does. If you're putting yourself out there, if you're sacrificing something that's important in your life, you need to be able to trust that God, that your life is in God. And that's what God's hand is. And Naaman actually had very little reason to trust God. He didn't really know the God of Israel. He trusted his servants. He was ready to head back home.

[21:48] But truth be told, he was ready, but his servants had told him differently. And yet hasn't God shown us through instances like these? When you were very young in faith, like Naaman, you had times when you didn't quite believe.

[22:09] You had to be shown through the faith of others, or maybe through the Holy Spirit. But now you can trust and obey by the testimony of what God has done in your own life. By remembering the times that God has helped you to trust before, you can be strengthened, and given courage to obey whatever he calls you to next.

[22:39] Like in Luke 5, as Jesus was calling his first disciples into ministry, they hardly knew him. Maybe they knew of him, but as Jesus was calling them, they had little reason to trust. They had been tired and fishing all night, and Jesus needed to use them. They had to get on their boat to speak to their crowds. They must have had some trust in who he was, or who they knew him to be. And so based on his status as a teacher, and what he had just spoken to the people, they knew something of him, but they were wary.

[23:19] And when he told them to go back out fishing, Simon said, well, we haven't really caught anything. We've been out all night. But since you say so, we'll trust you and we'll obey what you say. You're a teacher, you're the master. And so they did. He had earned enough of their trust. He had earned their obedience just a bit, perhaps. And what happened next earned their obedience and trust even more. The catch was so large that it tore their nets, that it started to sink their boats under its weight. And so Simon responded in recognition as Jesus, as a representative of God. But more importantly for right now, he had faith from his own experience and testimony to be able to obey when Jesus called him to be a fisher of men next.

[24:23] Hebrews 5, 9 tells us that Jesus, having been saved, having been made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Obedience to Christ is fueled by faith and faith is fueled by obedience. Paul talks about obedience through faith, like in Romans 1, 5 through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to hear the obedience that comes from faith. Peter calls believers in Christ children of obedience. First Peter 1, 14 says as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. So just as obedience is an act of faith, it's also a significant method of growing in faith.

[25:21] It's kind of like this catch 22. Instead of faith, And so it's with this excitement that I encourage all of us to embark on whatever obedient act the spirit is prompting each person here in. But I also want to seriously caution each person to do this armed with prayer and support. Faith is not a by yourself journey and you're not alone. When you're called to be obedient, that should really be synonymous with called to being grown in faith.

[26:02] So recently at the last deacons meeting, we were talking about during this Lenten season, helping to find people accountability partners for whatever journey during Lent people are feeling called to. And I think that's a really great idea. So if you're feeling called to growing in faith or growing in obedience right now, please reach out to somebody to hold you accountable or to tell somebody what you're being called to be obedient in, because that takes help and that takes accountability. And if you think you need help finding someone to hold you accountable, then reach out to me, or one of the deacons to help find someone or reach out to a mentor or a beloved Christian friend or someone who can walk with you, because this is what Christian fellowship is designed for.

[27:08] And by the way, the chances are that if you reach out to a person, chances are the spirit is probably doing something in that person's life too. Because obedience and faith are lifelong things in every person's life. They're lifelong constants.

[27:36] Just as an aside, today is Valentine's Day, and I was thinking about this. I feel like asking somebody to partner with you on a journey of faith accountability might actually be a more historically appropriate way of commemorating the martyrdom of Saint Valentine than actually asking somebody to be your Valentine. But that's just an aside. Anyhow, my last point is a quick one, and that is obedience is an all or nothing deal.

[28:07] You need to go all the way. Naaman was not healed until his seventh dip into the water. Um, Jericho did not fall until the instruments sounded on the last march around the city. When God calls you to a task or a response, you have got to be fully invested from start to finish.

[28:44] But hear this, whatever it is, we have a God who is willing to do anything for us. He is with you right there the whole time. Because just like we talked about, God is a God of relationship. And obedience from the beginning has always been about relationship.

[29:06] From the time of the law to the time of faith in Christ, obedience has always been about relationship. It still is. Obedience is about relationship. And so God is right there with you the whole time. And he always has been. So when God calls you to a task or response, call on God back to help you. And he's right there.

[29:42] Let's pray. Our gracious God, we thank you. We thank you for your grace. For your call to obedience. We thank you that you are a God who calls us to such things because you care enough to invest in these relationships.

[30:09] God, we ask that when you call, we could respond faithfully, sacrificially, and fully. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.