When Love Says "No"

Obedience . . .

        Authority . . .

There's just something about those words. 

On the one hand, they can represent virtues, and yet they can also stir up all the wrong things in people.  Resistance.  Resentment.  Misunderstanding.  When they become our focus, ends in themselves, or are not properly understood, they can become more destructive than the evils they seek to avoid.  We can become, as David Wilcox characterizes it in one of his songs, "a good man in the worst sense of the word."

And yet, when we are able to grasp even just a little of God's profound goodness and love, the extent to which God was willing to go to express and share that with us, and how much we can trust God as a result, it is then that we begin to see obedience and authority in very different ways.  They become something we experience more in terms of "because of" rather than in terms of "in order to."  That simple distinction makes all the difference in the world!  Then, when love says, "No," it rings much differently in our ears.

Despite our tendency to want to configure our lives in ways in which we are in control, and we answer only to ourselves, the reality is that we are designed to live under the reign of God, realizing that there is something, Someone, larger than ourselves.  It is when we live in harmony with the design of the One Who created us, that we find the greatest richness and fullness in our lives.  In that context, authority and obedience is experienced and understood very differently.  Obedience is never a matter of gaining or earning God's favor, but something we do in response to God's grace and goodness to us as we live under the "authority" of the One Who created us.

It is precisely that distinction that Pastor Jon explores with us in the sermon this week.  If you would like to listen to the sermon once again, or perhaps the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.

Take a few moments to reflect on these passages of scripture that express the significance of law and obedience, realizing that this is understood in the context of what we do "because of" never "in order to."

Psalm 119 (TNIV)

75 I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous,

   and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

76 May your unfailing love be my comfort,

   according to your promise to your servant.

77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live,

   for your law is my delight.

78 May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;

   but I will meditate on your precepts.

79 May those who fear you turn to me,

   those who understand your statutes.

80 May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees,

   that I may not be put to shame.

165 Great peace have those who love your law,

   and nothing can make them stumble.

166 I wait for your salvation, LORD,

   and I follow your commands.

167 I obey your statutes,

   for I love them greatly.

168 I obey your precepts and your statutes,

   for all my ways are known to you.

Hebrews 5 (TNIV)

7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Eccl 12:13 (TNIV)

13 Now all has been heard;

   here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

   for this is the duty of all mankind.

"History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being and its effects.  Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally. That is where we find ourselves today."

“Once we understand the disconnection between the current message and ordinary life, the failure noted at least make a certain sense.  They should be expected.  When we examine the broad spectrum of Christian proclamation and practice, we see that the only thing made essential on the right wing of theology is forgiveness of the individual’s sins.  On the left it is the removal of social or structural evils.  The current gospel then becomes a “gospel of sin management.”  Transformation of life and character is no part of the redemptive message . Moment-to-moment human reality in its depths is not the arena of faith and eternal living.”  - Dallas Willard